Chapter 7: The Fallen Angel and the Devil

Elements draws from Vol. 34: 350 – Vol. 35: 354

"You what?!"

"Well, they said they wanted to invite me over to New York for interview after my the third consecutive Wimbledon champion! And they offer full lodging not only for me but also you guys!" Minerva said with full glee in her voice, joining her in the coffee shop are none other than the two highschool kouhais, the detective and his assistant with the former quite surprised and the latter grumble.

"So here we are, I want to invite both of you and if Airu-kun want, your girlfriend can go too!" Minerva beams her kouhais with a radiant smile, though the same thing can't be said to Tobias, that last part of Minerva's statement was definitely excessive in his opinion!

"For the last time Masumi isn't my girlfriend, we just knew each other since we were small." Tobias exasperatedly balks but it's seem to make now bulge whatsoever in to his senpai and his friend, who's grin from ear to ear.

"Why you keep on denying it? I myself quite surprised at the fact that after you ditched me on that night, you suddenly brought a girl with you to introduce me the very next day. And here I thought you were asking for my blessing to you relationship." Saguru says with as a smirk on his face and calmly sipping tea. While he was pissed of his assistant's action, it was soon turned into war of teasing when the next day, Tobias brought with him ammunition for Saguru to take revenge.

"Look who's talking, why haven't you and senpai court each other yet? I've been waiting for nearly 8 years to become uncle by the way. Get a room and do it already, you blondie!" At Tobias's remark, Minerva looks slightly abashed with a sheepish smile. Opposite of their Senpai, both Saguru and Tobias glare dangerously at each other, ever since then it's an endless war of constant sarcastic remark and teasing and it's always end in a tie. The arrivial of Sera Masumi gave Saguru much needed advantage to balance the scale of war, also it's a way for Saguru to thanks his friend by being a good wingman, even though he doesn't say it out loud.

The staring competition last for about 20 seconds, with Minerva nervously gulping down her drink while mentally asking for a way out. So god answer her wish with a come to a recuse.

"AIRU!"

Tobias is startled by sudden hug from behind, he's not used to close physical contact at all even after sudden reunion with the toothy girl two years ago. On the other hand, Masumi's smiling brightly that she forgot there're other two person eyeing them mischievously.

"Mou, didn't we agree you gonna to pick up me up after school? Or were you so eager to meet your senpai that you forgot about me?" Masumi said with last part hint toward Minerva, who could offer an apologetic smile due to an impromptu meeting.

"In my defense, first it would create a misunderstanding between your peers as everyone would definitely question my presence there waiting for you. Second, you just gonna to force me to sit behind and let you drive my motorcycle, that's my baby woman!" Tobias exclaimed, he's rather possessive of his bike so you can't blame him much about it, ask every biker and they'll say the same to you, your motorcycle is basicially your baby and you'll protect it till the end of your life. Masumi could only roll her eyes.

Masumi proceed to take a chair and sit next to Tobias, playfully annoying him with her antic. In Tobias's opinion, the toothy girl he had met all the year back at beach vacation has greatly changed in both her appearance and personality, now she resembles that of her counterpart in manga, short hair, cute little fang, playful, cheery, tomboyish and sociable, evident by the fact that she quickly got along with his other two friend, especially Minerva.

Though one thing stands out that catchs his attention, is that Masumi, for some reason, shows sign of slight clingy toward him ever since she reunited back with him, she literally forced him give her a ride to her school in the morning, Masumi sometimes even stayed over at his apartment or coerced him going shopping with her whenever she can't decline the inviation of her peers, effectively turned him into somekind scapegoat. Although annoyed, Tobias's curious about the strange behaviour of Masumi because if he remember correctly, it's clearly out of character for Masumi, but it would also be presumptuous of him to say so since the manga didn't cover her whole backstory in England so he has no concrete evidence to say so.

In the end though, Tobias brushes it off as another slight divergence, his reason being that perhaps Masumi had known him since the beach holiday incident so it's naturally she's attached to him, more so in this foreign environment considering the only person she's living with now is her mother, Sera Mary.

'Wait a second, I recall she had a blue Yamaha Artesia XT400 in the manga then why the hell she wanted to ride my baby? Go get your own motorcycle woman!... or maybe she hasn't bought it yet… still… IT'S STILL MY BABY, NO TOUCHING IT!'

"Ai… Airu… AIRU!" Shouted Masumi.

"H-Huh?" Perhaps Tobias should start paying more attention to his surrounding than constantly monologuing himself and spacing out like an idiot.

"Geez Gorilla, don't shout into my ear like that" Tobias doesn't get to finish his word when his entire body frozen, Masumi's finger jab was only a few milimeter away from his eyes, accompany on her face was a murderous smile.

"Oh what did I just hear? You detective geek?"

