A/N: Helloo, people. I'm still here. o/ And we have a new case! I know that this jumped quite a lot forward but... what can I do? (a lot)

I dunno what I should say right now so I guess I'll just shut up and let you read, 'kay?

Chapter 52.

Was a week or two that passed? Tsukiko wasn't sure since she'd completely lost the track of time. The excitement over Sera's arrival still hadn't vanished. She was simply absolutely brilliant person. And Takuya was interesting too. Tsukiko had had Mai to tell her more about her cousin and his career as a police officer.

And others' reactions to Sera? Well, after the case with curry, a cat and a carpet, Subaru had chewed Tsukiko for not telling him that Sera had arrived and demanded a reason for it. The girl had only given him a flat stare plainly saying: 'Are you stupid?' and the matter had been dropped.

And the situation currently? Why, it was Tsukiko, Sera, Ran and Conan standing in the Mouri Detective Agency while Kogoro poured over his newspaper. The topic of discussion was one Hattori Heiji that was coming for a visit. Tsukiko was excited. She'd wanted to meet the other high school detective for a while already. Especially after the phone conversation during Bell Tree Express.

"Oh yeah? The son of the Osaka Police Chief, huh…" Sera mused. "And on top of that a high school private eye… That's amazing!"

"Yeah, His name is Hattori Heiji-kun!" Ran smiled. "It's Hattori of the West and Kudou of the East. That's what they're called according to Hattori-kun!"

"So then he's a rival of Kudou-kun's!"

"But the only time they had a showdown was in the beginning, and recently they've been working together to solve cases…"

"At any rate, they're two halves that make up a whole…" Kogoro chuckled before a full-blown manic laughter: "A far cry from Japan's greatest Detective: Yours Truly, Sleeping Konoro-sama!"

"Japan's greatest? Surely there's more…" Tsukiko frowned. "What about Soda Ikumi-san or Mogi Harufumi-san? Or another high school detective Hakuba Saguru-san?"

Then answer was some crumbling from the dozing drunkard's direction.

"And so? Why is he coming then?" Sera enquired.

"Dunno… He said he'd tell us when he arrived…" Ran explained.

"I'm sure he's bringing us yet another complicated case since they play as West and East in their detective games…" Kogoro muttered, his attention back on the newspaper. Tsukiko briefly glanced at the headlines and was relieved to see that the police still didn't have any leads with the case media had dubbed as 'Hunter of the Crows'.

"West and East, huh…" Sera became thoughtful. "Then tell me straight up, between the West and the East, which one is the greater detective?"

Dun dun duuunnn…

Tsukiko grinned at their expressions. While Ran tried to state that the two teenage sleuths were equal when it came to wits and Conan with (failed) subtlety suggest himself, Tsukiko chuckled.

"I think neither is the correct. True, it takes great intelligence to piece together a puzzle but I think it needs even greater capability of thinking to create the puzzle from the scratch and hint others about the greater picture without being too obvious." The blonde explained. "So my vote goes to Kaitou Kid-kun and his apprentice Red Moon."

"It's West…" Someone muttered behind the door of the Agency. And the door opened, showing very pissed off Hattori Heiji. "This high school detective of the West, Hattori Heiji, is way, way above, ya dummy!" Apparently the Osakan had only focused on the two choices of the question and not the third one Tsukiko had suggested. "I keep quiet for one second and this is the kind of nonsense that spews out…" He glared at Conan.

"Ha-Hattori-kun!" Ran gasped. But Heiji's attention was now on Tsukiko.

"You're that girl then? That female detective that came out of nowhere and started sniffing about Kudou…" The Osakan was leaning a bit too close to comfort…

"Ah no… You've mistaken." Tsukiko grinned nervously, leaning back slightly. "I'm Okiya Tsukiko, we talked in phone once. The one you are looking for is Sera Masumi-san." The blonde pointed the tomboy who was today wearing some clearly boyish clothes. Although Tsukiko also had some not so girly ones…

"I wouldn't say I've been sniffing around…" Sera smiled.

"Y-You're a girl!?" Heiji exclaimed. "Your chest is pretty lacking, considering…"

"They're due to pop out any day now!"

Tsukiko crossed her arms on her chest. Before she hadn't really cared about being mistaken for a boy but when people were all the time pointing it out(to Sera but you get the point) the blonde was also becoming a bit uncomfortable.

"Anyway, my mom's skinny too, but her breasts are pretty big so I'm not worried!" Sera explained cheerily.

"Is that the only topic she can talk about?" Kage crumbled sleepily.

