File Thirty: The One and Only Truth
Inspector Megure arrived at the scene of the crime not long thereafter.
It wasn't long until the victim was identified as Tatsumi Taiji, president of a game company. Apparently, it was a child the one who had called, claiming that he had been with Tatsumi right until he was shot in the head, and avoided being seen by the killer just by chance.
"So, you're saying that there was a little boy with the body when you arrived," Megure questioned three employees of the company the victim was president of. They all nodded. "Where is he?"
"He was right here a moment ago..." the man said. "But disappeared as soon as we got our eyes off him."
"That poor little thing," one of the women commented to the other. "He must be pretty scared right now."
Takagi, however, just gave Megure an odd look. "Hey..." his lip twitched upwards. "... You don't think that poor little thing is that poor little thing, do you...?"
"I wouldn't be surprised if it was actually him," Megure sighed, tiredly. "I wonder if Mouri-kun is around as well."
He hoped not.
Tiredly shaking his head the inspector leaned closer to the body, in order to have a better look. "With such rumpled clothes," he observed. "It looks like the culprit's objective was money... Wait a second, wasn't there a similar case a long time ago?"
"Eh?" Takagi blinked, cluelessly.
"I was a new officer back then... A strange young man jumped in, and said..."
"Sorry, but I don't believe this was a crime for money."
"Right, right, right! Just like that... Huh?!"
Both men stared, stunned, at the young man that was crouching right in front of the body. "If the culprit wanted money and had a gun on him, he would move his target to an area without many people," he explained. "And even if he was seeking money, he wouldn't undo the button on his shirt. Don't you agree..." he then turned around, taking his hat off so they could see his face. "... Inspector Megure?"
"K-Kudo-kun?!"
He was instantly hushed by the teenager, pleading him not to use his name so loudly. While it confused him, the inspector could do nothing but to comply.
"But why are you here?" Takagi asked him, confusedly.
Shinichi opened his mouth to speak.
Yet somebody else beat him to.
"After years and years of a painfully obvious yet unresolved romantic tension, Shinichi-niichan has finally asked Ran-neechan out," they turned around at the young voice behind them. "But as his luck would have it, their date got ruined due to this bloody murder."
Standing right in front of their eyes was none other than Conan, with a plain ─ almost annoyed ─ expression on his face. Dried blood covered his face and dirtied his glasses, yet the boy seemed to be unbothered by it.
Takagi was surprised to actually seeing him there, causing him to blink a bit, while Megure remained unamused. Your luck is rotten as well, Conan-kun, he thought, sighing loudly.
Shinichi, on the other hand, stared for a couple of minutes. "Conan?!" then gasped, far too shocked to actually be embarrassed by what he had just said. The kid shrugged at his reaction, unaffected by it, causing Shinichi to rush to him and pick him up by his armpits. "Just a moment, Inspector Megure!"
With that, he went right around the corner before placing him on the floor.
"What are you doing here?"
"You mean what am I doing at your dating place or at the murder scene, in general?"
"Both!" then he saw the teasing smirk on Conan's face and realized he really didn't want to know. "... I mean, why are you in the murder scene?"
His smirk vanished and his expression was replaced by a blank one, as he raised an eyebrow. He pointed at his face. "Pretty self explanatory, isn't it?"
"Did the killer see you?" asked Shinichi, eyes narrowing a bit.
"I don't think so. I wouldn't be here if he did," the child shrugged. "I didn't want to risk being seen, so I didn't move. Which means I wasn't able to see him either."
Shinichi sighed in relief. "I'm glad you didn't," he confessed. He wouldn't put behind the little boy to risk his integrity so he could get any other clue, but it seemed that he still had some sense of self-preservation. "So, did you notice anything else?"
"Nothing, besides the fact that the hallway was completely dark by the time I entered," Conan shook his head. "But I heard a couple talking," he told him, frowning slightly. "He gave her a gift. 'A pink pearl necklace,' he said."
By the way Shinichi's eyes narrowed, slightly, the little boy could tell his brother had also understood what was wrong with that sentence.
Before they could exchange any other word, a woman came running. "Daddy! Daddy!" she screamed, before she was stopped by Megure and Takagi from messing with the crime scene. Then, she began to cry, hysterically.
"I guess we now know who 'Miss Pink Pearl' is," Conan said to his brother.
The teenager nodded, before heading back to the scene, the little child in tow. At this point, Inspector Megure was questioning the employees that had seen the man right before he entered to the elevator. It turned out that his daughter, Tatsumi Sakurako, had came and stayed behind with Ooba Satoru.
