A/N: This was fun, but slightly aggravating to write at the end. There was so much explaining! XDDD Oh well. Enjoy? ^^
Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan or Magic Kaito in any way or form.
Chapter Thirty Three
The rain outside was pouring, crashing down on the windows and ground like a rhythmic symphony of hooves. The sky was dark and gloomy, reflecting the atmosphere of the room we were all in. Ran, Conan, and I all stared out the windows, taking in the sight; it was nice to see a thunderstorm again after so long. I had kind of missed them. Thunder roared in the distance, breaking the silence. "It's pouring…," Ran commented.
"If this weather continues, it won't be easy to leave even when morning comes." Maria agreed in a roundabout fashion. "We've been up all night and my stomach's empty." Kogoro grumbled, staring out at the rain broodingly. Attention was brought to the maid as she asked, "Shall I bring out some refreshments?" Ran turned, "I'll help."
"I'll go, too." Ikuo said, pointing to himself, "We shouldn't let the woman go by themselves." Boyfriend chose that moment to stand from his chair, where he'd been 'miserable'. "Me too." Well, then. I hurried to stand up straight from my position leaning against the wall, following them out, "Oh, I'll go, too~!" We all headed out of the room in our small group, and I was practically skipping, having already come up with a – pretty lame – way of attack.
ooOOoo
We had just been walking back into the room, beverages all ready, when Heiji's loud voice yelled out, "It's because of lousy detectives like you that cases go unsolved!" Kogoro was in the direct line of his vindictive eyes, so it was easy to tell exactly who he was talking about. He was cut off by Ran. "How rude of you!" They both jumped at her voice, startled by her appearance. Wide eyes turned to her as she continued walking to the table, holding a tray of cups, Ikuo also holding one as he walked behind her. "Lately, dad's been solving all of his cases." She placed the tray on the table with a small clatter, glasses clinking together. "And because he looks like he's sleeping when he does his reasoning, he's been given the nickname 'Sleeping Kogoro'."
Hands upon her hips, she turned to look at her father, "Isn't that right, dad?"
Something clicked to Heiji as his eyes widened just the slightest, "Sleeping?" A sharp grin found its way onto my lips and I followed them slowly – unnoticeably – as Heiji rounded the table, grabbing Ran's arm along the way and bringing her to a corner in the room. "When your old man does his reasoning, where is he?" He questioned in a hush voice, Conan creeping up by his side to hear the conversation. His voice was dim, but gradually got louder as I came to stand on his right side, while Conan was at his left.
"'He'?" Ran was obviously confused and Heiji lifted his hand, covering one side of his mouth and leaving his lips hidden from my view. Not that it would help, I could hear what he was saying from my spot next to him. He wasn't a very good whisperer. "The one who sticks to you like glue – this kid." Conan was hauled from his spot on the floor, looking incredibly nervous and I blinked, hiding a loud laugh behind my hand, moving a bit away from the small group, as Boyfriend took a drink from his cup. Immediately, his face scrunched up and he was quick to spit it back, confused as he gazed down on his drink, still looking disgusted. That's what happens when you put four teaspoons of salt into water, I laughed internally.
Redirecting my attention, I turned back to the three that were somewhat far from me now. "Conan-kun? Come to think of it, he's never around." Heiji almost looked like he won the jackpot, "Really?" Conan looked like someone has just run over his dog. "Yeah, but sometimes he appears from behind dad and helps solve the case." Ran continued, oblivious to Conan's frantic flails. "From behind?" Heiji and Conan locked eyes as they glanced to each other – one paler than usual and the other smirking like a cat that had just eaten a canary. "Oh~ help from behind, do you?"
"I like playing detective!" His cover up was lameness at its best.
Suddenly, the lights when off with a click. I blinked, my eyes adjusting to the darkness swiftly. "A-A black out?" Heiji called out, his silhouette stark against the shadows casted from the outside, lighting the room vaguely. "Could it be the lightening?" Ran asked, tone worried and perhaps a tad frightened. "No, it was just a fuse!" The maid answered from somewhere, as I couldn't pinpoint her. I shuffled forwards a bit before stopping short, a warm body trying to climb up my leg, claws leaving deep scratches upon the skin below the fabric of my pants.
"K-Kin-chan?" I voiced, startled as vivid, glowing eyes stared up at me from below, looking very much like something out of a horror film. Swallowing my apprehension, I quickly crouched and picked up the small cat, ignoring the pain that tingled in my side. Darn, that was going to be troublesome later, I just knew it. "Let's go and fix the circuit breaker." Mouri suggested. "Damn, at a time like this…," Someone grumbled from in front of me and I could vaguely tell it was Fujisawa by his bitter tone.
