Chapter 13 Run-in with the BO
This was getting ridiculous.
But Heiji was still off to the side with Conan-kun so he either didn't notice Ran's absence or they really weren't hiding anything from her – though Kazuha highly doubted that.
Heiji had once again dragged her off to Tokyo – not that she was complaining about going to Tokyo to visit her great friend Ran and her small guardian but she'd wanted to spend New Years with Heiji and her friends back in Osaka. Besides, Heiji had been strangely attentive to Ran and Ran had been disappearing at the oddest of times. Of course, Kazuha had asked her – is something going on, did something happen? But lately she changed it into what is going on because she knew exactly that something was going on, only no one thought of telling her about it.
She was sure that Heiji knew something but even that guy never disclosed anything to her. And when Heiji so brutally, basically without asking for her consent, just informed her about going to visit that nee-chan and Conan-kun for New Years, Kazuha decided to play detective on her own and find out what was going on with Ran – and Heiji for what it was worth. That guy was acting way too suspicious. Did those two maybe have something going on between them? Kazuha doubted it of course, because Ran was not such a girl and besides, she had her own childhood crush, right? Still, the doubt and nagging thoughts were there and before she didn't know the whole truth she wouldn't rest her investigation.
Kazuha was also worried about Ran – what had gotten her into such a change of character? Deep down, Ran seemed to carry a heavy weight, something that has been weighing her down, always an air of depression around her that Kazuha wasn't used to feel around her friend. Ran had always been this cheery, friendly girl even if things weren't going her way, even if that Kudo guy hurt her again and again, she bounced back and was her usual happy self. But lately, ever since Heiji had become this weird, obsessed guy, she only looked happy but never felt like it. It worried Kazuha a great deal. This wasn't the Ran she knew – and it wasn't the Heiji she knew though maybe it was the Heiji she knew only maybe he saw Ran as something he needed to figure out. Obviously, he figured there was something wrong with Ran, too, and decided to find out what it was. Or maybe Conan-kun had asked him to, maybe Conan-kun was as worried about Ran's change in character because he had to have picked up on it much sooner, right? Maybe he needed all the help he could get finding out what was wrong with Ran.
And so, here she was, talking to Ran and Sonoko, though Ran has again slipped through her fingers, disappeared somewhere without anyone noticing, pushing her fear and suspicion skyhigh. Sonoko didn't seem to pick up on the changes in her friend or maybe she simply ignored them for whatever reason. Kazuha could think of a few reasons she would do it – because of fear of losing Ran, because she didn't want to upset Ran or maybe that was her way of support. Kazuha didn't know because she didn't know the girl too well but whatever it was, she seemed unperturbed by Ran's disappearance.
But Kazuha wasn't and she would find out right now what was going on and where Ran went.
"Eh?" Kazuha shouted out, looking behind Sonoko. "Sonoko-chan, please excuse me for a second. I think I just saw a friend of mine."
She needed a good excuse why she left Sonoko to herself for the time being – she didn't want to worry her and she wasn't sure she wanted Sonoko to find out about what Ran was doing if Ran herself hasn't told the girl. Stopping abruptly, as a weird thought entered her mind, Kazuha observed Sonoko for a second who had turned around to try to see who that friend of Kazuha's might be. Could Ran actually have told Sonoko and that was why that girl was so calm in light of Ran's disappearance?
Sonoko turned back around, her face smooth and friendly, though a doubt was mirrored in her look but she seemed to let it go without asking. Maybe she knew more than she let on.
"Ok sure, I'll wait here for you." Sonoko smiled and nodded as a permission for her to go. Heiji and Conan were still off to the side but Kazuha didn't care much. She smiled, nodded as thanks and hurriedly disappeared in the crowd.
They had gone to one of the many New Years festivals in Tokyo, had drawn good luck predictions and while her own had been great luck for this year and good luck for Sonoko, Ran had drawn bad luck. It had worried Kazuha a great deal, a cold feeling creeping up on her – and Ran's white, resigned face didn't help that feeling any. She seemed extremely unhappy with that prediction, putting it away with all the other bad predictions on the fence way too hurriedly as if the paper had burned her – but Kazuha had not seen any fire or ice which could have physically hurt her.
