Perilous Danger
Chapter 10: Perilous Witch
"So now Sh- Conan-kun is gone, and I really have no idea-"
Aoko nudged Ran sharply in the ribs. Ran turned red. She was still trying to adjust to her former teacher's suddenly flawless Japanese, and found herself slipping up in other areas of tension as she did so. But it definitely couldn't be a good idea to keep on slipping when saying Conan-kun's name. "A…anyhow…"
"Sorry to interrupt, but that's actually not the information we're looking for. Why is the FBI investigating the criminal organization known to us as the Black Organization?" Aoko spoke with a professional air that she had probably learned from her father.
Jodie was quiet for a few moments, and sipped her coffee thoughtfully.
"First answer two questions of mine. First—how did you come to know of the Black Organization?" she finally asked quietly.
Aoko and Ran exchanged a glance.
"Well, in my case, my friend seems to have gotten tangled up with them, because they seem to think that he's Kaitou Kid. My friend's missing, so I'm looking for him. And on the way I met a number of people who're aware of"
"And in my case, three people who claimed to be FBI agents came to my house in the middle of the night and wanted to take me hostage because they say that Conan-kun is working with the Black Organization."
"I see… And now for my other question—how much exactly do you two know of the FBI?"
Ran and Aoko exchanged a puzzled glance.
"Well…" Ran began, "It's the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States of America…"
"It deals with national security, interstate crime, and crimes against the government," Aoko supplied.
Jodie nodded. "And how much do you know about its policies?"
Ran and Aoko fell silent and exchanged another glance. Neither could tell what Jodie was trying to say.
"Then I'll be more clear." Jodie set down her coffee mug and looked them straight in the eye. "Were either of you aware that the FBI is strictly a national organization?"
Ran and Aoko just stared blankly.
"In other words," Jodie went on, "It is illegal for any member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to conduct investigations overseas without certain agreements made. These agreements, however, rely on certain international treaties and contracts and such, and are therefore very tedious and hence are very rarely made. Therefore, when the United States needs some criminal caught or organization spied on or anything similar, it usually asks the government of the country in which the investigation must be conducted."
Ran's eyes widened.
"And…and what if the country's government refused?" she asked.
"Then they'd be lost, wouldn't they? If it's simply spying that they need, they could ask an ordinary citizen, but that could be dangerous for the citizen."
"So…so the FBI people that I met-"
"Could not have been members of the FBI, because they cannot make such investigations overseas."
"But…" Ran was thoroughly confused. "But they said-"
Jodie's eyes were piercing.
"Regardless of what they said, regardless of what they may have done, they could not be members of the FBI," Jodie said firmly. Ran's brow furrowed, and she stared at her former teacher. She had a feeling that Jodie was trying to tell her something with her eyes, but what she could not fathom.
"So…you're still on vacation and since you're not in America, you can't help us," Ran guessed. Yes, that would make sense, but that couldn't be everything. What was she missing? What was Jodie-sensei trying to tell her?
Ran looked over at Aoko, but there was a deep crease in the other girl's brow—she didn't seem to understand any more than Ran did.
"Yes," Jodie said, raising an eyebrow. "But I would have thought that that much would have been obvious."
So that wasn't what she was trying to say? Then what was she saying?
"For example…" Aoko started slowly, not too sure whether she should be saying this, "Just hypothetically speaking, of course…if an FBI agent were working in Japan, why would they be doing it?"
"Why does anyone break the law?" Jodie asked.
"Because they don't care?" Aoko suggested.
But Ran's eyes had widened.
"No," she said. "I mean, of course, some people break the law because they don't care, but the people in the FBI obviously care, right? So if they're desperate enough to break the law and investigate in Japan, then there must be something that's more important to them than the law…right?"
"Probably," said Jodie noncommittally. "But still, I wouldn't just run off on my own to investigate something illegally, even if I did have some deeply rooted and well defined reason for doing it."
"Then," said Ran slowly, "If members of the FBI were, hypothetically, investigating in Japan, there would probably be a higher person with some passionate reason why he wanted to investigate the Black Organization; and then he would have created a team of people with similar grudges against the Organization while they were still in America, right?"
"Most probably, yes," smiled Jodie.
"And then, hypothetically," Aoko continued, catching on, "They'd start investigating in America for a while before moving to Japan. They'd want all the information they could get beforehand, since Japan would be something of a last resort to them."
"That would probably be true," Jodie replied.
"So, Jodie-sensei," Ran addressed her teacher. Her eyes were serious. "If, just if, you were to illegally investigate the Black Organization in Japan, what would your motivation be?"
"That's a hard and personal question, Mouri-san." Jodie gave a small smile of amusement. "Even if it is hypothetical."
Ran went red. She hadn't meant to overstep any boundaries.
"I- I'm sorry. I didn't-"
"It would probably be the death of a family member," Jodie said, cutting Ran off. "If a family member of mine were murdered, for example. Say that you were a young child—maybe ten years old or less—and you adored your father. Then one day he was murdered, and you unknowingly witnessed the crime before your house was set on fire, something from which you barely managed to escape. I believe that such a life-changing experience would remain powerful enough in the child's memory that if, for example, this child grew up and learned that her father's murderer was in such an organization as the Black Organization, she would have been willing to overstep the law to investigate her father's murderer.."
A flash of something powerful appeared in Jodie's eyes; but it was gone no more than a second later, and Aoko and Ran wondered if they had imagined it.
At least ten questions—hypothetical questions, of course—leapt into Ran's mind at once. But, naturally, voicing ten thoughts, be they statements, orders, complaints, questions, or anything else, at once is beyond human capability, and she found that she could say nothing at all.
So it was Aoko that spoke.
"So given this hypothetical scenario in which FBI agents illegally investigate some criminal organization in Japan, they wouldn't have as many materials to work with as ordinary FBI agents, right? So it would be possible for them to get things wrong, like that a perfectly innocent teenaged boy is a jewel thief, or that a victim is one of his perpetrators in a crime?"