A burst of light blinded me, my eyes dilating at the sudden fire – Fujisawa had just opened his lighter, the small flame flickering and brightening the space around him. He walked forward and I sighed as he said, "Here, maid-san, let's use this light." I watched his form, waiting for it to be tackled to the ground as he was attacked, but instead, I found myself tumbling to the ground along with two other people. "What the–Ah!" My query was cut off as Kin startled, his claws accidently digging into my neck and cheek as something dug into my arm quite painfully.
"What is it?! What happened?!" Kogoro called and the sound of glass shattering echoed loudly through the room. "W-What was that sound?!" "The glass…," "Maid-san!" "Hurry with the lights!" Within that chaos, I finally realized what had happened and I clutched my arm, glaring daggers at nothing. Oh, Boyfriend, this is a direct challenge, you fool.
A choked groan left me as I curled into myself, the pain finally registering. Damn it, this hurts like a gentleman!
Once again, I was blinded as the lights overhead flashed on and my eyes shut against the onslaught of brightness. "Watanabe-san! How…" Kogoro's voice was as gruff as always, but it brought my mind off the pain and I cracked an eye open slowly, looking down at Heiji and Conan, who were finally relieving me of their heavy weight. "Dad!" The older Mouri's attention was stolen by his daughter, "The window glass…!" I sat up, Kin still clinging to my neck and cheek like a lifeline. I really hope that doesn't mark…
"Damn! They fled through the window!"
By the triumphant smirks adorning both of the younger detectives' faces, I could tell they had figured out the trick to it all. A faint smirk shadowed my lips as I looked at them before I gazed down at my newly acquired wound once more and to Kin, who had finally released me from his claws, small wounds inflicted by him, to my side, which still ached.
…This is ridiculous…
ooOOoo
I had taken a seat at the table, the ice pick now out of my arm – that had been painful – and was currently glaring at Boyfriend beneath my lashes. Conan and Ran stood next to my chair and Heiji was leaning against the wall in the corner. I felt completely awkward with all the attention on me; seriously, the wound wasn't even deep, Boyfriend hadn't gotten a good thrust, due to Heiji and Conan's intervention. I would live and it actually didn't hurt as much when the weapon wasn't protruding from my arm. I was seriously starting to worry about what I'd be telling Kaito when I got home. 'Oh, sorry, I didn't actually go with Akako on a trip, instead I went to a Holmes convention, where two people were murdered and I got hurt trying to get into a car while the other time, I'd been attacked by the murderer, don't worry'? Yeah, I don't think so…
"Who could have done this?!" The maid shouted, tone frightened. I tuned out the conversation as Kogoro began to spew his theories about the owner being the murderer, instead focusing on my thoughts.
The questioned was…why did Boyfriend attack me instead? He'd be scheduled to attack Fujisawa, not me. There wasn't even a reason to attack me; I was just another participant of the tour. What could have possible driven him to…wait a minute. Did he know that I knew he was the murderer? That would definitely explain why he tried to kill me – two can keep a secret if one is dead, after all – but then when would he killed Fujisawa? This attack had been unplanned and a fourth one would be pushing it. It'd be too risky. Hm…
But, it was possible that he would still attack Fujisawa; and since it'd be different from the original storyline – fate-line? – then he could actually be killed. It could be very well that my being here just screwed up the whole thing. Well, don't I feel like a home wrecker now…
"You're wasting your time." Heiji's voice sliced through my thoughts and I blinked, realizing Kogoro had made his way to the window, about to pursue the owner. Kin's tail flicked in amusement, brushing against my leg, from his place under my chair as I let out an amused huff of air. "You can search all you want, but you won't find the culprit." The Osakan walked forward, about to explain, before I cut him off with an aggravated sigh, chancing a glance at Boyfriend. Sending him a smirk, which obviously unnerved him by the drop of sweat rolling down his cheek, I decided to speed up the process of this a bit.
Answering to the older Mouri's 'what?', I began. "He's still in this room. The culprit is." I grinned wickedly at the shocked silence. I flexed my arm, glad that no muscles had been injured in Boyfriend's impromptu attack on me; seriously, if he had done permanent damage, I would drag him down to Akako's house and give him as a gift to her demon butler! My inner, admittedly malicious, thoughts weren't shown through as I continued. "You can tell by the chair angled oddly at the other end of the table. It was crammed in there hurriedly and there are even shards of glass sticking out of it. You wouldn't bother putting the chair back, unless you wanted it to look like an outside job."
