AN: Oh hey, here's the next chapter! Greetings from the depths of pollen hell! I hope everyone's getting through it okay, those of you who are in pollen season, same as me right now. As always, thanks for reading, and please leave a review if you can!

Until next time!

Bloodsport

Chapter Twelve

Watch How the Mermaid Princess Drowns

It wasn't as if she couldn't understand how he was feeling right now- but at the very least, he should have let the helicopter actually land before trying to leave it.

That was one hell of a jump that he just made- but somehow, given everything else she had seen today, she couldn't find it in herself to so much as even bat an eyelash at it. As for Jodie, on the other hand... well, it certainly seemed to surprise her a good bit more, especially as he shot past her, brushing off her attempts to check if he was okay.

She was asking about his physical well being, of course- there was no point in asking how well he was doing mentally. From the frantic expression on his face, the answer to that question was rather clear. It was understandable- as he was being confronted by some kind of invisible assailant, hundreds of miles away, something had happened to his childhood friend.

The odds that it was a coincidence were rather low.

By the time they caught up to him, Heiji had already made his way downstairs to the hotel room. Frantically scanning the room, for any trace of the culprit, or perhaps any message left behind by Kazuha, he was walking in circles, a deeply troubled expression on his face. They were faint, but he could still make them out- the scent of chloroform, and the scent of someone that he had never met.

Kazuha definitely hadn't left the room out of her own free will, that much was clear to him right away. But there was one other thing about the scene that was bothering him, yet he found himself unable to place. It was the vague sense that there was something that should be there, other than the room's occupant, that was missing.

Narrowing his eyes, Heiji turned on his heel back towards Sera and Jodie, glancing between the two before his gaze fixed on the latter. "I'm guessin' that ya already let the hotel staff know about this."

"That's right." Jodie said, slowly nodding her head, still somewhat shaking off the shock from his jump earlier. "Naturally, I checked the security footage for both this floor, and the lobby, but it would appear that our culprit managed to somehow cut themselves out of the footage. Thanks to that though, we can at least narrow down the time in which Toyama-san was kidnapped."

Kidnapped... Clenching his teeth at the mere thought of such a thing, Heiji couldn't help but blame himself. He should have never brought her along with him in the first place. If he hadn't, none of this would have ever happened. Even if she had been the one to insist in the first place, he should have tried harder to turn her down, to reject her offer.

Why hadn't he? He really was an idiot.

Likewise, he knew that there was no way that Kazuha would allow herself to get kidnapped by just anyone. But this wasn't just anyone that they were dealing with here- if he was right, they were someone with great command over dark magics that he couldn't even begin to understand. As for what they wanted with Kazuha... well, it wasn't hard to guess.

The sixth painting had been sent.

It was time for the seventh victim.

Biting his lip to control the surge of anger that nearly threatened to overtake him at that thought, Heiji turned on his heel away from the pair. He couldn't afford to lose his temper right now, no matter how much he wanted to- because not only would he not be able to focus on saving Kazuha, but they might end up seeing some things that he didn't want them to say.

Though frankly, such a thought was almost at the back of his mind right now- he half wanted to tear the city apart, just to find Kazuha. If he put his mind to it, he was more than capable of doing so- but he got the feeling that if he did something like that, he'd cross a threshold that he would never be able to return from.

Kazuha wouldn't want that.

"Are you alright, Hattori-kun?" The sound of Sera's voice was close, so Heiji focused himself on calling back his fangs, which had elongated with his previous burst of anger. "I can understand what you're feeling right now, but there's a chance that Kazuha-chan might be still alive."

"Yeah, you're right." Heiji said slowly, forcing himself to draw in a breath, if only to stabilize himself. It seemed to help, for which he was grateful. "Did anyone see anythin' suspicious, Jodie-han?"

"We're still conducting interviews, but it would appear that no one did." Jodie told him, shaking her head. "Which is unusual in and of itself. This room is on the fifth floor, it's not as if they could escape through the window. Someone surely would have noticed an unconscious person being carried, but it would appear that no one saw anything."

