That night, Conan had pretty much immediately conked out on one of Agasa's couches as soon as they arrived. Well, it turned out to be a pretty short night considering he still had school the next morning. He would've been envious of Haibara who was allowed a week off school (under the guise of the flu), if not for the fact that she was suffering with injuries that probably required a hospital without being able to go to a hospital.
Somehow, he made it through the school day without passing out or having an existential crisis, and then just went home to the agency, took a nap, ate dinner, then went to sleep. Or.. more like try to go to sleep. All of the things he was trying not to think about since the whole Haido City Hotel incident, like the fact that he and Haibara almost died and probably would have if not for a slew of crazy coincidences, and that the Paikaru actually worked, had all hit him as he was about to go to bed, when his mind was able to freely wander.
He kind of wanted to try some of that Paikaru again and was tempted to go and break into Kogoro's liquor cabinet (which he was fairly certain he could easily do - the lock he used could barely be qualified as lock with how easy it was to pick). But fortunately his common sense won out, so he just tranquilized himself instead to eliminate the whole unable to fall asleep problem.. which, well, wasn't that much better of an idea (he was tired, sue him). He woke up feeling like death so he was decidedly not doing that again. (He learned his lesson okay.)
(That also caused him to have a brief moment of sympathy towards Kogoro, but that was thankfully short-lived.)
(He had also discounted the psychic theory he momentarily had, because just no.)
Anyways, it had been about a week since then, and the fact that Haibara was still alive was a very good sign. It meant that Conan was actually right, and that he managed to outwit Gin. Conan, a seven year old, outwitted Gin. He felt pretty smug about that, and had kind of gloated to Yusaku while recounting the events of that night, because there wasn't really anyone else who knew he was actually seven and also about the Black Organization, so. Yusaku didn't seem to mind and had even complimented him for once, although he was just as hesitant about believing the Paikaru thing as Conan was at first.
Haibara was healing up quite nicely too. She still wasn't 100 percent, but she should be well enough to go on the camping trip the Detective Boys had so excitedly planned, in a week. And it seemed the universe decided to be nice to him for a change, considering he barely ran into any cases at all in the past week.
Or that was until some cryptic letter from someone named Asou Keiji arrived in the agency's mail box. The sender had already paid for their trip to some place called Tsukikage Island, so they had no choice but to go. Agasa and Haibara had managed to convince him that it'll be fine if goes and that Gin isn't going to suddenly show up and kill them while he's gone.
So, that is what led to Conan irritably standing next to Kogoro, who was currently yelling at the poor worker who, for the life of him, couldn't find anyone named Asou Keiji in the Island's registry.
Eventually, this charade went on long enough and a hopefully more experienced employee came to see what the issue was.
The worker turned to the man relieved. "This man claims he was hired by one of the citizens here, but..."
"Hired?"
He looked back down at Kogoro's letter. "Yes, by someone named.. Asou Keiji."
As soon as the name was spoken, the man immediately gasped and flinched away. "A-Asou Keiji!?" He repeated fearfully.
The attention of everyone in the room was immediately drawn towards the center, as the sound of whispering started to surround them.
The three all nervously glanced around them.
Well, it seemed like this Asou Keiji guy had quite the reputation.
"Th-that's impossible..." The man continued, broken out into a cold sweat. "Because.. he's dead!"
That would explain it.
"Yes, it all happened twelve years ago." He spoke as if it was a story he's rehearsed many many times. "One night, he suddenly locked himself and his family in their house and lit it on fire." Conan suppressed a shudder. "He stabbed his wife and daughter, then played the same song over and over as his house burned around him.. Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata'..!" He finished far more dramatically than was probably necessary.
Although it seemed to be having the intended effect considering he heard a small eep come from Ran (and Conan would be lying if he said he wasn't a bit chilled from the story).
Well.. he hoped nothing like that would happen during this trip.
Thankfully no buildings were lit on fire (yet..), although someone did get murdered, as if that was surprising.
The letter Kogoro got was kind of obviously eluding to something like that happening, which was really weird now that he thought about it. It just wasn't a sensible idea for the culprit to intentionally call out a famous detective and hint at the murder they were going to commit.
