Author's note: WARNING: This chapter has sex between two guys. If this bothers you, don't read it or just skip it.
Chapter Three: Room 131
Kaito fell back against the bed, only mindful of the head board because he had already hit it once. The movement nearly pulled Shinichi's mouth off of him and he groaned as the detective misjudged the distance to compensate and Kaito could feel himself hitting the back of Shinichi's throat.
He tangled his fingers in his lover's hair and mindlessly tugged on it when Shinichi gave him a particularly slow, teasing lick just to make him whine. If he had the brain power, he would have wondered what the rest of the world would think if they knew just how wicked and sly a tongue the normally cool and collected detective really had. It still gave him a thrill that not even the pretty Mouri Ran knew and he, and only he, knew.
Kaito gasped, and tried to remember the thought that had crossed his mind before Shinichi's mouth had engulfed him. He tugged, insistently, meaning to say, "Shinichi--" although he might have only managed, "Mgh--." Shinichi 'hmm'ed as if he knew what he meant, and Kaito could have sworn he'd felt the shock of pleasure right down to his toes.
His eyes half lidded with pleasure, he looked down, and very nearly came right then and there. Shinichi was watching him with those blue, blue eyes of his, darkened with lust, and a grin on his lips looked like it should have belonged on Kaito's alter ego.
Oh, Gods.
He tugged harder, attempting to pull Shinichi off him, because, dammit, he wanted something. Needed-- "Inside," he moaned, because Shinichi came off grazing his teeth-- "Someone--" He wanted to feel one of them - either of them - inside the other, now.
Shinichi's laughter was soft and the sound deep and somewhere down in his chest. The teen made his way up his lover, soft kisses and nips and gods, since when had Shinichi been such a tease? He was completely happy to return the favor as their lips meet for a kiss (he could taste himself on the other teens mouth and it still felt like a victory), hands trailing down the detective's back, waist--
Kaito broke off the kiss, hissing, "Pants." Shinichi was still clothed from the waist down while Kaito was utterly naked and that just wouldn't do. Shinichi darted in for another kiss before slipping off the bed.
It shouldn't have been like watching a strip tease, but Shinichi somehow turned the mere task of slipping out of his slacks into an erotic experience. He was certain the other knew exactly the effect it had on him, with that grin still lurking at the corner of his lips, and Kaito couldn't resist pulling him down for another war with their tongues as Shinichi returned, finally naked and gripping a condom in one of his hands.
Shinichi broke off the kiss this time, and it took longer than usual for Kaito to interpret the intent frown on his lover's face. With slightly wide eyes, he followed the direction of the arm Shinichi wasn't bracing himself with and realized what he was doing.
Shinichi was preparing himself.
Kaito surged up, pulling Shinichi down flush against him, and swallowing the other's moan as their hard erections rubbed against each other, the friction electrifying. His hands ran along his lover's back, this time finding purpose in the distraction, and his hips jerked at the mere thought of what was to come.
Finally - too long, not long enough - Shinichi pulled his knees up and away, and Kaito made a high-pitched whine at the loss of warmth, to prop his hips up. Shinichi never broke the kiss as he brought the hand he'd been using to prepare himself back around him to help tear the condom package open. It was tossed to the side with an impatient air, to be retrieved later.
Kaito twitched as the cold lube brushed his erection, breath hitching against Shinichi's amused smirk, before hands were there, warming and spreading it. The latex followed, warm from heat of Shinichi's hand, and then Shinichi was straddling his hips and he was--
Oh. Gods.
Kaito said something that might have been a word, but his brain was too far gone to be sure. It took every ounce of control he'd ever possessed to simply lie there and not move as Shinichi lowered himself inch by heated inch onto him. His hands were tightly gripping the detectives pale hips and he was probably going to have bruises there, but Kaito couldn't care at the moment. The torture of the slowness was beautiful and not enough, and by the time Shinichi was fully seated on him, they were both panting as if they'd run a marathon.
Kaito managed to pry his fingers free, running his hands down Shinichi's thighs, before running them back up, paying attention to the teens own leaking erection. Shinichi gasped, more a hiccup really, as Kaito took a moment to coax and tease him back to full arousal. He was holding onto patience by the edge of his teeth, but he could and would wait until Shinichi was ready.
And then Shinichi leaned forward, fingers trailing up Kaito chest to wrap lock around the back of his neck. In a low, husky whisper, breath brushing lightly on his cheek, Shinichi murmured, "Kaito, fuck me."
The animalistic noise that tore through the air came from his own throat, but Kaito didn't hear it, could only focus on the detective above him and the lust coursing his veins and the single, individual idea that Kudo Shinichi wanted him.
Kaito growled, nipping at the ear just above his mouth, and when Shinichi rose and fell, Kaito met it with enough force to nearly dislodge the detective. Shinichi moaned, head thumping against his shoulder, nails digging into his lover's shoulders and oh, that was going to leave a mark in the morning.
As the pressure built, Shinichi seemed to recover enough to lean away and fall back on his heels. Kaito liked this new position, as it sent him deeper into his lover and he knew the exact moment, as he met the next thrust at just a slightly different angle, that he had hit that spot when Shinichi yelled.
