Case. They were gathering clues and forming assumptions.

Characters. Megu voiced out her concerns and Kyuu reassured her. Kyuu then had a talk about it with Ryuu.

*Note. To avoid language confusion, dialogues in English will be in italic.

Chapter 4. The Scattered Clues

After putting their belongings in their respective rooms, they gathered in Joseph and Kinta's room in the police headquarters. Their twin rooms were side by side. Megu's was nearest to the lift, Kyuu and Ryuu's was next, and Joseph and Kinta's was the furthest from the lift. There was no such thing as a living room on the floor but there were dispensers at the hall.

Ryuu was going to initiate the conversation when Kinta's phone rang. "Oh, it's from Kazuma," he said before picking up the phone and turned on the loudspeaker mode.

"Guys, this is becoming very big!" Kazuma's voice was loud enough to be heard by everyone in the room.

"What do you get, kiddo?" Kinta said.

They could hear Kazuma's breath before he explained, "Okay, so Stephen Wade won a Nobel Prize about 30 years ago. But not long after that, he disappeared. No data or whatsoever on the internet. I had to use my connection to dig him up."

"But I saw his name not more than ten years ago," Megu interrupted.

"Yes, it was far more difficult to erase his offline existence. Probably the library where you saw it was a really old one," Kazuma answered.

"Oh, that's true. I was looking into old documents at that time," Megu nodded.

Kazuma continued his explanation, "From what I know, people who disappeared mysteriously like this are probably hired to be a secret agent or spies like that. I guess that happened to Stephen Wade too."

Kyuu was still holding his chin when he asked, "Does he- Did he have family?"

"Hmm," Kazuma sounded like he was thinking. "Sadly I haven't got much data about his family. Well, he's an only child and he won the prize when he was 25. So he is probably in his 50s now."

"Okay," Kyuu sighed.

"Did you search what I asked, Kazuma?" Ryuu asked.

"Yes," there were several clicking sounds before Kazuma continued, "Melvin Rios, a quite well-known farmer. Data about him was everywhere on the internet. But when I searched about Stephen Wade, I found a photo of him with Melvin Rios. Only he was known as Dimitri Wells, not Melvin Rios."

"Dimitri Wells?" Joseph murmured.

"So I searched more about Dimitri Wells. He was a programmer and he did several projects together with Stephen Wade. They worked for a company called Ilios," Kazuma explained. "But similar to Stephen Wade, data about Dimitri Wells became fewer after Stephen Wade 'disappeared'. That's all I got."

"Ilios is it?" Ryuu crossed his hands. "In Greek, ilios is the sun."

Ryuu turned to see Joseph, "Joseph, do you have any idea about this?"

Joseph shrugged, "No, I always knew my dad as a farmer. He was always in his garden. He was quite good at biology and chemistry though. I learned about chemistry from him." He paused before adding, "Well, I did wonder why he had the big PC with two big screens at home. But I thought that was normal, so I didn't ask."

Kazuma asked from the phone, "Do you still have the PC or it was-"

"It was destroyed along with the house," Joseph answered before Kazuma finished.

"That's too bad, but I'll try to look up more to this," Kazuma answered.

"Thanks, Kazuma. Please let us know if you get any leads," Ryuu said.

"Sure," Kazuma said before Kinta's phone beeped.

Just as the call ended, there was a knock on the door and soon after Officer Benjamin came in. "Hey guys, I hope the rooms are okay. It's nothing compared to Joseph's though," he smiled.

"No, this is great. Thank you, Ben," Joseph answered.

"Ben, can I ask you something?" Ryuu walked closer to Ben. "We need to look out for a company called Ilios. You think you have the access to it?"

"Ilios..." Ben scratched his head. "Never heard of it. But we can search about it on the third floor."

So they all went to the third floor. Ben led them to a room full of cabinets and computers. He walked to the only person in the room. "Hey, can you look for a company called Ilios in our database?" He asked the officer. After a few minutes of clicking and typing, the other officer said, "Nothing. I searched through our old data too but there are no companies with that name."

Ben lowered his head and looked at the young detectives, "Sorry, guys."

Kinta suddenly jolted by the ring and vibration of his phone. They all turned to look at Kinta while he took out his phone, accepted the call and turned on the loudspeaker. "Guys! I found something big!" There was a very young voice from the other side of the phone.

"Who's that?" Ben asked curiously.

"That's Kazuma. He's our classmate too, but due to some circumstances he couldn't come here to New York," Ryuu explained briefly.

"And... Who's that?" Kazuma asked.

"Oh, that's Ben. He's a police officer," Megu answered.

"Oh okay, now to business," Kazuma said. "There are two things. First, Ilios was a research company until 25 years ago and I found out that they are now a part of some global secret agency specializing in research. The building which they operated is now occupied by a normal publishing company. But, I think Ilios is still operating there."

Ben and the other officer were stunned by the revelation. "How did you manage to find that out? And I'm guessing by your voice you're still a kid," the other officer commented.

Kyuu chuckled, "Yeah, Kazuma is still... eleven?"

