The Daily Life of a Salted Fish Assassin in Anime Crossovers

Just by seeing the other party make that move through his eagle eyes, Jiang Hang felt that the book was most likely the Yoshitsune Chronicle.

If that book really is the Yoshitsune Chronicle, then there is almost a 50% chance that Sakura Seizo is one of the members of the Genji Hotaru.

If Jiang Han is not mistaken, the "used bookstore owner" that the other party just contacted should be Saijo Taiga, who runs a used bookstore nearby and was mentioned by Ryuen from Sanonji Temple this afternoon as a frequent visitor to the temple to worship and who also knew about the stolen Buddha statue.

That's perfect. Jiang Hang had originally planned to return to the hotel tonight and then sneak out to investigate the other party's bookstore and the other people Long Yuan mentioned. Now he can go there directly and save himself a lot of trouble.

The secondhand bookstore owned by Saijo Taiga wasn't far from the antique market, and with Sakura Masazo leading the way, they quickly met the owner.

Saijo Taiga was a middle-aged man in his thirties with an ordinary appearance. He wore glasses and looked like a gentle and refined man.

Jiang Hang noticed that although the man looked quite refined, the calluses on his hands, the muscles in his body, and even the way he stood suggested that he was probably quite skilled.

Upon receiving a call from Sakura Seizo, informing him that Jiang Hang and his group were coming, he had already prepared the Yoshitsune Chronicle and stood at the bookstore entrance waiting for them.

After meeting with Saijo Taiga, Sakura Masazo greeted her and then introduced Jiang Hang and his group to her.

Since Jiang Hang has not revealed his true identity yet, Sakura Seizo only focused on telling Saijo Taiga about Hattori Heiji's identity.

However, it was clear that Saijo Taiga had already heard of Hattori Heiji, the famous high school detective from Osaka.

"I saw his interview in a magazine just a few days ago. Of course I know that the Abdominal Detective is so famous. This is the Yoshitsune Chronicle. I just received it not long ago. The only problem is that a page at the beginning of the book is missing. It must have been torn out by the original owner. However, the torn page is a blank page before the table of contents, so it doesn't affect the content of the book."

"Why don't you check it first, and see if you really want this book?"

Jiang Hang glanced at the other person and then took the book from their hand.

While Jiang Hang was flipping through the book, Saijo Taiga asked Hattori Heiji with great interest, "I saw in a magazine that Detective Hattori, you met your first love in Kyoto eight years ago, and you even kept something she left behind and have been carrying it with you ever since?"

Heiji Hattori didn't take it seriously. He smiled and scratched his head: "There really was such a thing. I didn't expect that magazine to be so popular."

"Oh, it's true! I saw it in a magazine and thought the magazine staff were just making things up." Saijo Taiga smiled and then asked Hattori Heiji if he had found his first love yet.

"Well, we haven't found it yet. If you know anything about it, that would be great." Hattori Heiji shook his head and sighed slightly.

Just then, Jiang Hang, who was flipping through the Minamoto no Yoshitsune, suddenly said to Saijo Taiga and Hattori Heiji, "Speaking of which, when you met your first love, wasn't it at Sanno-ji Temple? Although the monks there didn't know the young lady's identity, I heard from Master Ryuen that Mr. Saijo and his friends had been regulars at Sanno-ji Temple for a long time. Why don't you take out that bead and show it to them? Maybe they'll remember it."

Upon hearing Jiang Hang's words, Saijo Taiga quickly waved his hand: "How could we possibly remember something that happened eight years ago so clearly?"

But just as he was saying he couldn't remember such details, he adjusted his glasses and said, "But if we could see what your first love left behind, we might have some recollection."

Chapter 355: Chapter 353: A Token of "First Love"

When Hattori Heiji took out the crystal bead he had kept for eight years from the sachet in his pocket and handed it to Saijo Taiga and Sakura Seizo, Jiang Hang could clearly feel that the two of them focused their attention entirely on the crystal bead after it appeared.

With Hawkeye's help, Jiang Hang could even feel Saijo Taiga unconsciously clenching his other fist, as if Hattori Heiji might have been about to commit murder and robbery if he were alone there.

Upon seeing this action, Jiang Hang immediately became alert.

He had only intended to casually follow the other person's words to probe their understanding, but he didn't expect that these two people seemed to care quite a bit about the crystal bead.

Of course, the two of them quickly controlled their expressions, making it impossible for anyone to tell that they cared about the crystal bead.

Only Jiang Hang, with his eagle-eye ability, and Conan, whose observation skills are equally strong, might notice this.

Normally, Heiji Hattori would have noticed, but since they were discussing Heiji's first love, it distracted him and prevented him from noticing the change in the expressions of the two people opposite him.

At this moment, Jiang Hang couldn't help but wonder why they cared so much about that crystal bead, and what it had to do with them.

On the other hand, after controlling her expression, Saijo Taiga carefully examined the crystal bead in her hand.

