CHAPTER 11:
CONFRONTATION WITH HEIJI, HAKUBA AND THE POLICE
Shinichi, after assuring Kaito again and again that he won't run away, saw him off to school and then went to Dr. Agase's house knowing that he had to talk with Haibara.
Agase was surprised to see him but then quickly ushered him in the kitchen, where Haibara was setting up breakfast. He could see that she was surprised to see him, only after a week she expected at least a month of silent treatment from him.
"Hello Haibara. Do you have place for one more"he asked.
"Kudo-kun, what are you doing here?"she asked.
"Actually I came to talk to you, but if you feel uncomfortable then I will go away"he told her. He knew that she was scared of him because of his aura; after all he had worked for the organization for almost two years, and had learned to be ruthless to survive there.
"No it's alright, come sit down. Breakfast is just about to be served."
He sat and began to talk to Dr. Agase about his work in last three years and when English breakfast was served they began to eat in silence. Later they took their coffee and settled in the living room.
"So Kudo-kun, what is it that you wanted to discuss with me?" Haibara asked, once they were settled.
"I just wanted to talk to you about your plans for the future, and wondered if there is a way out of our predicament" he asked.
Haibara stayed silent, then at last sighing, "To be truthful I haven't yet decided what to do?"she told him, "I know that if what the research said was true then I can't stay here for forever, but I don't want to think about it yet, and we are safe for some years to come. As for a way out of this, this curse I really don't know. I can try to find it, in fact I have already started the research, but the chances aren't looking too good. I am sorry, Kudo-kun"she whispered the last words.
"Like I said before Haibara, you have nothing to apologize for. It was my fault for not being able to control my curiosity and I am paying for my mistake."He laughed silently at something only he found amusing, "It's certainly not the proverb that I heard and I thought that it was curiosity killed the cat, not curiosity blessed the cat with eternity."
"Yes quite ironic, but we were never the ones to go about the things in a traditional manner, were we Kudo-kun?"she asked smirking.
"Of course not" He answered gravely, smiling humorlessly at the inner joke.
"Well, I am still staying with a friend and you know how to find me, so I better get going." He made the motion of getting up.
"Wait Shinichi-kun"Agase said.
"Agase I have told you its Shinku now. Kudo Shinichi is dead and I want him to remain dead." He told them.
"Shinku-kun then, the children saw you. What should I tell them?"he asked.
"Just tell them that they were mistaken. Anyway I don't think that anyone will believe them, after all it's been more than three years since I went missing." He answered.
"Very well, I will do as you ask, but if they become nosy?" he asked.
"If things get out of hand then we will deal with them, for now let's pray that no one become curious. I will be going now, I will keep in contact through phone and you know where I live Agase. Just make sure no one finds out" saying that he went out, and made his way back to Ekoda.
This time it was Yumi and Chiba, who were on duty, saw him, as well as Shiratori and Kobayashi-sensei, who were on their date. When Chiba, Shiratori and Yumi went back to the police headquarters to report for their duties, they talked about it in one of their coffee breaks, so Takagi and Satou also told them about their sighting of Conan and Agase's suspicious behavior. At last they decided to go over to his place and confront him about it.
When Professor Agase opened the door he was not expecting to see half of the first division officers on his doorstep. He quickly invited them in and once they were settled with their coffees, he asked them their reason for coming over to his place.
"What can I do for all of you?" he asked politely.
"We came to ask you about Conan-kun, Professor. We all saw him in the city and he was also seen coming out of your home. Why didn't you tell us that he was alive?"Satou asked directly, in a no nonsense voice.
"I don't know what you are talking about, Satou-san? Conan is dead and you must have seen his cousin, they look very much alike and were often mistaken for twins."Agase told them, he was sweating in the insides and wondered what he will do if they called him out on his lie.
"So he was Conan-kun cousin." Takagi asked.
"Yes." Agase answered.
"I see that's why he didn't answer when we called out to him. Thank you Professor. Sorry for taking your time and bringing up such a painful subject."Takagi told him and all of the police officers filed out of his house.
Once they were outside, "He was lying." Satou told them all, Takagi agreed with her.
"But Satou-san, why would he lie?" Shiratori asked her.
"I don't know Shiratori-kun, but I am going to find out. You weren't there when the kids confronted him, but Takagi and I saw his face, and even now his eyes were like a deer caught in headlights." She told him.
"Then we all will keep our eyes open for the next time Conan-kun come visit them and then we will corner them and force them to tell us, why they are hiding Conan-kun."Yumi told them all, "After all I know that your gut feelings have never being wrong Satou-san, Takagi-kun. I am with you."
