AN: The second chapter is here! The first chapter is a bit more like a lengthy prologue, so I guess you could say that the story starts in earnest here. Similar to Blood and Snow, this is a story that will cover various story arcs- the Seishina arc is out very first arc, and I've got some other, interesting things planned for future arcs that hopefully everyone should enjoy.
To the two people who reviewed the fic, and to the people who added it to their favorites and followed it, thank you! Your support is what keeps me going. I hope you all have fun reading this chapter!
The Bells Chime Beyond
Chapter Two
The Shrine Where the Foxes Gather
"Explain to me again why we have to drive all the way out here." From behind the wheel of his rental car, Mouri Kogoro grumbled. He had plans for this week that hadn't involved driving out to some mountain village in the middle of nowhere.
"We've already been over this a number of times, dad." Ran peered at her father from the back seat, a cross expression on her face. "Kazuha-chan was the one who asked us to come out here. She says that Hattori-kun went missing while investigating something here earlier, and she wants you to help find him. She's worried sick, you know!"
"That kid's probably just run off somewhere." Kogoro grumbled. "High school detectives seem to have a tendency to do that."
"I don't think Hattori-kun would do something like that." Ran frowned. "Besides, what if something has happened to him, dad? We can't just sit around and do nothing. Right, Conan-kun?" She asked, glancing over towards the boy sitting next to her.
"Yeah. Ran-neechan's right." Conan nodded his head, trying to keep exactly how worried he was from showing on his face- mostly for Ran's sake. When Kazuha had first called Ran in a panic with the news that Heiji had disappeared while investigating a case, Conan had felt a knot tie up in his stomach, one that only got larger as time passed. Hattori Heiji, after all, was absolutely the type to have something bad to happen to him on a case because of his own recklessness, usually.
He couldn't help but fear the worst.
But for the moment, he'd try to stay calm. He wouldn't do any good if he panicked over this, he knew that much.
"Alright, Alright." Kogoro finally conceded, turning his full focus back on the road ahead of them.
This had all started with a panicked phone call from Kazuha two days ago, claiming that Heiji had gone missing while investigating something in a small village in Hokkaido by the name of Seishina. He'd been hired by the head priestess of the local shrine there, who went by the name of Yamagishi Ritsuko, although Kazuha didn't exactly know what the request was. She had told Ran that she was already headed that way herself, and asked if she could possibly ask her father to come and look into the matter himself.
"Well, we're here." Kogoro noted, pulling the car to a stop, moving it off the side of the road so that it wouldn't get in the way of any other passing cars. "This is the shrine that Osakan kid was supposed to be staying at, right?"
"Yeah." Ran nodded her head, unbuckling her seatbelt and sliding out of the car, Conan quickly following behind her. "Kazuha-chan should already be here, but..."
"Maybe she's waiting up at the shrine?" Conan piped up, already starting to ascend the steps himself. The faster he got up there and started asking questions, the faster he'd find Heiji, after all. Apparently it had already been four days since he disappeared, and that was already four days wasted. He couldn't start the investigation fast enough, in his opinion.
"Don't rush ahead like that, Conan-kun!" Ran chided him lightly, quickly following behind him. "What if you trip?"
"It's okay, Ran-neechan, I won't trip!" Conan reassured her, flashing her his best childlike smile. "But it sure is noisy up there. It sounds like someone is arguing, doesn't it?" He asked, straining his ears to hear better. They weren't close enough to catch what was being said yet, but whatever it was, it seemed pretty heated.
"You're right." Ran frowned, glancing back to make sure her father was following them. "Maybe something's happening?" Frowning, she quickened her pace, worried that maybe Kazuha had gotten herself involved in a conflict of some kind. She had said she was going to be waiting for them here, after all.
"I keep telling you, I don't have anything to do with it!" A woman's voice protested- and Ran let out a small sigh of relief when it wasn't Kazuha's. As she and Conan hurried up the steps of the shrine, they were quickly met with the sight of what appeared to be a pair of police officers and a middle aged man in business suit, in some kind of confrontation with a red haired woman in a shrine maiden's outfit, who had a young man with dark brown hair by her side. Standing next to that pair was none other than Toyama Kazuha, and a look of relief crossed her face as she spotted Ran coming up the stairs.
"Ran-chan, over here!" She waved a hand. "Hurry!"
