A/N: This chapter was seriously short. I didn't even remember that I used to write this short chapters. But anyhow, I hope you like the little work I've once again out into this revising.
Chapter 11.
After looking around for a while, Tsukiko was directed to the hospital room that once housed Mizunashi Rena/Hondou Hidemi. And there was Eisuke, once again he was sitting by a window but this time he was reading a letter.
"Letter from your sister?" The girl asked, closing the door behind her and then taking a seat. "What did she write you about? Hidemi-san, I mean…"
Eisuke lifted his gaze slowly from the letter and glanced at the girl. He folded the letter then, so that Tsukiko couldn't read it even upside down. Not that she'd actually do it.
"Nothing special…" The bespectacled boy muttered.
"I see. Private letter then, huh?" Tsukiko nodded knowingly. It was the first (and last) contact with his sister for a while. It was understandable that Eisuke wanted to keep it to himself.
"Yes."
"Eisuke-kun…" Tsukiko began then. Eisuke slightly frowned when he noticed that she'd changed the way of addressing him to a bit more formal but didn't comment. "Are you going to the witness protection program? I heard from the FBI agents that your sister requested it for you."
"I know but I don't want to go. Even if it was her who originally asked it, I'm not going to hide." Eisuke said and straightened from the slight slouch he'd been sitting in. "I'm not the same little kid she used to know."
"But you are just as reckless and clumsy as you used to be then?" Tsukiko snarked, making Eisuke shoot a narrowed look at her.
"And how you know about it?"
"I have just heard things…" She waved the question away before looking out of the window and decidedly not at her conversation partner. "But I do know it's hard to be apart from the ones you care about."
That seemed to spark a question in the boy. "By the way… How about you? Are you going to the witness protection program or something?"
"I don't see any reason why would I need it. I was here just by circumstance. Or do you know some reason for me to be in danger?"
"Well, I just happened to hear about your accident that was caused by that organization. And you were also helping the FBI…"
"That is true. But fortunately for me, it was a mere accident. Nothing more, nothing less. I'm sure they won't remember my face or see me as a threat. Though there is that one sniper…" Tsukiko trailed off.
"What? Who are you talking about?" Eisuke rose from his chair in worry.
"Just that woman who was driving the car… I've heard she is quite a temperamental person and an excellent sniper. My bag scratched her car and it's possible that she is pretty mad at me…" She mumbled deep in her thoughts. "…But I should be fine because at that time I wasn't using my glasses."
"Hey, Tsukiko-san? What an earth are you talking about?" Eisuke waved his hand in front of Tsukiko's face, snapping her up from her thinking. "Are you in danger or not?"
"No. I don't think so." The blonde girl smiled. "Don't worry. Besides, I'll be living with Jodie-san now. What's more safe than having an FBI agent to keep an eye on me?"
Not long after, Tsukiko said goodbye to Eisuke and left. As she walked the stairs down her stomach decided to finally inform the girl that it was well into the dinner time. Thus advised her to eat something. Checking the time from her watch, Tsukiko realized it was a bit after 4 pm. Around three more hours until the car fire in Raiha Pass then. So the girl checked in with a nearby agent and headed out to the nearest fast food place.
"Damn, when even was the last time I ate?"
Haido Central Hospital, around 7:16pm
Tsukiko was tired and waiting impatiently for the eight o'clock but of course she couldn't show it in any way. The girl took a remote control from the table she was leaning her head on and opened the television in the room. After a while of zapping through the channels and she settled on some random news channel she'd found. Some seven o'clock news were playing but had nothing interesting in them. Nothing that Tsukiko could connect with. While it could've been useful for her to start keeping up with the news, right now she couldn't have bothered less.
The girl yawned and leaned her head against her arms. When she fell asleep, she let the television on. An agent who had followed the running news with half-ear took the remote control and was about to shut down the television when his colleague stopped him.
"Don't shut it down. Who knows what has been happening recently. It'll be good if we know what's going right now in the world and not just at this hospital."
"Tch, I'm up to my neck full of news." The agent with the remote complained. "I already watched them this morning and I'm probably going to be watching them all the time at home once we leave this hospital. At least for now I want a little break from them." He was pointing the remote towards the box when a news reader began telling about a car accident in Raiha Pass. The agent promptly left the room in a hurry to find agents Black and Starling. Jodie and Camel should be soon back from the hotel anyways.
In the fuzz and buzz around, Tsukiko also woke up when the agents came hurrying back into the room.
"The car that exploded was a black Chevrolet. The person found inside was a man in his 20's or 30's. The ones who discovered it were two police officers travelling by car to a different accident. According to those officers, the car blew up all of sudden in front of their eyes…" The voice of the news reader spoke the few known facts about the case. All agents in the room were watching the news. And Tsukiko was sitting behind them watching their backs. The girl let out a yawn and rubbed her eyes. She had no idea how long she'd been asleep. Probably not very long.
While Tsukiko couldn't see the TV screen, it didn't bother her. There was nothing for her to watch; only a picture about a burnt car and some polices investigating it. More important was what the news reader was saying. And the audio came clear and loud for everyone in the room to hear.
"No! That is not Shuu! He made somebody a sacrifice for the organization!" Jodie said resolutely. But it sounded like she still had doubts.
