A/N: I had some trouble writing this, but it was fun. XDD Lots of running, kinda reminded me of Doctor Who, lol. Mage&Magician will be the next to be updated and then I'll get to the next chapter in this! Enjoy? ^^Anyone interested in English themes: Alligator Sky by Owl City; Tyrant by One Republic; Frontline by Pillar; and All The Right Moves by One Republic. Four, because I couldn't choose one and highlight all aspects. XDD
Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan or Magic Kaito in any way or form. (or shape!) Ryukaze Erise is owned by Iriss-sama.
Chapter Thirty Six
There were various different reactions to the heist note.
To say I had been surprised on Tuesday morning was an understatement. After taking a quick shower and getting dressed, I had meandered down the stairs and sat at the table, nibbling on a piece of toast. Kaito hadn't greeted me immediately, just staring intensely at something on the front page of the newspaper. Curious, I made my way over to his side, glancing at the aforementioned paper – only to choke on my toast a second later.
"What the…," I trailed, coughing into my hand lightly. Even more to my surprise, the sound of my voice split through my ears and I smiled absently – I could finally hear again; I must have been too out of it to not realize earlier, I mused. However, I didn't dwell on it long, my attention going back to the paper. On the front page, in big, bold letters, the words 'Kaitou KID Changing His Style?' was written with a picture underneath with other details. Uh-oh…
My gaze flitted to Kaito, who was still looking at it somewhat contemplatively before he grinned – I swallowed thickly as I recognized the distinct KID grin masked beneath it. "It seems KID-sama has a copycat." He chuckled jovially, bringing a hand down to ruffle my hair as I sweat dropped nervously. "Kaito-niichan, I don't think they're a copycat….," Sure, I was somewhat using KID's style and method, but I was most certainly not a copycat!
He looked at me curiously, "Hm? Why do you think that?" Again, there was a flash in his eyes different from usual and I realized that he didn't think it was a copycat, either, but rather a new thief in his territory. He would probably check up on the thief then, I thought with no little weariness. "W-Well, they would have used KID's trademark caricature. It's just stupid to try to copy someone while not making it look like the person that they're copying and…, well, if anyone is to think that they're actually KID, then they're stupid, since it's a different signature and everything and KID isn't very well-known for being subtle about anything, except being vague with his heist notes and…," Now I was rambling, my mind internally laughed at me.
Kaito laughed, "You're right, Alice-chan~!" Suddenly, he blinked before he pulled me into a suffocating hug. "Your hearing is back!" Chuckling, I nodded, brown gaze trailing to the floor, seeing gold eyes staring at Kaito's back balefully before the cat stalked back upstairs, most likely disappearing into my room. It seems like Kin was finally getting used to Kaito's constant stream of touchy-feely affection. I laughed again before squirming out of Kaito's grip and going back to eating my toast, thumbing through The Hound of the Baskervilles.
I ignored Kaito's bemused smile.
ooOOoo
Wednesday found me back in my 'lair' – which had now been named The Den (yes, yes, I know, very creative). Cleaning the place was…hazardous. I had nearly stepped on some darts that had been splayed across the floor of the main room – now the living room, I'd decided – but had managed to avoid them. Just barely, before I put them in the pile with all the other pokey objects. There was quite a few of them; I was beginning to wonder why the heck Akako had even had this house, better yet, how she got it. I threw the thoughts out of my mind, though – I don't think I wanted to know.
I was wearing a surgical mask and had opened up the window in the kitchen to help get some cross-ventilation through the building as the dust swirled around in the air. Looking at the living room's relatively clean appearance, I slumped. The things were still scattered around the room, miscellaneous items (some of which could come in handy) only somewhat more organized, but I decided it was good enough. The dust was gone now and you could sit on the ground without getting grey patches on your clothing or legs, so it was okay – plus, despite its messy appearance, I now knew where everything was. With a smirk, I nodded to myself, pulling down my mask to survey the room.
"The best security is to make it look like nothing has a place, after all~!" I hummed happily, knowing that if someone moved something I'd know, spinning around in the room cheerfully before coming to a stop at the kitchen. "Now, for you…," I mumbled in determination, pulling the surgical mask back on.
With a slap of plastic on skin, rubber dish gloves adorned my hands as I set to work.
ooOOoo
Thursday – another case had already passed on Tuesday night, I'd learned through the papers; the one involving Sonoko's sister and her fiancé, along with the man's two brothers, all of who happened to be triplets. Of course, it'd led to some confusion between who was the murderer of Sonoko's sister's father-in-law.
Due to Erise's excitement about something, we'd decided to meet up at our usual café after school. So, here I was, sipping at hot chocolate, absently watching people pass by a nearby window under the brim of my hat. Surprisingly, I had arrived first, but, then again, I was an elementary student, whereas she was a high school student. I blinked as someone took a seat in the booth in front of me and I looked up to see Erise, smiling at me. "Hi~!" She waved and I sent her an amused smile behind the rim of my mug.