Stares. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea… "U-Uh, that's what Heiji-han told me, anyways!" I laughed nervously, ruffling my hair as I avoided the blue-green eyes giving me a suspicious look. Not good, not good, not good, not good…
The silence was broken when Heiji picked up 'his' deduction, toning down the oddly configured smile he'd given me, as if he'd figured out a secret. Shoot; I was pretty much screwed now, huh? "When the culprit broke the window, he probably held the chair with his bare hands. He wanted to wipe his fingerprints off, but it was too dark. So, to hide the fact that he used the chair, he put it back. When the lights came back on, he wiped off his fingerprints when no one was looking."
"W-When the lights came on?" Ikuo asked.
"Hold on a minute. We were the only people in the room at that moment…," Maria trailed worriedly. Heiji turned his head to regard everyone, "That's right. Is it clear to you now that the owner isn't the culprit? That means the culprit is here among us!" He announced, eyes scanning everyone. Regarding their expressions, they varied from frightened to angry (I'm sure you know who that was) to worry. "Maid-san," Kogoro began, "When the lights went out, didn't you tell us that a fuse had blown out?" The maid nodded in affirmation. "Yes. When I tried to plug in the coffee maker, there was a sudden spark." She explained.
With the fuse in mind, we all headed out to the kitchen to survey the coffee maker plug. I scooped up Kin on my way, wanting him closer due to all the moving feet. I could only imagine the ruckus he would make if someone stepped on his tail…
ooOOoo
"See!" The maid exclaimed. She pointed a slim finger to the outlet, one being used at the moment and the one at the top fried a black char color. "It's this outlet right here."
Heiji picked up the plug that had short circuited with a handkerchief, observing it closely. "It looks like someone wrapped a thin wire around the plug, so that it would cause a short circuit when plugged in." He presented the equally charred plug to Kogoro, who then took it to examine himself. Conan shuffled around in the back of him, shifting through the things on a table. "Hmm…But where did the culprit get the wire?" The older Mouri questioned.
Conan turned on cue, sweet smile on his face and holding something up, "Is this it? The label on the coffee maker has a wire on it." The tagged label was handed over to the Sleeping Kogoro, "Indeed, the thickness and length are just right." "Who opened the coffee?" Heiji asked. The maid glanced back at Boyfriend, Ikuo, and I, who were lingering near the doorway. "Kawatsu-san, Toganou-san, and Watanabe-san." She answered curtly. My gaze flickered to the two beside me, ignoring the need to poke and prod at my wound. It was a bad habit of mine; if I had a bruise, I poked it, and if I had a scrap, I'd prod at it. A morbid curiosity of pain, I suppose. I wasn't exactly sure what it was.
When Mouri gave a small, triumphant, laugh, I almost felt like just laying out everything so that we didn't have to waste any more time, but something would happen in this kitchen that leads Heiji to his big 'is-Conan-actually-Kudou-Shinichi?' theory. So I let it slide as he started, "It's all clear now. That means you're the culprit Kawatsu-san." Ikuo immediately held his hands up in defense, sweating slightly. "J-Just a moment! There were four other people in the kitchen at that time!"
"You fool!" Kogoro cut him off, getting all up in his face. "Those other four have alibis for the first incident! You wrapped the wire on the plug while the other four weren't looking. You came back to the living room and waited for the blackout; then, in the darkness, you attacked Watanabe-san with an ice pick you had brought from the kitchen, using the faint light from Fujisawa-san's lighter and her cat's eyes as a guide. However, you encountered some unexpected obstacles and failed in killing her." The older detective turned to Heiji, "Hey, isn't that right?"
"Yeah…you're right about that much, but something doesn't seem to fit." Again, his gut feeling was amazing. He'd be a hard opponent, for sure; one to tread carefully around. He looked down at Conan, "Right, kid?"
Heiji's plan worked as Conan was too into the whole deduction and unraveling of the case that he wasn't bothering to put up his little kid façade. It was good to know that I wasn't the only one to do that. "Yeah, unlike the first and second cases, when Watanabe-san was attacked, the culprit was careless and left clues. It could be that he had not originally planned for the third case." His hand was on his chin and his tone was so serious and from my point in Midori's body, I was getting an odd sense of vertigo, like the world was becoming smaller and bigger. He knocked out of his trance-like state, noticing the stares, "Huh?"