"Such things happen even without the lack of ordinary materials, Nakamori-san," said Jodie seriously. "Even with the most modern technology; even with access to every information database in the United States; even among the most celebrated FBI agents. FBI agents still are only human, and humans are in no way omniscient. By which I mean to say, while the answer to your question is 'yes', I wouldn't necessarily say that it has all that much to do with this 'illegal investigation' scenario."
Aoko nodded. It was strange—when she found her voice, the words that she could hear leaving her mouth were calm, collected, and mature; yet every fiber of her being was simply screaming with the desire to stand up and stomp right there shouting for the world to hear that Kuroba Kaito was not, not, not Kaitou Kid before running off to resume her search for him.
Sure, Jodie was nice, and very informed on the situation. But 'very informed' did not seem to particularly exceed her and Ran's range of knowledge. While this 'hypothetical' conversation was intriguing, it felt more like they were making to solve the mystery behind the entire situation rather than simply find the two missing persons. And while the idea of solving this…mystery was all well and good, Aoko didn't really feel that it was in their power to do so. And even if it were, to do so would doubtlessly put a great deal at stake—including the two persons that she and Ran sought.
That was no gamble Aoko was willing to make, and she had a feeling that Ran would agree with her on this. So she decided to make that clear.
"I'm sorry, but we appear to have been side-tracked. Can we return to the issue of the two missing persons?"
"Of course," said Jodie, smiling serenely.
"So it could not be FBI agents that are after them. I understand. But in all honestly, who the pursuers are doesn't mean very much to us right now. We're not trying to go after the pursuers or kidnappers or whatever. We just want our friends back."
"I understand how you feel, Nakamori-san." Jodie looked at the girl with hard eyes. "But tell me—do the persons whom you seek feel the same way?"
Ran and Aoko stared at her, and Jodie went on.
"Would the two persons whom you seek be content to simply be found? Nakamori-san, I know nothing of this person whom you seek, and so can say very little of him. However, Mouri-san, I believe I can presume to know Conan-kun at least a little better than a mere acquaintance. Tell me: would he be contented to merely be found? Would he not want to solve the complicated mess that surrounds him before backing away?"
Ran's eyes narrowed.
"I don't care," she said, and she met Jodie's hard gaze with one of her own. "I'll find him. If I find him and he refuses to come back because he wants to solve this 'case', then I'll deal with that then. For now, I want—I need to find him."
Ran and Jodie stared at each other in silence for a few moments, as though each was testing the other's resolve. Then, to Ran's surprise, Jodie smiled.
"Very well. While I can be of no direct assistance, I will do what I can. First of all, Mouri-san, have you called everyone whom you believe could help you?"
"Yes," shrugged Ran.
"Your parents?"
Ran bit her lip. "My father answered neither his cell phone, nor the house phone. My mother's secretary told me that she received a phone call on her private line and left almost as soon as she arrived at work."
Jodie's brow furrowed thoughtfully, but she pressed on with the questions. "You have, of course, tried Conan-kun's cell phone."
"Of course."
"And Agasa-san?"
"He wasn't home, and he wasn't answering his cell phone—but he forgets that at home some times, so I don't think that's any cause for alarm."
"I see. And Suzuki-san?"
Ran stared at her former teacher for a few moments before she replied. "No, of course not. I mean…how could Sonoko help?" Jodie raised an eyebrow, asking silently if she really meant that. She didn't, of course, but she wasn't about to tell Jodie-sensei that she couldn't bear to tell Sonoko that her 'mysterious bursts of genius' were actually Shinichi using her body as a tool to make his solutions known… "I mean, I wouldn't want her to panic or anything. She's got a busy enough life as it is, and I would just stress her out with something that she can't-"
"Mouri-san," said Jodie. Ran blinked at the gentle tone, and realized for the first time that her eyes were full of tears. "If you were caught unawares and pulled into a vortex of trouble, is it not likely that Suzuki-san, too, is already involved just as much? She too could be considered a valuable information-holder if these…people are so desperate to find Conan-kun. Perhaps, even without your informing her of anything, she is already involved."
Ran felt her blood go cold. Jodie had really struck a chord there. Shinichi had been using Sonoko as Conan, just as he had used her father. So, in all likelihood, the FBI agents (who weren't really FBI agents) would go after Sonoko and her father when they failed to find her.
Whipping out her phone, she swiftly hit the buttons before raising the phone to her ear with trembling hands. It rang…and the line went dead. Bringing the phone away from her ear, Ran frowned down at it in confusion. What had just happened? Puzzled, she tried dialing again, only to receive the same results—just after fewer rings.
When, baffled, she tried again, it was a man who answered. "Look, I don't know where she is, okay? I'm sorry! Now just let us be!" And he hung up.
Ran stared down at her phone; it took a few moments to register what she had just heard.
Aoko saw her new friend's face go pale, and then dead white, and realized that she would faint a split second before she did. She and Jodie shot forward at the same moment to catch the teen's limp body.
Jodie looked down at Ran's white, tortured face with sympathy. She understood that the girl was living a nightmare, and wished more than ever that she could help.
VVVVVVVVVV
Conan let the rain strike him steadily on his head, arms, legs, back and shoulders. It felt oddly calming, and he reveled in it. For the first time in what felt like years, he pushed away all the fears and horrible possibilities, and let himself remain calm and serene.
He wondered if there would come a day when he could live without those constant anxieties that seemed to await him at every twist and turn in his path these days… It was not, after all, very unlikely that he would be dead before the collapse of the Organization—if it collapsed at all.
Conan opened his eyes. Sadly, he registered that now that he was thinking such thoughts, he was back to his normal frame of mind. True, he wasn't exactly safe with people out to kill him everywhere, but it was still nice to have a few moments of peace.
"Hey." The voice was tentative and shaky. Conan looked up at Mitsuhiko with tired eyes.
"Yeah?"
"I just- I just wanted to say sorry. For all of us." Mitsuhiko gulped nervously, and Conan registered that the boy was carefully not looking at him. "We're all sorry we got in your way, Conan-kun."
Conan stared at Mitsuhiko, suddenly wide awake and fully aware of everything around him. The beating of the rain against his shoulders and head seemed insignificant in light of the acute guilt that was suddenly stinging his chest.
