The Darkness Inside

Chapter 1 Looking for Kudo Shinichi but finding someone much better

Mouri Detective Agency. Well, looks like I found it. Let's hope that old man didn't lie.

Taking a deep breath the young girl ascended the stairs towards the detective agency in high hopes to find the long lost detective Kudo Shinichi.

Somehow, Aoko felt stupid. What if Kudo wasn't here and even if he was, how was she going to tell him her suspicions? It wasn't like she had proof or anything. It could be nothing. It could be less than a prank. Really, what was she doing here again? And if Kudo wasn't here and in worst case no one knew where he was – what was she going to do then? Ask that great detective Kogoro Mouri? Well, he'd laugh in her face for sure and maybe call the police on her or something or maybe he'd just tell her to fuck off. Maybe he'd be nice enough to investigate it but actually, in the rare option that it was something worth to be investigated, maybe it wasn't such a great idea if a well-known detective as Kogoro Mouri investigated it. For things like these stealth was needed and that man was not known for that characteristic.

Standing in front of the door, Aoko thought hard if it was really the best way to go about things. Kudo might not refuse her and listen to her suspicions but she could put him in danger and she didn't want that but the young girl didn't feel like she could do something about it on her own. She wasn't a detective and to do this, she'd need to be one.

She'd thought about asking Hakuba-kun but she felt silly involving someone who she knew in case she was wrong. He probably wouldn't laugh at her but Kaito might find out and he would definitely laugh – he'd forever tease her about it. Well and Kaito, she didn't want him to know, either. If her suspicions were true or not, in both cases it was much better to leave Kaito out of it.

Sighing, Aoko steeled herself and finally knocked. And waited. And waited. Well damn. She didn't think that no one might open the door which was quite possible after all, this was a detective agency and the detective inhabiting it was quite famous and sought after, after all.

Groaning a little, Aoko cursed her luck. She most surely would not find enough courage again to come here and demand for Kudo's detective skills.

"Are?"

Aoko instantaneously whirled around, finding a young woman looking much like herself standing at the bottom of the stairs, holding what seemed to be shopping bags, confusion written on her face.

"Ah, I'm sorry, I was looking for someone." Aoko hastily apologized and made her way downstairs. "But it seems no one is there."

"Yes, that's true. Otou-san is out playing Mahjongg once again and Conan-kun is over at Hakase's so it's just me tonight. Who were you looking for? Ah, excuse my rudeness. Follow me inside, please."

Aoko bowed hurriedly. "If it's no problem."

"No, not at all, my name's Mouri Ran by the way."

The way that girl smiled at her made Aoko gather her courage again and follow her upstairs. She seemed so nice, hopefully she'll be able to answer a few of her questions.

"My name's Nakamori Aoko. Nice to meet you, Mouri-san."

"Nice to meet you, too, Nakamori-san. Just let me put the groceries away real fast and I'll be with you in a second." Ran led Aoko inside the agency. "Would you like some tea?"

"Sure, thank you, Mouri-san." With that, Aoko sat down on the couch in the agency and Ran left her to go up and put away the groceries.

The place was quite neat, pretty spacey even compared to other places she knew. Well, her house was quite spacey, too but that was mostly because they were living in the rural area and this was quite close to the centre Tokyo's and usually space was limited there. But being a famous detective like that must have its perks, right?

"I'm sorry for the wait, Nakamori-san. Now, do you want me ring up Otou-san? I'm sure he'll be here soon." Ran set tea tray down on the table and sat across Aoko.

"Ah, no no, it's alright and actually, I didn't come here for Mouri-tantei's help."

Ran sipped at the tea she brewed. "Then what is the problem?" she asked curious.

"Ah you see, I'm actually looking for Kudo-kun and I was told that you might be able to tell me where he is or at least how to contact him."

Aoko watched the other stiffen at the mention of Kudo's name and wondered if it was a sensitive topic for Ran. Well, she couldn't help it anyway. She needed Kudo to help her find out if it was a case or not and if yes then investigate it.

"And who told you that? What do you need Shinichi for?" she asked quite squarely.

"I actually didn't want to discuss this with anyone else but Kudo-kun but maybe it's a little less embarrassing if you looked at it first, Mouri-san."

Aoko took out her phone and started shuffling through it. Then she handed it to the other girl sitting across from her.

"Here. Recently, I've been receiving strange messages. I'm not sure if it's a prank or dead serious. It could be both. If it's just a joke than it's probably someone I know who thinks it's funny. But if it is not a simple prank than those people probably don't know I'm receiving those, as well. Since there is only one sender I cannot tell how many people get the message but there must be some kind of group my number was put in because it's different senders."