"I dunno, I don't care… But it's annoying how people always notice her lack of figure first…" Red Moon sighed.

"True."

"Anyway, what happened to Kazuha-chan? I heard she was coming along too…" Ran questioned Heiji.

"Yeah… She had an errand to run on her way here…" The tanned teenager told them. "A little while ago, Kazuha's mother got some packaged curry as a souvenir and got super addicted to it. Since that curry is only sold at family restaurants in Tokyo, she asked Kazuha to buy some if she's going to be in Tokyo! So she had to find that family restaurant before anything else…"

"Then she'll come right after she gets done there, right?" Ran confirmed.

"And? What'd you come here for, Heiji-niichan?" Conan asked, still a bit irritated about the interruption the Osakan had caused. And the way he'd insulted the kid's intelligence. But right when Heiji was about to explain Kazuha called. A murder had happened in the family restaurant she was. What a surprise…

And right before they left to the murder scene Sera had… the gall to suggest a competition between the West and the East. Naturally Heiji was thrilled about the idea while Conan sweatdropped.

"I hope this won't take too long…" Tsukiko sighed when they were on their way to the family restaurant Danny's. Sera looked up.

"How so?" The tomboy asked.

"Well, I have plans for today. Specifically an anime marathon with nii-san." The blonde explained despite the guilty feeling that was beginning to settle on the bottom of her stomach.

"Anime marathon? I remember you mentioning something like that just before we met for the first time."

"Yeah, we do that. Or rather, I blackmail him into it. Subaru-nii does enjoy that anime but… he is somewhat reluctant to have the marathon. Usually the marathon takes place after he has screwed up something…" Tsukiko laughed.

"What did he do this time then?" Sera smirked. Apparently tormenting brothers was nothing new to her.

"Well…" The blonde dug her hand into the pocket of her jeans and took out a slip of a folded paper. "Today's grocery store list. I bet he's going to call me about this. He was supposed to give me a list about useful books to read but…"

"I get it." The other girl grinned. "But you do remember the plans for tomorrow too?"

"Tomorrow? Oh yeah…" Tsukiko sighed. "I dread to know what'll happen tomorrow… Suzuki-senpai has planned something… And Mai-san is in it too…"

"I'm sure it's nothing dangerous or humiliating."

"I hope so…" And the blonde sunk into her mental emo corner.

"Then this is what happened, right?" Who put Ran in charge? "Kazuha-chan, you were buying the curry at the register here, when suddenly, a male foreigner came out of that restroom and said that someone had died and to call the police, right?"

"Yeah…" The Osakan girl nodded. "He also said in a loud voice to seal off the restroom and to not let anyone leave just in case!"

"Did the foreigner say all that in English?" Heiji asked his… *cough cough* girlfriend.

"It was in Japanese! That person was in the first one to find the dead person!"

"A foreigner who can speak Japanese fluently, and the first to discover the body… that's pretty suspicious, isn't it?" Kogoro pointed out.

"Well, if you ask us the real suspicious ones are you lot, who barge your way into crime scenes all the time…" Megure stated as he approached the seven of them. And Tsukiko had to admit that he had a point…

"Me-Megure-keibu! Actually, recently every time I come to the scene they just let me pass, saying: 'Keibu-san called you here didn't he?'." The sleeping detective explained nervously. It was true thought. They had been allowed to come to the restaurant just like that once the officers outside had spotted Kogoro. "And? What was the cause of death?"

"Poison." Takagi read from his notebook. For real, not pretend reading that Takuya did. "There was a piece of candy laced with a sort of cyanide poison found in the corpse's mouth and from the corpse's pocket we found more of the same sort of candy, so…"

"Then is may well be a suicide, huh?"

"Yes, the foreigner who was the first person to discover the body also said as much…"

"Who the heck is he? That foreigner…" Sera butted in. "He seems to be someone oddly accustomed to crime scenes. An acquaintance of yours?"

"W-Well, I suppose you can't say he's someone unrelated to the police…"

"Oh, great… Don't tell me that he's…" Tsukiko groaned and yes, indeed…

"I'm so used to it in my line of work, I just did it without thinking…" Who else but Andre Camel stepped forward.

"A-Agent Camel!?" Ran exclaimed.

"This foreigner with the mean face is an acquaintance of yours?" Heiji asked immediately. Tsukiko couldn't help but chuckle behind Sera.

"Serves him right…" She muttered with a grin. Sera gave her curious look but didn't comment quite yet.

"He's an FBI agent, and it just happens he's here in Japan on vacation, right?" Conan came to the poor agent's rescue.

