Sorry for my very late update! Had too much homework to do...
Anyways, this chapter is more of a 'short chapters crammed into one chapter' sort of thing, hence 'Shards of a Broken Mirror'.
Night fell on the land, covering everything in its cool blue glow. The first stars started popping out into the velvety sky, little diamonds on a soft black blanket stretched across overhead. The silhouette of a young child sat on the windowsill, looking up with huge innocent eyes into the night sky. The faint starlight, coupled with the pale blue moonbeams, trickled down on her, illuminating her golden locks and her gorgeously cute face. Her stocking-covered feet tapped rhythmically against the pale white walls of the building, the soft thumps echoing faintly down the street. Another child opened the window she was sitting near and poked his dark head out. His fingers rapped impatiently against the sill, while the girl turned her pretty blond head to face him.
"So...What do you want?" The kid's question hung in the air for a while. The child looked at him in surprise, then answered in her high-pitched, sappily sweet voice, "You are the same person I met with his friends this afternoon, right?" Her head ticked away, like the hands of an analogue clock.
"Yeah. So?"
"I just wanted to see you."
He looked at her interested face for a moment, and then said in a low voice, so only she could hear, "What for?"
She smiled to herself, her azure eyes twinkling with delight and mischief. "You know, it's rather weird that you don't go anywhere now that your lessons with Twin are over. If your guardian comes in at...Let's say twelve thirty, wouldn't she freak out at the sight of a teenager in a bed meant for a small child?"
He rolled his eyes. "She doesn't come in once the lights are off, silly. The only person who would come snooping around my room in the middle of the night would be you."
She laughed, a melodious tinkle that caught even the nightingales resting on the telephone wires off guard.
"Okay, do you wanna play catching?" She giggled.
"Sure. What's the catch?"
She tittered at his badly-formed pun, before going on, "You catch me. Simple. But we play in the air." As if to emphasise the point, she spread her eggshell-blue butterfly wings, and took off into the air, her hands flapping happily.
The boy propped his glasses up onto his face, and mumbled, "I can't fly. You very well know that."
"Are you sure?" The girl asked, just as a brilliant red light filled the room. Distantly, the clock tower chimed twelve in the night.
Moments later, a teenager dressed in a twilight-coloured suit clambered out the window. His breath was short and rapid, as if he had just ran a marathon without stopping for a rest.
"So...How about now?" The mischievous imp chirped, while the guys just scratched his head in irritation.
"Okay, Okay! I'll play with you!" He unlatched the button-flaps on his coat, letting a pair of pristine white wings fall out. He unfurled them, and then hopped into the air. The wind filled the slight gaps in between his snowy feathers, lifting him up high into the night sky. The girl chuckled, and fluttered up to meet him. When she was level with his chest, he suddenly turned around and grasped her wrist.
"Gotcha'!"
"Hey! That wasn't fair!" the poor girl wailed, ashamed that she had been caught so easily. She pouted, sticking out her rosy bottom lip in his face. He laughed at the crimped expression, and landed on the windowsill once more, still laughing. The girl finally stopped, then came down to sit with him as well. She cuddled against his arm, causing his pallid cheeks to flare red. He turned away, and gazed into the distance.
Suddenly, a sharp orange flare caught his eye. It whizzed through the air, nearly missed his ear and struck the wall behind him. He picked it out, and read the note attached to the flaming arrow. Miranda looked up with curiosity igniting in her baby blue eyes. He held up the note to the moonlight, reading off the words scrawled there in ink. It said:
To my dearest Edogawa-kun,
I know who you really are, and all the secrets that lie within you. If you do not wish for me to expose them to the world, I should see you at eight in the night, at the rooftop of the Takashi Enterprises headquarters on the Twenty-Eighth of June, which is precisely next Wednesday.
Signed,
The rightful owner of the Angel of Destiny
"How gallant," commented Shinichi, while the paper note sprung into flames. He threw the remaining ashes into the air, where they quickly disintegrated into dust that blew away in the wind. "Are you gonna go?" Miranda's cute voice sparked through his thought train.
He turned to her and nodded, his face full of determination. "I will. And the both of us should be in bed by now."
He brushed the child off his arm and lap, and scrambled back in through the window. She stood there for a moment, frozen, then unfolded her powdery wings and fluttered off into the dark, dark night.
"Edogawa Conan!"
Conan's head snapped up when he heard his name being called, but nearly let it fall back down again. His eyelids drooped heavily, and the capillaries were clearly visible in the plastic-coloured whites in his eyes.
"What's ten plus four?"
"Seventeen, Kobayashi-sensei...." he stifled a yawn, then cleared his head just as a roar of laughter erupted in the classroom. He looked around expectantly, as if he had just missed some important event. Ai crushed his foot under hers, and whispered into his ear with a giggle, "Ten plus four is fourteen, not your real age, Kudo!"
Conan jolted awake. His face felt sizzling hot, and it was as red as a tomato. He quickly dived back into his textbook, taking care not to let anyone else see him.
