AN: The second chapter is here! I don't really have much to say other than the fact that if you could, please review! The last chapter got 100 views, and of that number, only one of you actually reviewed- which is more than a little discouraging. Support your local fanfic authors by reviewing today!
(Don't) Believe What You Know
Chapter Two
The Notion That Wasn't As Absurd as Originally Suspected
If there was one thing Conan always somehow managed to forget about Heiji, it was how insufferably early he tended to wake up.
As such, he was already wide awake and bright eyed by the time a still half asleep Conan made his way to the living room. Quite frankly, Conan didn't know how he did it- even more so if he had actually, in fact, snuck out last night in the middle of the night. But there Heiji was, sitting at the table they ate their meals at, for all the world acting as if he belonged there, chatting away with Ran about something of no real consequence- a story from Kazuha's last tournament, he thought, upon listening a bit closer.
"Oh, Ku-Conan-kun!" Heiji greeted him as the not-child took a seat next to him. "Ya finally woke up! I guess that uncle is still fast asleep though!"
"Is that true, Conan-kun?" Ran frowned, heaving a sigh. "Honestly, dad. I'll go and wake him up. Help yourself to some breakfast, Conan-kun." Getting to her feet, Ran headed out of the living room- and from the expression on her face, it seemed she intended to drag her father out of bed by any means necessary.
"That uncle's done for." Heiji observed with a mischievous grin, before taking a bite out of his rice. "Glad ta see yer up, though, Sleepin' Beauty!"
"Shut up." Conan glowered at him, deciding to get a bit of breakfast down him before he broke the question he wanted to ask. Swallowing a bite of his food, he looked up towards Heiji, arching an eyebrow. "You're awfully energetic for someone who snuck out of the house in the middle of the night, Hattori."
Watching as the dark skinned detective nearly choked on some of his rice, Heiji gave him a strange look, before trying to laugh off Conan's statement. "What are ya talkin' about, Kudo? I didn't go anywhere last night except fer the bathroom, I told ya that much."
"That reaction says otherwise." Conan observed. "I looked all around the place when I realized you weren't in your futon, and your clothes were missing. Don't try to lie to me, Hattori. You're bad at it anyways."
Judging from the face Heiji made, Conan was right on the mark. "I-I'm not really lyin' ta ya." Heiji said, averting his eyes from the astute gaze of his friend. "I really did go ta the bathroom."
"And then you obviously left the apartment and went somewhere." Conan finished for him. "So? Are you going to tell me about it? You're looking into the missing children case after all, aren't you?"
A brief look of almost relief crossed Heiji's face, something which Conan couldn't help but find curious. "Y-yeah. Ya caught me. That's what I was doin'. After what Neechan said earlier, I didn't want ta get ya involved, that's all. Thought I do some lookin' around after ya went ta bed."
There was obviously more to it than that, Conan thought to himself. Well, he didn't doubt that at the very least, Heiji was telling the truth about looking into the matter. Heaving a sigh, Conan gave him a skeptical look. "Even if you're worried about me, Hattori, you can at least tell me these things. I'm not an idiot, I'm not about to go and get myself kidnapped."
The expression on his friend's face, for a moment, became briefly unreadable- though Conan could at least detect a hint of worry in it. "Y-yeah, I know that much, Kudo. Sorry. I wasn't tryin' ta keep ya out of the loop because I don't trust ya, or anythin' like that. It's just..." He trailed off, scratching the back of his neck. "In my dream, ya just disappeared an' didn't come back. I thought the kidnappings might be related, so I didn't want ta tell ya that I'd decided to look into em after hearin' about them from Neechan. That's all."
"Idiot." In spite of Conan's short tone, he was actually trying to reassure Heiji. He didn't fully understand why his friend seemed to be putting so much faith into this so called premonition of his- but it was probably just based out of concern for his good friend. He supposed it was kind of touching, in a way, that this boy he had crossed paths with first as a rival several months ago now cared so much about him. "I'm not going to disappear that easily. You don't have anything to worry about it."