He knew that the Detective Boys were children; he knew that they thought him a child. Was the way to treat a child to push them away and tell them that they were too young to understand? No—that only ignited curiosity and frustration. He should know. He may not be a child, but he had once been their age.
If he was going to think of them as children that considered him a child, he should have them as such. He should never have pushed them away directly, but used subtle maneuvers that would have made them lose interest. If children ever listened to adults telling them to stay out of things, it was in fear. He did not have that power over them, so why had he insisted on trying to use it, time and time again?
Sighing, Conan stood. "No—I should be apologizing, Mitsuhiko." He looked at the boy with level, solemn eyes. "I haven't been fair to any of you."
"No," Mitsuhiko agreed. There was a pause. "Will you explain what we're doing now?"
"Sure." Conan was more resigned to the inevitable than anything. Now that things had come this far, not telling them was hardly an option. "We should get back inside first."
So it was that he ended up sitting in their hideout, an old rundown warehouse in downtown Tokyo, attempting to explain the situation without telling them too much.
"See, it all started before I became Conan. I was a different person, living a different life. Then I had a run-in—kind of unfortunate, really—with two bad guys who poisoned me. I was curious about them," he added before Ayumi could ask the question that he could just see forming in her throat, "and I'd been doing some snooping around that they didn't like. That was why they poisoned me. The poison didn't work, obviously." Conan gave them a wide grin and lifted his arms. "But I didn't know what to do. Professor Agasa found me, and made me realize that if the men found out that their poison hadn't worked on me, they'd probably come after me again. So I changed my name and entered your school. Meanwhile, I've been hunting for information. All I really knew were the men's code names, but I've learned that they were part of a secret organization. I haven't really figured out what they're all about, but they've realized that I'm not who I say I am."
"How?" Ayumi's question was quiet and tentative, as though she feared being snapped at again.
Conan spread his hands and sighed. "It turns out that one of the people who's in the Organization was friends with my mother. She realized who I really was after a while."
"Then…you look different, too?" Genta asked, puzzling out what Conan was telling him.
Conan nodded. "Quite different. The poison didn't kill me, but it changed my appearance."
"So the person who came after us was trying to kill you?"
"Probably."
"Why?"
Conan laughed; the Detective Boys looked at him as though he had lost his mind.
"It's a secret organization. No one outside of it is supposed to even know it exists! Not only do I know it exists, I've been consorting with Haibara for ages, so they're going to know that I have more than enough knowledge to be a threat."
It was not until after he had spoken, when he saw the strange way that the Detective Boys were looking at him, that he realized exactly what he had said. He knew he paled visibly.
"Haibara?" repeated Genta.
"What's Ai-chan got to do with it?"
Conan could not answer immediately. For one thing, he was a little busy cursing himself for bringing her name into the conversation in the first place. For another thing, he didn't think that it was fair to tell his friends about Haibara when she wasn't there—after all, they were not only his friends, but her friends as well.
He found himself looking to Kaito for help. But Kaito only shrugged with a roll of his eyes that said plainly, "You've told them that much, why don't you tell them all the rest now? Like how you're actually the famous Kudo Shinichi and are actually ten years older than you look? I'm sure they'll take that well." Conan shot Kaito a glare, but had the presence of mind to be immensely grateful that this had not been said out loud.
Telling them that he was involved in some mystery or intrigue was one thing; explaining that he was actually ten years older than them was quite different. And now that Haibara had been brought into the equation…
"Conan-kun?" asked Mitsuhiko, jolting him out of his thoughts.
Oh, yes. The issue of Haibara.
"Sorry—I can't tell you." Conan averted his eyes; he was not surprised in the least and the outraged cries of protest that all three children made at once.
"-said you'd explain-"
"-been wondering for ages-"
"-just say, "Oh, I can't tell you", well then why are you-
"-like we're some kind of inferior to you-"
"-been helping each other for ages—isn't friendship supposed to-"
"-select the information you give us, then why tell us anything?"
"Look, it's her story to tell!" Conan shouted above the ruckus. The Detective Boys quieted, but continued to glare. "I'm telling you my story; I won't tell you hers, because it's not my place. She doesn't even tell me everything, so believe me, you'll be better off waiting for her to tell you herself."
Even Ayumi, more determined than Genta and Mitsuhiko put together, couldn't argue with that, and Conan was sincerely grateful that they didn't have eyes on the back of their heads. Because behind them, Kaito grinned, gave Conan the thumbs-up, and mouthed, "Great cover!"
"So I guess you'll want us going home now?" sighed Genta, resigned. Conan's eyes widened.
"No!" Conan scarcely noticed that his voice overlapped with Kaito's and went on frantically. "Don't you understand? With these guys, once you're involved, there's no getting out again. They'll know that you're aware of them now—I'll bet that they had you on the 'Must Be Killed' list before sunset! You guys were already friends of mine, so you can be sure they's already be fully aware of who you are—now they just need to move you from the 'Potential Threats' list to the 'Must Be Killed' list!"
"Bu- but," Genta smiled shakily, "they wouldn't have lists like that! It's not like they're out to kill everyone who-"
"No, Genta, they are out to kill everyone who could blow their cover. They're not going to take pity on you just because you're a kid."
The Detective Boys looked rather faint, and Conan briefly wondered if he had been too harsh on them. But he shook the thought out of his head. They may be mere children, but they had to understand how dire the situation was.
"So should we get disguises too?"
"Pardon?"
"Well, you're usually in disguise, right? With the glasses? So-"
"Wait—how did you know that?" Conan's eyes were wide and a little wild, Kaito noted with amusement.
"You don't really need glasses. So we figured that you were wearing them because you thought it made you look smarter or something, but it was actually a disguise, wasn't it?"
Conan stared at them. "Wait," he protested weakly. "What makes you think I don't really need-"
"You're not wearing glasses now," Mitsuhiko pointed out.
Conan blinked, and then felt his face flush. He reached up and touched his face, just to make sure. After all, he had been wearing those things every day for months; his glasses were a perfectly ordinary part of his everyday attire, easily taken for granted. So not having them should have been something that he would have been a little more aware of, right?
