A/N: I decided to write this one up. The case is a two parter in the case you didn't already realize from the chapter title. Stuff happens. Mai is mysterious, Tsukiko confused and secretive, Takuya rolls with everything and Yamato frankly doesn't give a shit. Oh, and of course the regular cast is assembled too.

Without further ado, let the plot commence.

Chapter 69.

Kage sent a name to Yamato. Tsukiko sighed. Red Moon rolled her eyes. Then in unison they collapsed on the bed in Jodie's guest room. In two days the next crow would die. In two days they'd go and visit a shrine when the cherry blossoms were blooming.

"I'm going with Mai-san." Tsukiko stated aloud. "I'm going with Mai-san and meeting Yamato while she meets up with Takuya-san."

"I know." Kage replied. "Now sleep."

"I wonder how Koizumi-san is progressing with the research." Red Moon mused then.

"Well, if she finds out anything, I'm sure she'll have a way to contact us." Tsukiko reasoned before crawling underneath the covers.

Two days later

Yamato walked with his coworker from other courier office Murakawa Toya in the midst of other shrine visitors. The blonde man didn't really like the other guy but a job was job. And this one took care of many parcels full of questionable items that the organization sent back and forth. It had been that guy who'd organized the delivery of bomb filled packets to Haido Central Hospital. While Yamato had been coerced to the scheme back then, Murakawa was the head honcho in the plan. And he'd been damnably proud then Gin had contacted him.

"Slimy bastard." Yamato thought darkly. It was great that Murakawa didn't know Yamato's previous connections to the organization or he would've been more careful. The man didn't suspect anything and drank the beer with sleeping pills. The pills would last for hours and make it seem like he'd just passed out drunk. Yamato positioned the man against the nearby cherry tree and stuck him with a needle laced with a slow acting poison, atroquinine. Just 0,002 mg and the person would be dead in fifteen minutes. Yamato headed for the nearest trashcan by which he burnt the entire needle in order to get rid of the poison and disposed the murder weapon then. Everything done, the blonde headed off. He needed an alibi.

"So where are you and Miyoshi-keiji meeting at?" Tsukiko asked her friend, holding onto her hand so they wouldn't get separated.

"By the bells in about half an hour. But while waiting we can draw our fortunes." Mai pointed at one of the buildings at the area.

"Alright. I missed the previous cherry blossoms and fortunes of the year." The black-haired girl shrugged. The brunette shot her a shrewd glance.

"Yes, you were in coma, right?"

"Exactly. But there is no need to bring it up here now, correct?"

"Correct. Let's get the fortunes now!" Mai began dragging Tsukiko to the fortune booth.

"What did you get?" Tsukiko asked after unfurling her fortune: little luck.

"I got moderate luck." Mai laughed. "Just enough for me to go on."

"Are you of superstitious type, Mai-san?"

"Not really. These things are funny and work in stories but I don't really believe in them." The ex-class president shrugged. "What about you?"

"Saa…" Tsukiko paused, pondering how to answer. "I'm not sure. I don't take them seriously but sometimes there is this little 'what if' thing… And my grandmother is quite superstitious so…" She shrugged.

"Oh? Where does your grandmother live?"

Tsukiko's mouth formed the answer before her brain could even process the question. "Kyoto."

"Wow, you must have seen a lot of old shrines and temples then!" Mai smiled.

"H-Hai…" Tsukiko grinned back a bit awkwardly while mentally she was screaming. This wasn't making any sense. What had been that answer? Did it have something to do with her connection to Kagemiya Michiko's death? It had just been a reaction and instinctively Tsukiko knew that it was right and correct.

"Ah! It's Tsukiko-neesan and Mai-oneesan!" A very familiar girl's voice broke into the conversation. And in the next moment the two girls were surrounded by the Detective Boys.

"Ho, it's Shounen Tantei-dan! How are you guys?" Tsukiko grinned at them.

"We're good!" The three real kids chorused. Mai then glanced at Conan and Ai.

"What about you two? Conan-kun? Ai-chan?" The bespectacled girl asked the faux children.

"I'm fine." Ai replied.

"Just fine." Conan chirped.

"Did you come here to get fortunes?" Ayumi asked then.

"We did." Genta added.

"Yes, we just drew them." Tsukiko showed her 'good luck' fortune.

"Are you guys here alone?" Mai frowned.

"No, hakase is looking for a good stop for picnic." Mitsuhiko replied.

"Well, why don't you pick your fortunes then? We can stay with you." The brunette suggested.

"Huh?" Came the collective blank stares from the trio. Tsukiko sighed.

