A/N: Whoo! The second half of this case and it's shorter than usual, but meh. XD It's still decently sized and goes through all the things with this case. I had a bit of a hard time, since Conan thinks wayyy too much in that episode – 54, for anyone curious. XD – and yeah. (Nods) Anyways, hope you enjoy! ^^
Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan or Magic Kaito in any way or form. Ryukaze Erise is owned by Iriss-sama, but I own her father.
Chapter Twenty Nine
The run to Daikoku building was somewhat far, but it wasn't too far or straining when adrenaline was filling your system. My breath came out in labored huffs and finally, my building of destination came into view. It loomed, several floors were noticeable from the windows visible. I hurried to the entrance, easily going up the stairs before the door before getting into the building. There, at the entrance, I paused to catch my breath, feeling myself sweating. I didn't dare take off my hoodie, though, in fear that there was maybe already a Black Org member around. It just wouldn't do to flaunt my face around.
Once my breath was regular, I headed to the front desk slightly faster than a regular pace. No one seemed to notice, thank goodness. "Um, where's the bar, Cocktail?" I asked, before quickly adding, "My dad told me he'd be there. I need to pick something up from him." My mouth curved into a sweet smile, hoping she would believe me. Despite the hood, it was easy to tell I was underage to drink, let alone be in a bar. The woman eyed me for a moment before giving me a smile, "It's on the twentieth floor, to the right side."
"Thanks."
Nodding my head to the woman, I headed to the elevator, quickly pressing the button to the twentieth floor before anyone could join me in it. The doors shut gently and the floor jolted before I started ascending. I glanced behind me, mesmerized by the view of the ground slowly growing further away. It was quiet for a while before I turned back to the front, to watch the doors. They were surrounded by a shade of gold paint and I chuckled to myself.
"Hey, Kin-chan, do you think we'll find anything valuable?" I hummed, rocking on my heels, knowing I wouldn't get a reply.
After a while, the elevator finally chimed, announcing my arrival. I held my breath as I walked out of the elevator shaft, almost expecting an explosion already. I waited a moment before releasing a large sigh. Stupid, the explosion wouldn't occur yet. It'd happen when Conan rushed to the tops of the building for evidence – I still had quite some time; I'd seen this episode enough times to gauge the right time percentage. Glancing to my right, I started in that direction, scanning the signs of the places.
Almost immediately, one sign had 'COCKTAIL BAR' written on it elegantly. My brows furrowed in distaste as I tried to peer into the blacked-out windows. Nothing. I couldn't see through them. Frustration filled my chest before I decided to just go for it – with my hand poised, I pushed the door open and strode in confidently. The bell on the door jingled at my arrival. Goodness, I hope no one stops me for being under aged…
The bar was small and the lighting was dim, giving off a classical – but somewhat mysterious – vibe to the whole place. There was some tables off to the side and the whole left of the bar was filled with several alcoholic beverages. Bottles of brandy, whiskey, vodka, gin, and beer racked the shelves connected to the wall, all the way up to the low ceiling; the actual bar right in front of it, a bartender behind it. The smell of cigarettes and liquor filled the air, making me feel out of place. This definitely wasn't the type of atmosphere welcoming to a kid like me; I wasn't a delinquent, after all.
I made my way over to the bar counter, sliding into one of the nearby stools. The bartender focused on me with a stern glare and I felt a bead of sweat roll down my neck. Haha… "Not much customers, huh?" I began, eyes scanning the room. Now that I thought about it, nobody was here. That was a bit strange, I mused. "Sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you could offer me some information about two particular customers." My smile was a bit strained, trying to keep as possible. I just wasn't a polite person by nature, I think.
The bartender raised a brow, "So you aren't here to drink, kid?" I chuckled, waving my hand in denial. "No, no. I don't drink, I'm too young to." The man stared at me for a moment, eyes darting over to Kin for a moment, before focusing once more on me. He opened his mouth to speak, "What two customers?" I barely kept a grin at bay. Bingo~!
"A big, darker skinned, man, about yay-big." My hand came up to the appropriate height, "He speaks Kansai-ben, like me, and his companion was a shorter, lighter skinned, man with short curly brown hair." I described and watched the man's eyes spark with knowledge. Good, he knew them. "Yeah, I know the two." He started, beginning to shine a wine glass. My eyebrow twitched. I could feel a 'but' coming on here. True to my suspicions, the next words were, "But…Why do you need to know about them?" His voice was questioning, slightly muffled as he chewed on tobacco (at the moment I realized that, I felt the need to turn tail and run away; this bartender was getting kind of shady ((both him and his questions))).
