:) Enjoy, and thanks again to my readers and reviewers! These stories are all within Muzai-canon, so Heiji knows about Kaito as well. Happy reading! Also, sorry for updating this before others but this story bunny bit me HARD and wouldn't let go.

"So tell me again why we're doin' this, Kudo?" Heiji shot his friend an annoyed glare. The question was asked in a hissed whisper after they finished settling into the very back of the bus, making sure that no one else was around them.

"Because Kuroba thinks that he might have found something on that murder case you're working in Osaka- the one last week where the body was found upside down in a restaurant freezer." Shinichi then let out a slightly irritated sigh. "And I've told you this three times now since you've gotten here, Hattori. Do you pay any attention at all when I talk to you?"

"Well excuse the heck outta me if I don't like the idea of workin' with the guy even a little. Considerin' his...uh, nighttime job an' all." Heiji glanced around the bus from under the brim of his hat. The Osakan decided to rather pointedly omit the fact that he'd already worked with the thief on a breaking and entry in the past.

Shinichi could barely suppress a roll of his eyes before he glanced over at his friend, deciding not to bring up the illegal activities that had occurred where they could possibly be overheard by others. He continued to speak in a low voice. "Look, do you want to solve the case or not? It's not like Kuroba has anything at all to gain by making something up about it. He's actually doing you a favor." The shrunken meitantei gave his friend a smug smile. "And I also happen to know that the investigation has hit a dead end for you guys down there. I read up on what's been happening with that investigation this morning before I called you."

"Ehh, I dunno. The guy does love his pranks from what I've seen." Heiji shrugged as he said it, though, apparently not completely convinced that it was merely a trick. "But I figure since y' already dragged me all the way up here the very least I can do is hear 'em out, right?"

"Anyone ever tell you two that you both suck at having a quiet conversation?" Kuroba Kaito's voice came floating over from the seat in front of Heiji and Shinichi. The magician then stood up and moved so that he was taking up the third, final seat in thier row. He gave them both a smirk as he finished taking his seat. "Seriously, you could probably hear the two of you way over by my house."

Still a little dumbfounded by Kaito's sudden arrival, Shinichi managed to speak up after a moment or two. "OK, Kuroba, how long have you sitting there for?"

Kaito grinned. "Just about since you went to meet Hattori at the train station- I got on at the stop after you got on. I was kinda hoping you'd called him and convinced him to come up." He then turned to Heiji and handed him a picture. "Here's a picture that I'm pretty sure is of the guy that did it- err, the freezer murder in Osaka, I mean. See, Kudo and I kinda borrowed a folder from this rich guy a couple of weeks ago, and-"

It was then that a woman's scream issued from the front of the bus. The bus screeched to a halt, and the three braced themselves while the bus fully stopped. Other assorted yells and screams could be heard, along with a loud buzz of conversation, along with a sea of roiling human movement.

"There's a dead man in this seat! He just started choking suddenly and keeled over! HELLLLLPPPPP!"

"And a dead woman in this one here! She was clutching at her throat and gasping for air, then died! AIIIIIIEEEEEEE!"

Kaito blinked before looking at the two meitanteis in total disbelief. "Do you two have a direct line to the Grim Reaper when you hang out or something?"

"Whaddya mean by that?" Heiji let out a snort before looking over to Conan. "We better get up there an' see what's happened, huh?" He then stood up and walked towards the front of the bus, almost having to yell to be heard over everything. "Alright, listen up! No one's gettin' off till the police come and talk to everyone here."

This was followed by a loud thud on the roof of the bus, then screams and yelling out in the street.

"If you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go get up on the roof and see what that noise was. Whatever hit the roof sounded like it was pretty big." Kaito gave Shinichi a half-wave before he slipped off towards the front of the bus, milling through the panicked passengers.

"HEY! LISTEN UP! Everyone back in your seats, and don't touch nothin' till the cops are through! The police are on thier way- this is officially a crime scene now. Be real careful to not touch anything, too." At Heiji's rather loudly spoken words, the passengers began returning to thier seats and sitting in them. Shinichi walked up to the other boy and tapped his back.

"Kuroba just went up to check into that noise on the roof." Shinichi spoke so quietly that Heiji had to squat down in order to hear him.