The three men who were questioning the young woman paused at this unexpected interruption, narrowing their eyes as Ran and Conan made their way over towards them. Clearing his throat, the man in the business suit shot a look over towards the redhead. "And, who are these two? I thought your helpers for this years festival had already all arrived, Ritsuko-chan."
"Well, that's..." The woman, who was Yamagishi Ritsuko as Conan had guessed, frowned a little, looking at a loss herself, glancing over towards Kazuha for guidance.
"She's my friend." Kazuha spoke up, putting her hands on her hips as she glared the trio of men down. "Mouri Ran, the daughter of the great detective Mouri Kogoro!"
At the mention of the old man's name, the color seemed to drain from the faces of the three men, Conan noted. Naturally, he found that curious, and filed that information away for later, choosing for the moment to scurry up besides the woman. "Are you Yamagishi Ritsuko, onee-san?" He spoke up.
"Yeah, that's me." She said, nodding her head. "I'm the head priestess of the shrine."
"Not for long, if I have anything to say about it." The man in the business suit said sharply. "Your grandfather would be ashamed of what you've done, Ritsuko-chan."
"Don't you bring up my grandfather!" Ritsuko shot back, clenching her fists. For all of her fire, Conan couldn't help but notice that she was trembling slightly, largely supported by the steady hands of the man who was by her side. "And like I keep saying over and over again, I don't have anything to do with it!"
"What's this?" Kogoro asked, finally making his way up the stairs, pausing for a moment to catch his breath. "I finally get up here, and all I here is bickering. What's going on, Ran?"
"Well, that's..." Ran trailed off, looking uncertain herself.
"Oh, good timing, Mouri-san!" Kazuha spoke up, grabbing his arm and all but pulling him over towards everyone else. "You need to help us out here! This sketchy uncle over here is accusing Yamagishi-san of killing a person!"
"I'm just saying that she might have something to do with it, not that she killed the man herself." The man slightly retracted, holding up his hands. "After all, it was one of my supporters that was found dead."
"Hold on." Holding up a hand, Kogoro glanced between the two parties, before turning toward Kazuha. "I can't do anything if I don't know anything. What exactly is going on here? I thought you called us out here to look for that childhood friend of yours."
"I did." Kazuha nodded her head, a worried expression creeping into her face. "But things got more difficult when I got here, thanks to this uncle who calls himself the mayor."
"I am the mayor." Daichi said shortly. "But alright, Ritsuko-chan. I can see that you have guests today, so I'll let you off the hook for now. But you can be certain that I'm going to get to the bottom of this matter." He said, shooting her a dirty look, before he turned on his heel and left, leaving the two police officers to scramble after him.
"He seems like a rather unpleasant fellow." Kogoro observed, briefly watching the man leave before he finally turned towards Ritsuko and her companion. "Now then, I'm Mouri Kogoro. On behalf of Toyama Kazuha over there, I was called to look into the matter of her friend disappearing from here. I'm sorry to bring this up right after it looks like you just had to deal with some complicated matters, but do you think we could talk?"
"Of course." Ritsuko nodded her head, briefly glancing up towards the man by her side, giving him a small smile. "That wouldn't be a problem, Mouri-san. I'm worried about Hattori-kun as well."
"We can speak to you in the annex building, over there." The man finally spoke up, giving Ritsuko's shoulders a light squeeze before letting them go. "I'm Inugami Takahiro, I'm Ritsuko's fiancee."
"It's nice to meet you." Ran nodded her head. "I'm Mouri Ran, and this boy is Edogawa Conan. We're both friends of Hattori-kun as well."
"Thank you for coming all this way." Ritsuko said, giving them a small smile. "Now, please, this way." She said, leading them towards the annex.
"Are you getting ready for some kind of festival, onee-san?" Conan noted, glancing around. Festival stalls were in the middle of being built, and bits and pieces of preparation work could be seen scattered all around the shrine- and throughout their drive into the village, he'd noted.
"Yes." Ritsuko nodded her head, sliding open the door to the annex. A pair of foxes quickly made their way outside of it as she did so, hurrying off towards the forest behind the shrine. Conan couldn't help but take note at the slightly confused expression on Ritsuko's face as she watched them run off, before she stepped aside, inviting the group inside. "It's our yearly festival, in honor of Grandmother Fox and the foxes who live on the Mountain. You'll probably see a lot of foxes around here during your stay, especially here at the shrine."