"I see." Closing his eyes, Heiji drew in and let out another breath, forcing himself to get his feelings underneath control. Anger was a familiar companion to him- but something about this felt different. "I'm assuming that ya already sent someone out over towards that old man's place, right?"

"Of course." Jodie said. "He's claiming that he has no knowledge of anything. Of course, he refused us when we asked if we could search his home."

"Yeah, I'll bet he did." Heiji grumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. His head was feeling a bit clearer now, thankfully. Casting another glance over the hotel room, his eyes narrowed in thought once more, trying to figure out what it was that he felt was missing from here.

It was the faint bit of purple that caught his eyes that drew his attention towards it. With a deep frown, Heiji stooped down by the desk, for a moment wondering what it might be- before it hit him in a wave. Both the answer to that question, and the answer to what was missing from the room.

Torn off and cast underneath the desk, was a familiar purple charm, one of a matching pair. Since it had been thrown away like this, whoever had taken what it was attached to must have not wanted to bring it with them. Given the faint trace of ash-like material that clung to one corner of it, he could make a solid guess as to why.

But now wasn't the time to be rejoicing over the apparent effectiveness of Kazuha's charm. It was meaningless if she didn't have it with her at the moment. Now was the time, however, to make a phone call- because if the culprit had taken Kazuha's phone with them, then they had taken it for a reason.

"Hattori-kun?" Jodie spoke up, watching as he tucked the charm away in his pocket, and pulled out his cellphone. "What is it? Did you figure something out?"

"Yeah." Heiji told her. "I think the culprit gave us a way ta contact them."

The first thing that she noticed as she came back to awareness was the feeling of something damp at her feet. The second thing was of course, the chains.

She'd grit her teeth if she could, were it not for the cloth stuck between them, preventing her from crying out. Even though her head was still swimming from the aftereffects of the drug, most likely chloroform, she realized, Kazuha still forced herself to focus on the situation at hand, digging up the last thing she remembered before she had wound up here.

That was right... she had been talking with Ran on the phone, when she had heard someone knock on the door. When she had checked to see who it was, nobody had been there- even though someone was still knocking, even as she looked. As for what had happened after that... it was still somewhat of a blur, but she remembered being forced to breathe in chloroform, as well as the sight of-

...someone's feet. It wasn't just the memory that sent a momentary chill down her spine, but rather, it was the sight of those very same feet before her, informing her that she wasn't alone here.

Wherever here was.

"You woke up."

Narrowing her eyes, Kazuha clenched her fists, forcing herself to look up towards her captor. Given the way their voice seemed distorted, she doubted that they would show her their face- and on that, she was right. The mask that they were wearing to cover their face gave her the shivers, but she fought back such feelings, not wanting to show any signs of fear here. If she did that, then they would have won.

She just had to trust that Heiji would find her. The fact that she wasn't dead yet was probably a good sign- if the one who had captured her was the same culprit behind the serial murderers, at least. Not that she would just sit here like a good girl either- if she could find a way to escape, she would take it the second that she got the chance. But before that, she needed to take full stock of her surroundings and the situation that she was in, something which she hadn't gotten the chance to do yet.

Since she couldn't speak, Kazuha only narrowed her eyes further, glaring down her kidnapper. That they were using her to send a message to Heiji, of that she had very little doubt- and as much as she trusted him to find her, she couldn't help but worry about him being left on his own. For a brief moment, the only thing that filled her mind were Mitsuta's words- warning them that it wasn't impossible that there was a chance of a relapse.

For some reason, the thought frightened her more than whatever the culprit had planned for her. If she couldn't protect Heiji, who would?

"I suppose you can't speak." The culprit noted, tilting their head slightly. "You should be honored, really. I had a different offering in mind for my next piece, but I suppose you'll do just as well."

Offering? That was one hell of a way to put victim, Kazuha thought to herself. She'd proposed the idea of witchcraft to Heiji as a mere thought, what felt like ages ago now, but maybe she was closer to the truth than she had thought. Usually that would be enough to cause her to gloat- but given the current situation, she almost couldn't help but regret being right.

