Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed in any way or form.

Updated again after almost a year...yeah...I procrastinate a lot...in fact, I'm neglecting my summer homework as I do this...


"P-Pappy…!"

The sound of frantic running was what snapped everyone out of their senses. A flash of silver hair flickered before everyone's eyes as Ishiko grabbed the child from her spot and pulled her away from her noose. Her light-colored eyes were filled with a fiery anguish that looked all too familiar to a certain boy's eyes. Ishiko pulled the girl's wrist up, checked for the pulse. She sighed in relief, but that smoldering hatred was still floating off her. "She's alive…"

"Thank G—"

"But she won't be if she throws up with no one watching," Ishiko stated while checking over the smaller girl with a careful eye. Conan was tempted to scurry up beside her, but felt the immediate danger of an angry woman and resisted the urge. After a short moment, the kendoka sighed and then picked the smaller girl up, scooping her up from under her legs. "I'm taking her to the sick room, Mamosuke, help me get some blankets and water."

"But I should-"

"Now!" the command was like a tiger's maternal yowl, enough to make the owner of the house shut up and hurry after the silver-haired woman. Conan watched after her, and Ran made as though to follow, but Ishiko made a motion of "no" with her head towards the girl. "It's fine, Mamosuke's the only one I'll need for help," Ran hesitated, as if she didn't know what to do and then gave Conan a look, as if...for help. The sapphire eyed boy blinked and then glanced at Ishiko, who was making her way towards the door quite quickly in spite of the girl in her arms. Realizing the danger, he spoke up.

"Auntie, it's dangerous! The attacker is still out there!" Conan exclaimed with his best childish quality. Ishiko stopped for a moment, as if contemplating something, and then looked back at Conan with a strange expression that she didn't even seem to be aware that she was wearing. The boy hesitated, hoped that his words had worked, but the instant darkening and shake of the head had proven him wrong.

"If that attacker comes, I won't hesitate to strike back twice as hard," the woman said, but all the while, her expression said a different thing to the boy that had suggested the very idea of the attacker. Her gray-black eyes practically screamed "Don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong!" to the boy, but he said nothing about it. Suspicious, but a look wasn't exactly the best incriminating evidence there was to be had. His eyes went to Papillon's unconscious frame and then he ground his teeth together.

Apparently the culprit was playing the silencer as well.


"Ishiko, I have the blankets you asked for," Mamosuke said while walking through the door. The woman in question jerked and span on her heel to face the familiar intruder at the door with her muscles tense and at the ready, noticed who it was, and then looked back at her charge. Papillon was still unconscious. "Is she...?"

"The shock's worn off, but her fever's running again," the kendoka stated without so much as another glance at her friend. Her eyes wore a hunted, weary expression that Mamosuke had seen once too many times before. Understanding the look, he put the blankets gingerly on the foot of the bed that Papillon was resting on and put a hand on Ishiko's shoulder. "I'm sure it will turn out well. The great Mouri is here."

"...of course..." Ishiko mumbled softly while burying her face in her hands. She closed her eyes and let the darkness act as a balm for her exhausted eyes. Silver bangs dropped in front of her face. In a wavering voice she muttered something under her breath. Mamosuke looked at Ishiko, whose already pale complexion had been getting steadily worse as the case went on. The woman was strong, she hadn't broken down yet, even given the suspects of the case. He pat the woman's shoulder as he might have done when the two had first met, her eyes wearing the same expression and her face much younger.

It had been so long ago...


Conan was busy searching the room, trying hard to find something that nobody else seemed to be aware of. The great Kogoro, however, seemed to think that the case was a done case. At that exact moment, three rooms away, there were shouts and screams at coming from a very familiar voice, denying the accusations that were being flung not at her, but at the one that she was so close to.