The victim was Kawashima Hideo, the richest citizen on the island and also the most likely candidate to become the new mayor (because the old one was killed or something). He was found dead, face down on the quote-on-quote 'cursed' piano, that both Asou Keiji and the late mayor had played before they died. Really Conan had no idea why they still kept the thing. It didn't look like anyone wanted to keep it considering it seemed like it was just catching dust. Although.. maybe someone did because he was pretty sure it was still being taken care of. Conan had played it a little, mostly to prove that it wasn't cursed and just a normal old piano, and it had sounded oddly in tune despite having supposedly been untouched for so many years. (Well, he wasn't exactly sure because he wasn't too keen on anything related to music, but you think it'd be at least noticeably out of tune.)
Anyways, Conan was fairly certain Kawashima was drowned, considering the trail of water coming from the door to the piano, the sand and mud that was clearly on his back, the fact that his jacket was still floating in the water outside, and - probably the most notable piece of evidence - that he was completely dripping wet.
He was most likely killed in the middle of the funeral ceremony by someone here, because all the doors and windows in the room were locked and no one had left from the main door. He would say the culprit was someone relatively strong, because Kawashima was a big guy and you'd have to be pretty strong to drown him with brute force, but he wasn't removing anyone from the suspect list because of that. Conan of all people would know not to underestimate people based on their appearances.
The deduction was fairly easy to make if you just look and pay at least a bit of attention, but it seemed Kogoro was too busy trying to convince everyone that he was actually a famous detective and should be allowed to freely investigate, to notice. So Conan just decided to say his deduction outright, instead of vaguely hinting at it like usual, because he plainly just didn't feel like it.
Everyone seemed at least vaguely surprised, except maybe Asai Narumi, the doctor who performed a quick autopsy on the victim and had also concluded that he was drowned. (But really, you didn't need to be a doctor to know that.)
Unfortunately the suspect list was far too large and vague to be of any use, because no one remembered exactly who left and when during the ceremony (except for Narumi but that's because she left, so).
The only other piece of evidence they ended up finding was a music sheet that was hidden by the propped up piano lid and most likely left behind from the killer (because who else would've left it).
Eventually, everyone was let go considering they couldn't exactly keep them with such little evidence.
Conan, Ran, and Kogoro, along with Narumi, also headed off.
"But, I was surprised, Conan-kun!" Narumi said as she leaned over to the boy. "You were so smart!"
Conan nervously laughed. "It was nothing..." Really, it was.
"Yeah, he loves playing detective..." Ran also let out a nervous laugh.
Conan silently wondered at what point playing detective just became actually detecting. Can it be called 'playing' if he's actually correct? Whatever...
"But he was so persuasive." She looked back at the boy and said with a bright smile. "You were very impressive!"
The boy couldn't help the slight blush that formed on his face. "Heh heh.. thanks."
He could admit it was nice to have your talents recognized once in a while.
A hand was suddenly placed atop his head and started harshly ruffling his hair. "He really takes after me, doesn't he? But he's still just a little twerp compared to me!" Kogoro let out a boisterous laugh that was really unneeded.
Great. Now his mood was soured.
All Narumi did in response was laugh. "I'll let you guys go to your inn. Bye." She said, turning down an adjacent street. "Please solve the case soon!"
"Don't worry!" Kogoro gloated as per usual. "The great detective, Mouri Kogoro, will have this case solved in a flash!" And cue another boisterous laugh.
Conan just sighed. Yeah, flat chance that was happening when he didn't even know what was going on. Like why the killer brought Kawashima's body back inside after drowning him, or what the point of the music sheet was, and again that letter.
Conan thought back on the contents of the letter.
'On the night of the next full moon, the shadows will begin to disappear once more on Tsukikage Island. Please investigate.
– Asou Keiji'
Wait.
Conan paused.
It said 'begin to disappear'. Begin?
Then that means...
There were going to be more murders.
Somehow Conan got the ever arrogant Kogoro to listen to him and take him seriously, and so the three of them all headed back to the piano room, in hopes to prevent more murders.
Fortunately, the one police officer on the Island had agreed to let them sleep in the same room as the dead body without much complaint, and was even nice enough to bring them some blankets and pillows.
