A/N: And thus I've written a new chapter of this fic. A bit fillery but I hope you like this anyways.

Chapter 4

Kage knew many things. Some of those they got from Tsukiko's memory when they were becoming who they were and eventually separating into a distinct personality different from Tsukiko. Stuff from Tsukiko included the whole archive of Detective Conan cases and random trivia the girl had spent time memorizing. Yes, Kage had and access to it but they did not consciously access it. If they (or that damn flirt) needed to know something specific, they usually asked Tsukiko to search it. It was her memory and her gathering of info after all. The nerd.

Some of those things were simply obtained in order to protect Tsukiko. Like shooting a gun or driving a car or stripping wires in order to hack or just simply moving stealthily. That knowledge was just there, absorbed from atmosphere or something. The flirt was similar in that sense. Tsukiko had never practiced gymnastics, yet Red Moon flipped and jumped like born to do them. Well, in a sense she was.

Some things in the other hand Kage got from Hoshi's memories. Like the fact that Kagemiya Tsukasa was actually Tsukiko's cousin – Morofushi Hiromitsu – and adopted to the main Kagemiya family before he'd been spirited to Tokyo. But Hoshi's memories were a mess. Tsukiko didn't know that little fact about her blood family.

Then there were things that Kage learnt on their own. Ways to handle different gun models. Ways to fight and incapacitate people. Ways to act in certain company. Things commonplace in school environment but what Kage and Tsukiko were lacking in knowledge.

All things considered, Tsukiko had done miraculously well when starting at Teitan High. Probably thanks to reading so much manga. And she could pass some inconsistencies in her behavior as being a hafu. Considering the girl's blond hair back then, no one questioned it too much. But even when she adjusted, there was always a sort of removed point of view that remained between her and the rest of the class. Kage could see it even clearer than her.

It was especially the cute rubbish that was going on with the girls that irked them. Talking high or softly. Using third person when talking about themselves or others in same company present. Nakamori Aoko did this a lot. Tsukiko had done the third person about person present with Mai at some point but Kage couldn't remember if she'd done it for a while. Then there were the cutesy actions that Hanajima Megumi and Toudou Yuuko both did (peppy and bitchy respectively) and they weren't even natural at it like Maki Namida was. The 'evil' Maki twin didn't thankfully bother with it. Miyoshi Mai in the other hand…

She was a kuudere. Possibly. Very prim and proper anyways. Disgustingly sappy with her boyfriend. Stereotypical overachiever though apparently got her priorities straight recently and figured out what mattered most in her life.

But Kage didn't comment any of this aloud. Tsukiko was more sensitive to the feelings of others after all. And in need of sleep so Kage was in charge that day. And the following night. Sanjuu needed some back-up this time so they would provide.

Kage liked Sanjuu. Even though he was Tsukiko's OC brought to life and his backstory superimposed on this world's Plot. Though given that technically the entire Kagemiya-Midorikawa thing was non-canon as well Kage probably shouldn't complain. Anyways, they liked Sanjuu – Kurosawa/Ishikawa Yamato. He was efficient in his work, whether it was one of his numerous part-time jobs or then killing people. He was the right kind of ruthless. Scared the victims but did not kill them messily or slowly. He didn't revel in their suffering no matter how much he happened to despise them, like that woman in Gunma that had reminded him of Cordita, the codenamed bitch that had killed his parents. He also followed orders without question and if he questioned something, it was in order to improve the situation. Since he had way longer experience in espionage and assassination than the rest of the Hunters combined (Hibiki didn't count because he was a hacker and weird), his concerns were valid.

Tonight Sanjuu needed some back-up though. The Hunters were targeting a NOC that was in turn charged with an assassination mission. And Chianti was as his backup. According to Hibiki's information, the NOC was meant to lure the target close to the windows (target was short and thus headshot in the middle of a sea of people wasn't possible) during a company party.

Sanjuu was in the party as waitstaff; Kage needed to occupy Chianti. Pity they couldn't take the butterfly-eye out of the action permanently. Leaving her alive was a dangerous gamble but necessary one. It was show of force.

Look, we can take down one of your best and leave them alive and still you can't touch us.