'Oh yeah,… this… no wonder why I instinctively called her that nickname.'

"I remember I was called Sassy Brat by your mother, wasn't it? Also in my defense, again, you literally called me detective geek, even though most of the time I was dragged by that smug looking guy over there to the crime scene. And finally, *deep breath* you give the airplane runways a run for their money, or in layman's term, you're flat…"

Never before in Minerva's life had she chokes that hard when drinking tea, to the point it spill some on her face as she's gobsmacked . On the other hand, Saguru's mentally faceplaming so hard that it could leave the whole mark of his hand on his face, the Heisei briefly considers if he needs to teach his assistant a lesson or two in manner of etiquette on how to treat a woman diligently.

Tobias smirks a bit before sipping his drink, but after a certain second, his movement becomes stiffen and his mind comes to a grinding halt as he ponders over what he's just blurted out. Opposite of Tobias, Masumi's face fully stops working as soon as his words was out, then the sudden blush creeps up her face making it redder than tomato, she violently strikes Tobias in the stomach forcing him groans on the ground, all the while she cover her chest and hisses in return.

"You damn detective geek pervert! And it's not flat, it's still growing okay!? Or you just that desperate to grope me!?"

Saguru facepalms then kneels down next to his grumpy friend, who's still trying recover from the retribution he receive from Masumi, after she's joined the friend group, Saguru found out that Masumi is dangerous woman to cross with her, especially when she's getting violent, today served as another prime example on why he shouldn't get on her bad side lest he wants to receive same treatment like his friend.

"You… really could use some lesson on how to treat a woman, not only to save your face in the future, but also to minimize collateral damage…"

"B… bug off… you womanizer…" Tobias whimpers, to which Saguru could only shakes his head as his friend's stubbornness and sit back to his chair. While Tobias's trying to gain his bearing, Minerva tried to dispel the awkward atmosphere by turning her attention to Masumi.

"Ahh, that's right, Masumi-chan, do you want a trip to the States, on the house of course since I'm the one being invited and I could bring a few friend. So? What do ya say?"

..

.

"Eh?"

Half an hour later

Masumi grips her arm tightly around Tobias as they're riding his bike back to her home, to make up for ditching her at her school, Masumi demand a ride in his motorcycle around the city for sightseeing the sunset scenery before going back to her house.

In reality, the bike ride and the sightseeing are just the cherry on top, the main reason is the unexplainable solace she finds in Airu or Tobias in this case. Ever since the beach vacation, Masumi had always been constantly in contact with him via writing letter until that faithful day he broke the new that's he's moving abroad, no it's not that he's moving away that sadden her, it's that for some reason, after Airu moved oversea, every connection to him vanished like a fleeting dream, no information whatsoever. It was not until three years ago, after having settled in England back with her mother, Masumi was watching TV news when they reported about KID's heist, there wasn't anything intrigued her, not until the camera shows the duo teenager detectives that her eyes widen, a nostalgic feeling abruptly washed over her body as one of the detectives was familiar to the boy she met back at the beach.

When the cameracrew gained access to the security cam in the Grand Room of Royal Museum to give them a better view inside. All of them were slackjaw at the two detective's deduction on how they managed to catch on KID's plan but that wasn't important to Masumi, it was the boy name Tobias Rieper, despite the western name but she could feel the sense of familiarity when she gazed into him through the TV screen, jet black hair, piercing crimson eyes, sarcastic remarks, carefree attitude and unpredictable action. Her brain was screaming that the boy is none other than Airu even though she tried to deny it. In the end, Masumi had rolled the dice and it was all worth it. His reaction when she called him his true name, the fact he remembered her name, all of it sent the endless joys all over her body. Finally she had reunited with the boy she secretly admired and maybe even had crush all those years ago

Masumi once questioned why he changed the name back then but soon brushed off, maybe due to some personal reason so she didn't want to dig further. Airu introduced her to his circle of friend, Saguru's a pleasant gentleman albeit a bit prideful but he's caring toward his friends, then there's Minerva. Masumi would never thought the famous Glass Court Queen would be Airu's senpai, the girl has many similar trait to Masumi like cheery, upbeat and sometimes protective of her kouhais.

A small smile adorns on Masumi's face, he's here, at last in her arms, the wind breeze through her skin coolly of , the sky's coated in apricot colour of ever blazing sun washed over the entire city of London. Masumi tighten her grip, no words can describe how romantic the scene right now is to her. A girl and a boy on a motorcycle ride down the road in the evening sunset to enjoy the ever presence feeling of serenity in the air.

"Woman, if you want rub salt on my wound, and I mean literally, at least you should consider that we're on the highway by the way." Tobias jokingly said, to which Masumi could only flash him a toothy smile.