But they were definitely gone. Not that there was much of a shock. He could, after all, remember the horrible ruins that were his deliberately broken glasses. (Speaking of which, weren't Haibara and the Professor ever going to check for the trackers and come after him? He would have thought that they would have done so long ago; were they harmed? But those were thoughts for later.) He should have known perfectly well that those things were gone. How could he have missed that? And neither Ayumi nor Genta nor Mitsuhiko had even said a thing… So they had known that he hadn't needed glasses for a while then. Why hadn't they said anything? If they could tell, then who knew who else could! He must have been doing something wrong; he had to find out what.
Not that it really mattered, since his identity as Edogawa Conan wasn't much of a secret with the Organization anymore. He may as well discard all attempts at disguise and cover-ups and just run through the streets waving his arms and screaming for the world to hear that he was Kudo Shinichi, brilliant teen detective.
Then Conan suddenly realized that his friends were extremely busy discussing, in total, absolute, complete seriousness, what sort of glasses they ought to buy. Which would make them look most different while still allowing them to retain their natural good looks. (Well, Ayumi and Genta were discussing that part. Mitsuhiko seemed to feel that he would look more intelligent with almost any glasses, so he didn't need to worry about that part.) That sounded like a conversation that needed stopping. Badly. Before they ran away with themselves and decided to go buy wigs and clothes and everything else.
"No," Conan interrupted, shaking his head.
"Why?" Ayumi asked immediately; Conan didn't think he'd ever seen her look more cheerful. Odd, considering their situation. "It worked for you; it'll work for us?"
"Because I wasn't wearing the glasses to disguise myself from the Organization!" Conan said, throwing his hands up in despair. At this rate, he would have to throw caution to the wind and tell them everything.
"Then who were you trying to disguise yourself from?" demanded Ayumi.
"Ran," said Conan, and was already cursing himself before the name was fully out of his mouth. He saw all three of them open their mouths to ask more questions, and hastily went on. "Look—I told you that the poison changed what I looked like. I've been relying on that to hide me from the Organization. The only downside is that a person who already knew me as…my original self wouldn't have any trouble telling who I was. Ran knew me very well as my original self, so I needed something that would make that harder. The glasses were a split-second decision, but they worked—most of the time."
"Then wouldn't it be safer to use glasses, because it would at least make recognition a little harder, right?" pressed Genta.
"True," Conan conceded with a sigh. He rubbed his temples, which were beginning to pound again. "But tell me—where would you find said glasses?"
"In a store?"
"And so you'd just walk out with the glasses frames without paying?"
"I have three hundred yen!"
"I have a thousand."
"I have…five hundred fifty, I think."
"Genta-kun, that's two hundred and five."
"Oh."
"So," Conan interrupted impatiently, "you intend to buy three glasses frames with a thousand five hundred and five yen?" By the Detective Boys' looks, they had no idea how much said items cost. "It's not enough. And you'd be better off saving that money for when we really need it."
"Oi." Conan looked over at Kaito, who was sitting by a window. "The rain's getting harder—we ought to get moving."
"Why should we be moving?" asked Ayumi—apparently, now that Conan was properly conversing with them again, their fear of asking questions was gone. "Wouldn't it be better to stay put?"
"Not at all," said Kaito distractedly. "If we stay put and any one of them saw which direction we came, it'll make it all the easier for them to find us. Better that we keep on the move. And if we're lucky, we'll be able to find what we're looking for."
Conan snorted. Kaito raised an eyebrow.
"'What we're looking for'? Kuroba, you've got to wait till the full moon, and I've got to find Haibara. Shouldn't we be heading for the Professor's house?"
"Are you daft?" demanded Kaito.
"Come off it, Kuroba. They know who we are—they're going to be after our friends and family anyway. We ought to find them and make sure… Kuroba?" Conan trailed off when he noticed Kaito's face go white and his eyes turn unfocused, as though he was staring at something far away. When Kaito did not reply, Conan tried again. "Kuroba? You okay?"
"Aoko," Kaito breathed in apparent horror. "I can't believe I didn't think of it. Aoko!" He turned to Conan as he stood. "Sorry—I've got to go somewhere. I trust you can take care of three kids on your own for a while. Catch up with you later!"
That said, Kaito was out the door and running through the rain. "Kuroba!" Conan tried calling, but Kaito was already gone. Conan stared, and then sighed. "Well, there goes my only ally."
"We're your allies," came a tentative voice from behind him after a brief pause. He turned, rather surprised. Then he grinned at his three friends.
"I know you are." Grins spread across their faces as well, and then Conan turned towards the door. "Right; let's go."
But they had been walking for no more than two minutes when Conan thought that he saw a shadow dart across an alley out of the corner of his eye. He stiffened. For a moment, he tried to warn himself that he shouldn't be panicking, but then threw that thought to the wind. This was definitely a time to panic. If they were being followed, then they wouldn't be safe no matter where they hid.
"Here," hissed Conan as quietly as he could while it was still audible to all three Detective Boys as he darted into a convenience store that they were walking past. The Detective Boys looked mildly surprised, but knew better than to question him. As he urged them further into the shop where they wouldn't be visible through the glass front of the store, Conan didn't miss the girl at the register peering at them curiously.
"You do know that it's nine o'clock at night, right?" the girl asked them. Conan hadn't, but he nodded to her while he inwardly calculated the passage of time.
He guessed that they had spent between one and two hours running around to shake off the shooters before they had taken refuge in the warehouse. He remembered the aching and throbbing in his legs, and guessed that that was about right. Then, as they had rested, he had angrily shouted some more at the Detective Boys—in retrospect, he felt that he had probably just needed to take out his anger on something or someone—who had been too tired and frightened to argue back. Then exhaustion had let them sit in silence for a while; but it was far from a peaceful silence. Kaito and Conan had been so tense that even as they rested, willing their muscles to strengthen quickly, they had been constantly glancing out of windows and looking around out the door. It must have been quite a while later that Conan had decided that he was simply too exhausted and weary to take the tension, and had stormed outside to sit on the ground in the rain outside the warehouse.