"That is, of course, unless your boyfriend manages to find you first." While Kazuha couldn't see the smile that spread out across their face, she could nevertheless sense it. As the sound of her own ringtone filled the room, she felt her fists tighten, pulled tight enough so that her nails bit into her skin. She must have stolen it from her room when she had kidnapped her, expecting that Heiji would notice it was missing, or else wise would try and contact her with it.

On top of everything else, they were planning to taunt Heiji- that was unforgivable!

Watching through narrowed eyes as the culprit answered her cellphone, Kazuha tried to work at the gag that kept her from speaking. She wasn't sure what good it would do, considering that she had no idea as to where she was- other than perhaps a basement somewhere, from the layout of the room. It wasn't much to go on, but at the very least, it was something.

She wasn't much for being the damsel in distress type, after all.

"I would assume this is Heiji Hattori."

Placing a finger against his lips to prevent either Sera or Jodie from speaking, Heiji narrowed his eyes at the sound of the voice on the other end of the line. From the sound of it, it had been altered by some kind of machine. Was the culprit not aware that he had already been able to figure out her identity? Or was she simply playing it safe as there were those involved who hadn't yet?

Whatever the case, he had to bite down on his tongue in order to prevent the new surge of anger that threatened to rush through him at the sound of her voice. If anything, his anger was what the culprit wanted, if she had gone this far. It would appear that she had been expecting his call- he could only hope that would mean that Kazuha was still alive. Ideally hoping to make out some kind of sound that reassured him of this fact, Heiji strained his ears.

Even if he couldn't make that out, if he could hear anything that might lend him a clue as to Kazuha's location, then it would help. Just to be sure, he was recording the call, so that he could listen to it as many times as he needed.

"Where is she?" Try as he might, he couldn't contain all of his anger, allowing some to slip out on his voice. "If I were ya, I would give up an' give her back right away, cause I can promise ya, I will find you."

"I'm afraid I can't do that." The voice on the other end of the line merely replied. "But you shouldn't be so frantic. I am giving you a chance, after all."

"Well that's mighty kind of ya." Heiji noted, arching a brow. "Not sure how willin' I'll be ta extend that gracious offer back ta ya, not once I've caught ya."

"I would imagine not."

"So? With that mind, ya wanna give up already?" Heiji asked, though he already had a fair idea as to what the answer might be. "I already know who are ya are, after all. Once I tell Jodie-han, ya won't be able ta go out in public ever again."

"I'll make do, as I did last time."

"Just so ya know, if ya try anythin' with Kazuha, I'll-!" Cutting himself short as he made out the faint sound of something crunching by his ear, Heiji drew in a long breath, forcing himself to calm down again. If he got mad to the point where he crushed his phone, he would lose his only way to directly contact the culprit.

"Her use has already been decided. You needn't worry about that."

Somehow, those words weren't in the least bit comforting. With the way she was beating around the bush though- it was clear that she didn't want the underlying truth of this case to be exposed anymore than he did. That was just fine for him. "I'm gonna find her, ya know. You an' her both."

"I imagine you'll do your best. That said, if you don't find her before forty-eight hours are up, it'll be too late. Not unless she can hold her breath half as well as you can, that is."

His eyes narrowing at that comment, Heiji made out a faint sound from the other end of the line- probably one the culprit had made on purpose. Though it took him a second to place it, it sounded like someone moving through water. Did the bastard plan on drowning Kazuha? Like hell he'd let them!

"I'm afraid I have some other business that I need to attend to now, so I'll have to let you go. I suppose I should wish you good luck here, as you'll likely need it."

"Hey, wait you-!" His protests dying in his throat as the call was abruptly dropped, Heiji pulled his cellphone away from his ear, glaring down at the screen. They could try and determine her location by tracking her cellphone's signal, but he doubted that the culprit would be stupid enough to leave it on.

As for his own phone... he'd definitely done some damage to it, Heiji noticed, grimacing a little as he took note of the cracked screen. Controlling his temper in this situation was easier said than done, but if he didn't, he suspected his strength alone would blow his secret wide open. And as much as he hated to admit it, he needed all the help he could get right now.