Kaito could feel himself reaching the edge and picked up the rhythm of his hand, the dance of their hips coming to match it. With each tremble, low keening-whimper, Kaito knew that Shinichi was almost there, too.
One of Shinichi's hands came to rest over his own, tightening, and Shinichi groaned, softly, and all he had to do was leer down at him.
The sight of him, flushed and slick with sweat, perched on him, and eyes nearly black with lust was more than enough to have him seeing stars and send him tumbling over the edge into his climax.
Shinichi wasn't far behind him. His hand urged him to keep the rhythm they'd built, and with a last, forceful thrust of his hips, came as well, the warm stickiness coating Kaito's chest and the covers.
Shinichi slumped down, somehow having the mind not to fall on Kaito. With a little maneuvering, Kaito's softening member was free - he couldn't help the soft mournful hiss at the loss of heat. Both were struggling for breath, and a little voice nigged at him that they should clean up the mess now, before it dried, but he was warm and his arms were full of Shinichi and he really, really didn't want to move.
His lover murmured something, the slurred words lost on the skin of his neck and Shinichi settled in. Kaito was faintly suspicious it might have been about the clean up. But as Shinichi's breath evened out and his own eye lids drifted shut, he decided he would just worry about it in the morning when he had the energy and he didn't have a nice, warm body curled up around him.
Pulling the blanket up around them, Kaito followed Shinichi off into slumber.
-----
There was no way to sleep with that kind of knocking. Kaito opened an eye, just a slit, and glared at... the wall. Which was partly lit by the light creeping in under the curtains. Shinichi was already moving, lifting his head to glare at the door as if it were a murderer and he had just heard another pathetic sob story behind it.
Kaito was certain whoever was knocking on their door wasn't going to receive a decent reception (Shinichi wasn't much of a morning person, even on a good day), and he decided to take pity on the person or persons by saying, "I'll get it."
He really was too nice a person.
He grimaced at the dried mess on his belly. He had known he was going to regret that in the morning. He grunted, softly, and put it out of his mind for the moment. It was too early to be worrying about it.
They're cloths were slew around the room, a jumbled mess, and had landed where they would in their efforts to get them off. He grabbed the nearest pair of pants - his own - and a shirt - Shinichi's, the detective wouldn't mind. He made just the barest effort to make himself presentable (what had the person expecting, knocking this early?), before opening the door.
To an old lady, perhaps eighty, no more than eighty-five, peering at him from behind her thick rimmed glasses. Her thin lips are pressed into a frown and whatever she was expecting, Kaito was fairly certain he hadn't met it.
A charming smile crossed his face, and he bottled all his irritation away for later. "Good morning, Mrs." He had to stop himself from saying 'obasan.' He still has a vivid memory of Kudo Yukiko's reaction to the title and the little old lady might take even deeper offense. He noted she had a cane, even, and although she wouldn't be able to hit him with it, he didn't want to muster the energy it would take to dodge it. "What can I do for you?"
She eyed him critically. "There was screaming last night. Lots of it."
Kaito blinked at her. He looked at the wall to his left, the one in-between his and Shinichi's own and pondered for the first time how thin they could be. He couldn't help the amusement that bubbled up over the thought that he had made his lover scream loud enough to be heard quite clearly the night before.
The edge to his smile was only slightly exaggerated. "Yep."
"'Yep,'" she repeated with a small amount of displeasure. "Is that all you can say? For all we know you could have killed someone. There's already been one death in there, we don't need two."
Sure enough, in her irritation she attempted to poke him with her cane and Kaito dodged it with a simple step back. He didn't bother to stop his grin from turning feral, as he stated, with complete seriousness, "If I had killed someone, there wouldn't be any screaming." Not that he would ever kill anyone, but she had woken them up to scold them for being teenagers and maybe he was a little cranky.
She scowled, placing her cane back on the floor with a dull, metal thunk. She considered him, and he could see her take a sniff of the air. Her nose wrinkled. "You got a girl in there?"
Oh, it would have been too easy. Shinichi would have killed him for it, though. He was half tempted to do it just to see what the detective would do. Instead, he said, "Guy, actually."
She seemed to consider this. Kaito wondered just how old fashioned the woman was and how tolerant she was to the less ...traditional... couples. Finally, she nodded. "Just make sure he shouts your name in there sometimes so no one thinks you're murdering him."
Behind him, he could hear a soft, mortified groan and the rustle of sheets. Kaito didn't take his eyes off the old lady's to look, but he would have bet money Shinichi was attempting to become one with the mattress.
Kaito blinked at the woman, just a bit stunned. "...Yes, ma'am."
Maybe she wasn't so bad after all.
As she turned to leave, he added, voice properly contrite, "My deepest apologies for disturbing your rest, ma'am. I will endeavor to be more considerate to our neighbors in the future." He tried to remember if he still had that spare stash of roses in this pants and was pleased as his fingers found it. A rose effortlessly appeared in his hand as he bowed courtesiously to the woman and offered it to her. She raised an eyebrow, snorting softly and muttering, in a no nonsense tone, about shameless flirts.