Miss Kobayashi sighed, then bent down to talk to the child. "You know, you're getting awfully tired nowadays, Conan-kun. Have you been sleeping well?"
He nodded absentmindedly, then stifled another yawn. Miss Kobayashi could only nod in agreement, then went back to teaching the class.
"Conan-kun?"
He was awake in bed, his little head sticking starkly above the blanket. He seemed to be waiting eagerly for something, someone, maybe, but she couldn't be sure. Sometimes he looked almost...desolate, as if there was something big that had happened to him. She entered the room quietly, and sat down on his bed, beside him.
"Is there something you need to tell me? Kobayashi-sensei says you keep sleeping during class."
Conan looked up at the sound of her voice, and looked as if he was about to panic. "Maybe it's because he's supposed to be asleep by now, and it's already eleven fifty in the night," she reasoned to herself.
"N-No, Ran-neechan. There's nothing wrong. I'm alright in class." His affectionately innocent answer held back more than he told, she knew. So, she reached over and gave him a big hug. Conan squirmed under her arms, feeling a bit embarrassed, then quickly pulled away. He could not tell her, maybe never. He shook it out of his head. Maybe not just yet, he thought, but she'll know one day, both of them.
Ran looked at him again; his face was the sweetest, most child-like face she had ever seen. Yet she knew this was a façade, it was merely hiding untold secrets that the little child could hold. She wondered how long he could survive it, before his resolve snapped and he spilled everything out like a broken piñata. She sighed, then went back to her room.
"Mouri-san, I think I may have a good solution to your problem."
Kogoro was in his office lounging on his armchair, thinking about the Kid's foiled heist. It was so strange. Kid claimed that he did not take it, yet it was gone from its pedestal as soon as he had entered. He had to endure a whole half-hour of the president's ranting. He listened to the young brat and his rascally friends were playing in the room upstairs. He had counted them as they passed, and there was one extra. Now that extra was offering him an idea. The sunlit-haired boy with the mustard-coloured eyes stood before him, his arms folded, as if he was sure of himself.
"To find the thief, why don't you call everyone that was invited to the cruise for a dinner at the Takashi Enterprises headquarters? The thief would most probably be with them, to avoid standing out, and then you can begin your investigation on the suspects." The tan child said, his innocent eyes meeting with Kogoro's own.
The detective hesitated. It was a good idea, but largely unpractical. The president might not agree with him. The suspect might not turn up because he was sick or something like that. Nevertheless, it was still workable, and he was determined to give it a try. "You're right, Minoru! This idea might actually work!" he cried in triumph.
He stood up assertively, and left the room in two big steps, leaving the odd child in the office alone.
Yuuma grinned; his wind-tossed golden hair covered his face partially, casting the covered areas in shadow. The eye that was not covered shone with unspeakable glee, almost on the verge of mental insanity.
"President Takashi?"
Seiki looked up; it was Detective Mouri that had stepped into her office, flanked by her loyal secretary Hideki. "How may I be of help today, detective?" she enquired, her fountain pen twirling around on her slender fingers.
Detective Mouri slammed his fists down onto the table passionately. "I've a plan to catch the thief that stole the Destiny! With your help, I'd say we may even be able to get it back!" he cried, his enthusiasm peaking.
Seiki's pale face brightened up. "A way to repossess the Destiny? I must hear your plan, detective!" she exclaimed in delight. Without further ado, Detective Mouri sat down and began telling her his plan. She listened on, her eyes gleaming with joy and determination. When he had finished, she said, "I approve of your plan, Detective! It's settled, then. Next Wednesday, I shall hold a dinner right here in this building, and together, we shall expose the thief!"
Their hands locked together. The deal was done.
"So...Any luck on the Destiny yet, Sephron?"
The teenager looked up at his sister, who was busy trying to cook dinner. "I've almost got him," he said with pride, "I just need to lure him into the trap I've so cleverly laid out for him. It's highly unlikely that he would decline; I'll see to it that he will not." Sephron rubbed his hands in glee and cackled loudly. Saphira dropped a frying pan on her foot, causing him to jump up with shock. "Sis, what's going on in there?" he hollered to the kitchen in the rented house. "Nothing. I just dropped a pan," answered his sister, who was an epic failure at cooking.
"Couldn't you be more careful? Okay listen. I want you to follow me to the dinner Seiki Takashi is holding at her office building two days from now," he said, as Saphira peeled the onions. "I want you to wait for me at the rooftop, and I will lure the kid there. We can then take the doll from him, when he least expects it, and use it to restore our power!" A bolt of lightning flashed outside, followed by the roar of its eternal partner. The light flashed once, twice, and the whole room was plunged into pitch-black darkness.
Saphira sighed, and pointed to a nearby candle. Immediately the wick ignited itself, the warm orange glow filled the room, and showed Sephron's surprised face.
"Honestly, bro, you're getting too dramatic." Sephron could only reply with a sheepish grin.
Any idea why this mirror's broken? Maybe it's because Shinichi broke it while staring at himself in it at midnight....? XD
~Angelglitched