"While this is quite safe place, it's still not good for children wander around without adult supervision." The girl explained. "You might get lost or otherwise separated from each other."

The kids appeased, they went to pick their fortunes.

Bad luck for Conan.

Great luck for Ai.

Good luck for Genta.

Moderate luck for Ayumi.

And uncertain luck for Mitsuhiko.

Ayumi wanted at first go and tie their fortunes to the line at the side when an old man interfered, explaining how only the bad luck fortunes were meant be tied up so the bad luck wouldn't follow people home.

"Some people have the belief that by tying the fortune, it makes them come true." Tsukiko felt the need to point out. She'd witnessed it in Azumanga Daioh where the characters pulled bad luck and didn't remember should it be tied up or not.

"Well, these days people have the bad habit of just tying up whatever they get." The man sighed and limped away with the help of his cane.

"Then Edogawa Conan is the only one who will tie up his fortune?" Ai teased the boy.

"What fortune did you get?" Conan glared. And Ai showed it him, all the while smiling smugly. "Gr-Great luck?"

"Amazing, Ai-chan!" Ayumi smiled.

"I'm jealous!" Mitsuhiko added.

"Will you switch fortunes with me?" Genta asked.

"Hey, hey, switching fortunes won't work." Mai bended down to talk with the kids. She was surprisingly good at it.

"But people rarely draw bad luck so I've heard that it can actually be a sign of good luck instead." A yet another voice joined the conversation. "Don't be disappointed, Cool Kid!"

"Jodie-sensei!" Conan noticed.

"Jodie-san!" Tsukiko gasped in mock-surprise. "You are here too?"

"Sensei, did you come to look at the flowers, too?" Ayumi asked.

"Oh yes! Because I love cherry blossoms." Jodie smiled. Meawhile Tsukiko snuck a glance at Mai. The aspiring author looked like a cat who caught a canary. Or was about to jump and catch it.

"I see now. You called her here so that you two could have a little private tete-a-tete, didn't you?" Ai deadpanned.

"Eh?" Dot-eye pair!

"Spies often use like this – parks, shrines and such – in order to meet up and exchange information. There are so many people around that two random peeps just meeting up won't raise any suspicions." Tsukiko smiled.

"Thus no one will pay attention to Yamato and his victim." Kage felt the need to add.

"Shut up." Red Moon grumbled. Tsukiko ignored them both. At this point Ai was already herding the kids away from the two coconspirators. Tsukiko turned towards Mai.

"Should we go and look for our compations?"

Instead of agreement, she was met with a look of concentration. Mai's eyes were closed, as if blocking distractions and not so obviously eavesdropping Conan and Jodie. Tsukiko approached the girl and a moment later and slow smile spread on her face.

"Well?" Tsukiko arched her eyebrows at the other girl. Mai smirked.

"I was right."

"Obviously, if your expression is anything to go by." Tsukiko deadpanned. Then…

"The Bell Tree Express, you say… That train explosion was their doing as well!?" Jodie exclaimed. Tsukiko stiffened. Techincally she'd promised to tell Jodie when she'd get tangled with the Organization again. Well, Kage had and since Kage doesn't interact with Jodie much… Welp, Tsukiko was in trouble anyways. Not to mention that Mai's eyes were definitely now gleaming.

"'Their'?" The bespectacled girl repeated to her classmate who tried her best not to just run away from the scene. "Who are 'them'?"

"Nothing you should worry about Mai." Takuya had arrived and his declaration made Tsukiko narrow her eyes. Apparently whatever Mai had been dabbling with, had roused the police officers attention and whatever he'd found he'd deemed too dangerous for his cousin to proceed in her investigation. Tsukiko sorely hoped that Takuya could deter Mai from this course of questioning.

There was the Benzaki Touhei that Amuro was disguised as who approached Jodie and Conan and there was Takuya silently arguing with Mai. Being trapped between the two conversations, Tsukiko looked around for any sign of Yamato. His entry window was shrinking. But at the same time she also noticed that Mai wasn't really paying any attention to whatever Takuya was saying and instead listening to Jodie interrogating Benzaki. And that Takuya had his eyes half-closed and his arguments seemed to be repeating after a while. Two eavesdroppers then. Tsukiko sweatdropped. The cousins were so alike sometimes.

Then the pickpocket lady barged in and bumped into Jodie. Tsukiko kept away from her and hugged her bag closer. Once the lady was away and Jodie had given her business card to 'Benzaki', Conan looked up at Tsukiko.

"Nee, Tsukiko-neechan…" The boy began. Tsukiko bowed at her waist to be closer to him.

"What is it, tantei-chan?" She asked, leaning her weight against her knees.