"We discussed some plans, then went back to the party deck," he said.
"Not quite," everyone looked at Conan, who just stared back at Ooba with an innocent look. "I heard you talking actually. It sounded like you were giving her a gift of some sort."
He then turned to the woman.
"It was around 8:30, right?" he asked.
"That's right," she nodded, teary eyed. "The crackers went off and the watch pointers indicated it! I'm not mistaken!"
Shinichi's eyes shifted away from the child to the woman, instantly, when she said that. Takagi even questioned how she knew that, even without a clock, and she said that she had seen Ooba's watch when he had touched her earpiece.
Apparently, the watch pointers glowed on the dark.
"But this is weird," Shinichi pointed out, reaching to touch her earings. "If you touch the pierce using the hand your watch is on, the pointers aren't visible."
"They are if you touch the other ear," Ooba said, moving Shinichi's left hand so he was touching her right ear.
"Oh," he nodded. It was evident he would be go for that ear, since the other one was hidden by her hair. "But what about your right hand? Wouldn't it be easier to use?" he then smirked. "Of course, if something was holding down your right hand, I can understand."
Terror crossed Ooba's face. "So what?!" he shouted once he had more or less recovered. "You're saying I held a gun in my right hand?!"
"Gun? I never said anything about a gun," Shinichi blinked, playing the role of a confused boy. "Were you holding one?"
"Inspector! Who is this guy?!"
"Oh, he is-" Megure stammered.
"Despite my dress, I'm a new recruit!" he turned to the inspector. "Right, Inspector?"
Megure let out a dry laugh in response.
"Say, wouldn't it weird if he didn't have one?" Conan pipped in, with an innocent tone on his voice, earning a few questioning looks.
Nobody but Shinichi noticed the way Conan's lips curved into a knowing smile, prompting the murderer to pale considerably.
"Because Tatsumi-san died at 8:30 PM," he stated. "I heard you saying that, Ooba-san. Right after the doors closed."
Shocked silence followed that statement.
"That's impossible!" Sakurako exclaimed, desperate. "I was with him the entire time!"
"You didn't stop off anywhere?" Shinichi questioned.
"I only went to the washroom to put on the necklace he gave me. I fixed my lipstick too, it took about two to three minutes. But he was against the wall the entire time. He was still there!"
As he listened to the woman's statements, Conan couldn't help but frown a bit. He had been right, this man right there had tried to use her as an alibi.
"Are you sure about that, Conan-kun?" he glanced at Takagi, who was kneeling down right next to him. "Maybe you remember something wrong..."
"I don't," he argued, with such a serious expression on his small face that the detective actually flinched back. "I'm absolutely sure of what I saw and heard!"
"But what you are saying is impossible," he tried to reason while smiling awkwardly at him. "Sakurako-san already said that she had been the entire time with him..."
"He still did it."
"Maybe you heard wrong and he was killed as the elevator was going down..."
Conan shook his head. "The elevator wasn't moving," he explained. "Tatsumi-san said he was hiding and that he wanted to surprise some people."
Ooba's chuckle fell on his ears, prompting him to turn around to face him. At the sight of the broad smug grin Conan had to repress the urge to wipe it off his face by kicking something right at his nose.
"Do you really think that brat's testimony is actually reliable?" as things were, however, the little boy settled with a killer glare. "I bet this kid is doing all of this just for attention."
The child growled softly, fists clenching a bit, taking a step forward. A hand on top of his had stopped him short. "Conan's testimony is more than reliable, believe me," his brother spoke up. "Besides, it's our job to decide which testimony is valid and which is not."
Rendered at a loss of words, Ooba simply gritted his teeth, glaring daggers at the high school detective. The attention was soon drawn off him when a police officer came to tell them they had found a silenced handgun and a bullet shell at the garbage collection area.
Even so, Conan found himself staring up at Shinichi, whose hand hadn't yet left his hair. He thought he should feel glad that his older brother was there. That he believed in him, even when adults seemed to wave off his words just because he was a young. He should feel happy that somebody trusted him. Then why...? he frowned slightly.
Why does it hurt so much?
Eventually Shinichi noticed his younger brother's gaze and looked back at him, blinking confusedly for a few seconds, before giving him a grin.
Conan didn't find in himself the strength to return it.
His brother's smile faltered when he saw the youngest looking away. Hadn't he known any better, he would've said that Conan appeared to be... sad.