Chiba agreed and after a while Shiratori also agreed and they all went their separate ways.
"Are they gone, Agase?" Haibara asked him, when the police had gone away.
"Yes" Agase answered.
"What did they want?"she asked.
"They wanted to ask about Conan-kun, apparently some officers saw him in the train station. But I told them that he was Conan's cousin."Agase told her.
"Well let's hope his cover story holds, you better tell Kudo-kun about this new development, so that he won't be caught unaware." Haibara told him, before going back to her lab in the basement.
After Kudo's supposed death Heiji had stopped coming by often, he only dropped in now and then to check on Agase and Haibara, knowing that he would have wanted him to. He didn't believe that Kudo could be bested by something like avalanche, but in the face of so much proof he couldn't help but agree that he might be dead, but since his body was never found, he also couldn't help but hope that he was alive out there somewhere. He had come over to Tokyo because of a case of a missing person and when he heard the rumors of Conan's sightings, he quickly made his way over to Agase, hoping that the old man will have some news.
Agase hurriedly opened the door, on which someone was insistently pounding, upon finding Hattori on his doorstep he quickly ushered him in the kitchen.
Haibara was just finished making coffee, when Hattori made his entrance, "I should have known that you will fly over to Tokyo, as the first rumor reached your ears"she said sarcastically, even if she was glad of his visits and his commitment to keep her safe.
"Well, is it true? Is Kudo alive?" he asked a little impatiently.
"Calm down, Hattori-kun" Agase told him and handed him a cup of coffee. "We have a lot to tell you."
When once Agase and Haibara had finished telling him everything, Hattori was left speechless, not an easy thing to do, Haibara reflected silently.
After a while, when he had enough time to process everything, he asked "Where is Kudo?"
"About that Hattori-kun he doesn't want anyone to know where he is living, even I don't know exactly where, but he gave us his contact information. I will ask him to come over."Agase told him.
Once the call was made, Agase came back and told them that Shinichi would come tomorrow. He also strictly reminded Hattori on not calling Shinichi, Kudo but Shinku. And under Haibara's murderous glare he agreed.
Next day, Shinku told Kaito that he would probably come home late and not to worry. He had already told Kaito everything that was going on, so he agreed. And they quickly parted ways in front of Kaito's school.
Shinku quickly made his way over to Dr. Agase's house, and once there, Hattori bombarded him with questions after cornering him. Once Shinku had finished telling him his story but not everything, Hattori was once again left speechless. He had hoped that what Agase and Haibara were telling him won't be the truth, but he realized that it wasn't the case. He knew that Shinku was still hiding few things, but realized that he won't be able to make him speak. So he changed the conversation topic and soon they were talking about other things.
Hakuba had been on his way to school, when he had seen Shinku heading towards the train station, curious he had followed him. Now he was standing outside the Professors house wondering what to do, when he saw few police squad cars pull in front the house that Shinku had gone in.
Unable to retain his curiosity another second, he approached a fat police officer and asked, "Excuse me, but may I ask what you all are doing here in front of this house?"
Inspector Chiba smiled reassuringly, "It's nothing to worry about. It's just an unofficial visit we just heard that Conan-kun had come back, so we all came to welcome him back." He told him and then quickly joined the officers standing in front of the door. Hakuba also joined them, after introducing himself. He wanted to know why Conan was masquerading as Kuroba's cousin.
When the bell sounded again, Shinku immediately tensed Hattori noticed it and also frowned.
When Agase opened the door, he was not expecting to see the police officers again on his doorstep, "What can I do for you?"he asked politely.
"We heard that Conan-kun cousin, Shinku have come to visit you again, so we all came to say hello."Satou told him, and pushed past him and walked towards the living room. Agase had no choice but to allow them in, he did frown upon seeing Hakuba but said nothing.
Shinku and Hattori were not expecting to see the half of the 1st division to come over to Agase's to question Conan.
"Hello Hattori-kun, nice to meet you again, and you must be Shinku-kun I am Officer Satou and these are my fellow officers Takagi, Shiratori, Chiba and Yumi, and this is a high school detective Hakuba Sagaru. We heard that you have come to visit Dr. Agase, so we came to say hi." She told him smilingly.
"Hello, please to meet you."Shinku answered, still on his guard.
"How did you know that the brat came to visit Agase-Hakase?" Hattori asked a little suspiciously.
"Ah, we were just passing by, um; I mean we were on patrol when we saw him." Takagi answered.
"Well you saw him, now don't you have work to do." Hattori reminded them. "And you, you better get out of here. What are you doing here anyway?"Hattori asked Hakuba angrily.