"Even if ya say that..." Heiji trailed off again. He was unable to finish whatever it was that he wanted to say, however, as Ran entered the room again, Kogoro in tow this time.
"Sorry for the wait!" Ran apologized, returning to her seat as Kogoro grumbled about being rudely awakened by his only daughter. "Now, Hattori-kun, what was it you were telling me about Kazuha-chan's tournament again?"
"Oh, right!" Heiji brightened almost automatically at the change of topic. If Conan didn't miss his guess, he was actually relieved to see the father and daughter enter the room, knowing that the subject of what he was doing last night would be dropped the moment hey did so. "So, like I was sayin', her opponent-"
The annoyance on his face was plain as day as he was cut off by the sound of the phone ringing. Apologizing again, Ran got to her feet and hurried over to answer it, wondering who could be calling this early in the morning.
"Yes, Mouri residence. Ah, Yoshida-san!" The smile on the girl's face was quickly tempered when she heard a note on the woman's voice that definitely didn't sound like it was a good thing. "Is something wrong, Yoshida-san? Yes, Conan-kun's here. Yes. Yes."
The bolt of shock that ran through her was obvious for anyone to see. "Are you certain, Yoshida-san?" Ran asked, her tone suddenly growing more frantic, a horrified expression overtaking her features. "Yeah, I'll tell father right away. We'll be there soon, okay?"
Hanging up the phone, Ran steadied herself for a moment by drawing in a long breath. Finally, she turned back towards the group at the table, her expression serious. "That was Ayumi-chan's mother. She said they can't find Ayumi-chan anywhere this morning. She's missing."
After receiving news like that, it was no small wonder that every occupant of the Mouri household that morning had set a land speed record for gulping down their breakfasts and changing their clothes. Conan had been the fastest of them all, practically inhaling his breakfast, waiting at the bottom of the stairs before anyone else was even close to being ready.
He knew Ayumi was prone to getting herself in dangerous situations, but he'd hoped that none of the Detective Boys would get involved in the current kidnapping situation. But now that one was, the entire investigation had become incredibly personal for him. Whoever was behind this wouldn't escape from him, and there would be hell to pay if even one hair on Ayumi's head was harmed.
Ran didn't even protest when Conan said that he was going to come with them, assuming that he was deeply worried about his friend. She didn't have it in her to say no. She'd called the other houses of the rest of the Detective Boys while she got changed, and had learned that save for Ayumi, all rest were safe and sound. It provided them with some small relief.
Bumbling though he might be, Kogoro quickly caught onto the frantic mood of the others in the agency. While he might not always like the Detective Boys hanging around, he still had something of a soft spot for them, so the thought of one of them going missing, especially under such dire circumstances, was nothing short of deeply troubling. He had been the one Ayumi's mother had asked for in the first place after all, knowing of his reputation as the Sleeping Kogoro, just as unaware as he was that it was a reputation he got on the back of someone else's hard work.
Conan hadn't made much out of Heiji's reaction at the time, being too caught up in his own worry to really pay all that much attention to it. Later he would reflect on the fact that it was somewhat odd- there was an anger broiling underneath the surface of the Osakan detective's otherwise serious demeanor. That in itself wasn't unusual- Heiji was always quick to anger after all, but the fact that he wasn't openly expressing it as he usually did was what would later strike Conan as most peculiar.
The glint of knowledge in his eyes would later come to bother him as well. There was something, Conan would think to himself, something that Heiji knew about this case that he wasn't telling anyone. Not him- not even the police. As if it were something that he couldn't easily say.
In spite of having the shortest legs out of the group, it was Conan who arrived at Ayumi's apartment first, running in place as he waited for everyone else to catch up. Heiji and Ran were hot on his heels, leaving Kogoro to trail behind, gasping for breath once they finally arrived. He hadn't expected Conan to break out in a run halfway there, as if he couldn't waste another precious second on simply walking, and had made off, quick as a jackrabbit.
