Hey there !
Ready for this busy chapter ?
I promise you some ShinRan, some KazuHei and ... some cliff ! Busy chapter, I said ; )
o.O.o
Laury Rose : Yup, it'll be big trouble for our boys :D Yes, that's it... We'll learn later who it is and what was his level of involvement in the last cases... ; ) And yea, I also think being able to be himself with Heiji is a great relief to Conan so... perhaps it won't deserve them here but... Shin needs it !
emmahoshi : Haha, yea, it was an extra short trip, but for work, not vacation so yea, was hard to find a minute to update, I posted it from the airport before being stuck there in the snow... ^^;;; Nevermind, I'm back in France ; ) There's indeed a kind of organisation and not the BO, we'll learn more little by little... ^^ Oh, so many good ideas in that theories... really close to the point, you'll be able to see it later : ) Haha, thanks ^_^ Indeed, the beginning was perhaps a bit hard to follow and to appreciate but I think you may appreciate the fact to have been able to hold 'til the end... ; )
SilverQueen08 : Maa, Jodie is already here, she's just not looking in the right direction... Ah, be careful not to catch my bad guy's attention, it's a real psycho, he could just... Ah, yea, indeed, he got you ^^;; *calls Conan and Hattori for help* ^^ But well, yea, we'll see the BO, sooner or later... :D Yup, 'gratz xD
Chapter 14 - Mixed fortunes
Three hours later, the four of them were wrapped up in their parkas and stepping into the largest temple of Tokyo, the Meiji Jingû. Ran had proposed to go out for a walk since the snow had stopped and Kazuha had insisted on going to that temple, wanting to see it under the snow, having heard it was quite a sight.
They apparently were among the only ones to have thought it was a good idea, since the place was pretty empty for a Sunday afternoon, giving the odd feeling of being alone in a forest of the North Islands and not in a megalopolis of over 10 million inhabitants.
Both girls were walking cheerfully in front of the two detectives who were, as they foresaw it, quite tired after their short night and going with quite a slower rhythm.
"- You good ?" Conan finally asked when he saw his friend was now as white as the snow covering the trees. He didn't look well during lunch and it seemed to get worse.
"- Yea, I just need somethin' ta eat ta get rid o' that taste..." The Osakan answered with a bored voice. "Found anythin' interestin' durin' yer 'nap' ?
- Nah, more like I asked some others to investigate for me since there wasn't anything obvious... The ones we had arrested are still in jail. And their families don't have any peculiar behaviour so...
- Are some o' them well-versed into miniaturized technologies ? Or educated enough ta use some efficiently ?
- Like everyman's... I asked the professor to look a bit further but I wouldn't give it too much hope if I were you..." The boy deplored, shaking his head.
"- An' what about a contract on us ?
- Yea, I also thought about it so I asked to the FBI to check if they knew someone with that kind of methods...
- So just wait, eh ?" The dark-skinned frowned as he crossed his arms against his chest.
"- Aoww..." They suddenly heard the girls exclaim, both with a tender expression on their faces as they were looking at a small wooden building.
"- What is it, Ran-neechan ?" Conan wondered as he came closer, to be grabbed by the girl so he could see the inside.
"- Look, look, there is a shooting for a wedding in there !"
Curious, the child had a glimpse through the curtains and indeed saw a woman in a white kimono, some people around her, helping with her clothes and hairdo, while another was preparing a camera. The girl was quite pretty and her facial features were soft, a bit like Ran's. She may look like this, in a few years, the day he'll ask...
The small detective's cheeks turned red at the idea and the fact his beloved was holding him against his chest wasn't helping at all.
"- That girl is so beautiful, I'd like ta wear a kimono like hers one day... Ya think it could suit me, Heiji ? " Kazuha dared to ask, a bit blushing as she was imagining he could be the one by her side that day.
But the partner of her dreams wasn't – at all – in the same mood right now.
"- One o' those please !" The Osakan was asking to a nearby stand with a wide smile, almost drooling in front of the white manjyus.
- Aye sir !"
"- Ya damn walking stomach, we barely finished eating..." Kazuha growled with both boredom and frustration as she approached, the magic of the moment broken by the lack of romanticism of the detective of the West who was grabbing his manjyu with avidity.
"- I wouldn' need ta eat sometin' so soon if ya didn' beg Nee-chan ta put almost only Gyû suji in the oden we had fer lunch an' force me ta eat them because they were 'my favourite' an' ya cooked them 'only ta please me'..." The dark-skinned commented with a low voice, not wanting to sound impolite towards Ran, as the girl had just been unconsciously involved in that whole plan schemed by his childhood friend. "Ya so know how much I hate these...