"Well?" Jodie asked, taking a step forward. "You did record the call, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did." Heiji told her, nodding his head. "I'll play it back fer the two of ya in just a second. From the sound of it though, Kazuha's still alive. Though from the sound of it..." gritting his teeth, he forced his next words from his throat. "...not fer much longer."

"How long do we have?" Sera asked.

"Around forty-eight hours." Heiji told her. "From the sound of it, our culprit plans on drownin' her. Probably has already begun."

"In other words, they're planning on doing it slowly." Jodie remarked, narrowing her eyes. "If that's the case, they might not remain in the same place where they've taken Toyama-san."

"Yeah. Probably set up some kinda method fer releasin' water steadily over time." Heiji noted. "Well, if I know Kazuha though, which I do, she's not goin' ta just sit around an' accept her fate- provided she's allowed ta stay awake, that is."

"You said you knew who the culprit was, Hattori-kun." Jodie said, taking a step forward. "Did you find something at that house?"

"We did." Exchanging a glance with Sera, he watched as his fellow high school detective went for her phone, pulling open the file with the photographs she had taken with it. "One hell of a thing at that. Figured ya might not believe us, so we made sure ta take plenty of photos."

"It's her, isn't it?" Jodie asked, her gaze not yet leaving his own. "The daughter."

"Yeah." Closing his eyes, Heiji forced another breath through his lungs, nodding his head. "If I don't miss my guess, there's no way ta say that she's not involved with this. I bet if ya checked up on her right now, ya'd discover that she went missin'. Considerin' that ya had ta ask her directly for the key ta the house, she must have been expectin' that we'd find what we did."

"And decided to kidnap Toyama-san in order to distract us?" Jodie asked, finally breaking her gaze, turning back on her heel to look at the cellphone that Sera was offering her. With a finger, she slid through the photo gallery, her eyes narrowing further at every picture that crossed the screen.

When they had told her it was something that she would never believe with photographic evidence, she hadn't been sure what to expect- other than not this. It felt more like she was looking at a horror movie set, than something that actually existed in reality. They certainly hadn't found anything like this there when they had searched the house the first time. If they had, this case might have ended with only three victims.

Now there was a seventh in the making- and if couldn't manage to save this one, she would never forgive herself. She might not know Toyama Kazuha all that well, but not only could she not abide by the idea of allowing someone so young to die, she knew that it would irrevocably fracture any future partnership that she might have with the Edogawa Conan boy, who had proved so strangely useful to them.

Hattori Heiji was close enough to him that he'd gone out of his way to ask her about this case, and was worried enough to ask if there was any way she could him. Given how intent he seemed on bringing down the Organization, for reasons that she wasn't quite sure of yet, the fact that he had asked something of her that would pull her away from that investigation was proof enough just how much he cared for the Osakan high school detective.

It went without saying that he cared quite a bit for his childhood friend as well. Not to mention the Mouri girl... if she failed to save someone she clearly considered a friend, she would never be able to face her former student again.

"It could be." Heiji remarked, for the moment, going with that. It was easier to explain than the truth anyways. "Either way, it appears like our culprit's into some seriously weird stuff. Her an' her mother both, from the looks of it."

"Just judging from these photographs, I can already tell that much." Jodie noted. "I'll have a team sent out there to look into this in more detail. I'm going to assume this room wasn't left out in the open."

"It was hidden." Sera supplied. "I was the one who found it, while I was searching the mother's room. At the time, I was thinking about the sixth's victim, and the hidden storage space in her closest, so without thinking, I started looking for something like that there too. Well, as it turns out, what I found was much more than just a mere storage space."

"I'll say." Heiji observed, briefly glancing up from his phone. He had tried calling Kazuha's number again, and while her phone was still connected for the moment, the culprit wasn't picking up.

He figured they wouldn't. On other hand, they had-

"A mail?" Heiji blinked, recognizing the address it had been sent from as the one belonging to Kazuha. What was it that they had sent him? Perhaps some kind of hint? That was awfully bold of them if that was the case.

"It's a link. Looks like it goes ta some kinda video site." Moving so that Sera and Jodie alike could see his phone's screen, Heiji cast a glance up towards them. Watching as Jodie quickly pulled out her own phone, and recorded the URL that had been sent to him, she nodded her head, silently telling him to open it.