My tongue clicked against the roof of my mouth and I leaned on my fist, resting my elbow on the counter. My eyes were drawn to the door, wondering if someone was going to come soon. Maybe I could just slip out when the bartender was busy. But, no such luck yet. Damn. "It might be hard to believe, but the big guy is my dad. I'm checking out all his associates, since my mother thinks he's cheating." The white lie slipped off my tongue easily and I nearly choked with laughter. Me and my big mouth when it comes to intense situations; my first reaction is either run or lie – how sad.
The man smiled wickedly, as if he had caught me. I returned it with a bored look, feeling myself tense. "If your mother thinks he's cheating, shouldn't you be checking all his female companions?" His tone was irritating and Kin hissed at him, now back on my shoulder since I wasn't running like a maniac anymore. My lips curved into a smirk, giving him a pointed look. "Who says my dad has only one preference?" The look on my face was sly and devious, just a tad suggesting and I saw the man almost choke on his tobacco before he turned to regain his composure. The tobacco was spit out into the garbage. A moment later, he turned back to me.
"…I see." He swallowed thickly. "W-Well, they didn't seem to be that type of associates. You father was always talking in a low tone about some list of computer programmers. They'd meet up here, have a drink, and talk about available dates. To tell the truth, they were both kind of shady." He finally let the information go and I nodded to myself. Okay, nothing I didn't already know. I grinned at him, "Thanks, you've been a big help!"
He nodded, finally placing the thoroughly cleaned wine glass back down on the smooth countertop. "Anything else you need, kid?"
I bite my lip, wondering if I could get him to leave the bar. I didn't want him to become molecule dust, after all, and this place was set to blow. Truthfully, I didn't know if the bomb was set yet, either. For all I knew, the bomb could be ticking away right next to us. …Well. Wasn't that a disturbing thought? Stop freaking yourself out! "Erm, not really... Ah!" I suddenly yelped, pointing behind him to the rows and rows of alcohol. My hand swiftly made its way into my bag, searching for the cool touch of a hairspray can. When the man was searching for whatever had 'startled' me, back turned to me, my hand grasped the metal can.
"You're a really nice person, despite your suspicious demeanor…" I trailed and the man blinked before turning back to me, only to get a quick spray of sleeping gas in his face, courtesy of the hairspray can. He took in a surprised breath before his eyes rolled back and he fell to the ground with a loud thud, head lolling to the side. "…So, sorry for being so rough with you." I apologized halfheartedly, even though he couldn't hear me anymore. With no haste, I put the can back into my bag, got up from my stool and hurried around the bar counter, kneeling beside him.
Kin gave me a look, one that obviously translated into something like 'why the heck did you knock him out?'. My grin was sheepish as I grabbed the man's arm and hulled him up to rest against my shoulder, getting ready to drag him out of the room. "How else was I supposed to get him out of here, Kin-chan? 'Oh, also, you may want to leave your bar, if you don't want to die'?" I retorted, weighed down by the heavier man. I blinked as I spotted a family photo in the corner of the bar, the bartender in the picture with a little girl on his lap and who – I'm assuming – was his wife, sitting next to him. They all looked really happy…
Groaning, I deadpanned. Damn it… "Kin-chan, get the photo." My chin jerked to said picture and Kin jumped onto the counter, sauntering over and knocking it right off the table. I hurried to catch and gave him a glare for good measure before putting the picture into my bag. "Okay, let's go." With that said, I braced myself to stand with the man's weight, but before I could, a sound stopped me short.
The bell on the door jingled, announcing another arrival.
Well, shoot.
Couldn't I ever make a clean getaway?
Startled, the man slipped from my grip and hit the floor once more, making little noise. I held my breath and got on my knees, crawling over to the opening edge of the counter that was currently concealing me, Kin, and the sleeping, unaware, bartender. If it had been the time for it, I would have joked about it being a disgrace to sleep on the job, but now wasn't exactly the right time for that. I poked my head from the side to check who it was and sucked in a silent, sharp, breath as I quickly hid behind the counter again.
Black coat, black hat, sinister demeanor.
Yeaahhh…I definitely wasn't getting that clean getaway.
"Hm. There's nobody hear." His voice was gruff, but there was an underlying sound that gave away that he was talking like that on purpose. He probably actually had a pretty smooth voice, but wanted to sound more manly. My heart jumped as he walked closer, boots thudding on the floor noisily. I huddled closer to the counter, trying to become one with it, while I pulled the man a bit closer, as well. Kin stayed where he was, obviously not frightened of the approaching Black Organization member. I swear, for an animal, he had no survival instinct. At all.
