AN: I must confess that I actually wanted to get this update down two days ago, but between the four hour fireworks bonanza on Tuesday keeping me from focusing, and the headache on Wednesday, I wasn't able to get as much done as I wanted to. But it is finally done, so there's that, at the very least! Sorry for keeping y'all waiting for this long, that wasn't my overall intention, so much as it just kind of happened.

As always, thanks for reading! Please leave a review if you can!

The Bells Chime Beyond

Chapter Twenty-One

Speak No Lies

"It wasn't nothing, was it?"

He should have known better than to think that he could fool someone like Kudo. His shoulders slumping, Heiji let out a long breath, wondering what it was that he should say. Part of him wanted to reassure him once more that it really had been nothing, even though he knew that his friend wouldn't buy it, but the other part of him felt as if he deserved to know the truth.

Besides, that sensation... if this perhaps was something dangerous, then it would be better if he had someone who knew about it. For a brief moment, it had felt almost as if he hadn't quite been there, lacking any other way to describe it. Even now that it had faded, it was still more than enough to make his skin crawl.

Yer right, Kudo. I lied.

"I figured." Conan said, letting out a long sigh. He'd really wanted to press him about it earlier, but he'd wisely decided that it should wait, at the very least until they put a bit of distance from Junko's room. This wasn't something that they wanted her to overhear, even if she'd only be able to make out one part of the conversation. Ideally, he'd rather they return to his own room to discuss the matter, but considering the fact that Junko might be in danger, neither of them wanted to let her room out of their sights.

She was likely the reason why the culprit had lingered in the way they had. Most likely, they hadn't been aware that Kazuko had a client that had been planned to come visit that day, and had expected to find Junko somewhere within the house. When they failed to, they had probably decided to wait for her to come back- but thankfully, the ones who had gotten there first weren't who they had been expecting at all.

If that old man hadn't gotten on the wrong train, and if Junko hadn't come to check on them, and missed crossing paths with them, they probably would have been dealing with two victims here, not just one. But so long as the culprit thought that she might know something about what her grandmother was looking into, he found it hard to believe that they would just let her live.

As it stood, she was in danger.

She hadn't said as much in words, but it would appear that she realized it too. When morning broke, he would see what he could do to get her some form of police protection, but he didn't know if Yamamura would go along with it. At the very least, if they were in the neighboring prefecture, rather than this one, he was certain he could get Inspector Yamato to believe him right away, but since they weren't, he had to make do with what they currently had.

Inspector Yamato wouldn't accuse Heiji of murder either, Conan thought glumly- nor of being a fake. Between the two, he honestly couldn't decide which bothered him the more.

Still, he couldn't deny that something weird had happened back there.

"Are you going to talk to me about it, Hattori?" Conan asked, looking him straight in the eyes- or tried to, at any rate. Narrowing his own, Conan couldn't help but wonder when it was that he had slid the fox mask into place over his face, but it gave him an uneasy feeling, not being able to see his friend's eyes. What if they looked as they had in that moment?

That zoned out expression of his from back then... it hadn't been normal, not at all. Though Heiji was the type to get distracted, from time to time, it had never happened like that. It almost looked as if he wasn't really there, but was someplace far away.

Even if ya ask me that, I don't know what ta tell ya, Kudo. Heiji confessed, half sensing that the presence of the mask on his face was making his friend nervous. He considered moving it, but on the off chance that there was someone with the ability to see here, someone who might be watching, it would provide him some small degree of protection.

Instead, he leaned his back against the wall, willing himself not to simply fall through it, his tail already slipping through. It's just... fer a second, I thought I heard somethin', just barely inside my range of hearin'. Even if ya ask me what it was, I can't tell ya that either, I just know that I could hear it. It sounded like a voice, maybe, or somethin' near like one, but I can't really tell ya anythin' more than that.

"A voice?" Conan asked, narrowing his eyes. "Was it just hearing the voice that distracted you? It didn't seem that way to me, Hattori."

