A/N: Another rewritten chapter on the same day? I'm on fire!
Chapter 7.
"W-Who are you?" Eisuke asked. Slowly, Tsukiko sat up and took the glasses on the bedside table. Placing them on her face, the girl faced him. The high-school boy was obviously shocked and still holding his hand on the door knob. The girl chuckled.
"Hondo-kun, that door won't open." She told the boy in amusement.
"Who are you?" Eisuke repeated his question and added a demand. "Answer to me."
"You don't need to know it yet." Tsukiko quipped, getting on her feet and walking to the door. Eisuke took immediately some steps away from her, trying to keep distance. The action made the blonde smile. Though that smile wore off right when she tested the door knob. "Damn Camel…"
"Eh?"
"…" How to answer to that? Tsukiko wasn't exactly sure how much she could say to the boy but finally spat out: "I know he was ordered to lock you in an empty room. But my room… Why couldn't he at least check this room out properly?!" In frustration, the girl kicked the door and crossed her arms on her chest. Eisuke just remained quiet and gaped at her. Well, the situation probably wasn't most usual in any possible way… Tsukiko let out a sigh, her arms relaxing and falling on her sides.
"Sleep. I'll try to open this door." She told him.
"E-… How are you going to do it?" Eisuke asked with an uncertain tone in his voice. Naturally.
"With a hair pin, of course. I have some in my bag even though I never use them…"
Eisuke fell asleep quite soon. It was good: it meant Tsukiko didn't need to wait any longer. She lifted her glasses on her forehead and walked to the table with her bag to take some items out from it: three hairpins (all she owned), her old, blue cell phone that had been hidden underneath all her other stuff and its hands-free. Immediately, the girl dialed the number of the green cell phone she'd had given to Akai and pressed the 'Call' button. The vibration of that 'official cell' was off and so was the keypad lock. It meant Tsukiko only needed to wait…
After a couple of minutes the call was connected. Something probably had hit the green cell's 'Answer' button.
"My phones are not from this world so they shouldn't harm hospital devices…" Tsukiko thought idly while breaking the lock. It was harder than she had believed it to be (though she had known it wouldn't be a walk in a park) but thankfully she had something to listen whilst working. After a couple of minutes Tsukiko stopped what she was doing and concentrated on listening only and memorizing the information she received. A smirk spread over the girl's face. It seemed everything was true... All those well-reasoned theories, Tsukiko had read back at home from the Internet, were true. The trio in the neighbouring room were truly planning all upcoming events right there…. All from the car chase to the events in Raiha Pass…
"But it's not the time yet. Besides I already knew…" Tsukiko mumbled, hanging up the call and taking off the hands-free. "Gotta admit though… It's nice to have a confirmation about it…"
The girl got up and walked up to her bed. Eisuke was sleeping soundly there. Probably the fact his sister is alive and safe(at the moment) had relaxed him and allowed his body to finally catch up the sleep he must've missed duo stress.
"Good." Tsukiko whispered, going to change her clothes behind a screen and then continuing with the lock-picking.
The FBI was having a meeting. Black told about the plan he'd come up with. The escape plan with three vans. The last chance like he called it. And when the meeting was about to end, that was when Akai and Conan stepped in.
"Creeping like a shadow and disappearing like a fog. That's their favourite ploy..." The man told the rest of the agents when closing the door behind him.
"Where have you been? The strategy meeting is over!" Jodie scolded him immediately. Poor man...
"No problem... Three stretchers and three outside parked vans already tell me what the plan is." Akai stated. "It doesn't seem very cunning but I was expecting something like this. Right, boy?"
"Yes!" Conan smiled.
"What do you mean, you two?" Jodie didn't like when someone – anyone – was acting like they know more than others did. Maybe she was just stressed out… "And isn't it already the time for Conan to go home?"
"It's alright! I already told them that I'll stay over Agasa-hakase's. I even took a short nap!" Conan explained but eyed the room then. "Umm… Where is Okiya-neechan?"
"That's right... Has anyone actually seen her since our previous meeting?" Jodie asked but the agents in the room just shook their heads.
"In her room it seems…" Akai said, holding a paper that he'd picked up from a nearby table in his hand. "She left a note."
"What does it say then?" Jodie questioned.
"…Nothing special." The Japanese man said, turning the note around. Without saying anything else about the matter, he folded the paper half and put it to the same pocket with the girl's cell phone. "I wonder how much she does know… Is she like Hibiki?"
"Click!" The lock said. Tsukiko let out a sigh of relief and collapsed against the wall right next to the door. "If I had been Kaitou Kid that would have been over in five minutes… or even less. I guess I just need to practice a bit. Kami knows what might happen in this world…" She took her shoulder bag and put the remaining hairpin back. The other two pins had broken during the door-opening mission. Eisuke was still sleeping when the blonde snuck out of the room, leaving a note for the boy, and headed to the meeting room. She knocked on the door and stepped in.
"Ohayoo!" Tsukiko smiled.
"Oh, ohayoo, Okiya-san. Did you sleep well?" Jodie asked.
"Pretty well, I think." The girl lied, grimacing inwardly. She was honestly almost dead on her feet. Camel would pay... "Sorry for leaving without telling you first but I was really tired back then. How are the things doing here?"
"Fine, I think." The woman replied. At that Tsukiko checked the time from her watch. It was 11:07 am. Soon… Very soon the chaos would occur… Three accidents practically were waiting for their turn to take a place on this stage that is life. The girl smiled as she looked out of the window. The actors were stationed and only thing left was the special effects and props to put the wheels in motion.
A fire, a gas attack and a food poisoning caused a flood of patients to the closest hospital. And that hospital just happened to be Haido Central Hospital. The hospital where the FBI, Conan and Tsukiko were.