Shinichi had managed to get two facts out from Sakurako. For one, she had been kissing Ooba with her back towards the elevator. Also, she had bought the pierces she was wearing right before meeting her lover.
The three people that had found the body after Conan told him about the new mascot character that had been introduced at the party. Apparently, Ooba had been disguised as this mascot and was winking all the time.
That was why they currently stood there, in front of the suit the main murder suspect had wore a few hours ago.
"So, this is it," Megure commented.
"What an... original design," Takagi added.
"Isn't it cute?" the employee asked, a smile plastered on her face.
"It's ugly," everyone winced a bit at the honest answer that Conan gave, yet he didn't even bat an eye.
Instead, he stuck his hand inside the mouth. Both Megure and Takagi panicked for a bit, until they noticed it blinking. Just like it had done with Ooba before.
And Shinichi smirked. The puzzle had been put together inside his mind.
Yet the smile vanished when they were leaving the room.
It all started with a lot of sweating and some sort of dizziness, that caused him to stumble slightly to a side and to lean slightly against the wall. No, not this again...
As expected, he suddenly felt like something was squeezing his heart, so painfully that caused him to actually groan in discomfort. Please, not here, his breathing was becoming more ragged, even as he noticed Conan slowly turning around his way.
At least, not in front of him.
"Hey, you alright?"
"Kudo-kun?"
He paid no attention at the concern both Takagi and Megure were showing towards him. The only thing he could focus at the moment was the gradually widening blue eyes staring up to him.
Then it came. The frown. The knowing look that concerned Shinichi the most.
So he did his best to compose himself, even if the burning sensation on his chest didn't disappear.
Through his suffering, Shinichi barely noticed another officer running up the inspector to inform him that there hadn't been a trace of gunpowder found on Ooba's clothes.
"Look for any suspicious characters that left this building during the party."
"... No, there's no need for that," the teen managed. "The culprit is already within our grasp. Now then, let's enter..." despite the pain, he let out a confident smirk. "The stage where the truth will be revealed."
It wasn't long until Ooba was brought back, loudly complaining as Takagi pushed him, kindly, towards the murder scene. Sakurako did the same, claiming that there was absolutely no way her lover was involved since she had been with him the entire time.
"So, what?!" Megure backed away, startled by her outburst. "You think I'm lying?!"
"No, we're not questioning you," Shinichi told her. "I believe you were with Ooba-san the entire time... Including when he committed the crime, right next to you."
Of course the woman didn't take it well, screaming at him for even thinking that he would team with somebody else to kill her own father, until the detective pointed out that wasn't the case, since she had been none the wiser about the crime being committed in the first place.
Since her eyes had been closed and she had been facing the elevator while kissing the criminal. Then, Ooba had opened the elevator door and shot her father.
"You say the most interesting things," even then, Ooba was still calm. "But there's one large hole in your theory. Why did our president, who wasn't feeling well, stay inside the elevator after it went down?"
"Weren't you listening when I was talking?" Conan commented, ignoring the way the criminal looked down at him with arrogance. "It just stayed there. Tatsumi-san said he wanted to surprise everyone."
"If it was a surprise, I had no way of possibly knowing that," he scoffed, shaking his head. "Better luck next time, kid."
"No, you definitely knew he was going to stay," Shinichi pointed out. "He was waiting for you to wear that suit," then he looked at the disguise from before, that the officers had brought to the scene. "You probably told your president 'Pretend you went home and we can secretly switch here. Everyone at the party will be surprised!'"
He then proceeded to explain, as he put on his gloves, the reason he had been winking in the disguise and went to the suit and pulled out a bag from inside one of the eyes. There were four rubber bands and a glove, that he had used to easily retrieve the evidence.
The lights then dimmed, similarly as how the scene had been when Conan had first arrived. Nobody would see him with the gun that way.
"When Ooba-san blocked her ears and touched the earpiece, his left hand was likely uncovered," he concluded. "In other words, your fingerprints must be all over this plastic bag-"
His voice died down, abruptly, as he held a hand against his chest, causing Conan to whisper to him a worried "Are you okay?" Yet, he didn't get a reply besides his labored breathing.
Not realizing or caring about the condition of the detective, Ooba informed him that the fingerprints of many employees were there as well, since they had found the bag already and decided to leave it there, since they had believed the president had a reason behind it.
"Here's my deduction," Ooba smirked. "Someone with a grudge against me murdered our own president on the floor below, while she and I went to the washroom. They hid the bag in the suit to try and frame me," he gave Conan a brief glance, prompting the child to bristle with fury. "That little kid overheard our conversation, found the president's body when he tried to call the elevator then made up this entire story so he could play detective and avoid getting kicked out. It sure sounds better than your nonsense 'Murder during a kiss' theory.