That's because yer right. Heiji admitted again, a hand straying up, resting lightly on his mask. Unlike other things, it had a solid physical presence to him, in the sense that it was probably part of him. Fer a moment, it was like it wormed it's way inside of my head, an' not in the same way mine's doin' with ya right now. I didn't like it, Kudo, not one bit.

"Do you think it's dangerous?" Conan asked. It felt like a silly question, but nevertheless one that he still needed to give voice to, even if he already knew what the answer was.

For a long moment, Heiji said nothing- until he drew in a long breath, hand dropping away from his mask.

Yeah. Definitely.

In the end, he hadn't said a word to her.

To his credit, he had thought about it, rather long and hard. He'd had plenty of time in which to do it, since he had decided to stand guard in front of Junko's room all night, with Kudo by his side. He'd tried to convince him that he didn't need to stay up with him, but after what he had told him, he knew that his words were bound to fall on deaf ears. There was no guarantee that that voice, that presence, wouldn't come back, nor was there any telling what it was that it had wanted in the first place.

Though it wasn't as if they couldn't make a few guesses.

In the end, he had decided against telling Kazuha about what had happened last night. He didn't want to cause her any worry, especially when nothing had happened yet. Though she eyed him somewhat suspiciously as he let out a loud yawn, the exhaustion from last night hitting him hard the moment he took on a more physical form, she apparently accepted the explanation for why he hadn't been there when she had woken up that morning.

It wasn't as if he was lying anyways, not exactly.

It would be Kudo's job to convince Yamamura to ensure that Junko had police eyes watching her, which seemed to be a task that he had passed on to the old Professor. Whether or not it would work, it didn't really matter- he didn't intend to allow for a situation where she might be put in danger.

If the culprit had gone so far as to kill her grandmother just to shut her up, there was no guarantee that they would believe that Junko really didn't know anything. Whoever they were, and whatever they were trying to hide, he got the sense that they were the type who didn't like to leave any loose ends lying around.

He wondered if that was what he was, since he had seen them- a loose end. Either that, or he was merely a tool, one that they intended to try and use- especially after Yamamura's outburst from yesterday had been heard by everyone. Well, whatever their plan was, he wasn't about to let them have their way. He had come here to begin his journey to return to being human, not to stray further from that path.

"So ya really think Junko-san's in danger, Heiji?" Having the good sense to lower her voice when she spoke, Kazuha leaned a bit closer to him. "In that case, ya should hurry up an' figure out which of 'em is the culprit, quick."

Casting an incredulous look in her direction, Heiji opened his mouth to make a retort to that- before he quickly closed it again, rolling his eyes and resorting to sign language. 'Ya don't think I'm tryin'?'

"I think yer tryin', all right, but that ya should hurry up." Kazuha noted, a hint of a mischievous smile crossing her face. "If Kudo-kun was here, I bet this case could have been solved in a flash."

It was provocation, and he knew it, but that didn't keep him from taking the bait. Maybe it was for the best he couldn't speak right now, otherwise he was almost certain he would have grumbled out something to the effect of Kudo's already here, idiot. Thankfully, he had the discretion not to sign anything out to that effect, if nothing else.

To make matters worse, he knew that Kudo had heard it, too. That was the sound of his faint snickering that he could make out, not nearly covered so well that he couldn't hear it. He could laugh all he wanted, but the one who would solve this case was still going to be him- he had too much of a personal involvement in this case for anything else.

Instead, he merely cast a sour look towards Kazuha, his brows furrowing together. 'Idiot, I don't need Kudo around ta solve a case like this. I'm startin' ta get a picture of what might have happened anyways, it's only a matter of time before I solve the whole thing.'

"Well, if ya say so Heiji, then I believe ya." Kazuha observed, casting a smile in his direction. It would appear that her words weren't necessary to get him all fired up- but for all that he gave her headaches, she couldn't help but want to make him grumble from time to time. "Do ya need my help?"

