Ch.4 Tears
"I can't believe you, of all people, would say something like that." Hakuba replied, looking concerned. "Of course not. Or at least, I am sure this issue with the messed up dates is a prank."
"Look you can all stand around here talking, but I'm going to have breakfast." Kogoro grumbled, turning to leave the room. "Toki-san prepared us some food in the dining room, and I'm hungry." Conan blinked after him at hearing the unfamiliar name as the man walked away, grumbling about how it was too early for all this nonsense.
"Who's Toki-san?" he piped up, throwing out the question at no one in particular. Although he had regained his memories as Conan, he was actually out of commission for a bit after his encounter with the vase after all. Perhaps he had missed meeting this person. The name sounded like an old woman's and it would make sense if she were the maid, who had prepared breakfast.
True to his deduction, Kaito answered for him. "She's the maid. She showed up after that vase fell on you, so you probably haven't met her yet."
Kaito, in turn, sighed. Hakuba's incredulous response as well as Kogoro's mention of breakfast had interrupted his momentary lapse in keeping his calm. "I'm joining Detective Mouri for breakfast. Let's go, Conan-kun."
The rest of the crew decided they would get food too, because there was really no point in milling around thinking about something that was obviously a prank. Someone was most likely trying to spook the detectives into avoiding looking into the mystery of this mansion, but they were too smart and had lived through too many worse situations before to be disoriented from something so silly.
While munching on a croissant, Conan mused on the deepening mystery. The pieces were gathering, but they were not falling into place. The dull pain from his injury from the day before wasn't helping either. Either the pain was distracting him or bits of the amnesia were left over, because the injury was giving him bouts of confusion. That makes no sense. Conan reprimanded himself at the thought. Injuries do not have feelings. Finishing his food, he slid off the chair to excuse himself. "I need to go check something in my room." He announced, before running out.
Although Conan had not believed for a moment that the crazy rumor about the jewel that 'stops time' was true (he believed the rumor was more of a scare tactic), he still needed to check and double check everything. Conan had remembered feeling a splash of cold the moment the vase had fallen on him so it probably had a little bit of water in it. The hoodie he had been wearing then had been hung up to dry by his bedroom window, so he was going to check up on it.
Watching the little boy run out, Kaito narrowed his eyes slightly at the retreating back. Since amnesia was a rather rare condition, he didn't have that much experience with it. However, considering the energy Tantei-kun was displaying, and the lack of concern the other detectives had shown over the injury, Kaito was getting a little suspicious. "Ikumi-san, may I ask you something about Conan-kun's injury?"
"Sure. Go ahead."
Although she was no doctor, the woman used to be a police officer after all. More than the average civilian, she may have encountered a few confused amnesiacs here and there. "How quickly does amnesia caused from the degree of Conan-kun's injury usually get fixed?"
"From what I saw when I treated him, it was pretty light trauma." She continued, "If he lost only a few months like Mogi-san suggested," she glanced over at the older detective, "the approximate amount of time lost would fit the level of injury." Ikumi then turned back to look at Kaito again. "That amnesia should have fixed itself in a few hours, so Conan-kun should have recovered while asleep." She blinked. "Didn't he say anything?"
"I need to go check on him." Kaito responded and getting up quickly, he half ran out of the room, ignoring the amused looks the detectives were giving him. Unfortunately, he couldn't act like he cared that much about Conan remembering being 'Conan' without giving himself away, but mini Kudo was no actor. If Kaito let him know he was assuming the twerp had already recovered, the child was bound to let a guilty expression slip.
However, there was another thing that was bothering him. Mini Kudo couldn't act to save his life, let alone deceive Kaito, the king of deception, into believing that he had forgotten how he had become Conan. If what the lady detective said was true, and Kaito had no reason to doubt the professional's observations here, Conan had lost too many months yesterday.
