Predicament
two
-ooOOoo-

Ran stood in front of Fukui's house and waited after she'd rung the bell with a frown on her face.

Shinichi hadn't been home when she got back after her last class. That in itself wasn't unusual. Often enough he was at the Police Department or at a crime scene and got home after her, even when it was late like today. But they had agreed that he would leave her a note or message her if he left. Maybe she was overprotective, but in her opinion, it was totally reasonable. After all, Shinichi got in a lot of trouble and she felt better when she knew what he was up to and where he was going.

So, when she hadn't found a note and there was no message on her phone either, she had been a bit worried. First, she'd tried to call him, but he didn't pick up. When he was in the middle of an investigation he sometimes would turn off the ringtone. She waited for an hour if he would call her back, like he always did in these situations. He didn't.

Next, she'd called Megure, who just had come out of a meeting.

"Kudou-kun?", the Inspector had asked confused. "I've sent him home after the case he helped us with. That has been… around two o' clock."

Ran swallowed. That had been four hours ago. It was shortly after six now.

"Ran-san?", Megure asked, wariness evident in his tone. "Did something happen?"

She shook herself. She was overreacting. Maybe he'd stumbled over another case on his way back and just forget to tell her. "No. No, nothing happened, keibu. It's just…" She couldn't help it. She had the nagging feeling that something wasn't right.

"Oh," Megure exclaimed. "I just saw that Kudou-kun tried to reach me this afternoon. My cellphone was muted during the meeting, so I didn't notice until now. That was at quarter past three."

Quarter past three. Where had he been when… "Oh, I'm so stupid! His phone – I can track it! Sorry Megure-keibu, I have to hang up now."

It was very impolite, but Ran didn't care right now and was already calling up the app on her cellphone. From the saved trackable contacts, she chose Shinichi and waited while the system searched for the signal. Blessed be modern technology.

After a few seconds, a yellow dot showed her the location of the phone and she wrote down the address. It wasn't too far and she grabbed her purse and jacket and was out of the door.

And now she was standing here.

She hadn't known it was Fukui's address, but it made sense that Shinichi was with her. He had told her about his concerns about Fukui's boyfriend. She just couldn't understand why he hadn't informed her that he was going to meet her class mate.

Now that she knew his whereabouts, her worry slowly turned into irritation.

Shinichi knew how she felt when he disappeared like this. Why did he do this to her?

Ran heard some faint noises coming from inside the house. Was there someone yelling? She couldn't understand a thing. She had half the mind to break down the door, when the sounds stopped.

A few moments later the door opened an Fukui stood there with a surprised look on her face.

"Mouri-san, hello! Can I help you?"

Ran forced a smile. It wasn't Fukui's fault that Shinichi was a jerk sometimes. "Hey, Fukui-san. Please excuse my sudden intrusion, but may I speak with Shinichi?"

"Kudou-kun?" Fukui replied and blinked owlishly. "He was here to help me with my…, well,… boyfriend problems, but he's gone already, I'm afraid."

"Gone?" Ran asked confused and pulled out her phone to take a look at the app again. The dot hadn't moved. "That's strange. I tracked his phone and it seems to be here," she said and showed Fukui the screen.

Fukui hummed in thought. "Well, maybe he forgot it? Come in, we'll search for it together."

"Thank you, Fukui-san, that's very nice of you."

Ran got in and took off her shoes. They were the only ones beside Fukui's shoes at the entrance. She followed the other girl into the living room and looked around if she could see Shinichi's phone anywhere. In one corner was a TV and some show was still running, but without sound. So, that must have been the noises she'd heard. She felt silly. Was she really that paranoid? To think that she almost had broken into someone's home, just because of a loud TV show. She shook off the thought and continued her search.

Through another door, she could see into the kitchen. It was as tidy as the rest of what she had seen of the house so far. Just two cups stood overturned next to the sink to dry.

"Found it!" Fukui exclaimed and held up the phone she apparently had found between the cushions on the couch. She reached it to Ran, who looked at it pensively. It was muted, what explained why Fukui hadn't heard it when Ran had tried to call.

"Did Shinichi say, where he wanted to go?" Maybe Fukui knew something that could help her find her elusive fiancé.

"Uh, I'm afraid no. Sorry I can't help you, Mouri-san," Fukui said and seemed to be a bit ashamed that she couldn't be of any assistance. As if it was her fault that she hadn't asked Shinichi about his further plans.

Ran smiled reassuringly. "No no, you already helped me a lot. Thank you very much. I think I will go and ask his parents if they have seen him."

Fukui looked at her relieved and nodded. "Yes, that's a good idea."

She led Ran back to the door and waved her off. "I hope you'll find him soon. And please tell him thank you from me, he really helped me out."

"Sure, I'll do that. Bye Fukui-san."

-ooOOoo-

Kamiko closed the door and just stood there for a moment, leaned against the smooth wooden surface.

Then some giggles erupted out of her mouth.

Misleading Mouri had been much easier than she had thought.

She had been right. This girl just was not meant to be with her Shinichi. Did she not feel his presence in the house? Or smell the lingering fragrance of his cologne?

For Kamiko, these things were almost tangible when she was around him.

Kudou Shinichi had caught Kamiko's eye early on. Like she had told him, she followed all of his cases and she had done so even before he had been labeled 'The great detective of the east'. She had tons of paper clips with news articles about him, recorded videos of all interviews he had ever given, and more site marks on the internet than she could count.

She collected everything even remotely connected to him.

His father's novels, his mother's movies, she even knew which karate tournaments Mouri had competed in and how she had placed, but that was just secondary.

He was what mattered the most.

To see him and to talk to him in college had been a dream come true. She loved the tone of his voice, the bright blue of his sharp, intelligent eyes that seemed to look right through you. He was sarcastic, witty, caring, handsome, athletic, eloquent…

He was just perfect.

Seeing him with Mouri always jabbed at her heart.

She, Kamiko, should be the one he waited for after class. Whom he smiled at so warm and lovingly and who's hand he was holding on their way back home.

And soon it would be her.

He was here, in her house.

And he would love her.

She'd make sure of that.