Hey guys!

Welcome back to Project Phoenix - Chapter 2 - Wake of the Phoenix!

The light mood from last time now leaves place for a darker one ;)

Question: what nationality is Vermouth? I know she's from the US, but what is her ancestry?

Thanks and enjoy!

Hospital in England, Summer 2006

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Pain. Excruciating pain. It invaded each of his muscle and stole his breath.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

What happened? His head felt heavy, and, each time he tries to remember, a stabbing - mental - pain tortured him.

"Furuya-san, are you awake?"

That person... He had met the owner of the voice in the States... in a university exchange program. They had quickly become friends. They shared so much in common, from their passion for martial arts to that for deduction games and detective fiction.

However, they were also different. Rei could remember the man's stoic expression that made Rei doubt if he could ever become friends with this man, on the first day of school. Later, Rei had found out that the man was - actually - shy. The man sat alone during lunch and never hang out with a specific group - the students only approached him to ask him questions about the courses or to join their martial arts team.

At first, Rei hadn't taken much notice of that man. At the first day of his fresh academic experience, he had been surrounded by amicable classmates, mostly girls. Some of them had even asked him to accompany them to the homecoming party. The boys were also equally friendly to Rei - until they realized that their girlfriends or crushes had hit on him. (Secretly, Rei shamefully enjoyed his 'socializing skills'.)

When did I become friends with him?

Rei first noticed his silent classmate when the latter pointed out an error in his quantum professor's explanation. As the arrogant man he was, the professor had debated with and lost against the student during the whole class - with three quarters of the students either staring blankly at the arcane lexicon and theories, checking their phones, or chatting with their friends about their weekends. Rei had followed the heated debate to, perhaps, half of it, until the girl sitting next to him and - worryingly - observing him decided to ask him out.

Since then, Rei had been fascinated by his classmate's extensive knowledge and deep understanding of course material, but his most intense curiosity began when he witnessed the man solve a murder case that occurred in an alley near their school. Rei was ready to explain his own deductions to the police, when the said classmate pointed out - accurately - the murderer, the owner of the bakery who had a skewed interest toward the female victim.

Who was that mysterious, silent man who had deductive skills on par with Rei - who had been anonymously helping the Japanese Police, understood quantum physics better than a professor with decades of experience, and fought single-handedly the bulky bakery owner with all the coolness of an skilled fighter?

At that moment, the said man had become Rei's object of curiosity. Rei had sat next to the man during lunchtime and during the classes they shared - which were most of them. As the shy man he was, his classmate first seemed to ignore Rei's presence, only responding when he was asked questions.

Eventually, the man opened up. Although the said classmate never talked about anything with apparent passion, Rei noticed that he dwelled on detective novels and real-life cold cases - which Rei also loved discussing about.

That man...

They became friends, even best friends, but stopped contacting each other a while after Rei returned to Japan - partly because of Rei's training as an agent for the Secret Police.

But why is he here?

Rei remembered faintly that he had contacted this friend, whom he still - strangely - trusted more than anyone else, despite the breach in connection for such a long time.

Why?

Excruciating pain filled his head.

He slowly lifted his eyelid and uttered, his dry throat hurting, "Shuichi..."

Rei tried to move, but realized that most of his body was restrained by bandages.

"What happened?" Rei asked, his voice betraying his horror.

"You don't remember?" For a second, Rei thought he noticed surprise replace the man's typical stoic expression. Then, even Rei - who had been so close to Shuichi and who could read most people's minds - couldn't guess his thoughts at all.

However, Rei had the impression that Shuichi was hiding the truth.

"The doctors said it is highly probable that you wake up with amnesia due to shock," Shuichi stated.

"Shock?"

"You were chasing a criminal for your mission from the Japanese Police, got caught in a warehouse fire, and received a concussion. You were lucky that you got out before the place exploded."

Rei scanned his friend's face and noticed the patch and burn marks.

"Did you...?"

"You called me for some backup, since I was already in England."

Yes, his friend had joined the FBI and was skilled enough to participate in his mission.

However, something about what Shuichi said didn't seem right. Rei was sure that he had forgotten an important detail.

"The Japanese Police has been informed about your situation. You should rest. I'll be back tomorrow," Shuichi announced, never showing any emotion. Rei knew that his friend was secretly concerned and promised his friend he would get better with a cheerful smile.

Right after Shuichi left the hospital room, Rei fell deep in thoughts.

What have I forgotten? Rei felt empty, as if he had lost his heart.

Present, Beika

The alarm clock screamed in his ears.