He then glanced at Sakura Seizo beside him before shaking his head at Hattori Heiji: "Sorry, I don't remember. It looks like it might be an ornament on a necklace or bracelet. I can ask around and see if anyone I know can find one that matches... Can I take a picture of it?"

It seems that Saijo Taiga is going to the warehouse to take a picture of the crystal bead as a favor.

However, Heiji Hattori had obviously already prepared these things.

"It would be great if you could help me. Although I have been to Kyoto many times, I have never really asked anyone about this before."

As Hattori Heiji said this, he picked up his phone: "But there's no need for that. I already took the photos before, so I'll just send them to you now. We can also exchange contact information. If you know them, please be sure to contact me."

Although Heiji Hattori didn't think he could find his first love by relying on the other person, he still had to at least show his attitude.

Upon hearing Hattori Heiji's words, Saijo Taiga's hand holding the crystal bead trembled slightly, but he quickly smiled at Hattori Heiji and returned the crystal bead.

"If that's the case, then that's for the best. I'll go ask those people who frequently visit the Saneng Temple to see if they have any girls in their families who are the right age."

Saijo Taiga said this, but his gaze remained almost entirely fixed on the crystal bead that Hattori Heiji had put away.

Meanwhile, Jiang Hang was observing their actions while flipping through the book "Yijing Ji".

Apart from the missing page at the beginning, the book was quite complete, so Jiang Hang promptly transferred the agreed-upon money to Saijo Taiga.

However, although he made a fortune from Jiang Hang, it was clear that Saijo Taiga was not satisfied with that. When he saw that Jiang Hang and his group were about to leave, he suddenly stepped forward and extended an invitation to them.

"Speaking of which, everyone must have been busy with investigations all day. A friend of mine is the young master of a Noh theater nearby. If you want to relax and watch a play, I can ask him for a few tickets."

Saijo Taiga continued, "If you're not interested in Noh, there's a nice teahouse nearby where you can rest tonight and see a very authentic Kabuki performance."

Noh is a classical Japanese musical theater, and it is considered a part of Japanese traditional culture, with a history much longer than Kabuki.

But it's clear that Jiang Hang and his friends don't really have much interest in going to the theater to watch Noh or to a teahouse to see a Kabuki performance.

Even Hattori Heiji waved his hand in refusal: "It's not time to rest yet. Let's talk about it after we've resolved this matter."

Although Saijo Taiga still wanted to say something, seeing Hattori Heiji's current attitude, he finally nodded: "In that case, I hope you can decipher the code on that map as soon as possible and find the stolen Buddha statue at Sannoji Temple."

......

After saying goodbye to Sakura Seizo and Saijo Taiga, Jiang Hang and his group quickly returned to the hotel that the travel agency had booked.

Yoshino and the others hadn't returned to the hotel yet. If Jiang Hang remembered correctly, they were supposed to be going to a nearby theater to see a performance tonight. If it was a coincidence, the performance they were going to see tonight might be the same one that Saijo Taiga had just invited them to.

With several hundred people, they could probably book the entire theater.

In short, they are estimated to be returning later than usual.

An extra room was booked for Heiji Hattori. After Shizuka Sakaki returned to her own room, Conan, Jiang Hang, and Heiji Hattori gathered in Jiang Hang's room to discuss their findings from the day.

"Jiang Hang's guess might be correct. There are indeed problems with Sakura Seizo and Saijo Taiga."

Conan was the first to state his opinion. Although his observation skills were not as good as Jiang Hang's, who had the "Eagle Eye" cheat, compared to normal people, Conan's observation skills were like having a cheat code. It was not too surprising that he would notice the strange things about Saijo Taiga and the other person.

Upon hearing this viewpoint, Hattori Heiji's expression became considerably more serious.

Although his attention was somewhat distracted by his "first love," he was, after all, a famous detective, and he could easily notice anything unusual.

He hadn't initially thought about it in that direction, but after Conan brought it up, he quickly noticed something strange about the meeting.

"Speaking of which, there are indeed some suspicious points," Hattori Heiji muttered to himself, resting his chin on his hand.

"They seem particularly sensitive about my first love, and even though Jiang Hang spent money to buy things from them, their attitude was a bit too enthusiastic," Hattori Heiji analyzed. "And there's something I just thought of."

Heiji Hattori held up one finger, looking at Jiang Hang and Conan.

"When you were at Saneng Temple, Jiang Hang inquired about that letter, right? Long Yuan mentioned that he sought out you, Jiang Hang, the recently famous detective, on the advice of those benefactors, hoping you could come to Kyoto to investigate the disappearance of the Buddha statue."

Jiang Hang nodded. These were indeed the words Long Yuan had said. If they hadn't been going on a trip and hadn't politely declined the commission, he might have actually accepted it. After all, investigating the case while traveling around Kyoto sounded quite pleasant.

Hattori Heiji continued, "It's already strange that they didn't go to the police, but instead went to a detective to solve this case. However, considering the Buddhist abbot of Sanonji Temple, we won't discuss that for now. But more importantly, why did they go to Jiang Hang first?"