Aoko watched Ran scroll through the messages and the further she got the more did she pale. After getting to the end, Ran looked up, her face white as a sheet and her eyes as wide as plates. "This is horrible" she exclaimed.

Aoko nodded. "It is. If it's not a joke then it's quite serious. That's why I wanted to consult with Kudo-kun. He might know about stuff like this, right?"

Ran nodded absentmindedly, going through the messages again. "If this is indeed a joke, then it is quite the elaborate one. And not a very funny one at that."

"Yes, that's what I'm thinking as well. Since I'm still getting these messages, and even though they are scarce, I don't really think it's a joke. But if isn't then we have to deal with a big problem which is way over our heads, Mouri-san."

"You're right" Ran agreed and gave Aoko her phone back. "If this is indeed true then people are going to die."

Aoko nodded slightly. The way Ran sounded she anticipated a no to whatever that no would refer.

"But maybe we should wait a little more before consulting with Shinichi? I mean we neither know a place nor a time."

"Alright. But what do you suppose we do then?"

"Let's do this on our own, Nakamori-san. Let's try to find out if this is real and if it is then find out what exactly it is about. Once we know some details we can still consult with Shinichi and have him help us."

Aoko beamed at her. "That sounds great, Mouri-san. I'm so glad you're helping me. It could be nothing but I agree that we shouldn't do just nothing. Then, if it's really fine with you, we can tell Kudo-kun about it when we found more information about it. Perhaps it would make things easier for him as well."

Ran smiled encouragingly at the girl. "Yes, that sounds nice. From the sound of it, the event doesn't seem to be happening any time soon so it should give us enough time to at least find out if it is just a joke, after all."

Aoko nodded. "Alright. I've already been thinking about the next steps since I wasn't sure that even if I did find Kudo-kun he'd actually listen and help. So" she took out a paper out of her bag and put it on the table in front of her, the tea long forgotten. "This is a list with the messages so far. Maybe we can deduce anything from it."

Ran leaned over the table to have a look of the paper.

Monday, 2016 September 19, 22:25:36: New job, more information will follow

Friday, 2016 September 23, 23:05:45: Bombing, time and location will be given separately later

Wednesday, 2016 November 05, 22:55:56: Targets still unconfirmed, supposed to be in crowd

Wednesday, 2016 November 05, 22:56:43: How are targets supposed to die?

Wednesday, 2016 November 05, 22:58:33: Die in bombing or fire due to bombing. No shooting. No poisoning. Nothing that could be traced

"I mean it's not that much. Let's just assume this is serious. What do we know? Somehow it's rather random when those messages are sent but all of them are sent at night. It seemed to be an established group since the first message simply says that there is a new job. For me that sounds as if it's happened before. Also, the messages are rather short which also means that those people must be accustomed to that kind of thing."

"We also know" Ran piped in, "that it will be a bombing and that there will be more targets, at least two."

Aoko nodded. "Yes, that's right. We don't know the when or where or even who exactly but we know that something will happen. Also, there are supposed to be two or more victims, as you said. I've been thinking really hard about it and I think it's supposed to be an event people were invited to but haven't accepted yet. That's why they are supposed to be there but as of yet it's unconfirmed. If you agree with me the next step would be to find out what kind of events are going to take place in the near future."

Ran nodded. "I agree with you but image that to be quite hard, though." Ran tilted her head a little, deep in thought. "We don't even know if it'll be in Tokyo and if we can't narrow down the when it might take us forever."

"Yes, I actually googled that already. I think we could simply look at the biggest events from in a month to in a year. Unless you think a month from now is still too soon."

Ran kept her gaze at the paper, her mind thinking about the right time frame. "Ah well, I wonder about that. How long does it take to prepare a bombing? I mean, as of now those people don't know when and where. I imagine it might take them at least about a month from the moment they can start preparing."

Aoko nodded in thought. "You're right. If we knew how long that takes we could narrow down our search. But I think we can at least safely assume that it won't be much further in the future than a year."

"Well, I guess. I don't think such a thing would take them longer to plan. At least until we get a location and time we'll just look up until in a year's time. If it'll happen later, we'll know. Then we'll have enough time to prepare, as well."

Aoko grinned. "You're honestly so smart, Mouri-san. You're right. Then let's focus on December 2016 until December 2017. I'd say bigger events should be enough for now. Let's say those are from 5000 people and more. If we didn't find anything we might narrow down our search later."