"Please, take a seat." Ritsuko told them, taking a seat at the table herself, Takahiro taking the spot next to her. Conan made sure to slide in the spot immediately next to Kogoro, so that he could keep an eye on the old man while they spoke. "Where should I begin?"
"How about the case that you called Heiji-niichan out here to solve?" Conan offered, having been curious about it himself.
"Ah, yes." Nodding her head, Ritsuko reached for Takahiro's hand, carefully clasping it in her own. She certainly seemed troubled by the recent events herself, if her expression was anything to go by. "Then, I'll start from there. It's probably related anyways."
As Ritsuko explained the events that lead up to her contacting Heiji in the first place, Conan's eyes narrowed. There was something about her story that bothered him, though he didn't think she was lying, either. It sure sounded like this mayor wanted the area of Fox Mountain badly- if he wanted to build a ski resort, there were other mountains in the area that he'd be able to build them on, so why was he so dead set on this one? He didn't think he'd go through all of this trouble for something as simple as a grudge, or anything like that- it had to be something bigger.
"I see." Kogoro put a hand to his chin in thought after Ritsuko finished her explanation. "So you contacted that Osakan kid because you were worried the police might be involved in the matter. That is indeed troubling."
"When did you notice Heiji-niichan had vanished?" Conan asked.
"On the morning of his fifth day here." Ritsuko told him. "He didn't show up for breakfast, and the other two people staying in the room set aside for the festival helpers said that they hadn't seen him that morning. Naturally, I grew worried and went looking for him, but I couldn't find any trace of him. His things were left behind at the shrine, too."
Clenching the fabric of her hakama, Ritsuko bit her lip. "It's all my fault that this happened. I should have never called him out here in the first place. I don't know how to apologize to you enough, Toyama-san."
"It's not your fault, Yamagishi-san, don't blame yourself." Kazuha said quickly. "Besides, it's too early to act like something terrible has happened to Heiji. He's pretty resilient, after all."
Although she was obviously trying to put on a brave face, it didn't take a detective to see that Kazuha was extremely worried. Frowning, Conan turned back towards Ritsuko. "Hey, did anything strange happen after Heiji-niisan disappeared?"
"Strange?" Ritsuko blinked, before glancing over at Takahiro. "Well, I guess you could call what was found earlier this morning strange, but..."
"The body of one of the villagers washed up on the banks of the river that runs through the village. He apparently drowned." Takahiro told them, deciding to speak up for his fiancee. "He was a large, stocky fellow by the name of Watanabe Yuuichiro. He went missing around five nights ago, apparently. It seems like the mayor wants to paint Ritsuko as the culprit, even though she would never do something like that."
"Five nights ago?" Conan blinked. "Isn't that around the same time that Heiji-niichan disappeared?"
"Now that you mention it..." Ritsuko frowned, her eyebrows knitting together. "You don't think that Watanabe-san could have had anything to do with it, do you?"
"It's not impossible." Kogoro inclined his head. "Where would be the most likely place around here that one would fall into the river in the first place? Perhaps if we start from there, we might be able to dig up some clues."
"There's at least one that I can think of." Ritsuko said. "Part of the path that leads to Grandmother Fox's shrine in the mountains is located on a cliff face. If you're not careful, you might fall down into the river there. That was originally how we thought my grandfather had died."
"Can you show us to it?" Conan asked. "Maybe we can find something?"
"Sure." Nodding her head slowly, Ritsuko rose to her feet. "I'll guide you there right now, if that's alright with you."
"I'll come with you." Kazuha got to her feet. She didn't want to just sit around while she was here- as long as Heiji was missing somewhere out there, she wanted to do something about it herself. She might not be as great a detective as he was, but she wasn't about to let that stop her. "What about you, Ran-chan?"
"I'll come as well." Ran said, standing up as well. "I'm also worried about Hattori-kun. I know Conan-kun is too. Right?"
"Yeah." Conan nodded his head. "But why is there another shrine further into the mountains, Ritsuko-oneechan?"
"It's Grandmother Fox's shrine." Ritsuko told him, flashing him a small smile. "It's been our tradition at this shrine to make the trek out to it once a week to provide offerings and a prayer to her. She's this mountain's guardian deity, who keeps it safe from all those with foul intents. She's the grandmother of all the foxes on the mountain and watches over them. The festival is centered around her as well."
