From here, the case just keeps getting stranger. Can you guess what the kidnapper is actually after?

As a side note, I was rereading some of my older stories and realized just how old and unpolished they seem today. Plus, they also generally refer to pre-Mystery Train manga revelations, so they show their age. I was thinking of maybe updating them when I get the chance, so I put a poll on my profile if you'd like to suggest one. Or you could just send me a PM about it.


Chapter Seven

Conan had had no luck talking to the other guests. Even after Megure had informed Takagi that the culprit had referred to Sera as 'Dojime', Conan hadn't been able to locate a guest by that name. 'What is this?' Conan thought. 'We know the culprit, but we don't know the target. Besides, why would a blackmailer resort to kidnapping?' As he thought, a horrible idea flew into his mind. 'That can't be right, can it?'

"Wait, Conan-kun!" Ran shouted as Conan ran to the elevator. When the elevator dropped him off downstairs, Conan ran outside, hopped on his skateboard, and rode off to Beika as fast as he could go. He'd put a tracker on Sera in case something bad happened, so all he had to do was follow the signal.

He found Sera in a back alley near Columbo, keeping an eye on a dumpster. 'So she figured it out, too,' Conan thought. "Sera-no-neechan," he said quietly, making Sera jump in surprise.

"Conan-kun, you should know better than to sneak up on me!" Sera exclaimed, keeping her voice down. "You've realized it then, I take it?"

"Of course," said Conan. "There was nobody named Dojime in the nearby rooms, and a blackmailer with no history of kidnapping showed up. That means that you were the target all along. The kidnapper therefore would know that you'd ignore the warning and call the police. They therefore either blackmailed or paid a known blackmailer to pretend to pick up the card to draw away the cops they knew would be keeping an eye on the drop."

"Exactly," said Sera. "So now with the cops out of the way, they should show up and collect it before long. Well, considering it's a bluff, it's just wishful thinking at this point they'll show up."

"Wishful thinking pays off," said a new voice from behind them. Turning, they saw a man around Sera's height in a ski mask. He was standing a ways away and had a silenced pistol pointed at them. "My real target was you, Sera. I called you out here because I have a request for you, a detective that is virtually unknown in the media."

"A…request?" Sera asked in surprise.

"I have someone I want you to find. Once you find them, you will inform me immediately by sending me a text message from this burner." He took the phone out of his pocket and put in on the ground at his feet. I'm also giving you a time limit of one week to find the guy."

'I'll take this jerk out with my super-kick shoes,' Conan thought, putting one hand on his belt in preparation to pop out a soccer ball. Sera also seemed to be steeling herself to hit the guy.

"Don't even think about taking me out," the guy continued, smirking. "I made an arrangement with my partner that if I don't call him every twenty minutes, he should cut our losses and escape."

'Darn,' thought Conan. He knew Sera would never admit it to him, but the girl she was hiding in her room had obviously been kidnapped. If she was going to be killed if they took this guy out, they'd have to leave him alone.

"Who do you want found?" Sera asked through gritted teeth.

"Somebody who has essentially dropped off the radar," said the man. "He's another detective you may know named Kudo Shinichi."

'What?' Conan thought. 'Who is this guy?'

"What do you want with him?" Sera demanded.

"I have a question for him," said the man. "Fifteen months ago, he solved a case in Toriya City where a woman was murdered with cyanide in the basement of an office building. Kudo said she committed suicide after learning her husband was having an affair. However, if it was a suicide, where did she get the cyanide? It makes no sense!"

'I remember now,' Conan thought. 'The woman was found inside her car, and there was no sign of tampering. She had a brother that worked in a hospital, which she'd visited two days before the suicide. The hospital confirmed the cyanide had been stolen. Does that mean this guy is…'

Sera, of course, didn't know this. "Fine, I'll ask him about it the next time I see him."

"Oh, so you know him? Is he your boyfriend or something?" the man sneered. "Call him here. NOW." He fired a shot into the nearby wall to illustrate this point.

'Fool,' Conan thought, looking at Sera with a deadpan stare. She should've just said she'd look for him and not admitted to knowing him. At least she seemed to have realized this as well, judging by the flash of panic that had briefly registered on her face.

"Conan-kun, give me your phone," said Sera suddenly. She took his phone, looked through the contacts, and called Shinichi.

'Good thing I put my other phone on silent earlier,' Conan thought.

"He's not answering," said Sera, cancelling the call after a few rings. "How about this? I'll ask him about the case and give you a second opinion."

"No," said the man firmly. "I want to talk to him, face to face. Give him that phone and I'll set up a meeting. You have one week, and you know what will happen if you miss the deadline, don't you?" Satisfied with this, the man backed away until he left the alley. Right before he turned the corner, Conan used his suspenders to attach a tracking device to his coat.

XXX

"So, can I have one?" Conan begged, looking at Haibara with what he hoped was a pleading expression.

"No way," said Haibara, slowly and clearly. "You were lucky you were already shrunk when you met up with the kidnapper. Plus the choker makes my throat itch."