The Osakan girl had a very bad feeling about today – something was about to happen. Hurriedly, she checked her phone, opened a friends app and clicked on Ran's contact details. They had shared this app many months ago and today she was more than happy that they had. She shared this app with Heiji too, but she was sure he already all forgot about it because it was the easiest way of tracking somebody – of course that person had to have agreed to it at one point of time. If the person wanted to cancel the tracking option, they could but Kazuha was quite sure that Ran had long forgotten about it, too.
Google maps opened in the app and it was all too easy for Kazuha to find Ran's whereabouts but the fear in her chest increased with the revelation. Ran was no longer at the festival grounds.
Kazuha should have anticipated this, of course she should have but it still baffled her that her suspicion was right – she wished she had made it all up in her mind and Ran had no deep secret after all. Hastily, Kazuha followed the red point on the map and wondered when Ran had left. It didn't seem too far away, the festival itself was rather outside of the city. She had wondered why they were going to this festival when there were a few others much closer to Ran's place but hadn't questioned it any further. Heiji didn't seem very perturbed by it either so Kazuha kind of forgot about it. Sonoko's happiness had been too contagious.
The app was leading her through a dark park towards what looked like an industrial park. There were a lot of abandoned buildings, some ruins if she saw correctly – she wasn't too sure because it was long dark already and there were no street lamps or any kind of light beside the moonlight which was better than nothing but not nearly enough.
Kazuha didn't like the feeling the buildings gave her – a creepy kind of one, a dangerous one, warning her to turn around and go back home, go back to your friends but then again, first she had to pick one up and then safely return with her. It sounded easy enough, find Ran through the app – and she was steadily getting closer – pick her up by her feet if she had to and drag her back to her friends to the festival. But somehow the girl got the feeling that it wouldn't be so easy. Why ever Ran disappeared on her own like that, Kazuha was sure she wouldn't go back with her freely, not before she finished what she left to do.
It seemed Ran was moving only sporadically for the dot barely moved. Maybe her connection was bad and Kazuha only got the last position but somehow she doubted that. Was Ran secretely meeting someone? Well, it made sense. Maybe she had a secret boyfriend no one was supposed to know about? At least now Kazuha was sure that it wasn't Heiji because when she had left he'd still been at the festival. Ran had also already been gone too long for him to make her wait so long. Heiji wasn't like that – unless he had to sneak away from Conan and didn't know how to. But Kazuha dismissed those thoughts, they were not true, she knew that much. There was simply no way …
Pursing her lips in disdain, Kazuha kept following the unmoving red dot on her phone and found herself in front of a big building. There was nothing but asphalt beneath her feet and were there some people in the middle of the place? She stopped abruptly, relief building inside her.
The building threw a shadow and she couldn't see very well, so there was no way she could tell who that was. Maybe Ran and – yeah, there was definitely someone else too. So, she was seeing someone else, after all? Did Kudo-kun dump her, or she him? Kazuha deep down hoped that Ran hadn't gotten into some mess she needed to get out of now. She hoped she wasn't roped into something dark and dangerous, she hoped Ran hadn't met some dark and deadly people. But maybe she also just watched too many dark movies and saw too many dead people when around Heiji.
On the right, there were some more buildings, looking dark and menacing and now that she observed her surroundings, she found herself surrounded by nothing else but walls. There were buildings on all the sides of her except behind. But she couldn't very well go back – there seemed no other exit, though.
Though it was in the middle of winter, it wasn't very cold. The air felt fresh and clean and the wind was quite quiet today, too. If Ran hadn't disappeared like that, it sure would have been a very pleasant evening with actually good weather. An evening Kazuha would have been able to wholeheartedly enjoy. She'd have to seriously talk to Ran, tell her how much she was bothered by the Tokyo girl, how much she wanted to know the truth – she'd help her, whatever mess Ran had gotten into, Kazuha would help her get out no matter what.
But before Kazuha breathed in air to scream at Ran to finally tell her the truth, she heard voices. Those voices sounded nothing like Ran and whoever was with her making Kazuha realize that those people in front of her, in fact, were not Ran and someone but two strangers she never knew. Suddenly, one guy raised his arm and then everything went very quickly.
