A/N: This is a bit shorter chapter because in the end I cut about entirety of the case. I was just so tired when writing it and it reflected upon Shugo too. Besides there wasn't anything he could've really done. I considered Shinichi asking the crucial question from him('because you have a sister right?') at first before turning to Ran for the answer. But I scrapped it as ridiculous ('yes, I have a sister but the last time I saw her was nine years ago!')
The fifth file: The middle year
Sub file one: Invitation to LA
The next school year began. It was all very weird from Shugo's point of view but he decided not to comment. The year afterwards would tell him whether or not he was looping on his second or third year of high school. Anyways, Shinichi and Ran and Sonoko began at Teitan High on that year. Shugo stopped by to wish them luck but otherwise they hadn't been in much contact.
Then an invitation from Kudou Yukiko was dropped to their mail box.
"A ticket to LA, and a brief explanation as to what all we'd see there and then to New York…" Shugo went through the letter. The trip would take place during Golden Week in May so he wouldn't miss any lessons.
"When are you leaving then?" Yamato asked, picking a piece of sushi from the plate they'd ordered from a nearby restaurant. He liked inarizushi. Shugo quirked an eyebrow at the man.
"Interesting how you say it like I've already decided to go." The boy smirked.
"Well, aren't you? You've been practically itching to get out of here. Considering that you are European born and raised at heart, I'm not surprised that you crave to environment that is more familiar to you." Yamato shrugged. "Besides, I have some people to see and meet on that week so I'd rather know you are doing alright where-ever you are going to than staying here."
"…You are planning a trip to Okinawa, aren't you?" Shugo remembered seeing some brochures at the study. Well, study was wrong word for it. The room had a desk and a chair and darkening drapes so Yamato could develop his photos from films. Shugo only visited it to vacuum it when Yamato was gone for longer times.
"Maybe… I'm trying to see if I could drag Akemi-chan with me. Maybe even Shiho-chan too."
"Shiho…" The name rang a bell.
"Akemi-chan's little sister. A scientist. High profile. My contacts say she has a codename, too but it hasn't been confirmed so I don't know what it is."
Ah, Sherry…
"Why Nice-oneesan?" Shugo asked then, recalling the nickname she gave to the… woman nine years ago.
"I'm worried. She was a friend after all." Yamato replied, picking another sushi. This time a California roll. Shugo place his letter aside and picked his own chopsticks with his left hand. He plucked a simple cucumber maki and after dipping it to soy sauce, he ate it whole.
"Okay. The flight is scheduled to May First. It's Friday. On Saturday we'll fly to New York and stay there for a couple of days and on the next week we'll fly back to Japan." The boy explained. "I wish you luck on your endeavor to have two nice ladies on a holiday with you. Please don't die." Shugo deadpanned, making Yamato laugh.
"I promise I do my best not to die!"
Shugo met with Shinichi and Ran on the airport in the evening. They both had grown during the past two years. Shugo was still taller than them though.
They boarded the plane of Luna Airlanes. Shugo noted with amusement that Shinichi was sitting between himself and Ran. Sitting in the middle seats was quite uncomfortable though. With Shugo's long legs, he'd rather had an aisle seat. But he decided not to ask Ran to change seats.
It was a long flight ahead for them though. As soon as the plane had reached the correct altitude, the trio feel asleep.
It was only a couple of hours later that Shugo woke up. Looking around, he found that both of his travelling companions were gone. With a sigh he got up and went towards the back of the plane. With all the chatter and gossip going around among the passengers, it wasn't hard to deduce where the murder had happened and who had gone up there yet.
Shugo passed the dead man's companions and the American man (lawyer? Private detective? Employee? He didn't remember the man's occupation.), and noted the stench of murder around the short-haired woman. Ignoring it as much as possible, the boy forged on.
He found his friends by the toilet there. With Inspector Megure and Detective Takagi and some flight attendants.
"What's going on?" Shugo asked with a yawn which he covered behind his hand. "I wake up to find you two gone."
"And you are?" Megure asked, eyeing the young man suspiciously.
"Midorikawa Shugo. Nice to meetcha again, keibu-san." Shugo replied, waving a hand and then turning to address Shinichi and Ran again. "Is it time for your detective game again, Kudou?"
"It's not a game…" Shinichi protested.
"Right… Whatever."
Megure and Takagi inspected the crime scene, finding all the same clues Shinichi had apparently found previously. At least so the flight attendants said. Shugo followed it all a bit disinterestedly. He was tired but he couldn't go back to sleep until the case was solved. While he had full faith in Shinichi capabilities, it would also seem strange if he'd just go to sleep while one man was murdered and his murderer was still free.
Such a pesky thing it was, flying under radar…
"There are four suspects." Shinichi announced and then proceeded to explain how he'd deduced it. Despite Ran's interruption, he got to point the suspects out pretty quickly.
"Those four are…" Shinichi walked along the aisle. "This woman (Tachikawa Chizuru), the woman next to her (Amano Tsugumi) and this man sitting next to the aisle (Ukai Tsuneo). And this foreigner in the front (Edward Crowe)."
