Gomen ne, minna! I didn't mean to take so long to get this chapter out. I'm moving, you see, so I've had practically no time to get this ready to post. Anyway, thanks to everyone who has reviewed this story; your encouragement is greatly appreciated.
To cover my bases, I want to say again that neither Meitantei Conan nor Kindaichi Shonen no Jikembo belong to me. They are the works of minds far greater than mine.
Enjoy the next chapter!
Chapter 6: Now It's Personal
Ran stared in shock at the figure of Shinichi. He was looking at her, but she couldn't read the expression on his face. He looked okay; maybe a little tired. She could only imagine what she looked like at the present moment. She knew she was running the full gauntlet of emotions, and she had no idea which one was being currently expressed on her face.
Spending the afternoon talking to Miyuki and Kazuha had caused Ran to do some major thinking about where things stood between herself and Shinichi. What she had said before was true; she really did think it was time to tell him how she felt about him. She wanted to be honest with him. And there was a part of her that believed that if she told him that she was in love with him, and he returned those feelings, then maybe he wouldn't leave again.
That is what bothered her the most. His leaving. His never being there when she was sad or lonely. Leaving her with no explanation other than that he's working on a case. Leaving her alone when at times all she can do stare at the phone, hoping that he'd call. And when he did, it seemed all he could do was ask her to wait for him, his voice often filled with the longing and pain that she constantly felt.
Shinichi's words and actions were at constant odds with each other. His words often left her feeling cared for, because he sounded so hurt when he would tell her he couldn't see her. But then, if he cared so much, why couldn't he drop everything he was doing and come back to her? Did his precious cases mean more to him than she did? She often asked this question of herself, and she was terrified of finding out the answer.
And then there was this strange and bizarre notion she had been entertaining that Conan was actually Shinichi…
Ran knew it was pointless to let her thoughts go in that direction. Shinichi was here, now, standing right in front of her. She was so confused that she had no idea how she was supposed to react.
Professor Agasa entered the room. "Look who I found wandering around the ferry docks," he said as he made his way to the table.
Shinichi followed and sat down in the empty seat next to Ran. He smiled at her as he said, "Yo, Ran. It's been a while."
Ran tried to find her voice. "Shinichi," she whispered, "what are you doing here?"
"Two things, actually. I got this today," he replied as he held up a letter. Hajime had the distinct feeling that it was an exact copy of the one that he, Heiji, and Conan had received. "I guess when I didn't show up, our friend was disappointed. I didn't think much of it until I got a call from Hattori." Shinichi looked intently at Ran. "He said that you had been hurt. I decided that I ought to take what this guy says seriously and I got here as fast as I could."
Heiji played his part perfectly. "I didn't think you'd get here until tomorrow morning."
"I didn't want to waste anymore time." Shinichi looked over at Hajime. "Hattori told me you were here, Kindaichi. How've you been?"
"Alright, I guess. I haven't seen you in a while, Kudo. Where have you been hiding?"
"Wouldn't we all like to know?" Ran said with a touch of bitterness.
Shinichi shot a glance at Ran, but answered Hajime's question. "Here and there. I've been working on some pretty difficult cases."
"Really, what kind of cases?"
"I thought I recognized you," Shotoro cut in, bringing everyone's attention back to the table. "You're that famous high school detective. My paper has done a few stories on you."
"I suppose we should go through the introductions again for the benefit of our newcomers," Hiromi said. She did so quickly, and everyone returned to their dinner.
"Weren't two little kids supposed to come back with you, Professor?" Kazuha asked over the din of conversation.
Shinichi paused in his retelling of cases to Hajime for a brief moment and looked over at the Professor. The Professor smiled at Kazuha and said, "Those two found some video games at Hiromi-chan's house and decided that they would much rather spend the evening playing games. In fact," he glanced over at Mouri, "if it's okay, Conan-kun could just stay over there for the evening. That would free up his bed for Shinichi-kun."
Mouri, who was still looking mighty angry at Shinichi, mumbled that it would be fine.
Hajime was still looking at Shinichi, who suddenly looked relieved that that conversation was over. He watched him as he bent to say something to Ran. Something didn't add up. Conan had said that he would be at dinner after taking care of some things. He seemed very upset over the attack on the girls, and he seemed disturbed by the letter. Now he's going to spend the evening playing video games? This change in Conan's behavior was disturbing. Then, all of the sudden, Kudo Shinichi shows up out of nowhere. And he was on edge as well, not acting as confident as Hajime remembered. The other boy seemed jumpy and paranoid. He even called Ran 'neechan' at one point, earning himself a slap on the arm from the offended girl. Hajime allowed Shinichi to distract him with idle conversation, but Hajime was beginning to get an idea about that little boy and Kudo Shinichi, one that he could hardly bring himself to believe.
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After a while, dinner was over and everyone had adjourned to one of the sitting rooms for coffee and dessert.
The Miyazakis and Yukiko were sitting on one of the couches discussing the latest medical news. Shotaro was trying to get financial information about Takeda out of Ryo. Hiromi, Mouri, Kinmochi, and the Professor were sitting around a table chatting amiably. The six teenagers in the room were standing by one of the open bay windows, going over events of the day.