"Ehh, I thought your body is stronger than that, considering you had the gall to call me Gorilla, not the mention the rude remark about my assets. Or do you prefer Minerva-senpai hitting you with the racket."

Tobias chuckles, he then twists the throttle further making the engine roars louder, the motorcycle speeding down the highway of London, accompany that's the excited laughter of the boy and the girl riding on it.

"Hey… Airu… I was wondering…" Masumi suttered, for some reason the word stuck in her throat, she's too embarrassed to convey it.

"Hmm?" Tobias's also abashed but thanks to the helmet helping conceal it, he's never seen this side of Masumi, not in the manga back at his old world nor the three years after he'd reunited with her, in his mind, Sera Masumi was an upbeat tomboyish girl who always shows her strong side to everyone but not this Masumi, she's… let's say more feminine and it makes his heart a little flutter, not saying that he dislike her tomboyish side, in fact it's more like icing on the cake to him, it's most likely that he's one of the rare people able to elicit such emotion from Masumi.

"No… Nothing you detective geek! Keep your eyes on the road you knucklehead!" Masumi said with a cheeky smile on her face, to which Tobias could only roll his eyes.

Tobias scoffs, but deep down inside he must admit, that this is quite enjoyable and maybe perhaps he should do this more with Masumi. But for now, he can enjoy the peaceful time with the Rosemary girl behind him at the moment.


"So what do you think?"

Tobias rubbed his temple with a wryly sigh. "For the last time mother, I remember clearly that I DID NOT order another set of suit for my job. Why in the hell did you tailor another one? And why everything in grey, my favorite color is black! And there's no necktie! Also what kind of business suit has a small tactical harness belt? Though I do like the trench coat as an addition but that's not the point!"

Despite his outburst, Suzuna keeps the radiant smile on her face as she present her son the gift that she has been delicately prepared for him.

"C'mon A-chan, I know that you like black but obsessing over it seem edgy to me, I mean your whole wardrobe except the T-shirts is black so you need to change the taste every once in a while, and beside this… isn't just for contract job nor fashion…" Suzuna's eye's gleaming dangerously just for the moment as she subtly flashes a killer smile on her face, yet that alone sends chill down Tobias's spine.

"That's better, anyway I figure that sooner or later, you'll need to come out the daylight with identity of 47 so you can say that this set of suit is designed specifically for that purpose. You don't want to involve anyone that's close to you now, do you? Especially that snaggletooth girl you have crush in~"

Tobias's embarrassed for a brief moment but soon turns into a frown when his mother mentioned of Sera Masumi, although he enjoys his time with her, he need to constantly remind himself that he's full fledged ICA Agent now, meaning the life of never ending crossroad with Death itself.

"Ohh, and this too, after all the main point is to conceal your true identity right so I think this serves best for that job and also it makes you look badass."

Suzuna hands Tobias the object, it's a mask or to be more specific, a metallic skull mask that cover his nose and the lower half of his face. In his eyes, it's look just like what his mother said, absolute badass though it's golden color left a lot to be desire.

"Fully small caliber resistance as well as a built-in voice changer, a perfect tool to not only to mask your identity but also strike fear into your enemy, don't you think so?"

Sure enough, it fits his face perfectly, Tobias has to admit that the slight futuristic design making his inner child personality want to explodes as sheer amount of edgyness comes with it, a perfect cool looking villain.

'Dress for the job they say'

"Ahh I'm so envious of my A-chan! You get to take a girl you love out on a date in different country, unlike that doofus Hisashi who proposed right away back when we first met each other without even taking me out on a date, How unromantic! Hmp!"

Tobias sweatdrops at his mother's antic but also at the bluntness of his father.

'Is that seriously how my father got married to mother? I don't know but father must be really smitthen by mother's beauty to mustered enough courage to pull off that kind of stunt.'

At the mention of beauty, suddenly something clicks in Tobias's mind, he faintly remembers something about getting her hand on a ticket to Broadway theatre in New York.

"Mother, do you know about the Golden Apple Discord?"

At Tobias's remark, his mother shows sign of confusion before turning into a smirk one.

"Ah! How silly of me, after all, the true golden apple is only reserved for the fairest."


It's rainy day in the Big Apple, the Empire state or the City That Never Sleep, etc… call it whatever people fancy, but to Airu it's just another walk on a rotten apple for him. Why you may ask? Because on one hand, on this surface of the beauty of New York city, you have the high dweller, those who enjoy all the luxury that city has to offer in these big fancy restaurants, high-end clothing stores, anything you name it, they have it. They laugh, they speak in shakespearean pretension in an effort to hide their spoiled, dark nature.

On the other hand, however, you will see the dreadfulness of those common folks striding among us. They who seek a simple plan can barely make end meet everyday, they who speak in the tone of reeks the smell of poverty, crime, death, blood. Their ambitions don't belong to them, it's the higher up dictate what lower's thinking, who just want to seek the simpler life in this City of Imprisoned Dream.