The relief on the face of Ayumi's mother as Kogoro walked through the door was as clear as day, and she instantly latched onto him, quickly beginning to discuss the situation with him. There were still police officers at the apartment, including a face that Conan knew by heart.
"Detective Takagi!" Conan called out, hurrying over towards the man. "What are you doing here? This isn't Division One's department, is it?"
"Conan-kun." Takagi spoke, a grim expression on his face as he shook his head. He wasn't even the least bit surprised to see the child here- though the fact that Hattori Heiji had apparently come along with the group was somewhat more surprising. This was, after all, one of his friends they were talking about here. "It's not usually, but given the circumstances, this case has been given top priority at headquarters. All divisions are on deck for this case."
It was no small wonder. With last night's count of vanished children shaping up to be a solid eight, twenty-one children in total had completely vanished from the Beika area, without leaving so much as a trace behind. Takagi too, had been hoping that none of the Detective Boys would turn up in their number. He'd actually personally volunteered to come out to the Yoshida apartment when he'd gotten wind of Ayumi going missing.
"But what is Hattori-kun doing here?" Takagi asked, glancing up at the Osakan detective. The brim of his hat had been turned around to face forward, and an unusually grave expression was on his face. Considering that the police were still at a total loss in regards to the case, having the high school detective around was actually somewhat comforting.
"I was visitin' Ku- no, Conan-kun here." Heiji told him.
"I see." Takagi said, nodding his head. "I'm glad you're here though, Conan-kun, because it saves me some time. Ayumi's mother told me that she hung out with you in the morning yesterday. Was there anything you noticed then about her? Or anyone strange hanging around?"
Thinking back on it, Conan's eyes narrowed, trying to recall if there had been anything that had particularly stood out that morning. "No." He said finally, a note of frustration in his voice. "I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. We split up after lunch though, so it's possible the others might know something. Can I look in her room?"
"Ah, sure." Takagi said, taking a step back and letting both the bespectacled child and the Osakan detective into Ayumi's room. The first thing that struck Conan right away was how orderly everything looked- nothing looked out of place at all. There weren't even the slightest signs of a struggle, or of someone breaking into the room. Ayumi's apartment was rather high up to begin with, so it would have been impossible for someone to scale the side of the building to snatch her from her window anyways- they would have needed to come in through the front door for that.
The one thing that did stick out to Conan was the fact that her pajamas were neatly folded on top of her bed. A quick glance in her wardrobe told him that there was a change of clothes missing from it- her shoes had been missing from the entryway as well.
It was almost as if she had simply left the house by herself.
For a brief moment, his gaze flickered towards Heiji, casting him a strange look. His friend was currently busy going over the room himself, no doubt drawing the same conclusions that Conan had.
"Did her parents hear anything?" Conan asked, glancing back towards Takagi.
"No." Takagi said, shaking his head. "They only noticed Ayumi-chan was missing when they went to wake her up for breakfast, and found her nowhere in the apartment."
"It's the same with the other missin' kids, ain't it?" Heiji finally spoke up, casting a glance back towards the police detective, who nodded his head.
"Yes, that's right." Takagi told him frankly. "Pretty much all of them simply vanished without a trace. We couldn't find any signs of anyone breaking into their homes either. The only things missing from their rooms aside from the children themselves were a change of clothes and their shoes."
"Almost as if they left because they wanted to." Heiji mumbled underneath his breath, his eyes narrowing. He didn't notice the way that Conan looked towards him, the not-child's eyes narrowing.
It was true that it looked that way, but there was something about Heiji's tone that bothered him. Was there something he knew that he wasn't sharing with them? But what? And why?
Well, it was possible he was just working on a theory at the moment, and didn't want to give voice to it until he had proof. Even Conan had to admit the situation was unusual.
"Did you talk to Ayumi-chan's mother, Detective Takagi?" Conan asked. "Like, did she say if there was anything strange that she noticed yesterday?"
