You guys are so lucky, this is over twice the ength of the last chapter. It's also only been a week. Way ahead of schedule.
Sorry if I misspelled any Japanese words. I admit to being too lazy to hunt through fic after fic in an attempt to find the right spelling, and hope that author had it right. Also, I don't care if the Japanese names later on aren't real, I made them up when my internet was down. They sound Japanese at the very least, so please just bear with me.
Also, I'd like to note that I am only human and not Gosho Aoyama. Therefore, I sadly can't say that the characters will be perfectly in character 100% of the time. I will do my best and things will be realistic, but it may not be exactly what a character would do in a specific situation. This is a fanfiction, and this is my as-canon-as-possible interpretation of the characters.
Can't think of anything else to say really.
Disclaimer: If I owned, Magic Kaito would still be running, and Kaitou Kid would appear more in Detective Conan.
Read and review. Or else!
At the exact same moment, two different people thought, "I hope I made the right decision." It would be a lie to say that they were thinking about the same thing, or anything even close. Both the decisions made were important though, and would probably affect the rest of their lives.
I know he agreed to the deal, but still, if Kuroba panics, there's gonna be a problem. But I'm one to talk, I purposed the deal, and he agreed. I don't have the right to even be thinking these things. I mean, he accepted it. And it's not as if we haven't worked together before. Even if it's only been in the open once, we both knew it. Why am I thinking this? I trusted him enough to make the deal, so I have to trust him not to back out of it and run. Besides, that's not his style. Getting away he's fine with, but not only is he too prideful to run away, but it would mean abandoning his life and becoming someone new so that I couldn't find him.
Kudo Shinichi, trapped in the seven year old form of Edogawa Conan, much to his resentment, was sitting on the bus on the way to the Mouri Detective Agency. After all, Ekoda was too far to walk to from Beika, though it might've been doable if he was still seventeen. But he wasn't. At least not externally, he had definitely retained his intellect through the transformation, something he was thankful for. After all, it would be hard to be a murder detective if he had the thought processes of a seven year old, despite the fact that the Shounen Tantei-dan had solved them before, they had yet to solve one entirely by themselves.
The bus ride wasn't all that long, but it felt longer due to his impatience to get home and the fact that he was pondering over his divided opinions on having to lie to Ran about his identity. Sometimes he thought that since he wanted to tell her even though it went against all logic, he should. Something always happened though, every single time he was about to tell her.
There was that time Haibara had decided to knock some sense into him by pretending the Black Organization had taken her back so she could continue her research under the condition that she killed him, his parents, and Hattori. She even went so far as to hold an extremelyrealistic fake gun to his head. Even though Shinichi had trouble seeing it because it was dark and he was lying down, he'd seen enough guns and deaths by bullet wounds to be able to have a decent amount of accuracy when it came to guns. Both shooting and determining the authenticity and make.
And all the other times they were interrupted, whether or not that had be planned or welcomed. There was the first day he was Conan, when he would've told her right off the bat if her dad hadn't fallen down the stairs in front of them. Several times someone had impersonated him, whether over the phone or in person.
That wasn't the point however, as Shinichi couldn't tell Ran about Conan even if he sort of wanted to. He'd contemplated it many times, but Haibara or someone would stop him again, in all likelihood. Especially with his rotten luck.
Not that Shinichi thought he was going to be telling at any point in the near future. If theyfound him out and Ran knew, she'd be killed. As long as she was ignorant, they wouldn't hurt her. In his opinion, it was better that she was alive and missing him than if she'd known he was there and dead. But occasionally, in rare moments every so often, he'd see how sad she was or hear her crying at night when she thought no one was listening. She tried to put on a mask to be strong, but she had to let her feelings show sometimes, and that just made him feel even guiltier. Especially when he thought of how just because she looked happy didn't mean she was. Shinichi couldn't always tell when, but sometimes he knew that the pain was eating away at Ran, though she suppressed it so people wouldn't worry.
That just made him feel worse, because he'd caused Ran's suffering, and there she was, trying to put on a brave, happy face for her father, Sonoko-chan, and especially her young charge, "Conan-kun".
It was times like that that made Shinichi really hate himself for what he was doing to her. He was amazed at, and eternally grateful for how long Ran had been willing to wait for him. And she still hadn't given up. Shinichi felt so unworthy of her, she was so patient, beautiful, caring, passionate, and knew exactly how to keep his ego in check. He loved her for it. He just plain loved her for being herself, loved her for everything she was.
She loved him too, and she's told him so, not only thinking she was talking to the seven year old Conan, but when he looked (or sounded) like the seventeen year old he really was. She was perfect like that, and he was living in her house, lying to her about it. Curse those men in black, why did they have to do this to him? Why did they have to pick that day to meet at Tropical Land, and go on that exact roller coaster car?
Really, Shinichi knew he was to blame. More than he asked those questions, he asked to himself, "Why did I have to follow them?" "How could I be stupid enough to forget that there were two of them?" and things like that.
On some level, Shinichi was appreciative of that. In turning him into a seven year old and thinking that they'd killed him, the Black Organization had given him the chance to take them down, and stop more people from suffering at their hands. But he would still never, ever, forgive them for turning him into Edogawa Conan and taking him away from Ran.
Even if that little push of Shinichi's absence had been useful towards getting to the point of going out for real, and actually calling themselves boyfriend and girlfriend if he could ever really come back, it was just so wrong. He and Ran loved each other, they would've gotten there pretty soon, this wasn't useful at all. Shrinking into a little kid and being forced to abandon your life was just horribly wrong on so many levels, he couldn't think of a way to describe it.
I need to start calling her more often. Maybe I should do that tonight; it's been almost a week since we last talked. I want to be able to really talk to her again. For one thing I just need to talk to another teenager who treats me like one in return, and Hattori said something about going somewhere with Kazuha-chan for the next day or two, so I can't call him. Those two need to realize how much they like each other, I mean seriously. That thing Hattori said to me once about me being so adept at figuring out what others are thinking and feeling, but being unable to do the same about myself, that applies to him too. At least he's realized he likes her, but he needs to come out and tell her already. Not that I'm exactly in any position to be giving relationship advice right now.
Unfortunately, that was also true, and Shinichi knew it. This wasn't the time to dwell on his situation or having to lie to Ran however, because the bus was approaching his stop, and brooding over vaguely depressing things like that made it incredibly hard to don the mask of Edogawa Conan. Seven year olds didn't get depressed, stressed, or even all that quiet if they weren't sleeping. Kids his "age" were supposed to be cheerful, carefree, excited, and inquisitive, and that was a rather hard act to pull off when he was brooding over things like this, things he couldn't do much to fix.