Tobias, waiting for his friends, stands comfortably inside the John F Kennedy international airport. Due to the nature of his work as an Agent of ICA, he is allowed to go on private airline exclusive to the ICA so he could also bring his armoury inside the metal case without having to trigger the entire Airport's security. It's a pity that he can't go on the same plane as his friend but it can't be help.

While mulling over his thought, a pair of hands suddenly blocks out his entire vision, accompany with it is the sound of giggling, Tobias knows who it's but decides to play along.

"Guess who?~"

"Woman, at least try to change your voice." He turns back to see the same familiar snaggletooth girl smiling widely at him. "Masumi, how was the flight with Saguru and Minerva." To which Sera Masumi could only stick her tongue out.

"BOOORRRINNG! I have to sit for straight 7 hours only to witness those Saguru tried his best not to explode into a red mess when he sat next to Minerva-senpai!" Masumi says exasperatedly.

Tobias could only chuckle but then his mind suddenly stops for a moment before the cogs inside his head working again. 'Hold on a second, in the manga Saguru did return back to Japan and attended the same school as Kaito Kuroba, in there he has a one-sided crush toward Akako Koizumi, who is…. Whatever that witch is. But this is different, if what Masumi said is right then high chance is that guy has already been smitthen by Minerva… what have I done…'

Tobias frantically scratch his head, once again he caused another deviation from the original plotline. 'Deep breath, deep breath Airu, okay let's reassess the situation, how large of a divergence it will create? Probably not large enough because Saguru isn't an actual canon character in the Detective Series. Right so it's salvageable at least…'

"AIRU! You're staring off in the distance again!"

Tobias is startled by the shout of Masumi, he turns to only see the annoying face of the toothy girl giving him the irritated glare.

"Sorry sorry, anyway where are−"

"Airu-kun! Masumi-chan!"

Emerge from the crowds are none other than the enthusiastic figure of Minerva Glass, followed by the gentleman Saguru Hakuba behind.

"Well, speak of the devil then"


In the far distant away from John F Kennedy international airport, there's a speeding Silver Jaguar on the highway to New York city, the drifting technique is so elegant that one might mistake them for professional racer, but many will blows their mind off when they realize who the driver is.

Yukiko is humming her favorite song all the while casually maneuvers the expensive car like a true racer and pays no mind to her surrounding. At the back of the car are the duo childhood friend Kudo Shinichi, who's wearing sky color shirt and viridescent jacket on top to ward off the low temperature of US, and next to him is Ran Mouri, shifting nervously in her seat due to how recklessness Yukiko's driving skill is.

"W-Will it be okay? The car literally has just been patched up recently!"

"Yes, you're right about that Shin-chan, but it's not just solely for repair, let's just said that I had the car upgraded a bit with some modifications~. Mainly the 276 horsepower heart and undercarriage that won at Le Mans as well.~"

Yukiko answers her son's question nonchalantly as she put more force on the accelerator and turns the steering wheel to left, making the car violently drift on a highway and leaves many cars on the same road in dust.

"Now next order of business, you might want to do 'it' with Ran-chan lest both of you want to be bounced around like pingball. The next section is a bit of a stretch though" Said Yukiko as her attitude's turned serious.

Shinichi sighs wryly then turns back to his childhood friend and beckons her to come closer. Ran's obviously at loss at their conversation and even more confused when Shinichi tells her to hang on tight to him when he suddenly hugs her, making the karate girl blush furiously in return. Though their "sappy" moment is interrupted when Shinichi opens the car's window and pokes and his and her body out, the girl's startled by his weird action but is too scare to notice.

At that moment, Ran suddenly feels like the car pick up speeds and turns left violently, she holds onto Shinichi tightly as Silver Janguar drift to the left with screeching sound throughout the entire area.

Shinichi and a terrified Ran sit back to their sit after the car goes back to it's normal speed. Ran was wholeheartedly got her soul suck out after what has been transpired, she's panting all her breath but her companion doesn't seem to think so.

"So… How was the experience? It wasn't scary at all right?"

"NOT SCARY!? I ALMOST HAD MY HEART STOPPED BEATING THERE!" Ran's fuming, of course she is. She thought for a moment there she would kiss her life goodbye and this detective jerk's right here is still grinning ear to ear.

A few minutes later and they arrive at the arrive at the Broadway Theatre but have to considerably slow down due to a large crowd gathers here tonight, all because the famous Golden Apple play on the neon-lighted advertisement signs in front of the theatre.

"Phew, one hour earlier than I expected but at least we managed to arrive without a hitch!" Yukiko chirps in as she turns to address her son and his lady, with the latter looks confused and the former glare at his mother for such casual mood after such intensive racing.

