A/N: Alright... This is super-short chapter. But still sort of important. A sort of a breather before the next case that will be a two parter. Please, enjoy!

Chapter 68.

Tsukiko was sitting by one of the tables in Café Poirot. She had made a habit of coming to the café as of late. First she'd stop by either Jodie's or the Kudou residence and change her clothes, and afterwards head off to somewhere. Usually to Poirot or then all the way to Ekoda. Kaito didn't usually ask much questions as to why she was hanging out more and more with him. And as Akako had received the Charry Sapphire a couple of weeks back, she wasn't bothering the girl either.

But now Tsukiko was troubled. She had a manila folder spread in front of her and was drinking her third cup of tea. The folder she'd gotten from Jodie on the previous day after a check-up at the hospital.

It had all began after the phone call from that person named 'Hibiki'. The case file had been gotten from Interpol via Zenigata. Apparently there was some old debt the man owed to James Black so he'd agreed to get the non-classified information for the FBI. First the old man had gone through the file and then Jodie. And Jodie had gotten Tsukiko's medical information from Haido Central Hospital. In the light of information that girl had been taken to another check-up and a shocking truth was revealed to her: she might be suffering from a slight memory-loss. Not much as she hadn't even noticed it herself, but there was certain facts that indicated it. Such as the damage her brain suffered in the collision, or the fact she had been in comatose such a long time. Or the fact that she couldn't recall some simple facts taught about history or Japanese culture and religion. It was all things that everyone knew instinctively and could remember and do without much thought. But Tsukiko had to stop and think and even then she couldn't remember. And it wasn't just about dimensional change that Tsukiko could attribute them to in her mind. She had studied Japanese culture and language a long time and done well when she'd visited the country back in her world but here…

"Could you write your name?" The doctor asked, indicating the paper and pen on his desk. Tsukiko looked at them nervously, hesitated, and then picked up the pen. Leaning over the paper, she wrote slowly the kanji she'd taught herself as soon as she managed to find out which ones to use. They were correct ones. The same ones Subaru used.

But apparently it hadn't been the kanji itself but the process that the doctor was interested in.

"How do you prefer to write your name?" The doctor asked then. Tsukiko wrote her name again, this time with Latin letters. The order of her names remained the same though.

"Do you find kanji hard?"

"I'm bad at writing them. I think I always have been."

"Okiya-san… After leaving this hospital, did you meet someone or encounter something that made you recover parts of you background even without you realizing?"

"I met with… my brother." Tsukiko replied. It was as good lie as any.

"Do you have any photos of him?"

"I… do not. Gomenasai…"

"It's alright. Do you feel like you are close with your brother? Do you think he could help you in future with your memory?"

"… I think so."

"Excellent! One last question then… Do you have western heritage? Your looks… and tendency to use different alphabets…"

"I… My father. He is European." Tsukiko said quietly, fully aware that Jodie was in the room with her and the doctor. "I haven't seen him in years."

"Your father?" The doctor picked up the word of the girl's choise. "Just yours, not of your brother's too?"

"Okiya's adopted me around a year back. That's… what I remember."

"So in the past you might have gone by a different name? That might explain the uncertainty with the kanji but your mind simply tells you that you are bad at writing. It refuses to acknowledge lack of information…"

Afterwards Jodie had driven the girl back home and given her the investigation file. It had a lot of blacked out parts but Tsukiko still could see the gist of it. The victim's name was Kagemiya 'Michiko'. It seemed like the first name was fake while family name wasn't. And Tsukiko knew it couldn't be a coincidence that it was her preferred surname when referring to her alter ego.

"Tsukiko-chan, are you alright?" Mai spoke up, making the girl snap out of her thoughts and look up at her friend.

"Yeah… Just peachy." Tsukiko flashed a smile and turned back to the file. There was something… Something just at the edge of realization but she wasn't sure what.

"Do you need another cup of tea?"

"That's be wonderful. And a croissant too if it isn't too much of trouble, Mai-san."

"This is my work, Tsukiko-chan, it's no problem." And with that the brunette girl went back to the counter with the empty teacup to get her friend a new one. Tsukiko glanced as she went but then looked down at the file again, mentally going through the facts presented.

Kagemiya Michiko had been thirty-eight when she'd died. She was a loan from Interpol to Saitama prefecture police. She had been working at her current assignment for the past six years. Occasional holiday during which nothing was wrong. Until her last one. She came to Tokyo, rented a car and when the car wasn't returned, the rental tracked it down and found her sitting on the driver's seat, dead. There was evidence that she had had company sitting on the passenger seat, but the shot that killed her came from outside, through the opened window at driver's side. Blood splatters were on the passenger seat too, but it was all Michiko's blood. Her mysterious passenger was gone and thus the main suspect in the case. It seemed like the police were stumped as to who she'd been meeting or why. And Interpol's notes weren't any better. Apparently Michiko had been doing some private investigation on her own but then assigned to Japan in order to 'cool off' and 'take her attention off it'. So whatever had happened was something that the Interpol didn't even have files of.