The girl ate the half of the lunch a nurse had brought her and gave the rest to Eisuke.
"I think it's better if you stay here and don't let anyone come to this room." She said as he began to eat his share. Eisuke blinked.
"Why?"
"Because only a few people: Akai-san, Conan-kun, agent Camel and I, know that you are in this hospital. It's better if you don't walk around." The blonde girl explained. "Besides the FBI is wary and they don't know your sister's real allegiance yet so naturally you can't go to the room next door to talk with your sister. There are three FBI agents on the watch after all."
"How do you know about it?" The bespectacled boy frowned.
"It… doesn't matter…" Tsukiko mumbled, getting up from her chair and walked to the window. Crossing her arms once again she looked at the smoke still coming from a tower block where Haido Cinema was. "I'm not your enemy. To be honest I don't even want to keep you away from your sister. But in this situation it's the best course of action. The FBI doesn't have any trust in me yet and doesn't know you are here or that Hidemi-san has woken up... They are out of loop in so many things here." The girl added with a chuckle.
Eisuke stayed quiet for a moment and asked then: "Why are you doing this then? Who are you?"
"Hmh… At least I'm not from the FBI." Tsukiko mused. Right, she still hadn't introduced herself to the boy. "It doesn't really matter who I am. But I have a brother too and I know how hard it is when you don't know anything about someone who is very important to you. Maybe you can call that a reason."
"Geez, just tell me your name. It's annoying because I don't know how to address you." Eisuke's attitude changed completely and made the girl to open her mouth in surprise. That was the thing bugging the boy? Not knowing how to address her? "We are… allies, right? More or less. You already know my name, so shouldn't I also know yours?"
"Might be… Allies, huh? That sounds good." Tsukiko smiled, turning her back to the window and leaning against the windowpane. "Watashi no namae wa Okiya Tsukiko. Hajimemashite Hondo-san." She gave and short nod. Bowing wasn't really her cup of tea. " Though… Is it okay if I call you just by your first name?"
"It's fine. Hajimemashite, Tsukiko." The two teens shook hands. Right after that Tsukiko sighed in relief and grinned.
"I don't know why but I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders." The girl stretched her arms towards the ceiling. It was somehow a great relief. She had made the first friend in this world and one less person in front of whom she'd have to keep up appearances. One less person watching her back with a suspicious look in their eyes.
The moment was interrupted by a knock on the door. Eisuke hid behind it when Tsukiko went to open it.
"Yes?"
"Okiya-san, here is a delivery for you." It was the same nurse who had taken care of the girl and thus wasn't surprised at all that she wasn't wearing the hospital gown.
"Ah, arigatou gozaimasu." Tsukiko thanked the woman as she took a basket full of fresh fruits from her.
"You're welcome." The nurse smiled and left. The blonde closed the door and carried the basket to the table with a thoughtful frown on her face.
"Hmm…" Carefully, Tsukiko opened the cellophane wrapping around the basket and moved some fruits out of it. There had been a familiar name as the sender's: Kusuda Rikumichi, and if the girl was right, there should be something extra in that basket.
"What are you doing?" Eisuke asked curiously, while watching her doings from the sidelines.
"Nothing special…" Tsukiko replied absentmindedly as she found what she was looking for. A little bomb. The girl took it from the basket and put it in the pocket of her jacket without a word.
"What was that?"
Tsukiko remained silent. She didn't want to spook the boy. He already had enough to think about as it were. The girl picked up an orange from the basket. The fruits wouldn't be poisoned. It wouldn't make any sense for the organization to do so.
"Eat some. You must still be hungry." She told to him as she picked up her shoulder bag from the floor. "Oh yeah… I'm not sure when I'll be coming back so I'm locking the door. Just in case."
"That's not needed. I'm not going anywhere." Eisuke crumbled while selecting an apple.
"Okay, good, see ya!"
Tsukiko run the stairs down, swiftly and efficiently dodging the other patients, and took the bomb from her pocket. After observing it for a while she removed a trigger from it. It was simple enough after all: only a simple contraption on the side of the plastic case. Next was removing the tracker. It was harder as it was inside the casing and underneath the wires, hidden effectively. After those actions, Tsukiko headed to the hospital's parking lot. Jodie and Camel had just come back from their trip to get rid of the flower-pot-bomb that had been addressed to Black. speaking of which, how did they get the man's name? Was he actually a spy? Nah, that was just a crazy theory of some…
"Okiya-san? What brings you here?" Jodie asked the girl as soon as she had the younger blonde on her sights and within hearing distance.
"Oh, just a fruit basket with a nasty little toy hidden in it. Someone by the name Kusuda Rikumichi had sent it to me." Tsukiko shrugged and showed the bomb. "I already removed the trigger from it but… I don't really feel like walking around with a bomb in my pocket." The girl offered the agent a nervous smile.
Camel was standing a few meters away from the rest on the parking lot, wondering who the girl who had just come to talk with Jodie was. It was weird enough that a seven-year old boy was with the FBI (even though Camel knew the boy was smart and helpful) but also a young girl…
"Camel-kun? Is something bothering you?" Black asked suddenly from the man.
"Who exactly is that girl?"
"To be honest... we don't really know. It seems she is helping the FBI and Akai-kun seems to be in opinion of ignoring her… Let's just say that right now we are keeping an eye on her. Just in case." The older man answered.
Camel nodded and left the parking lot to his assigned guarding place. Somehow he had an uneasy feeling about that girl but kept those thoughts firmly to himself.
A/N: Is it wrong that I want to punch Camel? I hope not. Pity that Tsukiko won't do it... for a while at least.