A/N: Rewrote this one too. Finally! I'm happy with this now. And man, I can't wait until I get to write Tsukiko and Subaru's conversation again.
Chapter 19.
Tsukiko leaned back in her seat and stretched. It was finally the 4th of October. It was amazing how fast the time went by. She barely had even noticed. Or then it was because the cases really jumped from one to another and the seasons jumped in similar way depending how long the previous case had been. Nevertheless, it seemed like a mere blink and she'd gone from June to October. A relatively lot had happened too though. For example…
The girl reached for a letter lying on her desk. It was from Eisuke and had arrived last week. The two of them had exchanged addresses on the last minute before his flight had departed to America. And yes, Tsukiko had been there with Jodie to see him off.
"Tsukiko, you don't need to hug me that tight. I'll be fine there." Eisuke blushed as the girl finally let him go and took a step back. They were at Narita Airport. Tsukiko, Eisuke, Jodie and two other agents.
"But I don't know when I'll see you for the next time." Tsukiko muttered, hastily wiping tears from her eyes. She was just so damn emotional…
"Ahaha… I see but you don't need to cry because of me."
"Of course I need to! You are my very first friend I have made…" The girl felt Jodie's gaze in her back and quickly amended. "…in Tokyo. It should be given that I cry when you are leaving!"
"Yes, yes… I suppose so." Eisuke smiled.
"This is the last call for the flight NQ-5492… All passengers, please, go to the gate…"
"Hondou-kun, we'll be late if we don't hurry." One of the agents said to Eisuke. Johnson. He had been in the van number one and had also listened to Tsukiko when she had something to say. How long had it been since then already? It felt like centuries since those events. "Take care of yourself too, Okiya-san." He smiled to the girl who nodded and smiled back.
"Hey, Tsukiko, will you give me your address? Even if I can't tell others how I'm doing, you know the truth about the situation… I don't want to cut all contact to Japan." Eisuke suggested then. "You don't need to if you don't want to but…"
"No! I'd be glad to. You are my friend so of course I want to hear how you are doing. Here…" Tsukiko took her sketchbook and after flipping through it, she found a drawing she'd drawn about the two of them, in hospital clothes. Turning to the other side of that page, the girl wrote Jodie's address down and then ripped off the page to give it to Eisuke.
"Arigato, Tsukiko. Wait for my first letter. I'll put give you my address with it then so you can write me back."
"I will. Take care!"
"See you again, someday!"
"See you again!"
And the boy left with the two FBI agents, disappearing to the crowd.
"Letters? Isn't that pretty old-fashioned?" Jodie asked the girl then.
"Maybe it is… But it's still cheaper than making calls. I do have his number and e-mail address though." Tsukiko shrugged. "But I'm confident that we'll meet again someday. Sooner or later."
Tsukiko stretched again and smiled at the photo that had been in the first letter she'd had received from the boy. The photo was now on the wall above my desk. Eisuke was in that photo, smiling and behind him was the Statue of Liberty. He told in his letters that he was taking the opportunity to see sights before they continued to the capital.
"From New York to Washington DC, huh? I hope you will make a lot of friends there." Tsukiko mused while reading through the newest letter that had come that day. Eisuke was doing fine. School was hard but he wrote that he had still pretty good grades. He hadn't mentioned anything about friends yet and Tsukiko could see from his letters that he wanted to come back to Japan. Quite a lot actually but knew that he also wanted to stay in order to eventually help his sister. The boy was homesick. Tsukiko could only hope to alleviate it by keeping him updated of everything that was going on in Beika.
The next day, Friday the 5th. Tsukiko was on her way from school(Mai had class representative duties) when she saw a group of kids walking before her. They were the Detective Boys, and with them some other boy. The blonde girl knew who the boy was: Sugiura Kaito from Teitan elementary school, class 1-A. He had commissioned help from the detective kids.
Just when Tsukiko was pondering how to approach the kids, one of them happened to look behind them and see her.
"Tsukiko-neesan!" It was Ayumi's voice. The little girl apparently remembered Tsukiko's name even though they had met only once and even that was very brief.