Narumi had also arrived back at the community center, bringing them dinner that their hungry stomachs were very appreciative of, and they had then agreed to stay up and wait for the police to arrive. Well, Conan, Ran, and Narumi did. Kogoro and the policeman were already fast asleep on the floor.
Eventually, the police arrived (which happened to include Megure because Tsukikage Island was apparently under his jurisdiction). The three gave them the rundown of what happened and, thankfully, the two sleeping men didn't seem to have impeded the investigation too much.
Fortunately for Conan's exhausted state, the police agreed to let the three of them sleep and save the rest for tomorrow.
After a quick trip to the restroom, Conan headed back into the now dark piano room. Ran was already asleep while Narumi was setting up her bedding. He headed over to the stack of blankets.. but there weren't any. He gave a quick search around the room to make sure it wasn't relocated, but no it wasn't.
Actually, that made sense. The policeman had only brought enough for Kogoro, Ran, Conan, and himself. Narumi was an unexpected addition.
Then, what should he do...
He can't exactly just crawl into bed with someone else. He'd feel too guilty waking up Ran or Kogoro like that.
A yawn escaped his mouth.
He was so tired that he was about to consider just sleeping on the floor, when he suddenly heard an, "Ah!" From Narumi, who seemed to notice his plight. "Are there no blankets left?"
"N-no..." He said.
"Oh, you can use mine then." She kindly suggested.
Conan immediately shook his head. "No, I couldn't. I can just sleep on the..." He looked around hoping to find a couch or even a bench or something, but it seemed he forgot that the piano room was completely void of furniture aside from the piano itself. (There was the piano seat but a guy died on it so it was therefore evidence and clearly not an option.) "Uh..." He trailed off awkwardly.
"Then.. why don't we just share? I couldn't just let you sleep on the floor."
"Y-you sure..?" He said shyly.
She nodded. "I wouldn't mind."
Conan considered his options.
He could either sleep on the floor, or with Narumi. The latter would be far more comfortable, but he wasn't too keen on sharing a bed with some woman he's known for like a day. But, she seemed very nice, and she was offering...
"A-alright..." He hesitantly agreed.
Narumi scooted over as Conan crawled in next to her. They both laid down, and soon enough, despite his hesitance, Conan drifted off into sleep.
Despite the fact that he was sleeping in a room with a dead body, on a hard floor, and also with an almost stranger, Conan had a surprisingly alright sleep. It was probably because of Narumi. He could admit she was warm and comfortable. It wasn't something he's had in a while, so it was nice...
Eventually he had to wake up though, even if it did happen to be in the evening. His sleep schedule was definitely messed up now.
The two girls and Conan tiredly headed over to the town hall for questioning. It was going as usual, until the Moonlight Sonata's second movement started playing through the speakers.
Unfortunately, Conan ended up being right, someone else had died.
The current mayor, Kuroiwa Tatsuji, was found stabbed in the broadcasting room, killed just minutes ago, according to Narumi who did the examination in place of the coroner who left for Tokyo. The tape that played the Sonata had about 5 minutes of blank space in the beginning, further proving her conclusion.
"Inspector!" One of the officers yelled. "There's something written in blood beneath the chair the victim was on!"
"What!?" Megure yelled as he and Kogoro rushed over. Conan followed. "Another musical score?"
The two crouched down to get a better look at the message. Conan stood next to them as he took out his notebook and began copying it down to the best of his ability.
"So another dying message left by the killer..." Kogoro mumbled as he stared intently at the blood.
Conan paused his writing to incredulously stare at the man, because did he seriously think that? He irritably sighed. Why must he always do everything for the police?
"Obviously it's not." He curtly said, eyes not straying from his notebook as he struggled to get the notes looking correct. Megure and Kogoro both slightly flinched as they looked over at the boy. "If he had the time and strength to write such a complicated message, he would've left the room and called for help." He explained all while continuing to copy into his notebook. He glanced over at Kogoro. "Idiot." He added in, just for fun.
It would've been humorous how quickly Kogoro's expression shifted to anger, if Conan was not on the receiving end. Predictably, he raised his fist above his head (at a bit of an awkward angle because, when crouching, Kogoro was about the same height as Conan) and brought it down.
Conan simply leaned backwards a bit, watching Kogoro's fist whiz past and harshly connect with the ground (seriously why did he think that would work).. right on top of the highly important piece of evidence.