It didn't stop her from taking the rose.
Kaito watched her go with an amused quirk of a grin, before making sure the 'Do Not Disturb' sign was still on the knob (for all the good it seemed to have done) and shutting the door.
Not bothering to slip his pants and stolen shirt off, he flopped down onto the bed, fully intent on getting at least another two, possibly three, hours of sleep. Six o'clock really was an evil, evil time to wake someone up at. He rolled over to snuggle up to Shinichi only to find that part of the bed empty.
Kaito glared at the pillow as if it had betrayed him.
"You're getting up now?" he grumbled, eyeing his still very much naked lover as he gathered up some new, clean clothes. It was a nice view, he thought as Shinichi bent over his suitcase. The almost-tan skin looked darker in the absence of any real light and Kaito raised an eye brow as he spotted a rather telling red mark. Had he left one there? Shinichi would have a fit if he saw it, so Kaito left it alone and decided to keep it his little amusing secret.
"I got less sleep when I was Conan." Shinichi waved a hand in an off hand manner to go with the retort. He pulled a face at the dried mess slowly flaking off his skin. "Should have cleaned up."
Kaito snorted at the predictable comment and stubbornly buried himself into the pillows. "You have too much energy."
The smirk was audible even if he couldn't see it. "Maybe you should try harder next time."
That really did sound like an invitation and most certainly a challenge, his other head informed him, and Kaito was more than happy to try harder right then. Kaito mused just how to meet the detective's expectations. It was pretty clear he wasn't going to be getting any more sleep - he was too awake now - and a shower did sound like a good idea.
Kaito's grin was all teeth and hidden by the pillow. A shower together was an even better idea. He sat up, throwing the covers aside--
And then lay right back down, wrapping the same covers he'd just tossed aside tightly around himself. Wow, had it been that cold just a few minutes ago?
He turned over to look at the air conditioner. It was still on, humming away and just audible over the sound of start of the shower. He had set it for a lower number, lower than Shinichi probably appreciated, but he didn't remember setting it for this low. Maybe it was broken. He'd have to turn it off and speak to the front desk later.
First, though, he was going to warm up a bit. It was so cold he could even see his breath...
-----
Shinichi turned the shower nozzles until the delightfully hot water cut off. It felt good to be clean, and he felt awake enough that he would be able to survive until he could get his real wake up call: a cup of coffee served straight from the pot.
Snagging the towel from where he'd hung it over the shower rack, Shinichi hung it around his hips and pulled the curtain back.
It really was a testimony to just how used he was to Kaito sneaking up on him that it didn't faze him in the least to come face-to-face with a dead man on the other side of the curtain. The first time that had happened, not only had he screamed at the top of his lungs, but it had given his nightmares all new ways to torment him. Now... nothing. He wondered if he should be thanking the magician or looking for the first opportunity to strangle him.
Shinichi stared at the ghost. The chill was starting to freeze the droplets of water rolling down his skin and he shuddered.
The ghost stared at Shinichi. Shinichi was glad that he had yet to be leered at by a ghost and this one didn't seem like it wanted to be the first.
Without so much as batting an eye lash, Shinichi reached over, reclaimed his clothing, and yanked the shower curtain shut.
When he pulled it back, dried off and fully clothed sans his socks, the ghost was gone. He noted he couldn't see his breath anymore - it had been gone only minutes. Curious to see if it was still at least in the hotel room, Shinichi quickly gathered up his dirty clothing and deposited them in the bag he had commandeered for them, before stepping out into the main room.
The chill was stronger out here, and sure enough, it didn't take long to spot the ghost. It was standing over by the nightstand, seeming to hover over the spot like it wanted him to pay attention to it.
If Shinichi were a gambling man, he would have bet that's where the man had died. The hideous gaping hole in the back of the man's head left nothing to the imagination either.
There was a rustle cloth from the bed as the lump under the covers shifted. Although his voice was muffled, Shinichi could hear the mock-whimper in Kaito's voice, "Shiiiniiichiii..."
Shinichi gave the lump a deadpan look. "What do you want, Kaito?"
"So mean." A hand appeared and pointed in the direction Shinichi assumed Kaito thought the air conditioner was. "That thing is malfunctioning. Please turn it off?"
Shinichi didn't look at the ghost standing three feet from the bed. Instead, he smirked. "The great Kaitou Kid, taken down by an air conditioner. What would your fans think?" Despite his teasing, he still went over to turn it off, for all the good it would do while the ghost was still in the room.
The single visible limb was all that was needed to give Kaito's opinion of the comment. Or rather, a single finger was.
Shinichi ignored the moody magician. Instead he watched the ghostly man make his way across the room. It was always strange to watch the ones that took their time, like this one. It seemed to glide across the room, as if the floor were a conveyer belt, moving just for it.
The ghost met his gaze as it paused by the door. It's eyes said what they all said: 'follow me.' Never a command, but it might as well have been. Shinichi was going to follow it regardless.
The ghost, perhaps seeing this, seemed amused and passed through the door.