Nodding his head, Heiji's gaze flickered in Junko's direction, before he looked back towards Kazuha once more. 'Yeah. Keep watch on Junko-han fer me while I'm gone. I don't know yet if that hack Inspector's actually goin' ta listen ta that old man yet or not, but I wouldn't bank too much on it.'

"Then, I guess Junko-han's been removed from suspicion, then?" Kazuha asked, keeping her voice low. "Well it did seem that way. It would be pretty hard fer a blind girl to flee like that into the mountains, even if she knows 'em well."

Shaking his head, Heiji cast a quick glance around the room, double checking to make sure that neither of the other two suspects were currently there. He didn't smell them, but he'd gone through most of his life trusting his eyes before he trusted his sense of smell, and that habit wasn't easy to break. 'I don't doubt that one of those two ladies connected ta the murder, but I'm skeptical that they actually went so far as ta carry it out themselves. There's probably some other third party involved in all of this.'

"Eh, really Heiji?" Kazuha asked, leaning closer to him, having the wisdom to drop her voice. "But the officers scoured the mountains yesterday, an' didn't find anythin'."

'The culprit had plenty of time ta get away, right?' Heiji signed. 'Well, in the worst case scenario, they've already disappeared from this village, but I doubt it. Their job probably isn't finished yet.'

Leaving it at that, Heiji flashed her a quick grin, rising to his feet. He could all but sense that Kudo wanted to move on to the next leg of the investigation already- and that was trying to figure out what the newspaper article that so bothered the deceased Kazuko might have been. According to local police, the local newspaper kept quite the extensive archive at the library, so that's what they were going to check next.

Well, provided the culprit hadn't gotten there first. Considering that this paper didn't have a digital archive, things might be a bit tough if they had.

What is she doin' here?

"My question is why you waited until we actually got here to ask, Hattori-kun." Though he had tried to conceal what was written on his notepad from her, she didn't allow- Haibara Ai was not the type to allow others to talk about her behind her back, much less in front of her face.

Yer sure not cute. Grumbling to himself, this time Heiji made sure that she could see what was written on it. I thought that ya just might be goin' the same way, little Neechan.

"To do what?" Ai questioned, barely so much as sparing him a glance. "Since it would seem that the business that you came here for is now impossible, Hattori-kun, I'd rather not spend more time in this place than needed. I simply thought three pairs of eyes would find things faster than two."

Ya got a problem with what I came here fer? All but thrusting the notebook in her face, Heiji twitched at her words. Even if he would have been the same way not even two months ago, she didn't have to put it like that!

"Don't fight, you two. This is a library." Letting out a long, exasperated sigh, Conan glanced between the two. Really, what was Ai even doing here? She wasn't the type to so freely offer up her help, which meant that she doubtlessly had some kind of ulterior motive here. It couldn't possibly be that she was somehow suspicious of Heiji, was she?

No, no, there was no way that someone like her would ever believe a thing someone like Yamamura had to say. There must have been another reason.

M'not the one makin' noise. Heiji pointed out, ignoring the fact that he was doing that right now, by slapping the page he had written on, to get across the emphasis he wanted to express. He was starting to get better at this kind of non-verbal conversation, Conan couldn't help but notice.

"You're helping make it." Conan noted. "Now try and act your ages, both of you, while I ask the librarian if we can see the newspaper archives."

"Well, I'll behave." Ai said simply. "I don't know about Hattori-kun, though."

Gritting his teeth, Heiji cast a fearsome glower down towards the shrunken scientist, all but feeling the curve of his canines growing a bit sharper. For all that, she barely even so much as blinked at him, which was probably for the best- it allowed him to calm himself a bit. She really had a way with words, didn't she!

"...don't mistake me, Hattori-kun," Ai finally spoke up, her gaze not straying from Conan's back, watching as he effortlessly slipped on that act of his, asking the librarian if they could perhaps look at their archives of the local newspaper. "...it's not as if I don't feel some bit of sympathy for your current predicament. It's simply that there's no point in coming all the way out here, for a treatment that's likely nothing more than smoke and mirrors."

I'll be the one ta decide that. Heiji noted, all but shoving his notepad in her line of vision. What do ya care anyways? The two of us barely talk.

