Hi! This is the 2nd chapter of my fic! hope you like it!
(by the way, thanks for the reviews! ) - This chapter revolves around a murder case.
Chapter 2 : Return of Darkness (part 2)
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Arriving at Mr. Hiroshima's House:
"We're here. Shinichi, I'm leaving them in your capable hands"
"No problem, Hongo"
Shinichi and Class Q finally arrived at the victim's house. It seems that this family was rich beyond imagination. Their house resided at the far end but could be seen miles away. Mr. Hongo instructed them to get out of the car. Though wondering why, Class Q exited the vehicle with Shinichi with their umbrellas. They had no time to ask because after Kinta got off, Mr. Hongo sped to the other direction, leaving them there.
Kyu suddenly then gazed in awe of the house and left his question behind.
"Wow, it's huge! Not even Kazuma's mansion would be able to match that!' exclaimed Kyu. The sight of the house was indeed marvelous.
"That is true. My mansion's nothing compared to this" said Kazuma.
"Well, we'd better hurry. If we continue staring and gazing at its marvel, we'll never solve the case let alone enter the house in it" said Shinichi. He was in a bright mood even though the rain was pouring. It had weakened now. The Lightning seems to have stopped temporarily and the wind's howling became a soft purr. They proceeded onto the gate where the guard was waiting for them.
After they were let in by the guard, they started to walk towards the door which seemed a mile away. On the way, Kyu started to wonder out loud why Mr. Hongo left all of a sudden. Shinichi, who knew perfectly well why, answered the question.
"Well, you see Kyu, Mr. Hongo left because he still had something to do for Mr. Dan. He said he'll be back in a few days."
"But what was he suppose to do? Hmmm……"
"You're the really curious type, aren't you?" said Shinichi with a smile.
"Well, of course I am! I'm a detective, after all!" Kyu proudly announced. Shinichi let out a laugh. "I remember the last time I became really curious about something…" thought Shinichi. He had a flashback about him chasing a man in black and suddenly being knocked out and being given a pill. He then remembered being Conan for all those long and dreary months not being able to properly talk to Ran. He, from that day onwards vowed never to chase a man in black. Well, that is, without someone with him. After reminiscing his time as Conan, he let out a sigh.
"Hoping this time around, I don't become Conan again" he whispered to himself.
Meg, wondering what he said, asked him.
"Is something wrong, Shinichi?"
"It's nothing."
They were able to reach the door, at last. Kyu, Kazuma and Meg were slightly panting. They were able to reach the door just in time. It seems that the wind was raging once again. It soft purrs became loud and powerful roars. The rain, as if on queue, started to pour heavily. Thunder and Lightning seemed to be the only ones missing.
Shinichi rang the doorbell. The door swung open to reveal an old man. He was the Hiroshima's butler.
"Hi, we're here to investigate the murder of Mr. Hiroshima" said Shinichi.
"Ah, yes. Inspector Megure has been expecting you for quite sometime now". The Butler led them in. As soon as the door closed, Lightning suddenly flashed and an explosion like sound was heard. Everyone, all except Ryu, was startled at what they heard. The butler, after recovering from shock, led them to the Living Room where Inspector Megure was waiting.
"Hi Inspector Megure!" asked Shinichi. His tone was casual, as always. He didn't seem to care that a person had just been murdered.
"Shinichi! Finally! I was getting worried that you'd still be stuck in the rain and decide not to come"
Shinichi laughed. "Did you really expect me to miss a case?"
"Well, I guess not. Oh and are these the detectives from DDS?" asked Inspector Megure.
"Yeah, like I said I'd bring them over". Shinichi started introducing them starting from Kyu.
"I'll introduce them myself to make it short"
"This person beside me is Kyu. Beside him is Meg. Next to her is Kinta. The person holding the computer is Kazuma. The two other people at the back are Ryu and Aya"
"Hi, nice to meet you, sir" said Class Q in unison.
"Nice to meet you too" replied Inspector Megure.
"So, let's get back to the case. What have got so far, Inspector?" asked Shinichi.
"Well, to be honest, we only got the time of death. He died at about 3 – 3:30 pm. We can't really determine when exactly but by the looks of it, he died at around that time"
"That's not a lot to go on. Anyway, we'll search for more clues. Where was he found dead, Inspector?"
"In his room. I'll lead you there as you might get lost"
They followed Inspector Megure into Mr. Hiroshima's room.