"No! I don't know anything, please, I have fam-"
A shot and suddenly everything went silent again.
The body fell to the ground, like a limp, heavy sack of potatoes, just fell down without making any other sound, any sound at all. The shot was still reverberating through the space, an echo of what just happened in this empty, abandoned place.
Suddenly another shot rang out, another loud one, one which illuminated the sky for a second until Kazuha realized it was not a shot but fireworks. She gasped then, in between two fireworks when there had been silence for one millisecond and stumbled back, the shock catching up with her. Just then two things happened simultaneously. The guy with the gun in hand seemed to have realized he'd been watched for he abruptly turned in her direction, aiming his gun at her, making her heart stop beating and someone hurriedly pushed her out of the way, pulling her along to the side. Everything happened so fast she couldn't react, she just heard another shot being made, a bullet grazing the space next to her, missing her just by a heart's beat.
They stopped behind a wall, hid and Kazuha was pushed against the same wall, a hand pressed to her lips. She wanted to fight the person but her body wasn't cooperating with her and apparently this person protected her instead of killing her so maybe she didn't have to function correctly right now.
It was dark, especially dark behind all these walls but the person in front of her was breathing just as hard as Kazuha herself and wasn't that going to give them away? Fear gripped her tightly, making breathing painful.
"It's fine", the person in front of her suddenly whispered softly, barely audibly and if it had been silent like before it would have been incredibly loud – which it was either way in Kazuha's ear – but luckily the fireworks were still blowing up, giving them some hope of not being heard.
"Come out, little birdie. What bad luck for you to have witnessed this. Now you have to die. Come out and face your punishment."
His voice sounded cool, extremely cold and calm. She heard the man walk towards their hiding spot and all Kazuha could think of was how she'd die now and she never even told Heiji she liked him. And she never found out what was wrong with Ran and if Ran was really here did it mean that she got roped into something dangerous? Something that was killing people?
Kazuha knew aikido and she was damn well good at it but she couldn't fight bullets and in order to use her skills, she'd have to get close to the man, only she doubted he'd let her come close to him – she'd be dead even before she could decide what move she'd use.
Was this really, how she was going to die? She felt way too young to die, she'd still wanted to do many things, she still had her whole life ahead of her. She didn't want to die such a meaningless death behind a damn wall between abandoned buildings. Who'd find her dead body? Some construction people probably. Heiji would be worried sick, he'd look for her the whole night, then the next day until he fell over exhausted both physically and mentally and he'd never be able to find her dead body here until police told him what happened.
His steps were light but to Kazuha they were as loud as an earthquake and he was steadily getting closer. Her thoughts were circling in high speed but nothing was coming of it. She couldn't think of anything to do or to say.
Another firework exploded and for a second the sky was illuminated in beautiful reds and blues, in sparkles and Kazuha realized that it had been too close to their place. Had a rocket gone off wrong or was someone igniting them in close distance?
Weirdly enough, Kazuha decided she was not ready to die like this. She still needed to find Ran and have her tell her what was wrong. She wanted to help Ran with whatever she needed to do and then she needed to tell Heiji her feelings even if it would change things between them. She was just 17 still and she wouldn't give that up now. This guy had a gun and probably didn't think about pulling the trigger – he'd kill and ask questions later. What chance did she have? But maybe, if this stranger and her cooperated, they could somehow outwit him. They could distract him, the person could and Kazuha would sneak up from behind and have him give up his gun. Then she could put him into a grip he wouldn't get out of and have the person call the police. She figured, keeping him constrained might be a problem and she didn't know if there maybe was an accomplice – that would be quite troublesome, too. But she'd fight – she wouldn't give up now and die for Heiji to find her cold, unmoving corpse and mourn over her. She'd never do that to him if she could help it.
Now she only needed to tell the person about her plan and then they could perfectly execute it. Time was running out and she needed to hurry, his steps were nearly there, nearly at their wall and his deadly gun in hand, they had no time, no more time at all. Another firework exploded close by and momentarily illuminated the space around her and damn – was that Ran pressing her against the wall? Eyes widening, Kazuha wanted to slap herself for not recognizing her friend any sooner. Of course that voice was Ran's too, now that she thought of it.