Hattori Heiji pointed at himself: "They clearly know that I am a high school detective in Osaka, that I have helped the police solve many cases in the past, and that they have even read the magazine where I was recently interviewed. They also know about my first love. In contrast, they seem to know very little about Jiang Hang. At least, if Jiang Hang were standing in front of them, they would not recognize him."

Hattori Heiji's words sounded as if he was implying that he was more famous than Jiang Hang, but all three of them knew that Jiang Hang was not one to seek the limelight. Apart from appearing in some small newspapers in the early days when he needed exposure, Jiang Hang began to avoid those ubiquitous media reporters after his reputation as the Eagle Eye Detective gradually spread.

Jiang Hang knew that Hattori Heiji's point wasn't about this, so he waited for Hattori Heiji to finish speaking.

At this point, Hattori Heiji brought up the most crucial question: "So, given that they clearly know me better, why did they recommend to Master Longyuan that the detective they should hire be Jiang Hang, and not me?"

“Because in the beginning, they probably didn’t want you, the famous detective from Osaka, to get involved in this case,” Jiang Hang continued Hattori Heiji’s words, which drew the attention of Conan and Hattori Heiji to him.

"Have you discovered something?" Conan asked.

Jiang Hang nodded. He had been looking through photos he had taken during his investigations in various places throughout the day on his phone. Just now, he finally found an undeniable clue in one of the photos.

“I think you haven’t really seen the photo of the Buddha statue that was stolen from Sanonji Temple. I didn’t pay much attention to that photo either until just now when I realized something. If I’m not mistaken, it can explain the subtle attitude of those two people.” Jiang Hang put the photo out and looked at Hattori Heiji. “Hattori, for you, this must be a somewhat sad story.”

Listening to Jiang Hang's words, Conan and Hattori Heiji both focused their attention on the famous Buddha statue with a history of hundreds of years.

They had naturally seen Buddha statues before, especially in Kyoto, a place full of temples and shrines, where all kinds of Buddha statues could be seen everywhere. In addition, their attention had been focused on deciphering the code, and they had not carefully examined the photo of the Buddha statue.

But after Jiang Hang's prompting, the two detectives also carefully examined the photograph.

Almost simultaneously, the two of them looked up at Jiang Hang, as if they had discovered the most important clue shown in the photo.

However, compared to Conan, Conan's expression was somewhat subtle, while Hattori Heiji's expression looked rather comical.

He took the crystal bead he had kept for many years from his pocket and placed it on top of the photograph.

In the photo, the white hair in the center of the forehead of the Medicine Buddha statue becomes particularly conspicuous at this moment.

"No way," Hattori Heiji's lips twitched, seemingly incredulous at the fact.

Jiang Hang shrugged: "I have examined it carefully. Judging from the shape and age of this crystal bead, it matches this Buddha statue perfectly."

"If I'm not mistaken, the 'first love' you saw didn't actually drop anything. This is the 'white hair' that Genji Hotaru accidentally lost during the transport of the Buddha statue she stole, and you happened to find it while you were visiting the temple, and kept it on your person for eight years."

Of course, there's also the possibility that Hattori Heiji's so-called first love was actually the daughter of one of the thieves, and that after they stole the Buddha statue, she removed the urna (white hair mark) from it and accidentally lost it. However, that Buddha statue was a very valuable item, and although the urna looks like just a small crystal bead, it's a very important part of the statue. If it were removed, the value of the statue would probably drop by several times. Therefore, this possibility is not high, and Jiang Hang ruled it out.

At this point, Hattori Heiji could deduce the origin of the crystal bead on his own, without even listening to Jiang Hang's analysis.

He looked at the crystal bead with a slightly complicated expression: "I never imagined that a bead I picked up at random, thinking it was dropped by my first love, would actually be such an important thing."

"But it is precisely because of this that the Buddha statue, whose value has depreciated, has been held by those guys who are unwilling to suffer losses for a full eight years." Jiang Hang patted Hattori Heiji on the shoulder, telling him not to be too discouraged.

Heiji Hattori wasn't too discouraged. He had only ever hoped to see his so-called first love again and return the crystal bead to her. Now that the crystal bead had become a key clue in the case, his already elusive "first love" had become even more elusive.

Hattori Heiji shook his head, then refocused his thoughts on the case.

"In other words, Saijo Taiga of the used bookstore and Sakura Seizo of the antique shop are indeed members of the Genji Hotaru. Those people who were murdered may have been killed by the two of them."

Hattori Heiji said this, while also seeming to have some new doubts: "But if that's the case, why did they send that letter to Sannoji Temple?"

Chapter 356: Not feeling well, taking a day off.

I'm planning to go to the hospital tomorrow morning, and I'll update this after I get back.

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Chapter 357: Chapter 354: I'm going to conduct some shady investigations.

However, before Conan and Jiang Hang could make their own deductions, Hattori Heiji made his own.