"Originally there were actually two small shrines dedicated to her, but unfortunately, the second one has been lost to history. We don't know where it is." Ritsuko said, shaking her head. "The one that remains is dedicated to the image of Grandmother Fox as the kind and caring grandmother, and the one that was lost to us was dedicated to the image of her as a young and playful trickster, who used her wit and magic to keep those with bad intentions away from the sacred mountain and her children."
"A guardian fox, huh?" Ran asked, smiling a little. "That's kind of nice." Compared to all of the other horrible legends she'd heard while tagging along with Heiji, this one was actually fairly charming. Why couldn't they all be like this?
"Ah, Takahiro, you can stay behind and watch the shrine, if you'd rather." Ritsuko said, pausing to look back at him as she slid open the door to the annex.
"Then, I'll do that. Be careful, Ritsuko." Takahiro told her.
"Why don't you want Takahiro-san to come with us?" Conan asked, glancing up at the redheaded priestess as they left the annex.
"He's been afraid of heights ever since he was little." Ritsuko told him with a small smile.
"Hold on a second." Kogoro began, lifting up a hand. "What's this about heights?"
It wasn't long before Kogoro had his answer. The mustached detective found himself frozen at the beginning of the cliffside path, unable to take another step forward. The sound of the rushing waters below him did not seem to help matters much, and at the thought of having to cross this path, the color quickly drained from his face.
"W-well, I'll stay back here to make sure that nobody sneaks up behind us." Kogoro said after a moment, fighting the urge to cast a wary eye down towards the gorge below. "Ran, Conan, the two of you are in charge of investigating around the shrine, you got that?"
"Geez, dad." Ran huffed, before heaving a sigh. "Alright. Conan-kun and I will keep a sharp eye out for anything that looks like a clue. Ah, but do you need to hold my hand, Conan-kun? It is a little scary, after all."
"No, I'll be fine, Ran-neechan." Conan said, shaking his head. "Don't worry about me."
"O-okay." Nodding her head, Ran took in and let out a deep breath, before she started down the path herself. Kazuha had already forged on ahead- if she was scared at all, it was obviously outweighed by her concern for Heiji. Ran felt like she could understand, though. If something like this had happened to Shinichi, she would probably be much the same.
"Why would they build such a dangerous path in the first place?" Ran wondered out loud. Up ahead, Ritsuko seemed to catch her question, though she didn't look back towards the girl.
"Actually, only the keeper of the shrine is supposed to come back here in the first place. The hazardous path is meant to keep intruders out." Ritsuko told her. "But given the circumstances, I don't think Grandmother Fox would be mad about this."
That struck Conan as somewhat curious as well. Was there some reason that such precautions had been taken to protect the shrines? It felt like there was a piece to all of this he just didn't know yet.
He might not have been afraid of heights like Kogoro was, but he still breathed easier once they were on more secure ground. Vaguely, he got the sensation of eyes on him as he continued down the path, but quickly came to realize that these were merely the curious eyes of the mountain's foxes, hardly anything for him to worry about.
Although, for some strange reason, at least one of the gazes felt vaguely familiar- and that did bother him somewhat. Turning in the direction he felt it from, he saw nothing, and the feeling quickly vanished as soon as it had come, leaving the not-child somewhat baffled. What was that?
"Oh." Ritsuko blinked, coming to a sudden stop. Kazuha very nearly collided into her, as she had been walking so closely behind her, but narrowly managed to avoid doing just that. "That's strange. I haven't seen you around here before."
"What? What is it?" Kazuha asked, peering over Ritsuko's shoulder. "Oh, a fox! How cute!"
Kneeling down in front of the fox, Ritsuko reached out a careful hand towards it. For all that four people were clustered around it, the fox didn't seem the least bit flustered by the attention it was getting, Conan curiously noted as he approached it as well. It was a brown fox, with two patches of darker brown fur just over it's eyes. There was a small patch of fur missing from behind it's left ear, and one on it's front right paw- there were scars there, Conan dimly noted. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Kazuha frowning a little, her expression for a moment, becoming unreadable.
"What do you mean you haven't seen him before, Ritsuko-neechan?" Conan asked. There was something about this fox that caught his attention, though he wasn't certain what it was. As he spoke, the fox seemed to turn it's attention towards him, blue eyes standing out against it's dark brown fur.
"I know all the foxes around here." Ritsuko replied. "I've been able to tell them apart since I was a little girl, in fact. And I'm pretty certain this is the first time I've seen this fellow here. Where did you come from, little one?" She asked, almost as if she half expected the fox to answer.
