Long time no see, minna-san! I was just looking at my reviews, and it looks like the first one from chapter four was on January 21st… has it really been that long since my last update? Shame on me! It's really amazing, I got started with all this online stuff because I had practically no real-world life. Now, I can't seem to keep up with it (quite literally – I have a lot of update notifications in my inbox, piled up, that I haven't looked at yet), because real-life is taking over. I guess that might be a good thing, though… right? At least I'm not constantly holed up in my room like the stereotypical otaku… only sometimes… okay, I'm gonna quit talking like that while I'm ahead. Luckily, I've already tried to start chapter 6, so hopefully it won't be like pulling teeth, like it was this time.

As always, I don't own Detective Conan, Magic Kaito, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, or the riddles I use. DC and MK belong to Aoyama-sensei, the game show version of Carmen Sandiego belongs to PBS, and the riddles belong to my good friend SailorRanger.


Chapter 5: So Who's With Me?

"So, Hattori-kun, where are you staying tonight," Ran asked as they were leaving the police station.

Heiji shrugged. "I hadn't really thought about that. I figured I'd just head back home for tonight so that I can get some things together, and let Kazuha know what the deal is." Conan had been studying the new riddle, but stopped abruptly when the taller man made that last admission. Both he and Ran turned and stared at him, to which the Great Detective of the West started blushing. "Arg! It's not like that, and you know it!"

Conan was having too much fun. "Oh really? Then why are you blushing so much?"

Heiji refused to dignify that question with an answer, so instead he decided to turn the tables a little bit. "What about your girlfriend, Conan?"

Now it was the smaller detective's turn for his face to redden. "This is not the time or the place, Hattori!" He changed to a whisper. "Especially when the only woman who could ever come close to that description is walking right next to us."

"Oh, I think it is. After all, turnaround is fair play…" He then changed to a whisper as well. "Especially when I just got you so mad that you slipped, and called me 'Hattori', instead of 'Heiji-niichan'." He started laughing when Conan's eyes momentarily widened.

Ran cleared her throat to regain their attention. "I don't think you should be traveling tonight. I also don't think one day will make that much of a difference. Why don't you come back with us? We could set up the couch or something…"

The two detectives looked at each other. Conan glared, so Heiji accepted the invitation.


Kogoro looked up from his newspaper when the trio entered the room. "Where have you been all day… and what is he doing here?"

"We were at the museum, waiting for Kaito Kid, but he got away," Ran explained. "Hattori-kun showed up to help. The reason he's here, is because I didn't think it was a good idea for him to travel back to Osaka tonight, and he should wait until tomorrow. In the mean time, we have another riddle to work on." She went to her room, and the other two went to Conan's room, to put their stuff down.

"Hey, Kudo, wanna work on the riddle after dinner tonight," Heiji asked.

"Might as well, since you're already here…" He punched the floor. "Damn that Nakamori! My plan would have worked, if he'd bothered to follow it all the way to the end!"

Heiji raised his eyebrows. "You sure about that?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

They were once again interrupted, this time by a knock at the bedroom door. Ran poked her head through the opening. "It's just me. You know, guys, I can hear you all the way down the hall. Conan-kun, you shouldn't let Hattori-kun get under your skin so easily. If you do, the summer will end up feeling that much longer… Why don't you two come down and help me get dinner ready?"

"Exactly how much did you hear," Conan asked.

She smiled. "Just the last part… but isn't that enough?"

The two detectives stopped holding their breath, and followed her back downstairs.


Kuroba Kaito sat on his bed, holding the wakizashi of Takamori Saigo. He turned it over several times, inspecting it as if he was looking for something very specific. After a few minutes, he sighed and set it down. "I didn't really think it would be on there… I've checked that museum so many times, and not a single piece held anything remotely resembling it. Oh, well… it wasn't a total loss, I was able to get the three detectives together." He smiled broadly at that last part. "We'll see what happens."

His mother's voice shook him back into reality. "Kaito, dinner's ready!"


Nakamori Aoko was bringing dinner to the table when she heard her father come through the front door. She greeted him with a hug, but didn't say anything for fear that his ugly facial expression wouldn't be the only way that the same short temper that she had inherited would find to show itself. He took her silence as an opportunity to start ranting about Kid, Conan, Heiji, and anything else that came to mind.

"Was it really that bad to work with the two of them," she asked.

The inspector shot a look in her direction. "At first, it looked like I had no choice, but once the plan went into effect, I honestly thought the little brat was gonna screw it up, and the bigger brat wasn't making a move to do anything about it!"

"So… what are you going to do?"

He rested his forehead in his palms. "I don't know. I'd like to just drop them like a bad habit, but something tells me Kid won't let me do that."

In other parts of the city, three teenage boys and one teenage girl sneezed.


Ran looked at the two boys sitting at the kitchen table cutting vegetables. It had caught her by surprise when they all sneezed at the same time. "I hope we're not all coming down with something…" she said.

