Haibara handed each of us a small capsule of the prototype antidote, although the reason we had to take the antidote at exactly the same time was still a little obscure to me. Probably something to do with a baseline or something, I wasn't sure. This kind of science wasn't my forte, I knew more of forensics and gemology. Haibara then directed us both to separate rooms to give us some semblance of privacy. We both took the pill and closed the doors.
The too-familiar pain burned through me as I collapsed onto the plush armchair that was thankfully in the room. I don't think the floor would be too comfortable with the pain racing through my entire body. My bones felt like they were liquefying and reforming, and my heart strained against my ribs. A moment later, though it felt like hours, the pain subsided and I could finally think straight. I moved to stand, but something felt off, like my center of gravity had moved, and I stumbled over backwards, falling into the armchair with a yelp. There was a sharp rap on the door.
"Tsukimi-san?" Haibara's voice called. "May I enter to view the results?" I nodded, before remembering she couldn't see me through the door.
"Come in," I said, the echo of my voice sounding off, deeper and richer than the usual. The door pushed open, admitting the small scientist. She looked up at me, and her eyes widened. She looked shocked, although I had no idea why, considering she had seen both myself and Kudo recovering from a prototype multiple times. Haibara began frantically scribbling on the clipboard she had brought in with her, and she ran a battery of tests on me before nodding sharply.
"It appears that this formula had some unexpected side effects. I will go check on Kudo-kun to confirm this hypothesis." And with that, she swept out of the room, lab coat flapping in the breeze of her movements. I carefully moved to the full-length mirror to see what the 'unexpected side effects' could be, seeing as I hadn't had a chance while Haibara was running tests.
Unexpected was right, I found myself thinking as I looked in the mirror. Where I should have been seeing a feminine figure, a tall, masculine figure greeted me. I shifted uneasily, and the reflection did the same. It was really me. I idly wondered if Kudo had ended up having a similar crisis after Haibara had either told him or shoved him in front of a mirror. I moved into the main room of the professor's house. Sitting on the couch was a girl I guessed to be Kudo, looking very lost. I flopped onto the couch next to Kudo.
"Should I call you Kudo-chan now?" I asked teasingly, flipping his now-long hair over his shoulder. He responded by scooting further down the couch away from me, and I chuckled. Haibara came in then, clipboard in tow.
"Well, there's good news and bad news," she said flipping to a fresh page of her clipboard. "The bad news is that I can't fix this until the prototype wears off. The good news is that it will only take around 12 hours to wear off, as opposed to the usual 24." Kudo sighed in relief. "I suggest you two find something to do with yourselves until then, and not here. I need some time to figure out how to avoid this in the future." I gave her a thumbs up, and nudged Kudo off the couch.
"C'mon Kudo-kun, let's get out of Haibara-san's hair for a bit," I said with a grin, maneuvering him to the door. I steered him to a nearby café that I liked. I sat him down at a table, where he stared at the napkin dispenser, completely lost and a little zoned out. I made my way to the counter and ordered. A black coffee for Kudo, and for me a vanilla caramel frappuccino. When asked for a name, I replied with 'Honda Hikaru' and I went to sit next to Kudo.
.:():.
The barista called out my hasty pseudonym, and I collected the drinks. As I walked back to the table, I began sipping at my frappuccino. I slid the black coffee in front of Kudo, who relaxed and scooped up the paper cup. He took a sip and sighed happily.
"Much as I love Ran," he said, "I missed this." He waved the cup in the air, careful not to spill the precious contents.
"That's the most I've heard you say since this whole mess started," I said, grinning and sipping my drink. He gave me a flat look, happiness at my gift of coffee warring with annoyance at the teasing. As we finished our drinks and were standing to leave the shop, a scream echoed and someone collapsed. Because of course something like this would happen. I turned to the barista behind the counter.
"Call the police and an ambulance," I snapped, before moving to the collapsed customer, Kudo following me. I looked at the coffee cup on the table near the body. An almond latte.
"Don't bother looking for the scent of almond," I told Kudo, then showed him the cup when he asked why. He swore under his breath.
"At least we can say that if they used cyanide, they're damn clever to hide it in the victims' almond latte. That would make identification of the poison take longer. They just wouldn't be expecting two detectives to come into the café," Kudo said, and we shared a grin, continuing to investigate and looking for other signs of cyanide poisoning.
.:():.
The police came quickly, Megure-keibu at the fore. They gathered information from the various patrons of the café, and the forensics officers plunged headlong into their own investigation. Meanwhile, Officer Takagi began to read off the information about the victim.