Well, without a hitch wouldn't be right word when Ran spots a police patrol car right behind their car, an officer comes out and walks right next to the Silver Janguar, knocking on the glass.

"Driver's license and registration, please!" the officer inquires. Yukiko quickly hands him her license with the most apologetic smile she could.

"Jeez woman, you have 40 miles over speeding! You sure you aren't some stunt actress from Fast and Furious series? If so they could use someone with talent like you." The officer chuckle along with Yukiko as he checks the license.

"Hmm if I may ask, you look familiar…"

"Ah it's maybe because..."

"You might have heard her in some case, she's after all working with us."

The voice comes from behind the officer, walking closer to their car is a giant bald man with dark mustache while wearing a large overcoat. He turns to address the officer about who Yukiko is, in turn the actress realizes who he is.

"Radish…"

"She's an undercover agent and it's seem like she's chasing the suspect so that explain the speeding part."

While Radish's explaining to the officer. Shinichi looks up with skeptical, he question the man identity and how he comes up with such white lie like that to help his mother not to get a speeding ticket.

"Who's that old man by the way?"

"Ah, one of the inspectors of New York Metropolitan Police, Yusaku met him all the way back when he first lent him a hand to solve some case, Radish Redwood. And if you are questioning his Asian trait then it's because of his Japanese wife."

After a few minutes of talking, the officer bids his good bye. It's not until the patrol car is longer in sight Radish turns to Yukiko with a small smile.

"Thank you Radish, for helping me out!" Yukiko said with glee, to which the big apple inspector just grows wider.

"Oh no no, no big problem and beside… you should thank someone else instead" Radish says as he grabs his bottom left chin, peeling it out. "−How about thank me then?−" The whole mask is ripped out, reveal a woman in her late thirties with shoulder blonde hair, her face shows some wrinkles here and there but overall she's still quite young compare to her real age. "−Thank me, Sharon Vineyard."

"S-Sharon?!... Why…?" Yukiko stammers, it's been a while since she last saw her friend so it's a surprise that Sharon managed to sneak up on her like that, with the art of disguise taught by the their same mentor no less.

"See, Radish is one of my fans and while we were talking, his radio dispatch came in and report a Silver Jaguar raced with sound-breaking speed toward here from the Golden Bridge, I can only have one person who own the car and pull of the stunt driving skill like that during the traffic jam, especially when the street around here is crowded tonight−" Sharon says as she puts on his glass while gently reprimands her colleague.

"−I knew for sure that you'll be ask by patrol police so I disguised as him, although the coat's not my favorite fashion style to keep around, a shame really because how expensive it is."

"Jeez, you're always the best Sharon!" Yukiko happily exclaims but her son is completely opposite of that, the poor guy is quite confused of the newcomer, especially one literally disguised as a policeman.

"H-Hey Kaa-san… can you… enlighten me about who exactly is that?"

"Eh!? You don't know Shinichi? She's the famous American actress who got a lot of award during her career, Sharon Vineyard!" Ran informs her childhood friend but it's seem like he doesn't think so.

"That's not the problem. I'm questioning how she, a famous actress could easily disguise as others like that!" Shinichi exclaims while pointing accusing finger to Sharon.

Shinichi's statement may sound to common folks but unfortunately not everyone has common sense. Especially in a not so far distance, our protagonist suddenly has a massive urge to scoff at whatever he has just said about the art of disguise, since your local corpse magnet forgot that he's surrounded by not-so-normal people soon the near future.

"Oh I forgot to tell, when I became an actress, I got a role of a female spy so in preparation for the role, I became disciple of a famous Japanese magician to learn the disguising technique. Coincidentally, Sharon happened to be under his tutelage of him for the similar role so as a result, we quickly became friend to one another. But unlike Sharon, I wasn't able to master the art of disguise though hehe." Yukiko said.

"Of course you are, because nine of ten times you disguised primarily for prank anyway." Shinichi sarcastically remark, he still remember the numerous of time when his mother, father and Professor Agasa conspired with each other to pull massive prank on him and Ran.

"But really, it's an honor to have such occasion to meet a famous person here in New York! I gotta thank god!" Ran says with a radiant smile, yet at the girl's jovial comment, Sharon could only smile deprecatingly, it's the smile that belittles at Ran's innocence, but at herself.

The dark grey sky roars the sound of thunder, small droplets of rain starts to pour down the masquerade woman as she open the umbrella while looks back to Ran with a sad smile. "I wonder… if this 'god' truly exist in this world."

The rhetorical question earns a confusion from Yukiko and Ran while Shinichi barely pays any interest in it.