"He couldn't have done it!" Kazuha's muffled voice managed to break through only in certain places in the wooden walls that surrounded Conan. Odd, he thought, how the voice could even have broken through three rooms worth of walls and still be heard audibly. The reply was muffled, but it undoubtedly came from-the thought struck Conan then. 'Wait...how is that...?' The boy glanced at the walls and then tapped them with his knuckles, the pitch was not unusual. 'How is it that Kazuha's voice reaches here when nobody else's does?'

He began tapping at the walls, from one panel all the way to the end. None of them produced an odd pitch. Annoyed, he ran into the next room and completed the same process. None of them produced an odd pitch. Conan froze. How...? Frustrated, the boy banged his hand on the wall hard enough to make a thump...only to hear yet another thump respond from the other side of the wall. 'Huh?' Bright blue eyes looked through non-perscription lenses and gazed at the wall. There was another thump, quite a bit louder this time. Conan was about to try and hit the wall again when Kogoro suddenly burst into the room, his expression annoyed beyond reason.

"Stop banging on the wall, you brat!" he roared. Conan wheeled on his heel to look at him in surprise, his hand stopped in the air, and then another, louder thump accompanied by a muffled voice came from the wall. Both Conan and Kogoro stopped and stared at the wall, Ran, who had been standing behind her father, paled and gave a horrified cry.

"Kyaaa! I-it's the phantom that Ishiko was talking about!" she cried while clinging onto her father. Conan gave her a sharp look. What was she talking about? Ran interpreted the look correctly and shakily started up again. "D-don't you remember sh-she was talking about a phantom earlier..."

'...!' Conan's eyes widened as he looked around the house. It was an old house, old enough to have been...another thump caused Ran to scream. Conan, on the other hand, began banging on the walls rather visciously, trying to find the one that could lead to the source of the banging sounds that nobody seemed to be the source of. 'Just hang on, I'll find it!'

"Get out of the way!" a familiar voice sounded. Conan barely had time to register the flash of silver from the corner of his eye before he forced himself to jump out of the way. Ishiko raised the large poker and gave a shout at the wall. "Back!" In response to this, there was another thump, but much softer and weaker just as Ishiko gave a kiai and ran with the poker brandished charged at the wall. "Hyah!" She lashed out at the wall, putting several cracks into it. The wall began to splinter. Gray-black eyes narrowed. "Not strong enough..."

The kendoka backed up and charged again with the same shout, and the wall splintered yet again, almost breaking this time. Annoyed, Ishiko didn't bother to back up the third time,only bringing her arms back and giving another shout as she attacked the wall again. "Tsukiiii!" She thrust the poker at the weakest point in the wall, and it gave, splintering and gaving inwards in a relatively large hole. The momentum of Ishiko's final attack added to the force of her shoulder ramming against the weakened barrier at the same time destroyed the panel and she broke through into a dark hallway, unable to stop before the poker sank into the opposite wall with a dull sounding thunk. Conan hurried into the newly created entrance after her and was amazed when he saw that it didn't lead into the other room where Kazuha and Kogoro had been arguing earlier.

"Wh-what is this?"

"Mmmph!"

About seven inches to the left of Ishiko's poker embedded in the wall was the face of one Heiji Hattori, his hands bound, mouth gagged, and his legs just as incapacitated as his arms. The tanned boy sent his gaze at the poker and looked to be a little more than relieved that it had not been his head in the way. Ran gave a cry of relief and hurried to find her friend while Conan and Ishiko went to work releasing Heiji from his bindings. When they finally removed the gag he gave a gasp for air.

"Geeze! Ya took long enough!" he exclaimed while rubbing his wrists, which were slightly raw from his earlier attempts to get out. "What the hell was that room? There weren' any doors!" Ishiko glanced about and gave a sound of disgust. Heiji glanced at the silver-haired woman. She didn't appear to be extraordinarily surprised at the existance of the room like the others, but she did seem annoyed at where it was placed.

