I'm so sorry for not updating for a month. I've been busy with school and all.
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Happy reading everyone!
FILE 6
"William Shakespeare is an English playwright and poet, recognized in much of the world as the greatest of all dramatists. Hundreds of editions of his plays have been published…"
Kudo Shinichi yawned wide to start. He blinked back the tears brimmed his eyes because of it.
It was a bright Thursday morning. The first period had just started but Shinichi did not have the mood to listen at all. He took the book from his desk and looked at it blankly. Then, he placed it back down to cover his mouth with his palm as he let out another yawn. Bo-ring.
He leaned back on his chair and tried his best to peel his eyes open. He glanced at the people around him and noticed most number of students was not paying any attention at the lesson, too. Some were doodling on their notebooks while some were daydreaming, and a few were already fast asleep on their desks. It was amazing the teacher seemed not to notice them yet, he thought. She was probably too absorbed in what she was currently reading and sharing to the class. She had mentioned earlier that Shakespeare was her all-time favorite writer, after all.
He cannot sleep in class, again since he had been caught by the teacher yesterday. He shivered as he remembered the punishment he received from her. Let's not go into detail anymore, shall we? Remembering it was already horrible enough. The point was he could not afford to be seen by her dozing off, again.
Why can't she just discuss about mysteries instead? That would be a lot more interesting. Right? Right?
He sighed. Oh well, he did not had any choice. Need to change tactic.
"Oi, Ran, don't…" he turned to his right and trailed off as he found the seat beside him which was once occupied by Mouri Ran empty.
His pupils dilated in recognition and his shoulders slowly slumped. He felt his heart drop and a familiar sensation stinging inside him as he came on life-streaming with memory lane.
He remembered those moments when Ran was sitting beside him during classes. He remembered those times when he fell asleep, she would always wake him up before the teacher would notice him. He remembered those times when she would scold him for not having enough sleep because he would sometimes solve a case overnight and only had four hours before the class starts and she would start calling him names like idiot-deduction freak or annoying detective nerd. He remembered those times when he would laugh at Ran for her bad English.
As he felt his whole body getting weak, he saw Ran slowly materialize at the seat beside him, book in hand and listening at the teacher intently. His lips twitched as his eyes sparkled knowingly and longingly. He slowly stretched out his hand to reach her, to touch her.
As he was reaching out, his pupils dilated.
He could not reach her.
No matter what strain he did to extend his arm, it yielded to no result. His heart raced inside him as he started to panic. She felt so close yet so far.
He tried again. There! His heart almost made a leap and a smile slowly reached his lips when he finally had successfully tapped her shoulder. She turned her head to him, slightly startled with a mix of confusion on her features. Not knowing what to say, he just let his tongue out at her in a wink, attempting to tease her. Instead of seeing her fuming face, she returned it with a giggle and that was the last thing he saw before she faded, leaving the desk empty once again.
His heart skipped a beat and his breathing hitched. He attempted to reach his hand out to her seat again when he stopped himself.
He heard his teacher's voice slicing in despite the ringing of his ears, a sign that he was back in reality, the sad reality.
He looked back at Ran's desk and unfortunately, still found it empty. He shifted his gaze at his palm. His gaze hardened as he slowly closed it to a fist. He clenched it as tightly as he could muster; draining all his blood away and turning it chalk white. He directed all his mixed up emotions to it. His breath started to get heavy as his heart wanted to cease from beating, all the desire to pulsate was washed away by the acid of the harsh reality. He closed his eyes as he tried to compose his cool. He felt so disoriented, not to mention seeing things in his own fantasy and it was frustrating.
Despite the calm façade he was imposing to the public, he was still definitely suffering. He always told people that he had moved, there's no need to worry and the like but deep down… he knows he still has not moved on yet. He did not know when and maybe never. He did not and would never share it to the public but he sometimes wished this was all just a dream. He always wished that Ran was still alive to be there for him – to support him and to hear all his bragging after solving a case.
But in spite of everything, he was also continually slapping himself with this one truth to stop all of his musings once and for all:
Ran's gone and she is never coming back.
It may be hard but he would continue to tell it to himself over and over again until he would be ready to face reality again.
XXXAN ALTERNATE REALITYXXX
Ding! Dong! Ding! Dong!
