A/N: Heeeh, Io managed to write this one up in only one day. Despite the fact I had a ton of cleaning up to do. But this is a fillery one so it's shorter and yea... Next one should be a case. Maybe. Or less fillery.
Chapter 25.
"Booooooriiiiing…" Tsukiko poked her cell phone lying on the bed. "I have nuthin' to doooo… Someone caaaaall meeee…"
"You should get used to being alone. It does good to a person." Jodie stated as she passed the half open door of Tsukiko's room. The girl rolled on her back and groaned.
"If you haven't noticed… I have been alone for a week. After school I've come here and done my homework. Then I've just sat here and read, doodled, listened to music et cetera, eta cetera. I've been in near to no contact with my friends outside the school. I do enjoy being on my own too but too much is too much. You are also doing your job who knows where…" The blonde waved her hand aimlessly in the air. If the FBI agent was about to reply, she didn't get a chance when Tsukiko's cell phone rang.
"Uh… Moshi, moshi? … Mai-san! … Of course I can come. Where shall we meet? … Okay!"
Sometimes savior arrived on the most convenient moment. When Tsukiko started to prepare meeting up with her friend, Jodie smiled faintly. The woman was relieved to see how well Tsukiko got along with her friends. At first the agent had been a bit vary about the whole situation, considering how the girl had behaved at the hospital back then but maybe it was nothing bad and worrying…
Tsukiko scrolled through the latest messages of her phone and checked the news in process, to get some sort of hint when in the timeline she was. The time in DC world was one messed up one after all and she couldn't even be sure what season of the year it was now.(A/N: Read fic About Edogawa. It's established there quite well by the characters themselves.) She couldn't find anything. Maybe this was around some quieter time. Or those cases in the Anime Originals that she had never really watched and that were stuck in every possible gap.
"Nah… I'll notice when something happens." The blonde mused while pocketing her phone. She was slightly worried about this meeting with Miyoshi. This was the first time they met outside school and it had been only a week from the 'revelation'. Back then Tsukiko had texted Subaru immediately and they'd agreed to say, if one were to figure out their 'un-relatedness', that Tsukiko was adopted. And if one really thought about it, it could also explain why her 'parents' weren't exactly concerned about her whereabouts.
"That's only a plan B though. There won't be that many people able to figure it out. Hanajima is too blind to obvious things outside gossip and doesn't even know that I've a brother, others don't care. Tantei-chan already knew that we aren't related. Ghi-hih… His face was funny when he heard of it though… Jodie and the rest of the FBI in the other hand are too busy with the Organization to notice and none of them have met him either. And they don't know about my use of glasses as much as Mai-san does. Heiji is probably a threat but it's unlikely that I'll meet him in near future though… Kaito… Nah. I won't see him that much… Sera… She could actually figure it out. Yikes." The dimensional traveler thought as she neared the meeting place, a nice café by Haido park. Miyoshi was already there waiting for her.
"Tsukiko-chan!" The dark-haired girl waved. She had changed her braids on a high ponytail, leaving only a couple of strands on the sides of her face. It suited her really well, as did her clothing: a lilac cardigan with light blue skinny jeans and dark grey boots.
"Mai-san!" Tsukiko waved and jogged the rest of the distance. "I'm not late, am I?"
"No, not at all. I just arrived, too."
"Okay. You look good." Tsukiko smiled as she took a seat opposite the class president.
"Thank you. You don't look half bad yourself." Miyoshi smiled back, nodding at the blonde's clothes: light green – almost white – dress shirt, midnight blue vest and white jeans. She had also pulled her hair back on a blue headband that matched the vest.
"Thank you, Mai-san." A faint blush spread on Tsukiko's cheeks by the compliment.
"You are welcome. Shall we order now?" The dark brunette gave a menu to the blonde. Tsukiko had hard time not to drool at the photos of the cakes and other sweets.
"H-Have you already decided?" The blonde stuttered. The list of various delicious delights was making her faint. Miyoshi didn't seem to notice the stutter though.
"Yes. Have you?"
"I think so."
"Good. Kouki-san!" A waiter peeked from the back room. He smiled immediately as he spotted who was calling him.
"Ah, Miyoshi-san. It has been a while." The young man – maybe in his early twenties – greeted. "Is this a friend of yours?"
"Yes, this is Okiya Tsukiko, my classmate. Tsukiko-chan, this is Ishihara Kouki. We have gotten acquainted along the way." Miyoshi introduced. Was that blush on her cheeks?"
"Nice to meet you, Ishihara-san." Tsukiko smiled.
"Nice to meet you too, Okiya-san. Are you ready to order now?"
"Yes, I'd like to have a small coffee with milk and a slice of strawberry cake." Miyoshi pointed the items from the menu.
"The normal one then." Kouki smiled to her while writing the order on his notepad. Miyoshi blushed a bit more. "And what for you, Okiya-san?"
"Hmm… Jasmine tea and a piece of chocolate cake. It was hard to decide since they all look so good." Tsukiko grinned a bit sheepishly.
"Then you just need to come here more often and try the other ones too. Miyoshi-san has come here for a long time but still sticks to strawberry cake."
"Kouki-san!" The class president shushed him while he and Tsukiko laughed at her flustered face.
"Ah, the great class president and Queen of class 1-B finally breaks." Tsukiko giggled.
"Tsukiko-chan, not you too."
"I'll be with you shortly." Kouki mock-saluted them before going to the kitchens.
"Mai-san… Why did you exactly call me today? We have been avoiding each other for a week and now we meet. Outside the school at that…" Tsukiko asked behind her tea cup. "Not that I have anything against meeting outside school time!" She added hastily.