She opened her mouth, tried to pull the hand from her mouth to voice her thoughts, but Ran only shook her head and pushed her hand harder on her face. Why Kazuha wondered. Thy had no time, he was already there and she wasn't ready to die, she couldn't. Not anytime soon.
Suddenly the guy came around the corner and she saw her life past in front of her eyes, they'd die now.
But something wheezed through the air, a loud sound echoed through the place when it apparently hit the ground, making the man swear harshly and shooting in the direction of another person? Kazuha would have been confused, if the situation hadn't been as dire, if the bullets hadn't been as loud, as mind numbing and fear circling through her whole body, making her feel hot and cold, shaking her to her core. Ran immediately pushed her away from the wall, grabbed her hand and pulled her after her. They went around the wall, at the next corner back around another corner and Kazuha couldn't see anything anyway, her ears ringing, she just let Ran lead her and under different circumstances she would have wondered how Ran was able to navigate through this mind-numbing darkness.
A few more bullets were sent their way, Kazuha was sure but none got very close to her and she was glad. When they went inside a building and hid in a room, Ran barricading them inside, she sat down on the floor because her legs felt incredibly heavy and she wasn't sure they wouldn't give out anytime now. Ran was saying something but it was rushed and the blood in her own body was too loud to make Kazuha understand what was being said.
For Aoko this wasn't the best night of her life. She had thought, maybe if she went to a festival with Kaito and Keiko, she'd be able to forget about some things. But as it turned out, Kaito didn't have time, of course another Kid heist had been planned for that night but Keiko had happily agreed to meet her and so the two of them went to one of the many New Years festival. Aoko was even able to drag Keiko of to one in Tokyo, barely outside because she knew that was where Ran would also be and what better time was to meet secretly during the fireworks? That had been the plan, anyway.
Ran had wanted to know what had happened during Christmas because they hadn't been able to talk much since Ran had been under surveillance all the time at home and Kaito had been strangely attentive, too. Not too much, of course. He hadn't visited her in the hospital and when she had woken up that other day, he'd already been long gone. A rescue team had come to pick her up just an hour later, she guessed it was Kaito's work but wasn't too sure because those people had told her that they'd seen the smoke and since it was unusual they wanted to check it out. Her luck, really.
Her father was fine, thankfully, and when he was told where she was and what had happened, he had immediately come to visit her. Unfortunately, he'd not been able to stay long, seeing as she was in good care in the hospital anyway and his team needed his guidance so he was more needed in that area.
Aoko wasn't mad, it wasn't like she needed him to hold her hand or anything. She was glad she could see him and see with her own two eyes that he was alright and not with those crazies on the train.
She had learned that his team was fine so far, no passengers had been hurt and some of the criminals had been caught, but a lot of them escaped. There was no sure number of how many people it had been or how they had been able to infiltrate the police force but that was why her father was needed at work.
Aoko had been diagnosed with two broken ribs and basically her lower rib cage bruised badly. Nothing else was so bad, though. She'd be fine in about two months she was told and she needed to rest for a while. Just before New Years she'd been released again and went back home with her father. Kaito had neither called nor texted her and she hadn't either but she wondered if the nurse with those blue, blue eyes really was Watanabe-san or some thief in disguise.
Since she had really wanted to see Ran and get back some normalcy she thought of meeting her in this warehouse place but when they arrived, people had already been here. Dangerous people and Aoko hid in one of the houses while Ran went behind a wall to watch the whole spectacle.
Neither expected the whole thing to escalate into death but that's how things turned out to be and when another innocent girl appeared, Aoko cursed her luck. She had broken ribs, there was no way her arrows would hit as exactly as she needed them.
Ran had grabbed the girl and pulled her as far away from danger as possible but that guy was smart and followed them to their hiding spot. She told Ran to stay put, to wait because she needed perfect sight in order to make him stop his pursuit. There was no way she would kill him but there also was no way she'd let him hurt her friend. She'd be able to keep him from following them but she couldn't do much more. Ran needed to get them out of danger, she'd just make sure that they'd get as good a chance as possible. Dying was not an option here.