"If it's this used to humans, maybe it used to be someone's pet." Conan observed, before frowning. For a second there, it almost looked as if the fox in question had just rolled it's eyes at him.
"That's possible." Ritsuko said, getting to her feet. "Well, the shrine is just up ahead. You all can take a look if you like. My," She blinked, watching as the fox got to it's feet, walking over towards Conan and all but sitting itself next to him. "He likes you."
"Isn't that great, Conan-kun?" Ran asked. "I wonder if he would let me pet him. He's really cute."
"He might bite, Ran-neechan, I wouldn't recommend it." Conan advised her, casting a wary eye down towards the fox at his side. It seemed to shoot him a dirty look at the very suggestion of him biting Ran, and again, there was something in that that Conan found curiously familiar.
This was really starting to bother him.
"I don't think he'll bite." Kazuha said, kneeling down near the fox, almost seeming to pout over the fact that it had ignored her in favor of Conan. "Here, come here." She called out, reaching out a hand towards it. Carefully, she moved to scratch it behind it's right ear, something which the fox seemed to lean into- before suddenly shaking it off, lightly batting Kazuha's hand away with it's paw, a slightly grumpy look on his face.
"Geez, if you like it, there's no reason to get upset over it, idiot." Kazuha made a small face, reaching over to carefully scoop up the fox. It didn't put up much resistance to this, but rather seemed to settle itself down in her arms, making itself comfortable. It rather placidly let Kazuha carry it the rest of the way to the shrine, before leaping out of her arms, setting it self down in front of the shrine itself.
It was when it tried to make a sound that they all noticed something was wrong with it's throat. The raspy noise it produced seemed to surprise even the fox itself, and appeared to be an instant source of concern for Ritsuko.
"I don't like the sound of that..." Ritsuko noted with a frown. "Maybe we should bring this little one back with us, so Takahiro can take a look at him. The scars bother me as well, though those at least, look old."
The fox had apparently moved on to other concerns aside from it's throat, as it made it's way back over towards Conan again. Reaching out to lightly grab the hem of his sleeve, he gave it a small tug, trying to move the small boy towards the forest. Snatching his sleeve away from the fox, Conan grumbled a little. "Cut that out. My clothes aren't a toy."
It seemed to roll it's eyes again at that, walking over towards the edge of the forest and sitting itself down, his eyes burning holes into Conan's head.
"Maybe he wants you to follow him, Conan-kun?" Ran suggested. "He looks like he has something he wants to show you."
From the way that fox all but seemed to light up at Ran's suggestion, it seemed that she had hit it right on the mark. If Conan didn't miss his guess, it was almost like it could understand what they were saying.
"Why would I want to follow after a fox anywhere?" Conan frowned, which earned him yet another dirty look from the fox in question.
"Then, I'll go with him." Kazuha said, standing next to the fox. "He might have something important to show us."
"What could a fox have to show us that's important?" Conan asked dryly. He didn't like the idea of Kazuha following after a fox into some strange forest alone though- Heiji would have never forgiven him if she'd gotten lost like that. "But fine, I'll go with you as well, Kazuha-neechan."
"That's good." Nodding her head, Kazuha offered Conan her hand, which the not-child begrudgingly took. He could have sworn that he had caught a look of amusement in the fox's eyes as he did so. "Let's go, Conan-kun."
With the brown fox as their lead, the pair made their way through the forest, carefully stepping over rocks and tree roots alike that poked out from the forest floor. They hadn't been walking for long when the fox came to a stop, looking back towards the pair, making a motion with his head that what he wanted to show them was just around the corner.
Conan could have sworn underneath his breath when he saw it. He'd thought the fox had wanted to show him some kind of shiny object, or something like that- the last thing the shrunken detective had expected was a corpse.
Conan wasted no time in assessing the situation. Judging from the look of the body, it had been out here for at least a month, he thought. He wasn't very recognizable anymore, but he was pretty certain that the body was male. Judging from the somewhat faded looking jacket that he wore, it appeared as if he was associated with a newspaper.
The fox, which had briefly disappeared for a moment, returned to the scene, setting down what appeared to be a watch next to Conan's feet. With one of it's paws, it nudged at the wrist of the corpse, and although they were faded, Conan could still make out signs that something had been wrapped around it's wrist.
