What's this? Chapter 3!
Summer's over, I'm back in college. Yeah.
Once again, thanks for all the lovely reviews! Special thanks to HaibaraDaiFan and Yannami, who both left long, involved reviews that made me ridiculously happy. Thanks for all the input, everyone! Seeing everyone's reactions always makes writing the next chapter much more fun.
This chapter ended up really long. Most chapters won't be this length, they'll be about a thousand words less, like the previous two.
Here we go!
I'm not calling you a liar, just don't lie to me
I'm not calling you a thief, just don't steal from me
Chapter 3: The Dead Aren't Supposed to Be Calling
There were days he wondered what the hell he was doing with his life. When he had entered into the police academy all those years ago, he had some grand ideas about being a sort of 90s action star, with the explosions, daring escapes and rescues, and viper-eyed femme fatales in slinky dresses.
Entering into the Secret Police had only excited those silly fantasies.
Which certainly never included juggling seven different tables during the lunch rush of a small cafe in Tokyo and burning his hand on the coffee pot.
What was he doing?
Well, not that he had any room to complain; this mission and station had been entirely of his own choosing. In fact, he could call it quits anytime he wanted, and no one, in either of the shady organizations he worked for, would even be bothered; the decision to remain on and investigate the Sleeping Detective had been his alone.
And it wasn't like his life was entirely devoid of explosions (the debacle on the Mystery Train, for example), daring escapes and rescues (could saving elementary schoolers from kidnappers and a refrigerated van be called daring, though?), and femme fatales (Vermouth, who honestly, he could probably live without if she weren't so damn useful).
But even so, he burnt his shooting hand on a coffee pot. Date must be laughing his ass off in his grave.
Working as waiter was not all that interesting for Tooru, even if he was waiting on seven obnoxiously troublesome tables on his own and had to keep a smile plastered on the entire time, so to keep himself sharp he kept a close eye and ear on the goings on of upstairs.
The ear part was key right now: he was subtly listening in on the taps he had spread throughout both the agency and the apartment above it. Over the receiver he had hidden in his ear, he could make out the echoing buzz of cellphone; not a perky ringtone like Ran's phone, nor a Yoko song like Kogoro's, which meant his target was receiving a call. Only Conan kept such a boring sound.
The sound cut off, and Conan's voice came through, bright and chirpy, meaning either Ran was in the room, or it was Kogoro or that Sera girl calling. Silence followed. Evidently, the person on the other end of the line had a fair amount to say.
Finally, Conan spoke again. "Eh, is that so? That's odd. We'll have to look into it." Look into what? The child must be being purposefully vague; after all, the taps were not so easy to hide form his sharp eyes. Conan obviously didn't like being the target of investigation, but they had been getting along better recently, after Tooru forced himself to reconsider his priorities regarding Akai and the Organization. In fact, their new levels of amiability meant that the little detective usually tolerated his snooping to a certain extent, allowing the taps he always brutally destroyed in the past to remain for a certain amount of time, before making a game of moving them. The last batch he had found in Poirot's pantry, after being baffled by the sounds of rummaging and clanging pans, and had to sift through heaps of flour, rice, and salt to retrieve.
But despite the playfulness, Conan was careful to make sure he never actually learned anything, except maybe how bad Kogoro sang when he was drunk. That was not the kind of intel he wanted.
"Oh, he's already on it? That's great. Thanks, Haibara." Haibara Ai, the little friend of Conan's that Tooru rarely ever saw, who lived next door to Okiya.
The call seemed to end with that, frustratingly uninformative as ever.
"What did Ai-chan want, Conan-kun?" He heard Ran ask, and could easily picture the "innocent" too sweet grin she was buffeted with in return.
"Just some help on a homework project. I'm gonna go over there to give her a hand." Tooru would bet his badge and codename that whatever was going to be "looked into" was not an elementary school homework assignment. Mostly because he was positive Conan finished his in a record-breaking three minutes and twenty seconds yesterday afternoon. Maybe it had been Okiya on the phone, and not the little girl. Maybe it was those two bumbling FBI agents. Maybe it was another, yet unknown to him, puppet of Conan's.