The glasses were godsent as she was able to perfectly see in the darkness and see his figure quite clearly. As expected, the pain felt unbearable when she stretched the bow but it couldn't be helped. She needed to get Ran out of there.
"Wait a second more", she whispered into the air, knowing it was loud enough for the ear piece to pick it up and forward it to Ran. The girl didn't move even though she must have heard that guy's footsteps. "I will stop him long enough for you to make a run for it. Turn left first, then right and get inside the building. There is a room, it's hidden in the back. Close the door, stay as silent as possible. Hide there. I'll call the police, I'll distract him long enough. I'm up enough to not get hit and hide before he can find me."
It was a good plan, a foolproof plan and she executed it perfectly.
Letting the arrow fly through the air, she hit her target spot on, even with pain clouding her brain and body, she never missed her goals. Though the man was quick, pulling his gun up in her direction and started shooting. She hastily ducked down behind the stone wall, the bullets shattering the window above her but nothing but glass got her. She was glad.
When the bullet rain stopped, it was quite soon, she stood back up, locating him easily enough. He was looking in Ran's direction where she'd just left and looked like he was about to follow her.
As if, bastard.
She shot another arrow in his direction and ducked down, already awaiting another hail of bullets which came soon enough. She crawled to another window and carefully looked through. He was already chasing after Ran but she'd had enough time to hide and Aoko needed to do the same.
"Are you safe?" she spoke into nothing.
"Yeah. We're in the room now. I've closed the door, there is no lock, though and nothing to hide in in this room but I think we should be fine now. I can see him walking in another direction. Let's move soon, Aoko." Ran answered in a silent, tense whisper and Aoko could only agree to this. They needed to get out of here fast. And they needed to not get seen by these people if they wanted to survive in the long run. What good was it if they got out of here but those people killed them later on, anyway?
Call the police and hide, only the seemingly perfect plan failed when another person kicked in the door behind her and only her panic stricken mind had her jump behind a pillar, out of his sight. She tried to stop her breathing as good as she could, trying hard to keep her presence hidden.
She'd never seen this second person on the premises, he must have been hiding all along and she never knew about it. Was there someone else? How many people were there?
Aoko wondered if they'd get out alive.
She wished she could warn Ran but if she even took a breath now, she'd be discovered immediately.
The fireworks seemed to have died down already and it was as silent as before with a needle falling being able to hear. It was scary how little noises were outside here and how much she wished for birds to chirp or the wind to blow – anything really, anything that would hide her breathing, hide her presence from this monster.
She still had the glasses on and she was very glad for the smart professor who even build in a thermal view. She was perfectly able to see where this guy was going and when there was a pillar between them, she jumped to her feet and ran out of the room.
There was no way he wouldn't have found her, especially since she was running out of air and then it was bye bye for her. She heard him cursing and then the hail of bullets started, wheezing past her body – her legs, her arms, her head. She wondered if she'd even realize in her adrenaline induced mind if she was hit.
With the perfect glasses though, Aoko was able to perfectly navigate through rooms and ruins and run down stairs which had deadly holes inside. This whole place was a rundown ruin which just might save her life.
Everything was pitch dark and the guy had to slow down, slow down to make sure where he was walking and where he was shooting only Aoko suddenly started running towards the other guy and damn, she needed to turn another way.
Back on ground level she immediately ran through a narrow hall, her steps echoing way too loudly and she knew he'd hear and he'd follow. At least this way she was able to keep him as far away from Ran as possible.
When suddenly nothing but a dead end, a gigantic hall with no exits awaited her up front, Aoko stopped. She'd been too loud and both guys were just behind her – there was no way back. What now?
Her fear skyrocketed in that moment, seeing the guys in her mind, with their guns raised, posed towards her and then – they'd shoot and she'd feel pain or maybe she'd be instantly dead. She hoped it was the latter.
Still, her fighting spirit wouldn't die until the very end, until she was very well dead and so she hid behind a pillar at the very end of the room, just the other side of the entrance – keeping enough space between her and them. Right now she was at an advantage with her glasses, being able to see in the darkness. They'd take a second to see her standing in the darkness, so before they could she'd have to strike them down. If she was able to do that, shoot the guns out of their hands, restrain them to the wall, anything, she just might get a chance at survival.