"If there really was such a divine figure like that, no human would ever truly experience sorrow, no? Yet, here I am , no angel has ever smile upon me , not even once…"

The rain becomes heavier, however the raven show no sign of deterred by the harsh weather, it spread it wings fully, flying through the City of Dream with bloodshot eyes and observing the city's resident.

"Hoh, that's an interesting ideology I must say"

The black death lands nearby, spotting a small crow eating a golden apple under the heavy rain of today. By normal standard, it's hard to differentiate the raven from the crow, only on closer look, you can see that raven is bigger than the crow.

"Human since the ancient time has been worshipping god, not because they want to but because they have to."

Bigger bill, longer wing span, wedge-shaped tails, demonstrates to have higher intelligence compare to average bird, a natural born scavenger and an opportunistic killer by preying on other smaller bird's nest for eggs.

"We all need something to believe in, to confide our sins, to explain strange phenomenons which our ancestors couldn't. That is how god was born, yet as time goes on, science is more advanced, at such the tip of scale goes against the superficial side."

Here stands the raven, towering over the shaken crow, it's eyes carefully gazes over the cornered prey who could only wait in complete terror for a forthcoming death.

"Man start questioning the existence of god. Is man merely a mistake of God's? Or God merely a mistake of man?"

Let it be know, the feather of raven carries itself freely in the windbreeze, may it's destination shall devoid of foreboding curses, as the envoy of death has arrived in a timely manner.

"At the end of the day, a god can't sustain without the belief of his devotees. So, by that logic, I may propose a question: What's a god to a non-believer?"

The voice chimes in their conversation, a raven hair boy walks in like an unstoppable force, he's wearing a longcoat suit with red tie middle of white T-shirt and grey long scarf, both of his hands are in the pocket on his midnight pants and obsidian moto boots. His cold crimson eyes feel like it can see through even the deepest part of your soul as he makes a quick glance over everyone, but quickly comes to a halt when his gaze lands on Shinichi.

"Ah sorry my sudden intrusion, it's just that I was drawn in by the fact that there're two well-known actresses conversed with one another here, but also Miss Vineyard idea about God."

The boy says with a small smile on his face. The presence of him brings many swirl emotion to everyone, for Sharon it's confusion for the boy and his speech, he's seem no more older than 15 years old but he carried himself diligently. However, the same can't be said to Shinichi, Ran and Yukiko, all of them are instantly hit with sense of nostalgia, as if they had met him before. Shinichi though seem to be on guard when the boy suddenly smirk as his eyes staring into him.

"Ah well, my name is"

"Tobias!"

Just as the raven hair boy about to introduce his name, another voice comes in. This time it come from a blonde boy who's running to them, he's seem like a half European and Half Asian with his blonde-brown hair feature and Japanese face, he's wearing a brown jacket with blue T-shirt inside and black tie.

"Saguru!"

"Where the hell have you been? Did you know how long it took for us to find you? Masumi was worried sick and I sure don't want to… oh who are these?" The boy, known as Saguru, firmly chastises his friend, known as Tobias, until he realizes there're other company here, he turns to address them with a bow and an apologetic smile.

"Ah my fault, we're currently on short notice, I'm sorry my friend's intrusion. Now Tobias, we need to go, PRONTO! Otherwise, not only you but me will also receive a kick to our face."

"Right right, no need to be hasty blondie, ah well have good time with tonight ladies and gentlemen!" Tobias says as he and Saguru disappear into the crowd of people in front of the theatre, leaving the the four in completely dumbstrucked state.

"Well that was… weird… hehe…" Yukiko is the first one to break out of her stupor as she attempts to lift the awkward atmosphere around them. Shinichi however narrows his eyes, there's just something about that smug raven hair boy that keeps on nagging behind his head, he swears he has met that boy before but couldn't quite put a finger on it, and it's frustrated for him.

'What's this foreboding sensation? Dammit!'


"IDIOT!"

Were Tobias any slower, he sure as hell that the next X-ray scan of himself will have an unsual Looney Tunes fist outline on his front skull, result from the punch Masumi throws at him, the poor guy has to use every ounce of his strength to stop the strike.

"One second of me not paying attention and the very next second you're gone, you seriously have problem with navigation that much?! Going to gawk at some pretty ladies here right?!" Masumi shouts with full force of her punch, Tobias just barely manages to dodge it.

On a sideline is Minerva as well as Saguru, chuckling at their friend's antic.

"Sera-chan sure is attached to Airu-kun, the girl almost went ballistic when she realized her childhood friend pull another batman move for like hundred time already."

"Can't blame her much, Minerva-senpai. I mean it's actually thanks to her that Airu didn't slip away frequently anymore. And who could fault her for worrying about her boyfriend, couple with her monstrous strength and martial artist and you got yourself Sera Masumi, destructive yet caring. Airu is quite lucky to have a girl like her, I wish I could be like him."