"Conan-kun!" Ran gasped out and the shrunken Heisei Holmes was quick to compensate, reaching up to scratch the back of his head sheepishly. "But, I'm a kid, so I don't really know…," He laughed out slowly as Ran came up to his side, "Don't pay any attention to him, he just likes playing detective. Come with me." She apologized before whispering the last part to her young charge, pulling him off to another part of the room. Heiji stared after them, his thoughts whizzing through his eyes.
After a moment, I made my way up to his side and spoke up in a hushed voice after a while, "Strange kid, don't you think? …He must be hiding something." A grin spread across my face as he looked towards me, "Wanna ascertain our theories together~? We can catch the murderer at the same time, too~!" I hummed, a plan forming in my head.
Heiji stared before, slowly, a smirk formed on his face, too.
"What's your plan, Midori-han?" I blinked at the honorific being added again, but shrugged it off. "And I presume that you know the culprit already?"
"Why, of course, Sir Hattori~!" Mimicking a curtsey, my grin sharpened a fraction when I knew he couldn't see my expression.
Bingo~!
ooOOoo
We all walked back into main room and Maria spoke up, "But, isn't it strange, tantei-san?" Heads turned to her, "If Kawatsu-san really in the culprit, how would you explain how he started the fire in the second incident? Also, they said that the owner's car sped up on its own before it fell off the cliff in the first incident." Ikuo turned to Mouri, "E-Exactly!"
Heiji and I walked in side-by-side, "That's right." My companion intoned, "I have the second case mostly solved, but I'm still in the dark about the first." Our plan was already being put into motion and I held back a smile. The others' faces at the proclamation were hilarious; all shocked and surprised. "What?! You figured out how the fire was lit in the garage?" Maria gasped.
"Well, yeah." Heiji replied, quite modestly, hands in pocket. "Anyways, there are four things that are confusing me about the first case: why the owner was missing for an entire day; how the car suddenly sped up; the odd sound inside the car; and the blanket on the dashboard." Of course, he already knew all these things, since we'd compared theories and knowledge (though, I hadn't confirmed anything, so he was still technically solving the mystery). "And there's another point I failed to realize before: the owner was gripping the steering wheel tightly. Even though the road was bumpy, he managed to maintain his posture. That means by the time the owner was placed in the car, he was already dead, and rigor mortis had set in."
"R-Rigor mortis?"
"The human body begins to stiffen thirty minutes to two hours after death, and by nine to twelve hours, becomes entirely stiff. The stiffness continues until thirty hours after death, at which point, it gradually becomes limp again seventy hours after death." Heiji used his hand, clenching his hand and making it go limp as example. "If the owner's body was completely stiff at 3:30 AM, that means he was killed between 3:30 PM to 6:30 PM the previous day. In other words, sometime before dinner." Boyfriend's face was getting a bit pale as he stared at the Detective of the West. Heiji brought his hand to his chin. "What I don't understand is why the culprit felt it necessary to put him in the car so early."
"Maybe he wanted it to look like suicide." Boyfriend suggested and I rolled my eyes. Of course you'd know, buddy. "The culprit murdered the owner before dinner and put him in the car. He then secured the owner's hands on the steering wheel and waited until rigor mortis set in. After dinner, the culprit went to the garage to start the car. In other words, the culprit must be one of you who left after dinner."
"Hey, now! You can't be so sure of that~!" I intervened, 'scolding' him lightly.
"Exactly. Then, why did the car speed up?" Maria countered. "It's not like a dead body could move on its own." Ikuo added. From the corner of my eyes, I watched Conan and Heiji have a revelation in synch. It was strange, but very interesting, to watch. They both smirked and I knew the culprit had been figured out completely.
"The culprit's identity…," Kogoro cut through the silence, making the two younger detective's surprised. "I know it!" He pointed a figure to the familiar, plump, woman in the room. "Yes, you are the culprit, fortune-teller Toda Maria-san!" As expected, she didn't react so well to the accusation. "W-What are you saying?!" Despite her tone, he only pushed forward. "You hypnotized the owner and made him drive the car off the cliff!" Heiji and Conan deadpanned, utterly unimpressed and I may have snorted in amusement.
My attention was captured by Conan's sugar-laced tone, "Hey, what happens to the body's rigor mortis if the temperature is raised? Does it happen faster? If that's the case, it's easy to solve, right?" Nice try, Shin-chan~!
