Heya !
And here we are, let's wrap this case... more or less. But no time to think too much about what could be an unsatisfying end, as another case is already near ; )
But clearly, as some of you already noticed, there'll be more than what's written to that case... We'll see that later ; )
Hope you'll have some fun new year celebrations ! See you in 2016 ^_^
o.O.o
emmahoshi : it will : ) Ah, yea, as I said, it's a bit hard to start a story, it always take a few chapters to make it interesting ; ) Haha, yea, I'm thinking about it too, was fun to have those two working together... The trick is to find another way for them to meet and cooperate so I'll need to find a good idea first : ) And before, I wanted to work about Dark hours as I said I may write the whole story... so little time, so many things to do : ) Yup but well, it was because she was worried and in the end, everything went well for them :) Haha, lucky for Heiji she was sleeping, else he'd have to find another pun with 'Kudô' in it and I don't think his brain was awake enough for that : ) Ah, you knew ? But see in that chapter... Maybe it's him ? or not ? :p
Anilover : Haha, well, let's see how Ryo died in that chapter... But maybe there's more to it ? ; ) Uhh, I wanted to warn, since I had that huge headache for several days already so I couldn't focus really well. Perhaps I have that super power to find every mistake when my eyes are half closed ? xD It's better now, thank you : )
Purpalz Miner : Yea, dead to the culprit ! Hmmm... He was the culprit, ne ? ^^;
Laury Rose : That's some pretty good questions ; ) Hmm I didn't want to be too mean, it's just the beginning of that fic after all^^ And yea, I wanted them to cuddle but since none is able to admit his / her feelings, I needed a good reason and here it is xD
aerinechan : Re ! Ah bah il vaut mieux, je suis un peu lente en ce moment donc j'avance moyennement vite du coup le français en est d'autant retardé... Et oui, je voulais retourner à l'ambiance du manga, je m'en étais trop éloignée en rentrant dans le monde de MK, il me fallait un retour aux sources : ) Ca vient de mes envies de neige, j'en aurai probablement pas chez moi alors j'en mets dans mes fics !
Chapter 6 - Resolution
"- Hattori ?
- Yea, I'm awake, don' worry..." Heiji answered, rubbing his eyes as he got out of his daydream. He sat, keeping his cover tightly around him, and looked at the small child in front of him. "So ? Could get more info about Yoshida's death ?"
Several hours had passed since the boy found his friends buried under the snow. The group had walked a bit and finally met one of the teams of policemen who were looking for the two Osakans and the dark-haired doctor. Seeing he wouldn't be able to escape Yamato who wanted to drag him to the lodge, the detective of the West had asked to Conan to investigate Ryo's death without him. The boy had then escaped the group to meet the others, sneaking in another group from the law-enforcement who were heading to the crime scene.
"- First, how are you ?
- Good, nothin' ta worry about... I'll just have ta stay away from cold a bit, time fer the few frostnips I got ta disappear." The dark-skinned smiled, not mentioning the visible bandage around his head, under which several stitches were hidden. That positive declaration was a bit tarnished as the teen went into a coughing fit.
"- And the gash on the head... And the remaining cold along with its fever..." The boy sighed at his friend's carelessness.
"- Maaa, fer someone who had a car accident with a killer an' spent the night in a blizzard, I'd say I'm pretty good !" Heiji bragged with a smirk. "So ? What about Yoshida-han ? Got killed ? Or it was an accident ?
- Neither. It was a suicide, he jumped from a cliff and died when he hit the rocks on the ground..." Conan darkly concluded as he sat on his friend's bed.
"- A suicide ?! The guy did seem agitated after that call o' yers but he wasn' suicidal... More like angry from bein' suspected...
- Yea, this also disturbs me a bit... And I'm sure he'd have preferred to find a way to kill Akiyama to conclude his revenge before trying to kill himself..." The bespectacled detective frowned as he took his chin in his hand. "Usually this kind of guys goes on a killing spree and, after they feel their mission is complete, there's a chance of them turning their blade to themselves but clearly not before...
- Think he did it because he felt cornered ?" The Osakan proposed with an interrogative look at the child.
"- That's what he mentioned in his suicide note, so could be a possibility.
- He left a message an' ya don' even tell me ?!" The dark-skinned noted with a sulking face. "Start with that next time...
- Details, details..." The small detective smirked, a bit full of himself.
"- Kudô, stop with that damn suspense, I'm none o' yer fangirls...
