A Case of Curiousity: Chapter Two
Conan.
Today started out as every other day did for Conan. He woke up, got ready, and left for school with Ran. He would then meet up with his friends and they would split, going their separate ways to school. Ayumi was in a particularly good mood that day, and she was literally hanging off of Conan's arm, telling her all about her amazing night the night before. Conan wasn't really listening. He was, in fact, staring off into space.
He didn't come around until he felt a tug on his other arm. They were almost to school now, only a few more blocks. Conan turned to see a worried looking shrunken scientest, gripping tightly at his shirt sleeve. Conan managed to pry Ayumi off of him without much fuss, and he fell behind a bit, knowing that there was something wrong with Ai that she could not speak about in front of the others. None of them seemed to notice as the pair fell back and out of hearing distance of their hushed voices.
"What's up, Haibara?" he asked, giving her a sincere look. He knew that the expression on Ai's face meant something serious. Her widened eyes turned on him and she edged even closer to him.
"There's a man back there," she started, keeping her face hidden from view from anyone behind them as she spoke, "he's been following us for a while." This startled the miniature detective, and he gave a furtive glance behind them. There was indeed a man following them. And not just any man. No, this man was quite strange. He didn't think the man was anyone from the Black Organization, considering his obvious lack of black clothes. The man was, though, quite creepy looking. He wore a white long sleeve shirt, and baggy blue jeans. His sneakers were old and worn. He had black, messy hair that hung low into charcoal black eyes. The man looked like he never slept, considering the dark rings under his eyes. It made him have an almost haunted look. Paired with the way the man walked, hunched over slightly, Conan understood why Ai was so freaked out. This man was downright creepy. He almost gave Conan the chills. He looked back in front of them as they approached the school.
"Don't worry about it," Conan said softly, attempting to soothe the girl next to him, "he doesn't look like one of them. He's probably not even following us. He could just be going the same way as us." Ai said nothing as they walked into the doors of the school. They didn't mention it any further, as the other children now had their full attention on them.
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The end of the day came, and to the disappointment of the Shounen Tanteidan, no new cases. They ran around the city, trying to keep entertained. It was nothing too interesting, really. Conan decided to go home a bit earlier than usual. He just wasn't feeling into the kid act today. He gave his farewells to the children and Haibara, and made his way back home.
As he entered the residence, he noticed that Ran wasn't home yet. When he asked Kogoro, he simply said that she had gone out with Sonoko and wouldn't be back until later. Conan just barely caught Kogoro mumbling that she wouldn't be home for dinner. Conan rolled his eyes and made his way to the couch to read a book.
When dinner time did come around, Kogoro decided to just eat out at a cheap diner or something. And so they did. They left the house in search of somewhere cheap to eat. They decided on a small diner not too far from their home, only about a block or two away.
Entering the diner, they made their way to a booth near the center of the restaurant, by a window. As they went, Conan's eyes immediately landed on a familiar figure. This person was someone you couldn't forget, and as Conan allowed his gaze to linger as they passed, he wondered if it was merely a coincidence that the creepy man from earlier was eating at this diner. In front of him was a laptop, closed and set aside in favor of a plate of what seemed to be strawberry cake. The not-child noted the strange way the man was sitting. His knees were pulled to his chest in an almost upright fetal position. He held his fork by the very edge, using only the tips of his thumb and forefinger.
They finally reached their table and sat down.
"Man, what a creepy looking guy," Kogoro mentioned, Conan merely nodding his head in agreement. The waitress came with menus and left them to decide what they wanted, after taking their drink requests. They didn't get a chance to order, though, because after about ten minutes, a loud scream penetrated the once quiet diner. Conan and Kogoro immediately stood up and ran towards the source, back towards the kitchen area of the restaurant. They burst in, coming face-to-face with the back of a young girl. She was their waitress, as it turned out. They moved around her quickly, and there it was.
One look at the man on the floor was all it took for Conan to run right back out of the kitchen. The blood pooling around the man's head was enough for him to know that the person was no longer living. He yelled out that no one was allowed to leave, and waited by the door for the police, which Kogoro would be contacting by now.
The investigators arrived within minutes, and soon the small diner was littered with them. Megure-keibu was with Kogoro and the body, along with forensics. Takagi-keiji, Satou-keiji, and Chiba-keiji were all questioning the diner customers and staff. As it turned out, the dead man was the diner owner. As for Conan, he already had a few suspects in mind. From his vantage point, Conan recalled four people leaving their seats, and one other suspicious character. He gave this information to Takagi-keiji, of course.
His first suspect was a woman, probably no older than thirty or so. She looked pretty irritated at having to still be there. She kept complaining that she had a nail appointment at seven. Conan noted that she was actually missing a nail, on her right forefinger. The next was a teenage boy. He looked to be around sixteen or seventeen. After asking him personally, the boy turned out to be the son of the deceased. He seemed sincerely upset by his father's death, but something else seemed off about him. Conan couldn't put his finger on it though, so he moved on.