"Hello, kids!" Tsukiko greeted them and caught up with them. "How are you doing today?"
"We're fine!" The kids chorused.
"Today you have glasses. Did your vision go worse?" Genta asked with his no-so-polite way.
"Nope. Last time when we saw I had forgotten them." The girl smiled, adjusting her glasses slightly. They still irked her sometimes but mostly she was already used to them.
"So you see pretty well without them too?" Mitsuhiko asked. "If you forgot them, then you probably didn't have contacts either but you seemed to see just fine last time."
"Well, yes…" Tsukiko nodded and sensed a perfect opening. "But tell me…What's with you guys? Are you playing detectives or something?"
"We are not just playing." Ayumi chirped.
"Yeah, we solve real cases." Genta continued.
"Don't you remember? I'm sure we mentioned it last time we met." Ai asked dryly, a small smile tugging her lips.
"Even right now we are right in the middle of a case." Mitsuhiko told proudly. "This Sugiura Kaito-kun just gave us a commission. And we'll solve it tomorrow!"
"Really? Can I come then too? I'd love to see Shounen Tantei-dan in action." Tsukiko asked.
"Yes!" The choir said immediately, Ai and Conan only nodding belatedly.
"Good. Where do you have the case then? Or should we meet at somewhere else first?" The teen asked even though she already knew the answer to it. But she had to ask. And even if it sometimes got on her nerves.
"Ah, we haven't asked yet." Mitsuhiko mumbled embarrassedly and turned towards their client.
"My house is an apartment called Mokuba-sou at Beika-cho 2-chome 23rd." Kaito told them all. "And I'll be waiting Kuroshi-… Edogawa!"
"Ah… Okay…" Conan replied in slight bafflement. Considering that the other boy basically fanboyed over him earlier, it wasn't surprising. Kaito left home then, leaving the other five kids and Tsukiko to make their plans for the next day.
"How come it's mostly about Conan?" Genta frowned.
"And what's this Kuroshi thing about?" Mitsuhiko asked.
"Maybe he just wanted to say yoroshiku?" Ayumi suggested.
"Or simply a verbal tick?" Tsukiko shrugged, glancing sideways at the shrunken detective by her side.
"Wasn't Mokuba-sou at Beika 2-chome 23rd at…" Conan pondered with a serious face.
"Oh… Do you know something? About the apartment?" Ai asked immediately.
"Ah, no… I just thought that it's pretty close to Hakase's house." Conan sweatdropped a bit. Ai didn't seem to notice it but Tsukiko did. She seemed to notice everything. Maybe because she had read the Detective Conan volumes so many times and read all weird theories at forums that she now noticed all things – even the smallest ones – that had something to do with those theories. How annoying… But also fun… Should she try playing high school detective too? Probably not thought. It'd draw too much attention to her.
"Well, see you there then. Is ten o'clock okay?" The teenager spoke up.
"I think it sounds good!" Ayumi agreed.
"And even Genta-kun has already woken up then." Mitsuhiko agreed.
"Of course I am. I won't miss a case we are given to solve." Genta grinned.
Tsukiko bid goodbye to the kids and headed home. On the way she took her cell phone and wrote a message she sent to the spare cell that was still with certain dead man walking, talking and generally living.
– See you tomorrow.
Soon she got a reply back.
– So the time for answers is near then.
Tsukiko smiled, her fingers flying on the buttons of her phone.
– Yes. Finally a chance to talk face to face. But not before the case is solved.
– Case? What do you mean?
– When I say a case, I mean a case. You'll see it tomorrow. Now… be patient, Okiya Subaru-san.
‒I suppose you won't answer even if I ask where you found out about that name.
Now Tsukiko didn't reply anything. It wouldn't lead anywhere anyways. Not yet at least.
"Tadaima!" Tsukiko called from the hall, taking her shoes off and to the shoe cabinet and putting slippers on. "I'm going to do my homework!"
"Okaeri!" Jodie called back, setting aside a magazine she'd been reading. "You don't need to say that always. I already know you'll do them right after you come home from school. Why don't you relax today? It's Friday after all."