- I told ya I'd be having my revenge !" The girl retorted with a proud smirk.
"- Food is not fair !
- Spiders aren't fair either !"
Conan had a sigh when the first 'ahou' echoed in the temple, disrupting the quiet of this snowy day. "Hard to believe those two were cuddling each other barely two weeks ago..." He thought with a smirk when he looked at his friend who was quarrelling with Kazuha as if they were still in primary school.
Seeing they weren't going to stop any soon, not really feeling the cold with their agitation, while she was starting to feel quite frozen, Ran finally interrupted them. "Kazuha-chan, let's go and buy some o-mamori, the ones from this temple are the most efficient of the whole city !" She proposed as she grabbed her friend's arm.
"- Yea, I guess we'll need it against that murder-magnet of a detective freak..." The pony-tailed girl agreed with a flat look at her childhood friend.
"- Why is she so tiresome the days I'm dead tired ? " Heiji sighed as he let himself fall on a nearby rock to rest a bit, rubbing his chest as it stung slightly where he had been hit, before biting with enthusiasm in his food.
"- That's what girls do, right ?
- Don' say it too loud, yer Ran-neechan might not appreciate..." The Osakan warned with an amused smile after he swallowed his first mouthful with a relieved face. "Rah, finally... A bit cold though.
- So your weakness is... Gyû suji ?" Conan snorted, a mocking expression on the face while he looked at the dark-skinned.
"- Okan is fond o' those... I ate so many as a kid, I can' stand it anymore. Even the smell is..." He concluded with a chill before grabbing another bite of his manjyu to get the memory out of his mind.
"- And weren't you doing better with Kazuha after what happened in that mountain ?
- We... don' mention it..." The green-eyed detective answered, looking away with a blush. "Mutual agreement.
- Why ?
- We did it because it was necessary... It wasn' about feelings or whatever...
- Oh, come on..." The bespectacled child facepalmed with boredom. How could his friend be so dense... No way Kazuha would hug him if she didn't feel anything towards him... "So you think she would have done it for anyone else ? For that Yamato-san for example ?
- No way she could ...!" Heiji spurted, getting up and letting go of his manjyu with the surprise and the shock to imagine his childhood friend cuddling with the blue-eyed doctor.
"- Why ?" The boy insisted, trying to gently push his friend on the right track.
"- Uhhh..." The teen crossed his arms against his chest, with a really focused expression, provoking another facepalm in the boy's mind.
"- All this drama fer some food ya just waste on the floor ?" Kazuha observed when they came back and she noticed the half eaten manjyu at Heiji's feet.
"- Aaah, no way, when did I let it go ?!" The Osakan complained as he finally noticed he let it fall earlier.
"- You found your o-mamori ?" Conan asked to Ran, seeing she was keeping something in her hand.
"- Yes, look, it's a new design, they're so cute ! I also bought one for Shinichi, I'll give it to him next time."
The small detective looked at the little red pouch in his friend's hand, with a golden character on it. "Luck".
"- He'll like it I bet..." He gently smiled when he saw it was his favourite colour.
"- Hope they are efficient..." Kazuha prayed fervently.
"- Kyaaa !"
"And that's a no..." The boy thought, half amused, half bored.
He looked up at Heiji, to see the teen had already his eyes on the place the yell came from, the little building where was taking place the shooting they noticed earlier.
"- Kaori-san, everything's good ?" They heard a male voice ask, the photographer very probably.
"- Uh, yes, sorry, I thought it was a huge insect but that was just a leaf...
- You silly..." A female voice giggled after that statement.
The detectives' shoulders relaxed as they understood their help wouldn't be needed this time.
"- Not that bad... " The dark-skinned admitted with a look of connivance at Conan.
"- Yes, you should keep those, they seem efficient !" He added with a smile.
Feeling his phone was vibrating, the detective of the West grabbed it with a frown, a bit uneasy. His best friend had given it back to him when they got out of the FBI car that brought them back to the agency. The programming had been removed, there shouldn't be any risk left but he was still not really at ease with incoming calls.
But that worry was for nothing as it was only the alarm he set to remember it was time to leave.
"- Time's up, guys. We got ta go back if we want ta catch our train."
The girls had one last look at the woman in white, Heiji a last one at his spoiled manjyu before throwing it in a bin with a sigh and the group left.
A few days later
A treatment room. Empty. No lights on.
"- Ya know, that murder reminded me o' that previous case... "
Heiji recognized his own voice, a bit muffled.
"- Oh, Hattori Heiji, long time no see !"
The other voice was cheerful. But, while he could see what was around him, he still couldn't identify the white shape he was facing. He tried to focus on it, he knew he was having one of those flash-backs the FBI agent mentioned, that it was the moment to try to get as much information as he could from those short scenes but...