Ran nodded. "That sounds good enough." Ran took the list and read it over one more time.

"Keep it, Mouri-san. I have the original messages, anyway. You might find out something if you keep it. Then we can divide the work. Let's say I look up the even months and you look up the uneven ones. I don't think there will be planned a lot in a year's time. It'll be mostly soon. And we should keep our eyes open over all of Japan. For now at least. I'll contact you if I get a new message and maybe we could meet in a week's time, how about it, Mouri-san?"

"Yes, that sounds good. Here, I'll give you my number, that will make things easier when contacting. Also, call me Ran."

Aoko smiled. "Likewise, call me Aoko then."

"Alright, Aoko-chan. I have a request, though."

Aoko beamed. "Sure, what is it?" Finally taking the cup, the girl took a sip and enjoyed the now quite cold tea. It still tasted awesome, though.

"I'd like to keep quiet about it. At least in the beginning. I don't think the police could do much more than we can right now, anyway."

"Apart from finding out who the sender is. There is a number, after all. The police could find out whom the number belongs to. And who those other people are. Maybe they could even locate those people, if they use traceable phones, which I do highly doubt, though. From what I understand, if this is real, then those people are professionals."

Ran deflated a little. "You're right. Maybe we should tell them, after all."

"No" Aoko disagreed. "I think we shouldn't tell them. At least not until we confirmed this isn't just for fun. We'll tell someone once we have a date and place, alright?"

Ran looked quite relieved and nodded happily.

Aoko drank up, typed in Ran's number and stood up. "Then, thank you so much for believing and hearing me out, Ran-chan. If this is indeed nothing, then this will be our personal joke. But if it isn't we'll be just like real detectives finding out the truth. This is so exciting."

Aoko grinned happily. Honestly, this went much better than anticipated. Even though she didn't get to talk to Kudo-kun she didn't regret it even for a second. This was maybe even better than her anticipated outcome. Ran would keep mum about it if it was a simple prank. And if it wasn't then Ran was her best chance to find someone suitable enough to take care of it.

"I actually feel quite excited myself. If this works out well I might think about helping out Otou-san with his cases." Ran chuckled. "Let's just hope things will work out for us, Aoko-chan."

"Aa. Alright. I'll be going now, Ran-chan. Thank you for the help again."

"Ah, it's no trouble. I'm glad I could be of help to you."

Aoko stood up and Ran followed her to the door. By the time they were finished discussing everything it was already dark.

"Where do you live, Aoko-chan? It's gotten pretty late, maybe someone should come pick you up?" Ran asked worriedly.

"Ah don't worry about it. I'm not scared of anyone even if Ekoda is quite a bit from here but I'll be fine. Don't worry." Aoko put on her shoes and sweater, it was just the beginning of October and the weather was still very nice and warm but the evenings usually got a little colder.

"Ekoda, huh. That is quite far. Just, call me once you're home or if you get in trouble or something. If someone's following you call me as well. I heard bad people usually don't strike if the victim is on the phone with someone since that someone would know about it right away."

Aoko smiled softly. "Thank you for your concern, Ran-chan. You just met me and yet you're so kind to me. I'll phone right away if something's fishy. Promise."

Ran flushed a dark red. "Ah no just … take care of yourself."

"Of course. Well then. See you, Ran-chan."

Aoko turned around and left, stopping at the bottom of the stairs to wink once before disappearing around the corner.

Aoko was honestly happy with how things turned out. She was creeped out the second she got the first message. She wanted to reply that the sender got the wrong number and what the hell it all meant but something had stopped her. She didn't exactly know what or how but she didn't respond anything and before long she forgot about the message until the next one came.

When it came she paled. She couldn't help but think that it was just some kind of stupid joke. Kaito was probably behind it so she asked him what his problem was the next time she saw him. Well, Kaito looked at her as if she lost her mind or something and that was when Aoko decided that her best friend had nothing to do with it.

She had pondered with the thought of replying but something was still keeping her from it. It could be joke, albeit a really bad one, but a joke nonetheless and she didn't want to give the prankster the satisfaction of knowing that she successfully fell for that stinky joke.

When Aoko received the other messages she decided that no, this didn't sound anything like a prank, anymore. It still could be one, a really thought out one, there were people like that, after all. But she didn't lose the feeling that it very well might be real and she was accidentally receiving messages about a future event when some assassins were to kill people.