The moment it was gone, Shinichi murmured, "The room should start warming up soon." As if he needed to say it. The air conditioner's motor had already died off and fallen silent, even before the ghost had left the room. More than likely, Kaito would probably think he was just being overly obvious. It wouldn't be the first time.
There was a muffled cheer behind him. Shinichi snorted and rolled his eyes, pausing as he reached for the door knob. "That restaurant you wanted to visit - Kotobuki - is in this town, isn't it?"
Kaito had a list of places he would have liked to eat, made especially for this trip, of all things. Of the list, they had managed to hit seven of them. If Kotobuki was indeed in the little town up the road, this would be eight.
"Mm, yes it is." Shinichi noted that Kaito's voice was no longer obstructed by anything and turned to see the teen-magician emerging from his little cocoon. Kaito gave him an amused look. "Why, do you want to go on a date?"
Shinichi snorted. "Hardly. It would just make a convenient place to meet up, say around..." He checked his watch. The minute hand had almost made a full circle and it was nearing seven. "Five o'clock?"
Kaito shook his head in a commiserating manner. "You're going to spend the entire day doing detective work." He paused, seeming to consider something. He tilted his head to the side, and Shinichi could see his lips moving to soundlessly say, "Red? Or maybe green? Green with black?"
Shinichi raised an eye brow. "And if I am?" He was hardly going to deny it. He narrowed his eyes as Kaito shifted from one foot to the other and then gave a flick of the wrist. Shinichi was deeply suspicious the magician was about to pull a magic trick, although he couldn't fathom why.
The magician indeed made something appear. With a second flick of the wrist and a small poof a smoke a Green shirt with black trimmings here and there appeared from where ever Kaito had it stashed. "It is a shame," he muttered. "It is a nice day for exploring."
Shinichi watched every move the other boy made. This was not the first time he had seen Kaito pull his cloths out of thin air. He knew Kaito didn't have them in his cloths (he'd checked one morning, while Kaito was still asleep. He'd found everything he would have expected - and even something he hadn't - but he hadn't found a clothing stash), so where else could he be hiding them? "It doesn't mean I'll spend all day investigating."
Kaito scoffed and made a pair of khaki's appear in his other hand. "I know that look. By the end of the day you're going to know everyone's name, how they were involved, and even what color their underwear is." Kaito sighed and made a 'nothing for it' gesture with his hands, the clothing flopping in amusing way as he did so. "Really, you're like a bloodhound with it's favorite chew toy when you find yourself a good mystery."
Shinichi didn't huff, per se, but it was close. Besides, why take offense from something that was technically true and he thoroughly enjoyed doing? "Five o'clock?" he asked, again, as if the previous few minutes and the conversation in them had never happened.
Kaito moved his khakis to the hand holding the shirt and made a pair of boxers and socks appear. He looked over the assortment, nodded, and then grinned up at Shinichi. "Of course, like I'd miss a date with my favorite detective."
His favorite detective muttered something not-so-kind about his 'favorite thief' and proceeded to head out the door.
The Ghost of Room 131 was waiting for him. Like a magnet, it drew his attention to where it was standing. He looked beyond it, noting that it appeared to want him to follow it in the direction of the front office. Shinichi almost laughed. Instead, he stuffed his hands in his pocket and headed out for the main rood that lead into town. If the ghost thought that he was going to do anything before he got some coffee in him, it was poorly mistaken. Nothing short of a murder happening right there, right then, was going to stop him.
The main road, the same one he and Kaito had been on just the afternoon before, was an old road. It was aged along with everything else there. Shinichi occasionally had to side step mild pot holes, but he noticed that he didn't have to concern himself with a passing car even once on the ten minute walk.
Hananomachi was a fairly old little town, full of old buildings and interconnected by dirt roads situated in the middle of the mountains. The town got its name, according to the website Shinichi had browsed when looking for interesting stops to make, from the large varieties of flowers that bloomed around the town's border. Shinichi had found little interest in the actual attractions - the flowers; the legends - but it seemed like a nice, quite little town that would make for a great pit stop if needed be. It didn't hurt any that they had one of only a handful of the Kotobuki's this side of Japan.
Shinichi could see someone had tended to the 'entrance' recently. Blue and white hydrangea were in full bloom and covered either side of the road for at least ten feet before tampering off into other types of types of flowers indigenous to this part of Japan. The flowers were especially grouped around a little sign proclaiming the entrance to the town.
The houses were the next thing to come into view as he rounded the last bend in the road and officially entered Hananomachi. The old buildings stood proud and bunched together, looking like something straight out of old documentary movies about the Meiji era and even earlier. Various modern buildings and contraptions were the only thing that kept Shinichi from feeling like he had walked right into another time period.
One of those modern buildings was a gas station settled along Hananomachi sole paved road. Shinichi made a bee line for it, keeping one eye on the buildings and another on the look out for any cars. He only spared part of his attention for his 'shadow,' who followed diligently behind him.
There was no one standing out by the pumps. It was either too early for any of the employees to start waiting for customers or this was a self service. Shinichi would have bet, from the lack of investment the town had made in the tourist business, that it was most likely self served whenever it saw company. This was further supported by the lone cashier waiting behind the register as he enter the chilled interior.