"And it would seem that's how things shall remain from now on, won't it?" Ai couldn't help but quip, all but brushing off the intense glower that she felt him sending towards her. He really did have a temper, didn't he?

"Call it simple curiosity." Ai noted. "Though I do admit, I am curious as to how you arrived here without apparently taking the train, Hattori-kun."

She was half teasing, he could sense that- but there was a bit of an earnest question in there too. Was she somehow doubting him? She wasn't the type to think that something like being replaced by a fox was at all possible, even if that was half near what had happened, which left...

No, if she was thinking something like that, he got the feeling that she would be staying as far away from him as possible. Hell, it was an idea that even made him shudder.

I was on the train. Heiji finally wrote. I guess the station master just missed, that's all. It happens, ya know.

"I see." Ai said simply, closing her eyes. "Well if you say so, then."

Any chance to press her further with questions slipped away from him as Conan headed back their way, a key in his hands. Letting out a soft sigh, Heiji allowed his gaze to flicker down towards Ai once more, before he focused it back on his friend, a huge grin spreading out across his face as he reported back that they had been given permission.

Well, as long as he solved this quickly, he'd be able to avoid a lot of other things that he might otherwise need to worry about. With that in mind, Heiji gratefully accepted the key from Conan, playfully ruffling his hair in a way that he knew his friend would get revenge on him for the first chance he got.

He could worry about the tiny, nosy Neechan later.

"I found it, Hattori!"

One would think that at this point, he wouldn't fall into the trap of opening his mouth to speak anymore, and yet, that was exactly what he did. It couldn't be helped- this might very well prove to be a vital clue for him to begin to piece things together, of course he was a bit excited.

It would seem that they had gotten here a step ahead of the culprits. Either they didn't know about the newspaper article, or they had been deterred by the fact that the key had to be asked for. Either way, he wasn't about to let this chance slip away.

"How can you be so sure it's the one, Kudo-kun?" Ignoring the slight glower that both detectives sent her way, Ai merely slid into place next to him, peering with some curiosity at the article. It only took her glancing at the title for her to realize why, faintly clicking her tongue and muttering ah underneath her breath as she did.

A cult did seem like the sort of thing that a spiritual healer would concern themselves with. The idea of trying to root out fraud in a practice based in fraud seemed absurd to her, but she supposed the scale of this and that were two different things.

A cult? Peering at the article, Heiji all but took it from Conan's hands, not caring much for having to read it upside-down. Ignoring the grumbles that earned him, Heiji set it down on the desk, using his free hand to write something down on his notepad, before turning it around so that the others could read it. I think I've heard of these guys before. They're based somewhere in Kyoto, or somethin' like that.

"And from the looks of it, Gunma too." Conan said, taking the newspaper back from him, taking a closer look at it himself. "What have you heard about them exactly, Hattori? If this is the source of Ikeda-san's strange behavior..."

Not much. Shrugging his shoulders, Heiji racked his brain for what he did know. He hadn't really been paying that much attention to them, that sort of thing being outside of the scope of what a high school detective could do. Just that they've got a fair number of followers, an' some shady business practices.

"Sounds rather par for the course of any cult, then." Ai quipped, carefully studying the article herself. It was little more than a discussion about the new branch they were planning to open up in Gunma, as well as the opposition to that. "The police always itching for a way into these places. If that Ikeda-san found something along those lines, it makes sense that they would want to do away with her. The real question is how they managed to find out she knew."

"Didn't Junko-san mention something about her grandmother and Ishihara-san being on strained terms?" Conan asked, glancing over towards Heiji. "If she had started working with the cult, then..."

No, it's too early ta say it's Ishihara-han fer sure. Heiji pointed out, tapping the notepad on which he had written. She mentioned somethin' about Okazaki-san's niece as well. That cult is apparently well known for it's miracle cures, so it's too quick ta rule her out.