He should have expected something like this, in retrospect.

"Oi, is that-?!" Sera began, her eyes briefly widening in surprise- before they just as quickly narrowed. It seemed as if the culprit really was just toying with them at this point- with her identity out in the open, it didn't seem if she cared that much about giving them such a vital clue as this.

It was a clue, to be sure- but it was also designed to taunt them. What other reason would they have for sending them what was likely real time footage of where Kazuha was currently being imprisoned?

"That bastard."

The faint hiss that she heard on Heiji's voice, something that barely sounded human, caused Sera's gaze to flicker up towards his face. Blinking, for a moment uncertain if what she was seeing was actually real, or was perhaps simply a trick of the light, she quickly confirmed that her eyes were in fact, not playing tricks on her.

As if it were leaking out of his pupils, traces of black were spreading out into the blue of his iris, almost seeming to surge with his rising anger. And for a moment, for the briefest of moments, she found herself wondering if they weren't dealing with just one, but rather, two monsters here.

One of whom was far more literally so than the other.

From the way the scar on his hand furiously itched, he was able to figure it out.

From what the culprit had said over the phone, it wasn't hard to guess that she was planning on making Kazuha her seventh painting. Given the planned cause of death was that of drowning, it wasn't hard to figure out that whatever supernatural creature she was planning on modeling this after had to do with water.

The most obvious answer was also the most likely one- and it was one that filled him a snaking sort of dread. They had never seen one- a real mermaid, that was, but they'd nevertheless had unforgettably brushed up against one of their legends. But there was no reason for him to think that the culprit should know about that- while the case and his involvement had been covered in the local papers, not only was Kazuha's name never mentioned, but a story like that shouldn't have traveled all this way.

Instinct told him it wasn't a coincidence, though.

It probably wasn't a coincidence that the niece of the first victim had been sought out and recruited by vampire hunters. It wasn't that he thought they had anything to do with this- but rather, that it was likely that even before her murder, Marie Grady had some kind of connection to them. For someone like that to have a death portrait painted of them as a vampire...

The culprit knew that. Amelia Hayden knew.

Perhaps it was only a guess on her part that Kazuha had been involved in the Mermaid Island case. If she had done research into him, it likely would have cropped up at some point, calling her attention to the case. Given that he had brought her with him all the way out here, it wouldn't have been that hard for her to guess that she might have been with him at the time.

Still, even that didn't quite satisfy him. After all, it wasn't just the mere fact that they had gotten mixed up into a case there that was the problem, but rather, it was the item that Kazuha had obtained there, one that was now lost to the river that flowed through the island.

The Mermaid's Arrow.

Shaking his head, Heiji tried to refocus his thoughts. Sure, it bothered him, but the most important thing right now was finding Kazuha and rescuing her- and if there was something that he could learn from this video, then he would use it to his fullest. Even if the sight of Kazuha lashed against a steel beam with chains caused both anger and panic to broil inside of him, he had to fight it back.

For some reason, it felt almost harder to than usual.

"Hattori-kun?" His internal struggles most have been less so than he thought, for the soft hand that he felt on his shoulder was one that was filled with concern. "I think you probably need to step outside for a moment, to get a bit of fresh air. I'll keep monitoring the video for you, don't worry."

"Y-yeah, yer right." Slowly nodding his head, Heiji drew in a shuddering breath. He didn't want to leave, but at the same time, she was probably right- a bit of fresh air would probably help him. Right now, they had already sent the link to some of her coworkers in the FBI, with orders to try and track where it was coming from. Though he hated the idea of anyone being allowed to see Kazuha in such a state, especially complete strangers, if it could get them results, he would swallow such feelings.

Still, he didn't think it would be that simple. After the link had been sent to them, any other attempts to contact Kazuha's phone had turned up fruitless- the culprit had already switched off the power. They would try and track it's location, but...

Right now, at this very second, there was nothing that he could do. It was frustrating, but if he wanted the best chance of saving Kazuha, then he had to accept the help of others. Her safety was more important than his pride.

