Feels very nice to be getting back into the swing of things somewhat. Thanks to all of my reviewers and readers! Also, reference is made to a koseki; it's basically an offical registry of all the marriages, births, deaths, etc. in a particular region. The regional koseki are sent to Tokyo for an annual census.

"Ran."

"Yes, Shinichi?"

"Your dad's…humming." And also completely sober, newly shaven and not camped out over at the pachinko parlor like he usually is most of the day on Wednesdays, Shinichi tacked on mentally afterward because he didn't want to risk a nasty punch or kick from an angered Ran. He continued to watch Mouri Kogoro walk around and carefully sort items onto shelves in the first attempt at actually really cleaning his office that Shinichi had ever seen the tantei engage in, humming an Okino Yoko ballad loudly while he worked to top off the strange scene and managing to disconcert Shinichi more than slightly in the process.

"Oh, that" Ran replied with a laugh and shake of her head as she dusted a small coffee table and gestured towards Kogoro with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Apparently Dad got a call from a client today thanks to a referral from Agasa-hakase, so he's all excited and wants to get the place straightened up before they arrive."

"Damn right I'm happy! The old man's finally sent me an actual, paying client for once!" Kogoro suddenly paused from his rearranging of the crime scene procedure manuals scattered about his office's bookshelves and rubbed his chin thoughtfully while glancing at the ceiling. "Although honestly I don't usually like working such an old missing persons case; probably not going to have much luck with a woman- well, girl- that vanished over twenty years ago now. It'll be one hell of a cold trail if I can even begin to find anything, but money's money."

"Twenty years ago? That's an awfully long time," began Shinichi as he began to help Ran move the wooden table so she could sweep underneath it. "Why the sudden interest from your client after all this time?"

"Ah, that's because she's actually the sister of the girl that vanished. I guess they tore down the house that the family was living at the time her sister disappeared sometime last week and it got her wondering again about what actually happened." Kogoro pulled out what appeared to be a thin file folder and began looking through it and continued on. "The case was never solved because the police never really found any solid leads according to her. They tagged the girl as a runaway in the end after deciding that they were getting nowhere, but the sister doesn't think that's the case."

"Oh yeah! I nearly forgot after we got busy cleaning. Shinichi, where's Kihagi at? I got Dad and I some anmitsu for a treat; there's some in that bag for you and Kihagi too." Ran indicated a bag sitting by the shoe rack that bore a nearby sweet shop's logo on it.

"Eh, he's gone to hang out with some of his new friends from school for a couple of hours- don't worry, I made sure that his new cell phone was with him and fully charged," added Shinichi quickly once he caught sight of Ran's somewhat worried look. "He's going to catch the bus back when he's done. I'll bring the bag back with me."

"Ran told me all about that kid Ookami Kihagi and the shape he was in when you found him at tropical Land by the way," commented Kogoro gruffly as he vented a sudden bout of anger by throwing a wooden knickknack at the shelf. "Where the hell are his parents at? I'd like to give them both a piece of my mind for letting him live like that."

"I've never really asked him much about them- every time I try and bring it up with him he finds a way to change the subject. I figure he'll open up about it when and if he's ready to." Shinichi helped Ran finish moving the table back into place. "At least he's got a safe place to stay now."

"A safe place, Kudo? Your house?" Kogoro faced Shinichi while he finished the last of the shelf arranging, placing more than a few odds and ends incorrectly due to that. "Hah! Between that damn booby-trapped house of yours and Agasa-hakase's exploding experiments down the street that kid is probably going to end up in a full-body cast before the week is out-"

"For the last time that statue on the bookcase that fell on you was not rigged as a trap-"

The doorbell to the office trilled, interrupting the irritated Shinichi before he could finish his sentence. Ran went up to the front of the office, answered the door and escorted a brown-haired woman who looked to be in her mid to late twenties back into the main room of the agency a couple of minutes later.

"Thank you for agreeing to see me, Mouri-kun," began the woman with a polite bow. "I'm Akiyama Fujiko, the person that Agasa-hakase referred to you."

"I was happy to take the case once Agasa-hakase told me your story, Akiyama-san." Kogoro took out a note pad and settled in to the room's couch, sitting across from Fujiko who was in the love seat on the opposite side. "I'd like to review the facts we discussed over the phone to make sure that they're correct before we head over to where your house was located if you don't mind."

"Of course, although everything's so hard to recall now that I'm really trying to think back to it." She sighed and shook her head, but the gesture almost seemed more tinged with frustration than sadness. "I was only five the day Hisako went outside to play while I was ill and never came back…I almost feel guilty for not being able to remember her outside of photographs."