Conan ignored Kogoro's loud scream of pain, and just stared incredulously down at the bloody musical score because it looked perfectly fine. Not a single bit was smudged. He bent down and experimentally wiped at a small portion with his finger. It was dry.
If what Narumi said was correct, then there's no way the blood could be dry yet. He was pretty sure blood took around 30 minutes to dry, and if Kuroiwa was supposedly killed 5 minutes ago, then the time of death must've been falsified in some way.
The only one who could've done that was Narumi...
Conan shook his head.
No. He can't jump to that conclusion just yet. There were tons of other possibilities. Besides, there couldn't be too much difference between a body that was killed 30 minutes ago and one killed 5 minutes ago. She could've just made a mistake; it's not like she was actually a coroner.
And there was still the 5 minutes of blank space on the beginning of the tape. In that case, he couldn't have been killed 30 minutes ago, it would've played too early, and even if the police were a bit incompetent, he trusted them enough to be able to tell if there was reverse button or something like that. Maybe the message was written before Kuroiwa was killed. But then whose blood was it?
Conan was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of a door closing. He looked around, realizing he was basically the only one left in the broadcasting room (aside from a few officers).
He rushed out into the hallway and followed the sound of the other's voices down the stairs until he found them in the main room of the town hall. He arrived just in time to hear Megure lay out the suspects.
He sidled up next to Ran as he listened closely.
"Which means that someone inside the town hall at that time was the murderer. If we exclude the police and Mouri's group, the suspects are Nishimoto Ken, the first witness; Asai Narumi, who examined the body; Hirata Kazuaki, the mayor's secretary; Shimizu Masato, one of the mayoral candidates; Kuroiwa Reiko, the mayor's daughter, and her fiance Murasawa Shuuichi."
Six suspects. Still a lot, but much better than before.
"Wait a second!" Reiko furiously yelled at the Inspector. "Why the hell am I a suspect in my own father's murder!?"
Conan just sighed at the fact that this woman somehow doesn't know that you can still be a suspect even if the victim is a family member (in fact, maybe even more of a suspect).
But then she said, "And I was being questioned by you people since 6:20! How could I have done it if he was killed after 6:30!?"
Oh, never mind then. She can't exactly be a suspect if she had an alibi. (That's only if Kuroiwa was actually killed after 6:30, a small part of his mind pinged.)
Wait, in that case, Conan realized, "Then it couldn't have been Narumi either!" He piped up, pointing at the woman. (Only if Kuroiwa was actually killed after 6:30...) "She was with me and Ran-neechan since 6!"
"Yeah." Ran agreed.
"Then we have four male suspects then..." Megure said.
Four suspects. That narrows things down a little.
Conan stood next to the piano, as he waited for everyone to leave the room.
It seemed the murderer still wasn't done yet, because Nishimoto was found hanged in the community center's storeroom, supposedly a suicide because of the will that he left behind (written in the same musical code, that Conan had figured out prior - the notes correlated to keys on a piano, it was pretty easy - as the messages left behind by the killer). Fortunately, Conan was able to easily convince the police that it, in fact, was not a suicide because there wasn't anything for him to have stood on in order to hang himself.
Along with that, Conan found that Murasawa guy passed out in the piano room with a bleeding gash on his head, and had seen someone (possibly the culprit, he didn't know yet) doing something underneath the piano, who had immediately escaped when Conan entered the room. Unfortunately, he couldn't catch a single glimpse.
And so, that is why Conan is waiting for everyone to leave so he can investigate the underside of the piano without any interference.
As soon as he watched the final person exit the room, who happened to be Ran, he ducked underneath the piano and started feeling around the bottom of it.
He didn't get very far, when he heard a sudden, "Conan-kun!" From Ran. He slightly flinched and turned around to meet her. "What are you doing? Don't mess with that."
"I-it's not that!" He quickly said. "That person I saw, it looked like they were doing something under here, so..." He trailed off, resuming his searching. But suddenly his hand slipped as a square piece of the wood broke off, revealing a secret compartment. "Ah-!"
A light dusting of, what felt like, some sort of powder fell over his face. He brushed it off with his hand, and noticed probably the same powder on the floor. It was white and looked kind of like flour. He ignored Ran, who had crawled underneath to get a better look, and wiped a bit off with his finger.