"Hey, I'm twelve already!" Kazuma exclaimed. "No way," Ben gasped.

"DDS also works with me, it really helps," Kazuma said. "Next. I also dug up Melvin Rios' email. Granting the permission from the email provider, I find an email which is addressed to his old identity, Dimitri Wells. The email is in codes, but of course I cracked it."

"Just spill it out, kid," Kinta was getting impatient.

Kazuma started his explanation, "So, it turns out the email is from Ilios. They said there's a man in Ilios who is severely ill and they asked Joseph's father for help."

"Help?" Ryuu asked. "What kind of help?"

"I don't know actually," Kazuma admitted. "They just said help."

"When was the email received?" Ryuu asked.

"Now that's interesting indeed," Kazuma answered. "The email was received hours before Joseph's house was burnt."

Ryuu pondered on the information and asked, "Do you have any other information?"

"Yes," Kazuma answered confidently. "I talked to Maki-sensei and it turns out he met Stephen Wade once."

"What?" Kinta exclaimed.

"Maki-sensei was a fan of Stephen Wade and he made a trip to New York when he was still so young just to meet him. He told me that Stephen Wade was very intrigued with clones," Kazuma said seriously.

"Clown?" Kyuu asked.

"Clone, not clown, Kyuu," Kazuma sighed. "Cloning is when we 'duplicate' living things. It was a hot topic back then, according to Maki-sensei. He also told me that Wade's research in clones was actually triggered by his own condition. It looks like Stephen Wade has a unique blood that he can't receive blood from many people."

They were silent for a moment, so Kazuma continued, "Actually, Maki-sensei had a hunch that the person who is ill is probably Stephen Wade. But we haven't got any proof for that. I'm currently trying to get Stephen Wade's DNA."

Ryuu looked at Joseph to see his reaction. As expected, Joseph was shocked and pale. Ryuu then walked to Kinta and asked for the phone. Kinta gave the phone to Ryuu and Ryuu turned off the loudspeaker and said, "Thanks Kazuma, now I want you to do something." Ryuu went outside the room while speaking to Kazuma in Japanese.

They were still silent when Ryuu got back. "Let's head back to our room. We got what we came here for," Ryuu said calmly and held the door open for them. They followed the instruction immediately. "Thanks, Ben," Ryuu said before closing the door.

Joseph had gone to his room while the detectives stood in front of it. "I'll talk to him," Ryuu said. Kyuu nodded and saw Ryuu walking inside the room.

They all knew it was hard on Joseph. Megu and Kinta both lowered their faces, but Kyuu still had an unsettling one. He gestured to Megu and Kinta to get inside his room. When they were all in, Kinta said, "Damn, this is unbelievable. Is it really possible that he's a clone?"

"Yeah, it must be hard for him," Megu was still looking down.

"We don't know that yet. But something is definitely still off," Kyuu said seriously.

Megu and Kinta simultaneously looked at him. "What is it?" Kinta asked.

Kyuu let out a sigh, "If the email is private and written in codes, why did the culprit know?"

Megu and Kinta gasped.

"Unless," Kyuu touched his chin, "the culprit was also from Ilios. And maybe he just learned about Dimitri Wells' information after Ilios sent him an email."

"You're right!" Kinta agreed. "So how should we do this?"

Kyuu scratched his head, "I don't know... But what Ryuu did is right. We'll have to see when we get there."

"When we get there?" Megu covered her mouth with a hand.

"Yeah, I think that's what Ryuu had in mind," Kyuu answered. "Or... that's what I had in mind."

"You're not wrong," Ryuu closed the door and got closer to them. "I told Joseph that we're going there tomorrow. We'll have to inform Ben as well after this."

Kyuu's eyes sparkled as he exclaimed, "Okay. I'll go with you to talk with Ben!"

"I better prepare myself and protect Joseph, then," Kinta stood up. Ryuu nodded.

Kinta went back to his room. Ryuu and Kyuu were heading to the lift, but Megu stayed. Kyuu turned to see her, "Megu? You're not coming?"

Megu shook her head, "I think... I want to rest."

"Oh, you right, I am a bit sleepy as well. I'll sleep as well after we talk to Ben. Have a nice rest, Megu!" Kyuu waved and ran to the lift.

After dinner, Kyuu went outside his room to refill his drink. "Hey, Megu!" he said with a happy tone. Megu had just finished refilling her drink, "Oh hey, Kyuu." She stood up and moved a bit so Kyuu could refill his drink.

"Kyuu, what do you think of tomorrow?" Megu's voice was rather shaky. "I'm kinda scared," she admitted.

"Don't worry," Kyuu finished refilling his drink. He stood and a wide smile was on his face, "Of course it will be dangerous, but we're also getting closer to the truth!"

Megu still had an anxious face. She knew it was their job to uncover mysteries, but she was still scared. All the more in the foreign country. Their experiences were still inadequate to handle such a big case, in her opinion, but it's also true that they had each other to lean on. "You are right," Megu lowered her face, "It's just that, sometimes when we are going to face some kind of danger, I am scared that something will happen to us. And I can't even begin to imagine-"

Kyuu's hand on her arms shocked her. She raised her head to see Kyuu's smile.