Yes, a four-hour interval made perfect sense.
"You're not supposed to be out this late at night," the girl went on. "Are you lost?"
"No, no," Conan instantly attempted to reassure her with a smile. "Really. We just…took a long way home that took longer than we thought it would."
The girl frowned disapprovingly. "Do your parents know about that?"
"Yes, we called them," Mitsuhiko cut in. Conan had to admire how smoothly he could lie when the situation demanded. "But our homes aren't far from here, and our parents will probably be coming to meet us, so-"
"No, no." The girl shook her head; the disapproval in her eyes, no matter how she attempted to hide it, was thick as molasses. "Even a short walk is dangerous in the dark. I know you're all good children"-Conan had to pretend to cough to hide his scoff at the barely disguised emotional blackmail of that statement, and was amused to note that Mitsuhiko was pretending to wipe his nose with his hand to hide a scowl of recognition-"so you won't let a stranger like me follow you home. But if you call your Mommies, I'm sure they'd rather pick you up than you walk home on your own; if your homes aren't far away, it won't be any trouble, right?"
Even Genta looked disgusted—but Conan was rather surprised to see that he did not lash out in anger as he usually did. Perhaps the gravity of their situation actually had sunk into his friends' minds and hearts.
Not that that did anything to get them out of their trouble with an overly concerned teenage girl. Really, why did people always have to insist that being kind but careful of a child's wellbeing (whether or not the child liked it) was the ideal way to act around young children? What if said children had an important mission that involved dangerous men in black who carried guns and poisons and who knew what else?
But of course, the children were expected to tell adults about things like that and then leave it to them. Because adults, naturally, would have no problem dealing with said dangerous men even if their only solution was to call the police—the very people who had failed to even realize the existence of this horrible organization for the Devil only knew how many decades!
Right, Conan remembered just in time, stay calm. It doesn't matter if there's a pompous child-pampering teen in front of you who thinks she knows better than a bunch of seven-year-olds but actually is the one in blissful innocence and ignorance while the seven-year-olds had to not only face down the most terrifying criminal organization in the world (even if that was a bit—yes, just a bit—of an exaggeration). It doesn't matter that she's blocking our way, so we not only have to take on the Organization but now get past this presuming teenager too!
He wondered if he should be worried that he felt a pounding migraine-like headache coming on.
Some part of Conan's brain must have registered that Genta was doing his very best to control his temper and impatience while Ayumi, perfectly aware of this, was trying—not as inconspicuously as would have been ideal, but trying nevertheless—to soothe him as Mitsuhiko stammered and stuttered, all collectedness lost as he grasped at the strings. But that part of his brain was deep, deep down and overrun by the effort to keep his temper and anger under control. He would not have been in a much better state than Genta if not for the fact that he could keep his face impassive while he struggled internally; Mitsuhiko, shooting desperate glances that were pleas for help (all of which went unnoticed), noticed nothing of Conan's internal lack of control.
"Ah, there you are dears," said a kindly voice from behind them. All four children spun around; the girl at the counter looked across them at the newcomer. "I'm sorry, have they been causing any trouble?"
The fond, familiar way in which she looked at them seemed odd, since none of the Detective Boys had ever seen her before. Mitsuhiko faltered, wondering what to make of the situation, and Ayumi stared at the stranger in surprise; but Genta lost no time in narrowing his eyes at the old woman and demanding her identity. The girl behind the counter noticed this and looked rather suspicious.
"Ah, yes, I almost forgot that you don't know me," chuckled the old lady. "My grandson has shown me many photos of all of you, but of course he wouldn't go around showing his friends pictures of his poor grandmother, would he?"
If this statement surprised Conan, he hid it well, for the Detective Boys pinpointed him as the old woman's grandson by the lack of surprise on his face when they looked among themselves. Instantly, all three relaxed; so did the girl behind them at the counter.
"Oh, you're Conan-kun's grandma?"
"Yes, dear, but we can discuss that later." She turned to the girl behind the counter. "I'm very sorry; these children are an adventurous lot, you know—always out to explore or adventure some more. I daresay it worries me sometimes, even if they always do come back perfectly in tact."
The girl smiled. "Please, don't be bothered. We were all children once—we know what that curiosity is like. I just didn't think it was right for them to be wandering around alone at this time of night, so…"
"Well, thank you for your concern," the old lady said with a smile. "Now, if I could just purchase these items…" Gently pushing her way through the children, she placed a number of objects in her hands on the counter.
"Oh, yes, of course!" The girl looked rather flustered—apparently, in her concern for the children's wellbeing, she had forgotten about her job.
After the few odds and ends that the woman had picked out were bought and stowed in her shoulder bag, she walked out of the shop with the children at her heels. (Actually, since she was the one with the umbrella, they surrounded her to get a part of the shelter provided by the object.) Making her way down the street, she abruptly turned and entered a tiny alleyway. The children exchanged a look, but as Conan did not look surprised in the least, they accepted that this must be the way to his grandmother's home.
When the little old woman turned a corner and bent to lift a manhole cover, however, and Conan still looked not at all surprised, the Detective Boys had to wonder what was going on.
"Why are we going into there?" Ayumi cautiously whispered to Conan, as though speaking too loudly would incite his 'grandmother's' wrath. Which was bound to be horrible; Ayumi just knew it.
Conan gave a sigh that seemed depressed and resigned. "She lives down there." Ayumi stared. "Well, at least she has a hideout down there that could pass for a person's home."
Something in Conan's tone—maybe the dull bluntness or the blatant irony…or perhaps it was the tired amusement, just barely detectable—made Genta snap his mouth shut, Mitsuhiko purse his lips in thought, and Ayumi obey the woman's wordless urging for them to climb down into the manhole. That was saying a lot, since the Detective Boys, even Genta, were all well aware that manholes led into the sewers.
A few minutes later found them all sitting in a comfortable little room, sitting on fluffy cushions and wrapped in thick, warm quilts as they sipped hot green tea. The little woman had heated the water in the room's fireplace. (Dear god, Conan had thought upon entering the cold, drafty room. I'm actually looking at a fireplace in the sewers. Does this woman really live in a sort of mansion that's spread through the sewers?)