So why would this case bring Tsukiko 'back to Tokyo'? Where had she been previously then? She was not from this world.

"Akako said a turning point was approaching. That I'd get dreams…"

A soft clink indicated a new cup of tea had finally arrived, Tsukiko looked up to thank Mai but instead there was Amuro.

"Ah, thank you, Amuro-san." The girl smiled softly.

"May I ask what you are reading with such an intense look in your face?" The man asked, gesturing at the file. Tsukiko glanced at it, sighed and shook her head.

"Honestly, I'm not even sure. Jodie-san gave this to me yesterday after some… stuff." The girl flipped the file closed, pushed it aside and took the teacup then, savoring the warmth of it seeping to her fingers. She'd noticed many times that if she was still for a long time and work with computer or phone or just reading, her fingers would go cold.

"May I take a look? I've noticed that two heads think better than one."

"Mmm-hm?" Tsukiko hummed whilst drinking.

"Just a couple of days ago I was asked to assist Miyoshi-chan with one of her cases. I don't know yet what she is working on yet but…" Amuro sat on the sofa-like bench next to Tsukiko and picked up the file, noticing the symbol embossed upon it. "Interpol?"

"Yeah… Beats me why this case is important to me. But according to this… hacker, it is."

"Hacker?"

And Tsukiko found herself telling Amuro about her trip to hospital and the hacker Hibiki who'd contacted FBI and apparently she had a memory loss and connection to this case but absolutely nothing made sense anymore!

Amuro listened patiently, nodding on occasion all the while processing this information. Memory loss. It was a new puzzle piece. The man picked up the photo of 'Michiko' and looked at it closely.

"Did you notice that she resembles you? You could be family. Cousin, aunt…" Mother.

"You think so?" Tsukiko squinted at the photo. Maybe there was something but… She shrugged. "I don't know."

But Amuro did. More he looked at the photo, more convinced he was that the woman was closely related to the girl sitting next to him. But with the memory loss, the girl couldn't deny or confirm it. The man looked at the notes at the bottom of the file. Apparently there had been a listening device attached to the car but removed between the time of death and the discovery of the woman's corpse. Hibiki's involvement in this also bothered the man. It seemed that the hacker was becoming more and more active. But why? Why the interest in Okiya Tsukiko other than the possible relation to 'Kage'?

In front of the two, Azusa made her way to outside to give Taii the calico cat some food. As it was quiet time at the café, Amuro soon joined her after giving the file back the Tsukiko. The girl just smiled and put the file into her backpack. Maybe she could pay her bill and go to library or something. She ate her croissant went up to the counter to pay her orders of the afternoon. Mai rang it all up and glanced at the direction of her two co-workers.

"I wonder what that's about…" The young waitress spoke up. Tsukiko glanced at the two adults and frowned.

"What's been going on then?"

"What little I heard before the door closed, there was a faulty taxi receipt that the wind blew away. It was stuck on Taii's collar."

"I see… See you tomorrow at school, Mai-san."

"See you, Tsukiko-chan."

"Am I right in thinking it blew away in that direction?" Amuro asked Azusa, taking off his apron and pointing to the direction the wind was blowing to.

"Nani!? You're going to look for it?" The woman gaped, but taking the apron.

"Tell the master I suddenly felt ill and had to go home early… and that there is no need to pay be for today's work." The detective replied and began running down the street. Tsukiko watched him for a while before running to catch up with him.

"Bye, Azusa-san!" She quipped over her shoulder and picked up her pace. Good thing she'd changed her clothes, running in school uniform really didn't appeal to her.

Amuro was checking something on his phone when Tsukiko caught up with him.

"What's up, buttercup?" She asked cheekily, jolting him from his deductions.

"Okiya-chan, don't do that." Amuro sighed. "I'm tracking down a message most likely sent by Conan-kun."

"Oh?" The girl arched her eye brows. "Mai-san said something about a taxi receipt that the wind blew away."

"I'm currently tracking it down."

"I see. Mind if I tag along. I'm bored."

"What about the case file?"

"Decided to give it a break. Maybe later I'll have fresh eyes to look at things… Or fresh memories…" Tsukiko muttered.

"Sure, you can tag along." Amuro agreed then, and turned around a corner before stopping by a lamppost.

"Brill!"