"But first, I gotta find that eraser I lost. Its Kamen Yaiba, and I really like it." Tooru was pretty sure it was physically impossible for Conan to be careless enough to lose anything ever, but that wasn't even the most false part of that sentence.
Suddenly, he was near deafened by the merciless, ear-splitting shriek of each of his precious taps being smashed to expensive little pieces.
That damn, sneaky, vindictive little brat.
Trying hard to hide his wince and keep the plates he was hoisting up steady, Tooru struggled to keep up his vapid, cheery expression. That had fucking hurt.
He'd have to think of a way to get back at his target later. Maybe find someway to get Ran to ground him, or something. Maybe interfere in his manipulating of the police at the next case.
But why did he suddenly decide to destroy the taps? It had to be something to do with the call.
A couple minutes later, the boy in question ran down the steps and hopped on his skateboard, disappearing from sight near instantly. Was he in a hurry? Tooru couldn't follow, unfortunately, being right in the middle of the lunch rush.
Some time later, an unusual group paused in front of the cafe, paying special attention to the Agency above, and he fought down a grin.
After all, how could Conan expect him to be anything but curious?
Saguru nearly bumped into Kuroba's back as the shorter male froze in the cafe's doorway, hand shooting out to grip Aoko's arm and tug her back.
"Stop," he hissed, quick and soft, and some instinct within Saguru's chest shuddered. From behind Kuroba, he couldn't properly see the other's face, but he knew if he could, he would not see his friend as much as he would see his adversary.
"Kaito?" Aoko asked, blinking at her childhood friend curiously, obviously confused by his behavior. His stance was rigid compared to his usual lax, as if he expected to have to make a quick escape from somewhere.
Then, quick as anything, all the tension seeped away, and he laughed. "I just realized my wallet's gone. I must have dropped it a few blocks back." Saguru found that very, very unlikely, but didn't contest the point. Kuroba Kaito, who hid countless tricks and traps on his person at all times, drop something important and not even notice? Blasphemous.
Aoko was easily convinced, though. "Oh no! We gotta go get it before someone runs off with it!" Akako nodded, though Saguru expected she thought the explanation as flimsy as he did. Looking again, she herself seemed a little unhinged, eyes warily set on the apartment above the cafe, as if she had heard a suspicious noise or something.
Kuroba's gaze, though, never left the inside of the cafe, carefully tracking one of the waiters as he cheerfully served some customers. He was of ambiguous age, young but difficult to place, with dark skin and unusual light blond hair. Nothing is particular seemed off about him, yet Kuroba eyed him with eyes sharper than Saguru had ever seen them. As he directed Aoko out again, his gaze skittered off and appraised the stairs that led to the Mouri Detective Agency, expression completely unreadable.
What about the waiter had triggered such a reaction? Did Kuroba know that man, or did KID? Was he someone dangerous? Dangerous for civilians, or dangerous for thieves? The questions swirled through his mind as he trailed after the retreat Kuroba was beating back the way they came. Another mystery opened without any progress made on the other. Just what Saguru needed.
Thirty minutes later found them in a fast food place that served garlic sandwiches and fries. Not exactly his first choice, but Kuroba and Koizumi seemed to have deemed the place safe enough, any traces of suspicious behavior wiped away flawlessly.
"Well, should we head back to the Detective Agency? We still need to talk to Mouri-chan."
"I don't think it's best to talk to her there." Kuroba said, finishing his milkshake with flourish. "That's where her father takes cases; if we question her there, it'll feel like one and she may clam up."
A fair point; the Mouri girl may not feel comfortable discussing the possible disappearance/maybe murder of her boyfriend in a room she was used to opening up cases within. She may be more off-guard, and therefore more open with them, if they approached as peers when she was at the school or somewhere more casual.
But while it was decent complaint, it wasn't an essential one, and would have had more weight if mentioned earlier. Now, it seemed contrived.
Kuroba was trying to avoid going back there. Why? Saguru needed more clues, and the only way to get them was…
"Nonsense. We already came all the way here. We must go speak with her now, or we'll just have wasted time. And I'm quite certain that, with Kudo's life possibly in the balance and all, we should handle this case quickly and efficiently."