"The victim is Amano Nanako, age 26. A regular at this café, always ordering the same thing: an almond latte and a cheese croissant. The poison, potassium cyanide from initial reports, was found in the latte." Takagi snapped his notepad shut, and Megure furrowed his brow.
"Who are our suspects?" Megure asked. I stepped forward confidently.
"There are three," I said, and Megure snapped his attention towards me.
"And who are you to say that?" The portly inspector asked, puffing up rather impressively.
"Ah, my apologies," I began with a short bow. "My name is Honda Hikaru. I'm a detective, along with my sister, Orihime." I gestured to Kudo, who gave me somewhat of a sour look. Megure just looked somewhat flat.
"Of course you two are detectives," he muttered to himself. "Now. Who are these suspects?" Score one for high school detectives.
"Well," Kudo began, taking over from me. "You have the obvious, the barista who prepared the latte, Kagemine Shirou-san. Then you have the victims' boyfriend, Masane Ichigo-san. And the victims' best friend, Niwa Megumi-san." He finished listing the suspects, then turned to me.
"A motive for the barista is unknown," I said, picking up the trail of reasoning. "But Masane-san had been trying to break up with the victim for the past month, and Niwa-san was apparently bitter about losing out on an important audition to the victim." Megure hemmed and hawed, turning the new information over in his head, then turned and barked orders at the officers behind him.
.:():.
"Megure-keibu! We've found the poison container!" Takagi held out an evidence baggie with a tiny vial in it.
"Where was it?" Megure asked, inspecting the tiny vial.
"It was in the bathroom garbage," Takagi replied, placing the baggie on a table. I knew who the killer was now, as when they were searching for the poison container Kudo and I had questioned the suspects thoroughly. We both stepped forward to start telling our deductions.
.:():.
"And the killer is none other than you- Niwa Megumi-san!" I said with an air of finality when we finished with the method. Kudo picked up the line of reasoning to stop the protests of innocence from Niwa.
"The barista could not have done it, as he's only been working here for a week, and didn't know Amano-san or that she regularly ordered an almond latte. Masane-san could not have done it, because he never touched the latte. You, however, purchased the drinks for your whole group, and knew that Amano-san would be the only one getting an almond latte. I'm certain that when we check the prints found on the poison vial, they'll match yours." Kudo's statement also carried a sense of finality, and Niwa Megumi broke down in the middle of the café.
"It's all because that bitch took and took from me, and never gave anything in exchange. She took the man I liked, the role I wanted, and all the money I spent on damned almond lattes!" She burst into sobs, collapsing to her knees. After a moment, Takagi picked her up and led her to the police car outside.
"Well done, you two!" Megure cried rather jovially. "It was almost like watching Mizuki-kun and Kudo-kun work together!" I carefully schooled my face into an expression of awkwardness.
"It was nothing, sir," Kudo demurred. "We just couldn't let something like that happen in front of us." Megure nodded solemnly.
"Well, I'll just need you to fill out a report, and then you're free to go," he said.
.:():.
When we had left the café finally, and were walking home, Kudo turned to me.
"Honda Orihime, really?" He asked with a scathing tone.
"I wasn't leaving it up to you," I snarked. "If I did, you'd have a name like Ellery or Irene, and people would be asking if you were related to Conan. And then Ran would want to meet up with you and see why you weren't taking Conan, and our time's almost up as it is!" I punctuated this scenario with much flailing of arms. Kudo glanced at his watch and his eyes widened.
"Guess we'd better get back to the professors' house then," he said, then realized we were standing right in front of said house. I shoved him into the house, calling out to Haibara as I did. She came trotting up the stairs in her lab coat, clipboard in hand.
"Perfect timing," she said with a smirk. "I presume you'd like to use the rooms again?" I nodded, as did Kudo, and we went to the rooms we were in previously. The pain began soon after that, melting bones and straining heart. Again, minutes felt like hours. Again, Haibara came in afterwards and ran tests. Again, I looked in the mirror after the tests. A seven year old girl stared back, and I whooped with glee. While it was interesting, if weird, for a day, any longer and I would have an issue. I left the room and saw that Kudo was also back to normal.
"Guess I can't call you Kudo-chan anymore, eh Kudo-kun?" I teased, and he promptly smacked me.
.:():.
And end! I'm sorry the murder got kinda compressed, but I kinda suck at writing that sort of thing. Hope you enjoyed anyway~!