Surprise Twenty-Five: The Mysterious Caller?

Surprisingly, Shinichi slept deeply—so much that it took five minutes for Kaito to wake him up. "What is it?" Shinichi mumbled, still half-asleep. "Did something happen?"

Kaito snickered and ruffled his hair. "Of course not, Tantei-kun, but we do need to get ready to fly home! Since I already packed up everything while you were sleeping, we can make it to the airport in time for the first flight!"

Shinichi groaned. "What time is it anyway?" He turned his gaze to the alarm clock as the numbers slowly came into focus. "4:43? Why so early, Kaito? Did you even sleep, or did you stay up all night?"

Kaito grinned as he hoisted up the two large duffel bags. "Well, we need to hurry onto the first flight so we can be home! And as for sleep, I'll rest for a bit on the plane." He gestured for Shinichi to follow.

Shinichi huffed and stood up, seeing he was already dressed. He followed Kaito to their rental car and couldn't stifle a long yawn. "Kaito, I don't get how you can stay up all night doing this and be just fine!"

Kaito laughed. "I can run on little to no sleep, but you can't. That's why we're both sleeping on the plane…" He paused as a thought struck him. "Speaking of which, doesn't your next term of school start soon?"

Shinichi gasped. "Yeah, it does; I forgot all about it! I think it starts in a week or so, so I'll have to adjust my sleep schedule and get an alarm set." He frowned. "Man, that's going to suck having homework, my regular cases, and this one…"

Kaito's expression grew concerned. "Do you think you'll be okay, or do you want me to call someone to help you with the cases?"

Shinichi smirked. "Nah, I'll be fine! I was just fine with all this last term, but it will be a bit difficult at first since I'm so used to sleeping as late as I need."

Kaito patted Shinichi on the back. "That's why I am going to keep you home if you feel unwell! I know you'll hate having to make up the work, but it will be for the best."

Shinichi's eyes widened a bit. "Kaito…"

Kaito put up a hand to interrupt. "Come on, we're at the airport!" Kaito pulled into the parking lot and got out to stretch. "Pretty soon, we'll be able to sleep for a while. You got everything you need?"

Shinichi lifted up his duffel bag, a smile on his face. "Yeah, I got it. Now we can get on the plane, and you can get some sleep." He shook his head. "I honestly don't get how someone can operate with no sleep; I wouldn't last ten minutes!"

Kaito wrapped an arm around Shinichi. "Well, it just depends on the person, I guess. Now let's get on the plane and get home; I'm exhausted!" Together they boarded the plane and placed their bags under their seat.

Shinichi couldn't help but laugh upon seeing Kaito yawning and rubbing his eyes. "You need to get some sleep, Kaito." He held out a blanket from his duffel bag. "Here, take this."

Kaito was too tired to notice the look of fear in Shinichi's eyes, so he gladly took the blanket and fell asleep almost instantly.

Shinichi sighed in relief. "I'm really thankful he didn't notice… I thought he would in an instant! Knowing me, I'm probably worrying for nothing anyway." He pulled out his phone and opened a particular app. Sure enough, it showed a conversation just over a minute long from the previous night. He clicked on it, and it played the recording of the conversation Kaito had.

As the plane took off toward Beika, most people were asleep and oblivious to the boy having something close to a panic attack. He threw the phone he was listening to in shock and rushed to the bathroom to hurl. No one noticed this boy, and no one knew he was actually Kudou Shinichi the detective or that he knew the voice on the phone—a voice he never wanted to hear again in his life.

Once said detective returned to his seat, he couldn't get rid of his nauseous and dizzy feeling, so he tried to distract himself. However, reading his detective books only made it worse. He quickly put them away and stared out the window. He knew he had a long way to go but was too scared to even consider sleeping it through.

Many hours later while Shinichi was deep in thought, Kaito awoke with a long yawn. "Well, that was some good rest!" He looked to Shinichi, and his expression saddened. "Oi, Shin-shin, are you okay? You don't look well."

Shinichi put his head in his hands and choked out a sob. "Of course I'm not; that person called me! That means that person is alive and knows where I live."

Kaito was stunned—if Shinichi was expressing his emotions so easily and openly, that meant it was serious. "Shin-shin, what's so bad about this person anyway? It just sounded like a good friend to me."