It was unnatural. Kaito knew the cynical detectives did not believe in the 'magic' stuff, but Kaito's fear came back again in full force after he had realized this detail regarding Conan's memory loss.
It was this again. Time. Why did he lose too much time? Kaito thought desperately as his quick pace broke into a run as he headed towards the room he knew the child would be. And why just the 'Conan' time? It's almost as if he forgot…. a life.
Conan smiled as he patted down the hoodie, satisfied that it had dried out. This, along with their memories as well as their watches, was other physical proof that time had actually gone by. No matter how much the amnesia yesterday had temporarily rattled him and his trust in reality as he knew it, now that Conan got his memories back, he was not afraid anymore. He could trust himself.
"Conan-kun." Conan almost jumped out of his skin as a voice sounded behind him. Startled, he whipped around and pressed himself against the window to face the speaker. Heart pounding furiously, the detective willed himself to calm down before speaking again.
"What do you need, Kaito-niichan?" Conan hadn't heard the speaker come into the room, but he really shouldn't have been surprised at the level of stealth the teen in front of him displayed. The guy was currently KID suspect number one in his books after all.
"What are you doing?" Kaito asked, looking curiously over at the boy's position by the window and the hoodie the kid was wearing yesterday. Has he figured out a hint? The question about whether or not Conan had actually gained back his memories could wait for a few more seconds. "Did you find something interesting with that hoodie of yours?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact." Conan replied, laughing nervously, and continued speaking as he pretended not to notice the other teen narrowing his eyes at the nervous response. "There was a little bit of water in the vase that broke, so I was checking if my hoodie had actually dried out. If time actually stopped, then the hoodie should still be wet!" He then turned around to make a show of touching his hoodie while he thought frantically. Drats! Has he figured out I've already recovered from my amnesia? Or have one of the other detectives tipped him off?
Conan's train of thought was interrupted, however, as he felt a damp spot still left near the pocket of his hoodie. Strange, just this spot failed to dry?
As his movement stopped, Conan looked up in surprise as a hand reached over his head to reach into the pocket and pull something out.
"What's this?" Kaito asked, looking at the wet, deformed bead he had taken from the hoodie pocket. It kind of looked like two pearly white beads failed to become two separate ones like they were supposed to. The teen frowned, and then pulled a mini loupe from out of his pocket to examine it. Then he put it up against his teeth, ignoring the little detective that was jumping around, trying to see what he had taken out of the pocket. Huh, He thought, quirking his eyebrow. "It's a deformed pearl."
Kaito then looked down at the confused looking Conan before he bent down to become eye level with him. "By the way, I know you've gotten your memories back." He said as he handed the pearl to the boy. Kaito waited for the inevitable reaction, a micro expression that would give away the guilt, but instead he got nothing. Conan's expression was completely blank, staring at the bead that had been placed on his hand.
"Conan-kun?" Kaito pressed, and gently shook one of the boy's shoulders. He was getting a little tired of getting freaked out; especially by the guy in front of him.
Conan, in turn, had not heard him. Sinking down into the ground, the boy blinked as he found himself staring at his hands. They were covered in dirt. He looked around. The wind was cool in his hair and the air smelled like a clear, summer evening, perfect for a night out with Ran. Ran? Confusion and fear gripped him as he realized how familiar this moment was. Shinichi focused on his hands again. Small and covered in dirt. He blinked from his position on the ground. Clothes too large, no fake glasses, pain at the back of the head. The newly shrunk Shinichi covered his eyes as he saw flashlights shining into his eyes-
And then Conan was back in the present, leaning back against the wall and sitting down on the ground, fists clutched tightly and face pale and surprised.
"Conan-kun?" Conan shook his head to clear it, and then he blinked to focus on the worried face in front of him. The boy noticed the teen had put his hand on his shoulder. The touch was warm and real, letting Conan know that he was really here in the present, and not back at that horrifying moment he had actually realized he had shrunk.