"That's right." Conan mused, placing a hand on his chin. "If Okazaki-san went to the cult after Ikeda-san didn't offer the extent of help that she hoped for, it's possible that she might bear a grudge. Either that or her niece passed away somehow, and the cult might have convinced her that Ikeda-san's refusal was at fault for it."

If that's the case, then we should look into them both- Ishihara-han's business practices, an' Okazaki-san's niece.

"Which I doubt we'll be able to learn from either of them, even if we asked." Conan noted, heaving a short sigh. "I'll talk to the Professor when we get back. He might be able to dig something up."

Yeah, good idea. Nodding his head, Heiji's gaze flickered over towards Ai once more, a slight frown on his face as he watched her gaze fall away from him. This was really starting to bug him now, actually- but for the moment, he was doing his best to ignore it. Ya head back with the little neechan fer now, Kudo. I want ta try an' do a bit more diggin' around here. I might turn somethin' else up.

"Are you sure?" Conan asked, looking a bit startled. He had been underneath the impression that Heiji hadn't wanted to be alone, ever since he had heard that strange voice. "We can stick around until you're done, Hattori."

Flashing him a quick grin, sensing what he was worrying about, Heiji placed a hand over his chest. Kazuha's charm hung there, almost seeming to hum underneath his hand, though he was certain this was something he had imagined himself. It was for the best that he hadn't brought it with him on that day, when he had fallen into the river- it was possible that he might have lost it forever, if that were the case.

He'd never admit it, but it was worth a lot more to him than Kazuha would have ever thought. As long as he had it with him, he got the feeling that everything would turn out alright.

Don't worry about me, Kudo! I'll be fine, I promise.

There was something about his words that wasn't fully convincing, and were they alone together, he never would have accepted them. But since he wasn't...

"Alright, I got it, Hattori. Just be sure to come back when you're done."

"What was that about?"

"What do you mean, Haibara?" Though he clearly understood what she meant, Conan nevertheless found himself playing dumb at the question.

"With Hattori-kun, back there." Ai said simply, a slight cross expression on her face. He knew full well what she was referring to, but if he thought he was going to avoid talking about it just by playing dumb, he had another thing coming. "You seemed concerned."

"Well, that's natural, right?" Conan asked. "After all, he saw the culprit. There's a chance that he might be in danger."

"Hmm." Not entirely convinced that was all it was, Ai merely clasped her hands behind her back, leveling her gaze on him for just a moment longer. "I see. But from the sound of it, he didn't see the culprit's face, did he? Besides, if they really wanted to kill him, they could have done it last night."

"That's impossible. He wasn't in his room last night." Conan said. "Last night, he was watching Junko-san's room with me, to make sure nobody tried to break in."

"Really?" Ai asked, blinking a bit. "All night?"

"Yeah." Conan said, nodding his head, pausing for a moment at her tone. "Why do you ask?"

"No, no reason. Just making sure." Averting her gaze from him, Ai's brow furrowed. Something about that didn't add up. When she had woken up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, she had indeed spotted Conan's small form lingering not far from where she knew Ikeda Junko's room was located. She hadn't paid it much thought at the time, simply assuming that he was doing very much what he had just said, keeping watch, but...

She hadn't seen Heiji with him.

That was strange. Had she simply missed him? No, the view from across the courtyard had been quite clear that night, given the full moon, and it wasn't as if there was any place to hide. If he had perhaps gone to the kitchen for a glass of water or something like that around then, that would be fine, but if he had been using the restroom, there was no way that she could have missed seeing him.

But if that was the case, why was he lying about him being there with him? It wasn't as if she wasn't aware of the fact that Conan was lying to her, about a great many things, but it didn't make any sense in this instance as to why he would do so. It wasn't as if Heiji had anything to hide.

Did he?

As she thought, something really was strange.

"So, what exactly is he keepin' from me?"

In hindsight, he really should have expected something like this. He just hadn't expected it to happen so soon. Kazuha had barely let him walk through the door before she was on him, hovering over him in a way that nearly sent a chill down his spine. Ai had already slipped past them, intent on not getting herself involved with this.