Shinichi began to tremble. "Ba'arou! Don't you know that that person was and possibly still is one of them? There's a high chance that there's more than one still alive, and they're going to start looking for me if that person knows where I live!"

Kaito's eyes widened. "But Shin-shin, how can you be sure they're still one of them? Maybe they decided to leave when the others were being killed to save themselves." He gently placed a hand on Shinichi's tense shoulder. "You shouldn't worry about it if you don't know if it will happen!"

Shinichi looked away from Kaito to hide the tears starting to form. "But what if I'm right, Kaito? What if they do start looking for me and realize I was foolish enough not to hide when I knew they were after me?" He buried his head between his knees.

Kaito smiled. "Shin-shin, can you please stop worrying about this…for me?" As the plane slowly descended to the Beika Airport, the magician was able to coax Shinichi to calm down enough to think logically.

Shinichi let out a deep sigh. "Thanks, Kaito, I really needed that."

Kaito snickered. "Don't you feel better now that you can think straight?" He ruffled Shinichi's hair before grabbing the two duffel bags. "As for what you were freaking out about, you shouldn't worry about it until that person calls you, 'kay?"

Shinichi thanked him again, and they raced each other back to the house, which was just the way it was when they left. "We're finally back…" A yawn escaped his throat, making his cheeks glow red.

Kaito grinned. "Well, my Tantei-kun, I propose that you go to bed since you didn't sleep at all on the plane." With the flick of his wrist, a small pill appeared in his hand. "Take this; it was another pill made by Scientist-san to help you sleep since she figured you would need it eventually with all of the nightmares and such."

Shinichi hesitated for a moment before taking the pill and swallowing it. He put a hand to his head and swayed. "Wow, this pill sure works fast…" He crumpled into Kaito's arms as the lethargy grew too strong for him to handle.

Kaito laughed. "I guess Scientist-san wanted you to fall asleep right away!" He carried the weakening Shinichi to bed and began adjusting the covers. "Please sleep as long as you need, Shin-shin; you need to make sure you're well-rested by the time school starts again!"

X

Even if Kaito kept telling him not to worry, Shinichi was tense and on edge the entire day. He tried his best to not show it, but Kaito could instantly tell. He tried to make Shinichi feel better by playing card games and chess, but the detective was not showing signs of improvement. Eventually, the clock struck ten, and Kaito was continually yawning.

"Man, I should go to bed!" Kaito stood up to stretch. "I think I'm done for the night, so please go to bed when you're tired, okay?"

As soon as Kaito left, Shinichi hurriedly pulled out his phone just in time for the phone to ring. He pressed answer and held it up to his ear.

"Well, it turns out you're alive and well after all, Cool Guy." The familiar voice gave a hearty chuckle. "I was almost considering that you were dead after all with what I heard happen."

Shinichi took a few seconds to pull himself together and regain his composure. "So what do you want with me? Are you still after me and that scientist that made the apoptoxin?"

The voice burst out laughing. "My, I thought you were smarter than that, Cool Guy! I just want to give you a bit of help on this case that seems to be troubling you."

Shinichi's eyes narrowed, his thoughts beginning to process. "How did you know about that? And how much do you know?"

The voice sighed. "I know quite a bit, Silver Bullet-kun. I know there was a serial murder on a ship you were on recently, but that was unrelated since it was that Marissa brat…" They made a grunt in disgust. "From what I heard, there's been two murders done by Gin. Is this correct?"

Shinichi agreed, not catching on. "He seemed to have caused those two from what has been presented along with a few sightings…"

The voice gasped. "There we go! So are you admitting to having seen Gin recently?"

Shinichi quirked an eyebrow. "Yeah, I saw him not too long ago on top of a building in Osaka just before the second victim was discovered. Are you saying there's something odd about it? I get that Gin's not the one to let himself be seen that easily, but…" He stopped himself as it finally struck him. "No way! Are you saying that it isn't Gin after all?!"

The voice hesitated for a moment. "Yes," the voice whispered, "I am positive that it is not Gin. The only possibility is that it's someone who has a grudge against you and knows about what happened to you so they can use your fear to your advantage. However, there is another—it could somehow be a member like Marissa that survived the attack of the organization."

"Like yourself?" Shinichi couldn't help but retort. "Why should I trust you? You may have kept my identity a secret from them when you found out, but that doesn't make you any less of a bad guy. You still killed people, Vermouth."