Heiji looked at him a while longer before smiling, "I'm stupid, so I have no idea what you're talking about~" He crowed, making Conan's face dim in disappointment before he turned away to show an irritated expression. Then, he turned to me, smiling once more, "Don't you know, Midori-oneesan? You're really smart!" Putting on my own version of Kaito's pokerface, I shook my head in faked disappointment. "Sorry, Conan-kun, but I don't know. I'm not exactly a fan of the whole detective fandom enough to know things like that." Internally, I hoped they used the words 'fandom' in this universe and I realized a second too late that that was a stupid thing to say, since I was at a Holmes Tour, for heaven's sake. I fought the urge to bang my head against the nearest wall.
"I'm going to the toilet." Conan announced and Heiji followed his figure with half-lidded eyes before saying, "Oh, I'll go then, too." I blinked, deciding to follow after and catch Conan in the act of darting poor Heiji and then rubbing it in his face later. "Ah, me too, me too~"
Heiji walked out the door and I saw him looking around, mumbling to himself and just as I walked out the door, closing it slightly, I heard a slight whiz and I spun around, briefly seeing Conan with a panicked look on his face suddenly – no doubt internally cursing for missing his intended target – and I felt something tiny pierce my neck, almost painlessly.
"B-Brat…," I hissed out before I swayed as the world became fuzzy and the drugs overtook my system as I came to sitting position on the other side of the door, hearing the faded out voices of an argument, before all became flashing, colorful, darkness.
Well, this was just even more ridiculous…
ooOOoo
I woke to a large fist coming pounding down on my head and a raging voice immediately entered my ears, "That's exactly what happened, you idiot!" It was distinctly Kogoro's and I kept my eyes closed, fighting back the urge to smack him upside the head vindictively. "Dad!" Ran called out. "Who do you think your fooling, using that strange Kansai-ben?" Oh, that's right. Conan still has to imitate Kansai-ben as Midori. I swallowed back a laugh as the older Mouri continued, "Besides, you were with them when the owner's car started moving. How do you explain how Toganou-san started the car?"
"That's right. It does look impossible at first. But, if you use a certain device to alter the course of the rigor mortis, it's…possible." Conan's Midori voice ended the sentence uncertainly, trying to sound slightly more feminine – my speak wasn't overly girly, I used 'boku' and referred to others as 'omae' – and trying to add the Osaka-ben. It, overall, sounded completely hilarious and funny. Oh, Shinichi, work on your impersonating skills, would you? I heard a slight growl from behind me and I guessed Heiji was trying to fight back from saying something about the ridiculous dialect Conan was putting on.
"The trick is as follows: the owner, who was killed exactly one day ago, was seated in the car. His foot was secured in a position pressing the brake. After half a day, rigor mortis set in, and his foot was set in place. This way, even though the engine was on and the car was in gear, the car didn't move. Then, right before dinner last night, the murderer opened the garage door. When the body was starting to become limp again, the brake was released. The murderer returned to the living room to wait for the car to move…," Conan's careful deduction was interrupted by Kogoro…again.
"You fool!" He laughed gruffly, "Rigor mortis doesn't go away until forty hours have passed. Besides, like you said…," He sounded very smug, but was cut off.
"What if the car's temperature was raised? If the body is exposed to temperature about 35 degree Celsius, the speed of the rigor mortis and its subsequent softening will accelerate, allowing the body to become limp within twenty-four to thirty hours. The owner disappeared just after 10:00 PM the night before last. If he was killed immediately after that, that would mean twenty-nine hours passed before the car started moving. The timing is just right. The hissing sound in the car wasn't caused by the air conditioning, but the heater. If it were the air conditioner, there would have been drops of condensation beneath the tires."
"That's why you were checking the tire tracks with Hattori-kun, Midori-chan?" Ran asked.
"That's right. And we didn't find water drops anywhere." Conan answered to her in my voice. It was weird, like I was watching the whole thing from a third-person view perspective. Oddly like I'd just met my voice doppelganger. Goosebumps formed on my arms at the thought and I felt Kin's tail brush against me as he walked to my 'sleeping' form. "That kind of trick would be easy to figure out if you examined the body." Mouri-tantei said.
And, once again, in my voice, "That's why the owner's car was sent over the cliff. It becomes impossible to retrieve the body and examine the rigor mortis." Maria's voice spoke up next, "And what was the reason for the car's acceleration?" Geez, she was hooked on that. It was getting kind of annoying on how frequent someone asked about the acceleration. When you figure out the trick, it's actually pretty easy to guess what could have happened. I held my tongue.