After him, an older man, looking to be in his forties or fifties. He wore a pinstriped business suit, and according to Takagi, he was supposed to be speaking to the deceased about money matters, as he had been avoiding payments as of late. Next was the waitress who found the body. She and the deceased didn't get along so well, as he had been overworking the girl, and refusing to bump up her pay for the extra hours.
Last was the man whom Conan personally dubbed "creepy man". This man didn't do or say anything that was too unusual, and that was what bothered Conan. It was as if he already had everything layed out in front of him. His all-seeing eyes were creeping Conan out.
Out of the five, two of them claimed to be looking for the deceased man, now known to Conan as Ueshima Hideaki. The waitress, Fujiwara Kimiko, and the son, Ueshima Ryo. The other three - the woman, Kiski Rina, the businessman, Sugiyama Daichi, and "creepy man", who called himself Ryusaki Ryuu - all claimed to have gone to the bathroom.
After fully interrogating all of the customers, many were released. Only the five suspects Conan mentioned remained. He took his time poking around the crime scene as the five were re-interrogated. Cause of death was a blow to the back of the head via frying pan. Conan noted that the hit would have to be pretty hard to kill the man, and were he not so thorough he would immediately want to take the women off the list. But, having grown up with a girl like Ran can make you think twice about underestimating women. Other than the pan, nothing seemed too out of place, which meant that the victim probably didn't see his attacker before he was hit. On the other hand, there was something off about the body. Conan approached an inspecting forensic.
"Does something seem different to you?" he asked his childish, fake enthusiastic voice. The forensic turned to look at him and then back at the body.
"Come to think of it, something does seem off," he said. He gave the body another once over. As Conan inspected further, he noticed it.
"Is his.. is his shirt on inside-out?" Conan asked, blinking a few times to see if he was correct. Indeed, it was on backwards. "I wonder if it was like that all day?" Conan left the forensic kneeling confused next to the body for the main area once more. The suspects looked to be finished being interrogated. The shrunken detective stared off in their direction, lost in thought as he pondered the case. What tied the murderer to the victim? Was the inside-out shirt relevant?
"He scratches his leg when he is lying," a voice suddenly spoke from next to him. Conan jumped in surprise. He looked over to see that the creepy man was standing right next to him, eyes set on the other suspects.
"E-excuse me?" Conan stuttered out. He didn't mean to, but the man set off strange alarms in his head.
"The man named Sugiyama Daichi scratches the side of his leg with his left pinky every time he tells a lie." His eyes never left the other four suspects. Before Conan could respond, the man continued, "And the woman, Kiski-san, she's been seeing the victim. I believe they were lovers. She denied this when I questioned her in private, but I'm 87% certain that they were. As for the waitress and the boy, I do not believe either of them committed the crime. The boy seems to be handling himself quite well, but you can see in his eyes that he is upset. The waitress on the other hand, is visibly shaking. She will probably have a panic attack before the culprit is even identified."
Conan found himself speechless as he finished. Upon inspection, he found that the man was right. The waitress looked about to either fall into a dead faint or crawl into a corner and cry. As for the son, he also looked to be quite devastated. Neither of them were the killer, it was almost certain.
"And what about you?" Conan asked, glancing up at Ryusaki Ryuu. He seemed to ponder the question for a moment before finally meeting the not-youth's gaze.
"Hmm. Well, I did not personally know the victim. This is also my first time coming to this diner, though I suppose I could be lying. I do not have a motive, though. I have yet to see the man's face, and the cake was delicious." Conan blinked in amazement. This man was so absolutely blunt!
"Uhh, the cake?" Conan asked him.
"Oh, yes. You should try it some time. It is definitely worth tasting. It is not so awful that you may feel the need to kill the store owner over." And with that, Conan decided that he was insane. There was no doubt about it. This man was absolutely insane. He didn't comment after that, and inspected his remaining suspects once more. Sugiyama-san did indeed scratch his leg with his pinky when he lied, it was a strange habit in Conan's opinion, but useful. He suddenly had an idea.
"Ne, ojisan," Conan called politely up to Sugiyama. "I was just wondering, have you met Kiski-san before today?" Sugiyama looked down on him and raised a brow.
"No, not once," Conan watched as the man before him scratched his leg with his pinky, "why do you ask?" Conan blinked, looking honestly confused.
"Are you sure? Because I thought that she was your girlfriend, with the way she keeps looking at you like that," he said, a slight teasing tone flitting through his voice. Sugiyama stuttered incoherently in response. "Well, nevermind then I guess!" and with that, Conan walked away. He smirked in victory. He had everything he needed, now that he had seen that. All the pieces would soon fall into place, as soon as he visited the forensic one more time.
So that's that.
Just as a note: yes, I do know that I spelled "Ryuuzaki" differently. I was being clever. The entire name is a spin-off of "Ryuuzaki Rue". I thought it was funny.
I also realize that my writing style in this story is very blunt and choppy. Sorry if that bothers you, its just how it turned out.