"What do you mean by that, Kazuha-neechan?" Conan asked, hoping that this time, playing dumb would earn him more results. It hadn't worked at all with Ai- rather, he got the feeling he'd actually said something that had only made her more suspicious. Kazuha, on the other hand, at the very least thought he was a real child- if not a weird one.

"I'm talkin' about Heiji, Heiji!" Kazuha stressed, kneeling down in front of him, planting her hands on her shoulders. In doing so, she all but cut off his escape route, though he couldn't figure out if that was her intention or not.

"What about Heiji-niichan?" Conan asked, blinking a little. "I don't understand why you'd think he's keeping something from you, Kazuha-neechan. Besides, if you keep saying things like that, then the Inspector will-"

"He told ya not ta say anythin', didn't he?" Kazuha asked, cutting him off.

Sensing that there was no way to argue his way out of this, Conan merely let out a sigh. With any luck, she might not try and pressure it out of him. If Heiji hadn't told her about the voice from last night, he could more or less figure out the reason why- he had similar reasons for wanting to keep the truth from Ran, after all. "...yes."

"I thought so." Kazuha said, finally releasing his shoulders, allowing Conan to breathe easier as she did so. "Sorry, Conan-kun. I'm not mad ta ya or anythin'. I just don't like it when Heiji tries ta keep stuff from me."

"No, I understand." Conan said, giving her a smile. "But it's really nothing serious, Kazuha-neechan. I think Heiji-niichan just has his head full of the case right now, that's all."

"I guess yer not wrong, but somehow, I don't think yer quite right either." Kazuha said, letting out a sigh. "Well, if Heiji really did tell ya not ta say, I won't press the information from ya, Conan-kun. So? How did things at the library go? Did ya find what ya were lookin' fer?"

"Yeah." Seeing no reason to keep that from her, Conan nodded his head. "What about things here?"

"I've been spendin' the whole day with Junko-han, but I haven't noticed anythin' weird." Kazuha said, shaking her head. "Although the Inspector did try an' ask me questions about Heiji once, so ya should probably be careful of that."

"I'll keep that in mind." Letting out a slightly nervous laugh, Conan glanced over her shoulder. "Where are they now? Junko-neechan and the others? The Professor too."

"Junko-han's gone to meditate." Kazuha told him. "Don't worry though, she does have a police officer with her, though Yamamura doesn't seem like he'll spare more than one. As fer the other two, Ishihara-han is tryin' ta get some work done, an' Okazaki-han went down the mountain ta make a phone call. With a police officer by her side, of course."

At the mention of Okazaki Ryoko leaving to make a phone call, Conan's eyes narrowed. Heiji's theory that the culprit might have someone to help them, a third party whose face and name they didn't yet know- or even someone who had committed the actual murder for them, was one that held weight. He'd make sure to ask the police officer who went with her later as to what the details of said phone call were.

As for Ishihara Satsuki's work... well, he'd nose himself right on into that later, to find out what all that was about, to see if it could cast some light on why she might have been having a disagreement with the victim. That said, he doubted that she would do anything that would cast immediate suspicion onto herself while still here, but at the very least, he could gauge her again to see if she was lying.

"As fer the Professor... I think he's in the living room, last I checked. Mind ya, not the one Ikeda-han was murdered in." Kazuha said. "Do ya need that old man fer somethin'?"

"Yeah, to look up some things." Conan told her. "Heiji-niichan said he wanted to look into some more things at the library, so if you want to see him, you'll probably find him around there."

"Sendin' two children back on their own, huh? That's so like him." Kazuha asked, a slight twitch to her eye, planting her hands on her hips. "Well, thanks fer tellin' me, Conan-kun. Ya think ya can help the officer keep an eye on Junko-han while I go see what that fox idiot's up ta?"

"Sure!" Nodding his head, Conan quickly agreed. He doubted the culprit intended to try anything in broad daylight, not when there were this many people coming and going from the place. Still, he'd been proven wrong before in that regard.

