I. Got it. Done. But this one is strange. Also, sorry. No idea how to continue... Help?

CHAPTER TWENTY

Tsukikage Island.

It was misty as the semi pseudo siblings stared out at the place three murders would be committed at. Or not would as they intended it. The boat approached docks, Ran and Kogoro talking about this and that. Well, Kogoro was still grumbling about having to come. Marie was anxious to land. She wanted to go right away but patience was key. They needed a sound reason to go looking for the local police officer.

Luckily Conan was an amazing planner.

They waited until Kogoro led them all to the Town Hall and asked for Aso Keiji. And got told the man died twelve years ago. Then they asked if they could ask the police officer about it.

Of course, Kogoro pretended he was the one to come up with it. That was to be expected.

So they asked about Aso Keiji. And Marie Saw an event change. For the better. She almost slumped in relief there and then. Almost. Because they still had work to do. The old officer gave them the whole story. Everything he remembered. Even the music sheets stored in a safe. A score that they were determined to find now. It had worked. Searching for a key and looking for the scores turned to be rather tedious but they were found.

Finally, it was time to look for Aso Seiji. The son of a pianist.

Conan was thinking of a plan… but Marie stopped him.

"He's coming here!", she whispered, "It'll turn out okay"

As luck would have it Asai Narumi walked around the corner and greeted them. Because he was the one to call them here. Though no one else knew that.

"Ah! Are you from the mainland?", he/she asked.

"Y- Yes…", Kogoro answered, a bit bemused.

Narumi/Seiji continued, "Me too! I moved here two years ago and…", he talked for a bit before coming around to introducing himself, "Oh. How rude of me. I'm Dr. Asai Narumi. Nice to meet you!"

An innocent blink from Conan, "Asai… Narumi? How's that written?"

Marie backed it up, "Yeah! Please show us!"

In the face of two enthusiastic children the doctor had no choice but to do just that. He showed on a handy piece of paper and gave it to them. Ran looked over their shoulders. She blinked before her eyes widened.

"A- Aso Seiji!?", she asked incredulously.

The man stiffened in surprise as all eyes snapped to him. No one moved until the old police officer smiled happily.

"Ah, Seiji-kun! Your father left something for you", he gave the music sheets forward and laughed a little, "I must say, you make a convincing woman!"

Shell shocked the doctor numbly reached for the papers and with shaking hands started reading. It was in code. A code he undoubtedly knew as he read and silent tears rolled down his cheeks. Knees gave out. Seiji was sobbing and clutching the papers to his chest, uttering thank yous and apologies. Marie watched it all with sympathy and relief. Enormous relief. She blindly reached for her brother's hand. She knew he felt it too.

Three murders. They prevented three murders.

Suddenly she couldn't contain it in her chest anymore and just hugged Conan with a breathless laugh.

"We did it…!"

Everything was going to be fine now. Everything would be fine.

xXXx

Marie grinned as she stepped out of the train and spotted a certain prankster waiting for her. She happily skipped up to him and slapped her hands together to make a deck of cards appear out of nowhere. The teen eyed her hands critically as she shuffled and poofed the cards out of existence. He then nodded approvingly and ruffled her hair.

"As expected of my apprentice~!", he gave her a cheeky grin before taking her hand and guiding the girl out of the station while explaining what she could improve and how to get less smoke for the trick. Right as he performed it one handed.

Marie was still very much amazed by his skills.

The girl was to stay over for the weekend again to learn some more complex magic. Also to spend time with her teacher who was very enthusiastic about having a protegé. Or maybe he saw her as a little sister figure. Kinda. It was hard to figure out and the two had never really defined their relationship. Whichever the case, he liked teaching her… maybe because his father had taught him. And Marie liked learning. The tricks were useful for entertainment and confusing criminals. Or her brother but let's not talk about that.

(Truth was, she was kinda hiding from the 'Shinichi's Sweetheart' kidnapping case. Conan had actually ordered her away for that, 'cause he had a plan… she couldn't wait to hear how it went)

She slipped her hand out of his hold to jump on a bench and there to his back, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and neck.

"Oh-ho. A ride, eh?", she could hear the mischievousness in that voice and tried not to grin too widely, "I'll give you a ride… Hold on Magi-chan!"

And he was off, taking shortcuts over railings, parks and one memorable time a roof. All the while Marie held on and giggled. As for Magi-chan… a funny nickname by Kaito. She didn't particularly look for one but he wanted to make one so who was she to argue? And it turned out okay. And the teen landed on his home's doorstep.

Oh how she loved spending time here with the phantom thief!

xXXx

"Conan?", Marie asked, troubled, as she heard they were going to a hotel at the 'hottest season' because Agasa got free tickets or something, "What's the date?"

Her brother didn't even need to check as he told it was this and this of August and this year. He didn't seem to see anything wrong with this. And Marie had… trouble remembering what the date had been. She thought of the series she'd watched and read as a whole before coming to a ridiculous conclusion.

"...Conan?", she said, feeling a bit faint. He immediately looked up from his book with a questioning glance. She looked directly into his eyes, "If it's August, wouldn't that mean a year has gone by?"

Shinichi raised an eyebrow. There was no way a year had gone by. They'd been poisoned barely three… months… uhh… he couldn't set a time as to how much time had passed since. Marie watched worriedly as his eyes widened in shock and horror, realization of something dawning on him. She winced, thinking if she should've kept it for herself… but then she realized it could also help them. She grabbed his shoulder and shook slightly to get him out of brain malfunction.

"Wha-? Ma- Marie, we… we're…", wow, his mind must be a mess. He couldn't even form his thoughts clearly.

Marie just nodded, "Yeah… I think we're stuck in a time continuum of some sort", she said gravely, still unbelieving but knowing she was right, "But you know what that means?"

Blue eyes looked at her questioningly. She gave a shaky grin.

"No matter how much time seems to have gone by, we will get your body back in about a year"

The boy blinked in shock before a wide smile spread across his face. Oh. That was good. It was… nice. But- but- but time continuum. A floating timeline! They were stuck in a floating timeline that was a lot of cases crammed inside one year. Inside ONE YEAR! Cases. Murderers. Time is brokennnn… BRain bLEaCh, pLeaSe! Ingarrgmdiin- Make this make sense! -olkndgl…

System crash. Rebo-ooo-o-..t.

Marie watched helplessly as the brain malfunction happened even with the good news. She sighed through her nose and guided her glassy eyed brother to the sofa to sleep it off.

Really, he was lucky to have her.

(And she needed to go have another mental breakdown because life what are you doing to me!?)

xXXx

Yes. Revelation of fictional logic happening here. I hope it's not too out of place... *shrugs self consciously*. But yeah. No idea how to continue. I was thinking of writing the Night Baron case thingy but... Well. I'm just wondering how much I should skip. Or if I should skip at all. To the birthday party where people get stuck in a mansion and murders happen thing...? Maybe? Ideas?