"Ohayo gozimasu."
He nodded half heartedly in response to the greeting, adding a little wave as he went straight for the coffee pot sitting like a shining beckon of light and goodness off to the left. There was a soft snort from the direction of the front, and Shinichi got the impression this wasn't the first time a passer through had done such.
As he took the first, scolding sip, he finally thought that he might actually be able to make it through the day. He thought he could almost feel the caffeine hitting his system as the heat of the liquid hit his stomach. Feeling considerably better and with half the cup down his throat, he was more than happy to return the cashier's earlier greeting.
"Not much of a morning person, no?" The cashier, a young man not much older than Shinichi, said in an amused, sympathetic tone that suggested that he completely understood.
Shinichi made a noncommittable noise around another sip of his precious coffee.
Before the slightly older man could make another attempt at a conversation, a voice floated through the back room, calling, "Keiji, where did you put crème?" There was an audible scowl, followed shortly by, "I've told you time and again to keep this place organized - is this what you put Kimiko-chan through at home?"
Shinichi froze, completely blocking out the cashier's - Keiji's - response as the familiar voice trickled in through his caffeine-induced euphoria and brought back to reality better than any bucket of ice-cold water. He recognized that voice. But, it couldn't be...
An elderly woman stuck her head out of the back room, face stern and ready for a lecture, when she caught sight of Shinichi, who was staring at her wide-eyed from over the rim of his mostly forgotten coffee cup. She blinked at him, looking curious to see him and Shinichi theorized she more than likely thought he was Kaito.
Previous task completely forgotten, the woman made her way with a grace that spoke of hard work and determination not to let her cane slow her down. Shinichi would have bet money that she more than likely took the cane the moment she had been told she needed it, but she hadn't for a moment stopped doing what she loved before. It was admirable.
It still didn't stop the horribly bad feeling he was getting about how this was going to go.
She came to a stop in front of him, her pale, grey-blue eyes looking him up and down. She seemed to be expecting something from him - or maybe just expecting to find something - and wasn't finding it. She raised an eyebrow at him. "Egotistical, little brat, that boy is." She was stating a fact, not presenting a question and it didn't take long for Shinichi to realize that she was referring to Kaito.
So, she had figured it out? The teenage detective allowed her another grudging point for perception.
Shinichi took a sip of the coffee to hide his amusement. The lady had no clue just how right she was, although he couldn't fathom what had brought her to that conclusion.
The woman leaned on her cane with a considering air. "Hm, so you must be the one that was hollering last night."
Shinichi choked, fumbling with the cup and nearly splashing the scolding liquid all over the woman. As it was, a small portion did wind up on the floor, where it would be forgotten until much later that night when the night shift cleaned it up. The teen coughed, hastily setting the cup down on the counter before he lost the rest of his beloved drink. Not that he felt he needed it very much anymore. That had been more than enough to wake him up.
The cashier was gaping at the woman, completely scandalized. "Geda-baasan!"
The woman snorted. "Ghost hunters," was all she said. And from that tone, it really was all she needed to say. She obviously didn't think to kindly of the people.
Shinichi could see that she was getting the wrong impression, and he would have been all to happy to set the record straight - just as soon as he could breath without trying to cough up his lungs. Taking a deep, clean breath, he was pleased when he didn't feel the need to cough again. When he still didn't cough, he stated, "We're not ghost hunters." Hell, he didn't even like ghosts.
The old woman looked skeptical. "And you just happened to wind up in Room 131."
Shinichi raised his chin slightly, pulling his battered dignity around him like a cloak. "It was the only room left." He shrugged. His curiosity with the man's murder had absolutely nothing to do with wanting to prove the existence of ghosts or getting the thrill of finding them.
She made another murmured 'hmm', and was watching him with that expecting air again. He had the impression she thought he was a particularly slow puppy - or at the very least, a rather dishonest-with-himself one. Shinichi sighed as he realized that she was completely right in what she was expecting, even if it wasn't for the right reasons.
"What happened in Room 131?" There, he asked, and he was going to finish his cup of coffee and not another drop was going to be wasted.
The woman nodded, ignoring the cashier's continued protests. The woman made her way to the wall closest to the register without going behind it. Bringing her cane up, she rapped the end against the glass gently. "This is Matashiro Katanori."
Shinichi came to stand at her side, taking in the black and white face of the man in the photo. It wasn't the man who was haunting Room 131. Glancing at her, he let her know that she had his attention and that he'd like for her to go on.
She set her cane on the ground, eyes still focused on the photo. "He was a police officer in the 1870s, one of the first in this area when they branched out this far. He did a lot of good for this town, if the history books are to be trusted."
It didn't take very much to deduce she didn't think very highly of written history. He wondered what event she might have been old enough to have witnessed and her own personal view on it - and how history was going to view it.
She continued on, voice still somewhere between admiring and scornful. "Intelligent, too, but he was a fool to have allowed that man to darken his reputation."
Shinichi could see where this was going. Studying the man on the wall anew, he added, "He's killed a man in Room 131."