"T'ch..." she hissed while yanking the poker out of the wall. "Well we found our missing person..." the woman muttered darkly while hastily leaving the room without another word. Her feet moved soundlessly along the wooden floor with movements that looked all too acquainted with the flooring. After she left, Heiji glanced around. Kogoro was staring at the boy with his eyes wide, his theory having been shattered. Kazuha, on the other hand, was finally roused over by Ran and hastily ran towards Heiji and grabbed onto him tightly. The boy looked in surprise at the tears that were filling her eyes as she cried into his shirt.

"S-stupid! Stupid Heiji!" she bawled with all her heart.

"I can't help it if I get kidnapped while I'm asl-!" he didn't get to finish the sentence as Kazuha let out a wail of relief with tears that followed after, and suddenly, Heiji lost all his will to make a rebuttal. "...sorry."

And from the entrance of the room, a pair of eyes watched silently, angered at the new development. It was surprising that the boy would have regained consciousness before the case was resolved, and even more than that, the little one was getting to be an impediment...

But little did the owner of the eyes know, Conan had already come to a conclusion about the case.


Conan had explained the situation to Heiji, who looked at him in a mixture of amazement and hints of anguish.

"You serious? And you haven't done anything about it?" Heiji questioned angrily. Conan figured that his hot-headed friend would raise his voice and hastily made the motion for him to lower it again. The culprit could very well hear them. "I can't believe you practically gave her to the culprit!"

"If I'm right, that person won't do anything to her, and I couldn't help it! I didn't solve it until just a few moments ago!" the boy claimed. "But I don't have any evidence! That's the only thing keeping me from making the case!" he said while scowling. "Nobody's been watching the crime scene because of the attack, so that person might well have erased the evidence I...already..." Conan paused and then looked at his hand-the very one he'd stuck in a puddle of sticky, crimson ooze. His sapphire eyes widened as he realized exactly what he had in his hand. "I've got it! We've gotta hurry and gather everyone!"

"Got it!" Heiji said while hurriedly running out of the room. When he returned with Kogoro, the larger man was quickly knocked out and propped up on a chair and the two hastily went their separate ways to do what they needed to. It wasn't long afterwards that those involved in the case were gathered and looking at Kogoro. Heiji himself had once again vanished, leaving Ran and Kazuha in confusion while Ishiko stood in the back corner of the room, her arms crossed and her eyes fierce, while Mamosuke looked increasingly nervous about the fact that the Osaka detective wasn't there.

"I see that everyone has gathered..." it looked as though Kazuha and Ran were about to say something, but with a little help from Conan's arm, Kogoro raised his hand to stop them. The two did not speak their thoughts. "I've solved this case. The one that killed Torao Tanaka and the one that attacked Akai Papillon..."

"It was that boy, wasn't it?" Mamosuke questioned, his voice harsh. "Kogoro" cleared his throat before answering the question.

"It couldn't have been him," the boy-disguised-as-man stated bluntly. There was a sharp intake of breath and Mamosuke suddenly looked very pale. "Allow me to explain. We found Heiji bound and gagged in a separate room."

"He could have done it himself!"

"Impossible," Ishiko stated from her spot in the back of the room withher eyes shut. "The room was hidden."

"Wh-what?"

"This house was made a long time ago, was it not? Its been very well kept since its creation, even when you bought it, correct?" Conan questioned Mamosuke. The older man nodded dumbly, not entirely sure how that was related to the case. "Allow me to recreate the situation from earlier..." and here there was a sudden black out and the room was engulfed in darkness. There were screams from Ran and Kazuha, who were terrified of the same thing happening again. In moments the lights were on again, and standing before everyone, was one Heiji Hattori. There were amazed stares and gasps. "You see, this house was originally built as a haunted house, and so there are many hidden passages and trick tiles that can be used to move around it quickly...

"The killer must have known this, and used it to manipulate the blackout and set the alibi that was used. You see, while we might say that we did not move at all during the black out or that we grabbed onto another person, it is very easy to say this without being seen..." a pause before he continued. "The killer used this moment to quickly move Heiji out of sight and then used the hidden passages to get to the victim's room and back..."

