A/N: Ladies and gentlemen! I'm here! And with Dream or Not chapter. :) I bet you've been waiting for this. ;D
I don't actually have anything to say right here in the beginning soo... I'll just let you read.
Chapter 57.
The book case was cleared and the blue sheet was taken down from the wall. All the clothes expect for one outfit and a school uniform were neatly folded in boxes. Carpet was rolled up and extra towels were wrapped around plates, glasses and silver ware. All extra had been taken away weeks ago.
Miyoshi Mai taped one of the boxes that held her clothing and some rice cups shut and let out a sigh of relief. Finally. She was finally getting out of this house. Tomorrow to be exact. Kouki was coming to get the boxes today and tomorrow Takuya would come to pick her up with the rest of her stuff. And stuff from her parents rooms… The class president wanted no trace of her to be left on this house. The house she'd never called home.
"The home is where my heart is… And my heart is lost at sea..." Mai hummed and piled the boxes behind the door of her room. Then she made her way to the hallway, looking at the pictures on the wall. Pictures taken on family gatherings. Pictures where she posed like a doll, completely expressionless. Oh, how she wanted to rip them off the wall. There was no pictures of Takuya or his parents. In the eyes of Mai's parents they weren't related anymore after they allowed Takuya to join the police.
Making her way to the kitchen and the liquor cabinet, Mai took a good look on the bottles inside of it. It wasn't like her parents ever drunk them.
The bespectacled girl picked up two of the bottles and took them to her room. She placed them on her desk which was now also cleared of everything.
"Empty house that is even emptier now…" Mai smiled sadly. "I wonder how long it'll take thm to notice that I'm gone… The next morning? A week later? Will they even care?"
With a sigh, she sat down on her desk chair. "Look at me, talking to myself." She chuckled and opened the top drawer of her desk. There was only two things in there… The empty can of coffee that she'd give to Takuya tomorrow and a thick stack of papers. The manuscript for her first book. Tomorrow she'd give that one to the publisher she'd contacted a while back. Tomorrow was the day of beginnings.
With the help of Kouki, the boxes were quickly stacked in the man's car. Mai couldn't go with him to help at the young man's apartment because her parents were coming home earlier than usual. Which in this case meant around 7 PM.
Mai watched the dark blue car drive away before sighing and walking back inside. On the way to the elevators, she met briefly with her neighbor a few floors up, Yoshida Ayumi.
"Where are you going at this time of night, Yoshida-chan?"
"At the professors! We are having a pajama party!" The little girl chirped.
"That sounds great." Mai smiled. She envied the girl. Always so happy and having her friends around. Always so carefree despite the murders the Detective Boys run into. Something Mai had never had chance to be, living in a gilded cage. But tomorrow it would be the end of it.
Mai waved goodbye to Ayumi and stepped into elevator then.
The evening was pure torture for Mai. The dinner was eaten in complete silence apart from the questions about her school work. The teenager answered honestly and otherwise remained quiet.
"Mai, since you are already sixteen, your father and I have been thinking of starting to look for a suitor for you."
At her mother's words, Mai froze completely, the piece of sushi half-way to mouth. Slowly, the girl placed her chopstick on the side of her plate and took a deep breath.
"Suitors?" She asked with colorless voice.
"Yes. With good academic success and background. Naturally."
"Naturally…"
"After all, you are to take over the family business. That is unless you study to become a doctor. Either way, you are to marry a gentleman from an influential family." The woman continued like her daughter hadn't spoken at all. He husband in the other hand remained quiet, just eating. Mai didn't even remember when the last time she'd heard her father's voice was.
The girl listened quietly as the woman talked. The woman wasn't even mother to her anymore. Just a woman who had given her a birth with the sole purpose of creating a postcard family and having someone to follow in her footsteps.
The voice just washed over Mai as she ate. She had a long time ago already become deaf for that woman's ramblings. The man sitting at the end of the table was like that too. He knew well who much that woman, the other party of his arranged marriage, loved the sound of her own voice.
"I see. It's getting late though. I think I'll retire now." Mai stated cordially and got up. She cleaned her own place and put the dishes to the dishwasher. Before exiting the kitchen, the girl gave a short bow to the adults.
"Oyasumi nasai, Ichirou-san, Satako-san." If the two were shocked of being addressed such a way instead of 'okaa-san' and 'otou-san', the girl didn't know as she left behind looking back at them.
In the forests of Gunma
Yamato looked up at the full moon shining above the treetops. It had snowed a while back. And it would snow again later in the night. One of the reasons why this day had been chosen.