The Detective Boys, unlike Conan, were perfectly delighted to be sipping hot tea and curled up in blankets in front of a fireplace. The fact that they were in the sewers, of all places, which had definitely unnerved them at first, seemed to be completely forgotten. Of course, Conan conceded, the fact that the smell doesn't reach us makes that a whole lot easier.
"It's almost night, dears," the little old woman said, pulling more cushions off of the pile in the corner and spreading them on the ground so that the floor was pretty much invisible under the cushions. "I'm sorry to say that I don't have any mattresses here for you to lie on, but the cushions and quilts ought to be enough."
The Detective Boys eagerly agreed and were scrambling for the 'best spot' that was the spot closest to the fireplace as soon as they finished their tea. They didn't even notice the woman chuckle a 'good night' to them as she picked up the small oil lantern before she stepped (crawled, more like) out of the room through the passage through which they had entered. Conan, however, did see and hear all this as he sat away from the arguing, watching everyone sharply—especially the old woman. But once she was gone, there was nothing for him to do. Except for settle the persisting argument, of course. But Mitsuhiko was bound to find the sensible solution sometime soon, so…
Sure enough, a few minutes later, Mitsuhiko proposed that they all sleep with their heads by the fire. Grudgingly, the other two parties conceded. And then they noticed that the woman had gone.
"Where'd she go?" asked Genta in surprise.
Conan shrugged. "She said good night," he conveyed to them.
Conan had been half hoping that they would instantly grow suspicious of the little old woman and begin a long discussion of who she could be, why she might live like this in the sewers, and what she might be trying to do. However, while the Detective Boys may have been quite bright, they were still only a group of seven-year-old adventure enthusiasts. It had been too much to hope for, Conan knew. Even so, he sighed to himself as he joined his little friends (albeit with some reluctance) in snuggling into the nice, warm quilts by the fire.
At first, Ayumi, Genta, and Mitsuhiko talked, discussing how exciting and strange this was, and how cool Conan's 'grandma' was (apparently Conan's introduction, "Guys, as you've probably realized, this isn't my grandmother. Meet the little old woman who lives in the sewers and knows everything. Little Old Woman Who Lives in the Sewers and Knows Everything, I'd introduce you to my friends, but I assume that you already know who they are." had been pretty useless), and how they might possibly evade the evil people that were after them. Conan only half listened. Actually listening would irritate him, he knew, as he had already explained to them since they had come down here that the old woman was not his grandmother, and knew that they still would not listen if he pointed out that she could easily be one of said 'evil people that were after them', and so it was not a good idea to sleep. No, they would just go to sleep anyway.
As he listened to his friends' breathing slowly calm to that of a sleeping person. He could feel the accursed child's body that was his begging for sleep: his eyelids drooped, all his limbs felt too heavy to be his own, his head ached with the effort to stay awake… He shook his head firmly every time he felt his guard falling. His friends were sleeping. This was unknown territory. What kind of detective fell asleep in a situation like this? No matter how much time went by, he had to make sure nothing out of the ordinary happened; he had to guard them, to all intents and purposes. It wasn't like before, when he had been on his own. He had to stay awake, no matter the cost.
"Well, that's a silly thought."
Conan thought he jumped a foot into the air at the voice. He stared at the woman climbing back into the room with the lamp. For the first time, he noted that the fire had burned down to embers. He sat up to stare at the fire accusingly. How could this be? Had he dozed off? No, he couldn't have!
"No, you didn't doze off," the woman snapped. Conan recoiled—the frustration in her eyes was like the anger of a beast as it prepared to bite. But then her words distracted him. "You just spent four whole hours spending what little of your mental energy is left trying to stay awake when you could have gotten a good four hours' rest."
Conan stared at her. She always spoke as though she knew his thoughts. And, illogical though it was, he was beginning to think that she did know his thoughts.
"Finally figured it out, have you?" asked the woman serenely. Yep, she definitely could read his thoughts. And the frustration from earlier was gone without a trace from her voice and face. Talk about mood swings—and she wasn't even young! "I would assure you that I'm perfectly harmless and you should go to sleep, but there's no time for that anymore. I'm sure that you're aware that your companion left you because he realized that his significant other was in danger by association?"
Conan stared blankly. Of course he knew. It actually shocked him that it had taken Kaito so long to realize it. He had always known that Ran was in danger by-
Conan's eyes widened. "Ran."
"Yes, well done. You got it at the first try. Impressive, I must say." Conan glared at the little old woman. Was she mocking him, or was she actually serious? He narrowed his eyes and stared. Yes, she was definitely mocking him. But, of course, now was not the time for that. "What do you know about Ran?"
The woman smiled in her irritatingly serene manner. "That she is currently with the girl whom your friend seeks. The two of them are perfectly safe, if rather misguided. In fact, the number of misguided people in this whole affair is quite shocking. And frustrating, I must say. Dear me, just thinking about it makes me need another cup of tea. The fire's died down and it's getting cold—perfect. I'll make it now."
Conan stared at the woman as she went over to the fireplace to add another log to it as she stirred up the fire. Did she just come to tell him that Ran was safe and misguided, among a whole bunch of other people? And she made it sound as if she knew everything.
"You know much more than you're telling me." Conan's accusation was blunt, but he didn't think that beating around the bush would work any better with this woman. Infuriating though she may be, Conan was well aware that she was probably at least twice as perceptive as he was (and that was really saying something)—trying to subtly coax an answer out of her was more likely to incite her anger than anything. Or maybe she'd get even more frustrated and decide to pour the tea over him rather than drink it. He could just see her doing that with that irritating serenity still perfectly in tact in her expression.
By the look in her eyes as she glanced back at him, Conan had a sneaking suspicion that she knew precisely what he had been thinking. "I know a great many things."
"And if you're helping me, you're obviously on my side," Conan said, though it was more a question than a statement.
"I suppose one could put it that way. Or one could say that you are on my side."