He carefully sniffed the substance. It had a somewhat chemically smell, but he couldn't tell what it was from that. So, he licked it. He immediately blanched at the bitter taste and the slight numbness that met his tongue.
Yeah, that was not flour.
Had to be some sort of drug, most likely cocaine based on the look of it.
Conan stood up and headed out after the others, without telling Ran his discovery (because telling her he just ingested cocaine clearly was not a good idea), leaving her to follow.
According to the police, the three main suspects were still the ones from earlier (excluding Nishimoto because clearly he died), Murasawa, Shimizu, and Hirata, who was currently nervously sweating while trying to hide his obviously injured hands. He could even see some small amounts of white powder on his sleeves.
So, Conan was about 90 percent sure he was the person he saw in the piano room, who knocked out Murasawa, and that he was also selling drugs using the piano as a hiding place. But he couldn't be exactly sure.
He was about to go up to the man and try to coerce some information out of him, when an officer came over with the printed photos of the second crime scene.
He actually kind of wanted to see those. He headed over to where he set them down and peeked over the table at them. There was a peculiar shining light next to the body in one of the photo's, but not in the rest.
"Hey, what's that?" He asked the officer. "That shining thing there." He pointed at it.
"Uh.. I dunno, a button?"
"But look at this." He pointed at a different photo. "It's gone after the body was moved."
"Hmm..." He looked between the two images. "You're right."
Conan suddenly gasped as a realization hit him.
He walked away from the table's edge and put a hand to his chin as he drifted deep into thought.
If that light was actually from a reverse button, then it was possible for Kuroiwa to be killed 30 minutes earlier. And the body would've been blocking it, so the police wouldn't have seen it. And the only one who could've turned the button off and faked the time of death, is the one who examined it.. Narumi.
Conan looked to the ground with a sad smile. It was almost ironic. He didn't want Narumi to be the culprit - for some reason he couldn't exactly place - yet the more he investigated, the more evidence he found that pointed to her.
No, he steeled himself. Again, he can't jump to this conclusion just yet.
He didn't even know if that light even was from a button. It could just be a trick of the camera for all he knew. Besides, Narumi doesn't even have a motive, unlike literally all of the other suspects.
"Um, excuse me... May I go buy some cigarettes? I just ran out." Conan suddenly heard Hirata say, breaking him out of his line if thought. "I'll be right back."
Conan saw his chance and took it. He ran after the man and followed him to the vending machine.
"Hey, mister!" He innocently said. "There's some white powder on your sleeve."
"What!?" The man's largely over exaggerated reaction was almost funny. He practically flailed his arms around, dropping his wallet in the process.. which just so happened to spill copious amounts of foreign change. Wow, he wasn't even planning for that one.
He didn't know if it was possible to be a more obvious drug dealer.
Conan leaned over to look at the coins and feigned excitement. "Woah, that's a lot of foreign money!"
Hirata hurriedly started picking up the coins and shoving them back into his wallet. "Y-yeah, I um.. I like foreign countries." He quickly finished collecting the change and rushed back inside.
Conan had to wonder how he hadn't gotten caught yet.
Well, that's at least one suspect down. If he was the culprit he wouldn't have brought the first victim back inside and put him on the piano. If the police investigated it they could've found the drugs.
Actually, now that he thought about it, Murasawa probably wasn't the culprit either. For the third case, if you assume the culprit escaped through the window because they heard people coming, then it wouldn't make sense for them to immediately go back inside the community center.
So that left Shimizu?
No. He couldn't disregard the thing about the dried blood. As much as he didn't want to, he still had to consider Narumi, and Reiko too (but he didn't really care much if she was the murderer).
Suddenly, Conan heard the sound of running footsteps and heavy breathing from behind. He turned around to see the island policeman resting against the wall with a Manila folder in his hand.
"Officer, what is it?"
"I finally found them! The papers Asou-san left behind 12 years ago!"
'Finally' was an understatement. When Conan had first figured out the key to the musical code, the policeman had remembered that Asou left behind music sheets before his suicide, and had immediately left to go find them.. which was hours ago. Really it was about time.