"Perfect…" The platinum blonde man whispered. "The perfect night… The moon shining upon me. A traitorous crow killing another. Pitch black and blood red staining the pure white snow… Don't you think so too?"
The man turned his emerald gaze on the woman lying on the ground. Her throat had been slit open and she was slowly bleeding on the snow. She was dressed completely in black. Even her hair, that had opened from the bun and now spread around her head like some bizarre halo, was black. In her hand the woman had a cellphone to which she had received the message from Kage.
"You remind me of Cordita." Yamato mused, propping his chin against his palm and elbow against his knee. "If you were her, I'd love to spit on your corpse… But that's leave evidence for the police and we don't want that now, do we?"
In disgust, the ex-assassin got on his feet and made his way back to the rental car the woman had use to come here with him. She had believed it was some business with organization that needed to be discussed in secret. What a rookie. Hadn't even heard of him, the Living Legend of the Organization. But now Yamato needed to get rid of the car and the evidence it held.
Several hours later the car exploded in front of the main police station of the Gunma Prefecture at the time it began to snow.
Mai was nervous. She was walking around the apartment with Takuya and looking for things she owned. There weren't much. The photos were quickly taken out of the albums and off the walls. There had never been drawings from her or other artwork. Mai had never owned any kids movies and all the toys she had, were long ago been given away for the children of her parents' coworkers.
"Is this all?" Takuya asked, indicating the folded curtains and the school uniform a top of them. A suitcase that would contain them quite soon along with the 'confiscated' photos.
"Yes." Mai kneeled down to pack the suitcase. "This is all."
"Are you going to leave a note?"
"…no. I don't want them looking for me and I honestly doubt they'll even notice me gone. At first that is. And I don't want to give any hints for them." The girl zipped the suitcase shut after placing the photo of herself and Takuya when they were young a top of them all. She got on her feet then and took her school bag that contained her manuscript and the evidence bag now too. "Besides… one glance on this room and it should be more than enough to tell them that I organized this by myself and thus wasn't kidnapped or anything."
"I understand." Takuya took the suitcase and the duo headed to the door.
"I already arranged with the school that all necessary post that isn't given to me during school hours or my duties as a class president, will be sent to your address." Mai told when they were on the car, driving towards Haido town and Kouki's apartment.
"So your parents won't track you that way?"
"Yes. While they might be too busy to come on their own to get me, they might try to call and get my address that way. They know I won't skip my duties."
"What if they do find you?"
"They won't." The statement was said in such conviction that it made the police officer to glance at the girl sitting on the passenger seat. "They won't find me. And if they do, like hell I'm going back." She snarled.
"All help you keeping them off your back, Mai-chan." Takuya assured with a brief smile. "And if the things go really bad, you can always go to my parents with Ishihara-kun."
"Arigatou gozaimasu, Takuya-nii."
The unpacking of the boxes happened surprisingly quickly. Kouki was surprised about the amount of the kitchen ware Mai had with her as well as the bed sheets and towels.
"Where did you get all this? I doubt your parents would be pleased to notice these missing." The waiter asked when he put a stack of green, rectangular plates to a cupboard.
"These are from our grandparents." Takuya explained, gazing fondly at ceramic chopsticks he'd picked up from a hand towel they'd been wrapped in. "We have some at home too… I remember Obaa-san telling us that she bought these from sale when an earthquake happened."
"…That was when she was in good condition to actually tell those stories." Mai muttered. "I was five when she was confined in hospital so you are the only one who knows them. Ichirou-san never really cared about them."
"Oyaji loved them. He'd always tell them to me when I was little and it had been a while since the last visit to our grandparents house." Takuya grinned. "All of these have a story behind them."
"Well, back at the house these have just been stored in the top cupboard and never been used."
"Is that so?" Kouki mused. "Plates and chopsticks are meant to be used. Especially the old ones that have life in them. These are beautiful."
"I know." Mai smiled and pecked the young man on the cheek. Takuya smiled at them softly. It was great that Mai had someone to truly rely on. Someone who supported her with her dreams and goals.
"By the way Takuya… What are you going to do tomorrow?" The bespectacled girl asked suddenly, waking Takuya out of his thoughts.
"Nothing special. Preparing all the paperwork before having my three days off. The day after tomorrow is Wataru's death anniversary so I'll be visiting his grave that day."
"I see. Say… could you tomorrow get these prints tested?" Mai went to get the coffee can from her bag.
"And compared to what?" Takuya chuckled.
"The corpse from the car fire in Raiha Pass. And afterwards don't forget destroying this can. I don't want anyone else getting a whiff on my doings."
"Hai, hai." Takuya nodded and took the can.
