When Agasa offered the Mouris tickets that were "free with you" while winking at Shinichi, Shinichi wasn't particularly sure what to expect; a luxury beach vacation seemed to fit well within that, though.
Too bad he was a cat. Thankfully, Ran saw him as intelligent and thus invited him along, but that still didn't mean he could really enjoy what a vacation had to offer for the most part. Though, in fairness to that, Shinichi wasn't really a "relaxing vacation" sort of person as a person, so he wasn't a good judge; he was not exactly one for boring stretches of lying around, and would much rather be off, out and about, exploring and experiencing.
Still… relaxing in the sun on a lounge chair, letting his dark coat soak in the warmth while ignoring odd gazes and trying not to get flustered over Ran's swimsuit wasn't all that bad, and was probably more enjoyable as a cat. No sweat glands, and the sun was just as relaxing as all felines made it out to be.
The detective dozed off, staring out at the rolling waves, contemplating how maybe relaxing wasn't as boring as he thought.
xXx
The teen detective awoke from his sunny nap blearily, feeling something tugged gently from underneath it. He blinked a few times, giving a bone rending stretch while splaying his paws out, then blinked upwards— oh.
Ran. In a swimsuit. Tugging the towel gently from under him.
Shinichi shot backwards, fur puffing, flustered.
"Sorry, you were asleep on the towel," she said softly, seeming to misinterpret shocked embarrassment as fear.
Shinichi waved a paw to get an it's fine across, and looked anywhere but her as Ran slid on some outerwear over her suit.
His fur stayed puffed, and it bristled even more when she scooped him up against her.
I'm so glad I can't blush.
xXx
Agasa's "free for you" comment began to make a lot more sense when Ran came into the lobby to find Kogoro raving about how only half the hotel bill had been paid, and then an entourage of quacks came in and revealed that he had joined them on a mystery tour in a game of unmasking the elusive Night Baron.
Shinichi sighed from his place in Ran's sun bag. Just when I was starting to see the appeal of relaxing…
Ah well. This could be fun. I've clearly got these paranoid fake-detectives beat, anyways— and on top of that, I know Night Baron.
Kudo was interrupted from his musings by something between a growl and a surprised noise from Ran.
"Oh, it was just a harmless touch," the lecherous, clearly drunk man laughed. "Your beauty is so intoxicating that I couldn't help it." Shinichi nearly flung himself from the bag with a growl of she's sixteen, you snake, but was saved from revealing himself as a definitely-not-supposed-to-be-there "pet" by another man stepping in and pushing the first aside.
Ran's eyes widened in recognition with a little girlish gasp. Shinichi squinted up at her in question and she quickly asked the guy, "you're Satoru Maeda, aren't you?!" Shinichi flicked his tail enough for Ran's attention, then tilted his head in the question of who? "The karate champion?" she tacked on for his benefit.
"That's me," he confirmed with a humble laugh.
"You're my hero! You're the reason I started karate—" Shinichi pawed her from inside the bag, and she got the message to reign it in and keep from embarrassment. Ran straightened, then continued, "I'm Mouri Ran. I'm currently studying karate, and I won nationals not too long ago."
Shinichi smiled at her general happiness as conversation rambled on, roaming from his engagement, touching on the "mix up" that involved the Mouris replacing Agasa— and then the inevitable realization of the tour members that Kogoro was the Kogoro.
"He really is famous," Ran murmured in pleasant surprise, giving him a thankful pat in the confining and demeaning bag. Shinichi couldn't decide what to feel about the monster he created.
Before he could make up his mind on that, a thrill of paranoia shot through his spine.
Somebody's watching. Something isn't right about this.
"The air is too tense," Shinichi said softly to Ran, and she subtly brought him closer to her ear.
"What does that mean?"
Shinichi paused, unable to put it into words other than a feeling. Likely one with logic behind it, his hypervigilant and paranoid mind attempting to warn him of small details he hadn't noticed consciously— but still a feeling.
"Magic," he settled on grudgingly. "I can sense something is off. I'll guide you from in here, and we can poke around."
"Stinks this hotel won't allow animals," Ran chortled.
"You're telling me," Shinichi sniped back.
xXx
Ran and "Conan" took a little time to nose around, but ultimately Shinichi could find nothing, and the pair turned in soon enough.
Ran left him to go shopping, leaving Shinichi relaxed on the balcony, overlooking the beautiful orange sunset and musing over the not-right feeling that had settled in his chest; something was off, nobody would get so tense over a simple game.
Is this related to the other segment of the prize Agasa barely know about…?
What could be so bad that I get this strong feeling of impending doom?
A sound, behind him— Shinichi whirled around. Night Baron.
In his fear, instinct took over.
It wasn't Shinichi's fault that cat instinct revolved around launching into the air, flailing— a very precarious thing to do when one was placed on a balcony railing.
The Night Baron leaned over in vague confusion, but quickly ducked backwards into the room before Shinichi could make a splash, and cause people to look up.
Shinichi just emerged from the water with a gasp, giving a quick thought wondering how many times will I be nearly killed by my own stupidity before shooting off after the Night Baron.