- Hai hai ! I only could have a glimpse on that suicide note so I can't repeat it word for word but... Long story short, Yoshida explained in there how he found out the truth about that drug traffic... Apparently, after some drunken evening with the males of the group, some stuff they said tipped him off. So he tried to spend more time with the group, to have a chance to hear more things and that's what happened yesterday. When Ishida mentioned Russia, a country he never said he went to before, Yoshida became suspicious. Apparently, the guy usually bragged about his travels so it was strange so add to that the fact that country was the very one to which the drugs were sent... He confronted him last evening and he admitted Takeno and Akiyama had some role in that deal, though he was the self-proclaimed leader. That's when Ishida boasted about the fact he had no proof they forced Mina-san to kill herself that he lost it and killed him. And decided to kill the others...
- An' ya said he explained why he jumped from that cliff ?
- Yea, the end of his letter is him saying he became a killer to avenge Mina but realized that, after understanding he was cornered and he wouldn't be able to finish his task, she never would have wanted that. His suicide was for him a way to redeem himself.
- But ya don' buy it, right ?" Heiji concluded at the boy's frown. "Or is it just that ya don' like it ? Sorry, but I didn' realize he could go ta such an extent, else I would have tried ta reason him harder...
- Nah, that's not your fault he killed himself... I clearly don't like it but... Ok, there's no doubt about the fact he jumped from that cliff. But I don't know, something disturbs me and I can't find the words to describe it..." Conan tried to explain, without success.
"- Well, I still find it fishy that the guy switched from 'it's not me!' ta 'I'm a bad guy, I'll kill myself' but that's how it is, sometimes..." The Osakan shrugged, knowing that human nature was something really hard to understand sometimes. "So, what else did ya learn about the murders ta call me ta tell Yoshida was the killer ?
- Ah, Akiyama told us Mina-san was Yoshida's former girlfriend and we already suspected him so I wanted to warn you...
- He could have told that to us earlier, that dude..." The dark-skinned grumbled with a bored face.
"- Eh, he was hiding more than that... I had the police interrogate him after we found Yoshida since he mentioned in the letter he was part of the traffic. He was a bit shy at the beginning but admitted the three of them were the drug dealers. They started their little business during their internships when Ishida found a buyer in Russia. Mina-san had been tricked into it : they told her it was for some charity, so she knew it was illegal but she thought she was working for the greater good. When the police came to her door to accuse her of taking part to a wide scale drug deal, she couldn't stand it.
- Bastards...
- Yea...
- What about the case ? Found anythin' else ? I heard Yamato-han confirmed the footprints we found matched some spare shoes belongin' ta Yoshida...
- Yes, the police found them in his room in a plastic bag and confirmed it." Conan nodded, leaving his doubts and thoughts aside to focus on the case. "And I found a bloody windbreaker and some gloves in the room...
- ... in front o' Ishida's ?" Heiji guessed, to see his friend confirmed his assumption, though with interrogative eyes. "I had time ta think about the case in that igloo... I remember there was a door just in front o' the victim's an' since all the empty rooms were unlocked, he could have hidden his stuff there. There were too many rooms fer us ta search them all, so we didn' look at the unoccupied ones...
- And we first thought they were all closed... But, yes, that's it, Yoshida came into Ishida's room, confronted him and killed him out of rage. He then searched his belongings, careful not to make any noise, putting everything on the floor to hide what he was looking for and, since he couldn't find any proof, he probably decided to write that message to have some kind of reaction from the others...
- That clearly worked on Takeno-han.
- Yea. He just had to walk out of the room after hiding the windbreaker and the gloves in a plastic bag. The risk to be seen was under control, since he knew Shibe was working in his room, there was only the risk to be seen by Akiyama, which was low...
- An' once again, a case quickly wrapped up !" The detective of the West cheerfully concluded. "So, ya already explained all this ta the police ?
- Nah, since you were here, I preferred to wait for you to fill the gaps in their theories, I wouldn't want to have once again to randomly turn someone into a great detective..." The boy admitted as he shook his head.
"- No worries, that, I can do !" The Osakan claimed as he slammed one of his biceps with the other hand. "Hattori Heiji enters the scene !
- Oh my..." Conan face palmed with an exaggerated sigh.
o.O.o
"- That was great, as always, Hattori-kun !" Ran concluded with a smile after he wrapped the case in front of everyone.
"- Maaa, ya should start ta believe me when I tell ya I'm even better than Kudô ! " The dark-skinned bragged with a wide smile. That smile was replaced by a painful grimace and a refrained yell, the teen now rubbing his shin under Conan's glare. "But I had an assistant, it helped, ne, Conan-kun ?" He added with a forced smile at the boy.