"Ka…kaito-niichan?" Conan responded, hating the way his own voice trembled. "For a moment there I-" he then stopped. Conan couldn't confide in what he 'remembered'; he wasn't actually sure of this guy's identity after all. But why did he have that flashback? If Conan was a real amnesiac recovering the memory he had lost, this would make a bit more sense, but Conan had already recovered all of his memories. For a reason he couldn't place, Conan felt himself looking down at the deformed pearl he had received from the other teen and thinking, I knew that memory already. That was mine.
Conan then blinked as he felt the evening air again. He was looking up at the sky, riddled with stars and a large, white moon. He looked down at his right hand. It was a grown man's hand, too large to be his own, clothed in a white glove. The arm was covered in a similarly white sleeve- Who? Conan was violently pulled back into reality as he expressed confusion, and then groaned and put his face in his hands.
Shaking away the concern of the teen in front of him, Conan crawled over to his duffel bag. Rummaging around, he pulled out a small plastic bag and slipped the pearl into it. "This isn't mine." And neither was that memory. Conan spoke, finally addressing the other occupant of the room in a steady voice since his little flashback. "It's evidence for whatever's going on here."
"Oh." Kaito responded dumbly. What was up with Tantei-kun just now? Don't tell me he really HAD lost a year in memories and is still recuperating? "By the way, what happened to you just now?"
"I…" Conan thought about how he should answer this. "remembered some things."
Well, that response sounds like he remembered some things he can't elaborate on, so I guess that fits with him still recovering Conan memories… Kaito thought as he heard the obviously uneasy response. "And just to confirm what you just said, that pearl isn't yours?"
"Nope."
000
Unbeknownst to Kaito, as soon as the boy had run out of the room, the detectives left behind in the dining room had begun their analysis on him.
"So." Mogi started, staring after the door Kaito had just disappeared out of, "detective boy, why did you actually bring that friend of yours over to this mansion case?"
"Whatever do you mean, Mogi-san?" Hakuba replied smoothly, sipping on his tea nonchalantly.
"He said already that they had a school project to work together on." Kogoro stated, looking at Mogi in confusion, "Weren't you listening?"
"As a matter of fact, I'm curious as well." Ikumi piped up, ignoring Kogoro's statement, and opting to look over at Hakuba. "You can't expect us to believe that you brought over a random classmate or a friend over to a potentially dangerous case like this merely for a school project."
"Besides, he seemed pretty concerned for that Conan kid yesterday, despite having only just met him then." Mogi continued, smirking at Hakuba. "Additionally, you've complimented the guy's intelligence over Conan's despite all of us knowing how intelligent the brat is."
"And don't think we haven't noticed your little looks of disapproval and suspicion over at Kuroda-kun since yesterday, every time Conan would say something ridiculous, or every time we would discuss the clocks getting messed up on our watches and the TV?" Ikumi added on, smiling just as mischievously. "Confusing someone as sharp as Conan-kun, as well as messing up all of our phones and the TV under our noses without us noticing, requires a lot of intelligence and stealth."
"And he's not the Kudo brat." Kogoro grumbled trying to throw in at least something amongst the onslaught of observations he hadn't even thought the others had been making. "But he's a weirdo smart-alek look alike that might know Conan. Is that what you all of you are saying?"
Hakuba sighed, putting down his teacup calmly. Despite having done pretty much nothing in front of these people, he should have expected they would still have been picking out every little detail about the newest member of their party without missing a thing. Kuroba's precaution to disguise his family name to something common and unassuming had been right.
"As expected from excellent detectives." Hakuba replied, sounding defeated, "I did not bring Kuroda-kun for a school project. I brought him because he has proven himself to be very intelligent, and I had been hoping he would be a bit of assistance in solving the mystery here. I assumed he would be able to provide us with a different perspective on things, not being a detective and all. Although" he paused, rubbing his temple, "Kuroda-kun can be a bit feisty at times. He is quite the prankster."