"While driving over the bumpy road, the owner's foot must have slid off the brake pedal. And the blanket was used to hide the heater's display, so that people near the car couldn't see the display."
"I see!" Ikuo began, "If you witness that happening while inside with everyone else…," "You have a perfect alibi." Maria finished for him. "So, that was the reason why Toganou-san insisted Ayako-san stay in the living room? He just needed a witness?" Ran sounded desolate at the news and I almost felt bad for her. Almost. She wasn't the one who got sheared in the arm with an ice pick and a large gash in her side from car window glass. "Exactly! And the one person who could have done that was Ayako-san, who came with Toganou-san." My voice replied.
Suddenly, Boyfriend was laughing. I could tell it was him by his unpleasant, snide, way of laughing; so mocking, as if he believed he was a king. "Interesting. Your reasoning sounds like something out of a mystery novel. But, unfortunately, you have no proof." That was telling enough that he was the real criminal. A phrase of my sister's flashed in my mind; "Every criminal in Detective Conan always demands proof when their guilty!"
How right she was.
Boyfriend continued, "And besides, I was with everyone when the garage went up in flames. No matter how you think, for me to be responsible for that fire, it's…," "It's possible! And very simple. All you had to say to her was: 'The first edition of Holmes is hidden under the backseat of the car'." I could almost see his expression in my mind and I had to stop from grinning up at him from my spot on the floor; I still had to act asleep, all for the show. This had not been part of the plan, but it was still working well. Everything'd go according to plan.
"The first edition?" Mouri questioned, "Hey, what the hell are you talking about?"
"Have you forgotten?" Conan started again, "The car that was in the garage had a hole in the gas tank and it's battery was dead. You want to find the book, but the light's don't work, and it's dark under the backseat. What would you do in that situation?" I tried not to focus on the details, not wanting to dwell on Ayako's death and my failing to stop it. Guess that's why in Doctor Who, they can never change a fixed point in time. It'd ruin everything. I should've figured; the Doctor would probably be scolding me right now. I groaned internally. I'm so stupid…
"It would be difficult to do a search in the dark, so I'd use a lighter or something…I see! The lighter!" Kogoro had his revelation moment. "When Ayako-san lit her lighter to find the book, the flame ignited the gasoline." The maid seemed to find it difficult to process, "So, you're saying that she lit the fire herself?"
"But, didn't you say she was a valuable witness for the first case?" Ikuo's tone was disbelieving, as well.
"Coincidentally, there were five other witnesses besides her. There was no reason to keep her alive." "But! Isn't Ayako-san Toganou-san's girlfriend? Then, why…?" Ran protested and I once again had to resist a retort on the tip of my tongue. Just because she was so in love with Shinichi, doesn't mean that everyone had the same types of morals she did when it came to love.
"She figured it out. She knew the rigor mortis trick and had the proof to implicate Toganou-san. Don't you remember? When Ayako-san announced that she knew who the killer was, Toganou-san became worried. Pretending to be anxious about her safety, he went to find her after I came back to the room and told her about the book in the garage."
"Come to think of it, he was the only person who could have time alone with her, besides you, at that time." Ikuo said and Maria added, "That's why her attitude changed after she went to the bathroom. It's impressive that you figured out the garage trick."
"No, that trick was actually a trap set up specifically for another person. Fortunately for the culprit, this person also owned a lighter, just like Ayako-san. That's right…the trap in the garage was set up for Fujisawa-san." "W-What?!" Yup, it's pretty hard to accept the fact that someone had been trying to kill you, but suck it up Fujisawa. You actually hadn't been attacked, due to my tampering. The shrunken Shinichi went on, "The murderer left that card under Fujisawa's door, hoping to draw him into the garage, so he could kill him. However, he had to kill Ayako-san using that trap, so he devised the backup plan at the last minute in order to kill Fujisawa-san with the ice pick. But, due to him thinking I knew it was him; he decided to attack me instead, to silence any potential loose-ends."
"I see…," Kogoro trailed. "That's why there were so many clues for the third case."
"It would have been easy for Toganou-san to tamper with the plug since he was in the kitchen. Therefore, he is the only one who could have committed all three crimes!" "–If that's the case, show me the proof! If you think you're so sure, you must have some proof, right?" Persistent boy, when will you ever give up? Again, my sister's phrase came to mind; she only speak the truth, I laughed in my head.
"Huh? Didn't you know? Ayako-san saw it yesterday in your room at lunchtime yesterday – a certain something."