"Y-Yeah…"

"Convincing, isn't it?" Kage snorted. They were even less fond of the agent than Tsukiko was. Actually they weren't very fond of any of the FBI. Red Moon was indifferent to them.

"So-so what happened was I'd eaten here with some friends once and couldn't forget how good the curry tastes, so I came back to eat it again on my own… that's when I encountered this case…" Camel explained.

"First running up and down in a hotel stairs due refreshing orange juice in the restaurant in the upstairs and now curry… Seriously, does this man think with his stomach?" Tsukiko deadpanned mentally. The men made their way to the restroom to take a look on the corpse while Sera and Tsukiko both trailed a few steps behind and then took places away from the stall. Camel began explaining the situation further.

"Then what's your basis for saying that this is a suicide?" Sera asked.

"I heard his voice… 'Even though we're childhood friends, I won't hear you out on that sort of request. The one who served Abe-san poison and committed the murder was me, so I have no choice but to take responsibility!' After saying that he suddenly let out a groan and as I hurriedly came out from the toilet to see what happened, this is what I found…" The American agent explained. And the explanation continued. And continued until… "He spoke just like this boy does!" Cue the first clue that gave Heiji an advantage in this case. Though headstart could be a better term…

"Then you're saying it was Kansai-ben!?" The Osakan asked immediately.

"I don't know if it was called 'Kansai-ben', but at the end of his words there were a lot of 'ya's and 'de's…"

"In that case, this 'Abe-chan poisoning case' might've been a case that happened in the Kansai area…" Sera noted, putting the officers into a rush to search the clues. Meanwhile Camel was not so subtly glancing at the tomboy and how familiar she seemed to be.

"Hmm? What? Is there something on my face?" Sera asked the foreigner.

"Ah, no…"

"If you're wondering whether I'm a boy or girl, the correct answer is girl! Just that my breasts haven't developed yet." She smiled.

"Nee, Sera-san… Could we go and see what Ran-senpai and Kazuha-san are doing? I doubt there's anything else for us to see here." Tsukiko took a step away from the wall, completely ignoring Camel in the progress.

"Alright, why not… Though we do have to keep an eye on Hattori-san and Conan-kun." The duo made their way out of the restroom. In the short corridor leading to there, Heiji and Conan were both talking about the case. Or rather Heiji was enquiring how far the kid already was and then pointing out how superior the Osakan himself was. After bugging the elementary-schooler-lookalike enough, the teen finally told how the last words of the man were actually said in Kansai-ben.

Coin in the air…

"No matter whether we're childhood friends or not, I'm not hearing you out on that! The one who served Abe-chan poison and committed the murder was 'jibun'! So 'jibun' there's no choice but to take responsibility!"

…and the coin drops.

"That's right there! That was how he said it! What I heard were those exact words!" And Camel and company had arrived too. "Right? So like I said, the deceased man confessed to his role in the poisoning case and committed suicide as a way of taking responsibility. That's what it comes down to, right?"

While Megure and Takagi stuttered the recent turn of events(since they obviously got now what was the real state of things), Sera stepped up to explain.

"In Kansai dialect, the word 'jibun' actually means 'you'…"

"Eh? How come? In Japanese, 'jibun' means 'me', right? How would it mean 'you'?" The agent questioned in confusion.

"As an example, in the expression 'temaedomo no sekinin desu'(It's our duty), 'temae' refers to one's self, however… When people are arguing, they'll say, 'temee' in reference to their opponent – it's the same thing here. The Japanese language is pretty complicated, you see!"

"Well, we Japanese understand since we're used to hearing Kansai-ben on television, but for you who learned Japanese in America, I suppose it would have been impossible." Megure told the other man.

"In short, if we replace the 'me' and 'I' with 'you'…" Kogoro began his thought process. "'The one who served Abe-chan poison and committed the murder was you! So you… you've got no choice but to take responsibility!' That's what it'd translate to…"

"Hey, when that guy said 'served'… are you sure it wasn't 'laced'?" Tsukiko asked suddenly. Nope, she didn't feel sorry at all for stealing Heiji's lines. She also wanted a bit more attention instead of just blending on the background.

"Yeah… But I was thinking it was strange for someone to say they laced a person with poison, so I thought I must have misheard them say 'served'…" Camel admitted.

"That clears it then." The blonde clapped her hands together and smirked. "Because it wasn't 'abe-san' or 'abe-chan' that the man said but ame-chan. And that refers to amedama(candy). Considering that the guy had a poisoned candy in his mouth and more in his pocket, it makes perfect sense."