The bell finally rang, a sign that the classes for the day were over. The whole school was swarm by students as some attended their after-school practices for the athletes while some went to their respective clubs and the others who were not involved and not active in school, including Kudo Shinichi, proceeded to go home.
He gave out another wide yawn as he walked to exit the gates. He, then, proceeded to stretch out his arms as he turned to his left since that was the direction towards his house.
"Shinichi-niichan!"
Shinichi halted as his arms fell to his sides. The voice was familiar, he thought. He turned around and his eyes widened in surprise to see Tenshi Rena was running towards him.
"Rena-chan!" Shinichi started in surprise.
"Kon-ni-chi-wa!" she greeted in a smile as soon as she was directly in front of him.
He crouched down to be in eye-level with her. "Konnichiwa," he greeted back. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to see you!" she replied.
He could not help but smile. "It's nice to see you, Rena-chan. So, Kisaki-san was the one who told you where I go to school, am I right?"
She nodded.
"As what I can see, you've already started school. Where do you go?"
She grabbed her backpack straps that were strapped on her shoulders before she replied, "Teitan Elementary School."
"Oh? I'm an alumnus there."
"Uh-huh. Okaasan also told me that."
He stood up and held his hand out to her. "Let's go? You want us to go home together, right?"
She slipped her hand on his as she shook her head which made the detective confused.
"Nope. I came here because I wanted to show you something."
"Eh? What is it that you want to show to me? It must really be something important since you really waited for me here when your dismissal should have been a few hours ago."
She placed a finger on her mouth and winked at him. "It's a secret. You'll know later. Let's go!"
She dragged the detective as she started to run at the opposite direction of their house. He did not have any choice but to follow her, or should we say, to be dragged by her. When did kids become so secretive?
They halted at the bus stop and waited for the bus to arrive.
He shifted his gaze to her and for some reason, she seemed to notice and turned to him and smiled at him. He smiled back at her. Besides, Shinichi felt so comfortable with her. He cannot explain it. He felt that he already knew her for years where in reality, they had just met.
Well, maybe a reason for that was because she looked so much similar with Ran. Also, the way they talk, they smile, and her attitude. It was so similar and it was getting scary. She's like a mini-Ran that had suddenly come to his life to fill the holes that Ran left.
The bus had finally arrived and they proceeded to enter it. The bus barely had seats available. There were a few high school students and elderly occupying the bus while there were mostly adults. They decided to take the rear seat.
As the bus started to run down the road to the opposite direction of Shinichi and Rena's house, Shinichi turned to the grinning and obviously excited Rena. Curious, he tried again, "Where are we going, Rena-chan?"
She turned to him and her grin not faltering while swinging her feet that were dangling in the air. "You don't need to worry, Shinichi-niichan. Today, I'll be leading the way and you just follow, okay?" Came her vague answer, much to Shinichi's inconvenience.
Need to change tactic, he thought.
Stating the obvious, he said, "You seem to be very excited, Rena-chan."
She turned to him and beamed. "Very much!" she replied. "Because today's a very special day, isn't it Shinichi-niichan?"
He blinked in confusion and asked again, "What do you mean, Rena-chan? I thought you're going to show me something?"
"Just stop asking and trust me, okay Shinichi-niichan?" she said in a smile.
His eyes slightly widened, slightly taken aback by her. During these times, it was a wonder to him how Rena-chan, a seven-year old, could say things like those. It's like she was more mature than what she looks.
Not knowing what to say anymore, he nodded to that and turned to look out the window beside him. He was slightly irritated. Where the heck is this kid planning to go? And why wouldn't she tell me anything? After dragging me to come with her, she really had the nerve to still hide everything from me.
He sighed. He really wanted to go home and rest his body on that soft and warm bed of his. Those restless nights had finally got to him and he felt very tired.
He sighed, again. Really, he had been doing it very often these days.
He sighed. See?
He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. He saw her looking outside the window at the other side and can hear her humming happily. He let out a light smile. Oh well. It's not going to hurt if he will just go with her, right? Maybe I should get some day out to get my mind off of some things even for just a while, especially with a cheerful little girl.