"Even if she saw something yesterday, she's not here to say anything anymore!" " –Question one: is Holmes right-handed or left-handed? Question two: what is Doctor Watson's wife's name?"
"What with the questions all of a sudden?!" Boyfriend shouted, enraged. 'My' voice stayed calm as ever, though. "Oh? Have you forgotten? There were the questions on the one-thousand-question Sherlock Holmes quiz. Next, question two-hundred-forty-one…what was the content of the message Holmes wrote using the Dancing Men?" Boyfriend was quick to try to save himself, "Oh, that question. I remember that one well. The answer was, 'Come here at once!'."
The gloomy librarian's voice broke his vote of confidence, "There was no such question on the quiz…," "Huh?"
"The question involving the Dancing Men….that one, yeah!" "'Accurately reproduce all of the dancing figures from the story'." With the support of the other participant's, 'I' continued decking out 'my' reasoning, "That's right. That was the difficult question, and a harder one still, to forget. Isn't it odd that you don't remember that question?" 'My' voice was practically crooning with success and I almost banged my head against the door behind me. Shinichi was making me sound like a weird, detective, creeper!
"T-That is…!"
"Ayako-san went to your room to cheat off your paper, but you weren't in your room. You must have gone to the garage to check on the owner's rigor mortis." Ran was quick to catch on. "So, the thing that Ayako-san saw was…," The angel-esque teen trailed. "That's right….a blank quiz paper with no answers whatsoever. Why didn't you answer any questions? Because you knew it was pointless. You knew that the person who was going to grade the quizzes was no longer among the living. If you still insist on lying, please show us your quiz paper. Right now!"
There was a telling thump as Boyfriend gave up, slumping down onto the ground on his knees. I cracked my eyes open a bit, peeking through my lashes at the surrounding people. "D-Damn!" He cursed and I saw Fujisawa walk up to him. "You!" Fujisawa gave into rage, grabbing the collar of Boyfriend and physically hauling him off of his knees. "Tell me! Why?! Why did you kill the owner and want to kill me?!"
Again, my voice was used by Shinichi, cutting off the impending scuffled. "The Scorn of Irene Adler. The motive is probably the book that you and the owner worked on together." "What?!" Yes, yes, Fujisawa. You'd been wanted dead because of a book. Just wait. It gets worst.
"Wasn't Irene the actress that outwitted Sherlock Holmes?" Ran asked the maid, who was standing next to her. The maid nodded. "Yeah, but the owner's book wrote it off as Holmes' faulty deduction."
"I see. He felt that the book ridiculed Holmes, and…," Ikuo thought out loud. Boyfriend corrected him, though, "You've got it backwards. Irene was the only woman Sherlock Holmes acknowledged. I can't believe she would mock Sherlock." Surprised with his ridiculous reason, Fujisawa released him and took a step back from the one-again fallen man. I could make out some tears gathering in the corner of Boyfriend's eyes, "I couldn't forgive it. I couldn't…!" With that, all the fight left in Boyfriend left me for grief and I couldn't help but think one thing to myself.
Boyfriend definitely was a nut.
A few moments later, I pretended to wake up, yawning a big, fake, yawn for good measure. Ran walked up to me, "That was amazing, Midori-chan! You're so young but so smart!" She complimented me and I heard Conan panicking behind the door. Smirking, I looked up at her. "Ah, no, no~ I owe all my help to Heiji-han! He told me everything before going to the bathroom! Said I could do the deduction, 'cause he might take a while." Sorry, Heiji, I snickered.
"Conan-kun?" Ran called, walking over to the kitchen, glancing around for the familiar short stature, "Conan-kun?" She disappeared around the doorframe.
Conan finally rounded the door, followed by Heiji, who looked oddly serious as he leaned against the door beside me as I stood up, feeling slightly off from the tranquilizer. "I'm right here, Ran-neechan!" The shrunken Detective of the East shouted after his crush. "Hey." Heiji called, making Conan look up with a pale, shaky-smiled, expression (he looked like he'd just seen someone die and come back to life). Heiji had seen him deduce, so his second identity was hanging on by the skin of its teeth. "You're Kudou, aren't you?"
If possible, Conan's face went paler and his eyes wider as his smile disappeared and his eyes flickered to me in well-founded dread. "W-W-W-What are you talking about? I'm a kid. Just a kid." He tried and I swiftly crouched down before him. "Stop playing games! You're Osaka-ben was ear-wrenching and I saw you after you freakin' tranquilized me with your funky watch. Not to mention your bowtie! Heiji and I discussed this earlier, but I didn't expect to get darted." I complained, poking his forehead gently repeatedly.