Kuroba glared at him from over the plastic covering of his shake. It was not very intimidating. Aoko, however, nodded, and Koizumi said and did nothing, which settled the point in Saguru's favor.
Unable to press further without raising suspicion, Kuroba capitulated with a huff and an impressive scowl that would probably last the entire trip back to the Mouri's.
They polished off their meals and were herded out the door by an enthusiastic Aoko, all three steeling themselves for their second attempt in their own way, or at least Saguru figured. Why did Koizumi seem apprehensive about the Agency? He had never known her to be fazed by anything, let alone such a mundane building. She hadn't even noticed the supposedly threatening waiter as far as he could tell.
As they approached their destination a second time, Kuroba, with his arms crossed behind his head, made a loud, disgruntled noise. From anyone else he would assume it to be natural, but considering Kuroba was Kuroba and hardly took a breath without a back-up plan, Saguru could only figure it was intentional.
"What is it?" He asked, and Kuroba's indigo eyes turned on him, glaring.
"Just got the most annoying feeling, like we're being watched or something. It's driving me crazy."
Saguru stopped in his tracks, before a sharp, reprimanding look from the magician got him moving casually again. Kuroba would not say something like that unless he was absolutely certain someone was tailing them, and even then, would not mention it carelessly. That he noticed and actually told Saguru about it suggested that he thought Saguru needed to know, right now.
Were they in danger? The waiter? No, Kuroba had kept quiet about the strange server that had unnerved him, but was purposefully now mentioning their tail; the two were probably unrelated.
Why would someone be following them, when they looked like a group of unsuspicious teens just out and about? Whoever it was, they weren't after KID, Kuroba would never bring it up if that was the case, so either one of them was being targeted or…
Their investigation had only begun this morning, and so far had been rather subtle. But maybe not subtle enough. Was the Kudo Manor being monitored?
Feeling significantly less at ease, Saguru followed his unsuspecting fellows back to the Agency.
Kuroba peered subtly through the cafe's windows as they headed to the stairs, but did nothing more, face perfectly blank and untelling. If Saguru didn't trust his own observations so much, he would probably doubt his friend's reaction to the place was anything out of the ordinary at all and blame the oddity on his imagination. But Saguru knew what he saw, and that was hesitation and wariness. And maybe something more ominous too.
He followed Aoko up the stairs, Kuroba and Akako just behind him, and found themselves knocking on door waiting there.
He hoped their follower would be gracious enough to disappear while they were inside. Not that Saguru would know unless Kuroba elected to tell him. He had tried to inconspicuously locate them during the walk, but discovered nothing and nobody out of the ordinary, so unless Kuroba was just messing with his head, whoever was following their tracks was skilled.
"Coming!" A girl's voice called from inside, and moments later the door opened to a beautiful girl their age, with long brown hair and pretty lavender eyes. Mouri Ran was in less formal clothes than he had first met her in, dressed in fitting jeans and a striped t-shirt, but no less attractive.
"Good afternoon, Ran-san." He greeted, taking the lead.
She blinked, and then looked at him more carefully than the initial precursive glance she gave him initially. "Oh, you're… Saguru-kun?"
"Yes, it's good to see you again. It's been quite a while."
"Yes, months. Please come on in, I'll bring tea in just a moment." She ushered them in and directed them to the couches in the center of the office, before disappearing to fetch the refreshments. They squished themselves together onto one of the couches, and while the tight fit wasn't exactly comfortable, it was kind of nice. Having friends was nice.
A minute or so later, she returned. Saguru half-expected an elementary schooler to be scurrying around her legs, but Detective Mouri's ward did not appear. He must be out somewhere, then. It was probably for the best, considering that child could detect a case faster than a police dog with a keen nose.
"I'm sorry, the office is a mess; Conan was rummaging around earlier. And my father is out right now. I can call him…"
"That's quite alright. We actually came to speak with you, Ran-san."
"With me?"
"Yes. These are my classmates, Kuroba Kaito, Nakamori Aoko, and Koizumi Akako." He motioned to each, and for a moment wondered how she saw them. Him, a formally dressed teen detective, alongside a, to be perfectly honest, immature seeming girl with messy, uncombed hair, a prim, lovely, but dangerous looking young woman, and the more roguish version of the quarry. Ran's eyes had been fixed on Kuroba since they entered, confused, but reacted to one of the introductions.