"Of course I spoke to her, but she didn't really seem to think that anything unusual occurred yesterday." Takagi frowned, recalling his earlier conversation with the understandably distraught woman. "According to what her daughter told her after coming home yesterday late in the afternoon, after heading to the shrine to get a fortune with you and the rest of the Detective Boys, she had lunch with you and Hattori-kun over here," he said, sparing Heiji a glance, "And then went halfway home with the rest of the Detective Boys. After splitting up, she took a shortcut through the park, and stopped to watch a puppet show there, before coming home."
"A puppet show?" Heiji asked, the subject apparently catching his attention. "What kind of a puppet show?"
"Let's see..." Takagi frowned, trying to recall if her mother had specified. It wasn't a detail he had paid very much attention to. "If I recall, it was some kind of European fairytale. Something involving a piper...?"
Heiji's eyes seemed to narrow at that, as if this, for him, had linked some piece of the puzzle together. Conan barely made out the words that he muttered underneath his breath- the Pied Piper of Hamelin. If he recalled correctly, that fairytale was about...
Missing children.
Even Conan had to admit that detail struck him as odd. Perhaps the puppetmaster of the show was related to this? If he selected children from his audience somehow, that would make sense. Perhaps he had some of his associates follow them home, and make a note of where exactly they lived. Still, why? And for what purpose?
And how did they make them just so utterly and absolutely disappear?
"Do you know which park the puppet show was in?" Conan asked.
"Beika Park, if I recall correctly." Takagi told them. "Do you perhaps think the person putting on the show is related?"
"It isn't impossible." Heiji said. "Have any other parents mentioned their kids watchin' a puppet show before being kidnapped?" He asked.
Mulling over the question, Takagi tried to recall if there had been anything like that mentioned in the case file that he had read. Finally, he nodded his head. "Now that you mention it, at least a few parents mentioned it. It's possible that if I asked about it specifically, the others might be able to confirm at as well."
"Do you think you could do that, Detective Takagi?" Conan asked, almost bouncing up and down on his heels, as if he were itching to get a move on and head somewhere else. There was one other thing he had noticed was missing from Ayumi's room- her Detective Boys badge. If that was the case, it was possible that he might be able to use it to track down her location.
"Yes, I'll get right on that, Conan-kun. I'll give either you or Hattori-kun a call if I can get any new information." Takagi told them, before he headed out to make a call in order to do just that.
"What's the bouncin' fer?" Heiji asked, glancing down at Conan. "Did ya notice somethin', Kudo?"
"Yeah." Nodding his head, Conan reached up to the corner of his glasses, switching it to detection mode. Right away, four bleeps appeared on the radar screen of his glasses- three of them he knew belonged to Mitsuhiko, Ai, and himself- but the fourth wasn't Genta's. From here, his house was too far away for his Detective Boys badge to be picked up. That mean that the fourth could only belong to Ayumi. "Ayumi took her badge with her."
"Oh?" Heiji raised a brow, a fierce grin forming on his face. "Then that means ya can track her, right?"
"Yeah." Conan said, nodding his head. "She's still well within my range. Shall we go check it out, Hattori?"
"Way ahead of ya, Kudo." Heiji said, already making his way out of the door. Quickly stopping to make an excuse to Ran who was still lingering by the entrance with her father and Ayumi's mother, the two high school detectives ducked out of the apartment, following the trace left by Ayumi's badge. Pacing himself behind Conan, watching the not-child dart ahead of him, following after the bleep on his screen that surely represented Ayumi's badge, he carefully and quickly worked his way down the sidewalk, making sharp turns when it was called for. He could hear Heiji's footsteps right behind him, so there was no need to double check if he was actually keeping up with him.
As they closed in on the signal, Conan's pace slowed down. After all, there was no way of telling what they would be running into. As they came up to another corner, the signal indicated that she was just around it. Pausing at the edge of the wall, he glanced up towards Heiji, silently motioning that this was it. And then, carefully, cautiously, he peered around the other side of the wall.