Rei opened his heavy eyelids and met the blazing sunlight.

7:00 am.

Rei stretched his arms. Strangely, he felt as if he had given all his efforts just to perform the latter simple action. Rei decided that the three hours of sleep due to police paperworks was tiring. After hearing about his accident, a week ago, the Police had decided to give Rei some break with paperworks instead of more physically demanding tasks. Rei was technically 'on break'.

It took even more efforts for Rei to lift himself from his bed. However, as soon as his body shifted from horizontal to vertical, Rei felt his stomach churn.

Despite the numbness of each of his muscles, Rei ran to the bathroom and emptied his stomach in the toilet bowl. Rei knew that the bowl could only contain its usual 'water' and gastric acid. In other words, his stomach had been empty since the day before.

During the past week, Rei had noticed that he felt a growing distaste toward any types of food. Originally, he thought the painkillers and other medical drugs he consumed for his recovery were the causes.

However, Rei had not taken any prescriptions since a few days. The drugs should have gotten out of his system.

Rei knew that he didn't really have a 'distaste' for food. He was still attracted by the delicious perfume of the meals, but, as soon as he swallowed them, his stomach rejected them all.

Rei had then thought that he may have gravely injured other parts of his bodies during the 'accident', but was sure that the "best doctors" of the hospital couldn't misdiagnose his condition during his stay at the hospital. Besides, when he left the hospital, with all the medical knowledge he had from his detective career, Rei knew that he didn't have any other grave wound.

Then, what is causing all this? Other than his new automatic 'meal-skipping routine', Rei had noticed more symptoms.

His five senses were becoming increasingly numb. Similarly, he found it increasingly difficult to coordinate his muscles. He felt that there was a time lag for his fingers or foot to respond. At first, Rei thought all this was caused by his long stay at the hospital and his lack of exercises, but realized that his condition didn't improve, after his exit from the hospital and he returned to his 'healthy' routine.

Worse, Rei easily sprained himself with slightly demanding physical exercises at first, such as push-ups and sit-ups, then with supposedly effortless activities, such as walking.

Rei was sure that his physical condition couldn't have regressed to such extent only after his stay at a hospital for a waist wound "on the surface".

Then, why?

During the last two days, Rei had also noticed an increasingly pungent smell - the smell of the dead bodies he was so familiar with. Unlike his initial belief, the smell wasn't from his sweat-infected summer clothes. Besides, the odors weren't the same. Rei noticed that the typical smell followed him even during a shower. Even the milky scent of the soap couldn't cover the scent of decay.

Rei had then began his routine of applying an excessive quantity of cologne. However, Rei knew that this couldn't solve the problem. Maybe, he needed to visit the hospital again for a check-up... just to be sure.

He would contact the hospital tomorrow, because, today, he had to prepare for an "important event". The Detective Boys - who apparently enjoyed his company - had insisted on throwing a "Welcome Back" party for Rei's recovery. The children had then chosen Agasa-hakase's enormous house as the party location and invited some of Rei's acquaintances, including Ran and Azusa.

Rei's main motivations were - of course - his curiosity toward Shiho's current home, which he had only previously seen briefly, and his desire to tease the girl a bit. Although he pretended to not notice at first, Rei had realized that the girl had been 'investigating' him by following him at almost every place he visited.

Rei knew that his conversation in the car with Shiho had allowed her to recover part of her memories about him - which he still has no recollection of - and led to her curiosity about his actions.

Rei didn't feel offended at all. Shiho's attitude made her pretty cute.

Rei smiled amusingly when he remembered Shiho blushing after he winked at her.

Again, Rei told himself that he would never have thought that the cool, sardonic Shiho was so easily embarrassed.

And she looked just like a doll with the blushes...

Rei's daydreams were shattered when he remember the darker reason for his attendance of the party. Right after his admission to the hospital, Vermouth had visited him and explained Ano Kata's new mission for him.

Apparently, Ano Kata's trust toward Bourbon made him eligible to participate in the current 'top-secret' mission of the BO, which only a few had knowledge of. The said selected few were actually only three people: him, Gin, and Vermouth, who - of course - had more information than anyone else.

That day, Vermouth, as always, had revealed just enough for Rei to proceed into his mission, but to remain unaware of Ano Kata's true purpose.

However, the mission from that day had still provided Rei enough for a justified guess, perhaps thanks to some coincidences.

The photo of the target in the folder that Vermouth provided represented a familiar figure.

It was one of the Detective Boys, and his brother is supposedly the redhead kidnapper's secretary, from the other night.

TBC

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