"I know it's scary and I have to admit that yes, it is very dangerous. But we're together, right? There's Kinta and even the officers will back us up. Don't worry Megu, we'll be fine." And after a short pause, he added, "If anything, I will protect you."

Megu smiled and nodded, "If I'm that scared, I will never be a real detective."

"You are, Megu, you are!" Kyuu chuckled, "Please get some rest, we'll need a lot of energy tomorrow!"

Kyuu then took his drink from above the dispenser and they walked towards their room. Megu looked at Kyuu before getting inside her own room and lowered her face. "But if you protect me and something happens to you... it's the worst that I can imagine," a tear found its way to her cheek.

Her phone suddenly vibrated and she took it from her pocket. It was a message from Kazuma. Hey Megu, I know maybe it's not that place for me to say this but, even though tomorrow will be quite a confrontation, I wish you guys catch them and come back here safely.

Megu wiped her tears and smiled.

Ryuu was looking beyond the window of their room. It was a busy night at the center of the city. The lights and sounds somehow soothed Ryuu. He heard the door to their room open and knew exactly who was coming in. He turned his head to greet him.

Kyuu had a smile on his face, but Ryuu knew something was up. He then decided to wait until Kyuu settled on his bed before sitting on his own. "Did something happen?" He asked.

"What? No, no," Kyuu let out a strained laugh.

Ryuu only closed his eyes and smiled, "You're really not a good liar, Kyuu."

Kyuu's laugh soon disappeared. "Not in front of you, at least," he answered honestly. Yeah, he did lie minutes before, or rather not telling the whole truth to Megu. In reality, he was also scared of tomorrow. Hearing Megu with the tone, he had to reassure himself that nothing bad would happen. He remembered about the Kamikakushi village case when he went into the dam, or their last battle with Meiosei. He also remembered the violin master case when Ryuu was stabbed instead of him. It was his worst nightmare and he did not want those things to happen again. But still, his fear was overcomed with his desire to pursue the truth. He wanted to seek the mystery deeper and he felt nothing could stop him from doing it. And he realized he could not show that part of him to Megu. Megu was already scared and she would be worse if he opened himself up.

Kyuu just knew. He saw Megu's expression countless times before, in his mom. His mom had the same expression when they talked about Otousan since little and when they said goodbye to the late detective on their trips together. Kyuu knew he had to act strong and thank God, Megu believed him then. It was not easy for Kyuu to hold himself from someone he really cared for, but he held himself precisely because he cared for Megu.

Kyuu turned to look at Ryuu, who was intently staring at him. The gaze was piercing but there was also kindness and pure interest. Kyuu guessed Ryuu must have been staring at him while he pondered. His heart skipped a bit by the realization. In front of Ryuu, he always felt so vulnerable yet so true to himself.

Kyuu swallowed hard before finally admitting, "It's Megu. She is scared of tomorrow."

Ryuu did not stop his staring when he answered with a question, "Are you?" His voice was soft but firm.

Kyuu lowered his face. "That's the thing. Rather than scared, I feel excited. You know, to see the end of the mystery, to see the truth emerges," Kyuu's voice was enthusiastic but then it softened, "I'm afraid I may hurt her if she knows what I really feel."

Ryuu finally broke his gaze. He moved his weight to his hands backwards and stared at the ceiling, "I guess so."

Kyuu quickly grabbed his pillow and hugged it to his chest. He then sat facing Ryuu.

"You know, your mom is a very strong woman," Ryuu suddenly said.

"My mom?" Kyuu asked.

"Yeah," Ryuu continued, "She must have known the risk of marrying your dad. Your dad has the same determination as you, always seeking for the truth, and with that came so much risk. But your mom still decided to marry your dad. I believe it was actually hard for her."

Kyuu was stunned at Ryuu's opinion. After some time, Kyuu said, "You're right." He hugged his pillow tighter and murmured, "I wonder if..." He stopped and shook his head.

Ryuu knew what was in Kyuu's mind. He then sat straight and turned to see Kyuu, and waited until Kyuu looked back at him. "Well, we never know until she tells you about it. I don't think it will be an easy talk, but at some point you have to decide. Not just her, but you too. I think..." Ryuu lowered his head after finishing what he had to say.

Ryuu was right, Kyuu thought. He had to do it at some point. Kyuu let out a sigh and looked at his violet blue haired friend. He wondered why it was so easy for him to talk about these kinds of things with Ryuu. About anything, to be exact. He could be himself and Ryuu could also be himself and they would openly talk from heart to heart. Kyuu just hoped he could do the same with Megu when the time comes.

"It will be okay," Ryuu broke the silence. "Tomorrow, and also the future. We're in this together, Kyuu." He smiled genuinely.

Kyuu felt all his anxiety washed away by the sincere smile. "Yeah, we're in this together, Ryuu," he returned the smile.

"Okay, let's go to bed now," Ryuu stood up to turn the lights off.