"Nakamori… like the inspector?"
"Yep! He's Aoko's dad!" The girl in question chirped, and Saguru briefly wondered if he could convince her to talk in first-person while on the case, if only to seem more professional. Though, he supposed, Aoko was like that, wearing no makeup and always acting out, and he didn't really want her to change.
"Oh, how funny, since Saguru-kun's father is the superintendent and my dad's a private detective." Ran smiled sincerely, genuinely interested. "Don't suppose you two follow the pattern?" She asked the other two, who smiled at her lightly.
"Nah, my dad was magician," Kuroba said proudly, but Koizumi just shook her head.
"A magician? That's amazing!" Their host smiled, taking a sip of tea, "But what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?"
Saguru leaned forward, crossing his legs and lacing his fingers atop his knee. Ran reacted to his posture, straightening herself. "We came to ask you about your friend, Kudo Shinichi."
Ran blinked, surprised. "Shinichi? Why? You aren't hoping to challenge him, are you?"
"...What?"
"Never mind, sorry." She laughed, "The last, well, besides Sera-san, teenage detective to come here was looking to challenge Shinichi to a deduction battle." That comment Saguru found interesting. He quickly shuffled through the other teenage detectives he knew and immediately discerned which one she was referring to. Just the thought of the other sleuth made annoyance rise in his blood.
"Don't tell me, Hattori?"
Ran seemed surprised, but nodded. "Yes. Though, that was quite a while ago."
So, they weren't the first their age to investigate Kudo. Maybe he should consider paying Hattori a visit as well, or at least attempt to procure his number and speak with him. Despite his sometimes unprofessionalism and general hotheadedness, the Osakan was shrewd and clever, and could know something useful.
"So, why are you looking for Shinichi?" She asked, but there was no suspicion in the question, just earnest interest. They could not use the classmate excuse here, so Saguru was glad their prior acquaintanceship bought him a certain level of trust in his good will.
"We were hoping to ask about a case of his." He told her, as honestly as he could. It was not necessarily a lie, but still not any nearer to the truth.
"Oh?" Ran didn't seem surprised, or particularly bothered. In fact, she did not seem all that concerned or heart torn over the talk of her disappeared friend. Had she already gotten over it and moved on? She didn't seem the type to give up and let go so easily, though. He always read her as the stubborn, protective type.
The reason why she was acting so nonchalant quickly became apparent with the next sentence she spoke. "I don't know about meeting him, but I could call him, if you like."
All of them straighten involuntarily, completely caught off-guard. "He answers the phone?" Aoko squeaked, astonishment plain across her pale face.
"Of course." Ran said, frowning slightly, clearly finding their reactions strange. After a moment, she brightened with a little laugh. "Oh, don't tell me you heard those rumors about him being dead?"
Saguru coughed in an effort to recuperate his composure. "Just a little. We didn't believe it, of course." He wouldn't normally define the discussion of a committed murder by dangerous criminals as rumor, but nothing about this case had been plain and simple so far.
Ran laughed more at the mounting confusion and embarrassment. "It would be silly, coming here to question a dead man. No, Shinichi and I talk once a week on the phone."
They spoke regularly? A detective's daughter and a supposed dead man? Saguru's mind was reeling. What did this mean?
Consider the facts.
A criminal group had reason to believe Kudo Shinichi had been, effectively, assassinated. He had disappeared from the searching public eye a year ago, and no credible sighting of him had been uncovered since. And yet, his close friend claimed to still receive calls and recognize them to be from him.
"Do you know where he is?" He asked, forcing his voice steady and his expression to be politely curious, despite how urgently he wanted the answer. This case had started as a mysterious pool, crystal clear but not easily investigated, but this conversation had taken a bucket of silt and dumped it in, clouding the waters. "His input is very important to our case."
Ran shook her head, and her face grew solemn and disappointed. Her fingers twitched, as if she had the urge to reach for something. "He's a pretty hard guy to find these days. I don't know where he is. We met up in London a few months back, actually, and that was the last time I saw him."