Mai was sitting on a comfy chair and nervously looking at the manuscript she'd placed on the desk between her and the owner of the publishing company. It was a woman in a crisp business suit and short-cut hair. The woman was reading through the pages of the manuscript critically before making it a neat stack of papers again.
"Well, Miyoshi-san. I can say you obviously have talent and for your debut work this is truly excellent work. I'll send this forward to some of our well-known authors so they can comment and write a foreword if they so wish… But honestly I think this is ready to be published as it is." The woman spoke. "I understood you wanted to use a penname?"
"Yes. I don't wish for publicity… at least not for the beginning due the fact I'm still in high school…" And in hiding. "And there's people who…"
"Who are at odds with Miyoshi Corporation. Yes, I know. What would you like to use as your alias?"
At that Mai smiled for the first time in the meeting. "Himiya Miso. We came up with it with my friends a while ago…"
"Anagram? I like it." The editor chuckled and got up from her chair. "Well, Miyoshi-san, it's been a pleasure meeting you. While your work is still pending, we won't sign any contract yet. But once this is confirmed also by the authors I'm sending this… you can expect a call from me."
At this Mai also got on her feet.
"Thank you very much Fureika-san." The two females shook hands.
"I can't wait to see the first part of Black Web in our shelves next to Night Baron and Detective Samonji." The woman smiled warmly to the girl.
Takuya was coming back from the fingerprint lab. The results had come quickly but he couldn't afford anyone to see them. The print was sealed tightly inside an envelope which was between some folders he was carrying from the archives. Those files were something Inspector Megure had requested him to get during the day. Right now it was already after hours but Takuya knew he couldn't get the results out of the building yet.
But the coffee can had already been disposed of along with the records from the database of such a test being conducted on it.
Takuya walked out of the office in brisk pace. The envelope was now safely tucked to his desk drawer that was locked all the times.
On the way out, he met up with Satou, Miyamoto and Miike who brought up Takagi's weird behavior and Wataru's death anniversary. At last they wished the young officer good days off and Takuya was out of the building.
A/N: Now happened scene from He was Our Zero but I'm not writing it again. Go to read it though, 'kay?
The kidnapping of Takagi on that February weekend shook Takuya badly. As soon as the call form Satou had ended, the police detective had driven back to the station, thus ending his days off. Takuya did everything he could in order to find Takagi's location. He couldn't risk losing another friend. But watching the kids (especially one Edogawa Conan) to figure out the location… It made the man doubt his own abilities. If a child could figure it out, why couldn't he? He had thought he had gone far from the days in the Academy… when he relayed on the help of Wataru and Rei.
Those thoughts made him completely forget about the certain envelope at his desk.
Froth, steam, smoke… What a flimsy alibies. Even Mai agreed when Takuya told her about the case later in the day. But that wasn't why the case remained in his mind. It was the conversation he'd had with Takagi and the people who'd been present at the crime scene. It was Edogawa Conan again. With his friend Haibara Ai and…
"Okiya Subaru-san? Tsukiko-chan's brother? What was he doing in there?" Mai asked. Takuya could practically hear a frown in her voice.
"He was giving a ride for the children. The rest of their group had already gone skiing. I heard they gave a ride for Takagi-kun to the crime scene after the victim fell."
"I see… Tsukiko-chan wasn't there then?"
"No."
"Hm? Tsukiko-kun isn't here?" Takuya noted, looking around.
"Ah, no… She was feeling a bit ill so she stayed home." The man who had identified himself as Okiya Subaru answered. "How so? Did you need to speak with her?"
"No, no…" The officer waved his hand dismissively. "Just recently whenever there has been a case I've been called to, Tsukiko-kun has been there too with Conan-kun. And when I also take into an account that you, her brother, are here too…"
"I understand your way of thought. Tsukiko does indeed have a knack on getting involved in cases." And strawberry blonde man smiled.
"Yes…"
"And Takagi-keiji solved the case then?" The girl was chuckling now. "Him?"
"Yes… He indeed did…" Although Takuya had a nagging feeling it had been Conan pulling the strings here.
"Well, how have you been otherwise?"
"Fine! I'm just fine."
"When it concerns you… you are such a poor liar, Takuya-nii…" Mai sighed exaggeratingly but continued seriously then. "You are still bothered about what happened on Date-san's anniversary, aren't you?"
"Yes. I did talk with Takagi-kun about it…"
"Ah, Takagi-kun, great to see you up and about. I haven't really gotten a chance to talk to you since then…" Takuya greeted the younger man when Megure had gotten the report of the case and went to question the suspects.