"I… I thought you needed sometime to settle down after I found out about your… situation. You seemed quite distressed back then." Miyoshi answered quietly.
"Ah, it's fine, Mai-san. Really. I was really surprised, that's all. While it's true that I prefer people not knowing, it's not a sore spot for me or anything. Subaru-nii and I are close anyways and usually people don't question it because we look more or less alike."
"That's good to hear. I was worried about you." Miyoshi put her coffee cup on the table and cut a piece off her cake with the cake fork.
"Nee, Mai-san… Do you have a crush on Ishihara-san?" Tsukiko asked bluntly then, making Miyoshi almost choke on her cake.
"Wh-What? Crush on Kouki-san?"
"Yes, other than the fact you call him by his given name, you also blushed when he greeted you. And to be honest… I think he likes your company too." Tsukiko smirked as she leaned her elbow on the table and propped her chin against her hand.
"D-Do you think so?" Miyoshi stuttered quietly.
"Yeah, he was really happy to see you and I think…" The blonde looked to the direction of the cash register where the man was – and glancing at them time to time. "He was prepared to talk to you like he usually does. My presence was a disappointment." She chuckled.
"Is that so…"
"Yes, I'm quite certain of that. How old is he anyways? He doesn't look that old."
"Twenty-one." Oh, how quiet Miyoshi's voice was. And oh, how red her face was. Tsukiko tried really hard not to laugh.
"Hmm… Not a disaster. You should make a move."
"I… Someday maybe."
"Now is better."
"Eh? How so? You aren't even certain about his-… feelings…"
"That woman." Tsukiko nodded her head towards the other end of the café. "She has been watching Ishihara-san for a while now." She turned her head to look at the woman in question. Miyoshi did so too. "And judging how she looks at him, I bet she'd un-dressing him with her eyes."
"Eh? No way!"
"Yes way." The blonde stuck the last piece of her cake to her mouth. "I'm going to the bathroom now. You better act before that… woman does."
"O-Okay…"
Five minutes later Tsukiko came back to their table. Miyoshi was still blushing furiously but now she was smiling brightly. The woman in the other hand had stomped away without ordering anything.
"Well?"
"We have a date tomorrow. It's his day off."
"Sunday date? How romantic. Congratulations!"
"I couldn't have done it without you, Tsukiko-chan. If you hadn't figured out-."
"Mai-san is flattering me. I merely observed my surroundings and reasoned from them. It was quite obvious if one dared to look."
"Thank you anyways."
"You are welcome."
"I-I'll pay your order too."
"Demo, Mai-san…" But the dark-haired girl had already gone to the cash register where Kouki was stationed. Tsukiko smiled. "OK then… We're even now."
"What are you looking at with so thoughtful face?" Tsukiko looked up from the mirror in front of her at Jodie who was in the doorway of the bathroom. The girl twirled a finger around a strand of hair.
"I thought about changing a hairstyle… I've always wanted side bangs and at one point the parting of my hair was on the left and not on the middle. I guess the time I spent in the hospital, messed up a bit with my hair and then it stuck like this." She explained. "I could also grow the rest of my hair a bit longer too… At least past my shoulders…"
"How did you get the idea so suddenly?" The agent walked behind the girl and they both looked into the mirror.
"I've thought it for a while actually." Tsukiko lied smoothly. Actually she had gotten the idea on the previous day after her meeting with Miyoshi. The other girl had looked so different with that simple change of style… It looked nice and could work for other purposes too… "You know we aren't too sure is the Organization after me or not, right? And even if I'm no threat to them I did scratch accidentally one of their cars, the Viper, and stereotypically villains are really possessive over their cars. Or people with expensive cars in general."
"Hmm… Maybe it could work… If not for distracting the Organization but for a simple change of style… I think it could suit you quite well actually." Jodie thought aloud while moving the girl's hair on the side, as if to see what would the new style look like. "We could go tomorrow to a hairdresser's after your school. What do you think?"
"That sounds great Jodie-san. Thank you very much." Tsukiko chirped happily.
On the next day Tsukiko was excited. She was on a cheery mood the whole day. She questioned Miyoshi thoroughly about her date with Kouki and was even civil to Hanajima who tried to butter her up. The polka-haired girl failed miserably but didn't leave them huffing and puffing like on previous times. Hopefully she wouldn't get used to it though. Tsukiko also managed to have a small conversation with Maki Namida who had come to the school again. The other girl was really shy and glanced time to time to the direction of her sister and Toudou as if scared they would listen to the conversation which was actually cut off quite abruptly when Maki Tsunami came closer and dragged the poor girl off with her. Tsukiko narrowed her eyes at the behavior but didn't comment it. She was on a far too good mood for that.
-New hairstyle, what do you think? Read on a message that Okiya got on the afternoon of that day. The message was accompanied by a photo of Tsukiko grinning on a barber's chair and making a peace sign. On the background was a mirror where he could see Jodie taking the picture with a smile on her face. The man smiled faintly.
-That looks good on you, Tsuki. Any particular reason why? He replied.
-Just wanted something new. It makes a difference, doesn't it?
-Indeed it does. Good idea.
-Thanks. ^o^
A/N: Yea, mish-mash short stops... Oh well, time to answer on your reviews
-zXFallanAngelsXz: Yes, I also enjoyed really much the whole Kinichi-kun thing in that case. Although on the first time when I read it I wanted to facepalm. I really did. And, yes, Miyoshi is smart, maybe even par to Shinichi but she has no motivation to use her wits on detective work. She'll be a valuable ally in the future though, I tell you that. About Conan... He is suspicious yes, but most of all he is confused.
-kittyfinatic515: Yes, I'm alive. The update is here and next heist... It's the Iron Tanuki if I recall correctly... I can't wait for it either!