The woman made a disgusted note. "I've read the newspaper report - or what's left of it - when I was a little girl. Matashiro-san found his wife, Arina, with another man." She gave him a sidelong glance. "He murdered them both."
Shinichi, without ever taking his eyes off the picture, thought back to the hotel room, trying to remember if he had seen a second ghost. The room had only felt occupied in passing, when he and Kaito had first walked into it the afternoon before. He hadn't even been sure there had been a ghost until he'd seen it while going to get his stuff from the car. He had only seen the male ghost - Arina's lover - but not Arina herself. If she was still walking the earth, she wasn't doing it in Room 131.
"When did people start saying the room was haunted?" He turned his attention from the picture and looked to the ones on either side of it. They were all old photos, some of them just paintings, of people from the mid 1800s to modern day. If Matashiro's picture (and, ah, yes, there was Sadamasa Kagami, the man responsible for putting Hananomachi on Japan's radar) was anything to go by, these were pictures of influential people to the town.
The old woman huffed. "About the time the hotel was taken over by the current management. In 1940, the Akimoto family bought it and renovated it." She shook her head, as if she thought it was all just nonsense. "Outsiders started wandering in more frequently, and next thing any of us know, everyone wants to see the ghost. As if ghosts are the interesting thing Hana has to offer."
Shinichi glanced at her. She looked highly insulted, and more than a little affronted by the publicity that one little room had brought Hananomachi. He almost felt bad for his next question. Almost. "Where do they have a copy of the newspaper clipping?"
She narrowed her eyes at him, suspiciously. "Most of the older newspaper collections were lost in a fire in 1915, but the library has what left of them. You can find it by looking at the town map just down the street."
Shinichi couldn't help the mildly amused tug at his lips. He was certain she knew exactly where the library was, and could more than likely give detailed directions to it, but by telling him to look at the map, she was basically rubbing in her displeasure with this investigation. He got the feeling it was the politest way she was going to tell him such.
Knowing the conversation was through, Shinichi bid both goodbye, and headed out the door. There was still no one to be seen in the lot, but as a quick look at his watch (it was only nearing 8 o'clock, on a road hardly anyone seemed to use) this was a little surprising, but not terribly so.
The Ghost of Room 131 was waiting for him, as it had done earlier back at the hotel with Kaito. Shinichi noted, a little belatedly (he blamed it on his morning caffeine deprived stupor), that the ghost hadn't entered the gas station. He blinked at it, wondering if it couldn't enter buildings, with the exception of Room 131, or something. Some stories (although he had yet to encounter such a case) held that ghosts had limitations.
Either that, or the ghost simply didn't care for the gas station.
Shrugging, Shinichi started off down the street to the aforementioned town map. It was old fashioned, barely anything written on there but the basics, but it was more than enough. It was done like a bus route, outlining the major 'road' through the town and the most important buildings along the way.
He trekked the route, committing it to memory. One street, two, three - there was a school; only one (was it all grades?) - four, five - a hospital - six, seven, eight... There it was. Ryuokishio Library. He looked the map over one more time, and then started out.
Shinichi stepped off the main road, heading off onto Hana's major road. It was barely a road at all, more like gravel and dirt and not quite pavement. Shinichi could feel every rock poking at his feet through the heels of his shoes and he was glad he had packed the hiking boots for this trip rather than his usual sneakers.
There were a few people out and about. They looked up as he passed, curious faces watching him intently from behind shadowed gazes. He wondered what they thought he was there for. There were apparently a few people that recognized him, though. He could hear a group of teenagers, a few years his junior and still in high school, whispering his name as he passed. He smiled at them, and they giggled (the girls) and snorted (the boy), but when they didn't approach him, he didn't stop.
The smile stayed on his face, even if it was subdued to a quirk of the lips. Being known even as far out here was like a small stroke to his ego, enough to flare the abused thing into some semblance of activity. Encountering Gin, becoming Conan, and allowing Mouri Kogoro to have his spotlight hadn't killed his ego, but it had certainly done it a great deal of damage. Now every whisper, every giggle was like a kick start. He liked to think that it was no where near where it had been, nor would it ever be again.
Besides, Kaito had a big enough ego for both of them.
He looked over to find himself passing the hospital, and then quickly turned away. He hadn't seen anything in its windows nor its roof nor, thank the gods, its yard. He could feel the Ghost of Room 131 behind him and the last thing he needed was for more spirits to notice him. He was not a medium, nor would he ever become one.
He picked up his pace, resisting the urge to break out into a run; the feel of their presence just behind him like a wall.
It was a relief when he reached the library, some twenty minutes and three streets later. The sound of the door closing behind him shouldn't have felt like walking into a sanctuary, but he couldn't stop the sigh of relief. He blinked when he noticed his breath, and a glance to his left affirmed that the ghost had followed him into the library. He raised an eye brow at it, before shrugging and deciding he wasn't going to attempt to try and figure out this ghost's quirks.
The librarian was exactly what you would expect from a town like this. A elder woman, not too late in life, but most certainly well past her prime. She looked up at him as he entertained and there was a flash of... something, in her eyes. He might have called it relief. Looking around, taking in even the complete lack of any noise other than the sounds of the machines doing their job to keep the building running, he would have been willing to bet money that they were the only two people, with the exception of whatever staff there was, in the building.