Only to find a dead end.
The turn lead into a narrow alleyway, which lead into a solid stone wall. Frowning, Conan carefully made his way into the alley. Sure enough, Ayumi's signal ended here. Wondering if perhaps her Detective Boys badge had been dropped somewhere in the vicinity, he quickly began looking for it, but found nothing.
"That's strange." Conan frowned, his eyes narrowing. "According to the signal, she should be here. You don't see her badge lying around or anything, do you, Hattori?" He asked, glancing back towards his friend- and paused when he did, his brow furrowing for an entirely new reason.
His eyes fixed on the wall before them with a rather intense look in his eyes, Heiji almost didn't seem to hear Conan call out to him. He did, however, notice the boy's odd look out of the corner of his eyes, and broke out of his train of thoughts with a start. "Ah, sorry, Kudo. I was thinkin'. What did ya ask me?"
"I asked if you see Ayumi-chan's badge anywhere around here. The only thing I can think of is that it was dropped here, but I can't find it." Conan frowned, getting down on all fours to study the area closer. At the very least, she had probably come in this direction, but... where was that badge?
"No, I don't see it." Heiji shook his head. "Are ya sure the signal leads ta here?" He asked, before grabbing the edge of the wall, hefting himself up to the top of it. Balancing himself quite neatly on top of the wall, he peered over it, looking for any trace of either Ayumi or her badge. "No, there's nothin' here, Kudo. It's an empty lot on this side."
Frustrated by this turn of events, Conan swore underneath his breath, barely noticing it when Heiji jumped back down. "I was so sure that I'd find her here, Hattori."
"Don't get so worked up, Kudo. It's not yer fault." Heiji tried to reassure him. "Don't worry. We'll find her yet- the rest of the kids too. It's what we do, ain't it?"
Taking in a deep breath to calm his nerves, Conan nodded his head, getting to his feet and brushing dirt off of himself. A small part of him couldn't help but reflect on the irony of Heiji of all people, telling him to calm down. But he had a point. "You're right." Getting too worked up wouldn't help Ayumi in the least. Reaching up to switch off his tracking glasses, he scratched his head, trying to reorganize his thoughts and decide where to go from here.
"The puppet show." Conan said. "If we can find the puppet show, we might be able to get another lead."
"Then, should we start with Beika Park?" Heiji asked. "I don't know the parks around here that well, so yer gonna have ta take the lead on this one, Kudo."
"That's not a problem." Conan said, before looking up towards Heiji. "Not afraid of involving me anymore, are you?"
"As long as I can keep ya where I can see, I figure yer not really in any danger." Heiji replied with a shrug. "Just don't run off anywhere without me, Kudo."
"What are you, my mom?" Conan half-grumbled, before heaving a sigh. "Alright, I got it, Hattori. It'll be better for the two of us to stick together on this one anyways. There's too many things about this case that don't fit."
For a moment, the shadow of his cap concealed his eyes from view, rendering his expression largely unreadable. "Yeah." His mood quickly shifted again, as he flashed Conan a broad grin. "Let's go ta that park then. The sooner we get started lookin', the better."
"Right." Nodding his head, Conan left what had proven to be both a literal and metaphorical dead end behind him, his attention now directed towards Beika Park and the mysterious puppet show that Ayumi and the other kidnapped children had apparently watched the day before they went missing.
He didn't notice the way that Heiji's gaze lingered on the dead end's wall, before he turned on his heel to join his friend.
Although they didn't find the mysterious puppetmaster and his puppet show at Beika Park, it hadn't entirely been a fruitless search. They had been able to find a number of park regulars who had seen the man both setting up, hosting, and taking down his show the previous afternoon, a few of whom confirmed that they had seen a girl who looked like Ayumi in the audience at the time. Takagi had sent Heiji photos of the other missing children on his cellphone, and among their number, almost all of them had been confirmed as watching the puppet show on that afternoon.