In London? That would explain his apparent absence from Japan but—
"Really? London? How cool!" Aoko gasped in delight, momentarily forgetting their purpose.
"Yeah, it was amazing." Ran was blushing slightly. "I never get to see him, so…" Embarrassed, she stopped there. Something of the romantic nature had occurred, maybe?
Aoko continued on, apparently recollecting the current issue, and leaned forward. "And before then? When did he start running off, anyway?"
For a moment, Saguru was certain Ran would clam up and tell them nothing more, that she would find their interest suspicious, but she seemed to think she was just having 'girl talk' with Aoko, and her lavender eyes kept settling on Kuroba. With a look of quiet melancholy, she began to speak; her voice was one of someone lost in memory.
"Ever since a year ago, every once in a while, just a handful of times, he would pop up at a case, right out of nowhere, and then disappear the same way." Saguru sent a suspicious glance Kuroba's way, but his face was unreadable. KID had been known to disguise as Kudo on a few occasions, and there could be plenty of incidences they did not know about. Or maybe, just maybe, for the first time since they opened this case, they had reason to believe Kudo had survived. "He's changed a lot," She laughed a little, but it was a sad sound, like she knew she should be proud but instead felt alienated. "Sometimes, its almost like he's a different person."
Saguru tried to think of a way to keep her talking naturally, without pressuring her, but too soon she was back on topic. "But you guys don't need to worry about that. I'm sure he remembers whatever case you need to ask about. I'll try calling him right now, he usually answers." She slipped out her phone: a red flip with a sea cucumber charm.
They waited, each apprehensive in their own way, but with each ring, the silence among them grew tenser. Ran frowned at her phone. "Weird, the service is bad. One moment please." She rose from the couch and hurried towards the kitchen area, eyes locked on the mobile.
"Alright, quick, huddle," Kuroba hissed, and they quite literally brought their heads together, whispering.
"He answers the phone!"
"She's even seen him!"
"So, he's not dead? What do we say if he answers?"
"Hold on, people don't just abandon their homes and school and disappear form the face of the Earth and still casually call up their girlfriend. There's something totally fish- err, weird about this!"
"What do we say if he answers? 'Sorry, Kudo-kun, we thought you were dead!'"
"...Maybe Mouri-chan is delusional."
"Kaito!"
"What? It's a possibility!"
They all jerked back into a more casual arrangement, playing it cool, when Ran reemerged from the kitchen, her phone still ringing. She looked confused; there was no answer. Eventually, the generic answering machine clicked on, and Ran creased her brow. "That's strange…" Face apologetic, she hung up and smiled softly and retook her seat across from them. "Sorry, guess he's busy right now. I'll call him later and tell him one of your phone numbers, if you like, so he can call you back."
"That would be great, thank you." Saguru agreed, pulling out his notebook and jotting down his number to give to her. "But in the mean time, you might know something about the case. You went with Kudo-kun to Tropical Land a year ago, didn't you?"
Ran nodded. "Yes. We went to celebrate my victory in the karate tournament."
"Can you tell us everything about that day?"
"Does it have to do with your case?"
"Yes, it's very important."
For a moment, she was silent, eyes contemplative. Her fingers, callused and hard, fiddled with her phone. For the first time, he became truly aware of how muscular she was; the fashionable clothes she wore hid her athletic and powerful build well. He wondered if that was intentional, if she didn't want others to realize just how powerful she was at first glance.
Eventually, she sighed, and thankfully, smiled tiredly. "Alright, sure. We arrived in the middle of the day together. Shinichi was pretty cheerful, though all he talked about was Holmes and cases and detective stuff. We went on a lot of rides, and at a point, he brought me to this fountain that was timed to go off every two hours. It was really pretty. Eventually, though…" Though she began the story sounding bashful and sweet, lost in cherished memories, her voice petered off near the end. She grew a little pale in the face, and Saguru knew why. Just reading the files had been disturbing enough, he couldn't imagine witnessing it.
"You got in line for the Mystery Coaster." He continued for her, recollecting what he had read in Kudo's files about Ran's involvement in the case.