"Oh well, makes my job easier, I guess." He continued to speak to himself. I was getting the feeling that this guy was, either, a new member or a complete amateur. He just had this kind of clumsiness about him; talking to himself, his clothes, heck, his voice! Not lingering on the details, though, I waited for him to move. All I could do was hope and pray that he didn't come behind the counter and spot us three indiscrete people. My hand inched into my bag and I once again grabbed the can of sleeping gas. Just in case, I thought to myself.
A stool squeaked, telling me he had taken a seat and I grinned to myself. Sounds of metal clacking and the smell of gunpowder filled the silent room. I don't know how long I just sat there, pressed against the counter, but suddenly, he stood. "There we go. This should destroy the whole place." He chuckled deeply – again, imitating a deeper voice he didn't have naturally – and there was a brief click noise before the sound of ticking resounded. The bomb was set.
His shoes thudded, about to disappear out the door, but they suddenly stopped. I heard him give another deep laugh before his shoes thudded closer. Shit. "For my good work, I will reward myself with some booze." I rolled my eyes in a panicked frenzy. I was going to get caught because of alcohol by an organization that has alcoholic codenames! The world must be playing some cosmic joke on me! This just wasn't fair!
I bit my lip harshly, my eyes screwed shut tightly.
I don't want to die…!
My hope of surviving was dwindling as he got closer and closer and finally, he turned the corner, obvious by the startled sound that came from the next to me. I curled into myself, waiting for something – anything – to happen to me, when suddenly I felt a wind breeze past me. "What the he–!" He shouted, but he was cut off, starting to give a girlish high-pitched scream. My eyes stayed close for a minute of silence, disturbed the shout had been cut off. Building up my courage, I swallowed thickly before peeking over my arms.
There the man lay, knocked out on the wood floor of the bar, his head bleeding a bit from a wound. Shocked, I wandered closer, wondering what happened, before checking his pulse. An steady beat met my touch and I sighed in relief. Good, he wasn't dead. But…what happened to him? I glanced around quickly, looking for any other assailants, seeing none in sight. I just stood there for a moment, shocked, and then I crouched next to him. My finger poked his cheek, a Cheshire grin spreading across my face.
"He's out cold, Kin-chan~" I crowed happily, my hands beginning to raid his pockets. If he had something on him, it could be useful information. My hands had come across cigarette packs, a lighter, and his wallet – which I had rummaged through, only to figure out that he didn't have an ID and nothing useful – and I almost rejoiced when my hands brushed against something hard and square. Slowly, I pulled it out of the inner pocket of his jacket, revealing the edge more and more.
When it was revealed, I almost felt like stuffing it back into the jacket. A black CD was put neatly into its coverless case. Written in black sharpie, handwriting scraggly, on the cover was NOCs. NOC. Non-official cover. My eyes darted to the man's unkempt face. Why did he have something like this? Something so obvious to his affiliation with the organization. I deadpanned. Yup, definitely an amateur, but not a newbie. They would never give a newbie this information. With his personality, I'm surprised they gave it to him at all.
Not one to linger on an enemy's personal effect, though, I brought it closer and unzipped my sweater, stuffing it into the hidden pocket there. Truth be told, my favorite feature of this certain sweater was the hidden pocket; it was the only sweater that I had with one and I was glad I had worn it today. It kind of made me feel like a spy. "Is this your insurance? Sorry, but I'll be taking it~!" I smirked down at the man, unrepentant, before taking a look at the ticking time bomb on the counter. I still had time to move the bodies and get back to the hotel before it exploded. Good.
I hurried to the bartender, heaving him up and dragging him across the bar to the door. I poked my head out to make sure no one was there before going out and dragging him further down the hall, to a place safe enough. He slumped against the wall, looking a bit uncomfortable, but I didn't bother to fix his position. Heading back into the bar, I saw Kin-chan batting at the Black Organization member's arm playfully. Well, seems we had the same opinions on the guy now.
He was definitely just a loser, living a life of bum crime.
Sighing, I heaved him up, arms under both of his armpits and his legs dragged across the wood floor as I took him out of the bar, the brighter light assaulted my eyes once more. Staying in a dim place for so long really did its toll. I dragged him to the other side of the hall, putting him and the bartender at opposite ends, just in case. Who knows if Blackie would go bat crazy when he woke up, right?