"They all sit very close." Takagi noted.
"Right." Megure nodded.
"What's wrong?" Chizuru asked the officers.
"What happened?" Tsugumi added.
"Tell the four people to come to the restrooms in the back. We'll talk there." Megure told Takagi.
The suspects were questioned. Everyone told when they went to the restroom and what they knew about the victim (Otaka Kazuhiro). Shugo listened to it all with half-an-ear. The victim was an asshole and had it coming.
"Am I really desensitized to death already?" The boy thought, crossing his arms on his chest and letting his head nod forward as his eyes drooped. Damn, he was tired. "Is it because I hung around Heiji and was murders in Osaka? Or is it for being around Yamato and listening him to talk? It wasn't often thought that he talked about his 'jobs'. Or was it because of all the people dying around me anyways? Toichi-jisan, Kai-san, Hondou-san… Or the trauma of Kai's death so that other deaths didn't move me that much anymore? Or simply this world changing me?"
It was difficult to say. Too many variables. The boy who saw Death. That was Shugo.
Or maybe it was the auras… Dark suffocating auras that he was getting used to… Including Yamato's that he was around every day.
A hand fell on Shugo's shoulder, making him snap his head up. Ran was looking at him concernedly.
"Shugo, are you alright?" The girl asked.
"I'm fine, just tired…" He yawned again. Had he nodded off?
"Then go back to our seats. I'll keep an eye on Shinichi then."
"Alright… You're an angel, Ran-chan." Shugo smiled weakly and left then. He really needed rest. Maybe he shouldn't have spent so much time last week in fine-tuning his little invention he'd been building at Kaito's lair.
It took some time and a couple of hour naps until Shugo woke again. Ran was sitting next to him, fiddling with one of the blankets given to the passengers.
"How is it?" Shugo asked. "The case, I mean."
The long haired looked up but glanced down on the blanket again then.
"It's solved. Shinichi is still talking with Megure-keibu though."
"Ah… That's good then?"
"Yes. I just hope nothing bad will happen on this trip so we can enjoy our holiday fully." Ran smiled weakly.
"I hope so too." Shugo nodded but a thought entered his head. "Ran-chan… During the past years when I've been away… Did you stumble upon a lot of murders?"
"Not really. Maybe one in month if even that." Ran shrugged.
"Lucky… I seemed to be walking to corpses all the time whenever I hung with Hei-chan and Kazu-chan…" Shugo sighed. "Past year was a bit better. Thankfully."
"That's right, you began high school in Tokyo now. Where is it again?"
"Ekoda-cho. We have very… lively class."
"I see. Have you made new friends? I remember when we were on first grade that you mainly stuck with Shinichi and I." Ran smiled. Shugo smiled back, glad to have distracted her from the murder.
"I… did actually. At Nagano I preferred to hang out with adult but in Osaka I made proper friends. Ei-chan, Hei-chan and Kazu-chan. Then there was Sumi-chan that I met a couple of times but she's living abroad now. And now in Ekoda I reconnected with Kai-chan and met some people through him. What about you? Have you made much friends these past years?"
"Yes. Especially in karate club. We have great team-spirit already and Tsukamoto-senpai is really talented!"
"So you're learning a lot from her then?"
"Yes. You mentioned a couple of years ago that you did kyuudo. Do you still?"
"I do. Haruoka-san at Osaka let me learn quite well even if in the end she was more alike a rival to me. Now in Tokyo I'm one of the best of our kyuudo club."
They chatted on until Shinichi returned to his seat and 'forced' Ran to take hers by the aisle. The detective fell asleep once more quite quickly.
"Four hours left…" Shugo sighed, looking at his watch. "Are you going to sleep too or do you borrow a book to read? I have a couple in my backpack."
"A book please." Ran sighed, glancing warily to the direction of the seats the people involved in the murder sat. "There is no way I could sleep after this."
"Alright." Shugo reached for his bag under his seat and pulled a couple of novels out of there. "Umm… The first book of Night Baron Series, the fourth book of Harry Potter, the entire Chronicles of Narnia in English or… Koumei-kun from class 1-A."
"That's quite the variety." Ran laughed. "I think I'll take Narnia. Good practice for my English while waiting to land."
"Okay." Shugo gave the thick book to his friend and reclined himself with the last book he'd taken out. Back when he'd lived in Nagano Yamato had bought the book at Yui's recommendation and read it but Shugo hadn't gotten the opportunity. But when packing for the trip, Shugo had taken a few books with him. Some for variety of reasons. The Night Baron was one of the earliest editions but bought after moving from Tokyo, so Shugo didn't have a chance to get Yusaku's autograph on it. Harry Potter was simply to have variety. He'd probably leave it with Yukiko. Narnia was for variety too even if it weighted a lot and took space in his bag. And the last one… It wasn't Yamato's copy. Shugo had noticed it at a shelf at the airport and bought it in a spur of a moment.