He'd rather not see anyone else die on his watch- all the more so because they might be the only hope Heiji had at the moment to get his voice back. If he had it, this investigation would probably be going a lot smoother.

Yamamura probably wouldn't be suspicious of him, for one thing. But on the other hand... if he had it, there was a chance that this case in it's entirety would have been left to him. And that, Conan knew, would have ensured the culprit or culprits, would have been able to forever escape punishment for their crime.

"Then, good luck with Heiji-niichan, Kazuha-neechan!"

Though, knowing the two of them, Heiji was probably the one who needed it the more.

"Ah, if you're looking for the boy that came in, he left just awhile ago."

"Eh, already?" Puffing out her cheeks a little, Kazuha let out a sigh. If he was already on his way back, and she had just barely missed him, she was going to be annoyed. "Did ya see which way he was goin'?"

"I believe he exited towards the right." The librarian told her. "Didn't say where he was going though. Or much of anything at all, for that matter."

Fighting back the urge to make a quip that of course he couldn't, Kazuha instead thanked the woman for her help, quickly making her way out of the library. So he'd finished whatever it was that he needed to look up here. To the right was the direction she had come here from, so there was a chance that he really was headed back to the Ikeda place, and she had just missed him.

Of course, there was also the chance that he had gone somewhere else, in which case, the odds of finding him were rather low. If it was going to be like that, it would have been better to wait for him to come back, but... well, she'd never really been that much of one for patience. That was something that she and Heiji had in common, though she could be loathe to admit it.

Maybe she should consider investing in a dog whistle.

Either way, for the moment, she might as well head back the way she came. There was a chance she could still catch up with him, if he really was headed back. This time for sure, she would get a straight answer out of him! The more she thought about it, the more she thought for sure that the cause for the kind of expression that she had caught on Heiji's face when she asked him about last night wasn't just simply from exhaustion.

Besides, if a first grader could manage to stay up all night without too many issues, it was almost laughable to think that a youkai, of all things, would have trouble the next morning. Speaking of which though... she really did need to chew him out about letting Conan stay up with him. Lack of sleep was bad at that age!

"Ah, speak of the devil."

He'd almost slipped past her notice, actually. That in and of itself should have struck her as unusual, but she didn't really find herself seeing anything too wrong- until she drew closer to him, that was.

"Hey, Heiji!" Kazuha called out, closing the gap between them. No wonder she had caught up with him so easily, his pace was slower than it normally was, absent of it's usual long, confident strides. "I said, Heiji! Don't ignore-!"

Stopping in her tracks, Kazuha felt the anger wash out of her, her words dying in her throat as if she were the one who couldn't speak. For a moment, she froze on the spot- before instinct took over, a firm hand reaching up to grip his shoulders, allowing her nails to bite into his skin.

"Heiji, I said, Hei~ji!"

Whether it was the loudness of her voice, the physical contact, or the biting pain of her nails, he seemed to come back from wherever it was that he had gone. He must have gone far indeed, for she could see his mouth working to form her name, before he quickly reverted to using signing instead.

'Kazuha?'

"Yes, Kazuha." Kazuha said, narrowing her eyes, not yet releasing his shoulder. There was no way she was going to allow himself to weasel out of this one, and she could already see the gears in his head turning, thinking of a way. It would appear that her instincts had been correct. "So? What's with the spaced out look, Heiji?"

'Ya know, the case, the case. I was distracted thinkin' about the case.'

From the way that he didn't make eye contact with her, she knew that wasn't the case. Besides, she had seen Heiji distracted by a case before- and this wasn't that. Actually, she'd never seen him like that before, not even once- and considering that she had been with him since they were both in diapers, that was saying something!

"Yer lyin'." Kazuha said, taking a step forward, her gaze sharpening. "Both now, an' this mornin'. Lyin'."

'I'm not-'

Grabbing his hands, effectively cutting him off, Kazuha leveled her gaze with him. They spoke more to him right now than any words possibly could. No lies, only truths- she wouldn't accepted anything less!

"Tell me the truth, Heiji. What's goin' on?"