Those who had seen him were more than willing to describe him. While he had worn a mask for theatrical effect during the show, there were those who had seen him without it on when he was setting up and taking it down for the afternoon. A rather plain-faced man, they had said, with short brown hair and rather nondescript features. He wore black rimmed glasses, and looked to be in his early twenties. One of the witnesses had taken note of the substantial bags underneath his eyes, commenting that it looked like he got nowhere near enough sleep.
This information they turned over to Takagi, who in turn confirmed with them that it appeared as if most of the other missing children had in fact, watched this puppet show on the day before they disappeared. He told them that they were already combing the local parks for a man matching the description that they had been given. It appeared as if he flitted from park to park, drifting like the wind.
The pair had stopped briefly for lunch- takoyaki, something they could eat on the go. As much as Heiji had spent the entire time complaining that it wasn't as good as the 'real stuff back home', he didn't once cease shoveling it into his face, eating two boxes of it to Conan's one. It was as they were throwing them away that Heiji got a phone call from Takagi, informing him that they had spotted the puppetmaster in a park not far from where the pair was.
Exchanging a glance with each other, the two detectives quickly headed to the park. Takagi had also made his way towards the park, and noted that there was a plain clothes officer already inside, keeping tabs on the puppet show. An audience of ten children had gathered for it, seemingly enraptured by the man's story in a way that according to the plain clothes officer, was kind of creepy.
"We're approaching the location now." Takagi radioed his counterpart, who confirmed that he was ready to assist if the suspect put up any resistance. As they approached the scene, Conan quickly understood what the man had meant by 'kind of creepy'- he'd never seen children sitting this still and paying this close attention to anything before, and he'd been spending an ample amount of time around them since being shrunk down to a seven year old.
Clearing his throat, Takagi pulled out his police badge, catching the attention of the masked puppetmaster. "Excuse me for a second. I'm Takagi of the Metropolitan Police. If it's not too much trouble, we have a few questions we need to ask you." The man halted in his manipulation of his puppet's strings, glancing up at the officer. Behind the mask, it seemed that he was annoyed to be disturbed.
"I am in the middle of a show, officer." The man spoke, and Conan couldn't help but take note of the strange monotone of his voice. There was something about it that was strangely lulling. "Can it wait?"
"It can't wait." Heiji was the one who spoke up, stepping up behind Takagi. "We have a lot of questions fer ya, ya know."
That got a substantial response from the man, and almost right away at that- his fingers twitched, causing his puppets to clatter to the ground. As they did, Conan noticed that the gathered children, who had been mysteriously quiet up until this point, suddenly began to make noise again, glancing around in what appeared to be confusion. Almost as if a spell had been broken.
"You!" The man almost hissed, in spite of which, his monotone never faltered. After a moment's hesitation, he glanced between his puppets, the children, before his eyes finally came to lay to rest on what Conan first thought had been Takagi- a moment later, he realized that the aim of the man's focus was actually on Heiji. He didn't really have time to process this however, as the man apparently decided to abandon his things, taking off at full sprint away from them, moving faster than Conan ever expected a man who had been described as lacking sleep could go.
"The suspect is on the run!" Takagi radioed in, before darting after the puppetmaster himself. Heiji and Conan were hot on his heels, with Heiji quickly catching up to Takagi's head start, and eventually outrunning him, narrowing the distance between himself and the fleeing suspect. Realizing this, the man threw off his mask, attempting to chuck it at the Osakan detective, who merely jumped over the improvised projectile, not letting it bother him as he closed the gap between the two.
Reaching out to grab the suspect on the shoulder, Heiji quickly pinned him in place, holding him to the ground, allowing Conan and Takagi to catch up to him. Pausing to catch their breath, the pair watched as the man cursed and withered underneath Heiji's grip, muttering something underneath his breath- before suddenly, he all but slumped, going completely limp.