Saguru giggles but then he notices Minerva, who's standing next to him, puff her cheeks out in angry manner. The blonde detective didn't expect such cute reaction from his senpai which makes a blush creeps up his to his face, but now he has to face a question. 'What did I say making her upset like that!?'

Tobias, after earning an earful and a strike from Masumi, noticing the bashful Saguru and pouted Minerva, could only sighs exasperatedly. On the other hand, Masumi is smiling cheekily at Grass Court Queen and Heisei Holmes.

"They look like us right Airu?"

"You mean the violent part where you try to kill me? Sure , I can agre− AGH−"

Needless to say, it's just another everyday antic of their quartet friends group.


After their casual banter, the quartet proceed to walk further into the theatre, the golden apple play is rather famous to garner this large amount of audience in such one night like this, word is it's impossible to watch the play without prior booking.

'Of course it has to be this crowded, news leak out that tonight will be a big gather of many well-known celebrities, Yukiko Kudo, Sharon Vineyard, Lilas Sanchez, Akane Nielsen, Rose Hewitt, Iberis Hamilton, Heath Flockhart. Yeah that much, although I don't know most of them since they're mob characters in manga anyway, Rose should be my priority if everything goes according to the plot. Also−'

Tobias turns back to look at his friend group which they're happily talking to one another, his face grows a dry smile.

'−Yeah they definitely wouldn't expect the arrival of Grass Court Queen, Minerva Glass, as well as me and Saguru. Shinichi's reputation as highscool detective hasn't blew up yet, but my and Saguru's are a different story. Thanks to that time when me and Saguru caught up KID's magic show, and the fact that we are close friend with Minerva Glass, you can already guess how it play out by now.'

As much as he want to prevent the murder from happening, it's not well within his grasp to do so, since they'll definitely question why Tobias knows about. In a sense, he can only act naturally and not screw up too much about timeline, though the presence of Saguru and Minerva here won't make any drastic change, Sera Masumi, however is a whole different story.

'In the manga, Sera came to Japan to look for a cure for her mother, who happened to shrunk to a child like Shiho. Why returning Japan? Shinichi Kudo of course, or specifically Conan when he boldly self-proclaimed as Holmes's Apprentice during Holmes's Revelation Arc. She slowly coax Conan into reveal his true identity but never got there, however Masumi did succeed in jogging his past meeting with her. This time though is different, first, Masumi has already known Minerva, second, if she met Shinichi, it could mess up a lot of things later down the line.'

Tobias sighs as he pinching the bridge of his nose, even though he made peace with the whole thing of ripple effects thingy ever since his arrival here, it still make him rather anxious whenever butterfly effect about to kick in.

'Dammit, this is going nowhere, if only−AGH'

Suddenly Tobias feels immense pain firm his lower right abdomen, turn out it was Masumi pinching him with a tick mark on her face.

"That… is for dozing off umpteenth time today. Seriously Airu, you have attention span that of a gold fish? I still don't know how you got into that whole detective thing with that kind of habit?" Masumi asks, even if she says that, she still joined Tobias together with Saguru whenever they were going to a crime scene, so in another word, Masumi could be considered as a detective apprentice.

"I say it hundred of time already Masumi, it's that guy right there that drag me to scene everytime, not me, go and ask Mr. wanna-be-detective over there."

"How uncouth, I did always say that it was your own choice whether you come or not and in the end you still decided to show up, have anything to defend your claim Mr. Tsundere? And beside, a person with talent but not utilizes them is a fool." Saguru refute with a small smirk, he's always manage to be one step ahead of his friend, though that last sentence is more emphasized than the rest. Saguru has to admit, his friend Tobias definitely has talents to become a great detective, yet many time he refused to use it and decided to sit at rear seat and assist in solving case, Tobias rarely stands in the limelight for all it's matter.

"Shush it, of all the people I have to be lectured, you're at the bottom of the barrel." Tobias grumbles, in truth though, there's a deep sense of guilt impaled inside him, because he never truly divulge his real occupation to anyone in his circle of friend, not even Masumi, he definitely doesn't want to have an angry Akai Shuichi running after his head.

'Really Saguru, how can I say that I'm completely opposite of what you are. Heh, how ironic when your own assistant is the one going around and murdering people while you shed light on the mist of mystery.'

That guilt is why he never truly want to directly solve the case, because if he does, it will make him feel sick for being hypocritical. A hitman uncover the death of a victim, sound like an insult to every great detectives out there.

While Tobias is in his deep thought, his group is quickly approached by another group of people that make he immediately shifts into his serious mode. Leading the group is none other than Yukiko herself, who's conversing with Shinichi and her colleagues, being Rose, the youthful woman with blonde hair, Akane, judging from the name she's also like Saguru, half Japanese heritage, Lila with dark hair and chocolate brown skin and finally Ibris, the tired looking woman who feel like want to end her already mundane existence.