Conan had just explained what had happened that day, although in preoccupation with the kidnapper, he had forgotten to confront her over what Sera had told him. Plus the tracker had disappeared, so there was no way to tail him.

"Haibara, he demanded to see me, Kudo Shinichi. I'm supposed to set up a meeting with him, probably for revenge. Of course, he won't get that far, but I need to show up for that meeting as Shinichi. Plus, Sera has the kidnapper's burner phone, and she won't give it to me as Conan."

"So steal it from her," said Haibara. "She's staying at the Agency while her room is under police investigation, right?"

"Well, yeah, she is staying downstairs like I did last night, but I doubt she'd take kindly to it. I'm not Kaitou Kid; I can't steal from a detective and hope to go unnoticed. Besides, the only ones who know about the phone are Ran, the old man, her, and me. It's not exactly a large pool of suspects."

Haibara suddenly looked at him suspiciously. "Why are you being so resistant? Normally you wouldn't mind sneaking in somewhere. In fact, I generally have to stop you."

Conan flinched. 'What is she on about?' he thought.

"By the stunned look on your face, it seems I hit the mark," said Haibara, smirking. "I wonder what the girl at the detective agency will think of this."

"Haibara…what are you talking about?" Conan asked, confused.

"Just remember, Kudo-kun; if I can see it now before even you know about it, it won't be long before she notices, too."

"By she, do you mean Ran?" Haibara didn't answer, instead opening up a magazine and yawning widely.

XXX

That evening, Conan was very nervous about what he was planning to do. They were eating dinner, with Sera as a guest. "Did you talk to Shinichi-niichan about the kidnapper?" Conan asked Ran.

"No, I sent him a text, but I haven't been able to talk to him. I wonder what meeting he's in?" Ran wondered. She looked down at the table, worried.

"You shouldn't worry about Kudo-kun, Ran-chan!" Sera reassured her. "He'll call you first thing in the morning! Right, Conan-kun?"

'She's asking me?' Conan thought, surprised. "Of course he will, Ran-neechan!" said Conan cheerfully, wary of Sera staring at him. 'Yeah, stealing from her isn't going to be easy,' Conan thought.

Once everyone had eaten, they watched TV while everyone except Kogoro, who was drunk, took turns taking a bath. Conan went first before the girls used up all the hot water. When he came back out, the two were watching Detective Samonji.

"It's the daughter!" Ran exclaimed. "It has to be, right Sera-chan?"

"I think it's the wife," said Sera, taking a bite from the bowl of popcorn they were sharing.

'Oi oi,' Conan thought, annoyed. 'Just what have these two been doing?'

"Oh, I'll go next!" said Ran, seeing Conan. "Let's see who the culprit is first, though." Conan hadn't seen enough of the program to make a deduction, so he just sat there until the commercial ended, bored.

"The culprit was you, his wife!" the TV detective said, pointing at the culprit.

"No way! I was wrong?" Ran asked in surprise, staring at the screen in disbelief for a moment before getting up and heading for the bathroom.

"So, what do you want to watch?" Sera asked as Conan took Ran's vacated seat. With Detective Samonji over, there wasn't anything else on he cared about, so he just shrugged. Seeing this, Sera turned on Kamen Yaiba.

"So, have you really not heard anything from Shinichi-niichan?" Conan asked, trying to break the silence.

"No. Ran-chan's been watching her phone all night, but there's been nothing. Maybe he's with a bunch of people and can't respond?"

'Yeah, you and Ran,' Conan thought. Ran hadn't let him go anywhere by himself once she found out what had happened. Shinichi's disappearance might have had something to do with that. Taking a bath had been the only exception to this, but he couldn't use his phone in there because Ran would've heard the sound of the water behind him. "The criminal said he had some sort of insurance to make sure you cooperated. Did he take something from your room? Or maybe someone?"

Sera looked at Conan for a moment. "Oh, it was just something precious to me, is all. Something irreplaceable."

'So she still won't tell me,' Conan thought. 'Just who is that girl, and why is Sera protecting her? If she's been kidnapped, why doesn't Sera trust me to help?'

After that conversation, nothing else really happened for the rest of the evening. Conan eventually got bored and pretended to go to bed. However, instead of sleeping, he pulled out a book and pretended to read. However, he'd left a bug under the table in there so he could listen to the conversation and know when to strike.


Ha, a cliffhanger. It's almost like I enjoy torturing you guys or something. :P But seriously, thanks for putting up with me and I'm glad that you all are enjoying the story.

As for the story, is Conan going to be able to steal the phone or is Shinichi going to have to make an emergency reappearance? Haibara won't like that if it happens.

I'll let you guys in on a secret: I'm actually farther ahead in this story than what I've posted on here so far. I think I'm right around Chapter Eleven right now. I wait between writing and releasing new chapters so that I can properly proofread and check for typos, as well as incorporate your feedback. That's how I know that ShinRan is going to end in Chapter Ten. I won't spoil you and say how, though. Just have tissues on hand if you're a fan of Ran.