Silently, Kage crept towards Chianti. Moon was shining bright in the night sky and spilling into the room through the open window. Kage had changed their shoes to a pair of jikatabi so the hidden heels wouldn't hinder and make sound even accidentally. As soon as they were within an arm's reach, Kage quickly jabbed the taser they had to the woman's side. Had to give credit to her though, Chianti did notice their reflection in the moonlit window and was about to turn and attack them. Kage was faster though.

Chianti went down. Miraculously the rifle didn't go off when she spasmed. Whops, probably should've taken that into an account. But they didn't have time for physical confrontation.

With thick police-grade zipties binding the woman's hands and feet, Kage took her sniper rifle and examined it. Good, it was a model they were familiar with and of correct caliber as well. The shadow dug into their pocket for a plastic bag and a bullet inside it. A tracer bullet.

Kage dropped the bullet on their palm and then lifted it up between their gloved fingers (this time full gloves and not fingerless ones). They grinned. Tsukiko watching Mythbusters back in her own world and then reviewing in this one was so worth it.

Because if a tracer bullet was shot from long enough distance for the oxygen to ignite the phosphorus on the bullet, it could light a gasoline in a tank (as proven in episode 38). Here the distance was not enough, but shooting it through a window should be enough to spark it. The curtains of the room were quite flammable fabric and even recently treated with ethanol to make them even more flammable. As they were next to cocktail table and had been aired carefully so they wouldn't smell that strongly and people wouldn't suspect anything. And as the punch was made of quite stern stuff…

Kage loaded the bullet in the chamber and lifted the rifle up against their shoulder. With their left hand they tapped the earpiece.

"Sanjuu, you in position?"

"Yes. You ready?"

"Aiming and waiting for your sign."

"Go for it."

"Roger that." Kage took a careful breath and aimed. They squeezed the trigger gently and let go.

Bang!

The bullet whizzed between the two buildings, broke through the window without anyone noticing and then went through the linen curtains. They caught fire immediately. Kage lowered Chianti's rifle and carefully wiped it with a handkerchief dipped in bleach and stored in another plastic bag to get rid of any errant dna. Then they watched the chaos break out. People were screaming and rushing towards the exit. Thanks to Hibiki there was a bit of a lag with the sprinkles in order to induce panic but not much. The steam would act as a smoke screen for Yamato as well.

Yamato acted. Kage only noticed because they were looking for it. An ice pick from an ice bucket was buried to the neck of the NOC. In the chaos Yamato managed to slip away and with Hibiki in the cameras, there would be no footage of his exit.

Not to mention…

Blue lights were flashing in the distance already. Kage had called in a tip about the organization's target about to be assassinated so the police were already on their way. Kage laid the rifle down and sent the usual email to the NOC's cellphone. After closing the window, they left the place. Chianti would wake up in a few minutes and possibly get away from the police.

"All done, getting away now."

"I'm at my car as well. Good job, Kage."

Takuya looked around the scene. The Hunters had executed their mission well. They had foiled an assassination of Diet member Kurayoshi Honoka, who'd been invited to the party as quest speaker, and apparently taken out the would-be assassin, company employee Sugawa Naomichi. And prewarned the police before all that happened yet had managed to get away. Get away via arson and panic so that there were no reliable eyewitnesses for the actual murder that happened.

Takuya sighed gustily through his nose before starting towards the spot where the fire started from. Linen curtains in front of which the drink table was. The stench of alcohol was the most prominent there despite all the spilled drinks before and after the incident. There was almost nothing left of the curtains: the sprinkles had been too slow. Probably that was thanks to the hacker Hunters had.

"Anything out of the surveillance cameras yet?" Takuya asked Chiba who'd accompanied him to the scene.

"They stopped recording a minute before the fire and continued once the sprinklers were done."

"So if anyone vanished during that time, it's hard to say." Takuya muttered, looking around the destroyed drink table. It was probably lucky that none of the curtains had fallen off into the punch bowl or it would've been much harder for the sprinklers to do their job. "Is Yuminaga-keibu coming here?"

While Takuya's team had been first on the scene by virtue of the tipoff, his recent promotion and liaison with the PSB, he was still not a full inspector and he was specialized in murder, not arson. Thus, Yuminaga's forensic team was better equipped to inspect the sprinklers for any further tampering. It would to no good to have them go off again and wash away whatever leftover evidence there was.