Briefly, Conan found himself locking eyes with the fox, that strange sense of familiarity rising up in him again as he stared into those blue eyes. Any thoughts on that were cut short, however, upon the arrival of Ran and Ritsuko, who were drawn to the scene by the sound of Kazuha's scream.
As soon as Ritsuko saw the jacket that the corpse still wore, her eyes went wide, and the color drained from her face. "That can't be..." Taking a step back, she felt the strength give out of her legs. "Morioka-san?"
Morioka Tsutomu was the name of the deceased, Conan found out later. It was also the name of the reporter that Ritsuko had attempted contacting before Heiji, when she was searching for someone to help her uncover the truth behind her grandfather's death, and the threatening notes she had been getting.
As much as they still had reservations about the local police, there was no choice but to call them in this situation, since a corpse had shown up. Before long, the site was crawling with police officers, who eventually managed to come up with a way to remove the corpse from the site. The mood had been tense as the police chief, Ueda, had appeared on the scene- and Conan couldn't help but notice that the brown fox who until that point had been rather docile, suddenly raised up it's fur, watching the officer with wariness. It wasn't until he left that he seemed to relax again.
As the sun was setting, the group finally made their way back towards the main shrine. Ritsuko excused herself for a moment, claiming that she needed to go lie down for a moment. Conan couldn't blame her- she hadn't reacted well to seeing the corpse at all. Someone she had called out here had turned up dead, after all.
It only made the knot of worry in Conan's stomach grow. He could only hope that Heiji wasn't sharing the fate of the murdered reporter, and that his body just hadn't been found yet. He wasn't willing to give up hope just yet, but it still gave him a sense of deep unease.
Ran and Kazuha had gone to find Takahiro, to get him to look over the peculiar brown fox that they had found at the shrine. It had followed them back the entire way, sticking to Kazuha's side this time for most of the walk back to the main shrine. Somewhat curious about the animal himself, Conan made his way towards the annex, where the girls had brought the fox to.
"How's the fox, Ran-neechan?" Conan asked as he entered the annex, noticing that Takahiro just seemed to be finishing his assessment. "Is something wrong with it's voice after all?"
"That's right." Ran nodded her head, a frown on her face. "Inugami-san says that it looks like he might have been strangled, from the look of the rope burns on his neck. It probably damaged it's vocal chords at the same time."
"Strangled?" Conan blinked. "You mean like the fox they found on the offering box?" For a moment, Conan's thoughts flickered back towards the odd way it had behaved towards the police chief, Ueda. Maybe he had something to do with it?
"Yeah, it's exactly like that." Takahiro nodded his head. "I looked over that fox as well. The rope marks under it's fur are the same. This fellow at least seemed to have escaped." He noted, reaching over to lightly pet the fox's head- but missed his chance as the fox all but stepped out of the way, leaving the man's hand hanging in empty air. Coughing to cover it up, a flustered Takahiro continued.
"The scars by it's left ear and right paw, as well as the one on it's stomach all appear to be at least a few months to a year old, though they bother me too. Especially the one on it's stomach." Takahiro frowned. If he didn't miss his guess, it resembled more of an old bullet wound than it did a normal scar. "If this guy really was a pet before this, he's probably had a rough life before coming here. It's amazing that he trusts humans at all, really."
"Well, he certainly seems clever." Ran observed, and for a moment, Conan could have sworn that the fox had shot him a smug look. "He lead Conan-kun and Kazuha-chan right to that body. It's just like one of those books about animal detectives, right?"
"You're right." Kazuha nodded her head, making a motion towards the fox, beckoning it to come over to her. Without delay, the fox got up, leaping off the table and curled up in Kazuha's lap. It let out a noiseless yawn, before nestling down in her lap. "He's a clever little fellow, this one. Maybe I should give him a name."
"What about Watson?" Conan volunteered- and no sooner than he had, the fox's ears perked back up again, shooting the pint-sized detective a dirty look. "Or maybe not."
"I was thinking about calling him Hei-chan. Cause you know," Kazuha said, pointing to the two darker patches of fur right above the fox's eyes. "Whenever I look at these, all I can think about are Heiji's eyebrows."
"Oh, you're right." Ran blinked, smiling in spite of herself. "And about Hattori-kun, you shouldn't worry too much yet, Kazuha-chan." Ran said quickly, the mention of the Osakan detective causing her to recall exactly why they were there in the first place- though it wasn't exactly as if she had forgotten to begin with. "I'm sure that he'll turn up just fine. Maybe he's just hiding somewhere?"