Despite the fact that Shinichi bolted right back up, there was no trace of the Baron, only a theoretical possibility of having changed in the bathrooms quickly, then fleeing.
But what were they doing in the Mouri's room on the balcony?!
They knew… they knew that a pool was here, and that the bathrooms were close, too— they were hoping for someone else to be here, someone they could push off… but why? This is too intense for a simple deductive game with only a hotel stay on the line.
xXx
A quick bowtie-call to Agasa while he rolled his sopping fur over the towels confirmed something else was afoot: a mysterious computer program as a "secondary" prize. Probably not secondary in their eyes, though.
A highly illegal sounding virus was something more worthy of those levels of desperation.
A door click signalled the entrance of Ran, barely giving Shinichi time to say his goodbyes to Agasa.
She blinked at his towel nest— "you're wet."
"I bathe too!" Shinichi cawed the first lie that came to mind.
Ran seemed to take it, shrugging off the clear cats don't normally like that with the acknowledgement that "Conan" was a bizarre creature.
"Once you dry off, would you like to come to dinner?" Shinichi tilted his head— why invite a cat to dinner? Ran elaborated with a chirp: "I figured you and I could continue casing the other people on the tour."
"Good plan!" Shinichi meowed back.
xXx
Shinichi was beginning to hate bags— but thankfully, this time there were some bushes he could easily slink out and observe from. Kogoro was drunkenly chatting with Satoru and his wife.
Shinichi glared at the sleazy Tokio, who was once again eyeing up Ran, though he added in Akiko this time as well. The detective flexed his claws in and out— still haven't learned your lesson, huh?
He didn't move from his spot, but allowed himself to imagine getting a good slash in.
Then, both men were distracted by the scantily clad Hideko Kamijo— another member of the tour— while she made her point of being a Night Baron fan, interrupting Akiko as she said the same.
Naturally, both Ran and Akiko were upset with the stares she evoked from Kogoro and Satoru.
Shinichi shook his head from the bushes— I expected that from Mouri, but not from Satoru.
Interestingly… Tokio Ebara didn't give the flowing purple dress even a glance. Not his type?
Shinichi continued glancing about the diner, noting the elderly, blind Genichirou Kaneshiro was here as well— without his assistant.
A perfect time for an investigation. Shinichi slunk under the table and batted at Ran's ankle, taking careful care to not look up. He was a decent person— er, feline.
Ran thankfully took the hint quickly, scooping up her bag as he jumped into the wretched and confining thing once again. "I need some fresh air, alright?" The dinner guests waved their polite goodbyes.
"What is it?" she questioned stealthily.
"The old guy," Shinichi jerked his head over to his table— "ask him about winning a computer virus on the trip."
"Huh? What's that got to do with the Night Baron?" Ran asked incredulously, then added with equal disbelief— "and you think he's the Baron?!"
Shinichi snorted at that. "No. But I do think there's more going on here. Apparently, there's some kind of likely-illegal virus being pawned off as part of the prize for finding the Night Baron. I think most— if not all— these people want it."
"What would they do?" Ran wondered with a shudder.
"Not something I'd like to imagine, either— so poke at Kaneshiro."
Ran nodded, then turned towards the old man, giving the table a polite tap so he'd be aware of her presence. "Hello, sir! I'm Mouri Ran, from earlier today— I was hoping you could tell me more about the virus from the tour…? I just heard about it, and I'm not sure quite what it is." Shinichi blinked, impressed at the innocently curious cards Ran was playing.
"Who told you this nonsense?" the old man chuckled.
Ran wasn't thrown off. "Everyone on the tour seems to be privately talking about it," she said conspiratorially. "But how could they know about it? The information on it seems very vague."
"It's a code name," the man relented with an I'm-smarter-than-you tone. Shinichi glared a bit at the patronizing voice, but Ran kept neutral. "A while back, there was an unidentifiable virus that infiltrated several large company's systems, destroying and stealing their data. It was perfect; nobody could locate or stop it. People named it after the famous thief that was similarly elusive."
"Night Baron," Ran realized softly.
"Yes— anyone familiar with computers would know the name, despite the seemingly vague information."
"So the tour theme was just an allusion to that?" Ran confirmed, and the elderly man nodded. Shinichi digested the info quietly, only half aware as the Kaneshiro's caretaker shooed Ran away.
"That sounds really illegal," Ran observed.
Shinichi gave a nod— "it probably is; the promoter could go to jail just for having it, and if someone won it… they could get a lot of money."
Shinichi stewed on that; why would someone give that away…? What's the purpose of this challenge? Unless it's a facade to simply gather the people who want it…
"… should we go talk to him next?" Ran interrupted, pointing at the secluded creep of the mystery tour, Konno. Shinichi poked his head up to stare at the greasy man as he typed away on his computer— and talked into his phone…?
"Let me handle this," he said softly, sliding easily out of the bag, grateful for freedom. Shinichi put his stealth skills to use, slinking in shadows and under chairs, into hearing range.
"It's him— Tokio Ebara. I'm sure of it. He's the hacker."
