People read books to live vicariously through them. It seems such a wonder…to be able to live as you want with any power you could imagine. As soon as you get that life, it all comes crashing down as soon as you give it a chance. The box was back. Inside it was the bane of his existence; objects made only to incapacitate, to harm, to kill.

Shinichi was resigned to his fate at this moment. It was rare for him to become like this, but presented with viable evidence and no way out he was beginning to allow his thoughts to travel sinister places. Maybe being an assassin with a cause wouldn't be terrible. Perhaps he had never allowed himself to think of killing as anything more than a high caliber crime. Besides, he came across these cases more often than not, so maybe he was fated to be around death from the start.

Shuichi Akai walked forward and lifted the silenced gun from the box, "I've been told that, in Hawaii, you were trained to shoot. Is that right?" He questioned, eyeing the weapon.

"Yes, I was. I like to think of myself as pretty capable with one." Shinichi answered.

If the gun alone didn't, Akai's question certainly affirmed that he would be shooting a gun. It would most likely be shot at another person. The teen almost cringed at the thought. Logical mentality was far removed from the actions it came with. Yes, he was beginning to accept the idea, but he was nowhere near allowing himself to condone or perform the action.

Akai nodded and returned the gun to the toy box. As he did this, Jodie's face straightened out, a rare occasion indeed.

"I know I've been beating around the bush quite a bit." she admitted, "but now that you've had time to process, I'd say an explanation is in order?" She lifted the box again and sat it on the teen's lap, "let's do this." She said, determined, her smile reappearing yet again.

Ran paced back and forth in the Mouri office. Hattori had stopped freaking out and had sat down on the couch some time ago.

"We're overreacting, "Hattori pointed out, "and it's gettin us nowhere." He walked over to the office phone and dialed for the mountain inn, the source of this mess. Of course, cell phones had no service that remotely, but their landlines were most certainly working. An Inn cannot function without ways to contact potential customers. Hattori took a moment to berate himself for not thinking of this sooner. He lifted the receiver, and the dial tone rang in the silence. He dialed.

Jodie knew this would happen, and she never failed to make contingency plans for any possible occasion. She was alerted of a call from the detective's office and excused herself to take the call, "Hello! This is the Mountain Suite Inn! How can I help you today?" She cheerfully answered, putting on her best customer service voice.

"Ah yea, hello. My friend an' I lost contact with her family after they left earlier. Is there any way ya can check and see if they made it?" A voice answered. It was obviously that Kansai boy, and she knew of his genius. She hoped he wouldn't interfere too much.

"Yes, I can!" she answered quickly, "Can you tell me their names?"

"Edogawa Conan an' Kogoro Mouri." He answered levelly.

She pretended to take a couple of moments to look into records, "Why yes, It shows here that they did check in a few days ago. The screen assures me that they both signed and were present for the affirmation. Is that all, sir?"

Hattori sighed in relief and smiled back at Ran, "Yea, Thank ya." He gently placed the phone down and relayed the conversation back to the expectant girl.

"See! I told ya." he said triumphantly, "We both worry too much."

With the never-ending fear gone, both teens felt a weight lift. Hattori was glad that he had nothing to worry about back at home. He hadn't looked around Tokyo in a while…