"I was just on my way, when I saw the squad cars outside and decided to inquire what was going on here." Hakuba said with a straight face.
Shinku narrowed his eyes, "And just where were you going, Hakuba-kun?"he asked in a deceptively calm voice, that send shivers down the spine of everyone present.
"I…I was…" Hakuba found himself tongue tied, unable to answer, to be truthful he was terrified of Shinku at that moment.
"Well, tell us on who were you visiting, Hakuba-kun? And don't you have school to attend, today?" He asked again.
"Yeah, answer the squirts question. Don't you live in Ekoda, What are you doing here?" Hattori asked him in an irritated voice.
Under the combined angry gaze of Shinku and Hattori, and the questioning gaze of the police officers, he relented "Alright, I saw Shinku-kun heading towards the train station, curious, I followed him. After all he is a child." He told them.
"You know that Kaito might consider you a classmate and thus might not take any action against you and your stalking tendencies. But I am not hindered by those feelings, right?" Shinku asked him. "If I saw you again following me, no matter what the reasons I assure you that the consequences won't be pleasant. Now get out because you are not invited here. And if you police officers had also made certain that I am not Conan, than please excuse me Haibara and I need to study." He told the police officers.
He turned around, hoping that they would leave, but Satou stopped him, "You can't lie to us, Conan-kun. Even if you don't wear your glasses, we know it's you since the first time we saw you. I don't know why you all are lying about your identity, but I am not going anywhere until you answer our questions." She told him.
Shinku sighed inwards, "Then you will have to wait for forever, Satou-keiji because I am not answering your questions. And I will file a report on police harassment, if you continue to pester Agase or me about it. Good day to you, officers." He told them coldly.
Then he went to talk to Haibara for a little while, asking her input on the recently transpired events, and then calling out good-bye to Agase and Hattori he went out. He was just about to head over to the train station, when someone shouted his previously assumed name.
Ran was on her way home, from school when Ayumi, Genta and Mitsuhike surrounded her and told her about the police cars parked in front of the Professor Agase house. Worried she followed them, but stopped dead upon seeing Conan and involuntary shouted his name. The detective boys followed her example and shouted his name in surprise.
He was not expecting to see her at all, especially right now and the urge to kill her was so strong that he had to physically hold himself from killing her. So great was his bloodlust that he didn't even register the kids besides her, or the clatter of something metallic behind him.
Haibara quickly ran outside, to stop Shinku from walking towards the train station; she was going to give him the solar skateboard that Agase had made for him. But stopped dead in her tracks as his killing intent reached her, and she was surprised to see that Mouri Ran was the recipient of that intent. She started to tremble violently and almost fell to her knees in fear, but was caught by Hattori who had come out, upon hearing the noises; behind him were the police officers.
Despite the fact that she was quacking from within, his eyes were screaming bloody murder and his aura was dangerous and all her self-preservation skills were screaming at her to run but still she courageously made her way over to Shinku's side and furiously whispered, "Don't lose it now, Kudo-kun. You can't kill her, calm down."And at last she felt him calming down, but he was still standing rigidly, like a statue. So she pushed him in the different direction from the Mouri girl and said, "Go, I will take care of everything here. Don't worry about me. I will call you when it's time"she told him, giving him the skateboard.
When he skate boarded away Ran opened her mouth to stop him, but was silenced by Haibara, "Don't try to stop him, Mouri-san. He is not Edogawa-kun. And in future, please stay away from here. I don't want you anywhere near him, do you understand? Or God help me I will make you regret ever living."She told her furiously.
Satou frowned, "Are you threatening her, Haibara-san."She asked a little angrily.
"Yes, if that's how you want to see it. I don't want that women anywhere near Shinku. She already scarred and killed Conan, like hell will I let her destroy Shinku." Haibara answered her heatedly and then went inside, slamming the door shut in their faces.
Ran was still reeling from the shock of seeing Conan, and then Haibara's accusations and her threat were like a double blow for her. She fainted. Agase after apologizing for her behavior went back inside and Hattori followed him without a word. Either one of them not caring, or not realizing that Ran had fainted. The police officers quickly revived Ran and then escorted her home, where she told them about her wild and incorrect suspicions of Conan being Shinichi and then her reasons for taking Conan to the village. After trying to assure her that the accident wasn't her fault, they left her to go back to the police station, to report for duty.
Conan wore glasses to hide his face from being recognized as Shinichi, Shinku doesn't wear glasses, as a way to separate him and Conan, since he isn't worried about living with Ran and being in danger of being found out anymore, his resemblance to Shinichi can be explained away by him being Shinichi's cousin.