THAT Tokio Ebara? An information thief? Are you SURE?
Shinichi eased closer, attempting to pick up the other side of the phone call as Konno descended into simple monosyllabic replies.
Then the man's gaze managed to land on his reflective gaze. Shinichi tensed.
"Hey," Konno said slowly, aloud— trying to catch the attention of the table Shinichi resided under. "Pets aren't—"
Ran to the rescue— she placed herself in front of him, leaning across the small table to touch the computer. "Cool laptop!" she praised, oozing faux interest.
Shinichi darted into another table's shadow while Shiro Konno squaked, "don't touch Satomi!"
"Who…?" Ran trailed off, eyes going wide as the man patted his computer, asking 'Satomi' if she was alright.
"Satomi is my dead mother's name," the man elaborated, as if that would explain anything.
Ran seemed to decide that was enough conversation, and Shinichi had to agree as he jumped into her bag once more.
"Note to self: avoid the psycho with the dead mommy laptop," Shinichi shakily snarked, ears flattened.
Ran just nodded warily, turning her gaze back to the next in line, Tokio Ebara—
Except he was gone from the diner.
"Do you know where this guy went?" Ran asked the waitress cleaning, gesturing to the empty chair.
"He said he was going back to his room," she said. "You know him, right?" Ran gave a hesitant nod, and the waitress held out Ebara's ridiculous head tie— "can you give this to him when you see him next?"
"Sure."
"Thank you! Now, er— we're closing soon. I need to get back to work."
"Of course! And we— I mean, I'll be getting back to my room, now," Ran smiled politely.
xXx
"Huh— dad's not here," Ran hummed thoughtfully. "I thought he came back since the restaurant was closing… he wasn't still there, so…"
Shinichi gave a cat-shrug, leaping out of the bag with a stretch. He was prevented from any sort of reply with a loud, clear argument between Akiko and Satoru coming from the room over. Shinichi's ears twitched unpleasantly at the yelling of Aniko about cheating as Satoru attempted to get her to open the room up.
"Everything alright?" Ran leaned out, trying to project concern and not nosiness.
"She's just mad because she thinks I winked at a waitress," Satoru sighed.
"I know you did," Aniko rebuked venomously.
"There's no reasoning with you when you're like this— I'm going to the lounge," he sighed exasperatedly with an amused head shake. "Wanna join me, Ran?"
This elicited a hmph from Shinichi and Akiko both, and a happy "of course!" from Ran.
xXx
Shinichi stewed in the bag— and no, he wasn't jealous, no way.
Ran's with her idol. Don't ruin it by being a prick, he reminded himself.
Of course, this changed a bit when the guy started flirting with Ran.
Maybe Aniko was right to be angry, jeez— you're married, and she's sixteen!
Even Ran seemed unsure how to respond to the compliments of beauty, half dazed and flustered and half uncomfortable.
Thankfully, Ran steered the conversation to his wife— the guy clearly needed a reminder, after all.
Shinichi tuned out, only half listening as the chat prattled on, only really coming back when Ran asked the karate master if he'd known where Mouri went after dinner.
"He's off with Kamijo in the pub." Scanty dress lady? Why would a lady… like that… go for someone like him? "Guess love is in the air tonight," he laughed.
Shinichi flexed his claws as Ran responded with a tittery laugh— "I'm off to get him, then."
"I should be going to. Hopefully Aniko's cooled off by now," Satoru sighed. "See you later!"
Shinichi blanched— crap, I forgot!
"Do you know anything about a bad virus?" Shinichi asked quickly in Ran's voice. She blinked awkwardly, a little surprised.
He turned back— "like a cold? Are you sick?"
"Er, no, I'm fine," Ran took over. "Thanks!" she chirped, and the pair of them retreated.
xXx
Unfortunately, their journey to retrieve the undoubtedly extremely intoxicated Kogoro was interrupted. Shinichi welcomed most excuses to get away from the pungent alcohol smell and the oaf's drunken stumbling— but someone dressed as the Night Baron and impaled on a statue was not one that he liked all that much.
Shinichi took no pride in knowing he'd been right about the whole situation seeming deeper and more tense than it should be, wishing he had been proven wrong.
Fate didn't work on wishes, though, and the mystery surrounding the virus continued to thicken.
xXx
A shameless boost: I've posted more art on Ao3 (sylph_feather, "Art") so you can check that out if you wish~
Shinichi's true supernatural power is paranoia.
oh also an update: this probably has 1-2 parts left depending on how I chunk it, and after that I likely won't write more for a good long while. I have a competition soon, and then at the end of this month (2/19) I'm going in for surgery. I won't disgust you with the details, but there's not really any danger or anything! It's very low risk… But there IS a very long recovery period of a little over 2 weeks where I will have a lot of headaches and fatigue, and will be fairly drugged. Considering I'm going to be medically withdrawn from school during that time I can't see myself feeling like writing— and if I do decide to be an idiot and write anyways, well, don't judge if it sounds like I'm on drugs (because I am).
Just wanted to let y'all know why I'll go quiet for a bit.