'Jeez woman, at least try to look like there's still some semblance of living force inside that empty husk of your ya? Because that kind of appearance instantly making you first to suspect as mass murderer, no offense by the way…'

Tobias subtly could feel the scrutinize gaze from one of the individuals in their group, he has already made out who is it but decides to play ignorance. It's not until the two group about to pass each other, time seem to slow down for both Tobias and Shinichi, cerulean pearl clash against crimson moon one another before they both break their gaze and continue the walk with their respective group.

"Shinichi? You okay? You have been thinking for awhile now."

Ran asks in concern for her childhood friend, ever since that raven hair boy appeared, Shinichi seem to constantly in deep thought. Frankly, she doesn't know why but she too has this sense of familiarity when the boy made his entrance, and Yukiko seem to share the same sentiment as the there of them.

"Ah no nothing of sort Ran, I'm just thinking about some stuff." Shinichi nonchalantly dismisses his friend, in true this feeling of uneasiness keeps plaguing his mind ever since but he couldn't make out why. In the end he could only let it slide down the gutter.


"Where's Masumi by the way?" Tobias whispers to his friend in hushed tone, not wanting to disrupt the music during the play as they're watching when suddenly he realizes Masumi is nowhere to be seen.

"Oh, now you're worrying about your girlfriend huh? What a surprise! Maybe the golden apple should be awarded to you!" Saguru chuckles in reply.

"Grr… Just answer the question already! That part was definitely unnecessary by the way!" Tobias grits his teeth at his friend's sarcastic remark, the murder could happen any time now and he does not want Masumi involved too much in it.

"Alright alright, never thought that her wellbeing would be food for thoughts to you. Anyway she's outside buying some food, saying that these kind of stuff aren't her favorite so you kinda get the idea."

"Right… forgot about that one." Tobias sighs, he fails to remember that Sera Masumi is a tomboy cheery girl, maybe time spent next to her other side too much has clouded his judgement about one's behavioral pattern.

"Oh and pray do tell, what are the two highschool detectives conspiring again?" Minerva says though she has some idea what they talked to each other, year of spending time together with her kouhais has helped her in communicating using Japanese, even if there're still errors in her talking, at least she's able to understand half of they are saying.

"Oh no Minerva-senpai, it's just Airu being Airu, worrying about his girlfriend and all." Saguru nonchalantly smirks at his grumpy friend, who's trying his best not jump on him but decided to drop the subject, not wanting to cause a bickering and disrupting every audiences around them.

"Aww how cute, anyway knowing Masumi-chan, she would take this chance to slip away from this, in all seriousness, I too feel a little bore watching it, maybe it because I don't have adequate knowledge about this area of expertise."

"I'm not gonna to deny that one Minerva-senpai, true the Judgement of Paris is one of the famous one out there but to truly understand the meaning behind it takes considerable amount of studying in Greek mythology." Saguru stroke his chin gently as he studies all the actor and actress on stage.

"In short, just your every normal day of romantic comedy where three girls force a poor guy into choosing one of them because of bribing and later lead to a stupid Trojan war." Tobias says with a wryly tone, obviously not sparing a slightest interest in the show.

"Now now, Watson, you can't just denounce a historic masterpiece like that, It would make you look… unprofessional I say."

"Tsk" Tobias would refute but suddenly his entire body tensed up when the light inside theatre dim down and smoke starts coming out on stage, signalling the ever rising dreadful feeling inside his stomach.

"Behold, mortals! For I am archangels Michael, today I shall deliver the answer!" The voice roars throughout the stage, inside the giant mirror shows Heath Flockhart appears to dress in some kind of angels cosplay as he's slowly ascending.

"Hmm? I'm sure that there was no appearance of Seraphim Michael in original story, did they try to improvise?" Saguru mutters but not before catch something strange, he notices his friend is narrowing his eyes trying to focus on something. He follow the gaze and notice a transparent red laser pointer from one of the balcony view directly aim toward the mirror's general direction.

The energized cheers are suddenly met with absolute silence, then complete chaos scream when Heath Flockhart fully comes into everyone view. Saguru, Tobias and Minerva's eyes widen when they realize what's going on. Hanging up there is Heath but there's blood oozing out of the corner of his mouth as well as a large bloodstains on his left upper abdomen.

"TOBIAS!"

"Right behind you, Minerva-senpai please immediately contract the police, we'll inspect the scene."

Minerva furiously nods as she reach into her pocket for the phone. Meanwhile both Saguru and Tobias try to make their way through the hysterical crowd, in his peripheral's vision, Tobias could see Shinichi too tries to do the same as them.

'Dammit, no rest for the wicked until our eyes closed for good huh?'

End.