He turned his attention back outside. Then, he found himself looking at the plate numbers of the cars that came to his view. He was entertaining himself by looking at the numbers and matching them into words. Or it was more like exercising his brain through playing with the numbers.
He found a white sedan car with a plate number of 93-89 or read as kyu san hachi kyu. He instantly translated it to ku sa-ya kyu or baseball field.
Another was 48-64(yong hachi roku yong). He translated it to yo wa mu shi or weakling. After, he found a truck with the numbers 37-83 (san a ya san) and translated it to sakana-yasan.
He translated every plate number that came to his view with no effort or whatsoever. As expected with the famous high school detective Kudo Shinichi. He smiled as he was enjoying himself. He turned and reached out his hand to tap her shoulder and share it with Rena when suddenly unexpected memories came on rushing in his head once more.
He slowly lowered his hand as his smile faltered. His heart skipped a beat as his body tensed. He could feel his stomach churning as sadness but mostly guilt enveloped his entire being, again.
Not long ago, he remembered doing this with Ran. Not exactly with the same bus but they were also sitting at this exact spot.
He hang his head low and his bangs shadowed his eyes, his emotions that were boiling inside him non-stop. He knew Ran even before he learned how to write. He shared too many memories with her that he couldn't help to think of or do something where she would not flash in his mind.
Ran…
It's just not the same without her.
He was pulled back to reality when the bus abruptly halted, causing everyone and him to lean quite violently forward because of the inertia. Then, rumbles and complains of people surrounded the bus' atmosphere. Some started standing to know the reason of the sudden halting of the bus.
The ever-curious Shinichi, also, stood up as he saw the driver quickly standing up and exiting the bus. He looked quite horrified, Shinichi noticed.
He directed his gaze outside through the front windowpane which was directly in front of him. He was just right in time to see a man dressed in black overcoat and slacks, a top hat covering most of his face, blending with his dark skin color with a suitcase in hand, took a swift turn to turn his back from the bus and sprint to the busy streets, causing some cars stop violently to prevent from hitting him and roars of honking followed in protest.
"What's happening, Shinichi-niichan?" Rena asked, also standing up and looking out.
Her question went unheard when he was drowned in his own world. Shinichi's eyebrows furrowed more in curiosity than in confusion. He had a bad feeling. A sensation like a strangling in his chest, suffocating him like it always did at a time of crisis. It had always been a part of him even before he became a high school detective. And he found it quite handy.
Then a connection hit him, like a soccer ball hitting him squarely in the face. Short flashbacks of those men in black that he had encountered before appeared in his mind.
Stop being stupid, Kudo. Just because that man was also wearing black, you're now thinking so negatively of him?
But how would he explain that sudden feeling inside him – that detective's instinct? He could not understand and explain it but what he knew was that he needed to unravel the mystery that his instincts were throwing at him.
He was not able to catch the man's face but he saw the man still running straight away. Now's his chance.
"Shinichi-niichan?" Rena asked again, now looking up at him. He still was not able to answer her question.
"We need to get down the bus now, Rena-chan," Shinichi said, eyes still glued at the running man.
It caught her off-guard. "What?" she exclaimed. "But this is not our destination yet and it's still a few kilometers away from here."
"I know. But it's urgent. Let's go." As he said it, he started running towards the bus' door and Rena without any choice, followed him. As soon as they climbed out of the bus and stepped on the side road, Rena started protesting, again.
"I thought I'm the one who's going to be leading the way today?!" she said, clenching her fist in front of her, her eyes surfacing her deep disappointment.
A pang of guilt hit him but he had to do something about the bad feeling that's creeping inside him. What if it was a case? He would never forgive himself when he was already at reach but he still let it go and something horrible would happen. But then, he could not leave Rena here, especially alone. She just a kid, a seven year old and a girl. He also would not forgive himself if something would happen to the little girl. But…
He looked up and was just in time to see the man turning at a corner good meters away. He did not have much time. If he would stay here much longer, he will lose him. He had to make a choice. He internally sighed. That's why he did not want to go out with kids alone.