A quick check revealed that he had merely passed out, but was otherwise fine. Heiji carefully got off of him, as Takagi handcuffed the slumbering figure just to be on the safe side, before calling in for backup and a car to bring him first to a hospital, with plans to transfer him later to the station if he turned out to be alright.
"I don't get it. Why did he suddenly pass out?" Conan couldn't help but ask, frowning as he watched a pair of officers cart the slumbering figure away.
"Maybe he did too much too suddenly on too little sleep?" Heiji shrugged his shoulders. As much as acted like he was at a loss, there was something to his tone that made Conan suspect otherwise.
After all, he'd managed to just barely make out one of the hushed curses the man had been making before he passed out.
"No one said anything about you being here!"'
Looking up at the person he'd come to view as his friend and trusted ally over the past half year, suddenly Conan somehow didn't find the notion that Heiji could be keeping something from him so absurd anymore.
It twisted his gut to think so. For once he really hoped he was mistaken about something.
Frustration on frustration continued to mount.
The man that the police had taken custody of in the park, the puppetmaster responsible for the puppet shows, had woken up. However it quickly became apparent that the man in question had no memory of the week, and furthermore, had no idea how he'd gotten to Beika in the first place, or what he might have been doing running a puppet show in the park in the first place. He was an accountant from Shizuoka Prefecture, he claimed, and his name was Hayashi Riku.
When the police had checked into his story, they had realized that Hayashi Riku had in fact, gone missing a week before. While there was still a chance that the man might by lying to cover his tracks, professional opinion swayed towards the fact that the man was telling the truth. In addition to lack of sleep, it looked like he hadn't been eating properly either- and was showing signs of a week's worth of malnutrition.
It was puzzle upon puzzle with this case, it seemed.
When they had finally returned back to the Mouri Detective Agency, Ran had remembered that she was furious with Heiji for taking Conan around with him to investigate such a dangerous case. He'd sheepishly apologized, making about every excuse he could think of in the book to weasel his way out of her bad side. Eventually she'd heaved a frustrated sigh, deciding it wasn't worth it. Conan probably would have followed him anyways, she said.
Aside from the puppetmaster, no other clues in the case turned up, though the police and Kogoro alike had gone over the crime scenes with a fine tooth comb. The fact that he had two leads, only for both of them to slip through his fingertips, was more than frustrating enough on it's own for Conan.
When combined with the unusual behavior Heiji had been displaying since even before the investigation had started, it was downright maddening.
"I'm telling you, Haibara." Conan hissed into his phone, giving her a call after finding a private moment alone. "Hattori's acting strange."
"Hattori-kun has always been strange." Came Ai's nonchalant reply. In spite of the fact that she was trying to put her best face up, he knew that she was incredibly worried about Ayumi at the moment. Out of all the Detective Boys, Ayumi was the one she valued the most as her friend, after all- there was no way that she wasn't worried out of her mind.
"Stranger than usual." Conan grumbled. "That guy didn't bolt until he realized Hattori was there. Doesn't that seem odd?"
"What are you trying to say, Kudo-kun?" Ai asked, her frown evident in her voice. "You don't think Hattori-kun's involved in this somehow?"
"No, I don't think that's it." Conan frowned. "At the very least, I know Hattori would never be involved in anything like this. He's not that type of person. I'm just saying there's something about this case that he knows, and he's not telling me."
"Why don't you just ask him then?" Ai suggested. "It's Hattori-kun, after all. He's terrible at lying."
"Even if I asked him, I don't think he'd tell me." Conan grumbled. "The last thing I want to do is get into a fight with him over this. You know how he can be."
"I know." Ai said simply, before heaving a sigh. "For the moment, Kudo-kun, why don't you just concentrate on the investigation, and figure out what's going on with Hattori-kun once it's solved? Ayumi-chan's- no, the children's disappearance is more pressing."
"I know, I know." Conan said, finally heading a sigh. "Don't worry, Haibara. One way or another, I'll bring Ayumi-chan home. I'm just as worried."