So he dropped it and moved on to happier topics such as what they were doing tomorrow, since tomorrow would be Sunday he didn't have to go to school. Ugh, the first grade was so freaking boring! Also, as it was relevant to the recent past, wondering about the Kid heist that Kuroba had mentioned. It sounded . . . interesting, as well as a refreshing break from the murder cases. While it was impossible for him to ever truly dislike solving the murder cases, well, it was the end of the week, and they'd run into, what was it, five bodies this week? One of which was with the Shounen Tantei-dan, one with Agasa-hakase and Haibara – thankfully, he could act normally for that one most of the time – and the other three with Mouri-san and Ran, only one of which had been brought in by a client. The other two they'd run into while they were out doing things, like shopping at the mall. That one had been annoying as hell.
Solving the murders was still exciting, and as he'd told Kuroba, that fact made him feel guilty. Sometimes though, it got a bit excessive. Like this week, in his opinion, one murder case a week was enough. Take that back, no one should ever have to lose their life prematurely at the hands of another like that. Great job Shinichi, now I feel bad again for thinking that. Even if it was an accident, just a little slip of the thoughts, I still meant that that's a good pace for solving them, Shinichi thought to himself.
If this were an idealistic world he continued, yeah right though, everyone had a different idea of "ideal" and "perfect", so that was impossible. Then there'd be no murderers or crime. Kuroba wouldn't be Kid because his dad would still be alive and there'd be no Organization for him to get revenge on, no gem his dad had been killed for. And there would probably have never been a Kaitou Kid in the first place, and no police force, since no one would commit any crimes in an ideal universe. There wouldn't be a hole in the ozone layer, there'd be no poverty, no world hunger, and we'd already have gone into space to solve the problem of over population, because there'd be no wars, and as sad as it is to admit, the planet would already be vastly overpopulated if it wasn't for the wars our ancestors fought. Ugh, that makes me feel so selfish and dirty to admit. Time for another topic change, considering that I managed to get just a few meters from the Detective Agency without paying any attention whatsoever.
That probably says something about how much I'm used to living here and treating this place like a makeshift home, and I'm not sure I want to figure out whether it's good or bad.
"Tadaima Ran-neechan!" Shinichi called out as he walked through the door of the apartment above the Agency, putting on his cute little "Conan-kun" face as he did so. Ran had seemed a bit worried about something or other lately, though he wasn't quite sure what, and he didn't want to add to her stress.
"Konnichiwa Conan-kun, how was it at Agasa-hakase's? Did he blow up one of his inventions on accident this time?" Ran asked, referring to a rather messy explosion that had happened last time Shinichi was there with the rest of the Shounen Tantei-dan. What was it again . . . oh yeah, the professor had been trying to get that personal jetpack of his to work again. And it had failed again.
"Nope, but only because Haibara and I got him to take us to the park. We played on the swings; it was a lot of fun. I swung high enough that I could see over the bar at the top one time!" No reason not to use this as an excuse to settle some of her suspicions, but it made him feel like such a hypocrite, after all, wasn't he Mr.-there's-only-one-truth? Here he was though, lying through his teeth to his best friend about everything that was going on in his life at the moment.
"That's good, I'm glad you got outside. By the way—" Ran started, before being cut off by a voice from the kitchen.
"Hey Ran-chan, is Conan-kun here yet? You said we could go once he got here," came a voice from the other room, interrupting Ran in an Osaka accent, just as Kazuha-chan came in from the other room, followed by Hattori. What're they doing here? I thought Hattori said they'd be – oh, he meant they'd be here in Tokyo. Why didn't he tell me? He does have some other reason besides surprising me, right?came Shinichi's confused thoughts as he processed the two Osaka teens standing in the living room of the Mouri residence.
"Hey Ku-Conan-kun. Glad to see you're here, we've been waiting for awhile, it's about time we left," Hattori said, speaking up for the first time, and once again, almost calling him "Kudo". It was inevitable, really, and probably the reason Hattori had taken to calling him "bozu", so he didn't stumble in front of someone who shouldn't hear his real name. Which was almost everyone, when in reference to Shinichi's current form of Edogawa Conan, since so few people knew.
"Huh? Go where?"
Hattori gave a kind of half-smirk out of the entertainment at knowing something he didn't, which irritated Shinichi immensely. "Don't ya know? We're going to the museum. They've got a special exhibit on the history of crime novels, and the girls want to see the gem hall. Apparently, they've got some big gem on loan for about two weeks; I think it's an Emerald or something."
"After that we're going to go eat at a restaurant, there's this Italian place Ran-chan mentioned, we'll probably go there. It'll be fun; it's been a while since we've gone somewhere. Maybe next time Kudo-kun can join us, I know Ran-chan's missing him," Kazuha-chan explained, getting a lookfrom Ran, probably annoyed about the reference to Shinichi. He didn't really see why though, Kazuha hadn't said that they were in love, which they were. Or at least he was in love with Ran. They were still going to deny it to the ends of the Earth until he came back as Shinichi though.
"Let's go then. I wanna see the stuff they have on Holmes!" Shinichi said in his most excited little boy voice, at which Hattori quirked an amused eyebrow at his abandonment of male pride. After all, he knew that it was really Shinichi there in front of him. Kazuha and Ran giggled at his reaction, Ran also rolling her eyes and muttering a comment about how much Conan was like that baka mystery-otaku, but her smile didn't quite reach her eyes. She wasn't completely depressed by any means, but she was sad and she missed him. Both teen meitantei had noticed it, and it hurt Shinichi to see her sad over him when he was standing right there. He felt unbelievably guilty.
They were going by bus, since there weren't any adults coming, and the museum was too far away to walk. Hattori's motorcycle could only fit two people after all, so there really weren't any other options. Hattori hadn't brought his motorcycle anyway.
"Ya know neechan's sad again. I saw it when you said that thing about Holmes. Maybe you should tell her sometime," Hattori suggested quietly, as they'd fallen behind the girls, not all that interested in their chatter (as long as neither of them were involved, at least) and knowing that girls would be a mystery they'd never be able to crack anyway, not matter how good they got.
"Hattori, you know I can't tell her. If theyfind out about me and she knows, she'll be killed too. She doesn't deserve to die for my mistakes. I can't tell her, no matter how much I want to. That'd be selfish, I'd probably end up getting her killed, and then I'd never forgive myself," Shinichi said, his face grim but his resolve firm. No matter how much he wanted to, her life was worth more to him than his happiness. As mean as it sounded, he'd also rather that she was alive, sad, depressed, and missing him, than dead because he'd told. He didn't want Ran to be sad over him at all, but if those were the choices, no way was he going to let her die. Shinichi just hoped that if, kami forbid, that did happen, she'd move on quickly and not dwell on him for too long. He hated it when Ran was sad.