Shinichi only breathed harder, as Ooba's smug grin widened.
"Now then, new recruit. What now? You don't seem energetic anymore. Run out of arguments? Doesn't matter. I have one hundred answers ready for all one hundred of your stupid questions!"
Gritting his teeth, the teenager struggled to speak. Before he said a word, however, a voice beside him beat him to it.
"Then, question number one hundred and one," Conan spoke up, a sweet smile on his face as he held his hands behind his back. "Sir, are you a magician?"
"... Eh?" he truly didn't expect that.
"That's because..." his smile turned into a smirk. "How did you know that her pearls were pink? You said that at the time, right?"
"Are you stupid?" he turned around to face the woman. "Something like that, you can see if you..."
When he saw her, Ooba understood where he had messed up. Even in darkness he could make out Sakurako's figure, staring at him with questioning eyes, wearing the pearl necklace he had given her a while ago, that matched with the piercings on her ears.
But they were nothing but a pair of blackened orbs. Colourless.
"That's right," Shinichi managed, standing right in front of the elevator door. "Until you kissed her..." he pushed the button behind him with one hand, while the other remained in place, clutching his chest. "... and opened the door of light!"
Light shone down on them as the door opened, letting everyone see Sakurako's beautiful pink pearls, along with her distressed face as she came to realize who she had been so passionately in love with.
Just as he confessed to the crime, the lights went back up.
Apparently, he had tried to take revenge because the president had tricked his father and forced him to commit suicide twenty years ago. As it turned out, his father had tried to make it look like the president had done it, but a young man had appeared and solved the case.
Huh, so that must be the case that Dad solved before proposing to Mom, Conan realized. Then, twenty years later, Oniichan defeats this man's son... I hope Ooba-san doesn't have a younger sibling or something...
"But..." Sakurako whispered, still in shock. "It can't be..."
Conan's eyes fell on that woman. Her eyes were watering, yet didn't leave the man's form, even when she was slowly walking backwards. He could even see the betrayal she felt on her eyes, at the realization of that the man she loved, that she thought she knew like the palm of her hand, that she firmly believed in and trusted like none other, was a cold blooded murderer.
His tiny fists clenched, slightly. Or maybe, I'm just projecting my own feelings.
Sighing loudly, the child glanced towards the spot where his brother was supposed to be, yet there was nobody in there. So, with a frown deeply carved on his young face, he quietly slipped away from the scene.
He found him right away, breathing heavily as he leaned against the sink of the restroom, but decided not to say anything. It wasn't until a few moments that his brother recovered a bit and looked up.
Conan's reflection stared back at Shinichi through the mirror. His gaze pierced through him, as if he could see every single, dark secret he was hiding inside his heart.
Shinichi decided he didn't like his brother's eyes. Those eyes, far too wise, far too knowing. As if he could see right through his elaborate, and not so elaborate, lies.
Then the child threw something at him, which the detective caught with ease. He looked at it and couldn't help but frown at the small vial filled with pills resting on the top of his hand.
"Conan," he managed, slowly sitting on the cold floor.
The little boy wanted to ask him if he was okay, yet he couldn't. Probably because he knew he wasn't okay at all. So, he just stood there, busy with his own thoughts, as his brother opened the vial and shadowed one of the pills.
"Even if it is painful and incredibly sad, there is one and only truth," the words that his brother would tell him time and time again when he was even younger rang on his ears. "And it must always shine through."
Shinichi began to feel better right away yet it didn't bring him any real relief, just a general feeling of dread at the realization of what it implied. That Conan had seen him like that and knew these pills were just what he had needed.
So he stared at the vial on his hand for the longest time, before facing his younger brother again.
He really didn't like the sad glint on those eyes that simply knew too much for his comfort.
"Just tell me, Conan," Shinichi sighed, tiredly. "Just... What do you know?"
Those flowers that Haibara had brought him all those days ago suddenly popped into the child's mind.
"Everything," was all he said.
Shinichi just gazed at him, his serious expression unwavering as ever. It was like he had known that Conan was aware of everything, or at least it didn't surprise him.
"Apotoxin-4869," Conan's voice filled the silence that had settled between the two brothers. "The Black Organization wanted you dead, so they forced you to take it. You survived, but it's only a matter of time until you..."
The child trailed off before finishing his sentence, staring at the floor as if the tiles had suddenly become more interesting than his brother's face.