"I heard they were on their way." Chiba replied but Takuya's attention was already elsewhere. He pulled a small flashlight from his pocket and illuminated the wall before him. There was a strange hole in the stone wall. And it was fresh.

"Tome-san, I'd like to have a pair of pliers and tweezers." Takuya called then to the head of the forensic team while pulling on gloves.

Tome's daughter gave the requested tools to him and remained close with evidence bags of various sizes when Takuya crouched in front of the wall the burnt curtains had covered and tried first with tweezers and then with pliers to remove… a bullet from the wall. He dropped the bullet to a small bag that she sealed and tagged before looking to the right.

There was a bullet hole in the window.

"It appears we need to do some ballistics investigation as well."

Killing Sugawa Naomichi wasn't the only murder that happened that day. In Chiba, an emeritus professor had been found poisoned in his own home while his housekeeper, the one suspected of said poisoning was found tied up in her own apartment at the same time by her neighbor. At Hokkaido in the other hand, a young student with history of anxiety and depression committed a suicide. When police were working on his case, the email arrived.

Both cases were unique in signature that with professor, the message was in an opened letter at his desk while the student's email was apologetic for their actions driving him to suicide as an escape rather than coming to finish him in person. The poor student hadn't been scheduled to die just yet after all.

It was only a matter of time before there would be another meeting between the prefectures.

Takuya looked at the ballistics results. The bullet had been shot from the building opposite the crime scene. It was a tracer bullet that were quite common. It was classified as a bright tracer but as it had been dark outside and brightly lit inside, the windows would not have let the party guests see the trace the bullet left behind because of reflection.

The bullet itself was 51 caliber one and according to the rifle marks, the gun is was shot from was not registered. The same rifle marks had been found from bullets on other crime scenes though but there was nothing connecting those murders and sabotage accidents. The rifle was probably quickly sold forward or then belonged to a mercenary.

Takuya sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. The examination of the sniper's nest had not given any hints either. There were some scuffle marks on the dust on the floor, like someone had laid down there and then tried to disturb them hastily before leaving.

It didn't fit the timeline the Hunters' actions had given though. When Takuya voiced the thought to Satou…

"Well, maybe that was the original sniper. The Hunters apparently had at least two people on the mission. One shooting the tracer and one killing the target. As the police only heard about the possible assassination of Kurayoshi Honoka, it's possible that the people targeting her were two as well. One was Sugawa-san, one was the sniper. Hunters took both of them out of the way."

"And the sniper possibly was one of the 'Crows' and hastily left when hearing the sirens. The one shooting the tracer had left as soon as the curtains were lit." Takuya pondered.

"Possibly yes."

"This is getting complicated. If Hunters have been killing all their targets thus far, why didn't they kill the sniper as well." Takuya groaned.

"Maybe not all of them kill." Takagi suggested then. "You said once that there are at least four people part of the Hunters, right?"

"That has been concluded from the evidence. A hacker, a thug, a seducer and the leader." The hacker dug the info of the targets and disrupted the security feeds. The thug did most of the killing, was male and did not have a set method. The seducer was a bit of a misnomer. Her targets had all been male though, with reputation of going for a pretty face. The two murders at Kyoto had been both in job application situations, the professor's murder only few hours ago in Chiba had someone disguising as his pretty face housekeeper. Then there was the leader that sent the mails and decided to order of killing. While the phone from which the emails were sent from was never on after sending the mail, all the times there was enough to information to point to somewhere in Tokyo regardless of where the murder happened.

"Maybe the hacker or the leader was sniping then?" Satou guessed. "Thug killed Sugawa-san, Seducer Hariyama-san."

"Leader was quickly informed by Hacker about that suicide in Hokkaido. While they did not personally kill that student, they were still keeping an eye on him, possibly even inducing paranoia and were thus quick to inform the police that he had been on their target list." Takuya mused. "This is very annoying case."

"Well said."

Conan read from news paper about the recent murder. The Hunters of Crows had struck again, foiled an assassination, pre-warned the police and killed the killer. The boy frowned. It was like stealth mission gone wrong… purposefully botched that it would get a lot of attention. Diet member Kurayoshi Honoka was in police protection now and hopefully safe from further assassination attempts. She'd been trying to pass many bills and new laws lately that would improve import-export security and screening as well as give more resources to the police. People were divided over them. At one hand, very patriotic and security promoting. At the other hand, they'd need to increase taxing a bit for them to succeed.

