Sage 8
sage-immortality, wisdom
3:45
Chess cafe
Conan's pov
Kogoro, Ran, and myself Stepped out of the cab and onto the wet pavement all of the snow that had fallen the night before had melted come the warmth of the day March always had the strangest weather.
"So this is where the client wanted to meet you?" Ran asked her father.
"Yeah, I still don't see why you two couldn't stay home," Kogoro grumbled as he dug his hands into his pockets.
After a minute of waiting outside a familiar figure came into view, in about thirty seconds the person was recognizable. It was Inspector Nakamori, he walked up to us and peered into the cafe behind us.
"What brings you here Ginzo?" Kogoro asked.
"Business, and you?"
"A client asked me to meet him here," Kogoro answered as someone opened the door.
"I don't why your waiting out side but please come in," A familiar voice said, it had a sight British accent.
"H-Hakuba-kun?" Nakamori said quite surprised.
Sure enough as the inspector had said the one holding the door open was Saguru Hakuba, he was wearing a white button down with a black waistcoat, and black dress slacks, over that he wore an olive green apron.
"What are you doing here?" The Inspector asked.
"Same as you," Saguru said, gesturing for us to come inside,"Here take a seat Mr. Arens reserved this table, but he won't be here till quarter after."
As I looked around I noticed many of the tables were occupied foreigners. The cafe had quite the aesthetic, bundles of spices hung from the walls and rails of the first and second floor, there was a glass counter with a cash register with shelves behind it, the glass case and shelf were lined with baked goods, the sent of caramel and tea hung in the air and gave a warm cozy feeling. Soft yellow lights illuminated the room and electrically modeled antique oil lamps were mounted to the walls, the entire place had an Edwardian atmosphere. I caught a glimpse of a few other people wearing a similar green apron.
"Do you work here Haku-chan?" I asked innocently.
He turned and gestured to a table with eight chairs,"Oh no, I just like wearing an apron and name tag to confuse people. Well actually, you see my mother practically built this place from the grown up, I just help out whenever she's a bit short staffed, that's all."
"Oh I see, but why are there so many people here?" I asked.
"Yeah there are a lot of people here, and oh what smells so good?"Ran said, taking a seat.
Another employee brought over a cart of white china, Saguru gave him a nod and the other employee left without a word,"Well during three o'clock to around half past four we tend to have more customers, it's because that's when you'd typically have afternoon tea in the UK, many of our customers make up the Japanese-European population."
"Yeah, I understand that but why do they choose to come here?"Kogoro asked.
Hakuba-kun began setting the table with the dishes from the cart,"Black tea," he said placing three tea pots on the table.
"Black tea?" Nakamori asked.
"Yeah, this might be what you're smelling Ran," Saguru said, placing a glass canister on the table in front of Ran, inside of it was what looked like tea leaves,"They don't normally sell black tea in stores here, this is one of the very few establishments that serves authentic European black teas."
"So what's up with all of the dishes?" Nakamori said, gesturing to the half empty cart.
"Perhaps it's because your client has made a habit of enjoying an English tea every day at quarter after four," A girl's voice said. I looked over to where she stood, she was short no taller than 4'10'', she had long brown hair styled in vintage curls, she wore vintage makeup as well, bright red lipstick and black mascara, she wore a black waistcoat that had a leaf shaped tail, she wore matching dress slacks, wingtip shoes, around her neck was a bolo tie engraved with roses, and upon her head was a red fez with black tassile. On her left hand she wore a large black leather glove on which sat a barn owl.
"R-rose?" Saguru stuttered, his face growing cherry red.
"Long time no see, Poindexter. Where's Watson it's not very common to see you two separated," She said in flawless Japanese, free from any detectable accent.
"Oh W-watson, he's sitting by the window," Saguru said, pointing to a perch on the upper loft.
"So who's your girlfriend?" Kogoro asked.
"She's not my girlfriend."
"What's the difference?" Nakamori said in a bored monotone voice.
The girl let out a sigh,"The difference between boyfriend, and boy friend, Is the little space between them called the friend zone,"She said unamused.
"Okay fine who are you?" Kogoro said the annoyance in his voice was clearly visible.
"Well I could ask the same of you, but I never meet someone without knowing what's in store, I already know who you are, Mouri Kogoro. As for my identity you may call me by my alias, Rose Adler, for my true identity is one that few have come to know, for they are the ones I trust," She said letting the owl fly over to where the hawk sat.
"But why would you need a false name?" I asked my curiosity taking over.
"As you probably know being a detective is quite dangerous, it's protection for not only myself but for the people who are close to me, besides Rose Adler doubles as my stage name."
"Stage name?" Ran asked.
"Yes, that's right, I'm a magician after all," She said, covering the cart with a large handkerchief, she pulled it away and snapped it above the table, setting it almost instantly.
"Wait, let me get this straight, you're a magician . . . and A detective," Nakamori-keibu clarified.
Rose sat down in the chair across from me,"Why yes does that bother you? I admit the entire concept sounds strange, how both are like polar opposites."
"You're kind of like Kid in a way," Saguru said, leaning on the chair next to her.
"Kid kid kid, K I D, oh yes you mean Kaito Kid. I forgot you were wasting your time chasing a thief that doesn't steal things," She said with a cocky grin,"But alas, I can not tease you for too long, for that is why we all have been brought here."
"What do you mean?"
She pulled out a pocket watch that had a ceaser cipher wheel on the cover, checked the time and put it away," In exactly 30.25 seconds the client will walk in through the door and say 'my great detectives it is a dire necessity that I seek your assistance' ," She said, changing to a deeper voice with a British accent.
As she finished a tall man with well groomed black hair entered the small shop,"My great detectives it is a dire necessity that I seek your assistance," He said with a voice that matched the one the girl had. It was odd, despite the words of witch he said his voice was far from concerned, but had a uneasy confidence in it, of witch made me feel sick.
The pin-up girl smirked, she then vanished, seemingly to disperse in a shower of red rose petals. She appeared in a similar fashion roughly 1.5 meters from the man, her gloved arm stretched out as the white owl swooped down and perched there on her left hand. Rose had successfully gained the attention of everyone in the room, the soft hum of conversation left the room leaving silenced awe in it's wake. An impressive sight especially considering that she appeared to be no older than 16.
"Earl William Arens, I presume," She said, with a confident glint in her eye as she gently stroked the breast feathers of the owl.
"Why yes, and you must be Rose Adler, the professional magician. I admit, I'm not easily impressed but, I've never seen anything like that, I feel quite reassured knowing you will be working on my... well problem."