"Then, sorry, Jodie-han. I'm goin' ta excuse myself fer awhile."

With a quick nod of his head, Heiji moved towards the door, pausing only to collect his sword case before he headed back towards the roof. Night had already fallen on the town, tugging at something within his blood, the lack of bright sunlight giving him some small relief. He still felt like hell though, in a way that he hadn't in awhile.

Something inside of his head was frazzled, as if there was a cloud of static over his thoughts, no matter what he tried to do to combat it. Even with the brim of his hat now shadowing his face, he couldn't focus half as much as he wanted to, allowing his emotions to get the better of him in a situation where even he was well aware that he couldn't afford such a thing.

This was bad. If this kept up...

That's right. Kudo. He should call Kudo. Maybe the sound of his friend's voice on the other end of the line might help ground him somewhat. At the very least, he would be able to bounce ideas off of him. He didn't think that Kudo had much more knowledge of this area than he did, but there still might be something that they could realize together.

Pacing the rooftop, Heiji cast a glance towards the door, only half remembering to double check to ensure that nobody was listening in. Since he couldn't hear the sound of anyone's heartbeat, he assumed that he was alone at the moment. While it was possible that woman might have something watching the hotel, he doubted it- if she did, he would most likely be able to see it, or at the very least, feel it's presence.

Honestly, what was that thing? He had seemed to be able to banish it with his sword, which was good, but knowing exactly what was bothered him.

Perking up at the sound of someone picking up the other end of the call, Heiji almost felt his shoulders slump as he heard the familiar sound of his friend's voice. What he wouldn't give to have him with him right now- but then again, if he had been here, there was a chance that they could be searching for two missing persons right now, not just one.

Not that Kudo would go without a fight- but Kazuha wouldn't either, and look how that had ended up.

"It's bad, Kudo."

"I can tell that much from the sound of your voice, Hattori." Conan noted. "Did something happen after that? You said that you'd found some kind of secret room last time you called."

Ah, that's right- he hadn't gotten back to Kudo yet after that. There hadn't been the time. Rubbing the back of his neck, Heiji tried to decide from where to start- and concluded that the most important thing should probably come first. Everything else was now secondary to the situation at hand, even trying to figure what, exactly, the culprit's motive was.

Witch or not, she probably had them.

"Kazuha's been kidnapped."

"Mitsuta-neechan!"

If there was one thing Arishima Mitsuta was not expecting that morning when she woke up, it was a small child all but breaking down the door of her clinic. That was a bit of an exaggeration, granted, yet that was very much how it felt when she found the door thrown open, a rather breathless child pausing to catch it in the doorway.

"Conan-kun?" Mitsuta blinked, before slightly tilting her head. "Is everything alright?"

In spite of the fact that her clinic was located not that far from the Mouri Detective Agency where the young boy apparently resided, she hadn't really ever had many chances to speak with him. Of those times, she'd never had a chance to do so alone, and never when he had such a desperate expression on his face.

"Ha-" He began, before he quickly corrected himself, drawing in a long breath. "Heiji-niichan is a bad situation right now. He needs your help."

"My help?" Mitsuta blinked, for a moment more confused by the suddenness of this than anything else. If she recalled correctly, right now, Heiji was busy investigating a case overseas- he had called her about it a few times, to check a few things with her, but hadn't gotten in touch with her lately. "Did he already return from America?"

"No, he's still there." Conan said, shaking his head. "Kazuha-neechan's been kidnapped."

"Kidnapped?" Blinking rapidly, Mitsuta's eyes narrowed, setting down her coffee mug. That she didn't like the sound of, for more reasons than one. "That is a serious situation. But even if you tell me that, I'm not sure how I can help. I'm a doctor, not a detective."

"She might have been..." Conan opened his mouth, before quickly shutting it again, still not half able to believe that he was about to say something like this. "She might have been kidnapped my a witch."

"A witch?" Mitsuta asked, her brows furrowing together in thought. "Now that I think about it, Hattori-kun did mention something about that to me the last time he called. Is a witch involved with the case he's working on right now? He was awfully scarce on details, so..."