Ideal target for the organization to take out as there were other disgruntled parties as well and thus many possible suspects. Like there had been in the case of Domon Yasuteru.

The boy's phone rang. It was Hattori.

"Moshi, moshi?"

"Yo, Kudou!" The Detective of West chirped from the other end of the line.

"Morning, Hattori." Conan grunted back, eyes still on the paper.

"Redundant question, but did you see the news yet? About the Hunters' latest assassination?"

"Currently reading the case… I think they were aiming in making this public."

"You think so too?! Man, they really haven't been subtle with their actions, have they? I mean… They did bomb that apartment with five people inside."

"Do you think there will be a police conference soon about all this? Like there was for Tanabata Kyo -case?"

"Possibly. Oyaji is certainly intent on pushing for one if the glares at the paper are anything to go by."

"…" Conan bit his lip, pondering… hesitating if he should tell Hattori about his thought of the Hunters' targets being Organization's members. Maybe he should confirm with Haibara first if she had recognized any of the names. "Yeah, I hope ojisan will get invited so I can get more information."

"Good luck with that then! If conference does happen, do tell me what you find out! I'll be stuck in Osaka."

"Sure, Hattori."

The call ended soon after, with Hattori inviting them all to Osaka again so they could finally get some of that okonomiyaki. With that Conan got on his feet and with a quick yell at Ran that he was going to see professor – and she telling him not to stay too long since dinner would be ready in an hour – he was off.

Haibara was not impressed with him. The narrow gaze and tight mouth told Conan as much. The hands placed on her hips and professor's nervous hovering on the background didn't help matters either.

"It's been months since Hunters took their first kill and you only know think to come to me about it." The scientist stated flatly.

"Well, it wasn't like there was enough clues at first… Even now it's just a hypothesis…" Conan snapped right back.

"But it never hurts to ask, does it? Oh, wait, you simply can't because it's better to keep me out of the loop in everything. You just go off running on your own because you think I become a nervous wreck the moment Organization is even mentioned! Is that it?!"

"No! I just don't want to worry you unnecessarily."

"Like you didn't want me to worry at Mystery Train and instead used me as a bait!"

"That time they actually were after you and I couldn't have you turning yourself in to them! Like you tried at Halloween!"

"What about Tanabata then?! You went chasing after Irish because you wanted that NOC list! Vermouth deliberately baited you! You only had Tsukiko-san as your back up and back then you didn't even trust her!"

"Ai-kun, Shinichi-kun! Please calm down!" Agasa intervened. "Nothing will be solved if you only attack each other."

"So… what did you want to know this time?" Haibara asked then.

"The published names of the victims. Do you recognize any of them?" Conan sighed.

"…The two from yesterday. After Haido City Hotel I searched information on Pisco. The emeritus professor was his good friend… the student who suicided was oneechan's friend and contact. Moreover, one of the people assassinated in Kyoto… Rajune Lucas – his company supplied us with ingredients for research." Haibara looked asided but tilted her head back towards him again.

"So the Hunters are indeed going after people from Organization."

"No doubt about it. What we need to know how they have the information. Wasn't that NOC list destroyed when Irish was shot?"

"How do you know it's that list specifically?" Conan narrowed his eyes.

"Please…" Haibara scoffed. "Unless someone went rogue and started killing people, they'd need to be really lucky for it going unnoticed this long. Organization had a system keeping people separate and unknown to each other. That's why the NOC list was such a big thing that Irish and Vermouth were both working on retrieving it and there were other codenamed on standby."

"So that list is the only one outside organization…" The shrunken sleuth assumed a thinking pose. "Irish had a memory card that he retrieved from inside the omamori. But before that the possessions of the victims were with Mizutani-san and before that with Honjou-san…"

"And in between?" The auburn-haired girl asked, as if she already knew the answer.

"The pouch was on the table… But there was no one else…"

"You are thinking too far. Who else was there?"

"O-kiya…? But why? And how?"

"What I've heard of the situation… You were making the deductions while Tsukiko-san was standing back. She probably swapped the cards then before joining you. Irish took a fake." Haibara crossed her arms. "As for how the assassinations are organized… She does know Kurosawa…"

"Kurosawa?" Conan frowned. He did not like the shiver Haibara let out at the name.