"He must have done that." Black agreed but there was a faint tremor that hid something underneath it all. Did he know about the plan?
"If we go to the police and check, we will know!"
They made the decision about going to the main police station to check the body's finger prints from Conan's cell phone Jodie had borrowed from the boy earlier. Tsukiko didn't comment how the situation was too convenient.
But she refrained from commenting it for a while. When Black went with Jodie, they took Tsukiko with them though. It surprised the girl but apparently the plan was for him to give the females a ride to Jodie's apartment from the police station after getting the results and then going back to the hospital to tell the other agents whether or not it had been Akai in the car.
"Bakai wa Bakai…" Tsukiko mumbled as they were leaving the room. "Even if it's him, at least he knew to expect this all. Or at least I hope so…"
Slap!
Tsukiko head snapped to the side and her glasses clattered on the floor. She blinked in surprise. Her left cheek was stinging. Jodie had slapped her! A proper bitch slap even but with an FBI agent's strength! Tsukiko looked up and gawked at the woman. She glared back at the girl with fury in her eyes.
"So, you are saying he knew he'd be killed?!" Jodie shouted. "Are you?"
"Why not?" Tsukiko shrugged. "He's bloody smart and apparently worked within the Organization for years. Of course he knew getting killed was a possibility. I'm not saying it was the only one but…"
"Don't say it ever again! Never!" She turned her back to the girl and left the room. Tsukiko just smirked despite her stinging cheek.
"Maybe I shouldn't have provoked her…" The girl stated cheerily, picking up her glasses from the floor and checking that the lenses were undamaged. "Besides we know next to nothing about the current situation and Akai-san's fate."
"Okiya-kun, why did you then…?" Black began but Tsukiko interrupted him.
"Does one need a reason to say what they want to say?"
In front of the Main Police Station
They arrived pretty quickly to the police station, thanks to less traffic than during daytime. Jodie got out of the car and walked to the station. Black and Tsukiko stayed at the car and began to wait in silence. The girl took her cell phone from her pocket and checked the time. It was 8:09 pm. She sighed and put the phone back to her pocket then. Black watched at her curiously for a while and asked then:
"Are you waiting for something?"
"A call from my friend. He promised to call me today no matter what." Tsukiko replied shortly. She didn't want to mention any details about the person who was probably going to make a call to her. And of course the explanation was a bit weird since no one had tried to contact her through any means. But well, if push came to a shove, Tsukiko could always say that it was her birthday, the 13th April. Which it was but Tsukiko wasn't sure if it counted in the DC world. There was no need for her to explain herself any further since Black just nodded and turned his glance towards the police station where still Jodie was waiting for the results.
It was only mere minutes later that Tsukiko's phone rang. She picked it up quickly. Too quickly that it would have looked natural and relaxed. The fact that she stepped out of the car before answering the call only heightened the impression.
"Moshi moshi? Tsukiko speaking…" The girl spoke carefully to the phone.
"You know who this is. Are you happy now? That I called?" A familiar voice on the phone replied. Tsukiko smiled.
"Yes, I am happy. It seems everything went as I calculated."
"Hmph…" Akai huffed. "Can you tell me now how you seem to know everything what is going to happen?"
"Nope. I can't do it now. I wanna tell it face to face." Tsukiko glanced around her. No eavesdroppers on sight. "Now I'm just telling that I'm coming to meet you the 6th of October."
"And that is the only reason you wanted me to call you?" Now there was an annoyed tone to be heard in his voice.
"Well, if I had called, I could have done it on a wrong moment…" The girl explained slowly before pausing. "By the way, I'm in front of police station right now. Jodie is checking some fingerprints on Tantei-chan's cell phone. Those fingerprints will match with the body that was found from your Chevrolet, right? Are those finger prints Kusuda's?"
"It seems it's impossible to hide anything from you. But yes, you are right. Those fingerprints belong to that organization's spy…"
"Nee, Bakai… Are you alright?" Tsukiko asked suddenly when the thought occurred her, thus interrupting him.
"Pretty fine. Probably a broken rib or two after getting shot at my lungs but at least I wore a bulletproof vest that saved my life."
"I see… I'm glad that you are alright."
"How about you? I know that Jodie at least is still suspicious about you even if she offered you to stay with her…"
"I'm pretty fine." Tsukiko laughed. "My cheek just hurts a bit. Jodie happened to slap me after I provoked her to. But otherwise I'm fine. The doctor gave me clean bill which you heard about even." While the doctor may have told her about the possibility of losing memories due the head injury and trauma, Tsukiko wasn't worried about it. She remembered exactly what had happened and what her life had been like before the accident. Her only problem was getting used to Japan and figure out exactly how she'd ended up in this world.
"I see… Did you have anything else? I need to go now."
"Nope. Take care. See you on the 6th of October!"
"And how you are going to find me?"
"Hmph, don't underestimate me Bakai. I'll find you." Tsukiko grinned and ended the call. Around the same time Jodie came back from the station with detective Takagi. Tsukiko got up from the low stone fence she'd sat on and walked back to the car before the female agent or the detective noticed her. The girl got back into her seat and plucked in her seat belt.
A/N: I doubt this really needs a post-note. Keep reviewing folks! It makes me happy! o/