She was a good enough shot to actually pull it off.
Holding the bow tightly in her left hand, Aoko leaned against the hard cold pillar behind her. It grounded her, feeling the hard texture through her jacket. She was still alive, still able to feel, to breathe. Her ribs burned in her chest but the pain had her going right now instead of immobilizing her. She hoped it wouldn't hinder her when shooting.
That said, Ran seemed to be talking to someone who wasn't in the room and when the Osakan girl got a grip again, she tried to look find out what was going on. Who was the other person and what the hell was going on here?
"Shit, Aoko! What is going on?! Aoko?!" Ran whispered harshly into the darkness, a fear and panic going through her voice making Kazuha fear with her. What was going on? Who was Aoko? She might have heard this name before but couldn't remember who it belonged to. But this Aoko girl was maybe the person Ran was seeing? Was this Aoko girl the problem? Did she change Ran or got her in some kind of trouble? In this trouble?
"Satou-keiji!" Ran exclaimed in relief, her voice still as silent as possible but with an urge to it. "You have to come here immediately. There are some killers running around. A man was killed. You have to hurry, please. I don't know how long we can hide here."
Ran told the police where they were, in what building they were hiding and Kazuha wholeheartedly hoped they'd arrive in a heartbeat. She thought of calling Heiji too, but was too scared to endanger him to actualy go through with it. Police knew how to handle such a situation, that aho didn't. He did, true but she'd rather not have him here when that guy was as roughless.
"What's going on, Ran-chan?" Kazuha asked silently, fearladen.
"I don't know." She saw Ran shaking her, imagining it was in despair. "I just don't know. They arrived suddenly and killed the man in cold blood. No remorse, no second doubting what they were doing. Those are trained killers. And the haven't killed for the first time."
"Those? What do you mean? There has only been one person, Ran-chan."
Ran shook her head again, keeping her back to Kazuha so she didn't see her face and expression. She'd loved to see what Ran thought about. Sometimes she was that easy to read. "No, there are at least to people and they are both going after Aoko now."
Kazuha stood up shakily. "Who is Aoko?" she asked but it didn't matter either way. It was that person who saved them, right? So they had to make sure to save her now in return. Save her, do something, whichever was fine.
"A friend." Was all Ran replied and Kazuha understood. They needed to move now. They needed to go back for Ran's friend. Those guys, especially if it were two, they needed to be stopped. They were ruthless and dangerous and needed to be stopped right away.
"Let's go Ran-chan, we need to help her now."
Those guys seemed to be on the smart side since both of the were circling her from both sides. It was harder to get them both now, but not impossible. She'd shoot the one first and immediately aim for the other. She'd have to be very fast to shoot the gun out of his hand, chances were she might not make it, a bullet hitting her before the second arrow flew but she had to try. It was her best bet at surviving what looked like a hopeless situation.
She tried to walk as soundlessly as possible. Once her arrow flew and hit its goal, they'd immediately know her position. She had only a millisecond of time to adjust her bow and shoot the second arrow. If she was lucky, he'd just shoot in her direction but not hit her because it was simply pitch black. She hoped he'd disappear behind a pillar before he was able to target her, but at the other side, there were no pillars and besides, it would probably not work out in time anyway.
Stopping in the middle, having left her safety of the stone pillar, Aoko's heart thrummed wildly in her chest, pumping blood through her veins, maybe for the last time.
The guy on the left one moved, she saw his gun clear and then she moved, raising her arm, stretching the bow and shooting. The wheezing sound felt mind numbigly loud to Aoko without hesitation she turned around, just a bare minimun, just the turn of her torso, quickly stretching another arrow and then pain exploded in her chest.
OMG guys this took forever, I'm sorry. Really. Thank you so much for all of your reviews! They kept me up on my toes even though a bad writer's block had me in its tight grip for way too long. Also, life happened and with a full time job and now that I started Japanese classes again, twice a week, I simply do not have much time anymore. I try to write as much as possible, if I'm not stuck with writer's block. I think I overcame it now, so the next chapter should follow soon hopefully. It's 4 am now and I'm tired but happy to present you with a new chapter. Hopefully you liked it.
Reviews are welcome as they keep me motivated and this time I really might update sooner.