I dropped him rather unceremoniously to the ground (I may or may not have huffed, "Be thankful I didn't leave you in there…jerk.") before heading back to the bar, where Kin still was. My head peeped into the room and I beckoned the black cat over with a wave, "Come on, Kin-chan. We should probably get back to Erise-chan." He ran over, latching onto my arm with his claw and crawling skillfully back up to my shoulder. Okay, then, all that's left is…
Glancing around the dim, empty, bar once more and taking a long look at the bomb on the counter, I finally grabbed the sign hanging on the door, turning it from the 'OPEN' side to 'CLOSED'. With that, I closed the door behind me and passing the bartender, dug into my bag and gave him his photo back. Feeling like my job was done, I headed back into the elevator, pressing the 'lobby' button. The door dinged as it closed with a finalistic click.
ooOOoo
I walked back into the Beika hotel, spotting Erise within the crowd. She, apparently, had spotted me first, already walking over to me, despite the deduction already going on. She smiled at me, "You're back. Where'd you go?" She questioned curiously and I grinned nervously, scratching my cheek. "Ah, it was nowhere important. I just needed to run an errand, is all." She pouted at my vague answer, "There you go again with your secrecy. I swear, if I didn't know better, you'd be a secret agent working on a mission." She whined.
I laughed, slinging an arm around her shoulder. "Don't worry, don't worry~! If I was a secret agent, I'd be dead by now." Not completely untrue.
Kin skillfully stayed on one shoulder, sniffing at my hair, and we wandered to the back of the group, listening in to the deduction. "…making it difficult to swap tokens unnoticed. That's why Takeshita-san cut in between me and Ran. He wanted to get a 90-something number like Nakajima-san." Kogoro – no, Conan – explained, knocked out against the wall. There was a big dent behind his head and I gave him a sympathetic look, knowing that it had been done by Ran's karate. Geez, that's one powerful kick…
"But do you have any evidence?" Megure-keibu questioned, looking down at the prone detective.
"Yes." He answered. And of course he had proof – he was the Heisei Holmes, after all, even if they didn't know that. "The case Takeshita-san is carrying now is the one Nakajima-san intended to give to the big guy." I'm guessing Takeshita was the wimpy guy from before, judging by his paling face. He continued, "I'm sure the key found at the scene is of the explosion will fit perfectly. What's more, the case that exploded was an original Mantendo case. If you check the cases of all the Mantendo employees here today, I think you'll find that only Takeshita-san's case is missing. His case has been blown to bits."
Wow, it must have taken me long to do the Cocktail bar thing than I thought. The deduction was almost over. An unnerving smile appeared on the wimpy man's – Takeshita's – face and Nakajima's face was covered with disbelief as he stared at his coworker. "Hmph, I can't believe it. To think, that explosion was caused by my bomb. I went through all the trouble to make it look like a terrorist's acts, but it turned out to be a waste of time." He said, almost calmly. It was a bit disturbing. Okay, Glasses, you have officially been name-changed to Creepy.
"T-Takeshita…"
Suddenly, Creeper lunged at Nakajima, grabbing his collar and yelling into his face in rage, "Yeah! You're the one who was supposed to die! You killed Yoshimi!" Two officers pried him off the frightened Nakajima. Megure turned to the other two Mantendo workers, ignoring Creeper's outburst. "Yoshimi?" The unnamed man, the one who had punched the punching game first, spoke up, "She was the manager of the university boxing team we were all in. After she was dumped by Nakajima, she committed suicide."
"Suicide?" The inspector asked. The unnamed man continued to answer, "Yoshimi had been going out with Takeshita since junior high school. Maybe that's why…," Creeper just continued his various struggles as he was escorted out of the building, Nakajima stared at him. It sort of looked like a scene of a dysfunctional family, but the police uniforms and company outfits broke the image. Despite the 'pure' reason for his act, I couldn't sympathize or empathize with him. It was both their faults, really.
"Well, you've had a lucky escape, Nakajima-san." Everyone looked back to the Kogoro, who was still out cold, at the proclamation. "Let's move on to the main issue." Way not to give yourself away, Shinichi, I deadpanned, glancing at Erise to find her completely entrap with the deduction. Her clear blue eyes sparkled with interest, though she was frowning. Can't blame her, though. Someone had been killed, after all.
"Who was the big guy dressed in black you made the exchange with?" The tone was no-nonsense, sharp and to the point. "W-Well...," "Now that you've messed up the deal, his crime syndicate will be targeting you." Kogoro went on and Megure spluttered, "S-Syndicate?!" The question was ignored as the Shinichi kept fishing for information, "Confessing everything in return for police protection would be prudent." It almost sounded like a threat and Erise leaned forward to hear better from underneath my arm.