Hattori looked uncertain, but replied "Okay Kudo, if you're sure, I'll help. I'm not sure I agree, but I don't really know what your full situation is, even if you've been keeping me more or less updated . . . as far as I know. Just make sure you tell her the truth when this whole mess is over, I think neechan deserves at least that much. I'm with you against them though."
"Thanks Hattori, it's nice to have a friend in this who I can talk too," Shinichi replied, looking up with a smile. He then resumed looking ahead and realizing they were falling behind, and Ran to catch up with Hattori in pursuit, and soon in front of him. Of course, a teenager could run faster than a primary school kid, so it was only logical for Hattori to overtake Shinichi, even with his head start. It was so freaking unfair though, and was even worse when he was trying to chase Kaitou Kid.
They were close to missing the bus, and if it wasn't for the girls being ahead of them and walking up just before the driver closed the door, they would have missed it. However that wasn't the case, so it was rather irrelevant. They paid their fares and sat down in one of the booth-like spots where the seats face each other, "Conan-kun" and Ran sat on one side, with Hattori and Kazuha on the other, engaged in conversation about whether Tokyo or Osaka was better. Well, actually, that'd been mostly Hattori and Shinichi, each arguing fiercely that their city was better, much to the amusement of their companions. The two boys were obviously the loyal type, though they'd known that already.
Ran and Kazuha-chan, on the other hand, were chatting about martial arts and occasionally how useful it could be on a crime scene, which led to comments about a couple teen detectives, not all complimentary, but that topic was quickly averted either back to martial arts or moving to something new, like shopping. The boys had briefly heard some of the martial arts and shopping stuff, entirely missing what was said about them, and that didn't exactly make them comfortable.
Mostly because both Ran and Kazuha-chan were downright scary as martial artists sometimes, Ran with her karate and Kazuha-chan with Aikido. On top of that, both were champions and had at least a second-degree black belt. They were masters. Examples of such darted through Shinichi's head, Ran bending metal or cracking cement with her bare fists, not exactly something a normal person could do. But it was just another thing that made Ran so special, and he liked the fact that she was so strong and independent a woman.
As for Kazuha-chan, he'd seen her take down criminals, armed, bigger, and stronger than her, not caring if she got hurt. Multiple people like that who'd tried to attack her; they'd all lost pretty quickly. Of course, he'd never seen her at any aikido tournaments, where she competed against other masters, the way he'd seen Ran's karate tournaments so many times growing up. Still, they were more than strong enough to handle any real threat they'd come across so far, with the exception of those who took hostages. Shinichi hated people who did that, it was so dirty, so utterly low, and showed they were desperate and lacked the skill to get away on their own.
An ability which Kaitou Kid had of course, which just made the chases that much more entertaining. The heists had always been a game, it would be entertaining to see where the new twist brought on by Shinichi figuring out Kid's identity would bring. As long as no one was killed, it'd stay fun. Kid heists made Shinichi hate murders more than ever, it was just completely the wrong setting.
Kid had a moral code which included No One Gets Hurt. That was his biggest, along with returning the items. If someone died, especially if the culprit tried to pin it on the thief, it just mad Shinichi mad. That'd happened far too much for his taste. Just once was too much.
It took awhile, but the bus pulled up at the museum. They were all eager to see the exhibits they'd come for and not so much the other group, the detectives not overly interested in the gem hall, while the girls – especially Ran – complained that they were getting fed up with Sherlock Holmes and Ellery Queen after hearing so much about them from their childhood friends. That definitely made plans harder, considering that they were going to try to stay as a group.
As Kazuha-chan had so eloquently put it, "If we leave you two alone for five minutes, someone will get murdered, you'll get caught up in the investigation, and forget about our existence till after you're done. Then you'll try to find us and when you do Ran-chan and I'll both be mad, ruining the whole evening." Kazuha-chan clearly hadn't been trying to avoid bluntness.
After much arguing, Ran suggested a coin toss. "We call heads!" Hattori had yelled much louder than necessary.
Ran flipped the 10¥ coin into the air and it was doing flips up and down in midair until Ran caught it and put it flat on the back of her palm, covered by her other hand. When she revealed the coin it'd landed on tails, much to the annoyance of Shinichi and Hattori.
With Ran and Kazuha-chan leading the way to the gem hall, Shinichi muttered out of the corner of his mouth "I'm never letting you call it again."
The statement provoked Hattori into defending himself in the argument. "How was I supposed to know it was gonna land on heads? There's a fifty-fifty chance you know."
"Hey slowpokes, hurry up and get over here, we're almost at the gem hall!" Kazuha called behind her, and surely enough, the entrance to the gem hall was only a few meters in front of the girls.
The gem hall wasn't very well lit, instead having spotlights above all the gems, showing off their color and in some cases, making them sparkle and shine that much brighter. The ceiling was also low throughout the hall, only about ten feet high. The room also had a very peculiar shape, something sort of like a rhombus, Shinichi supposed, with a smaller room sectioned off right in the middle. The wall to their right had a display case spanning at least thirty feet, with small gems of various sorts labeled inside. It was the best-lit place in the entire exhibit. There were also little pedestals in the middle of the room displaying groups of up to five larger crystals, often embedded at least partially in another gem or rock.
More exploring and looking around revealed that the room in the middle held a mini-exhibit on gold, and there were two more rooms behind it, as well as a vault for the really valuable gems. In short, the gem hall was big, and Ran and Kazuha-chan could make them all stay here as long as they wanted to. Shinichi's patience was wearing thin.
Finally, finally, they'd looked at everything but the gem vault, which was where all the large, most precious and expensive gems were. It also happened to be where they were displaying the Emerald, which was there for the next two and a half weeks. Of course, this happened to be where the girls were spending the longest, and having a field day with finding their different birthstones from every country on the list, there were three or four of those.
There was also over five minutes spent on investigating the emerald, Shinichi believed the label said that its name was the Sagebrush Emerald. Personally, Shinichi didn't see what the big deal was, and though it was pretty, it wasn't at all practical. Vaguely, he wondered whether Kuroba would attempt to steal it and see if it was Pandora. Though the thief had left out a lot of details –so had Shinichi though- he's been clear about the description of Pandora, just in case the tantei knew anything.
"Is there anything else we should see while we're here?"