"Who are you here with? Mai-neechan met with Miyoshi-keiji but you…"

"Ah, it's just a family friend. I haven't seen him in a while, just occasionally called, so we decided to use this opportunity meet…" Tsukiko suddenly looked up, that blonde hair was unmistakable. She straightened. "Yamato-san!"

Yamato, who'd been going to the other way, turned around. The faint scowl that had been on his face, melted away. He waved. "Tsukiko-chan!" Before making his way over.

"What took you so long?" Tsukiko asked, faintly aware of the shocked faces Conan and Jodie were exhibiting. Maybe they'd met Yamato somewhere before.

"I got my wallet stolen and was tracking her down. Her ploy is quite ingenious but also makes her easy to follow." The man shrugged. "But now I lost her."

"Sorry, but since you were close by…" Tsukiko shrugged.

"Excuse me, but how do you know each other?" Jodie asked then. Tsukiko and Yamato turned to look at the woman.

"I'm a friend of Tsukiko-chan's family. Her father helped me out ten-eleven years ago and ever since… Well, I sort of keep an eye on Tsukiko-chan ever since." Yamato explained smoothly. He ruffled her hair then. "You disappeared though. Came from Kyoto all by yourself and not even checked in with me before going off radar. How rude!"

"Knock it off. I got into an accident and was in hospital." Tsukiko grumbled. And once again the facts seemed right. Yamato was a family friend. She came from Kyoto.

"Alright… As Tsukiko-chan's current guardian I needed to check." Jodie sighed. "And you, young lady, have a lot to explain about a certain matter…"

"Hai, Jodie-san…" The girl muttered. Was this what teenagers experienced when their parents embarrassed them in front of their friends? This certainly gave a good indication what to expect.

Their odd group joined the Detective Boys. After Ai gave half-confused half-frightened glance at Yamato, everyone settled in amicably chatting. Even Mai and Takuya hung around. It was all in all surprisingly comfortable. They rinsed their mouths with the purified water and rung the bells. Yamato carefully covered up the fact that Tsukiko was doing it all for the first time. And Tsukiko was grateful for that.

Then came the phone call. The pickpocket lady was murdered at the public restrooms. Conan, Jodie and Takuya were off like shot. The teenagers and Yamato followed with a bit more sedate pace. It seemed like the kids knew Yamato too. Curious.

"Isn't that the lady who ran into sensei earlier?" Genta asked.

"No way…" Ayumi whispered.

"Why!?" Mitsuhiko questioned.

"It looks as though not much time had passed since she was killed…" Jodie observed. Takuya was digging his phone out.

"I'm going to call the police. Please step away from the corpse. I'll handle the public safety officer if he comes this way. Ichikawa-san, please keep the spectators a bit further away." The man spoke. Tsukiko remembered that Ai had mentioned the officers to Jodie and Conan earlier when mocking them acting like spies. Well, Tsukiko had brought up the spies, Ai had been her usual self.

"A five yen coin blackened with magic marker." Conan noticed the coins on the ground. "It's Kurobee!"

"Kurobee?" Jodie repeated in confusion.

"It's a nickname of a pickpocket. They call him that because he leaves behind three black five yen coins in the pocket of his victims." Conan explained whilst Takuya was calling inspector Megure.

"Why do such a thing?"

"Well, according to rumors, it's based on a play of words. Go-kuro-san (5-black-3) is supposed to be like gokurousan (thank you for your hard work) for earning all this money for the pickpocket to steal."

Meanwhile, Agasa hand brought the officer to the scene.

"Huh? Who are you!?" The officer asked. Takuya flipped his credentials open before Jodie had the chance to.

"Police detective Miyoshi Takuya from Tokyo headquarters division one. I've already called the inspector to the scene. Meanwhile, you should block all the entrances and exits to the shrine so the culprit won't have a chance to escape. Quickly!"

"Hai!" The officer saluted quickly and hurried off.

"Then is that Kurobee the culprit?" Jodie asked Conan behind Takuya's back.

"No… Looking at all the black five yen coins stuffed into this purse that was in this woman's pocket…" The boy was holding the purse which was then lifted from his grip by a gloved hand.

"Conan-kun, I know you are used to crime scenes and usually allowed to investigate in peace, but please, don't touch the evidence. Especially without proper gloves." Takuya spoke. "A mere handkerchief is not enough no matter how careful you are. Accidental fingerprints, dangerous substances… Anything can happen." The young officer explained carefully.

"B-But…"

"Megure-keibu should be here soon. And I look official enough that the spectators won't interfere meanwhile. But please, step aside and stop going through the woman's purse!" The man growled the last and took the gps transmitter hidden in the bundle of notes from the kid too. Conan pouted but stepped aside with Jodie.