"Yeah, and Shinichi was able to tell all sorts of stuff about the people in front of us." Ran continued, and Saguru tried to imagine Kudo, brilliant mind searching for entertainment in the long line, carelessly observing the people around them. For some reason, his impression of Kudo, by what everyone else said, was that of a much more cautious and reserved young man.
His attention refocused as the story moved on to the tragedy. "When we got on the ride, something horrible happened. A man in front of us was…" Again, Ran could not seem to bring herself to finish the sentence, a look of old horror creeping across her expression.
"Brutally decapitated." He filled in the gap so she wouldn't have to. Alongside him, Aoko choked on her tea, horrified. Even Koizumi seemed disturbed by the image the words implied. They had not read the files, but now he was starting to think he should have told them to, if only to prevent reactions like these. They were unprofessional, and could upset the witness.
Ran, though, seemed sympathetic to the other two girls' reactions. "It was awful. I had nightmares for weeks." She gripped her jeans in his fingers, old ghosts rising in her eyes. Quickly, as if to battle the darkest thoughts off, their host moved the conversation onward; hopefully before she remembered too much of the traumatic experience. "When we got off, the police arrived and Shinichi declared it was murder. The three women and two men that had been on the ride with us were the suspects. I remember the woman who did it was a gymnast, the other two were uninvolved, and the two men were very...strange."
That caught Saguru's interest. He had read the file and remembered the suspects and witnesses listed clearly, but remembered no note of two uninvolved men on the coaster when the crime occurred. Why not? They were essential witnesses of the homicide. Even if they weren't called to testify in court, they should still be on record. "How so?"
"They were dressed in all black, and wore hats and trench coats." All four of the Brigade members tensed, though it was hard to tell with Kuroba. That was a very familiar description. Saguru suddenly had an idea of how this story ended. "One even had this really, really long hair." Ran continued, not paying their reactions any mind. She probably figured they were still just disturbed by the whole decapitation thing.
"But they weren't involved in the case?" Saguru asked, and Ran shook her head.
"No, Shinichi said they weren't involved. Like I said, the gymnast did it with a necklace." Such a bizarre case; Saguru never encountered anything so sensational.
"What happened after Kudo-kun solved the case?"
"When we were leaving the ride with everyone else after the police let us go, it was getting late. I was crying, so I wasn't really paying attention, but Shinichi suddenly said he had to go and that he would catch up to me." While Ran paid the two suspicious characters on the crime scene little mind, Saguru suspected that Kudo had been implicitly aware of how shady they were, and probably decided to investigate. And considering his supposed disappearance afterwards... "He ran away from the Coaster and into this dark alley of the park… and, well, it sounds silly…"
"What does?" Koizumi asked, surprisingly, as she usually did not have much to say about mysteries in general. Saguru wondered what about this particular tale caught her interest.
Ran laughed a little, but it was not a happy sound. It was the laugh of someone who had seen something supposedly impossible, and felt foolish for being so bothered by it, but was unable to banish it from his or her mind. The laugh of someone who thought they saw a ghost. "I just got this really weird feeling, like I'd never see him again."
Well, that was inauspicious.
Koizumi nodded, a bizarre smile flirting on the edge of her painted mouth. It crept him out, and hurriedly, he turned his mind and eyes back on the story.
"What happened next?"
"I waited for over an hour. He didn't come back." Oh. Ran seemed so heartbroken in that moment, as if she knew something irreparable had occurred but not why. She was also, more than anything, clearly confused. "I tried to look for him from the Ferris wheel, but didn't see him. Eventually, I left. I wasn't too worried at first, but three days later, he was still gone. He hadn't been home, he hadn't called, and I got really worried." Because he was not able to return; that wasn't in question. The issue was why he had gone missing. Because he was dead? Captured? In the hospital? "Then, a week after he left, suddenly, he called from a number I didn't recognize. Apparently he was on a case and lost his cellphone. I was so relieved."
On a case, 'he' supposedly said. But even detectives needed to sleep and eat while investigating, so if he truly was working, he must have been at it somewhere too far away to go home. Or, he had already passed, and someone, somehow, had called in his place: an impostor.
"But you didn't see him?" Saguru asked, a thousand theories swimming in his mind, all frustratingly plausible given their current information.