They saw the body lying on the floor. It had a stab wound. It would also seem that the murderer shot him as well. They wondered why there were two wounds instead of one. "Probably to ensure the job" thought Shinichi.
"Well, we'd better start looking if we want to finish early" said Kyu. They agreed and started searching for clues. After an hour of searching, they found nothing in the room. It was spotless.
Kyu sighed. This was one hard case. The evidence was missing. Even looking for a needle in a hay stack would have proved less of a challenge.
"Guess this room is clean. Well, except for the bloodstains" said Shinichi. Aya and Ryu were still trying to look for clues.
"Guess those two just won't quit" said Kinta.
"Hey guys, we found something!" shouted Aya. Shinichi, Kyu, Kazuma, Kinta and Meg rushed over to where Aya and Ryu were.
"What did you find" asked Kyu.
"A flower petal from a red rose" said Ryu.
"Hmmm…. What could that be doing here?" asked Kinta.
"There are a lot of possible explanations but my guess would be that it came from Mr. Hiroshima as he was in the garden" said Kazuma.
"Probably, he is wearing gloves after all. Anyway, let's get on with asking about the alibis" said Kyu.
"Yeah and also, this would be the perfect time to be introduced. Inspector Megure, would you kindly tell the butler to have everyone meet us at the living room?"
"Sure, no problem" said Inspector Megure.
They went downstairs and then Inspector Megure left. He went to the kitchen and told the butler to get everyone assembled downstairs. After 15 minutes, everyone had arrived. They made their way into the living room and introduced themselves.
Everyone seemed to have fallen under one of death's most powerful spells, the power of sorrow. Faces were clouded with sorrow and grief yet some tried to strengthen themselves.
"Hi, I'm Hikari Hiroshima, nice to meet you" Hikari was, upon estimation, 19 years old. She was as tall as Shinichi was. She also had long, blonde hair that well suited her beautiful green, emerald-like eyes. Kinta was staring at her beauty. The rest noticed this. All except Shinichi and Aya seemed unsurprised. Shinichi noticed the she already had a boyfriend and hit Kinta on the head.
"This isn't the time to gaze at her, Kinta. Plus, she's already spoken for" whispered Shinichi. Kinta was puzzled by this; he wanted to ask Shinichi who was he talking about when suddenly, he got his answer.
"Hi, I'm Katsuhiro Kurogane. I'm Hikari's fiancé" said the man in a black jacket. He had spiky jet, black hair and dark, mysterious eyes.
Kinta was heartbroken as he heard the words "Hikari's Fiancé". He was extremely devastated and could not bear that the most beautiful woman he's seen so far, that is, was already spoken for. Just by looking at his face, you could see he had been rejected numerous times before.
"Is Kinta always like that?" whispered Aya.
"Yeah, he never gets tired of getting heartbroken" answered Meg.
"Man, he's like Kogoro Mouri" thought Shinichi. He then resumed listening to the introducing crowd.
"Hi" said Mrs. Hiroshima. She was a little taller than Shinichi and had chestnut colored hair. "I'm Tamaki Hiroshima". Her introduction was short since she was crestfallen as her husband was gone and she was never coming back
"Hi, I'm Kaoru Hiroshima and this is my husband, Sorata Hiroshima", she forced a smile. She was the only one who was able to do that.
"Hi, nice to meet you" Sorata said weakly.
Kaoru was the woman that looked exactly like Ran's mother. This made Shinichi uneasy. "It would've been a perfect match too if she was as mean" thought Shinichi. "Luckily, she isn't. Wonder how'd Ran react to this" thought Shinichi. After reminiscing his childhood with Ran's mother, he listened to the last two suspects.
"Hi, I'm Hiroya Nakashima. I'm Tamaki's brother". He was tall man that was wearing a white tuxedo. Seems he was the formal type. He was brief. Everyone was extremely depressed at what had happened but it would seem to have affected him more than others.
"And finally, I'm Shimizu Hiroshima. Nice to meet you, detectives" She said weakly. From Shinichi's assumption, she was probably 24 years old. She had short straight, black hair and seemed to be fashioned like her mother's.
"If you don't mind, we'd like to question you upon some matters" said Shinichi getting straight to the point.
The crowd agreed and Inspector Megure started asking questions.
"Ok, so please tell me what you were doing at around 3:00 – 3:30pm?" asked Inspector Megure.
"Well, I was in my room during that time" said Mrs. Tamaki Hiroshima. "I heard my daughter, Hikari, screaming and rushed to her. That's when we discovered the body"
"I see, is that all?"