With the clues provided by the taxi receipt – Amuro made sure to explain his reasoning to Tsukiko. While the girl was smart, she still lacked experience and itty bitty facts that many people took for granted – the two of them went to get Amuro's car. The man drove to Agasa's house where they found the delivery van at. The van was blocking the street.

"Shall we?" Amuro asked with a glance at the girl.

"Sure. I have duct tape ready." Tsukiko grinned and then, as one, they stepped out at the opposite sides of the car.

"Sumimasen! This road's rather narrow so could you please give way? I wouldn't want to damage anything!" Amuro began cheerily. Tsukiko just leaned her arms against the car door and smirked while watching the thing proceeding.

"It's the detective guy!" Genta shouted from the van.

"Help!" Ayumi cried.

"What's this? What are you lot doing in there?" Amuro asked.

"Oh, no, this is just… er…" The chubbier of the two delivery men began nervously before other one picked the reins. That one was obviously smarter, more cunning and also eviler.

"So you're a friend of the kids, huh? If you've seen them, then there's no choice. If you wanna stop them from getting killed you better get in the van right…"

"Gurk!" Tsukiko had slipped behind the chubby guy while the attention was on Amuro and chopped the guy at the back of his neck, letting him fall. During the distraction she created, Amuro struck the other guy in the stomach.

"Didn't I tell you? To give way because I didn't want to damage anything?" The tanned detective sighed.

"If you are quite done with dramatics…" Tsukiko rummaged her backpack for the roll of duct tape which she tossed to the man.

"Okay, Conan-kun! Call the police." The man was smiling.

"A-All right…" The boy sweat dropped. The kids clambered out of the van with Tsukiko's help while Amuro took care of trying up the two criminals.

"But you are amazing you!" Genta spoke up.

"You looked at the code on the receipt and came here, didn't you?" Mitsuhiko clarified.

"Oh… That weird receipt in the cat's collar got blown away by the wind and I couldn't find it. I just happened to be passing by this way." Amuro smiled. Tsukiko frowned slightly at the man but kept smiling in a bit of disbelief.

"Aww, no fun…" Genta grumbled.

"Then how about you come and eat cake with use in the professor's house?" Ayumi suggested, much to Conan's horror.

"So, this is the place of the famous Agasa-hakase…" Amuro looked up at the strange-looking house without paying any heed to the shrunken detective and his attempts to stop his friends from inviting the man. "But I have to decline for today. Lots to do…"

"I think I'll pass too. I doubt there'd even be enough cake for all of us." Tsukiko smiled, waving goodbye to the kids. "Amuro-san, mind giving me a ride again? I don't feel like walking."

"What am I? Your personal taxi service?" The man chuckled as the he motioned the girl to follow.

"Maybe… Are you going to charge a fee from me?"

"Ahahaa… What do you think?"

The two got into the white RX, completely unaware of the stares following them.

"They get along quite well…" Ai remarked.

"Yeah… Okiya told me a while back that I should be more objective… But just can't get how she can ignore completely the fact that he is actually Bourbon." Conan muttered quietly, so the other kids wouldn't hear.

"What I've seen, she is quite a good actress when needs to be." The shrunken scientist stated, thinking about the recent encounter with the girl when Mine Fujiko had almost forced the two to interact. And from that brief encounter Ai knew that the girl most likely kept many tricks up her sleeve and interact with just the right people in order to build a safety net for herself. Whatever was going on with her, Ai rather had her as an ally than enemy.

"Moshi, moshi?" Mai picked up her phone at the end of her shift. "Takuya-nii? …Sure, I've have a day off then. …Really? Absolutely! I'll be there! I can't wait… Yes, see you then. Under the cherry blossom trees."

A/N: And this was a lot shorter than I realized at a Word document... Next case will be Cherry Blossom Viewing Trap. Stuff will happen. Uuu!

But before it,

Replies to Reviews:

-OTrizy:
You are welcome. The split is still far away. Currently Akako is still researching and even then the outcome might not be what's expected... Stay tuned though.

-Zeladious:
:D
Watashi wa daijoubu desu. Anata mo?

-Hellfire000:
Thank you. They are brilliant. I hope there will be Lupin vs. Kid movie 2020 even though it was meant to be a gag advertisement at the end of the movie... :)

-Tsuki:
Ah I see. I read Detective Conan only online because the Finnish edition quit due the lack of readers... So I know the latest spoilers whenever writing the newest chapter even if Tsukiko doesn't always know.
You are welcome. :)

-PurpleSnow10:
You are welcome. I'm glad to hear you liked the chapter.
Oh, Hibiki... Well, he has his plans and who am I to reveal them? :D

()

See ya guys when the opportunity arises. And to those who are surely to ask, Tsukiko won't meet Shuukichi just yet. Sorry. That will be Shugo's case in Leap once I get that far.