"You have a good point, Cool Guy." You could almost hear Vermouth's smile. "But I never was as heartless as some like Gin. Besides, hasn't everyone killed someone—literally or figuratively?"

Shinichi froze as painful memories pounded in his head. He wanted to yell at her and hang up, but he knew it wouldn't help anything. "Shut up," he muttered instead. "Anyone who kills for pleasure like yourself is heartless no matter what."

Vermouth huffed. "Do you want my help with this case or not?"

Shinichi thought for a moment. He knew she would be helpful with her areas of expertise, but would he really want a member of them to help when she couldn't even be trusted? Eventually, he chose to give her a chance. "Fine," he relented. "What do you plan on doing?"

Vermouth chuckled. "Well, I suppose I should keep a close eye on you over the next few days and make sure nothing happens. After that, we can speak together and come up with a master plan to see if I'm wrong or not about Gin." With that, she bid farewell (for now) and hung up on the speechless detective.

After a few minutes of silence, Shinichi sighed. "I guess things have become interesting, haven't they?" He quietly laughed to himself and was about to leave the library when he noticed something that shouldn't have been there. "Kaito, why were you eavesdropping?" he asked in an exasperated tone.

Avoiding eye contact and blushing a bit, Kaito shyly appeared in the doorway. "Sorry, Shin-shin, but I've been worried about you all day and remembered that the phone call would happen soon, so…"

Shinichi rubbed his temples. "Alright, I get that…" He paused. "How much were you able to hear? Did you hear what she wanted?"

Kaito nodded. "I was only able to hear you talking, but I think I have a good idea of what's going to happen."

Shinichi sat on a sofa and gestured for Kaito to do the same. "It'd probably be best if I inform you now then what's going on."

Kaito could see how fatigued Shinichi looked. "Are you sure? We could just wait until tomorrow morning since you haven't slept well in a while. Besides…" He let out a yawn. "I'm pretty tired myself!"

Shinichi swung his legs onto the sofa to get comfier. "If you're that tired, I can tell you tomorrow; I have things to do before going to bed."

Kaito eyed him with a hint of concern. "Okay, but please don't stay up too late!" With a quick hug, he left for bed.

Shinichi leaned back and closed his eyes once Kaito was gone. "Thank goodness he left…" He took a moment to lie on the sofa and relax before getting back up and walking to his dad's office. He searched through the files for anything involving the syndicate, but nothing could be found. With a long yawn, he turned on his dad's computer and opened his email.

To: Jodie Starling

From: Kudou Shinichi

Subject: You-Know-Who

It's Shinichi. I need your help with a case I'm working on, and I'm afraid it has to deal with them again. I wouldn't normally be asking you or the other FBI members, but I need copies of the files on Gin and Vermouth. I'll understand if they're confidential and I can't see them, but it would be helpful if I could. Please get back to me as soon as you can.

Thanks,

Kudou Shinichi

Author's Note: Finally we hear more about that person! I am really excited to create more of a story there, but let's hope I can word it right...let's just say I've been having a lot of trouble writing over the past few weeks with all the stress of school, All-State Band auditions, and whatever else decides to show up (but at least All-State went kinda well!) I did finish the flashback thingy in surprises 43 and 44, and I'm pretty content with it.

On another note, I made a poll on my profile for you guys to vote for my next project's plot. I was kinda surprised when I already had one idea in an HOUR of me posting it (thanks, Meitantei Clark!) But I must add that while I will for sure take note of all your ideas, I may not use them at all or not until a later time since my goal is to make a fanfiction that my cousin can read since I got them into Conan almost a year ago (they're not into yaoi or supernatural things like Akako, vampires, werewolves, etc.). You can give me ideas that are KaiShin or ones with things like vampires or ghosts (hint hint), but I probably won't use them for a little while.

Also, since I was sick with a cold for the past couple days, I watched half of Durarara again...my gosh, I forgot how beautiful the artstyle, story, and OST are! I really hope I can get my cousin into that one too since it's really psychological and all that like Conan (ya know, except for Celty...) I may write a fanfic about DRRR, but we'll see depending on what you guys want and if I can find that kind of time to really watch it and to write a good story.

Again, thanks for all the support you've been giving me; we're almost at 10K views!

P.S. To "MissingApostrophe," I don't know if I want to answer your question...but I am happy that you're enjoying my story. All I can really say is that some of the upcoming events are going to be...shall we say, interesting. ;)