"Nah, I think that's it. Besides, you can see how antsy Hattori-kun and Conan-kun are becoming," Ran replied to Kazuha-chan's question, both of which were overheard by the tantei.
"You mean we can go see the exhibition on the mystery novels?" demanded Hattori. The second the girls gave an affirmative nod, the two dashed out of the room towards the aforementioned exhibit.
"Hey, you two! No running in the museum!" Only to get stopped by the two guards stationed outside the gem vault yelling at them. Not wanting to be delayed any longer, Shinichi and Hattori grudgingly slowed down to a fast walk, the girls walking calmly and chatting about five meters behind them, the distance growing every second. Emphasis on "fast walking".
They were both incredibly grateful that the special exhibit hall happened to be just about the corner from the gem hall, especially since the museum was rather large and three stories high. It was a much quicker commute than if the halls had been on opposite sides of the museum. After all, the sooner they got there, the happier the two were. Really, it made sense that two detectives would have such a passion for mystery novels.
"Hey look at this! It's Doyle's original manuscript of A Study in Scarlet, the first ever Holmes novel!" Shinichi said, pointing it out excitedly, acting more like the little kid he appeared to be, and not even faking it this time.
"Please, that's so boring! You and I both know that Ellery Queen kicks Doyle's ass!" Hattori fiercely yelled back. In his opinion, Queen was by far the best. However, Shinichi thought Doyle was supreme, which led to an inevitable argument caused by clashing opinions.
Or at least, it would have if it weren't for an interruption. "Heiji! Don't swear in front of little kids! You'll teach them bad habits!" Kazuha-chan kept the argument from escalating beyond that, reprimanding Hattori for his language. After all, it looked like he was cursing to a seven year old, even if that wasn't really the case. Not that either of the girls knew that, nor were they supposed to.
"Honestly, you two are so immature. Conan-kun, don't repeat any swear words you hear Hattori-kun saying. Got it?" Ran clearly agreed. They both nodded, agreeing that they wouldn't swear anymore in that conversation. End of discussion, the girls were leaving no room for argument.
The two teens looked at each other as their childhood friends, accepting the response, walked back towards the beginning of the hall and started chatting again, oblivious to the exhibit that held the wonders of the best mystery novels written in the past hundred fifty years or so.
"How can they ignore all this? And please, everyone knows that Holmes is the best!" Shinichi shot back, this time in a quieter tone, just in case the girls happened to make sure they didn't swear again.
They debated the superiority of their favorite author for awhile, until they realized that if they kept this up, they wouldn't get a chance to actually look at the exhibit before Ran and Kazuha-chan dragged them out to go to dinner.
Said scenario happened about forty-five minutes later, before Shinichi and Hattori had looked around to their satisfaction, but seeing as the museum would be closing shortly anyway, they reluctantly agreed and left to go to dinner.
"So, where's this Italian place you were talking about?" Hattori asked, eager for dinner and still a bit irritated over having to leave the exhibit early. He was trying to focus on other things so he didn't take it out on anyone else. Not that that was likely to work for very long, but still, it was the thought that counted.
"Oh, it's just a few blocks away. No reason to take a bus or anything, it's not even a ten minute walk from the museum. It's really good, especially their pizza and noodles. And they have really good desserts too," Ran replied.
"Ne Ran-chan, want to go shopping after dinner? Our train doesn't leave till nine pm, apparently the earliest one before it runs at seven, so it's too late to catch that one." Kazuha-chan asked, making the meitantei freeze in fear when they heard those words. It didn't matter that they could stand in the same room as a murderer without fear, or confront someone armed with a knife, sword, gun, or some other weapon without panicking and win. The one thing they would always fear was shopping. Especially Hattori, seeing as no one was going to make a cute little seven year old boy carry their bags. Not that that would make it much more pleasant for Shinichi at all.
"Sure! I need some new shirts for the summer anyway, and since it's getting warm already, might as well get them now," Not good! Ran, why did you agree? Come on, there's got to be a way out of this!Shinichi thought, trying to keep his dread of the idea from showing, an extreme dislike of shopping wasn't warranted with his young appearance.
"But Ran-neechan, I don't wanna go shopping! I wanna go home and show Heiji-niichan that new detective novel I bought last week? Remember that one? I wanna go read it, I don't wanna go shopping Ran-neechan!" whined "Conan", on the verge of throwing a fit. Hattori was torn between disbelief and snickering at how utterly ridiculous Shinichi was acting, and Kazuha-chan was on the verge of giggling, as was Ran, though she hid it better and was more sympathetic-looking. Do I really look that funny?Shinichi wondered. I mean, I can understand Hattori laughing, he knows about me, but what do Kazuha-chan and Ran find so funny. Pft, they're probably just giggling over how cute "Conan-kun" looks, even when he's on the verge of a tantrum.
"Ma Ma Conan-kun, you and Hattori-kun can go back home while we go shopping. Is that okay?" Ran asked, making them both sigh with relief, they didn't have to go!
"Hai Ran-neechan, that's fine! I can't wait to show Heiji-niichan my mystery book!" "Conan-kun" exclaimed, and as Ran suggested a couple stores to hit that evening, Hattori ducked down to say something to him privately.
"Thanks Kudo, that was close."
Shinichi snorted, "Please, as if I wanted to go shopping any more than you do."
"Aa. I don't think there's a guy out there who actually likes shopping, it goes against some law of nature."
"You can thank me by not slipping up and almost calling me 'Kudo' again. You already did that three times today, Ran might get suspicious," Shinichi said with a smirk. Although he knew it was pointless, banter-type discussion such as this was fun to engage in with someone his own age again from time to time.
"Actually, I think if she hasn't noticed by now, it's not gonna matter all that much."
"I don't know, despite everything I've done to try and prove her wrong, she still seems to b—" Shinichi replied a bit warily of being overheard, when they noticed they weren't following Ran and Kazuha-chan anymore. After looking around for a few seconds, they realized that was because the restaurant was three stores back, and the girls had already gone in.
"Think they've noticed we're not behind them yet?" Hattori asked, mentally calculating their chances of getting away without a scolding from their companions. Even worse since it'd mostly be directed at him, with Shinichi in his shrunken state and all. It was more logical to assume that Shinichi had been following Hattori, after all.
"Definitely. They probably just decided it'd be entertaining to see how long it took us to realize we passed it, and chew us out when we went back." Hattori gave a resigned sigh, clearly not looking forward to the imminent scolding they'd get, even if it'd probably be short because the prospect of shopping had put the girls in considerably good moods.