Conan paused. Then he shook his head. "That's irrelevant. What I'm saying is that we're on the same side, right?"
"Naturally, dear."
"And you know much, much more than you tell me. I'll bet you know everything about the Organization."
"Oh no, I wouldn't presume such a thing. No human can know everything about anything. I'm sure that you're old enough to understand that."
"But you know more about the Organization than I do."
"Perhaps."
"Then tell me what you know! I can use it to bring them down!"
The old woman turned from the fire to look at him. Her eyes and face were weary and tired, and this, coupled with the firelight illuminating her face from the side, made her look older than ever. "There is much that you don't understand, child," she said quietly, shaking her head. "I know perfectly well what would happen if I told you all I know. You would go galloping off into danger, get yourself caught, reveal how much you know, and then reveal that I gave you the information. No. There are some things that you must find out on your own."
"Don't get all moralistic! Who cares how I got the information? I need it, and you know that!"
"'Need'?" repeated the old woman with one of her maniacal cackles of laughter. Conan shuddered. How could she be snappish one moment, serene the next, and then cackle maniacally a moment later? He definitely did not enjoy being in this woman's company, he reflected as she spoke. "No, you do not. The knowledge and warnings that are absolutely necessary for you to know, I give to you. I have already warned you of a great many things. I believe that you will find that trouble generally ensued when you did not heed my warnings."
"Yeah, you mentioned something about not being able to tell me how you know stuff last time, too."
"But that's easy," the woman pointed out. "I simply pay attention—that's all I need to gather information." She had to be hiding something. That couldn't be true. Anyone could pay attention, but how would attention gain her the knowledge of the top-secret Organization as well as countless secret identities, including his own. Still, he wasn't going to push.
"Right now," the woman said, facing him with a finger pointed firmly at his chest, "You're going to learn exactly what you have to do if you want your pretty girl, who is safe at the moment, to stay that way."
Conan stared at her as if she had lost her mind. The little old woman smiled serenely before she launched into a description that Conan found to be far more maniacal than any of her cackles of laughter.
VVVVVVVVVV
Jodie sighed and ran a hand through her short hair. She had driven Ran and Aoko to the Professor's house and dropped them off there. Honestly, she would have been more than willing to help them—if it hadn't been for a few…recent developments.
Naturally, she was well aware that a few of their own were spying in the Organization. But when it had come to light that one of her colleagues had been an undercover member of the Organization… The very thought still made her shudder, even if the man in question was now in a top security jail in the United States.
It had been that incident that had alerted her to the fact that she could not trust blindly. Not even people working with her to bring down the Organization. Certainly, there were many trying to bring it down. Conan and his friends for one; the FBI, of course; and the Japanese police force was valiantly working with what information they could acquire—although, for some reason, the amount of information that they had been acquiring recently was suspiciously explosive. She would have to investigate that: she had no doubt that the Organization had more than a few members in the Japanese police force. Naturally, the FBI had some spies there as well, but no more than one or two. They couldn't possibly monitor everything if the Organization started learning far too much about the plans to bring them down.
Jodie sighed again and rested her forehead against the steering wheel. What was she supposed to do? She couldn't give Miss Mouri any information for fear that it should fall into the wrong hands. While she trusted Miss Mouri, naturally, she wasn't so sure about that girl that was with her. She had never met Nakamori Aoko, after all. And what about the Professor and that strange girl whom they called Haibara Ai? There was no doubt that Miss Haibara knew far more than she let on. In fact, Jodie was quite sure that she knew far more than Conan himself, which was quite impressive.
Jodie's eyes sharpened as she raised her head and stepped on the accelerator as the light turned green. Yes, Miss Haibara was definitely on the top of her list of suspicious persons that needed background investigation. Of course, Conan was perfectly trusting of her. They were friends, and there was no doubt that Conan was set against the Organization. So why did he, who so strongly asserted that Miss Haibara was an ally, insist on holding so much information from the girl? This had only been the first warning sign. After that, upon closer observation, Jodie had noticed that Miss Haibara herself was cryptic and reluctant when it came to the Organization.
Honestly, the first conclusion she had come to was that Miss Haibara, a victim of the Organization as she herself had been, was frightened out of her mind and therefore refused to disclose the information that the Organization so feared her disclosing.
As time had passed, however, Jodie had begun to realize that that wasn't quite right. Miss Haibara occasionally did disclose information. And it was, honestly, quite shocking to see the sorts of things she knew. They were small things, trivial and insignificant; things that no victim could ever possibly know. Unless she had been chained up and left with them for days, but that wasn't quite the Organization's way. Not unless she'd had some information that they needed, and even then they tended to resort to blackmail and threats rather than chains.
It was when Jodie had heard Conan confirm with Miss Haibara, on one occasion, that Gin was left-handed that the reality had struck her with utmost certainty. Miss Haibara knew exactly how the Organization functioned; she knew the individual people and their ways; she knew, though she never disclosed it, what the Organization truly wanted.
There was only one way that she could have known it so well: she herself had once been a member of the Organization.
But what would the Organization want with a little girl like Miss Haibara? For that matter, why were they after Conan? Then again, Conan was obviously a prodigy. Perhaps the same thing could be said for Miss Haibara. If Conan's prodigy lay in observation and logical reasoning, perhaps Miss Haibara's lay in something that the Organization would have found useful.
Just as her mind was beginning to run off with speculation of this, Jodie calmed her mind. She could not allow herself to forge that there were also other possibilities: like if Miss Haibara had had a family member in the Organization, for example. Jodie remembered hearing a mention of an elder sister who had been killed, most probably by the Organization. What if that sister had been working for the Organization, and had let slip a great deal of information to the little sister whom she had considered harmless? That would fit…
And yet it was not quite right. There were too many things that Miss Haibara knew. Could that all have really come from mere association with one in the Organization? Somehow, Jodie doubted that the Organization would allow their members to bring family members to 'work'. The very thought was decidedly strange, and almost inconceivable. They were a top-secret group, determined not to let any information leak. Hence, it would figure that they wouldn't dare let anyone know anything more than was absolutely necessary.