"And that was when the victim died?" Ran questioned.

"Yes...the murderer first poisoned the victim and seeing that he was still alive, beat him until he could not move before running back..." Kogoro said. "The hits were calculated and precise, just like in Papillon's case, where the killer used the hidden passages to make it seem as though they had not been in her room to begin with. The attacks were not aimed to kill directly, the job was already done...

"As for the reason that Papillon was attacked...it was because she had already figured out the case. She knew who the culprit was and was looking for evidence that could be used against that person. She was silenced before she could speak in hopes that she wouldn't recover until after Heiji had been framed. Of course, that would also mean that the culprit knew Papillon well enough so that she knew what the motive and method was in an instant..."

"So basically, th' killer musta lived in this house long 'nough so that they knew the hidden passages well 'nough to use them. Had ta be really good at controlling their strength and hits, and definitely had ta know Papillon for long enough so that they had no choice but to keep her quiet..." Heiji started up. Kogoro's hand lifted with help from Conan again to point that accusing finger again.

"The only person that could have done it...is you!" he shouted while pointing that damning finger that had picked out so many criminals before. Eyes followed the finger and they all fell onto the same person. A smile graced the lips of the accused.

"Mah, so you figured it out, did you?" Ishiko said while smiling at the finger pointed undoubtedly at her. "Good job, detective...managed to see through it all, didn't you?"

"I-Ishiko...why...? Why would you...of all people...?" Mamosuke questioned. She shot her gray-black eyes onto the man, darted them to the entrance of the room that Papillon was resting in, and then back at the man. She didn't answer, only brushed her silver bangs away from her pale face with that hunted, weary expression once again. "Answer me!"

"You tell me," she replied softly. The woman crossed her arms and looked back at the room, her eyes hard and focused. As if she didn't have a single regret about the crime. No sobstory. No attempt to vindicate herself from the blame that was piling onto her shoulders.

"H-how could you attack Papillon? I thought...I thought she was...!" Kazuha started. "A-and to frame Heiji! How could you?"

"Mah..."

'That's enough! That's enough!'

"I...I can't believe that you could do something like that to your friend..." Ran said while looking as though she was about to punch Ishiko for what she had done. The silver-haired kendoka didn't look particularly shaken for being revealed though. In fact, she was still wearing that smile on her face. Heiji lost his temper at her detached demeanor and made a move, though Conan gave a shout for him to stop. He grabbed the front of Ishiko's shirt and gave her a heated look that could have incinerated lesser beings.

"You! She trusted you! If she dies before we can get help...!" he shouted. Ishiko kept her expression calm in spite of the attacks. Her eyes went back to the room that Papillon was resting in, wondering what the caramel haired girl was thinking of at that moment. In spite of everything, Ishiko couldn't help but give a small huff of annoyance at the way she was being treated.

"Mah, I said he managed to figure it out," the woman stated while brushing some hair out of her eyes and easily breaking Heiji's grip with a swift tug on her clothing. Straightening herself out in spite of the hateful eyes on her, she continued. "But I'm really disappointed in you, being so proud in your conclusion..." the woman said. There were expressions questioning her, what she meant. Disbelief filled the room. What could the woman possibly be talking about so aloofly? She sent her gaze straight back at Kogoro and opened her mouth to speak...

...and two words shattered Conan's deductions completely.


A/N: Muahaha! I updated out of a need to update for once. I didn't bring the documents for revamping over to Taiwan, so for a while I'm going to pretend like I didn't say I was going to revamp the first few chapters. The next chapter will be the conclusion of this mystery, at last! After over a year of procrastination!

I'm actually really surprised that people are still putting this story on alert considering the low quality of the first few chapters and how OC centric it is, but I guess that I can take you along for the ride that I've got planned out if you're still reading along!