"Let me see!" Conan shouted as he snatched the papers from the man's hands, ignoring his protests. He translated the beginning in his mind, and read, "'To my son, Seiji'..." He curiously looked up at the officer. "Asou had a son?"
"Oh yeah, he did..."
The man continued to speak but Conan didn't process any of it, too busy staring at the music sheet.
Asou... Asai...
They could be spelt with the same kanji.
Narumi could've easily said her name was pronounced Asai when it was actually Asou. And if she was transgender and the person being referred to in Asou Keiji's letter, his 'son', then...
Then she had a motive.
Conan rushed back inside the town hall and up the stairs, disregarding anyone he passed by. He burst into the broadcasting room and climbed into the chair Kuroiwa's dead body once was.
He looked at where he remembered the light being, and in its place was a button that said 'reverse'.
He gritted his teeth.
Narumi was the culprit. There was no other option.
"Hey, Conan!" Kogoro yelled, slamming the door open. "What'd you run up here for!?"
Perfect timing.
Conan spun around and tranquilized him without any preamble. He didn't even bother sitting him up and just left him laying face down on the floor.
He turned back around, pressed the broadcast button, and began his deduction.
Conan ran down the path to the community center as fast as his little legs could take him.
As soon as he heard that Narumi had escaped, a thought immediately entered his mind. He really, really hoped he was wrong, that she wasn't doing what he thought she was doing.
He started running even faster, seeing a hazy smoke-like column rising in the distance. He wasn't sure if it was the urgency clouding his mind or the trace amounts of cocaine in his system, but he felt like he was going faster than he physically could.
Conan rounded a corner, and his fears came to life.
There stood the community center, flames wisping through the open windows, smoke rising into the night sky.
He clenched his hands around Asou's encoded message.
Before he knew it his feet were moving on their own and into the burning building. Every instinct in his body was yelling at him to turn back into safety, but he just.. couldn't.
He wasn't going to let her die.
He ran through the halls, clutching the stack of paper to his chest, with only the faint sound of the piano to guide him.
It was going to be fine.
The flames weren't too bad yet. If he just makes sure to find Narumi and get out in a calm and collected manner it'll be fine. There should be more than enough time.
It's fine. He's fine. Everything will be fine.
He continued to run, intently listening to the piano, and not thinking about how the flames were spreading more and more and how his eyes started to sting at the smoke and the panicking part of his brain shouting to just turn back, because everything was going to be fine.
Suddenly the music stopped.
Fear immediately gripped his mind, assuming the worst, but Conan disregarded that thought, forcing his little feet to go even faster, because the fire was not nearly bad enough to kill yet.
She was fine. She is not dead nor is she going to die.
He is making sure of it.
He is not letting anyone else die like that. Not again.
He burst into one of the rooms, his breath nearly stopping in his throat seeing Narumi laying face down on the piano, eerily still, before he suddenly heard a faint, "It's over.. dad." She lifted a hand and gingerly placed it on one of the keys. "All over..."
"It's not over yet!" Conan shouted, opening the door further. "Don't die, Narumi-sensei. Please."
"...It's Seiji." She said, lifting her head from the piano and looking over at the boy.
Conan paused.
Oh. So she - or he - wasn't actually transgender. Huh.
(But Narumi's - or Seiji's - gender was not important right now.)
"Seiji-san." Conan said, walking into the room staying clear of the flames. "Look, in your father's music sheets!" He held them out and pointed at a specific section. "It says 'Seiji, you must live a full life'..." He let the stack hang by his side as he ran the rest of the way over to him. "So please, let's get out of here!" He grabbed Seiji's arm with his free hand and started tugging in the direction of the door. "C'mon! We can still make it!" He said desperately.
But Seiji didn't budge, just staring solemnly down at the piano keys. He sighed. "If I had known that I probably wouldn't have done this."
"Eh?" Conan said, confused. "You didn't know..? Then how did you find out about your father?"
"I found out on my own..." He quietly said. "I always had suspicions about my father's death..."
Seiji continued, but Conan found it harder and harder to hear over the roaring fire. He covered a couple coughs with his hand as he glanced around him. His eyes widened in fear seeing how the majority of the room was filled with fire.
How did it get so bad this fast!?
He felt himself start to tremble with panic.