There was always the possibility that they had taken Miss Haibara captive to strengthen their grip over her uncertain sister…which still would not account for the amount of insight that Miss Haibara had into the Organization and its ways. It also failed to account for the name by which they called her: 'Sherry'. Was that her code name from when she had been one of them, or the code name that they had given her to identify her as a target?
Jodie almost missed the corner she needed to turn and was momentarily distracted as she quickly swerved into the street, earning quite a bit of annoyed honking from the cars that she had cut off. She heard someone shout at her to put on the blinker, but just waved a hand apologetically outside the window. Once she was steadily driving down the road again, she resumed her consideration.
If Miss Haibara actually had been a part of the Organization, then she must have gotten cold feet at some point—or perhaps she had come to realize exactly what she was doing. Of course that 'what' was still shrouded in mystery, thanks to Miss Haibara's reluctance to reveal anymore than absolutely necessary.
Either way, Conan knew her background—Jodie was sure of this, because if she had not told him that he was sure to be more than a little mistrustful of her—and was ready to trust her with his life. So whatever she had been, whatever had happened, she was definitely set against the Organization now.
However, the fact that Conan was reluctant to disclose information to the girl made Jodie more than a little uneasy. She had a feeling that this had to do with the girl's self-destructive tendencies—she could remember the girl deliberately staying in the bus when everyone else ran out, even as she knew that there were bombs in the bus due to explode in mere seconds. These self-destructive tendencies were another source of uneasiness.
Whatever the case was with Miss Haibara, Jodie agreed with her boss that it was best to keep as much information from that group as possible until they knew more.
She parked along the curb and stepped out of the car with her shoulder bag in one hand. After she locked the car door, she put the strap of the bag properly over her shoulder, brushed off her clothing, and began to make her way down the street.
Reaching the door of the house that was her destination, she double-checked the address once before ringing the bell. She waited for some time, and then the door opened to reveal an elegant-looking woman in a kimono. Jodie almost raised an eyebrow—kimonos nowadays were only worn on a regular basis by particularly traditional, rich families as well as old woman, but this lady fell into neither category—but schooled her expression to one of calm respect.
"Good evening," Jodie greeted. "I believe that you are Akisawa-san…?"
"Yes," replied the lady. Her expression said nothing, but something about her demeanor let Jodie know that she expected an introduction from this strange, foreign visitor as well.
"I believe that it is your husband who is expecting me—my name is Starling." She added a bow to her introduction. Though, being foreign, she generally did not follow through with such things, it seemed to her that this traditional-seeming lady would appreciate a gesture of appreciation of tradition and culture, however small it may be.
Sure enough, a small, graceful smile was on the Akisawa-san's face when Jodie looked up from her small bow. "Ah yes, Starling-san. Please, come in."
She entered, murmuring her gratitude and a respectful 'ojamashimasu' (1) as she removed her shoes and stepped up from the entrance. Again, this was a tradition that she generally ignored (when one was a foreigner in Japan, she had found, there were many things expected of the Japanese that were not expected of one), but Akisawa-san's traditional elegance seemed to demand that she follow the native traditions for once.
Nojima-san led her into a room with a straw floor and a low table at the center, surrounded by one cushion on each side. "Please wait here—I shall go and call my husband."
Of course, a lady so traditional would never shout for her husband, Jodie reflected with a wry smile.
When her colleague entered the room, Jodie smiled at the male Akisawa-san: a good-looking but not-so-traditional man with an easy-going nature, who smiled back with boundless friendliness.
"So, how have your investigations gone?" asked Akisawa-san, seating himself casually on one of the cushions and gesturing that she do the same. Jodie sat across from him as she removed her shoulder bag and lay it on the table.
"Quite well, actually," Jodie replied. "In fact, just today I met Mouri-san—it seems that she is under the impression that the FBI is after her. She had quite a shock, you know. Some people came calling so early in the morning that it wasn't even anywhere near dawn, and told her that Conan-kun and Haibara-san are in league with the Organization. She's been on the run since then, since apparently the people intended to capture her. I'm quite sure that it was the Organization trying to use her to get at Conan-kun and Haibara-san, and using the FBI as a cover-up. But she was quite shaken."
Akisawa looked thoughtful. "Did she mention any names?"
Jodie raised an eyebrow. "No, of course not. Any names they might have given her were probably false, anyway. No one would give their real name in a situation like that." Akisawa's eyes darted to the left once, and he had an odd expression—probably thoughtfulness. And was it just her imagination, or were his cheeks tinged slightly pink? Jodie shook the thought from her mind.
"You gave any information to Mouri-san?"
"Of course not. The damage that can be done by mere information is horrible, as we learned the hard way recently. I gathered information, but the information that I could disclose in return was sadly sparse. I left her with a friend before I came here."
"Who is this friend?" Akisawa asked, his eyes sharpening as they snapped to look at her.
"I'm afraid that I'm not going to disclose that to you," Jodie replied with a raised eyebrow. Was it her imagination, or was Akisawa acting a little bit odd? "Like I said, the less information known, the more chance of success."
"Of course, of course."
"Now, moving on to the issue of the Headquarters. You must know that we've been narrowing our sights down to one certain area in the city. But today there was a fire—in one of the few buildings that we'd concluded was most likely to be Headquarters. I'm starting to suspect that we've got another spy in our midst, and as soon as we got too close…"
(1) ojamashimasu – an expression meaning literally 'I will be a bother', spoken when one enters another's home.
Author's Notes: Late again. Will I never learn to update properly? All evidence so far states that no, I definitely won't. And I probably should stop saving review replies till I'm finished writing the next chapter. But I'm amazed at the number of reviews I've received after the last chapter! I've thanked you all in the replies, but again—thanks so much for the reviews! I adore you all for sending me them. When I have a writer's block, I go pour over them, and then suddenly I'm full of ideas.
As you'll know if you read my profile, part of the reason why this chapter is late is because of another chapter that I wrote. I intended that to be chapter ten…and then as soon as I finished, I realized that I needed another chapter before I could post that one. Hence, the next chapter's all written. It just needs to be refined.