"You know him as Ishikawa Yamato. Both Tsukiko-san and Midorikawa know him. Ishikawa was recruited to Organization with his brother when he was just a child. They grew within but Ishikawa escaped then after killing a codenamed agent, Cordita. I heard from oneechan a month or so before that he was looking after a child she'd met. Midorikawa was that child."

Conan was frozen. Midorikawa was his friend. He'd known the older boy since they were in first grade. Though he had left soon after that year, hadn't he? Was he and Ishikawa running from the organization then? Midorikawa had mentioned going to Osaka where he'd met Eisuke for the first time before moving to Nagano. After the first Fuurinkazan incident they'd moved back to Osaka where he'd gone to middle school with Hattori until leaving early to start high school in Tokyo with his own age group. And even then he'd not come back to Beika…

"Are you thinking that Midorikawa and Okiya are planning assassinations with Ishikawa?"

"I don't only think. I know they are. Tsukiko-san has the list and she is good at intelligence gathering, Midorikawa is a hacker who breached FBI's firewalls last year because he was bored and created Night Baron for the same reason, Ishikawa is the living legend who has become the boogeyman for the organization rookies! What else could they be doing?"

When Kudou eventually left, Ai took a deep breath.

"I'm going downstairs." She stated and left a dumbfounded Agasa in her wake. In the basement, she looked at the tabletop that still had Red Moon signature painted on it. She simply hadn't had a heart to erase it away. Red Moon was just so full of life. A breath of fresh air so to say.

The scientist sat on her desk chair and powered up her computer. Then, after a moment of consideration, she opened one of the desk drawers. Inside it, underneath some fashion magazines, was a letter addressed to her – to Miyano Shiho – that contained a very formal invitation to Kagemiya-Midorikawa gathering. The signet on the wax seal was that of Kagemiya family and the envelope and invitation were both of very expensive paper.

Ai took the letter and opened it to read it once more. It explained her relation to Kagemiya family. Her father was born to former head of family's sister. There was also a brief explanation of the 'Kagemiya trait' which… certainly explained now just what she could sense and why Midorikawa had been able to help her.

There was also a post-script mentioning that Midorikawa had most likely sought out Akemi and relayed this information to her as well… right before the day when she died.

The invitation contained a plus one but with a stipulation that they must be trusted and willing to share their own information as well. Ai snorted. She was definitely not taking Kudou with her then. The hypocrite. He trusted no one yet puppeteered them to his own whims. Agasa was probably his most trusted but the man did not question the boy at all. The adult Kudous stayed out of the way and the detective seemed to prefer it that way. Hattori popped in and out of the conversation but Kudou never seemed to voluntarily offer information about the conclusions of the investigation to him. Not even when vital info had come first from the Osakan. Then there was the FBI who probably should've for all intentions and purposes been more sensible yet they had the boy participating in operations and were afterwards left in the dark. Kudou had not told them anything about Bourbon even after he got his confirmation about his alias as Amuro Tooru.

Yes, Ai was currently feeling very uncharitable towards the boy. She needed to plan things very carefully though because the last time a letter had come addressed with both names, it had been a trap by Vermouth. If Ai asked professor for a ride to Kyoto, he would surely tell Kudou who in turn would probably pull Halloween on her.

But she had other acquaintances, hadn't she? Ai pulled her phone from her pocket and made a call.

"Hai, Midorikawa desu…"

"Konnichiwa, itoko-san…"

A/N: Once more I don't know when the next chapter will come. I hope to update LtRU first. And I have so many other projects as well.

Anyways. I've made a discord channel. If you go to my AO3 profile (under this same name) you'll find the link there.

Replies to Reviews:

-Jame Press:
I'll wait eagerly to hear that you liked. :)

-Ederisu:
You're welcome.

-AlexCephon:
Oh yes. It's even worse when you read the new one-shots for Takuya and know to whom Tsukiko is related to.
I'm glad you liked the chapter.

-claravidya96:
I considered having Yamato in position and Tsukiko being his spotter but... Then I got the idea of having Tsukiko getting injured instead of Sera... Plans change :)

-Tsuki: (guest)
You're welcome.
But him being related to Koumei is much better than some other alternatives. :D
I'll try.

-Smiley-Nami:
Thank you. I'll try my best.

-Zeladious:
Bop.
Hi! o/
Thank you.