"Ah, Miyoshi-keiji… It's nice to see you too." Takagi smiled.
"Takagi-kun… I've told you to call me Takuya."
The face of the other detective told clearly that he had noted something strange in Takuya's behavior.
"What is it?" The brunette asked, nervously reaching for his police notebook so he could hide behind note-taking any given moment.
"Are you alright?" Takagi was giving a good look on the man in front of him.
"I'm… I will be. Just the mere idea of losing yet another friend…"
"That's right, you and Date…"
"Not only him… There was a friend from the Academy who disappeared soon after we graduated. Rei…"
"Who you talked about back then…?"
"Yes… And when I was at Haido department… I got to know Matsuda-san during a few cases when I was just a rookie. Not much but enough to consider him a friend. And then he was gone too." Takuya sighed. "And finally Wataru… I just… I'm not sure how I would have reacted if you had been gone too, Takagi-kun."
"… Is that why, despite the fact you're asking me to call you by your first name, you still insist on my last name?" Takagi asked then after a moment of silence. Takuya blinked. He hadn't expected the other officer to catch up on that.
"Yeah… I probably couldn't handle calling anyone else 'Wataru'. I hope you don't mind. I used to know him for a long time after all." The brunette smiled sadly.
"It's alright… Miyoshi. I think some distance might be good for both of us."
"Glad you agree, Takagi." Honorifics weren't necessary for the two of them anymore. The two of them made their way to the inspector who was now talking with Conan.
"But my problems aside now. How are you doing Mai-chan? Adjusting well?"
"Oh, yes. It is wonderful. Kouki-san is a great cook so we take turns with cooking. Usually he handles the mornings and I the evenings. He is looking for a new job by the way. Thinks he'll get a better pay at a restaurant…"
"And your work then? Have you found a job yet?"
"I heard from Ran-senpai that there's a place open at Café Poirot for weekend workers. And I've talked with both Enomoto-san and Amuro-san there who work and they both said they'd appreciate the help. With the Mouri Detective Agency being right above, the business is booming…"
"Amuro-san…"
"Yes I heard he is also Mouri-tantei's disciple. You know him?"
"Ah, no… Just met in a case. He was a suspect. Nothing else…"
"I see… Ah, Kouki-san came home now. Got to go. Let's talk soon, Takuya-nii."
"Yeah, let's. Bye."
"Bye!"
"By the way… " Takuya mused. "Back in Academy I went on a date with Satou-chan. It was only once though."
"What!?" The statement made Takagi trip. The brunet chuckled at the remembrance.
"Wataru and Rei dared me to. It was a nice date though."
A/N: Dan da-dan! The chapter is done. I know this was quite filler-y but it needed to be done. So many things happening... Mai rebelling, check. Mai's book and investigation onwards, check. Takuya talk things through with Takagi, check. Takuya meeting Subaru, check. Yamato killing another BO NOC, what won't be found in a while, check. Overnight Deadline, check.
Alright, the grave visit that was in He was our Zero wasn't in here because in my head canon it happened a bit after Froth, steam, smoke... Just look at Takagi's clothes. In this one he has his coat but during the grave visit it's obviously spring already.
Yamato is obviously referencing to chapter six of Leap to Relatively Unknown.
The italics in the end of this chapter were the phone call. While speaking with Mai, Takuya remembered the FSS case.
Speaking of which... I've thought about making one-shots for Takuya again. Especially now that I mentioned Matsuda. I simply couldn't resist. But I'll take suggestions for those shots. During Christmas holiday I should have a lot of time in my hands. ;)
Review Replies:
-Kimmiko T:
I've updated. I'm glad you liked the previous chapter too.
-Winged Fennec Fox:
The code? That's simple one. If you take a regular phone with the alphabets on the buttons and start texting... you press 2 twice to get 'b'. then you press it once to get 'a' and... I have a mistake here... It should be '55' next as you need to press 5 twice to get 'k'... and there should be 444' to get 'i'... I need to fix this. But you get the idea right?
Oh? Well, gotta fix that one too. At least when I remember...
It's alright, good to point out that other readers won't get confused either.
-Zeladious:
*wants to go and punch Vermouth in the face* Damn creep.
... Have you read manga at all? If not. Sorry for spoiling you details. You'll find out eventually. :3
-Nana von Bldsinn:
He will get suspicious(not that he already isn't) but not just yet. But since she is around Beika they are bound to meet again at some point.
Ah, yes. I can't wait to get that far in the story either. We'll see, we'll see. ;)
PSB stands for Public Security Bureau which is basically the secret police of Japan. At least I think that's exactly the place he works for. I might need to re-check my facts though...