"Don't make that face and don't misunderstand me. I do appreciate whatever deductions you come up with but right now, you are a civilian and this is a police investigation. Just like Saintemillion-san here doesn't have a jurisdiction here, you don't have one either."

Megure and Takagi arrived and Takuya let them take a lead. Tsukiko glanced at the officer now standing next to her.

"You handled it well. Even if your suit is of a bit more casual model and Takagi-keiji's." Indeed Takuya's suit was bluish grey while Takagi's was plain grey. The cut was different too bit narrower lapels and the neck tie was missing.

"I'm just glad I decided to take by police badge with me even though it was my day off." Takuya sighed and watched Conan telling his deductions to Takagi and then Agasa telling what he'd observed of the murder itself.

"But to weed our culprit out of all these hanami shrine visitors with just that…" Megure muttered. "As for the possible suspects, I think…"

"You can narrow it down even more! There was something weird in the woman's wallet." Conan announced.

"Something weird?"

"She had a gps transmitter wrapped in a note." Jodie told.

"Why did she have such a thing?"

"Because Kurobee the pickpocket had never been caught. The only way to find her would have been to wait until you yourself have been pickpocketed and had the black five yen coins put in your pocket. The culprit let her take the wallet with the tracker, found her coordinates using his mobile phone and then waited for Kurobee to go somewhere quiet and killed her!" The FBI agent explained.

"The-Then… The culprit might be somebody who's been pickpocketed by Kurobee!" Takagi realized.

"But pickpockets often work in groups, so we can't rule out the possibility that this is the result of a gang break-up." Megure pointed out.

"No, I think Kurobee was working on her own. Because she was the one making a lot of fuss that there was a pickpocket around." Conan said.

"What do you mean?" It was Jodie's turn to be perplexed.

"It's a trick that is used by several pickpockets." Yamato stepped up. "If you hear that there is a pickpocket around, you check that you still have your wallet thus informing the pickpocket where you are keeping it. But if there was an accomplice, it would be the accomplice making a fuss. I was following the ruckus after I got pickpocketed myself but lost sight of her then."

"So that means Jodie-sensei, you were probably…" Conan looked up at the woman and indeed there was no purse. "…pickpocketed when she fell over and you helped her up!"

"But if the pickpocketer herself has been killed, finding who she pickpocketed…" Megure began.

"About that, probably in a minute…" Conan mentioned just when his detective badge began beeping.

"Conan-kun! I've found it!" Mitsuhiko announced. "I found it in the bin next to where you tie up your fortune slips!"

"I've found one as well!" Genta spoke up. "In the bin next to the place where we drank water!"

"I think there's one here too!" Ayumi joined in. "In the bin at the place where we rang the bell! The priest's just getting it out."

"I found one in the bin by the toilet. The rubbish was about to be collected so I asked them to look through it for me. They also had another one." Ai informed at last.

"Alright! Now make sure you bring those purses back here without getting your fingerprints on them." Conan instructed the children.

"Oh, I see! The purses! Pickpockets just take the money out and throw the purses away, don't they? So if we check inside the purses…" Takagi spoke.

"We'll be able to find out who owned them." Megure concluded.

The five purses/wallets were brought and place on the 'evidence blanket'. Jodie identified her own blue purse and Yamato his grey one. And the children came to their defense when Megure tried to suggest they were suspects. Tsukiko noticed Yamato was trying not to quirk a smile.

"What is it?" She whispered to the man who leant down and whispered back.

"Perfect alibi."

Tsukiko snorted at that. It was true. What was more perfect alibi for murder than being in the presence of cops the entire time the murder approximately happened?

The kids were helping in identifying the people who owned the other three purses. When the kids, Takagi and Takuya went to fetch the culprits, Conan concluded that the culprit wouldn't have the three black coins in their pocket since there was a set next to the culprit and according to Agasa, the perpetrator hadn't gone through the victims belongings.

But of course all three culprits had the coins. Of course it couldn't be that easy.

The police began searching through the belongings of the three suspects and meanwhile Jodie reminisced the case at the hospital around… Well, in a sense it had been a year ago almost. Tsukiko noticed once again the cousins eaves dropping while they had a mock-conversation going on. Honestly those two. And honestly Jodie talking about such secret information in public.

"Jodie-san." Tsukiko said sternly before Conan could overreact. "Please not here. Anyone can hear. Moreover, that's no way relevant to this case."

"I guess you're right, Tsukiko-chan. Sorry…" Jodie smiled sheepishly. "I haven't really been feeling like my usual self after I found out that the guy with the burn wasn't Shuuichi."