"Yeah, that's right- I remember you mentioning that you were sick with the flu at the time, at least according to your parents. Both of your parents were at home on that evening too, right?" Kogoro was frantically writing as he spoke.

"Yes they were. They both went outside and searched for her after it got well past dark and she still hadn't come in from playing the yard. Apparently when Mom hadn't come to check up on me in a while I crawled out of bed and went looking for her. It might actually be best if you were to call them before we leave-we might actually be able to meet them at where the house used to be."

"That was another thing I wanted to ask you about. You mentioned that your parents moved you about six months after she disappeared. Did they ever sell or rent out that old house?"

"Oh, no. At least I don't believe they ever did. Some people in the neighborhood said that my sister's ghost was haunting the grounds around the house and no one wanted to buy it or even live in it. My parents finally sold off the land to some developers a few months ago, and they tore the house down last week. I guess knowing that the house got torn down really got me wondering just what had happened, although I don't really recall very much at all about Hisako."

"Did you ever ask your parents about it, or did they ever speak about it?"

"I asked a lot, especially when I was little. They always said that they had no idea what had happened. And they especially avoided the subject once we moved."

"Alright. Well, let's go ahead and get going over to where your house used to be. Hopefully we'll be able to find at least something even if they've torn the house down now."

"This case is almost a week old now and you're telling me you still don't have any leads?" Nakamori Ginzo was finding it increasingly strange that any and all of the leads regarding the murder of whoever had been left at the scene of the Black Fox's latest robbery seemed to all be shrouded in some kind of impenetrable black fog. It was as if they were chasing a phantom- any identification of the victim invariably led to a false name and address or to a name that didn't exist anywhere at all. Of course, he was having his team try to figure out whether the murder was connected to the robbery that his task force was assigned to, but that was proving to be very difficult since neither they or the homicide team that was working the murder seemed to be able to pin down the victim's identity.

"The victim is a very slippery customer unfortunately, as you know. The really odd part is that he doesn't seem to be registered in any of the koseki anywhere, regardless of what names we're eventually connecting with the guy. It's like he's a ghost, and the homicide division seems to be having the same lack of luck." This was very strange, and something that caused Ginzo to wonder just what they were getting themselves into. If someone didn't appear on any of the koseki anywhere in Japan, that effectively meant that that person didn't legally even exist as far as Japan was concerned.

"So is this person perhaps a foreigner, or someone that was never registered in a koseki?"

"That's the next route that we're- well, the homicide detectives in charge of the case are pursuing, sir. It seems to be the only explanation left at this point. And whoever this guy turns out to be, it's pretty apparent that he's not the Black Fox judging by what we found on the doorstep this morning." The officer who was meeting with his keibu couldn't help but glance over at the gift-wrapped painting that the Black Fox had left on their doorstep and suppress a snicker in spite of himself.

"Yeah, I figured that out. Dammit, what the hell was this dead guy doing there? And how did he manage to not only get into that area, but get himself killed by someone ELSE that managed to get in there? Where the hell were the two patrolmen who were supposed to be watching the scene when the murder happened? It was a cordoned-off crime scene that no one should have been able to get into or out of."

"Apparently, they both heard someone screaming for help down the hallway and so they went to assist. By the time they got to where the yelling was coming from, it had stopped and there was no one there and nothing out of the ordinary that they could see. Then they returned to their stations and saw the body inside of the cordoned off crime scene."

"So they were probably gone for at most what, five minutes? But they didn't see or hear anything except for the screaming that made them leave their posts." Ginzo rubbed his temples. "Now remind me again why both of them had to leave. One or the other of them could have gone, but they should have known better than to both leave at the same time."

"That's being looked into." The officer got up from his chair to begin to exit the room. "It doesn't seem to have been anything the Black Fox set up, either, unless he's changed his M.O. of always leaving one of those stuffed animals behind."

"Hmph, you didn't need to tell me that. No, a murder doesn't seem like his style at all-especially with it taking place at the scene of one of his robberies. That bastard likes staying hidden in the shadows and not drawing attention to himself unless he wants the attention. Goddamn presents..."

"That's also the opinion of the homicide division that's working the murder case, although there's no hard evidence one way or the other yet. Maybe the Black Fox returned to the scene of the crime and the guy saw him or something like that, so Black Fox felt that he had to silence him."

"I doubt that- the guy's been too careful to even let himself be seen on a security camera, I highly doubt that he would not only return to the scene of one of his robberies so soon but also go without a mask or something to hide his identity." Ginzo pulled out a notebook. "Who were the two that were working the case again- Satou-keiji and Takagi-keiji, right? I know their captain Megure-keibu, I think I'll give him a call and see how they're progressing." Ginzo picked up the phone as the Hound task force member left the room.