"I know." Came Ai's response, a hint of the true worry that she was feeling slipping out in her voice. "Do your best, Kudo-kun."
"I will." Conan said, hanging up his phone with another long sigh. He almost hated the prospect of going to sleep while all of this was going on. Even though Hayashi Riku had been taken into custody, and police guard had been set outside of the homes of each of the children who had been in his audience during the afternoon, there was no real assurance that no children would go missing tonight.
Why sleep, when he could stay awake and puzzle out the many mysteries of this case? But his body wasn't willing to listen to this kind of logic, and was already calling at him to drift off into dreamless slumber, as evidenced by his rather loud yawn.
"Ya off ta bed, Kudo?" Heiji's voice nearly made Conan flinch, and he couldn't help but wonder if he'd overheard any of his phone call to Ai. Judging by the expression on his face, though, he guessed not.
"Y-yeah. It seems that way." Conan said, rubbing at one eye. "What about you, Hattori? The old man and Ran have already gone to bed."
"Yeah, I'll head ta bed in a little while. There's still some stuff I need ta do." Heiji told him, a small grin on his face. "Do ya need me ta tuck ya in?"
"Shut up." Conan grumbled. "Don't stay up too late, Hattori. Going to bed late and waking up early isn't good for you."
"I don't need ya ta tell me that." Heiji said with a slight frown. Watching as Conan headed back into the bedroom he shared with Kogoro, his eyes narrowed slightly.
In spite of what he had said, tonight was going to be a long night.
It was the faint sound of a flute that roused him from his sleep.
Blinking slowly, some small part of his mind wondered where the sound was coming from. For a reason he couldn't quite understand, the sound of the flute almost felt like it was calling out to him, asking him to come find it's source. As if he were still half-asleep, Conan slowly rose to his feet, stumbling a little as he stood up.
The melody echoed through his ears, filling up his head, growing less and less distant in it's sound as the seconds ticked by. It was an enchanting sound, he thought. Beautiful. He'd never heard anything like it before- it was as if it whisked all of his worries right away from him. The stress of dealing with the Black Organization, the concerns over Ran learning his secret, the worry that he'd never be able to find a way to return to being Kudo Shinichi all fading from his mind as the flute's melody worked it's way through it, soothing and intoxicating all at once.
He should go to it, he thought. This was a feeling he didn't want to let go.
Changing out of his pajamas and into his clothes, Conan stumbled his way out of the room, following the flute's melody down the hall and down the stairs. He barely even noticed the figure leaning against the detective agency's door, and still barely registered him even after he reached out a hand, stopping him in his tracks. Frustrated at this, he tried to progress forward, but found he couldn't break free of the hold the person had on him.
"This is why I didn't want ta involve ya in this, Kudo." Heiji grumbled, all but hefting the not-child over his shoulder. With a careful twist, he opened up the door to the detective agency, placing Conan down on the couch. "Honestly. I can't believe ya'd be effected by that sound yerself. This is exactly why I can't involve ya in this sort of thing."
Frowning at the way Conan still struggled against his grip, trying to continue on his quest to follow the sound of the flute that only he could hear, Heiji heaved a sigh, lightly flicking his forehead.
"Go back ta sleep, Kudo. Ya don't need ta go anywhere." Heiji said, letting him go briefly to toss a blanket over him. There was a faint crackle in the air as it covered the not-child, and all at once, he stopped struggling, instead curling up into the blanket, slowly drifting back off into sleep, the sound of the flute apparently forgotten.
"Honestly." Heiji grumbled, rising to his feet. "This one's going ta be a pain ta clean up after."
Pausing to spare a quick glance back towards the slumbering form of the person he'd come to view as his best friend over the course of the past half year, Heiji gave him a soft smile. "Sweet dreams, Kudo."
Turning away, he closed the door the detective agency behind him, before he headed down the stairs, and out into the night air.
"Now then," Heiji said, a fierce grin appearing on his face. "It's time ta get ta work."