"I see." Ikumi responded, while Mogi kept looking at Hakuba. Neither of them clearly believed that to be the entire story, but as long as they could confirm Kaito Kuroda was nobody shady, they would let it go.
"Any reason he would be familiar with Conan?" Kogoro asked, feeling a bit of concern for his charge. The boy could take care of himself, but he seemed to have a lot of mysterious acquaintances. And if this Kudo look-alike was one of them, maybe he could shed some light on where the real Kudo brat was. Kogoro didn't really care where Shinichi was as long as he was alive and kicking, but his daughter did, so it was good to find another potential resource.
"One of our classmates is the daughter of Inspector Nakamori, the man in charge of the division in charge of chasing after Kaitou KID." Hakuba replied smoothly, "Everyone in our class is familiar with Conan-kun, since we follow the news of that thief."
Mogi laughed again, hearing the first believable response from Hakuba, as well as seeing Kogoro's annoyed look. "If you're not careful, pretty soon that brat will be taking over your agency, Mouri!"
000
"Kaito-niichan." Conan spoke, trying to forget the strange 'flashbacks' he had experienced moments before. "Why did you know it was a pearl?"
"Well, it kind of looks like a pearl, so I just assumed it was." Kaito responded, not willing to give details. "Haven't you ever seen one?"
"Well yes, but they are usually round and white." Conan responded, not letting the teen off the hook. "This just looks like a failed glass bead."
"Then maybe it's a failed glass bead." Kaito said, shrugging. It didn't really matter to him if the boy in front of him believed the pearl to be real or not. Kaito assumed the important thing was that there was some unidentified, wet object left in Conan's hoodie. "Who cares? All that matters is that it wasn't supposed to be there, right?"
"Yes I guess so." Conan said, looking at the pearl in the baggie again. Obviously, the teen in front of him had checked for its authenticity, and if he really was KID, then the thing was a real pearl. However, as the teen had mentioned, it probably didn't really matter if it was real or not. Even if it were real, the dilapidated shape would give it a low value. And even if it were fake, all that mattered was that a pearl-like object had been slipped into Conan's hoodie without him noticing, and that it was still wet.
"Let's go-" "Let's go-" The two stopped as they found themselves speaking at the same time. "Go on" Kaito said, gesturing towards the detective. He was probably better at the investigating thing anyway.
"Sorry, let's go check out the scene of my accident with the vase." Conan said, taking the invitation to speak first. "What were you about to say?"
"The same thing." Kaito nodded, smiling as he stood up and headed towards the door. "Come on."
As the two walked down the hallway, Conan decided to start up the conversation this time. He had remembered the last time they had walked down the hall like this, they had spoken about some weird jewel. Conan figured he would try this again, now that he could assume Kaito had a lot more expert knowledge on the subject that he had previously thought.
"Say, Kaito-niichan."
"What?"
"What would a jewel's tears be like?"
"Huh?" Kaito looked down at Conan, not liking the topic. Why did he keep bringing it up?
"Well I don't know about jewels much, but I'm pretty sure they don't have eyes like us, and it would be weird to call water droplets coming from a gem 'tears'." Conan replied matter of factly, "If droplets of water come from a stone, I'm sure we would just call it 'condensation', not 'tears'."
Kaito sighed and rolled his eyes. "That's what you detectives would call it. You have no dreams or romance at all in your worldviews."
"Why do you keep calling me a 'detective' anyway?"
"As I said before, you're in the news sometimes. You're a mini detective that's known for going after Kaitou KID." Kaito replied, not missing a beat. "I had hoped though, as a child, you would be a bit more prone to having an imagination."
"Sorry." Conan scoffed, not feeling sorry at all. "But, being so familiar with Kaitou KID news, and being good enough to figure out that dilapidated glass bead from earlier was a real pearl, I assumed Kaito-niichan was pretty familiar with jewels." He looked up challengingly at his companion, only to be met with a thoughtful look. Goddamit, won't he show even a smidgeon of uneasiness? Conan thought, frustrated. He had thought that previous line had been provocative enough, but it hadn't fazed the teen in front of him one bit. "So, Kaito-niichan, what would a jewel's tears look like?"