"Hopefully that's the case." Kazuha said, lightly petting the fox's head. For some reason, it appeared as if she wasn't as worried as she had been before, which frankly, was something Conan didn't quite understand. If anything, she should be more worried now that a body had shown up. And if that man whose body had been found washed up on the banks of the river even earlier really did have something to do with Heiji's disappearance, then it was highly possible that Heiji had also fallen into the aforementioned river.
And while he'd survived being shot, being shoved into the ocean, falling off a cliff, and being imprisoned, there were only so many times that the oftentimes reckless detective of the west could escape death before it finally caught up with him. That was the one thing that always had Conan worrying about him- and why he'd started involving him in investigating the Black Organization less and less over time. The last thing he wanted was to be the one responsible for Hattori Heiji's untimely death.
Idiot. Ya don't have to worry about things like that.
Blinking rapidly, Conan glanced around the room. For a second there, he could have sworn that he'd heard Heiji's voice.
"Hey, did you two hear anything?" Conan asked, glancing between Ran and Kazuha. The two girls exchanged a look, before shaking their heads.
Had it just been his imagination?
As the morning sun hung brightly overhead the village of Seishina, the tense air of the small village hit Conan full force. This would mark the first time he had entered the village proper since he'd arrived here, and now that he had, it was obvious how deep the tensions ran. The current situation had probably only exasperated things, with two bodies having shown up, in addition to someone being missing.
Heiji's disappearance, he noted, was already generating rumors. Somehow Conan wasn't the least bit surprised to hear the villagers whisper about him being 'taken away by the foxes' underneath their breath when they thought no one else was listening. He guessed that it was the local version of being spirited away.
That was what brought him down into the village that morning, as it were. Alongside Ran and Kazuha, the three of them were going to board a small boat that would traverse the length of the river, searching for any signs of the missing high school detective. Frankly, Conan almost hoped that they wouldn't find them. He didn't want to think about his friend having fallen into the rapidly rushing waters of the river.
Kogoro was working on his own, asking questions of the locals. Honestly, Conan was a bit worried about leaving him on his own, wondering what he would do when he wasn't around, but he was frankly more worried about Heiji at this exact moment. He could fix any mistakes that uncle made later anyways, which made Heiji's situation all the more pressing to him.
"Watch your step, boy." The man who had agreed to take the three down the river told him, his voice breaking him out of his thoughts. The not-child had grumbled as Ran put on his life jacket for him- he could have done it himself, thank you very much.
"Thank you for agreeing to take us, Yamahara-san." Ran told him, taking a seat on the small motorboat. "I hope we're not imposing."
"Don't worry your pretty little head about it." The man, Yamahara Naoki, flashed Ran a broad grin. He was young, in his early twenties, and was the grandson of the village elder, if Conan recalled correctly. It seemed that he did a lot of the legwork for the village elder these days, as his health was starting to decline. "You're Ritsuko's guests, so you're important guests of the village. Besides, you've got one of those good omens following you around."
It took a second for Conan to understand what Naoki meant, before the man indicated with his hand exactly what he was referring to. "See? This guy's even followed you all the way onto the boat. That's pretty unusual, for a fox!"
Sure enough, the brown fox that Kazuha had taken to calling Hei-chan had indeed, joined them on the ship. Conan hadn't even noticed the animal following them in the first place, and could only watch in slight bafflement as it leapt up onto the seat in between Ran and Kazuha, plopping down in the middle of the two girls.
"Come on now, that's Conan-kun's seat." Ran lightly scolded the fox, carefully lifting it up and placing it on Kazuha's lap. "You should sit here, Hei-chan." She said, before patting the now empty seat. "Conan-kun, it's free for you now!"
"R-right, Ran-neechan!" Nodding his head, Conan quickly slid into the seat, glancing up towards Kazuha as he did so. There was a faint trace of red to her cheeks as the fox settled in her lap- at least until it spread itself out further, simultaneously occupying both Kazuha and Conan's laps.
"Then are we ready to set off?" Naoki asked, glancing back towards the trio and their canine companion. Getting confirmation from Ran, Naoki flashed them all a broad grin, before he started up the boat, turning it around so that they could head upriver. In in the safety of the boat, the river's waters still felt choppy, and suddenly Conan was very glad for his life jacket. If he fell in, there was no doubt that in his current state he'd be swept away to who knows where.