He crouched down in front of her and placed both of his hands on either of her shoulders as he started explaining everything in a soft voice. "Listen to me, Rena-chan. I need to go somewhere." He raised his hand to stop Rena from starting. "Let me finish first. I'm sorry, Rena-chan. It's just…urgent." He pointed at the pastry shop that was right behind them. "I want you to wait for me in there, alright? I just need to check on something. I can't promise you anything yet. If I can't come back right away, I'll call you. You have your cell phone there right? But let's just hope my hunch is wrong so we can continue to our destination, do we have a deal, Rena-chan?
Her shoulders slumped as she looked at him with glassy eyes. She didn't even try hiding her disappointment which made Shinichi's guilt rose – big time.
This was not getting easy.
"Please Rena-chan? You have to understand." It's not like him to plead. If that was the case, he would already have left, with or without one's consent but he had a soft spot for the little girl that he could not help leaving her behind like that. Not again, just like what he had done with Ran. He's not going to commit the same mistakes. Again.
She slowly nodded as she saw the urgency in Shinichi's voice and at the same time, the empathy.
He let out a small smile and stood up. "Stay here so I know you are safe, okay?" He turned and made a beeline sprint towards the alley that the man entered.
Rena continued to watch his back until he disappeared as he turned at the corner to enter an alley as she remembered what Eri said to her.
Eri crouched down and held up a finger as she winked at her. "But beware Rena-chan. Shinichi-kun seems to be a case magnet. Wherever he goes, whenever it is and whatever he is doing, a case seems to be happening when he is around. Even I could not explain it but that just happens every time. Ran told me all about it that's why I know. So don't be disappointed if everything would not go according to what you have planned, okay?"
She sighed. Okaasan was right, she thought. When she thought everything was already starting out smoothly, we bump to this. Talk about luck.
She turned dejectedly to the shop behind her and proceeded to enter it with her high spirits before were now dropped low.
XXXAN ALTERNATE REALITYXXX
With Shinichi's experience of playing soccer, a mid-fielder to be exact, he was able to catch up with the man in black quite fast but he still maintained a few meters of distance away from the man. He could not manage to get caught.
The man turned corner after corner like they were running in a maze. It was just a matter of time until Shinichi noticed they were already at the quiet side of the city. The loud roar of traffic was now very faint and wind seemed to be flowing freely here. That just slowly confirmed Shinichi's suspicions that something was really up.
By the time the both of them had finally stopped, they were catching their breaths quite hard. The man stopped in front of an abandoned warehouse while Shinichi continued to spy the man at a corner a few meters away. The place was already quite secluded. Houses and buildings as what he could estimate were a good five hundred meters away from here and he could only barely hear the traffic of the busy streets of Tokyo.
'A warehouse? Does that mean…?'
The man cautiously opened the door and before he entered it, he swiftly turned his head. Shinichi managed to stagger back at the corner he was hiding as he was quite surprised of the man's sudden action since throughout the chase, the man did not spare a chance to look around him and with that, Shinichi had formed quite an impression.
'Maybe he was not as insensitive as I've thought he was,' Shinichi thought.
Shinichi risked a peek after a few seconds later and when he did, the man was already gone but he did not stretched his luck further by revealing himself just yet. He took the liberty to look around him in case there was someone watching over it. Well, he did not need to do much checking since there were no buildings around him other than the warehouse and there were only a few trees. When he had convinced himself that the cost was clear, he proceeded to near the warehouse.
Shinichi grinned as he noticed luck seemed to be on his side today when he saw the gate of the warehouse was slightly ajar. He peeked through the opening but careful not to expose himself.
The huge warehouse had a fair amount of rusty metallic chairs and tables scattered here and there. Some boxes with who knows what they were filled with. What he saw next made his heart skip a beat as he saw a woman in her early thirties and a little girl sprawled on the floor, their whole body tied uncomfortably with ropes and their eyes and mouths covered from view.
A kidnapping.
Then, he saw the man he had pursued standing at the middle with his back at Shinichi. He saw the man opening the case full of money at the other three men in front of him who were also in black.
Black.
Shinichi's heart pounded in frustration and in anger as he pictured those other two men in black, Gin and Vodka, who killed his one and only childhood friend and love, Ran. His fist tightened as his emotions started boiling inside him.
"This is all the money – fifty million yen," the pursued man informed.
He saw the other man smiling and replied, "Very well. But first, we have to check if those are real and then, we should count them to make sure the amount is exact."
"What should we do with these people?"