It didn't sit well with Aoko and it took her quite a while to get the courage and find someone to confide in. Obviously, she couldn't talk with Kaito about it. He'd just laugh at her and tell her that she was stupid for thinking this might be real. As if those pros would accidentally mix up her number with someone else's.

(Maybe Kaito wouldn't laugh and instead help her, protect her.) But Aoko was having great doubts herself. If those really were pros then there could be no way for them to mix up her number, right? That's why she still had some hope that it wasn't serious. Pros didn't make mistakes like that. They simply didn't.

She had also thought about the possibility that someone deliberately added her number to that group. And as scary as that was it was also absurd. What connections did she have? She was a no one. She was the daughter of a keibu, a keibu who was hunting a thief even. He wasn't one for murders, so what connections would she have? She was friends with a magician and a normal girl and a detective. But she didn't know Hakuba for a long time so that didn't count very much, either.

So, really, Aoko didn't want to think that she was receiving those messages on purpose because as just established she had no connections to anything really great to justify her participation or knowledge about this bombing. If, though, she was receiving those messages on purpose …

Aoko shuddered and put that thought far away, into the deepest corners of her mind.

The one who has her receive those messages could also have mistaken her number. The one could really have wanted someone to find out but instead of her he fucked up the numbers and now she was getting those messages.

In any way, Aoko didn't really want to think much about it anymore.

She couldn't tell Hakuba, couldn't tell her father for obvious reasons. He'd either not believe her or send her as far away from Tokyo as possible to protect her. Neither option sounded very appealing to her.

And in the end Aoko couldn't help but think that it was nothing but a prank. Until she was told otherwise she'd just handle it as a prank.

Yeah, right. That's why you sought out the help of the great Detective of the East, huh? Come on, Aoko, deep down you know this is not a simple prank. Who'd wanna prank you anyway?

The voice inside her head sounded suspiciously like Kaito's but Aoko would never admit to like him that much to even hear his voice inside her head. No. Never. Not gonna happen.

Aoko sighed and took the next train home.

She was glad things went as well as they did. Now she didn't have to bear this burden all on her own. If this really was not an elaborate joke then she wasn't alone anymore. She'd have someone to help her solve the case and someone who she could ask what to do. She could ask Ran if it wasn't smarter to have some pros look at it. No one would laugh at her if Ran believed her as well, right?

However, Aoko did wonder what they'd do if this confirmed to be a real issue. Obviously, the first step would be to talk to Kudo-kun. Maybe, if Ran thought it serious as well, she could talk to Hakuba. Then they'd have at least one detective at their side. And since those detectives were smart, they'd know what to do, right? The burden would be lifted from her shoulders and she'd feel like before all this started, right?

Of course, there was a part inside Aoko who wanted to solve this on her own. She and Ran would be enough, it said, it kept telling her on and on. Ran seemed smart enough and if they were stuck they could just ask someone for help, sure they wouldn't tell the context but Ran had connections and Aoko could start searching for some.

The girl always wondered what she'd do when she got older. Now, she'd finish school in two years and then what? If she were able to solve this than she'd know for sure what to do, right? She could become a detective, an officer, anything. She'd have a direction at least.

If she came to hate solving this then she'd at least know that the path of a detective was not made for her so she'd choose another one.

And maybe, just maybe, she wanted to prove something. To her or her father or Kaito – she didn't know. She just knew that she wanted to be special, as well.

Kaito was that great magician and her father was a great keibu, Hakuba was already a great detective. And she? Keiko at least knew what she wanted to do, what she wanted to become but Aoko didn't even have that.

Most of the time, she was lonely, having her father chase after a phantom for most of his life and having Kaito cancel all their meetings lately. Maybe this was exactly what she needed. Besides, she felt honestly excited to be presented with such a challenge. She felt like, even if it was a prank, she'd still try to find out who was behind it all.

This thing was something that, for the first time, gave Aoko something to do. For the first time she felt like she was needed, like if it wasn't for her something horrible would happen. At the same time it put a grand burden on her shoulders but she didn't think she was too weak to shoulder it.

With the excitement bubbling inside of the girl she returned home safe.

She texted Ran a short message that she got back safe and wished her a good night.

In addition, it seemed, Aoko might gain a new friend who she needed as much as she needed oxygen to breathe because without Kaito her world was slowly falling apart.

Geez, this site is so stupid, honestly -.- had me delete the first chapter just because I wanted to add a line in the second. Honestly, FF, can't you just make this a little user friendlier? You totally failed in usability classes -.-