"I'm looking for the newspaper achieves." He winced as even the sound of his whisper sounded horribly loud in the silence.
The woman pursed her lips, the simple shift of her head causing her silver jewelry to clink softly. It was almost as loud as his whisper. She lifted a hand, the skin already turning pale and transparent against her veins, and pointed towards the far left corner of the room. "Along the back wall."
Shinichi murmured a thank you, stepping away from the desk. Just before he was completely out of earshot, he thought he heard the woman complaining that the air conditioner was acting up again. He shook his head and put it out of his mind.
The newspaper achieve was huge. Each page carefully collected and bound in books by year, publisher, and numbered in succession from there. He ignored most of the newer books, searching out the ones from the 1870s. He wished the woman had given him more information on an exact date or even a publisher, but if she had read it as a little girl there was little hope she would remember. He sighed softly, deciding to start from 1874 and work his way up from there. If she had misjudged the time, perhaps a little later, little earlier, he'd just have to work from there.
The woman, Geda-obaasan, had been right about some of the papers having been lost. He found mention of a fire in 1879, when he misjudged how far he was along. He'd glanced over it - fire started mysteriously on the other side of the building and although it had been subdued, a good portion of the libraries books had been lost - but hadn't paid it too much attention. He took the book and used it as a place marker to remind himself if he went too far again.
It took two more publishers and quite a few more books, but he finally found it under Kinoshi Publishing, 1878. Triumph lit a grin on his face and he had to remind himself to be careful with the other books as he quickly tried to clear a spot for the book. He was a little disappointed portions of it was burned away - the ending was completely gone - but most of it...
October 25, 1878, journalists received word that Matashiro Katanori had been arrested on two counts of voluntary manslaughter by two of his deputies early that morning. The victims - [the names were burned out] - were dead on arrival of a single gunshot to - [where they took the shot was also lost] - and Matashiro Katanori admitted guilty to all charges. The news of how his sentence was carried out was burned away, but it did get in a mention that Arina had left a twelve year old son, Tomo, and a ten year old daughter, Sakura, behind.
Shinichi gave the articles immediately after a look over as well, hoping to find some more information, but Matashiro seemed to have been forgotten for the more popular topic of the time, which was the mysterious halt of a serial killer who had missed his usually six month mark. The man had apparently killed twelve women and then just... stopped. No word, no clue... nothing.
Shinichi shook his head and pushed the book away, rubbing at his eyes as he stretched. He could feel each bone in his back as he stretched and he sighed softly as a creak he hadn't realized had formed in his neck worked itself out.
That had been both helpful and not helpful. Mostly not. It had just filled in a few bits of information that Geda hadn't provided to him already. He still didn't even know his ghostly stalker's name.
He brought his hand up to his lips, biting on one of the knuckles as he pondered what to do next. He could just leave it there. This ghost was hardly his responsibility and it was the crime was over 140 year old. The ghost's killer had been caught, and more than likely persecuted, so what more was there to be solved in this case?
He looked over to where the ghost was hovering near the window, watching something outside. What could possibly be this ghost's reason for continuing to roam the earth?
Perhaps that's why he couldn't bring himself to leave this alone. He wanted to know just why this ghost lingered. It was kind of silly, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized it was true.
There was still the crux of the lack of information. It wasn't in the newspapers, but maybe... It was a long shot, but just maybe...
His stomach growling broke him out of his daze and he dropped his hand to look at his watch. And then balked. Was it really half-past 12? He had been in here researching for almost four hours! He shook his head at himself. He'd have to stop by somewhere while on the way to his next and possibly final lead to pick something up to eat. Kaito would have his head if he forgot to eat again in favor of investigating.
Books carefully put back away the way he found them, he headed up to the front desk. The woman was still there, sitting exactly where he'd left her and he wondered if she had ever left. She looked up as he approached and she blinked at him, more than likely surprised to see him still there. She took in his dusty clothes and lack of any books and 'hmm'ed softly to herself.
Shinichi paused in front of her desk, pondering how to ask his question. He didn't know for sure if she would know, but with little towns like these, there was a good chance she might. "I'm trying to find out if the Matashiro family still lives in Hana."
She squinted at him. It wasn't a narrowing of the eyes, there was no frown in her brow. He could see her glasses hanging around her neck and although they looked rather thick, he was surprised she didn't reach for them. She 'hmm'ed at him again. "Matashiro." She drawled the name out, tasting it as if it were a flavor she hadn't had since childhood. "Haven't heard that name in a long time. Why would you want to know it, boy?"
Shinichi let the mistake of his age slide. He had long since stopped caring if someone thought him incompetent because of his youth. It may make things a little harder, but it was something he could work around. "I'm doing research. Most of the information was lost because of a fire."
She raised an eyebrow at him, skeptically. He didn't know how often someone asked her about the Matashiro family in relation to ghosts, could only guess if that's what she was figuring he was doing. She answered him regardless. "Matashiro Tomo was the last to carry the name. Matashiro Sakura's name changed when she married into the Akimoto family."