"I tried to tell you after the department store incident." Tsukiko sighed. "And like I said back then, I'll say it now again: There is someone in the Organization who is not believing that Akai-san was ready to sacrifice everything by walking into a carefully crafted trap… and if it appears that Akai-san is indeed alive despite all this, of course I'll be happy." The girl threaded her fingers through the female agent's. "Okay?"

"Okay." Jodie smiled faintly and turned then to question Agasa. Nothing suspicious was found on the suspects. No suspicious behavior reported by the kids either. But soon the coat and hat used by the murderer were found. Megure ordered Takagi and Chiba to inspect the area for the murder weapon.

"What! But that's such a waste of the beautiful pink petal carpet!" Ayumi protested.

"True… All these little single petals, when you get them together it really does look like a pink carpet." Ai mused.

"Ah!" Mai gasped in surprise, drawing the kids' attention. Takuya smiled at his younger cousin.

"Did you figure it out too?"

"I'm an aspiring mystery novel writer, of course I did." Mai scoffed. "What about you?"

"Sure thing."

Meanwhile Yamato crouched next to Ayumi and Ai.

"Don't worry girls, the petal carpet will be repaired soon enough. The hanami isn't over just yet." The blonde man smiled to them.

"That's true." Tsukiko agreed. "The petals are falling all the time. Like a rain of pink. But I think it's the time for the deduction show now."

"Yeah, before the culprit walks away with the evidence." Yamato nodded thoughtfully.

"Eh? Ishikawa-san knows who the culprit is too?" Conan asked in surprise. The man looked at the boy thoughtfully but smiled then.

"Saa… I'm quite good at both in constructing plans and taking them apart." He told the kid. "Been doing that for the better part of my life really." The mirthless smile accompanying the statement made Conan stop and scrutinize the man for moment before nodding. Tsukiko observed the exchange with interest. She wouldn't ask now, but it was obvious that Yamato knew a lot of people in the Beika circle. How, was the question to be asked.

"Alright, let's solve this case. Takuya-nii, you'll assist me!" Mai announced then. A surprising move considering how she'd remained in the background this far. "And afterwards you'll give me the results…" The girl glared at her cousin who just smiled serenely.

"Sure, but only if you solve this correctly." Takuya remarked. Mai huffed and made her way towards the officers on duty. The rest of them followed after her. Tsukiko smirked, this was going to be interesting.

A/N: Alright... Do I need to explain anything from this chapter? Yamato draws quite strongly from Leap but that's expected really. Tsukiko quotes the conversation from chapter 40-something, right after Teito Department Store case though. And Mai decided to solve this case, let's see how it goes. I love messing up with Conan.

Replies to Reviews:

-Zeladious:
:D

-OTrizy:
I rewriting them mainly because of bad grammar and the fact I used first person PoV at times. I do have added some plot points that tie to newer chapters and Leap. You can read them if you want. Re-reading old fics is always fun. :)

-PurpleSnow10:
Oh yes. I've been twisting with these ideas and realized that Tsukiko's body (or a version of it) is still at her own world. So how id she corporeal in DC world? So there must have been something that her mind and memories have been drawn to. And if we go with parallel world idea where there is a version of you in every world in some form, there will also be a version of Tsukiko in DC world. So Tsukiko's mind was drawn to the body of... let's call her Hoshi. Hoshi you've met already in Leap. The same happened with Shugo and the dreams he experiences are lost memories pushing through.
Mainly this is just me to patch up plot holes. :) (and writing Amuro is always enjoyable)
But this is not body snatching. Tsukiko/Hoshi are the same person. They have the same personality, likes, talents... Their background is slightly different but it is one they can adjust to. Hoshi came to Tokyo, Organization tested their machine, Tsukiko got transported(split into mind and body that remained behind), Tsukiko's memories and experiences got slapped over Hoshi. Most of the puzzle pieces that make them are identical so they merged but there are now some extra pieces too that are looking for places to fit in.
I hope this explains it.

-LordOfStories: (chapter 2)
...I don't know how to reply you. Part of me wants to get angry, part of me is sad, part just confused. Your review is posted at chapter 2. That chapter is rewritten. I admit that the chapters at the beginning are not of my best work even after revamp. But how far have you actually read this? You say you are 'contemplating dropping this story' but have you even started this? Please answer.

-Tsuki:
I C U. XD You are welcome :)

-Bookaholicgurl78:
Well, it was not in the plans... And it won't happen. Their age difference is over ten years after all. I think Amuro is more like a cross between best friend and big brother for Tsukiko. But for a bit different interraction than with Subaru.