"- Hattori-kun !"
The Osakan jumped out of his dream to notice he had been sleeping on his desk and that a tiny dark-haired woman was looking at him over her glasses with hard eyes.
Uhh, the maths teacher, if he had been able to choose a class he slept in, it clearly wouldn't have been this one.
"- Haha, sorry, m'mam...
- There's nothing funny in falling asleep during my lessons, Hattori-kun." She answered with an icy-cold voice before her expression finally softened a little bit. Despite the fact she was hiding it under her hard looks, she was really careful of her students and she knew that one wasn't meaning any harm usually. "Go to the infirmary if you need some sleep."
It was his last class of the day but, having the urge to check his theory immediately, the dark-skinned rubbed the back of his head with a grimace of embarrassment. "I think I will, sorry...
- Don't be sorry, just get someone's notes to make up for today. You'll go to the blackboard next time.
- Noted..." He confirmed, his mood darkening a bit.
The teen grabbed his bag and got out of the classroom, barely taking the time to close the door behind him, in his hurry to get his phone out. Heading to the roof not to be caught wandering in the hallways, he quickly dialled Otaki's number.
"- Hey, Otaki-han !
- Hei-chan ! How are ya doin' ?
- Great, great... Ne, I had a question fer ya... Do ya remember that case at the hospital ?
- Yea, o' course, ya were one o' the witnesses after all... Nicely wrapped up once again, Hei-chan." The man observed with a mix of admiration and gratitude in the voice.
"- Haha, thanks... Just one thin', did I act strange after it ?
- Hmm... Ah, ya said ya forgot something an' ran somewhere else
- Out o' the hospital ?" Heiji asked with eagerness.
"- Nah, inside. I even think I was out before ya, since I didn' see ya leave. But I was busy so...
- Ok... Do ya remember what time it was when ya left ?
- Around 7 p.m., I'd say... I thought ya were perhaps with that nurse friend o' yers so I didn' look fer ya... What happened ? Ya sound like ya're lookin' fer an alibi..." The policeman pointed out with an amused snort.
"- Don' worry, I didn' turn ta crime..." The Osakan denied with a little laugh, perhaps a bit more nervous than usually.
"Though, came quite close, lucky Kudô an' the Kid were there..."
"- Well, thanks fer the help, Otaki-han !
- Anytime..."
The green-eyed detective hung up his phone with a grin of triumph... The list of the potential culprits just dropped dramatically and that was for the best.
"Better call Kudô..." He finally decided, eager to speak about his theories with his best friend.
"- Oy, Kudô ?
- Yea ? " The slightly bored voice of the azure-eyed answered.
"- Ah, that was fast, I guess ya aren' at school anymore ?
- Yea, I just came back home, we finished early today." He confirmed as he tiptoed to fetch the mail in the Mouri's mailbox before entering the detective's office. "Taidaima ! Tssk, drunk already...
- Occhan ? Haha, he'll have quite the scoldin' when Nee-chan will come back...
- She has her Karate training today, he'll be safe for a few more hours..." Conan explained with a sigh when he looked at his uncle, snoring on his desk, surrounded by empty beer cans. "So, what's up ? You remembered something ? Our culprit ?
- I still have nothin' about the culprit but yea, I had a kind o' flash-back... I think I've been programmed at the hospital...
- Eh ?!" The boy spurted with surprise, letting go of the mail on the floor.
"- I solved a case in there an' Otaki-han told me he never saw me goin' out after I told him I forgot somethin'...
- You think you've been hidden among the patients and that your brainwash has been presented as a treatment ?
- Sounds plausible, right ? While I know a good part o' the ER's staff, I've never been in the psychiatric department, I don' think they'd recognise me... An' that would mean one thin'...
- ... The culprit works there. In that specific department." The small detective concluded before finally bending to the floor to grab the letters he let go.
"- Exactly.
- That's great news, it's going to shorten our list quite a lot !
- I know, that's why I called as soon as I could ! So, what's next ?
- Just don't go alone to that hospital again..." Conan ordered with a flat voice.
Noticing a black envelope on the floor, he frowned when he saw it was to his attention, Edogawa Conan's.
"- I know, I know, 'careful', I heard ya..." Heiji confirmed with a short uncomfortable laugh. The Osakan paused a bit, waiting for an answer, before impatiently asking again. "So, Kudô ?... Ya still there ? Kudô ?!
- They... They have her..." The bespectacled detective announced with a blank voice, clenching the letter in his little fist. "They have her, Hattori."
Gyû-suji : beef tendons : ) According to some, pretty good in Oden but I haven't been brave enough to try xD