Hello .
This is the first actual installment of my fanfictions. Anticipate long epics in the near future, but here is my first.
Please give constructive criticism. "It Sucked!" or "You're gay!" does not qualify without elaboration. Thank you.
If it seems that the paragraphs are short, I had intended for it to be read on a phone or a 4 inch wide Word Document, not a full-screen computer. Paragraphs that would fit on a full computer just seemed a bit too lengthy.
I base the language and voices off of the American English Dub though the names are the Japanese variety, so there aren't any honorifics like "-san", "-chan", etc (although, somehow "Conan-kun" said by Amy couldn't not be written out). Otherwise, I hope I got the personality and "voice" of the characters right.
Thanks for reading.
Enjoy the fic!
-Smiling Crow
Ghost Hunters
A dog barked loudly in the night as three figures made their way around District 2. The streetlights provided a glow, but the figures did their best to stay in the dark.
They silently approached the fence to Block 21 and checked to ensure no one was around.
At a wordless signal, the larger figure pulled out a rope with a metal attachment at the end. He swung it a few times to get it over the fence-
Only to have it come down on a smaller figure's head.
"OW! Genta!"
"Shhh, Mitsuhiko! No one can know we're around. That's the whole point of this!" The smallest figure whispered fervently.
By the third try, the rope successfully latched and the three actual children from the Shonen Tantei climbed over the stone wall to the eerie mansion.
This was the fabled haunted house they had heard so much about. Last time, Conan managed to convince them to leave, but ever since, they'd been conspiring on coming back. They got the perfect opportunity when Conan was out with Ran and Mouri on a vacation and Ai was home sick.
They got in the back door- weirdly unlocked- and turned on their flashlights.
"OK guys, we got everything?"
"Flashlights, batteries, sleeping bags, candy, sandwiches, some comics… yeah, we got everything. Oh, and guess what!" Genta pulled out some stacks of paper. "My cousin works at a shrine. He got us the real deal! Actual exorcism slips! That ghost won't know what hit it. Haha!"
"Genta you're a genius!" Ayumi exclaimed.
"Shhh! Come on guys, we need to be quieter so we don't scare away the ghost." Mitsuhiko whispered angrily.
"Right!" They both nodded.
Their first priority was to scope out the house. They found the library and the rumors were true, it was completely filled with books! They decided that the library would be the best place to camp out because of the space.
They went on upstairs and found a bathroom, a few guest rooms, and one last room that was- for once in the house- actually locked.
"Hey guys, wait here. I read a book on locks once." Mitsuhiko said. Sure enough, using a paperclip and a pen, he managed to unlock the door.
The inside was pretty cool. It had a bunch of old soccer posters and even a few spare soccer balls lying around. The bookshelves had advanced course books and entire shelves dedicated to mystery novels.
"Wow, this could be Conan's room!" cried the female member. The others agreed completely.
"Yeah, everything here is either a mystery novel or some soccer stuff. It's like his paradise." Genta replied.
"Next time, we need to convince Conan to come with us. He'd like this room!"
After deciding to head back to the library, they opened up their snacks and started munching on the small, midnight meal.
"So, what do ghost hunters do, exactly?" Genta asked with a mouth full of sandwich.
"I dunno. Usually people just wait until midnight and stuff happens. That's what goes on in the movies." Mitsuhiko explained.
"Ohhh! What if the ghost is evil and scary like the movies." Ayumi cried.
They all shuddered at the image of a white ghost with long, black hair crawling towards them.
"D-don't worry, guys. I've got the exorcism slips!" Genta said, gaining confidence.
"Yeah, nobody in those shows ever has exorcism slips on them. That's why they always get caught!" Mitsuhiko rationed, also gaining confidence.
So, they spent a few hours like that; waiting, talking, eating some sugary rations, and reading comics.
"Ugh! I'm so bored!" Genta exclaimed around 12:45. They'd expected the worst at midnight, but were sorely disappointed. As it was, they were all starting to get sleepy from the sugar crash and inactivity.
"Hey I know! We could read some of the books on the shelves!" Ayumi exclaimed. The other two decided it was better than nothing, so they nodded in agreement.
After a few minutes of looking at spines, they quickly ignored any books that had the author "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle" on them. How Conan could read these complicated books was beyond any of them. They managed to find three books that were not related to the man or mysteries in general.
The first one ended up being a ghost story, ironically for them. However, the spine suggested it didn't see as much use as the mystery novels.
The other two were photo albums. They had no titles to them, but the detective club members were eager to see some of the photos.
They opened the first one and saw a relatively familiar face. Shinichi Kudo stared back at them in front of some resort with a rather pretty blonde woman and a bespectacled dark-haired man. They guessed they were the parents, but were shocked to find out that this house belonged to Ran's boyfriend.
They continued rifling through the pages, seeing a few with Ran, Dr. Agasa, even one with Inspector Megure and a couple other policemen.
When they reached the end of that one, they picked up the last volume and opened it up-
To see CONAN staring back up at them!
"What the heck is Conan doing here?!" Genta exclaimed.
"Well, Conan did say he's Shinichi's cousin, maybe it's just the one photo." Mitsuhiko reasoned.
But they were wrong, they flipped page after page and Conan grinned back in each and every one of them.
True, he didn't have the trademark glasses, but there was no mistaking the face or that confident smirk. In one, he was next to a small girl in a red dress who was grinning at the camera. The girl seemed familiar to them, but none of them could place exactly who it was.
"This doesn't make any sense. How can Conan be here? Is he that close to the family? And who is that girl?" Ayumi asked quietly. Truthfully, she was getting scared. This didn't feel right to her.
They continued looking through the album until they found the very last picture. They gasped and stared in shock for a solid five minutes.
There was no doubt about it. The kid in the photo had obviously taken his dad's glasses- judging from the now glasses-less man from the other album squinting in the background- and was grinning somewhat goofily at the camera. The girl in the red dress was back along with the pretty blonde woman. In the background was a streamer that read "Happy New Years' 1984". That was almost eleven years ago! (AN: I just guessed a year. The technology and timeline is so sketchy in the DC world, I just based it off of the fact that the manga started in 1994)
The kids slowly looked at each other and then back down at the picture when Ayumi gasped again
"That girl! I knew I recognized her! That's Miss Ran!" She exclaimed, terrified. That proved it, this photo was almost a decade old and Conan was there!
"How is that even possible? How can someone from then be here?" Mitsuhiko wondered aloud. "Is it possible that Conan is really some teenager that got shrunk down to a kid…?"
Gears in Mitsuhiko's head turned as he tried to make sense of his theory when Genta suddenly started speaking, breaking his concentration.
"Hey guys, w-wait! This is the last photo taken, right?" A nod. "And that locked room upstairs could be Conan's, right?" A worried nod. "And this is what Conan looks like now, right?"Another nod. "What if the Kudos had another kid? What if something happened and that's why no one mentions another kid in the news. Ran must've forgotten him, since she was so young and everyone else doesn't want to bring it up! What if that kid died that night!"
"Wait are you saying-"
"No, Conan-kun can't be-"
"It's the only logical explanation-"
The three stood up at their deduction.
"CONAN EDOGAWA IS A GHOST!"
The next day a very tired, shrunken detective trudged into school after a particularly exhausting case at the resort. He just wanted to get over with this dull kids' class and-
"There he is!"
"Don't worry Conan-kun, we'll help you cross over!"
He was suddenly tackled to the ground by the three members of the Shonen Tantei while being smothered in old exorcism slips.