"So, Kudo, Hattori filled you in on what you missed earlier," Hajime was saying.
"Yes, and I've had some time to think about who would do something like this. You mentioned a man you know who likes to use magic," Shinichi replied.
"Takato Youichi."
"But neither Hattori nor myself knows of him. It stands to reason that all three of us would know whoever is doing this." Shinichi paused. "You wouldn't happen to know of the Kaitou Kid, would you?"
"You don't think he is behind this, do you, Shinichi?" Ran asked, fanning herself with her hand.
Shinichi turned to address her. "The note is definitely his style, but I'm pretty sure that it's not him. He likes to play games, but I've never seen him use violence in any way. What's wrong, Ran? Are you feeling okay?"
"I'm fine. It's just hot in here."
Kazuha put her coffee down on the nearest table. "You're right, Ran-chan. I can't drink any more of this coffee `cause I'm too hot."
"It's probably all of these people in one room. So, it's possible that the Kaitou Kid is behind this?" Ran said, wanting to get back to the subject at hand. The sooner they finished discussing this, the sooner that she could get Shinichi alone.
"I've never heard or dealt with anyone called the Kaitou Kid," Hajime said, eyeing Miyuki. She was fanning herself, too, and Hajime had been thinking how cool it was for a summer's evening.
"We could be jumping to conclusions. Maybe we shouldn't discard either of them. I mean, they both know at least one of us, and it is possible that the other two were dragged into this for kicks," Heiji added.
"And maybe we should start considering what else this guy has in store for us. I don't like how this game of his began. We should try to anticipate his next move," said Hajime.
"You may find that difficult, Kindaichi-kun. You never know where I'll be next."
Everyone in the room jumped at the sound of the disembodied voice that seemed to come out of nowhere.
"Who's there?" Hajime shouted.
"Tsk-tsk, Kindaichi. I thought you'd remember. I guess it has been a while. But, then again, the last time I saw you, you and I actually managed to get along. Couldn't we get along now?"
"Where are you, Takato?" Hajime asked, scanning the room but finding no one that resembled Takato Youichi. "Are you behind this?"
Shinichi and Heiji looked at Hajime. It was clear now who had set this up.
Yukiko leaned over and whispered to Hiromi, "What's going on?"
"I have no clue," Hiromi whispered back.
"I am everywhere and nowhere at the same time," Takato was saying, his voice surrounding everyone in the room.
Heiji got angry. "Your riddles are really starting to get annoying. I understand that you may have issues with Kindaichi, but why involve Kudo and I? As far as I know, I've never heard of you. And we really don't even know what it is you want."
"All will be revealed in good time, Hattori-kun. I take it you got my little messages this afternoon. You'll want to look at those very closely."
"Why?" Shinichi asked.
Takato's disembodied voice seemed to sigh. "I imagine that after this afternoon's demonstration that you three would want to be very careful and consider every avenue."
It was Hajime's turn to get angry. "We don't even know what we're supposed to be doing. Why don't you stop talking in circles and get to the point."
"I'm afraid that the point is about to make itself very clear."
"What the hell are you talking…" Hajime started to say, but was cut off when Miyuki suddenly grabbed his arm. He looked at her and saw that her face was extremely pale and she was clutching her chest. She was trying to take in deep breaths but having difficulty.
"Miyuki!" Hajime shouted as she pitched forward. He caught her before she fell. "What's wrong?"
"I…can't…breathe…" Miyuki tried to say, but her face just withered in pain.
Everyone in the room had their eyes on Hajime and Miyuki, trying to figure out what was going on. Heiji turned to Kazuha, remembering that they both had been cut with that same knife before, and how he'd found that strange. Just as he realized what was about to happen, Kazuha clutched at her chest and began breathing heavily.
"Kazuha!" he said as he helped her sit down.
Shinichi had figured out what was happening. When their attacker cut them with his knife, the girls had been poisoned somehow. The knife had been laced with something that wouldn't take effect for a few hours. He was guessing that their challenge was going to be a cliched 'save your girlfriend before she dies.' He was not happy about this turn of events. He looked at Ran, knowing what was about to happen to her, wishing that he could stop it somehow.
Ran was looking back at him, fear written all over her face. He grabbed her arms to keep her from falling when the poison took effect. She smiled weakly. "Why does something bad always happen just when you finally come back to me?"
"Ran…" he started to say, but couldn't go any further because she was distracted by the pain. As she fell forward, he caught her and held her close to him.
"You have twenty-four hours. The antidote is in this house and I've left you enough information to find it. We'll speak again tomorrow evening."
"Takato!" Hajime shouted. "Takato, where are you, you bastard?"
The only answer he got was silence.
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Author's Note: I wrote this before reading the end of the Kindaichi manga, so the conversation between Takato and Kindaichi refers to the anime, not the manga. I apologize for any discrepancies. I know that this chapter is short, but, believe it or not, I'm still setting things up, and this was a logical end to this scene. The next chapters will get more lengthy, trust me. Thanks for reading!