"I-I really don't know anything about it! Just that the place to meet him was always the same – a bar called Cocktail on the top floor of the Daikoku building in Beika Town." Nakajima spilled and I let out a sigh of relief. Okay, good, it had been the right place. Sure, there was a man in black there who had set a bomb, but who was to say that it was just some other, random, criminal who planned on bombing some place called Cocktail at the top of a building called Daikoku. Well…Actually, the odds were pretty low…
Megure kneeled in front of his fallen friend, "Oi, Mouri-kun, what's this about a syndicate? Hey." He began to shake the unconscious man's shoulder, trying to get an answer. Unseen to everyone else, I spotted Conan running out from behind the wall discretely, heading through the flood of people and out the door while Kogoro finally woke up. When his figure disappeared from my view, I smirked to myself.
Sorry, Shinichi, this one's mine for the taking.
Inside my inner pocket, I could feel the CD resting patiently and internally, I moved forward a black pawn on my imaginary chessboard.
ooOOoo
"Well, that was fun~!" Erise finally hummed as all three of us – her dad, herself, and I – headed out of the building (I had already snucked away from Erise for a moment to get 'Watanabe Midori's' cellphone back from Megure), the convention over due to the crime. I nodded, "Yeah, it was fun. The games they had were really cool." Her dad smiled proudly as we continued down the street. We headed to a parking lot and I saw her dad pull his keys from his pocket. "I'm glad you two enjoyed it. Do you need a ride home, Koizumi-san?"
I blinked at the offer before waving it off gently, "Nah, I'm good. I think I'll walk. Thank you, though." He nodded briefly, unlocking his car and Erise turned to me, wrapping me in an unexpected hug. Shock kept me from hugging her back before I awkwardly patted her softly. I ignored Kin's jealous hiss as he wrapped around my legs, keeping me from moving. Finally, she pulled back to smile at me. "Thanks for coming with me even though you had errands, Midori-chan."
"A-Ah, no problem…,"
"Well, then. See ya~!" She waved, hopping into the passenger seat of the car and the two of them drove off. I stood there a moment longer before crouching down to pick up Kin, who immediately latched onto me like a deprived man would a sandwich. Rolling my eyes and starting to walk home (though, I'd stop at a bathroom to change back to Alice before going there), I hummed a tune lightly, feeling incredibly happy with my success with today's unexpected ventures.
Who said the Black Organization ruined everything?
In the distance, I heard an explosion and couldn't help but laugh to myself.
Review Replies:
To: Iriss-sama – Wow! You're fast to review! XD I remember that I was waiting for reviews and then yours came in not to later. I was, like, so happy~! XD And I'm glad~! ^^ Thank you. XD I like to write about her getting in trouble a lot and putting herself into the "fun" is just one of her oddities. XD And yup, Conan finally met Midori! 8DDD Yup, Erise's father. I had fun making him. XD Hopefully, I'll get to make her mother sometie in the future, too. Ahh, gender problems, how I love you~! (Laughs) I like making my friends and family read fanfics I like, too. XD Then, I can talk about them with them and it makes it fun to discuss. Thank you~! (Sews Luck into pillow) ((Lucky pillow~ XD))
To: Kudo Shinichi Tanteisan – (Laughs) Yeah, I do. XDDD And that's good – I'm glad I didn't explain it too horridly. XD Thank you~! (Grins as snowflakes fall and eats cyber cookie)
To: MagicMilkbone – Welcome back, MagicMilkbone-san~! It's okay. XD We all get busy with life and other things at times. ^^ Yay~! I'm glad you think he's adorable~! Cats and dogs are both awesome! *hearts* They're both cute, too. XD I was having a hard time deciding whether Kin should be a dog or a cat, but I decided with cat, just because they're more…portable (?), I guess…? (Shrugs) I dunno. XD Annddd, perhapps~ (Avoids question) XD And maybe~ (Dodges sentence) XDDD Will do~! And yup! Black cats have a lot of history behind them and while they're believed to bring bad luck to most Western people, other countries believe they're good luck or that they're both good and bad luck depending on the situation. In Japan, they're thought to be good luck, but since Midori/Alice is actually from a Western country, she still labels him as 'bad luck', though she doesn't believe in the superstitions, only jokes about it from time to time. XD Woah, long rant. (Laughs) Sorry about that. I just think it's interesting, is all. XD
-Hope you enjoyed this case! I had fun writing it, but it seems shorter than usual… XD;;;