"Well… no." The girl shrugged. "But I'm going tomorrow to Beika-cho at 10 am and I don't know when I'll be back."
"Oh? May I ask why?" The woman tilted her head to the side.
"I'm going to go and see when Tantei-chan and his group solving a case there. The kids got commissioned today." Tsukiko explained. "I saw Tantei-chan more or less working at hospital back then and with the murder that took place at Karaoke Box but… This is something harmless for a change. And I want to see how his friends work with him."
"I see." Jodie nodded in understanding. "Have fun there then, I'm going to sleep 'til midday."
"Just try. I know you always wake up at least at eight o'clock so you have no chances to sleep 'til midday."
"And who's saying so? You, who wake up at 6 am?"
"Didn't you hear me?" I grinned and dodged a pillow Jodie threw. It was great to see her in that bright state. It seemed she had mostly gone over Akai's 'death'. It also seemed that the suspicions towards me weren't as bad as before. She wasn't giving a report to Black every Monday anymore.
"Yeah, maybe we all can relax a bit now…"
Back in Beika-cho, Okiya Subaru placed the borrowed phone on the kitchen table and looked up at his 'guest'. Well, guest was a bit of a wrong word, after all the teenager had picked the lock of his apartment and had been waiting for him to arrive that day.
"Should I be concerned about your presence here? Especially when you haven't exactly explained yourself." The man asked. The boy quirked a smile.
"Haven't explained what? You need to be more specific… Okiya-san."
"We could start with that name for example. While I'm grateful that you provided me with identification and all necessary papers, I'm still curious as to why you picked that name for me. I'm certain that you already know the name that girl picked for herself."
"Yes, Tsukiko-chan… I know her." The boy nodded, not really answering the question.
"According to the mail she sent, she knows that name too."
"Yes. She will meet you tomorrow. And when you get to talk… All I ask you is to listen to her with an open mind."
"…Oh? May I ask why?" Subaru's curiosity was piqued. The girl had tested the limits of what he could tolerate of not knowing but now he had a chance to hear it. And her connection to this boy, Hibiki, was curious yet they didn't seem to be keeping contact, thus the boy set him up to keep an eye on the girl.
"You may… but I won't answer." Hibiki smiled. He turned away from the window. "Now, may I interest you in taking a long, long walk slash drive once the evening falls?"
"You may… but not until you actually answer to one of my questions."
"What is it then?" The teen straightened up from his mild slouch, his face suddenly serious, like anticipating that he would not get away from the situation with any more elusive and evasive answers.
"Out of all people you are connected with, why are you so invested in her?"
"That…" Hibiki swallowed and flashed a bright yet not sincere smile. "I can't answer to that. Sorry. Maybe with time…" The boy seemed to fall into his own thoughts for a moment. Subaru didn't interrupt him as he waited what Hibiki might have to say. "A couple of months I'd say. Until Tsukiko-chan is adjusted to everything and more open to the possibility of meeting me too. Or something…"
"I see…"
"No, you really don't." Hibiki laughed. "But thank you for trying. Just listen to her when you have your long-awaited conversation and then… she might ask you something that you might guess already. I hope you accept her request but won't push you to." The boy said cryptically. "See you again someday."
And he left. Subaru got on his feet to make some coffee and plan the route he'd drive that night. While he didn't really care about Hibiki's mysteriousness the boy had gained during the past year, he did appreciate his clues and suggestions.
Outside the house a green motorbike drove away, the landlord's son waving after the teen. Subaru looked around his apartment, wondering why he should be out the night. Was something going to happen there soon? In the end he pocketed the memory card that had most of information he had obtained during his short stay in Mokuba-sou. Everything else was either replaceable or non-sensitive.
"Tomorrow… some light will be shed to this darkness." He mused the words of his late co-worker. "Not by a distant start but by gently guiding moon."
A/N: Yes, this last part is new. More references to Shugo/Hibiki's interference FTW. \o/ But with this is makes more sense for Subaru to actually listen to Tsukiko's explanation and actually believe it. :)