And sure enough, when they got in there, Ran and Kazuha-chan were sitting in a booth not too far from the reception desk, and when they sat down, the girls were more than happy to give the detectives a piece of their minds about almost getting left behind and their lack of observant abilities, at least temporarily.
Which, naturally, was a statement met with resentment. The two boys were detectives, which meant they were supposed to be alert at all times, and they were two of the best. To have missed something that obvious was due partially to the fact that they were engaged in conversation, and also that they were teenage boys. However, it still wasn't something Shinichi wanted rubbed in his face and he suspected the same went for his "rival" of sorts.
"Heiji you aho! How you could not notice something so completely obvious, even as big an aho as you are is beyond me!"
"You're the aho! You didn't even bother to tell us we were at the restaurant!"
"Well I didn't realize you were being such a completely aho-ish aho that I'd need to! How such an aho can be a famous detective when he couldn't even figure that out is beyond me!"
"I'm not an aho; I'm a perfectly good detective! You're the aho here!"
"If you think I'm an aho, you're an even bigger aho than I thought, which is pretty darn big of an aho!"
"Yeah, well you're an even bigger aho!"
"Oh yeah, wel—"
"They're so immature, aren't they Conan-kun," asked Ran, interrupting the couple. Shinichi hid the roll of his eyes at their antics, but nodded in agreement to Ran.
"We're not immature!" both Hattori and Kazuha-chan protested in unison, earning themselves another eye roll from Shinichi, while Ran giggled.
"Someone help! Ishinomo-san is chocking!" yelled out a nearby female voice, and when the group looked over frantically, they saw a middle-aged woman standing up, her hands at her throat and her face contorted in pain. Her friends were standing around her shocked and worried, and while they looked on a man hurried over and grabbed Ishinomo-san's waist, squeezing tightly in an attempt at the Heimlich Maneuver.
"Ishinomo-san! Try and cough it up! Come on!" the man behind her yelled, continuing to make convulsing motions with his arms in an effort to push up what Ishinomo-san was chocking on, but as he was doing that, she was still crumpling in pain that didn't quite make sense for someone chocking.
In fact, several things looked wrong about her for someone who was chocking. The degree of pain she was in, the fact that she couldn't stand up, and also that the man was performing a perfectly good Heimlich, which wasn't working at all. Catching Hattori's glance, he determined that the detective of the west felt the same, and their suspicions were proven correct when the Ishinomo-san collapsed in the man's arms.
"Someone call an ambulance now!" yelled one of the others who'd been sitting at her table.
Hattori and Shinichi ran over, surprising several people and causing another person to almost trip over Shinichi. If they weren't worried about what might come of the situation, and preoccupied with hoping they were wrong, then they might've stopped and given that fact more than a fleeting second of notice. "Conan-kun", for example, would've been extremely irked about that fact, though as it was, he only spared a half a second to feel his irritation while running. Hattori, on the other hand, would've noticed, laughed, and then, inevitably, mocked him for it. Sometimes, being stuck as a seven year old was useful, but the other ninety-five percent of the time, it stunk. Really badly.
"Move! I need to see something!" Hattori told the group, all of which was rather shocked or frightened. A few seconds later, he was at Ishimono's side, and checked her pulse. Shinichi received all the confirmation he needed in Hattori's grim, determined look. The woman hadn't been chocking, she was poisoned. And now she was dead, right in front of them, killed right under their noses.
It infuriated them. A detective's job was to catch criminals, especially murderers, in their cases. That didn't mean, however, that they couldn't regret that the crime had ever happened in the first place. This wasn't the first time someone had been killed right in front of them either, usually by poison. Occasionally, there were even people who tried to use the police or detectives like themselves for alibis. Neither Shinichi nor Hattori had seen it coming, and Shinichi knew that Hattori regretted it as much as he did. If there had been a way to stop that murder, he would've taken it.
Then again though, he wouldn't have stopped it no matter what if he had the ability. As guilty as it made him feel, Shinichi knew he had to, and did, prioritize. He would only attempt to stop a murder no matter what if it were someone precious to him who had their life at stake, like Ran. Probably Hattori, his parents, Agasa-hakase, and Ai as well. Possibly the Shounen Tantei-dan or Kaitou Kid, once he got to know him better. Wait, that was foolish. No matter how much of a hypocrite it made him feel, no matter how guilty and horrible it felt or how much it made him hate himself, Shinichi knew that the only person he'd ever met that he'd want to save at any cost was Ran.
I guess that's part of what it means to be in love, he thought. Being willing to do anything for a person and wanting to see them safe and happy, even at your own expense.
He would try as hard as he could to save any life, especially the ones of those already listed, the lives of people who were important to him. People who were precious to him.
Sometimes though, detectives like him just had to accept reality. He'd seen a lot of people die in his lifetime, and he knew that every time a life was lost, the people who cared about the deceased person mourned and suffered, usually even more than the victim themselves. A life could never be retrieved once lost. So he had to accept the truth. Someone died here. They were killed. I might not be able to bring them back, but I will not let the murderer get away with this. If it's the only thing I can do, I will bring the culprit to justice and offer some final closure to their family and friends, a person to blame. And I will prevent the deceased from dying a nameless death.Once that was done, he would dwell on it for a few minutes, perhaps offer the mental equivalent of a prayer for someone who didn't really believe in any of that stuff, like the afterlife, take a minute to honor the deceased, and then move on. That was how life worked. Sometimes, it was the only way he stayed sane. Once it was all over with, justice brought, and closure given, Kudo Shinichi would accept the death for what it was, and move on.
Yet he knew, that if that ever happened to someone he cared about, he would not be able to take it so calmly and move on like that. He would dwell and regret, some small part of him blaming himself for not being able to prevent that death. He was a hypocrite, but he didn't worry about that. Shinichi would think about it when it happened, but until them, he had a murderer to catch.
"It's too late. She's dead. Kazuha, call the police! Neechan, tell the staff to make sure no one leaves the building!" Then came the final decree, there was no doubt now. Now everyone there knew that Ishinomo-san was dead.
"Hai," replied both girls before going to do as instructed, and follow routine. Really, if Shinichi were to think about it, this sort of thing happened way too much.
"Who are you to declare stuff like that?! You're just a teenager, not some police officer or form of authority! Buzz off!"
"I'm Hat—" Hattori started declaring, for while he was certainly a lot better than Mouri-san and deserved his title, he was still prideful about it. Shinichi didn't quite realize that he was pretty much the same, if to a slightly lesser degree, before the whole Conan fiasco. It was hard to have a big ego when you could be killed if your real name leaks and when you can be pushed or hauled around easily by almost all adults. None of which will take you seriously, because they're just talking to a seven year old grade-schooler. All that combined, and you've got one big bubble burst in terms of ego.