That question seemed to make Ran very uncomfortable. "Well, I did a little while later, twice, well, no," As she broke off, something crossed her face; for some reason, she looked disturbed, as if there was something she didn't want to think about, or understand. "Okay so I didn't see him, but he was there." That she seemed certain of, but the rest of the sentence baffled both them and her.
"I don't understand, what do you mean?" He prompted, and again, her expression twisted.
"It was Christmas. There was a case he solved, at a karaoke box. He spoke through the intercom, so we didn't see him. I was sure he was going to go home, so afterwards, I waited outside his house for three hours." Three hours? She stood outside the manor in the cold for three hours? Was this girl crazy? "Then the lights inside his house turned on, so I went inside. Then, there was a blackout. I put my hand on the staircase railing so I wouldn't fall, and he put his hand over mine in the dark." What? "And then, when the lights turned on, he was gone."
…What the hell? What the actual fuck? The whole story was officially the creepiest thing Saguru had ever heard.
"There was just a gift for me on the stairs. I searched the whole house for more than an hour, but didn't find him…" Alright, now it was the creepiest. What the hell, Kudo.
"Then, at another case, a girl had hired him and we caught up to him at the culprit's home. I called him and heard his phone ringing, so I followed the sound. He was hiding from me around the corner of an alley. I was yelling at him, but he didn't come out. I only saw his shadow. Then, before I saw him, he had run away again…" That was freaking weird. He was starting to think Kuroba's theory actually had some ground. Had grief driven Mouri Ran into delusional fantasies, or was 'Kudo' really running around, hiding in the dark?
"It was like, for some reason, he didn't want me to see him."
That… the whole story and the information it provided was very unnerving. Aoko shivered next to him, and Koizumi's scarlet eyes were bright with interest. Saguru was taken aback; for some reason, Kudo, after a very suspicious disappearance, had hidden his face from his apparently very determined, or desperate, girlfriend. Why couldn't he show himself?
Unless, there was no face to show. Just someone only able to reproduce Kudo's voice.
The imposter theory was becoming horrifyingly plausible.
"When did you see him next?" Aoko asked, clearly disturbed, and Ran looked less bothered by this question, but still rather confused.
"At a Diplomat's home. There was a murder, and Hattori was challenging him to solve it, and he showed up." 'Kudo', supposedly missing but still calling, had just reappeared, not only before Ran, but a teenage sleuth. That must have been on purpose; to convince the more suspicious and wary Hattori that 'Kudo' still lived? Ran's perplexity did nothing for his own. "He seemed really sick though, and didn't stay for long. Before I knew it, he was gone again. In fact, whenever I see him these days he seems kind of sick for some reason."
"How sick?" That was a point against the imposter theory. It was possible Kudo had been severely injured, or infected with something, that night in Tropical Land. Something that left him unable to return, or show himself. But if he had been in a hospital, the information on his location would have surely leaked. Unless, he was completely unrecognizable? But Ran's description included nothing about him looking any different.
The storyteller herself seemed concerned about this particular point. "Pretty bad. He's usually sweaty and feverish, or may collapse, struggles a lot, and grips his heart. I'm starting to wonder if it's something really serious."
"That is strange." Saguru agreed, struggling to fit any of the pieces together. They just didn't click into place.
Ran seemed to realize that she may have said more than they cared for, or than she wanted to say, flushing. "Did any of that help at all? I'm sorry I don't know more, but Shinichi never tells me anything about the cases he's working on. I don't even know if it's the same one, or multiple. Sometimes he'll message me, stuff like 'I'm on a dangerous case, don't contact me!' or 'All clear. It's alright to call me now.' Sometimes, he'll say something like, 'Sorry, its a really tough case. I'll try be best to be home soon.'"
That went against the hospital theory, he'd be unlikely to take any dangerous cases there, but supported the imposter theory; even a fake would have a life of their own. Or, he was in hiding. Too many possibilities, too little clues.
Honestly, Saguru had expected a tough case, but this was an enigma of the most bizarre levels he had ever dreamed of encountering. The one thing he had thought would be easy to decide, whether Kudo was still breathing or not, seemed completely incomprehensible.