"Psst! Hattori!" Kaito's head was sticking upside-down through an open roof vent on the other end of the bus, and he stuck his arm through to wave Heiji over. "C'mere." After Heiji and Shinichi approached him, Kaito poked his head back through and gave them both another disbelieving look before he spoke softly. "I'll give you both one guess what made that noise. Here's a hint- it has two arms, two legs and it's very dead." His head then popped back out of the vent before the sounds of Kaito sliding the vent back into place could be heard.

So not one, not two, but THREE bodies? This is really odd... Shinichi frowned as he studied the bus full of people. How in the world did this happen? And why?

"Lemme get this straight, Kuroba," muttered Heiji to Kaito after the other boy reentered the bus and walked next to Heiji and Shinichi. "We got three bodies to deal with here?"

"Looks like it, unless there's another one tied to the bike rack or something. And given what's happened already, I didn't even wanna go look, so don't rule that possibility out yet." Kaito offered both meitantei a shake of his head and shrug of his shoulders. "Either one of you is welcome to go check, though."

Not the time to be joking around, Kuroba. Shinichi sighed and looked up at the magician, affecting his little-boy behavior so he didn't stick out. "Gee, what do you think happened, Kaito-niisan?"

"The heck if I know, aside from the fact that the dead guy on the roof was carrying some takeout from the restaurant across the street there." Kaito pointed his thumb out the bus' window at a small restaurant. "And it was also still warm; I could still smell the teriyaki sauce as soon as I got close to him and the bag it was in." He looked up and rubbed his chin in thought. "Spicy chicken teriyaki, to be exact, unless my nose failed me. I almost sneezed at first because the hot pepper in the sauce was so potent."

"T-this dead woman was carrying takeout from there, too," offered a trembling female voice from the middle of the bus. "I-it fell onto the floor in front of her because of that hard stop we had. I can see thier logo stamped onto the container."

"Hey, now that you mention it, this guy has warm takeout in his backpack too, I think," came an older male voice from the front. "The container must have busted open when the backpack fell over, though. I can see juice leaking through the bottom of the backpack."

Just then, the lights and sirens of a few police cars could be heard pulling up outside of the bus, surrounding it and blocking off the roadway. The First Division team of Satou-keiji and Takagi-keiji stepped onto the bus not long afterwards, looking over the scene and walking over to Conan, Heiji and Kaito.

"Hello Conan-kun! So you're caught up in this mess too, eh?" Takagi offered him a smile before looking at Heiji and Kaito. "So what's happened here, you three? We had about a dozen cellphone calls."

"Dead people. Three of 'em so far that we know about," offered Kaito brightly as he began pointing to the bodies' locations. "One in that seat up towards the front, one right about there in the middle of the bus, and one up on the roof that fell onto the bus not too long after the first two were discovered."

Heiji offered Kaito an annoyed glare before pointing to the other boy with his thumb to introduce him to the pair of detectives. "This is Kuroba Kaito, one of Conan's friends. The three of us got on the bus almost right before the bodies were discovered, actually."

"Heiji-niisan and Kaito-niisan were coming to Mouri-ojisan's agency with me," explained Shinichi in his bright child's tone as he offered a smile.

Satou nodded before noting a few things down in her pad. She then turned and started talking to everyone on the bus. "We would appreciate it if everyone would stand up and get in a single-file line to get off the bus. Please be very careful to not touch anything but your own belongings. Officers will be taking names and phone numbers and taking you to a station nearby to get everyone's statements and examine anything that they feel needs further investigation." At these words, everyone stood up, gathered their belongings and slowly got off the bus single-file while the officers processed everyone and tucked them into cars for travel down to the nearest police station.

"Have any of you noticed anything we can go on yet?" asked Takagi while he did a visual examination of the female body and the area around her.

"Well, Kuroba noticed that the guy upstairs had some real spicy teriyaki takeout when he went to check out what the big thud on the bus roof was," commented Heiji with a cocked eyebrow as he looked over the male body in the bus. "An' then a couple of the passengers noticed that the other two stiffs had takeout from the same place on 'em as well. Looks like all three of 'em must have eaten at the restaurant right across the street there pretty close before they kicked the bucket- Restaurant Bishoku."

Satou reentered the bus and shook her head. "The third body up top is a man- witnesses are saying they saw him fall from the rooftop of the building right above us. And they also mention that he was holding his throat as if he was choking while he fell."

"Then we should probably go check it out, huh?" Kaito looked at the restaurant through the bus' window. He then turned to Satou and Takagi with a cheerful smile. "Hattori, Conan and I could probably go walk over and check things out there if you want us to. You guys will probably be busy processing this bus for a while, right?"