"Heiji-niichan, look at this. This was cyanide poisoning." Despite the childish way he addressed Hattori, Shinichi's tone was dead serious. Hattori left his argument and came over to see, something which Shinichi had partially planned as a way to avert the fight. And it was true, there was bluing on the late Ishimono-san's lips and nails, clearly indicating cyanide as the murder weapon.
"Aa. You're right," Hattori replied, then, turning to face everyone, he gave the orders that were needed to bring some order to the chaos caused by the recent murder. "Okay, everyone who was sitting at Ishimono-han's table and the waiter who served them, come over here now." The man from before wanted to protest again, but Hattori was exuding confidence and control, you didn't have to be a detective to realize that he knew what he was doing. That ability was especially needed in people their age, after all, not many people are likely to take a seventeen year old seriously, and it helped a great deal that they both had dads involved with their local police force. Come to think of it, so does Hakuba,Shinichi realized.
The police arrived as Hattori's orders were being carried out, Megure-keibu both surprised and grudgingly a little bit happy to see that "Conan" and Hattori were there, as well as put out that not only would Hattori (and Shinichi, though they didn't know that) probably end up solving the case again, but once again, a murder had occurred around him.
Shinichi was well aware that Mouri was gaining the reputation of being a death magnet from Megure-keibu, and Hattori had a similar, if less severe, misfortune. He also knew that most of the bodies seemed to be come across when hewas in the area, not Mouri-ojisan. After all, he had run into a bunch of mysteries, some of them murders, with the Shounen Tantei-dan. Really, though it was Saturday, this was the fifth murder this week that he'd run into. His death toll was irritatingly high, sometimes it amazed him that after all this time, he was not only so apathetic towards death, but also still sane.
"The deceased is Ishimono Nikoma-san, age 37, employee at Rusimark Electronics on the programming committee," Takagi-keiji reported from his policeman's notebook, as was standard for murder investigations. "The cause of death is cyanide poisoning at six forty-seven pm."
"Sou ka. Satou-kun, get forensics over here and have them test Ishimono-san's food, utensils, and plate." Megure-keibu gave instructions to the officers on how to conduct the investigation, however, so far unnoticed by him, "Conan" and Hattori were already testing for where the cyanide came from with a copper 10¥ coin.
"Oi! What're you two doing? Get away from there, this is a police investigation!"
"Demo Megure-keibu, we already found what we were looking for anyway. As far as we can tell, there's cyanide on Ishimono-han's pizza, salad fork, and hands. You can go ahead."
"Ano, Takagi-keiji, can you ask the forensics and autopsy people to check where the highest concentration of cyanide is?" requested Shinichi, once again playing the part of the little kid interested in detective work assisting Hattori or Mouri-ojisan. Also, if he asked Takagi-keiji, it was more likely that he'd end up finding out.
"Ano . . . Sure, why not?" Takagi answered exactly as Shinichi had hoped. He just hoped he didn't have to deal with the repercussions from giving it away to Takagi-keiji that he definitely wasn't a normal kid. As cool as it had sounded, and as much as he thought it wouldn't matter, that they were going to die in under an hour anyway, giving Takagi-keiji that line about telling him who he really was in the afterlife might not have been the brightest idea he'd ever had. Shinichi hadn't really been expecting to live through that incident at the time, though now he was thanking god whenever it was brought up that Takagi-keiji had the kind of personality that meant he hadn't really done any digging at all. Despite obviously being befuddled and curious, though Takagi-keiji did have a habit of really listening to what he said, despite Shinichi's apparent age. Seems he wasn't quite as naïve as everybody thought.
"Arigato Takagi-keiji!"
Hattori, in the meantime, had gathered all the possible suspects in one area to ask them a few questions, and now that he had police backup, there was no arguing. Shinichi quickly turned and walked over to hear, and as he walked over, he noticed Ran and Kazuha-chan, who had apparently come back awhile ago and were sitting off in a corner talking. Probably talking about boys or something, that's why they're being all private were Shinichi's thoughts, before he realized that if they were, it would encompass him too. However, the investigation was more important, he had to prioritize.
"Ano, I'm Hijisime Fukora, and Ishimono-san is my coworker. We all just came here for a dinner meeting," the first man informed them in a nervous tone, clearly not comfortable with the idea of murder. Or just a really good actor, if he happened to be the culprit.
"I'm Hakurna Kanaye, I'm also a coworker, actually she's my partner." This man, on the other hand, was clearly more confident about the whole situation, and to Shinichi it seemed as if he was used to control.
"My name is Ishinomo Yukio, and Nikoma was my coworker and wife," claimed the last man, who looked very depressed at the death of his wife, yet managed to refrain from hysterics.
"I'm Ishimono-chan's friend, we've known each other for years. Higurashi Sakura desu ka." Higurashi-san was the only living woman in the group, and was tears were leaking from her eyes, though her voice didn't quiver much, and she didn't shake all that much from her sobs.
Megure-keibu went on with the questioning, and while Shinichi continued to listen, he learned nothing of importance. With the lack of progress, he went to see if either the forensics or the autopsy team had the answer to his inquiry. The place with the highest concentration of cyanide was probably the method of poisoning, though he was curious about why there was so much cyanide, when only a minute amount was fatal. Possibly the culprit hadn't researched very much with the excitement of planning the murder, though there was the possibility that it was actually necessary to have that much cyanide for some reason. To spread it around and make it harder to identify the source, perhaps?
"Ne autopsy-niisan, can you tell me where there was the most cyanide? Heiji-niichan said to ask you for his investigation," asked the perfect image of a helpful, innocent grade-schooler helping a detective with a mystery. Of course, appearances are often deceiving.
Hattori looked up at the mention of his name; he'd wandered over after the questioning intending to ask some very similar questions. Shinichi hadn't really noticed his approach before now, but the decided to speak up, since it would save him the trouble of reporting the answer later. As long as the autopsy person didn't notice Hattori and tell him instead, that was.
"Uh, hai, the highest concentration was on Ishimono-san's hand, especially on her right ring finger, and both index fingers and thumbs. There was also an equally large amount, if not more, on the bottom of the pizza up near the crust."
Shinichi's brows furrowed in thought, his blue eyes calculating, before he leaned over and whispered a question to the man, the reply to which was negative. No, there was none.
Hattori shot him a look, but was clearly suspecting the same thing, and what question had been asked. Shinichi nodded at him in affirmation, there was a good chance they'd just found the murder method. The only question now was how had the murderer disposed of the poison's source?