This is bad. If they don't leave soon-!
"Seiji-san!" Conan yelled, interrupting whatever part of his backstory he was on. "There's no time! We have to go!" The stack of papers fell from his hands, forgotten, as he gripped onto Seiji's arm and started pulling with all his might towards the door. "Come on! We have to go!" He didn't even know if the tears pricking at his eyes were from the smoke or not.
Conan smiled as Seiji stood up, but faltered when he suddenly bent down and picked the boy up. "It's too late..." Conan stared at him in confusion, stiff in his grasp. "My hands are already soiled with the blood of those four..."
Before Conan had a chance to process his words, he suddenly felt himself being thrown through the air and crashing through a window. He landed on the ground with a thud.
He pushed himself off the ground, hissing in pain. He looked up to see the community center fully engulfed in flames.
Without thinking, he stood up and started running back towards the building, because he was not going to let this happen again, because he was still in there. But a hand suddenly grabbed his arm, stopping him in his tracks.
He furiously looked behind him to see the worried look of Ran. "Conan-kun..!"
"R-Ran-neechan..!" He guiltily stared up at her, before trying to wriggle his arm out of her grasp, because he couldn't let someone die like this.
Not. Again.
But her grip remained firm. "Conan-kun! You can't go back, it's too dangerous!" Her grip tightened.
"But he's still in there-!" He yelled.
Ran grabbed Conan with her other arm and maneuvered him into a more sturdy hold. She looked down at him worriedly and quietly said, "Conan-kun..."
"Let me go!" Conan continued to desperately struggle within her grasp. "Let me go!" A couple tears slipped down his cheek.
Suddenly, the sound of the piano, playing from within the building, immediately stopped Conan and brought his attention back to the community center.
What followed, sounded like a jumbled mess of piano notes, but Conan immediately recognized the code, his mind translating as it played.
'Thank you, little detective.'
Until it suddenly stopped.
It was too late.
Conan just stared at the burning building, unable to tear his gaze away. It was all too familiar.
Memories started to flood into his mind, but he forced his eyes shut, desperately trying to block them out.
But when he opened his eyes, instead of the community center, it was his house. The one he has back in America, before it burned down.
Instead of the piano room, it was his room.
Instead of Seiji's voice, it was his mother's.
"You have to live on for me, 'kay? Sorry, Conan."
Instead of landing on harsh dirt, it was the softer grass of his lawn.
Instead of calling out for Seiji...
He bawled his fists, his head hanging towards the ground as he finally let the tears freely escape from his eyes. "Mom... Dad..."
He leaned into Ran's comfortable hold, grasped onto her shirt, and cried.
The waves gently splashed onto the side of the boat, creating a methodical soothing sound. The sunrise reflected beautifully across the sea. There was an almost ethereal fog, an island poking through in the distance.
The experience would've been calming on any other day.
But it just served as a reminder, as Conan glared down at the water as if it had personally wronged him.
The circumstances around his parents were understandably sad, but above all, they were infuriating.
Firstly, his mother had a perfect chance to escape, yet she didn't. After she threw him out of that window, instead of following suit, she turned around, giving one last sad look to the boy before heading back into the house.
She was never suicidal, so it wasn't that. But there was something that made her decide she was going to die that day. There was this look in her eyes, as if she had already accepted her death at that moment. And Conan, for the life of him, had no idea why.
Secondly, the police had told him that it was an accident because of a misplaced cigarette (after he basically pestered them until they gave in). The one glaring issue was that neither of his parents smoked. He tried telling that to the police, but no one gave him the time of day and just brushed off any of his concerns, all because he was 'just a kid'. Someone had come over that day, so there was a possibility they had accidentally left the cigarette, but his parents were so careful he just knew that wasn't the case. He could feel it.
He had stolen the few reports on the incident (surprisingly without getting caught, which was very telling of the police force considering he was five at the time), yet they all said the same thing. They were all extremely sparse, as if covering something up.
Which is why it was absolutely infuriating.
Because, even to Conan it was glaringly obvious that something was wrong with the situation, but the police refused to acknowledge it. Because the police were somehow so incompetent that they couldn't deduce something so simple that even a child could.
Because, even at the tender young age of five, Conan knew that his parents had been murdered.