"Thanks for all that, Ran-san. I have just one last question: did you return any library books around the time of your trip to Tropical Land?"
"I don't think so. I rarely ever go to the library. Conan does, though—wait, what does that have to do with anything?"
"Just a hunch. Thanks so much for your help, it's been quite... enlightening."
"This," Kuroba announced as they left, "is officially really confusing." His arms were crossed behind his head, and though he was moving casually, Saguru could see his eyes glancing into the cafe as the walked past. The waiter was gone, he noticed.
"It's all so weird!" Aoko said, "He's dead, then he's not dead. And the whole hiding around corners, or talking to her in the dark thing? Creepy!" She shivered, and Saguru thought of all the scary stories he heard and read in England, of trusting young girls talking with precious friends over the phone or meeting them in the dark, only to discover that the one on the other end was long dead.
Koizumi was clearly thinking along the same lines, laughing teasingly at the other girl. "It sounds a bit like a gothic horror story, doesn't it? Maybe he's a ghost."
"Do not say that, Akako-chan. You're freaking me out!" Aoko groused back, rubbing her arms to ward off chills. Funny how that kind of talk got her to acknowledge Koizumi's general uncanniness, and not say, the occasional mentions of Lucifer and the devil.
Kuroba cut in before the teasing went any further, dropping his arms to his hips, clearly disgruntled. "But really, how doesn't she find that totally sketchy?" He waved one hand in front of his face as he continued, "Maybe she is delusional."
Saguru sighed. Ran had seemed to be in almost too sound of mind about her boyfriend's downright bizarre behavior, and didn't seem to question anything he did.
"There must be some explanation." Aoko said, completely disregarding Kaito's rude comment. For a moment she mused, before brightening as an idea struck her. "Maybe he got hurt real bad? Those guys said he got his head 'bashed in'."
Such an injury would certainly put him in the hospital for a substantial amount of time, and that was if he even managed to survive in the first place. Such serious head injuries often resulted in the victim dropping stone dead, just from the severe brain trauma. If he did survive, and somehow managed to get to a doctor or hospital, that would explain his momentary vanishment. Saguru crossed an ambulance off the list of possible mechanisms: they were loud and flashy. Surely, whatever 'code-name' attacked Kudo would be on alert for such vehicles in the area, and would take measures to ascertain their victim's death.
"Might have something to do with the weird sickness too." Koizumi pointed out, which brought up the point Saguru found strangest about Ran's testimony. Why had Kudo been in such bad health every time she saw him since his disappearance? She specifically mentioned that he gripped his chest often, but that suggested a very serious condition. Had Kudo, if he lived, contracted some kind of heart or lung disease? From what he knew, Kudo was a talented soccer player and the most recent photos of him, not recent enough, obviously, suggested that he was fit and in excellent health.
"Maybe he's pretending to be dead?" The guessing continued.
Kuroba snorted. "But still calls his girlfriend up? Either he's the worst at faking his death, ever, or he's not worried about being found."
Yes, Saguru had been tossing that theory around himself, but the phone-calls were out of place. Unless Kudo had someway of knowing Ran was not being monitored, or was confident in his ability to remain under the radar, they made no sense.
There was also his fame, which made that unlikely, He made sure to toss out that particular two-cents thought. "Plus, celebrities don't just disappear. If he was still in Japan, surely there would be pictures."
"She did say she met him in London." Koizumi added, but Saguru didn't think the other detective, if he had been targeted by a criminal organization, would just flee to another country. If Kudo was half as gutsy as the usual portrayals of him in media, he would undoubtedly remain in Japan in order to bring his "killers" to justice.
"There is another option." He finally said after some hesitation, wondering if it were too soon to say this particular theory aloud.
The other four turned to him with questioning eyes. "What?"
"That the 'Kudo' Ran-san has been communicating with and meeting is an imposter."
I'm not calling you a ghost, just stop haunting me
And that's a wrap! This chapter was fun to write, but it was difficult to decide between how much Ran would actually say in such a situation, and what I wanted/needed her to say. I think the latter won out, unfortunately...
Bourbon is fun to write. He and Ran both will be a more involved from here out.
Next Chapter: It's normal for teenagers to go to amusement parks and high school, right?