Privately, to himself, Shinichi acknowledged that she did indeed know, or suspect, why he was asking. It was too remote a chance that she would know that much information about the subject off hand. He was curious why she would give out that much information about a family, that she had to know he might go and question--
Wait. The Akimoto family. The Akimoto owned the Sweet Tart Hotel and the young desk clerk's family name had been Akimoto. Akimoto-san who had been disappointed he and Kaito hadn't wanted to hear the story of Room 131. The answer had quite possibly been there the whole time and he had almost missed it completely!
He looked at his watch. It wasn't even one o'clock yet. More than enough time to get back to the hotel, question Akimoto, and meet up with Kaito at five. Hell, he might even have enough time to look around a little before arriving early for a change. He'd have something other than the ghost to talk about and heavens knew he rarely arrived anywhere early these days.
He threw the woman a distracted thanks and good bye over his shoulder, not really paying attention as she muttered about manners and a continence of her earlier complaint about the air conditioning.
The trip back to the hotel took a lot less time, even with his having to dodge the rising mass of people on the streets. Even his shadow seemed to feel his slight rise in excitement over this possible lead, hoving just a little too closely for Shinichi's general comfort, but it was something he had already grown to ignore.
There was a mild problem with his plan, Shinichi mused as he stepped onto the main road, just ten minutes from his goal. If Akimoto was off, there was a good chance he'd miss her. He really didn't care to remain in Hana or at the hotel another night, just to investigate (not to mention that Kaito would never let him live it down) a hundred-plus old murder. He supposed he could go back again after dinner, but Kaito would be with him and he'd know that he had been right, and Shinichi already knew how that would go over.
His fears were unfounded. As he entertained the main office, Akimoto was sitting behind her desk, typing away at the computer. She didn't have a customer with her this time, and a quick glance around showed he was the only one in the room with her. She looked up as he came in, her eyebrows shooting up and an amused smile crossing her lips. Shinichi noted that she had done her hair up around that rose Kaito had given her. He'd have to bring the magician down to see it, Shinichi knew he'd find it amusing.
"Why, hello, there Kudo-san," Akimoto greeted him. She looked behind him, almost looking disappointed when she didn't see anyone else. She turned her attention back to him. "Come down to sign out?"
Shinichi had his room key in his pocket. Kaito still had his. There was a chance Kaito had cleaned out, but just to be sure... "Not just yet." When she tilted her head to the side, he added, "You wanted to tell us about Room 131?"
Akimoto lit up like a Christmas tree. "Oh, what made you change your mind?"
"Curiosity."
She grinned and then nodded. "It is fascinating." She pushed her keyboard to the side to make room for her elbows, which she propped up on the desk. "So, what do you want to hear?"
Shinichi thought that if she asked, she'd sing for him like a lark. He decided to cut to the chase. "You're descended from Matashiro Katanori, right?"
She made an impressed noise. "You did your homework." She snorted, the noise sounding like it was more to herself and the thought. "Then again, I'd expect no less from the 'Great Detective of the East,' Kudo Shinichi."
She hadn't known him yesterday. Not even the slightest reaction, so... "You looked me up."
She nodded. "Thought I'd heard your name before. No disrespect, but detective work isn't my thing."
He shrugged, taking none. He put his hands in his pocket. "Do you know anything that wasn't in the papers?"
She made an affirmative note. "You looked at that thing." She made her look around again, before leaning forward. "According to the way my dad told it to me, Katanori was the head honcho back then, top of the top. He had a lot kept out of the papers, including the name of the guy he killed."
Shinichi nodded. Behind him, he could feel the ghost entering the room. It almost seemed... pleased, if he was interpreting that look in the reflection off the glass behind Akimoto correctly. He watched as the ghost moved further into room, pulling the heat from the air as it moved deeper in. He could already feel the goose bumps on his arms, how long before Akimoto noticed?
Akimoto reached up and fixed her flower a little as she continued. "Dad said his name was Kawaguchi Ishimaru, didn't do much around the town, but he was known for being a charmer. It was apparently all over the town that he was having affairs like most people change their clothing." She pointed a finger at him. She was about to drop something she felt was important, "There was even a rumor that he had been with some of those--"
She broke off looking around. "Is it really cold in here, or is it just me?"
Shinichi had been trying to ignoring his own shivering. He opened his mouth to say something, when abruptly, something - not heavy enough to be solid body, more like a heavy wind - collided with his back, and pain flared in his head like someone had just hit him with a hard, sharp edged object.
An alarm blared off in his mind, flashing images of black trench coats, the feel of wet grass and the sick slick of something forced down his throat while another part railed against how he hadn't seen anyone - and he should have, the glass was reflecting just about everything - coming up behind him.
As he dropped to the floor, the only thing going through his mind was the fear for Akimoto and the regret that he wouldn't be making it to that dinner on time after all.
And then, there was nothing.
-tbc
And there's another chapter done. Hope you liked the pr0n, I'm told it wasn't total waste. XD
Next chapter: Shinichi finds a dead body (big surprise) and gets a shock when he finds out who the killer is.