"Gee, I hope not," Conan exclaimed. 'Nah… the chances of us all sneezing in the exact same instant are so slim, it's almost more likely that someone was talking about us…' He sat silently for a few moments, and then burst out laughing. "I bet it was Nakamori-keibu!"

"Talking about us," Heiji asked. "You do know that's just an old wives' tale… don't you? And if it is right, how can you be so sure it was him, and not Kid?"

Conan shrugged. "I don't know… it just makes more sense my way…"

Ran brought serving dishes full of food to the table. "Okay, boys, let's put the mystery solving on hold while we eat… Dad! Dinner's ready!" She took the cut vegetables and put them on a plate with a cup of salad dressing.

They sat for most of the time eating in silence, until Kogoro decided to break it. "So, what's this riddle you brought back with you," he asked.

"Dad!"

Heiji looked at her. "No, it's okay Ran-chan. I suppose that the more heads working on this, the better off we are. Ne, Conan-kun?"

Conan hesitated, remembering Nakamori's expression of distaste at the idea of having to work with the 'Great Detective' Mouri Kogoro. For the time being, though, he supposed it couldn't hurt. "Uh… yeah. But I think I agree with Ran-neechan about waiting until after dinner to get started. I guess we could explain a little of the background though…"

They went through the entire story again for the benefit of the older man, leaving out the part about how it was originally Shinichi who was supposed to have taken the case.


They stayed around the table for a while after the dinner dishes were cleaned up. Conan took out his copy of the new riddle and opened it up so that everyone could see it. "There's one part in here that doesn't really match the rest," he pointed out.

Heiji shook his head. "I think there's actually two parts that don't match… but one of them kinda goes with something from the first one, so it actually is spoken for…"

It took another minute and a half for Kogoro to catch on to which lines they were talking about. When he finally did, though, the other three weren't exactly surprised at the next thing to come out of his mouth. "I know! Music means concert, and Okino Yoko-san is giving her next concert one week from today!"

"Dad, you can't be serious…"

Conan sighed. 'Leave it to Ojisan to come up with something completely off-base.'

Heiji stood up suddenly and put on his jacket and ball cap. "Where are you going, Hattori-kun," Ran asked.

"Well, as nutty as it sounds, the old man may have something… but in order to know for sure, I need a computer."

Conan jumped off his chair. "I'm coming with you."


Heiji looked around before resuming the conversation. "So, Kudo, where's the closest internet café?"

Conan's eyes searched the taller teen's face. "Wouldn't it be easier to just use Professor Agasa's computer? Oh… never mind… I forgot that he always has other things running on that machine, and doesn't even use the internet often enough to make it worth having. There's a library that's closer than the internet café, but it might be closed for the night already." They kept walking until they found a place with internet-ready computers that they could use. This time, Heiji took out his copy of the riddle, since Conan had left his with Kogoro.

"Hey Kudo… you think that as long as we're here, we should figure out the rest of it too?"

"Sure. The sooner we know the details, the more time we have to plan… gotta love search engines…" His hands flew over the keyboard, asking the machine to find information on the keywords of Kid's message.

In the mean time, Heiji decided it would be more worth his time to do a little searching of his own. He found another computer and started investigating Kogoro's supposedly off-the-mark outburst. He turned his monitor around to face Conan. "Hey, Kudo, guess what? Believe it or not, the old man might have actually been on to something…"

The smaller boy sweatdropped. "You're kidding me, right?"

Heiji shook his head and pointed at the screen. "Take a look." The screen showed a page from Okino Yoko's official website.

"Okay… so she's giving a concert next week… so what?"

"It's the only thing that makes sense with the clue about the music… and besides, I also looked up a box office site that says she's the only one giving a concert in Japan between now and then."

Shinichi tried to internalize the information. "It couldn't be sooner, because that wouldn't give Kid enough time to prepare… and it doesn't really make sense for it to be later either, because that's too long of a delay." He sighed. "I can't believe I'm agreeing with one of Ojisan's crazy ideas… but at least now we have it narrowed down to a specific day."

"Right. So what were you able to find?"

"I typed in some of the important words from Kid's message into the search engine. Apparently, he was being serious when he said 'great world tour,' because the Forbidden City is a place which used to be a royal palace… in China…" He rested his chin in one palm. "I wasn't able to figure out what the target is, though…"

"That's okay, we have some time. Why don't we call it a night?"

Conan looked back to his monitor, and reluctantly turned the machine off.


The next morning after breakfast, Kogoro, Ran, Conan, and Heiji went down to the police station to impart on Nakamori-keibu the new information. Nakamori looked at Kogoro, and then at the man's daughter. "What's he doing here? I thought I said…"

She cut him off before he could finish the thought. "Whether or not you're willing to believe it, keibu, he provided the boys with some information about this next riddle. Isn't that right?" Conan and Heiji simply nodded, waiting to see what the inspector's reaction would be.