The police, meanwhile, had been conducting an investigation on where the container that had held the poison had been disposed of. There hadn't been anything in the trash cans or on the suspects' person. Their belongings lacked anything that could hold a liquid as well, though Hakurna-san had a bottle of pills in his briefcase, which were prescribed medication. That didn't mean that he hadn't hid a capsule in there, however.
"You got anything Kudo?"
Shinichi nodded, looking at Hattori who was crouching near him so they could keep from being overheard when sensitive topics and anything where Shinichi's true identity was mentioned. Especially since Ran and Kazuha-chan were still sitting nearby.
"Aa. There's just three points I don't understand. Why the poison got on the tips of her index finger and thumb, as well as why there's so much cyanide in the first place," Shinichi listed, and Hattori supplied the last one with an analytical look that showed he was as deep in thought as Shinichi.
"The last one's the motive, right? I haven't heard anything, except after you left, Ishinomo-han said something about it probably having been Hakurna-han, since they had frequent large disagreements on how to execute projects, often escalating to shouting that everyone in the area could hear. He claimed the bottle of pills was proof, but tests showed that there's no poison in there. After that, she said that he had a motive too, since everyone had heard rumors that his wife was cheating on him."
Shinichi raised an eyebrow at the revelation. It was a really good thing he was working with Hattori on this one, otherwise he might've missed that. That would teach him to skip out on police questioning, though he had to take opportunities to find out other things when they presented themselves. Whatever, it didn't really matter at this point. What mattered was that Hattori hadtold him, and now Shinichi knew that little tidbit, even if it didn't actually help him find the murderer.
"Glad I'm here to listen to the questioning Kudo? If I wasn't you'd have to just hope that that was irrelevant, even if it did contain two possible motives." Yeah yeah, rub it in Hattori. It's not like I knew that that's what would come up, even if I really should've listened to the questioning.
"Just drop it Hattori," said Shinichi in a weary, fed-up sounding voice.
"Fine. Didja find anything out from forensics beside where the poison was?"
"No. Nothing important, as far as I could tell. I didn't find out what was in her purse or anything though, and that might be important."
Hattori looked at him with interest. "You really think the murderer might've hidden the weapon in her stuff even though it was obvious that forensics would get it all? I mean, it's possible if the weapon was hidden or inconspicuous enough, but do you really think they did it? I can't say I haven't considered it myself though. They still haven't found anything anywhere in the building, and none of the people had anything that could hold poison on them. Making an exception for Hakurna-han's pills, and frankly, he looks the most suspicious right now. I'm not sure if that's it though, something doesn't feel right about that."
"While it's true that they might not have found any traces of cyanide in the pill bottle, why would he bother doing that when it's something he obviously wasn't framed for and it only incriminates him? Whoever did this obviously thought up a reasonable method to try and get away with murder, why leave that big a whole?"
"Except he won't," Hattori said with a smirk. "The criminal won't get away with murder, because we're here. So they'll get caught."
"Right," Shinichi agreed, and Hattori's anticipation was contagious, for a grin crept onto his face. "We'll catch them. All we need to do is solve this mystery."
"And when it comes to that, we're definitely two of the best."
"What're you two talking about down there?" asked a voice from behind them in a female Osaka-accented voice. Shinichi could hear the impatience even before he turned around to see it on Kazuha-chan's face. Ran was standing next to her with a curious look on her face. Oh shit, I'm screwed, Shinichi had thought briefly, before Hattori answered for him, saving him from putting on an overly exaggerated "Conan" act in an attempt to stop any suspicions Ran might have from forming.
"I'm just teaching my little assistant here," Hattori ruffled Shinichi's hair, an action that was rather irksome. No matter how much he looked, and occasionally acted, like one, Kudo Shinichi was seventeen, not seven. He and Hattori were equals, and they both knew that. Even though it was necessary at the moment, Shinichi hated it when he was treated like a little kid even more by people who knew. "-the ropes. Thought he might want to have the experience for when he grows up and becomes a detective. Kid's sharp enough to be one." The emphasis on "grow up" had been faint, but it was there. Why did Hattori have to decide to tease him about his current form in front of Ran? Kazuha-chan too, since she'd probably mention anything overly suspicious, but, as always, Shinichi's priority was fooling Ran, much as it pained him to keep her in the dark. It was a necessary evil.
"That's good. I'm sure you'll be a great detective someday Conan-kun," Ran assured him with a smile. Something was sad about her eyes though, barely visible. She didn't want anyone to worry, and did a good job of keeping it hidden. He'd been looking for it though, and Shinichi knew that she was sad because she missed him. The seventeen year old him, her best friend. He just hoped that Kudo Shinichi could truly come back one day, for the world to know.
"I hope so Ran-neechan. What've you been talking about with Kazuha-neechan over there anyway?" Shinichi wanted to know, though they probably wouldn't tell him, especially with Hattori right there, was whether they'd been talking about him. Male's instinct was what made him want to know, that's all. Or at least, that's what he was trying to convince himself of.
"Why do you want to know Conan-kun?" inquired Kazuha-chan, confused over why a little boy would care what teenage girls talked about.
"Just curious is all. What were you talking about though? Was it the case?" Shinichi asked, a cute, if overly curious, little kid. At least, that was the image he was trying to project, but by now he'd had plenty of practice.
"Oh, we were talking about this jewelry store we want to visit after you guys leave. This is taking so long though, that if it wasn't for the fact that this is a murder scene, we'd have already left." It was against the law to leave a murder scene without the police dismissing you, and while the girls could definitely get the clearance to go if they truly wanted to, not only were the boys there, but it would be easier to sleep peacefully once they knew who the murderer was and how it had been done. Why exactly it worked like that puzzled Shinichi –wouldn't you just have nightmares about someone doing the same thing to you or whatever—but it worked. What could he do, they were women. Of course he was rather clueless, one of the only times he could get close to truly understanding them was when it concerned criminal motives, and even then . . .
However, Shinichi never really understood why criminals did such things, only occasionally, like to prevent their family from being killed or something. But then again, if they knew who the threat was, it wasn't good for blackmail. Not to mention, if that was the case, chances are the culprit would kill all his hostages anyway.
"Jewelry?" asked Hattori, and Shinichi felt something. It was a ghost of an answer in the back of his mind, so he knew, but he couldn't tell what it was. Every time he tried to grasp it, the concept would be left by itself, the solution having faded back into the depths of his mind. When he thought about it again, he got that ghost of answer that just wouldn't solidify.
But then it did. And he knew. From the look on Hattori's face, they both did. The proof would be easy enough to find, now that they knew what to look for.