"Did Sherry tell you that?"
"Haibara Ai-san," Conan corrected, his frown deepening as he spoke. "She only told me about the drug. I've known a bit of the Organization for a while now."
"Akemi-san, then, huh?"
Conan shook his head, not telling his brother how uncomfortable he felt at the thought that somehow Shinichi knew about Hirota Masami's true identity. "I already knew a bit of it before that.."
"I see..."
They fell into another uncomfortable silence right after that, which Shinichi didn't dare to break, more occupied with trying to read what was currently going through his younger brother's mind who, in turn, just kept his eyes trained in the ground. He seemed to be conflicted about something.
The bouquet of white flowers appeared in the youngest Kudo's mind again.
Conan took a deep breath.
Edelweiss.
Then gazed into his brother's blue orbs.
They mean courage.
He opened his mouth.
... The courage needed to do what's right.
"You're Singani, aren't you?"
Deep inside, Conan hoped that his brother would just laugh at him. To tell him that that was an incredibly crazy and equally wrong theory. To laugh at him for being so silly to actually believe that he would be involved with such a dangerous criminal syndicate. To remind him that he was still his loving brother. His one and only oniichan.
Yet, Shinichi never denied his claim.
He just stared at him, shocked for a moment, until those words dawned on him. The high school detective didn't even try to say anything, just closed his eyes and faintly sighed.
Resigned.
Conan waited and waited for him to say something, anything, but it didn't happen. So his eyes opened widely, body shaking because of the realization of what his silence meant.
"T-Then, did you...?"
Shinichi's eyes narrowed slightly upon the memory of the article he had read on Conan's phone earlier that day. If he had somehow suspected that case was something fishy, it made sense to see him that distressed.
So, he let out an humorless laugh.
"My job in the Organization was to cover up for those that had messed up," he spoke, calmly. "I would go to those crime scenes the Organization was linked to and, while pretending to solve the case, I would identify those witnesses that were a potential threat to us..." he icy cold eyes met with terrified ones. "... and I would make them disappear."
The little boy's breath froze on his lungs, not letting his gaze break away from his older brother. No, this can't be true, he took a step back. Why...?
Suddenly, he couldn't see his beloved sibling, Shinichi, who he knew and cherished with all his heart... but a stranger. That thought, above else, hurt. It hurt more than any amount bullets on the stomach would.
Conan shifted a bit, causing his eyes to be hidden by the light reflecting on his thick glasses.
Shinichi didn't say anything. Patiently, he waited for the child to say something.
"... Leave," his voice was soft, so soft that Shinichi wouldn't have heard if the room hadn't been as quiet as it had. "... Please, just leave..." he broke right in the middle.
Wordlessly, Shinichi stood up. From that angle, he now could see Conan's eyes staring blankly at the spot in front of him, before shifting to him. His dulled, empty blue gaze met his, and for a moment Shinichi didn't think he could handle it.
But he had to.
"Just leave!" finally, some expression took hold of younger brother's gaze. Anger glimmered through the tears that were slowly collecting on the little boy's eyes. "Isn't... Isn't that what you are best at?"
Solemnly nodding at him, his brother walked right past him and towards the door, while Conan just stood there, unsure of what to do, or what to feel.
A part of him wanted his brother to disappear from his sight as soon as possible.
Another, however, wanted him to stay. Screamed at Conan to stop this madness, to ask him to stay. To forgive him, even if his actions were far from forgivable.
Shinichi stopped at the doorway.
And the kid just stood there, feeling confused and incredibly sad at the same moment.
"Well then," Conan took a hesitant step ahead at the sight of Shinichi's bittersweet smile. "... Goodbye, Conan."
And the door closed behind the detective.
An indeterminate amount of time passed ─ seconds, minutes, hours, Conan couldn't tell anymore ─ yet the small detective did not react. Just stared at the closed door, feeling as his heart ached and screamed at him for acting that immaturely. He had just hurt Shinichi.
But, to be fair, Shinichi had hurt him as well.
Or, maybe, Conan had just hurt himself, in a way.
He didn't even know anymore.
The only thing he could do at the moment was to, ever so slowly, start to walk towards the place his brother had just stood at, then sit with his back resting against the wooden door.
Burying his face on his arms, he began to cry.
Little did he know, however, that on the other side, Shinichi leaned against the door, sliding until he all but collapsed on the floor.
And for hours to an end, he didn't do anything. Just listened to the quiet, heart wrenching sobs filling the silence.