"- I helped, I helped ! " He childishly declared with a proud face.
"- Yes, well done, Conan-kun !" Kazuha congratulated him with a smile. "We'd still be under that pile of snow without ya after all so thank ya !
- Oh, Would it had been bad ? You seemed quite comfy, cuddling to each other..." The small detective observed, pure innocence on his face, but there was a taunting smirk in his eyes.
"- We were just...
- Heiji was so cold due ta his fever, I had ta...
- Oh, so you're the one who curled against him ?" The Tokyoite girl concluded with a nudge to the blushing green-eyed girl, while Conan was trying really hard not to laugh at his best friend's face, ears red with embarrassment, trying really hard not to look at his childhood friend.
"- It helped, I'm grateful fer that..." He finally admitted, still looking elsewhere. "It was just survival measures...
- Oh really ?" Ran snorted, trying to look at him in the eyes.
"- O' course, no way I'd cuddle against..." Heiji denied, turning his head to look his accuser before realising what he was saying.
"- No way what ?" Kazuha snapped as she at last dared to look at him. " Was that that disagreeable ? I'm not good enough fer ya ?
- That's not it, Kazuha...
- Oh no, that's exactly what ya meant, ya Ahou ! I can't believe... Urgh, I'll be in my room, come ta fetch me when ya're ready ta leave !
- Kazuha-chan !" Ran called as she followed the girl who stormed out of the room with anger.
"- Well done, Hattori..." Conan smirked with a low voice, his eyes on the two girls leaving. "When will you admit...
- Admit what ?" The Osakan retorted with a flat look at the boy.
- Never mind... " The small detective ignored his question, knowing his best friend was too proud and very probably too dense to admit any form of feeling towards the ponytailed girl. "We should go and pack too.
- Yea... Time went fast once again... Don' forget ta call ta give news !
- I will. Got to fill you with some info about the BO I'd like to have your opinion on..." The child stated, looking away to hide his embarrassment, as this was the best way he had found to say he was sorry about their quarrel earlier.
"- Ya know the number, I'll be glad ta help !" Heiji answered with a wide smile, understanding his best friend was trying to bury the hatchet. "Let's go !"
o.O.o
"- Thanks once again fer the trip, Ran-chan !" Kazuha waved one last time as she and Heiji stepped into the boarding area, having been called for their flight back to Osaka.
The group was back to Tokyo, Haneda airport to be more precise. They came back from Hokkaïdo with a plane and were parting, both Osakans taking another plane to their hometown, while the Tokyoites would be going back to Beika with the monorail and the subway.
"- Any time, see you soon, Kazuha-chan !" Ran smiled, also waving her hand to her friend while Conan and Heiji were exchanging one last nod before the teen turned away.
Once the two green-eyed disappeared, the long-haired girl grabbed her luggage's handle. "Let's go ?"
Kogoro and the boy nodded and also took their things, eager to at last reach home.
The bespectacled detective was quite tired, after that last case and his all-nighter, he was already planning to nap all afternoon long.
But when he saw an unusually big crowd when they headed to the train station, he started to doubt he'd be able to respect his plans. And his doubts turned into a certainty when he saw a panting Takagi-keiji in the hallways.
"Give me a break..." He sighed, rolling his eyes with boredom.
But no kami was here to hear him, that, he became sure of it when the officer almost knocked Kogoro on the floor.
The man had first an annoyed grimace but it turned into surprise as he recognized the one in front of him. "Oh, Takagi-keiji ?
- Mouri-san ?! Sorry, I was in a hurry... " The policeman apologized, rubbing the back of his head with embarrassment.
"- That I noticed... What happened ?"
Takagi looked at him, a bit hesitant, but finally decided to speak with a low voice. "Well... A Russian tourist has been found dead in the airport... It looks like a suicide but well, since he was famous thanks to his fortune, it's a bit touchy...
- Need any help ?" Kogoro volunteered, puffing his chest with importance, sure no one would refuse the help of such a great detective.
He deflated a bit at the officer's hesitation.
"- I'm not supposed to... I should ask Megure-keibu...
- We'll ask him together !" The moustache man concluded as he slammed his hand through the other's back. "Of course he'll need the help of the Great Sleeping Kogoro !"
"Yea, of course..." Conan sniggered for himself with a flat look at the "Great" detective. He hid a yawn behind his hand but nevertheless followed the two men. "And after that, a nap !"