"Ame-chan and Abe-chan, huh…" Megure muttered.

"T-The pronunciation does sound similar…" Takagi admitted.

"B-But why would you add a '-chan' suffix to a candy?" Camel protested.

"That's because the Japanese language is pretty complex, you know?" Heiji explained with a wide smile. Conan sweat-dropped.

"But if that's the case, that means there was a culprit in the restroom who made that man to take the poisoned candy into his mouth, right?" Sera pointed out, bringing the investigation back on the track.

"Yeah, and the fact this FBI guy here didn't hear that culprit's voice means that probably, the culprit had arranged to meet with this man who was encouraging him to surrender, but before he seated himself at the same table, he called the victim to the restroom and poisoned him to death." Heiji theorized. "After saying some convincing things over the phone to get him to the restroom, the culprit just had to kill him. He wouldn't have had to say anything, and the data from the phone would be gone once the mobile phone was dropped into the toilet water…"

"But what the culprit didn't count on was that an FBI agent would have happened to be in the restroom, and immediately locked all the customers inside the shop…"

"So, in short the murderer is still in this restaurant, right?" Tsukiko confirmed.

"Alright! Narrow the suspects down to men in their thirties and forties, and question them individually! Since they'd have to be around that age range in order to be childhood friends with the victim!" Megure ordered and Takagi went to take care of it. Although what it seemed… Camel was going with the two officers too.

"And so that's why, right now, I'm one step ahead of this guy here!" Heiji announced cheerfully while patting Conan's head.

"'This guy here'… Isn't Kudou-kun the one you're competing with?" Sera asked, making the Osakan sweat nervously and hastily correct what he meant. Honestly, there was just so many times you could slip and fix but apparently the teen detective hadn't ran out of them yet. Tsukiko shook her head in expiration.

"Well, if you'll excuse me… I'm going to take the win on this case… If the culprit was childhood friends with that man who was murdered, the culprit's probably from the Kansai region. This that would go right over a born-and-raised Tokyoita like Kudou's head will be clear as day to some from the Kansai region like me!" Heiji grinned before going to question the suspects with Conan.

"I… am gonna make a call." Tsukiko mused. "See ya soon."

"Right, we'll be right here." Sera waved when the blonde went to outside of the restaurant to call. There wasn't much privacy inside. First of all there were so many people in and secondly there was a hushed silence so there was no problem for people to eavesdrop.

Tsukiko leaned against the wall of the restaurant and was scrolling through her phone log to Jodie's number. She just about to call when she raised her gaze up from the phone's screen and spotted a familiar looking car outside.

"Of course… I had forgotten that they were this close already." Pocketing her phone, the blonde made her way to the car and knocked on the window of the passenger side. Jodie looked up from the picture on her phone that Camel had sent her.

"Tsukiko-chan?" Teh woman gasped in surprise, the window muffling her voice.

The girl just waved with a smile and Jodie opened the window.

"Hello, Jodie-san, Black-san."

"Hello, Tsukiko-kun, how come you are this side of Beika?" The American man behind the wheel greeted the teen.

"Well… long story short, Hattori Heiji-san came to visit Ran-senpai but while at the Agency his girlfriend called from this restaurant and told there had been a murder and a big foreigner man was preventing anyone to leave. Our lot came here and found out it was Camel. People are right now questioning suspects and I came out to call you but you were here already." Tsukiko explained quickly. Not in one breath but close enough. "What were you looking at, Jodie-san?"

"Ah, Camel just sent me a picture message…" The ex-English teacher opened the message once again. Tsukiko leaned against the car door to get a better look. It was a pic of her and Sera talking right before they left the rest room.

"That creep…"

"Why would he sent this one?" Jodie looked up at the girl.

"I haven't the faintest…" Tsukiko shrugged. "You better ask him when this is over. Speaking of which… Black-san, could you take me to the second block after this is done? I'm going to meet up with Nii-san."

"Sure. It isn't a problem." The man nodded sagely.

"Thanks a lot. I gotta go now though. See ya."

When Tsukiko made it back inside the questioning was already over.

"So? Were any of those people from the Kansai region?" Megure was asking Heiji while the Osakan was clearly puzzled.

"What do you mean 'dunno'…" Takagi asked. "Wasn't the whole point of having you do the questioning to figure that out?"

"Well, what I do know is…" Drumroll. "Just that all of them ordered spicy dishes!" Now is not the time to joke, Hattori…

"Well, if I may offer my opinion…" Tsukiko peeked behind the shoulders of the two officers. "I didn't follow the questioning so I don't know how the people answered but since the detective from the Kansai region – who was so confident – is stuck…"

"Just spit it out…" Heiji glared while his and Conan's stomachs crumbled.