"W-When did you figure out?" He questioned the both of us, voice dry as if it had been sucked away.
"'…He was the only one who could have committed three crimes'." Heiji mimicked, crouching to get into Conan – no, Shinichi's face, too, "Even though the dialect was odd, the reasoning and expression were unmistakably that of Kudou Shinichi." I added my two coins, "And you were always odd; your act is crumbling and you reeked of a detective~!" He still seemed reluctant to admit it, "Don't be silly, I'm just a kid!"
"Oh, I see…," Heiji muttered before standing and I followed his lead. "Hey, listen," Heiji waved to Ran and I quickly waved, too, enjoying Conan's pale, sweating, face a bit too much; it was nice to see him so discomposed for once. "I've got a real interesting story~! You know what? The truth is…" We dragged the words mockingly in unison, knowing he'd break soon.
"Wait a minute…!"
ooOOoo
"So, you were shrunken by a poison, huh?" Heiji hummed curiously.
We were all currently in a bus, heading to our destination. I'd finally whipped out my cellphone later on and phoned the police and now we were all on our way back. To say Heiji had given me a look was an understatement; it seemed he trusted me to the extent of revealing Shinichi's real identity, but didn't think I wasn't suspicious just yet. It'd probably take some time. Oh well, plenty of time in the world, after all. It was morning now, day bright and shining, and I was fighting to keep my eyes open the whole ride.
"And in order to find information about the syndicate, you're living at the home of the girl you like." Heiji continued. "Who says I like her? That tiresome girl…," Shinichi grumbled, a blush covering his cheeks.
I was leaning over the back of the seat, sitting in front of the two as Kin and I peered down at them from our taller height. "Sounds legit." I joked, getting a small glare from Conan. "You don't seem surprised by this at all." Conan said dryly, suspiciously. I grinned back at him, dangling my arms downwards and then pinching his cheek lightly, "Surprisingly enough, this isn't the weirdest thing I've had to deal with in my life~!" Dimension hopping was definitely a lot bigger than shrinking. And I'd been through both. Nothing much would surprise me anymore, even if chicken little suddenly rounded the corner and said the sky was falling, I'd be half inclined to believe.
"You've dealt with stranger things?" Heiji asked curiously and Conan raised a brow for me to continue, but before I could, Ran came up to all three of us from behind the boys' seat. "Oh! You three are getting along well, aren't you?" She questioned rhetorically, happy. "Uh….Yeah!" Conan agreed.
"So, you want to know what Kudou said about you last time?" Heiji chimed in, Conan's expression doing a three-sixty. "He said you were puzzling and hard to bear."
"Puzzling?" Ran leaned forward onto the seat back.
"Yeah~! Puzzling things are always liked by detectives. I bet Kudou-han will end up confessing to you in London~!" I laughed, watching as she turned red and decided to retreat for now. I glanced down at Heiji, extending my clenched fist and, at the sign, he gave me a small fist bump, both of us grinning at Conan's misfortune as he grumbled to us.
I think we made quite a team Heiji and I.
Now….how to explain my wounds to Kaito?
Review Replies:
To: Iriss-sama – Haha, it's okay. XD And don't worry about it~! Everyone has days they forget and stuff – I do that all the time. XD And yeah, I had a sort of hard time writing that, thinking about how someone would react in that type of situation, and that's how it ended up. I'm glad I was able to get the emotion right enough for that the happen. Yes, yes~! Be infected by the Heiji disease! XD He's awesome, lol! And yeah, his reactions to the wounds will be fun to write. XD And here's the next chapter~! I wanted her to beat his ass, but since I couldn't find a way to fit it in, it didn't work out so well…. ;;; (lol, yup, that's what you call being caught in a story. XD) Thank you for the luck~! (Gathers Luck and Sews Hat) ((Lucky Hat~!))
To: Kudo Shinichi Tanteisan – Ah, yeah. XD I haven't watched the movie in a while, too, but I remember feeling so bad after that, since Charlotte died. I didn't cry, but it was still really sad. (Laughs) Yup~! A fixed point in time can't be changed~! Yay! Another Whovian! 8DDD (Grins as snowflakes fall and eats cyber cookie) Thank you, E-chan~!
-Whoo, hope this turned out okay. XD A big case is coming next time!
"Next Revolver Hint: Symmetrical!"