Shinichi was sure that he was right. He hoped he was right too, and that he'd be able to see it if he wasn't.
"We'll be back in a minute," Hattori called, rushing out the side door to the forensics truck, Shinichi following closely in his tracks.
"Looks like they figured it out," he managed to hear Ran say, the length, or lack thereof, of his legs had left him in earshot longer.
"Well it's about time!" Kazuha-chan said impatiently, and then he was outside, right behind Hattori at the police forensics station.
When Hattori asked the forensics person to show him the contents of Ishimono-san's purse and test them for cyanide, Shinichi was brimming with anticipation. Even more when it was revealed that they were probably right. As long as they weren't missing anything, they'd just solved the case. Shinichi was sure of it however, it explained everything and nothing was amiss, even if their guess meant that some of the case had been left to chance.
"Oi Megure-keibu! The kid and I know who the culprit is. Get the suspects over here please," Hattori said, as they came close enough to the inspector that he didn't have to yell. The suspects had heard to, their reactions varying and shocked.
"Then who's the murderer?" Megure-keibu half-demanded, clearly annoyed that Shinichi and Hattori were doing the police's job for them, despite the fact that as detectives, it was perfectly acceptable for them to investigate.
Hattori answered him, cutting straight to the chase and fingering the culprit immediately. "The murderer is you, Ishimono-han!" Most of the detectives he'd seen solve cases had a fairly dramatic way of revealing the murder, often using demonstrations to prove it. Both Shinichi and Hattori revealed the solution in a similar style, like this one, even if their reasoning, manner of speech, and order of unveiling the truth were a bit different. Shinichi knew that he and Hattori didn't have the same thought patterns when it came to mysteries, but they were both able to keep pace with each other and pick up the same clues, connecting each and every one. The only two times they hadn't come to the same conclusion at the same time were first when Hattori had been even more hotheaded in the heat of competition, and when Shinichi hadn't been there in the first place and had background information no one else knew.
"I didn't do it! Why would I murder Nikoma? She was my wife! Out of all of you I have the most reason to be devastated!" Ishimono-san protested loudly, but neither Shinichi nor Hattori gave it more than fractional consideration.
"You killed her because you knew she was cheating on you. You even used the ring she'd been given by the other man to poison her, intending her to die on one of their dates, making him the prime suspect," Shinichi could tell they'd hit it, they man had paled and was no longer protesting. He'd given in.
"None of this was planned, you thought she's still be alive right now. If it wasn't for the fact that she forgot to take off her other ring, she would be," Shinichi said, still acting the part of Edogawa Conan while Hattori was there to make sure the truth got out if he didn't find a way to reveal it himself.
"For some reason, Ishimono-san put on the ring after it'd been drenched in cyanide by you, and forgot she had it on, indicating that she's probably forgotten about this dinner meeting. At the start of dinner she noticed it and slipped it back into her purse, replacing it with her wedding ring from you. They even look similar, if it weren't for the poison I doubt you would've even realized. I don't know why you put on such a large amount of cyanide, but that doesn't matter.
"When she was eating her pizza, it got on the bottom crust, and that's how she got the poison in her system. She died a few seconds later, by which point she'd started eating her salad, by chance making it harder for us to find the source of the poison," Hattori dragged the truth out in the open for everyone to see, and he's stopped fighting altogether. Ishimono-san knew he'd been caught.
"Ishimono-san, why? She was your wife!" Higurashi-san exclaimed, voicing the thoughts of the entire group.
"You must've really hated whoever it was she was dating to do something like that, it probably would've killed them both if they'd held hands or anything next time they went out to dinner," commented a childish voice coming from Shinichi, and it was lucky that it had happened here. Not only had this allowed the culprit to be caught, but no one else had died. Ishimono-san would've known to avoid it, but the other man probably would've been killed.
Ishimono-san's eyes widened. "Yeah, I hated him and she knew it. I don't know what I was doing, but I did it and then once I was done I couldn't make myself get rid of the poison. I meant for him to die with her, they obviously loved each other, so they could be happy together in Hell." Despite the wording used, Ishimono-san sounded resigned, like he was giving up. Just waiting for the police to arrest him, which of course they did.
"I think that's the first time I saw a case where so much had just been chance," Shinichi muttered as they walked back over to the booth where Ran and Kazuha-chan were sitting down, ignoring the police wrapping up the case behind them.
"Took you long enough, aho," Kazuha-chan said, clearly extra resentful for some reason. Even if she was impatient about it, normally she wouldn't have made this many annoyed comments. Also, something about the "aho" seemed off, though he couldn't quite pinpoint it. Shinichi shook his head figuring he must have been imagining it or it was just the fact that she secretly loved Hattori.
"Sorry. Anyway, the kid and I are going back, we'll leave you girls to your shopping. Ja ne!" Hattori bid them sayonara as the too left, hearing their goodbyes returned.
----
As the two meitantei left, there was a pair of eyes watching them hard, tracking their every movement. Eyes that knew too much, knew things they hadn't been told, knowledge they hadn't been entrusted with and had had to find things out on their own, as annoying and hard as it sometimes was. Eyes that held anger and annoyance, among other things, within them, as they watched the boys leave the restaurant and start down the street. The one who was the teen he appeared to be was mostly ignored, the eyes instead focusing in on the little boy almost the whole time.
They were eyes that knew things that, if the boy found out, definitely wouldn't want their owner knowing. But the person knew anyway, and knowledge is the one thing that can't be stolen. Even if a person could be fooled into thinking otherwise, the fact that they once thought that was permanent. This person, these eyes, knew for sure. There would be no convincing their owner of the contrary, as it was too late.
The onlooker watching the two boys knew.
Then that person got up and simply walked out a few seconds later, leaving behind the fuss of the crime scene, for the most part ignoring it. Departing only seconds later, their eyes were still on the boy, but he was too absorbed in conversation to notice it. Their owner walked away in the opposite direction, and didn't stare at Kudo Shinichi's shrunken form again that night, for that's who it really was. No matter how young he appeared, that was a façade, and the observer knew it.
Betcha thought I was going to do a Kid heist when they went to the gem exhibit. You don't have to lie about it.
Anyway, the plot thickens. Someone knows Shinichi is Conan, and a completely unrelated topic, whose were the second thoughts at the beginning, and what did they decide on? Yes, the answer is important to the story.
Please tell me you're not too lazy to hit the little button in the corner of the screen and type a few words of praise, constructive criticism, or whatever. Especially since it could help improve your reading experience with this story. Are you seriously that lazy? So please review.