"Well, maybe the point right now isn't what someone is but what they isn't." The blonde announced proudly.

"What do you mean?"

"Apparently two of them are from Tokyo and one is from Osaka or otherwise from Kansai, right? So the odd one out is pretending to be a Tokyoite…" Tsukiko left the sentence hanging.

"Since but since he isn't, there's bound to be mistakes in his act." Sera concluded. "Right now you need to find the mistakes…"

"But it might be though because you are Osakan and thus those things might go over your head." The blonde girl grinned. Before Heiji could retort though, his stomach crumbled again.

"This is bad… Now that we're talking about food, I'm getting real hungry…"

"Then why don't you have some too, Heiji?" Kazuha's bright voice called from other side of the restaurant where she, Ran and Kogoro were… eating. "The food here at this family restaurant is super delicious!"

"You guys, while we're desperately trying to investigate the case… You're just leisurely having a meal!?" The hot-headed detective shouted.

"We couldn't help it… We were so hungry…"

"Plus we're not just eating!" Ran added. "Right, otou-san?"

"Yeah…" Kogoro nodded while slurping more noodles. "The dishes those three suspects ordered… We're eating and investigating them!"

"And? Have you figured anything out?" The Osakan detective snarked.

"Well, they're delicious at least…"

"Are those really the dishes those three people asked for?"

"Yeah, Kogoro-san asked the waitresses, so there's no doubt about it!" Kazuha told them. "The curry I'm eating, and the Shio Ramen that Kogoro-san's eating, and the Mapo Tofu that Ran-chan's eating… These three dishes!"

"Saa, now I'm really hungry…" Tsukiko muttered when Conan went to inquire if there had been anything else the three suspects had ordered. After receiving an answer, it was obvious to anyone who happened to look at the kid's face that he had reached the conclusion.

"You were right, Tsukiko-neechan! It isn't about what he is but what he isn't!" The bespectacled boy smiled to her. Lucky for them no one else(but Sera) noticed it.

"Oh, is that so." Tsukiko grinned.

"Uh-huh!" The kid nodded.

"Great. Now I'm going to eat something though…"

A/N: And done. What did you think? Please tell me. It always makes me so happy to read your reviews. And by the way, the first chapter of Leap to relatively Unknown is now also posted. I'd really appreciate you went and reviewed it too. You can comment it here too but I'd reather keep reviews in their respective fics. The next chapter of LtrU is coming in a week.

And I've also made an poll. It is asking which fics I should continue and I've put every single one of my on-going fics in there. You have two choices and I think I'm going to keept he poll up this month or so...

By the way... do you think I should make a forum where you can discuss about this fic? Just curious...

Review Replies:

-GeekyGenius:
I'm glad you like the chapter. I'm not sure how much I actually changed the beginning but at least there should be less typos... And more my time has gone with Monochrome since I got the sudden inspiration to start it...
Yes, Sera is awesome. But some things with her are annoying too. Like Tsukiko notes in this chapter.
And yes, I drew the cover pic.

-SunnyStormCloud:
I am! Thank you!

-s-b11119:
Ah... you are from DCW aren't you?

-Zeladious:
Thank you, and yes, I drew it myself.

-Guest:
Yes, it is! \o/

-Kimmiko T:
Oh, you are a new reader. Welcome.
Thank you very much. I'll try my best.
Eisuke and Kaito... Honestly... I don't know either. I like both pairings but they are difficult in their own ways... Eisuke is tricky because we know nothing about him after he left to America. Thus I've also pushed him aside. Originally I thought of bringing him temporally back at some point but I have no idea how it would have affected the plot. We can only assume that he and Tsukiko are still corresponding. Kaito in the other hand... I hadn't even planned this happening. It just did when the character relations developed. And I like KaiAo... And HakuKai. In any case I'd rather stick into canon pairs. You can be assured that Red Moon will flirt with Kid/Kaito but Tsukiko at least tries to refrain from that.

Gah! This review made me think too much about this. I seriously don't know who Tsukiko will end up with. Or with anyone... After all she has given up with trying to get back to our world... Suggestions, suggestions... There's too many choices. Eisuke, Kaito... in reviews there has been Gin, Shuichi, Sera... I'm not surprised if someone pulls Shinichi or Heiji card next.

Just review. I wanna hear your opinions. and if I make that forum there'll definitely be a topic about pairings.