"Let me know if you see something, and want me to stop the boat. I can bring you in pretty close to the banks of the river, if you need me to." Naoki told them, briefly glancing back towards the group. "Hopefully your friend is alright. Ritsuko's been awfully distressed about this whole thing. It's rough to see, honestly."
"Heiji's pretty hardy." Kazuha noted. "He's probably still out there somewhere. I don't think he would die that easily. I'd never forgive him if he did, after all."
"How long has your family held the role of village elder, Yamahara-san?" Conan piped up.
"Let's see... I don't think we've been around for as long as Ritsuko's family, but it's been quite awhile." Naoki said, considering the question. "Maybe over two hundred years."
"That's a long time!" Ran exclaimed. "I don't think we can trace our family back a hundred years, let alone two hundred."
"Well, it's easier in a small village like this." Naoki told her. "But the Yamagishi family has been around for even longer than this. They've been in charge of the shrine for the whole time as well. Although recently there are some people who want to see Ritsuko replaced as the head of the shrine. They say because she was adopted in the first place, that it should be the villagers who get a choice in who runs it from now on. Well," He shrugged his shoulders, facing the front again to focus on driving the boat. "I think Ritsuko's more than qualified. It should be the foxes who decide that sort of thing, not us."
"She's adopted?" Conan asked, blinking.
"Yeah. Her grandfather found her, actually." Naoki said. "We don't really know where she came from before that. Just found her wandering around lost in the forest, with no memories. I don't think Ritsuko likes to think about it much though. It's kind of scary when you consider the possibilities."
"That's true." Ran frowned. "She must have really loved her grandfather, then."
"Yeah, she really did." Nodding his head, Naoki's expression grew more somber. "All of us did, really. He was a great man."
Filing away this information for later, Conan found his gaze turning upwards. Just above them, he noticed, seemed to be the treacherous cliffside part of the path that lead to Grandmother Fox's shine. It was hard to make out from this distance, but he didn't think he was mistaken. It certainly was a long way down though, even more so than it looked like from up there.
As the knot of worry in his stomach tightened, the fox glanced up, it's ears perking up as it sat upright. It placed a paw over Conan's hand, giving it a few pats. Frowning, the not-child looked over towards it- was it trying to comfort him?
"Don't worry, Conan-kun." Ran said lightly, placing a hand on his shoulder, as if sensing his nervousness. "I'm sure Hattori-kun is just fine. For all we know, he might just pop up out of nowhere again like he always does."
"You're probably right, Ran-neechan." Conan said, giving her a small smile. For once he'd actually appreciate if Heiji pulled that oftentimes annoying sudden appearance act of his. He'd give him a swift kick to the shins for making him worry so much, the not-child thought.
As he thought that, a flash of brown suddenly entered his vision, before vanishing as soon as it had come. It wasn't until he heard Ran call out after the fox and hurriedly asked Naoki to stop the boat that he understood what had just happened. In the blink of an eye, the brown fox had dashed across the boat, leaping out from it and onto the banks of the river beside it- quite the impressive jump. It was currently sitting on a rock, gazing at the passengers of the boat, as if waiting for them to come back.
Carefully pulling the boat around so that he could pull it up to the bank of the river, Naoki carefully tied it up to one of the large rocks on the river bed, securing the boat in place. Conan hurriedly made his way off the boat, his feet sinking into the muddy riverbed. The fox had already lead them to a corpse before, so he was more keen in finding out what it was that the peculiar animal wanted to show them this time.
Jumping down from the rock, the fox carefully made it's way further inwards. There was a small cave in front of them, Conan noticed, as he carefully ducked his head down, crawling into it. Suddenly grateful for his diminutive size, he quickly turned on his flashlight wristwatch, shining it in front of him.
For a moment, the brown fox disappeared from his sight, before it quickly returned, carrying something in it's mouth. It only took an instant for Conan to recognize what it was, even when it was covered in mud- after all, he saw it so many times before.
Dropping the object in front of Conan, the fox sat down in front of him, seeming to flash an all too familiar grin at the not-child. Carefully, Conan picked it up, trying to knock some of the mud off of it. As the logo of the cap in his hands was revealed as the mud was wiped away, it only confirmed Conan's gut instinct.
There was no mistake.
It was Heiji's cap.