"Yes, Inspector"
"Ok, thank you for you're cooperation". Inspector Megure signaled the next one and got the alibi. It took them some 30 minutes but they managed to finish.
"Glad that's done. So what do you guys think" asked Inspector Megure.
"Well, it seems like everyone had a subtle alibi." said Ryu. Everyone agreed to this.
"Oh, by the way Inspector, at what time did you get here?" asked Shinichi which was clearly outside what they were discussing.
"Well, at around 4:00, I think"
"Hmm… We got here at around 4:45 pm"
"Wait, what are you getting at, Shinichi?"
"Well, you see, I'm kinda skeptical at the time of death. Taking into account Mrs. Tamaki's alibi and Hikari's alibi, the time of death should be earlier"
"What makes you say that?" asked Inspector Megure.
This time, Aya was the one who answered and not Shinichi. She was probably tired of staying quiet so Shinichi let her answer the question. "Well, you see Inspector, if he actually died in between 3 – 3:30pm, which would, of course, would tell us that he had been in the rain."
"And so? That would mean that he was outside in the rain", interrupted Inspector Megure
"Yes, but what would he be doing at that time outside when clearly the rain had gotten much worse. So, in other words, the killer was trying to create an alibi for himself" said Aya.
"Yeah, that's right. So if that's the case, then the only people whom have real alibis are Mrs. Tamaki and Ms. Hikari. The rest would have to been fake!" said Inspector Megure.
"Yes, that is true" said Shinichi.
"This case is harder than it looks" said Kinta. It was already 7: 20pm and their investigation seems to be going nowhere.
They suddenly heard a bell and the voice of someone, probably the butler, calling them to eat. Everyone went to the dinning room and started sitting. There were eight extra chairs for Shinichi and the others. They sat down and ate. After that, Shinichi, Kyu, Meg, Ryu, Kinta, Aya and Kazuma went to the living room.
"Ah, detectives, Mrs. Tamaki had prepared rooms for you to sleep in tonight since it is still raining hard" said the butler. He was right. No person in their right mind would leave the comfort of their house during this weather.
"What about Inspector Megure? He surely wouldn't have left in this weather." asked Kyu.
"Well, actually he has. He left while you were eating. The weather wasn't that horrid during the time" replied the butler.
The agreed to stay and the butler led them to their rooms. They were given 4 rooms in total to stay in. They didn't ask why since 1 room would be enough for 2 people.
"So, how do you want we settle with who sleeps with whom?" asked Shinichi. "Do we choose the ones we want to sleep with or do we draw lots?
"This could be fun…" said Shinichi with a mischievous smile. Everyone became nervous as Shinichi said those words. Ryu just sighed. Shinichi, now starting to feel uneasy at their reactions, started to lighten up and took back what he said.
"I was kidding!" said Shinichi. "Anyway, you guys draw the lots; I'll take the last room"
"Oh no you don't!" said Kinta. "Just to be fair, we'll all draw lots"
Shinichi sighed. "Fine but I'll end up the one alone in a big room anyway…"
After a minute or so, they started to draw lots. Turns out, Shinichi was right.
"Told you I'd be the one sleeping by myself" said Shinichi with a triumphant voice. "By the way, who are you paired with, Kinta?" asked Shinichi.
"Not sure, who else got the number 3?" asked Kinta
"Oh no! Not again! I have to share a room with that big oaf!" said Kazuma
"Who you calling a big oaf, you computer nerd!" replied Kinta. They kept arguing until Shinichi intervened and told them to shut up.
"Ok, next. Ryu, what number did you get?"
"2", replied Ryu. He didn't seem to care who he was sharing a room with.
"So, Meg's sleeping with Ryu and Kyu's sleeping with Aya" said Shinichi. Meg, Kyu and Aya seemed to blush as the words spoken by Shinichi had a whole new different meaning.
"Well, that's settled then. Good night everyone" said Shinichi. "Don't sleep too late! We still have a case to solve" said Shinichi, his mischievous smile appearing but was inconspicuous.
"What do you mean by that?" said Kyu, Meg and Aya. They was blushing and at the same time in an outrage.
"I just meant sleep early. You might have a hard time sleeping since you'll be sleeping in the house of a dead guy who's just down the hall" said Shinichi trying to act innocent.
"Well, anyway, we'd better get to our rooms and sleep" said Ryu and opened the door to his and Meg's room.
That ends chapter 2. Not sure if you'll like this part as it tends to get boring in a few paragraphs. Anyway, please review!