"Yeah, one might be." Conan forced himself to admit. Heiji had sent him some of the photos, by his own request. Even if the culprit wasn't the real deal, it was clear that at the very least, they were someone who thought themselves a witch- and judging from the secret basement setup, they weren't talking about the benevolent, charm casting kind.

"If a witch really kidnapped her, then..." Making her way towards one of the file cabinets behind her desk, dragging one leg slightly behind her, Mitsuta opened up a drawer, rifling through it. "I don't know if it will help, but I do know another witch that Hattori-kun might be able to skip with. Getting her to agree to help though might be..."

"Difficult?" Conan finished for her, able to glean that much from her tone alone. "We'll take it regardless. From the sound of it, he only has forty eight hours to rescue Kazuha-neechan before she drowns."

"Drowns?!" Nearly dropping the folder out of surprise, Mitsuta turned on her heel to face the young child, briefly wondering how someone so young could say something so easily. "She wasn't just kidnapped?"

"No." Shaking his head, Conan narrowed his eyes. "Like I said before, it's a bad situation."

"It certainly sounds that way." Mitsuta observed, placing the folder on her desk and opening it up. Scanning it for the information that she needed, she jotted down a name and number on a scrap of paper. "And? How is Hattori-kun doing? You spoke with him, correct?"

"Y-yeah." Slowly nodding his head, Conan couldn't help but frown. It was a perfectly normal question to ask under these circumstances, and yet something about it bothered him. It was the tone, he realized, a moment later- there was something almost vaguely clinical about it, mixed in with the genuine concern for one of her patients. "He seems... strained, I guess."

"Understandable." Mitsuta noted, making her way over towards him, passing him the scrap of paper. "Here's the phone number for the witch in question. Hopefully she'll be able to help Hattori-kun sort out what he's dealing with, and figure if it really is a witch that's causing him problems right now."

"Thank you, Mitsuta-neechan." Gratefully accepting the scrap of paper from her, Conan tucked it into one pocket. "Is there some reason that I should be worried about Heiji-niichan though? Other than the obvious, I mean."

"Ah, well that's..." Leaving her words hanging for the moment, Mitsuta carefully tried to think of how to phrase what it was that she wanted to say. The last thing that she wanted to do was to cause this child undue stress in such an already stressful time- though she had to admit, he was taking it rather well, all things considered.

Heiji had asked her, after all, to keep the fact that there was a chance he might relapse into that state a secret. It wasn't a guarantee, only just a slim chance- since they had brought him out of a dangerous condition by using untested methods, it was hard to say what the long term results might be on him. Hopefully she was wrong, but if she wasn't...

This situation seemed as if it would be the perfect storm of circumstances for it. And if he relapsed back into that violent state in a distant country, without anyone around who knew him that well, or knew what he was, he was hard to imagine what might happen. Nothing good, at the very least- that much she knew without having to guess.

"It's that flower, isn't it?"

Nearly freezing at Conan's tone of voice, Mitsuta snapped out of her thoughts, for a moment, finding herself wondering if the gaze that was fixed on her was really that of a child's. What an intense gaze.

"No, it's not like that-" Mitsuta began, before she found herself cut off once again, this time by the long, exasperated sigh of someone who knew the person they were speaking about all too well.

"Heiji-niichan told you not to say anything, didn't he?" Conan asked, arching a brow. As he thought, there was something. The idea that Heiji was keeping something from him, especially something that was important from the sound of it, bothered him- but he couldn't claim that he didn't understand.

Letting out a long sigh of her own, Mitsuta merely nodded her head. She got the impression there was no fooling this child. "He did." She finally admitted, giving Conan a curt nod of her head. "But it's only just a possibility, Conan-kun."

"A possibility of what?" Conan asked, having a crawling feeling he knew where this was going. He knew that he should have found some way to go with him after all- he'd rather be there, than here right now, by Heiji's side, helping him locate Kazuha.

Drawing in a breath, Mitsuta spent only a moment pondering how she should phrase it. Somehow, she didn't think that this child needed as many delicate words as she had first thought.

"For relapse."