"Let's not kill them just yet. If we would want an additional, we can still use them." He shifted his cold and metallic gaze at the hostages and Shinichi followed his gaze and he saw the little girl shaking helplessly on the floor and the mother, Shinichi claimed, tried her best to comfort her by caressing her head against the little girl's head. He could faintly hear the little girl's stifled cry and the woman's shushing.
Shinichi peeled his eyes off the opening and started to think of what to do. He found those kidnappers quite unconventional. Most kidnappers would not spare themselves more time by the time they get their money. After, they would either return the hostages or kill them off and leave before anyone would notice them. So, that means, they were very confident that the hostage's family did not inform anyone, not even the police. So, there's another accomplice.
Well, that's good, Shinichi thought. That would buy some time for the police to arrive before the hostages would be killed.
So first thing he should do was to call the police and inform them. He could not enter there alone. It's too dangerous. There were four of them and only one of him. He could not take them all. Then, call Rena-chan to break the news of the postponement of their trip. And lastly, call Kisaki-san to pick Rena-chan up.
He snatched his cell phone from his pocket. He flipped it open and was just about to dial 110 when he saw something shift in front of him.
He immediately looked up as he felt his heart pounding inside him. Could it be the accomplice?
But what he saw was much worse, he saw Rena running towards him. He had to try all his might not to shout at the little girl's stupidity. He could not spare for anyone to hear them. Not now since he was already close to catching the kidnappers.
He caught up with her at midway and before she could call him, he clasped her mouth with his free hand and that made the little girl look at him in a mixture of surprise and confusion.
"Sshh. We have to be quiet, Rena-chan," Shinichi whispered in her ear as he uncovered Rena's mouth.
"What's going on, Shinichi-niichan?"
"I should be the one asking that question. What's going on, Rena-chan? I thought we've already made ourselves clear?" Shinichi asked his eyes hard on her and his eyebrows furrowed in disappointment.
"I'm sorry, Shinichi-niichan," Rena said quietly as she bowed her head guiltily. "It's just that… I got worried and I could not help following you."
So a kid thinks she could protect an adult where she even could not protect herself? Shinichi thought in frustration. Why don't just kids listen to what the older people tell them? Do they really think they know better than them?
"How did you…?" he left his question hanging as he realized he could not waste any more time. The clock was ticking and the lives of the hostages were in his hands. Besides, there's no point in scolding Rena. She's already here and he could do nothing about it. Also, she's safe. That's what matters for now.
"Rena-chan, there's a kidnapping." A gasp and he continued. "The hostages and the kidnappers are inside that warehouse. It's dangerous here so you have to go back. I'll be calling Kisaki-san to pick you up."
"But I want to help you!"
"NO," Shinichi exclaimed in a high whisper. Realizing his mistake since he was getting noisy, he controlled himself and said after calming himself down. "Listen, Rena-chan, if you want to help me, be a good girl and go back to the pastry shop, okay?"
"But-!"
"Please, Rena-chan. Do this for me."
She sighed in defeat before nodding. "Okay. But make sure not to hurt yourself, okay?"
Shinichi smiled at her and nodded. "Of course I will. Now, go. Go." Shinichi said, pushing her to the direction opposite of the warehouse. Rena hesitantly walked, turning from time to time. Shinichi continued to nod and smile at her to reassure her.
Shinichi finally released the breath he was holding when Rena finally disappeared from his view. He would not know what to do when the kidnappers would get a hold of Rena.
Getting back to business, he barely had the time to look at his cell phone when he heard a man's voice, cold as steel saying,
"Game's over, tantei-san."
His eyes widened as his head cocked upward. His heart dropped and he felt every nerve in his body getting weak as he saw the horrible scene that he was trying to avoid all this time in front of him.
A different man in black had his arms around Rena, lifting her in the air while his free hand had a gun pointed directly at Rena's temple.
For the first time in his whole detective life so far, he felt cornered.
The next file will be delivered soon!
Author's Note:
Thank you for reading everyone!
So what do you think about this chapter? Please don't forget to leave me reviews! I don't mind constructive criticisms as long as it would be good for my writing.
My exams will be next, next week. So, yeah, my next update would again take a while. I hope you would all bear with me!
December 1, 2012