The book was quite good. Not exactly a novel length but just appropriate for children and pre-teens. And maybe teenagers too. The plot wasn't overcomplicated but it did have layers that only certain age-groups could understand. Like some jokes in Disney movies, understanding them only came with age and life-experience.
The flight landed in the morning of Los Angeles time. Ran thanked Shugo for the lending the book for her.
"Did you like it?" Shugo asked when packing the books away.
"Yes, I did. I'd read the first… well, the second book I suppose – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – before but it was interesting to read the book before it, The Magician's Nephew. The creation of Narnia was quite great and it also explain where the Witch in the second book came from."
"Jadis, if I remember correctly." Shugo nodded. "It has been a while since I've read these myself. My sister recommended these to me." Back in their own world, their mother had read the Finnish edition aloud for them. It was a bit after the movie had come out. On the following Christmas they'd gotten the DVD and the book as presents then. "The prequel book was written only before the last book so it was quite confusing to read it when expecting to see the Narnia from the 'first' book and then having to wait for it. How far did you get during the past hours?"
"I managed to read the Magician's Nephew entirely and the first chapter of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." Ran smiled. "Do you think you could let me borrow it again at some time?"
"You know what… You can have it for the entirety of this trip." Shugo gave the book back to Ran. "I do have other stuff to read after all." He patted his backpack with a short laugh.
"That's true." The girl laughed too. "But thank you. I'll return this to you… At least when we get back to Japan."
"It's alright. No hurry."
They woke Shinichi up and joined the other passengers getting out of the plane. The detective seemed quite chipper and satisfied. Something that the other two… really weren't despite their satisfying conversation about books.
The trio collected their luggage once it was unloaded from the plane and went to look for Yukiko. The woman wasn't that hard to find despite her being shorter than most people in the arrivals.
"Shin-chan! Ran-chan! Shuu-chan!" The former actress waved. "Over here!"
"Yukiko-san!" Ran waved back as she led the boys to the woman. Shugo opened his phone and let it update the clock. It was around seven in the morning. How an earth was that woman so cheery this early?
"Now let's hurry. Go change clothes and freshen up in the bathrooms and come back here. We have a plane to catch and the morning rush is about to begin soon." Yukiko explained.
"A plane? Already?" Shinichi blinked. "I thought…"
"I thought we had just sight-seeing today in LA?" Shugo frowned.
"Sorry, change of plans." Yukiko apologized. "We are going to New York today. Our flight is at nine and I really do wish to avoid the worst rush at the security checks." The woman indicated her suitcase at her feet. Shugo swallowed a sigh and just smiled.
"Alright, Yukiko-basan, we'll be right back!" Good thing that he had a change of clothes in his backpack… He glanced at his wrist watch that was still in Japan's time. It was mid-night. Yamato was probably still awake. He could call him and let him know about change of plans.
"What did you say?" Yukiko growled but Shugo just smiled.
"It's nice to see you too. Good to see you haven't really changed, Yukiko-basan."
"Moshi, moshi, Ishikawa desu…"
"Hey, it's me."
"Aa, Shugo, did your plane land safely?"
"Yes. Aside from a murder on-board, everything went fine. There has been a change of plans though."
"Oh, what is it then?" Yamato conveniently ignored the mention of the murder. Good. Shugo didn't feel like dwelling in it.
"We're going to New York already today. The flight leaves in two hours or so. Meaning that I'll be out of contact for additional five hours."
"Good luck with all the jet lag, kid."
"I know…" Shugo sighed. "What about you? Did your plans for Okinawa solidify?"
"Actually yes. I managed to get a word to Akemi-chan. Shiho-chan is too busy with her work apparently."
"Well that's good to hear then." Shugo smiled. "Tell Nice-oneesan that I said hello."
"I will. We'll leave tomorrow."
And so they boarded the next plane. Shugo had walked a lot at the airport to counter the long periods of sitting cramped. But well, it should pay off. With all the sights to be seen in New York. Even if the Golden Apple shone in the horizon too, it should be alright. It just meant that the overall plot was back in track.
"Hmm… I wonder if the pictures of her trip to Okinawa is what Akemi will send to Shiho and then to her university professor Hirota Masami…" Shugo mused. It was an interesting possibility.
A/N: Some alluding to the University Professor Murder case that came right after Sherry's introduction in the manga. Because this is really strange in-between year...
So I decided, sort of, that when Conan canon begins Shugo and the rest of Ekoda group will be on the third year. Heiji and Kazuha are still on second year with the Beika group.
Ppl, you are still welcome to review this fic even though this is sort of spin-off to Dream or Not. I'd really like to hear your thoughts about this. :)
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I've written the first chapter of Leaping into the Dream. It's just waiting to be published. I'll probably wait until I reach the beginning of canon in this fic. And I got an AU idea that spun from a simple thought 'what if someone had been there for Kagemiya Hoshi when she woke up?' from there is spun to thought 'what if Kagemiya Tsukasa was alive?' I'm not going to publish that for a long time because the details would spoil this fic but... it's an interesting thought. Tsukiko wouldn't be that close in FBI circles and some other characters...