Nakamori grumbled inaudibly, and then started talking while trying to stay as calm as possible. "You're forcing me to be the one to take action? Fine." He turned his attention back to the other man. "Mouri-san, I do not want you here. Even though you had one lucky clue, I am of the strong opinion that in the end you will be more of a hindrance than help." Conan and Heiji looked at each other with their eyebrows raised, while the he continued. "I'd appreciate it if you'd leave now."

Kogoro couldn't believe his ears. "What? I'm the famous meitantei, Mouri Kogoro! You can't do this to me!"

"I'm well aware of who you are, I can do this, and I am. If you do not agree to leave on your own, I will have to bring someone in to help you."

At this point, Ran decided she'd had enough. "You've got a lot of nerve, talking to my dad that way! Come on, guys, let's go." She and Kogoro stood up and started to move toward the door. The other two stayed seated. "Hattori-kun, Conan-kun, aren't you coming?"

The two high school detectives looked at each other, communicating without actually saying anything. "We'll be right behind you," Heiji said while Conan once again just nodded.

Ran wondered what they were up to, but figured they knew what they were doing, and guided her father out the door.

As soon as they were sure the pair was out of listening range, the two boys turned back to the inspector. "We still want in on this, whether the two of them are involved or not," Heiji said.

"Somehow, that doesn't really surprise me. However, I'm not sure if I can let you do that."

Conan jumped up in the chair he'd previously been sitting in, leaning over onto the desk. "Why not? Just because you've been chasing this guy the longest doesn't mean that you have the market cornered on it! He sent his note to Shinichi-niichan, who left the case in my hands, and I intend to see it completed!" He sat back down when he felt Heiji's hand on his shoulder.

A vein on Nakamori's forehead continued to throb. "If you're finished, I'd be more than happy to explain why I'm doing this."

Heiji glanced down to make sure his friend was alright. The younger-looking boy opted to make it seem like he had found something on the desk to be incredibly interesting. "Yes sir," he said.

"Fine. First off, the last heist didn't go particularly well."

"That wasn't my fault…" Conan objected.

"We obviously don't work well together."

"You didn't even give me a solid chance!"

"And you," Nakamori pointed at Heiji, "didn't even lift a finger to help!"

Now Heiji was steaming a little bit. "Hey! You cannot place any of the blame on me, I didn't even know what the plan was! The best I could do with the information I had, was to act as a decoy and let Conan do his thing… which is more than you were able to do…"

The last part made Nakamori even more furious, but he came to the conclusion that it would be in his best interest to let it slide. "What about the girls?"

"Huh?" The two high school detectives floundered around for a bit before Conan said "Oh, I'm sure they'll be fine while we're gone… heh, heh…"

"That's not what I meant, and you know it."

"Perhaps…" Heiji said. "Are you ready to go, Conan? We don't want to keep Ran-chan and Mouri-san waiting." Conan nodded. They bowed on their way out the door, leaving a very frustrated inspector to try to figure out what was really in his best interest.


Ran and Kogoro were waiting by the station's front door when the boys found them.

"So, what did you guys talk about after we left," Ran asked.

"Actually, the sharing of the information didn't rest on whether you were in the room or not," Heiji explained. "Unfortunately, it didn't even get to that point, because he was more interested in expressing his dissatisfaction at how things went yesterday."

"That's a shame… what are you going to do?"

Conan masked his displeasure by making his voice sound about half way between seven-year-old and too-serious. "We haven't really decided yet, but we know we have options, since we're the ones who've gathered some information already."

"I can't believe he kicked me out of his office," Kogoro exclaimed.

"Um… actually dad, before the first heist… he told us he didn't want to work with you…"

"What?"

"Anyway," Heiji said, "since we know what the score is, I think I should be getting back to Osaka…"

Ran shot him a look that said 'that might not be a good idea quite yet', but quickly changed it to a softer look of understanding. "Let's go back to the apartment so you can get your stuff."

A little while later, they were saying goodbye. Heiji started making his way down the stairs to the street, when Conan called out "See you in a few days!" Ran and Kogoro gave the boys matching strange looks, not quite willing to believe that they were planning on going anyway, despite the fact that Nakamori didn't want them there.


End Chapter 5

A/N: Wow… a long one (for me)… I'm not sure if this will be a typical occurrence or not, but I was hoping to more-or-less have it be one chapter for the set up, and one chapter for the heist. It was different for the first one, because I had to have a little more for the exposition, and I'll probably have an extra one at the end too.

So, here's my big dilemma: even though I've started chapter 6, I can't quite decide who exactly should chase Kid. Of course it has to be Nakamori, Conan, and Heiji… but I'm not sure who else to include. Suggestions are more than welcome! You can be sure they'll get heard, especially because of how long it took for me to get this chapter ready (o.o')… anyway…

Guess that's it for now, catch ya later!