It was a stupid conversation, but he had started it, so Conan figured he would at least see it through to the end.
"Well, there is a jewel associated with tears, but it's not a gemstone…" Kaito frowned. But this sort of coincidence… If we assume our time confusion is not coming from real magic, is someone really messing with us? "Pearls." He stated, giving Conan a look. "Pearls are associated with tears." And the moon. Kaito added on in his head, but that shouldn't really matter right? The detectives didn't know much about the Pandora gem legend, so the moon part shouldn't really concern the boy in front of him. "So if a gem 'cries', maybe it will drop pearls."
"Weird." Conan replied, thinking about the dilapidated pearl that had been in his pocket. So whoever was messing with their time was clearly aware of the gem rumor. Conan found that strange, because he had assumed that rumor was a bad joke his dad had made up, but it seemed someone was trying to make them think it was real.
As they ended their conversation awkwardly, they approached the foyer where Conan's head had met the vase. The two stood as they stared at the scene in front of them. Surprisingly, Kaito was starting to feel a bit of irritation pull at his conscience as he saw the unaffected vase sitting primly in place, not broken at all. "Conan-kun, is that the vase you saw before it smashed into your head?"
"Yes." Conan replied, walking over to it as he examined it curiously. "There were no other vases, and this one has the exact same pattern and make."
"That's it." Kaito muttered, irritation creeping into his voice. Someone was clearly messing with them, knowing about the jewel legend. However, it was wrong. Panodra's tears did not stop time, it granted immortality to those who drank it. "Tantei-kun, before we figure out this 'missing persons' mystery or whatever, we need to figure out who is messing with our heads using this jewel legend, and stop them." Conan looked up, looking a little surprised at the outburst. "It's not funny, and whoever's doing this to us will pay."
"Ri…right." Conan responded, gulping. He didn't think this strange teen would take the jewel joke so personally. Considering KID was a huge prankster himself, Conan assumed an elaborate prank like this would impress him. However, it was true that this 'time' thing was messing with their other heavier investigation, and that was unacceptable. "Let's catch-" them. Conan was about to say, before something on the ground in front of him caught his eye. He picked the object up to examine it. It was a small, triangular charm; green with a white clover imprinted on it. What's this doing here? Conan thought, before he pocketed it quietly. The boy would have presented it to Kaito to see how he would have reacted, but Conan had heard a pair of footsteps coming their way. Perhaps it was another detective, or the maid, Toki-san, coming this way.
Toki-san, who appeared after the vase broke. Conan thought for a moment, before dismissing the thought. Who cares? What was happening to them was not magic. The vase breaking was part of the plan to mess up their concept of time, and if anyone could do something like replace this strange vase, it would be the maid. They needed to go speak to her.
Turning around, Conan was slightly disappointed but a bit relieved to see that it was just Hakuba who was joining them. Although he was not the next person Conan had been planning to speak to, Hakuba might know what to make of the random KID monocle charm that was on the ground. "Hey, Hakuba-niichan." Conan piped up, waving over the teen that was heading towards them, "What do you think of-" he froze as he reached into his pocket, only to find nothing. What the hell? I just put it there.
"What do I think of what, Conan-kun?"
Conan blinked, sticking his hands into both of his pockets, and then looking at the ground around him, still not coming up with the charm. "Uh, never mind." Kaito couldn't have taken anything either, because the teen had been standing pretty far from him, and had started walking towards Hakuba before Conan had noticed the other teen approaching them. KID or not, he couldn't have picked his pocket from that distance.
It's gone. Conan tried not to let this occurrence bother him. He could still trust himself, right? Nothing spooky was happening here. Nothing at all. Magic was not real after all.
TBC