Jiangxia Tongzhi noticed that Vermouth's fingertips were a little cold—like she'd smeared something on them.
In the elevator mirror, his eyes landed on his reflection. His cheekbones looked sharper, his facial contours and mid-face lengthened by strategic shadows. He now looked like a young man in his mid-twenties. For a second, even he didn't recognize himself.
Jiangxia: "..."
Handy. I should put on a disguise someday and ask Kid if I can learn this trick.
…
With this adult face, Jiangxia successfully followed Vermouth into the Hegerson Bar.
Bars didn't ID everyone. The bouncer only asked when someone obviously looked too young.
Jiangxia's current look clearly didn't raise any flags.
As they moved toward the main hall, the lights quickly dimmed, making it hard to make out people's faces from afar.
Jiangxia grabbed a sanitizing wet wipe and scrubbed his face, removing the quick disguise Vermouth had drawn earlier. Convenient, sure—but not exactly flattering. Vermouth probably hadn't had time to focus on aesthetics—she'd just rushed to make him look older.
Vermouth didn't need a guide. She linked arms with Jiangxia, walking straight to a corner like she owned the place.
…
Nearby on the dance floor, lights pulsed, and the music throbbed.
Vermouth found a seat and gave Jiangxia a long look.
He seemed a bit lost in the bar setting—eyes scanning the room, not sure what to do.
Seeing that, Vermouth's lips curved slightly. A sly, playful smile.
She flipped through the drink menu, then looked up at the waiter. "White Russian."
That one was for herself.
Then her gaze slid over to "Tokyo Iced Tea."
This cocktail looked like regular iced tea. Sweet, smooth. But its alcohol content was sky-high and bubbly enough to sneak up on you. The perfect trap.
...Or it would've been, if it weren't too infamous.
Even people who rarely touched alcohol had probably heard of Tokyo Iced Tea from a friend or a meme. It might work on an innocent like Angel, but Ouzo? Unlikely. From what she knew, Ouzo had plenty of scoundrels in his circle—including some older than him. It wouldn't be surprising if he'd picked up… "specialized" knowledge.
So Vermouth gave up on the Tokyo trap and casually shut the menu. "I'll start with a Coke."
The waiter raised an eyebrow and glanced at Jiangxia.
He'd seen this trick before—feeding someone a lot of Coke before serving alcohol could seriously lower their tolerance. Usually, it was guys pulling this move on young girls.
But here, the roles seemed… flipped?
Was this kid even legal drinking age?
Then again, if the doorman had let him in, someone must've checked his ID. And if not—well, not his problem.
The waiter shrugged internally, took the order, and walked off.
After a few steps, he glanced back at Jiangxia with a strange mix of pity and admiration.
…
The drinks arrived quickly.
Jiangxia stared at the Coke fizzing in his glass. He picked it up and took a sip.
Vermouth tasted her cocktail, leaned her cheek into one hand, and gazed at the stage like she was enjoying the show.
She wasn't. But pretending gave her an excuse to sit there slowly sipping, drawing out the drinking session with practiced elegance.
Soon after the Coke came a parade of cocktails—colorful, fruity, seemingly light on alcohol. But each one was sneakily stronger than the last.
Jiangxia drank slowly, letting the liquor slide down his throat and settle in his stomach.
...Where it all got stopped by a thin but sturdy layer of puppet clay.
The clay, crafted from the leg-hugging shikigami he'd "borrowed" from various murderers, had become more refined over time. Now it was good enough to serve as a watertight lining.
Ever since discovering that poisons were practically a dime a dozen in the Detective Conan universe, Jiangxia had brushed up on the "Thousand-Cup Choose-Poison" technique—a skill buried deep in his old spirit medium textbooks.
…
Time passed.
Jiangxia tried every drink that had caught his eye. As he set down his final glass, he happened to glance at the parent ghosts clinging to him.
And that snapped him back from cocktail land to something more important.
He looked across the table at Vermouth.
The many-faced witch was visibly tipsy, and the killing intent around her had faded. Thanks to the magnification effect from the parent ghosts, her aura had been turned down significantly. Her animosity toward Jiangxia had quietly, subtly… melted away.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 7/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:2/10*