"Well, hello, stranger." I greeted in a joking way, watching as she giggled a bit. "Sorry for being a bit late – I had cleaning duty today." She said in apology, making a face as she mentioned said cleaning duty. My nose crinkled a bit in distaste, too. Getting cleaning duty when you had plans sucked – though I liked the idea of the students helping out around school, it had its moments of inconvenience, too. It was definitely a big change from my normal American school system, but it wasn't unpleasant, more like a learning experience. I had definitely become more disciplined since coming here, that's for sure.
"Nah, it's okay." I waved my hand carelessly, "I wasn't waiting here long." I lied, taking another gulp of the scalding chocolate liquid. It burned down my throat, but in a good way. "Besides," I placed my mug down with a clack, licking my lips as I leaned forward in interest, peering into her sky eyes. "What I'm really curious about is what's got you so excited." I quirked a lopsided grin as she brightened, beginning to tell me of her recent fascination. I hid an amused chuckle as she pulled the newspaper out of her bag.
She pointed out the front page of Tuesday and I deadpanned internally – oh boy… – before raising an eyebrow at her, "KID trying a new style?" I asked with feigned ignorance. "This is the thief you told me about before, right?"
She nodded seriously, pouting at the page, "But these people are idiots! It's obviously not KID – it's a new thief! You can tell because of the caricature!" She exclaimed in a hush, scandalized, voice, pointing to the photo of the heist note – my heist note. Looking at it, I couldn't help but crack a smirk. It had turned out pretty well, I was proud. Though, I don't know if it was a good thing to be proud about. Oh well.
"Plus, the kanji is written completely different than KID's handwriting; it's more…unrefined, I guess, while KID's is more elegant." Unrefined…I chuckled, feeling incredibly amused with her correct assessment of my handwriting. I had purposely made it strange, but also didn't bother making it picture-perfect. That would have been too time consuming and I just didn't want to have to spend hours on one letter – that'd be stupid. My eyes went up to meet the brunette. "So, you're excited about a new thief, or angry that someone is copying KID?"
She smiled, putting the paper back into her bag, ordering pink lemonade from the waitress when she came to take the order, before continuing, "I'm excited that there's a new thief! Besides, the thief isn't copying KID – you can tell." She grinned brightly and I returned it. I knew there was a reason I liked this girl – she wasn't only great company, she was also smart! I leaned forward, resting my chin on my palm, humming in interest.
"You should join the police force, Ri-chan. You'd be a great cop." I laughed as she flushed at the compliment, immediately downing her lemonade as it arrived to hide her embarrassment, much to the waitress's amusing surprise.
ooOOoo
Friday, it seemed, had come in a breeze. Apparently, another case had happened Thursday after school – the one with the illustrator and the faked suicide. Seriously, cases were being swatted like flies. It made me a bit worried for my up-and-coming heist; Shinichi was a force of nature I never wanted to clash with. Like, ever. Maybe it was just my uneasiness for tomorrow, but the fact that the police still hadn't revealed anything more on my heist note case was…unnerving.
However, I put the thoughts out of my mind, instead focusing on prepping my gear and trying out the invention Agasa had finally finished the other day – the secret project.
And then it was Saturday already, we – the Detective Boys – had all made our way over to Agasa's house (as he had invited us, told us to be early, too) and he had told us he had a surprise for us. And sure enough, the surprise was going to the recording studio for the Gomera movies. Both the kids and I had been ecstatic, but Conan had been a bit of a downer with his ironic smile – which I had quickly pinched away from his cheeks, pulling on them playfully, getting an annoyed glare in return. Meh, it was worth it. So, here we were, at the studio. It was definitely worth getting up so early; plus, a good way to forgot what was happening later tonight.
There was a powerful sound effect as Gomera smashed the ground beneath his feet with his heavy steps, a clawed hand reaching out to grab a tiny train that was passing on rail nearby in the mini city. A horrible, Gomera-esque, roar left Gomera's mouth, the train dangling from his hands as he looked towards the sky. The scene was great, the acting wonderful, the sound effects awesome as smoke rose from places Gomera had destroyed along his path, and I could have actually immersed myself in the scene but – "Cut!"
Two, loud, beeps followed after, "Alright, that's a wrap!"
I deadpanned, quirking a half-smile as the kids beside me leaned forward in excitement. "Cool!" They cheered together, looking at Gomera in the middle of the city – even Conan was smiling wholeheartedly. "It's the real Gomera!" Genta grinned beside me and I blinked as footsteps came up behind our group of six. "He's just like I'd imagined." Mitsuhiko said and Ayumi chimed in her own comment, "Ah, he looks so strong!" She sounded starstruck, hands clenched in front of her.
"Well, long time no see, Agasa." A voice spoke from behind us, slightly muffled by a mustache. Agasa turned towards the voice and I looked over my shoulder, spotting a man with a cap – Gomera written across the top – and a maroon shirt on. Like I had thought, he had a mustache. "Oh, Mikami-kun!" The professor greeted. The man, Mikami, smiled before turning to look at all of us kids.
"Are these the kids who wanted a tour of the studio?" He questioned. Ah, so he didn't know that it was a surprise, then, I thought to myself as the professor gave an affirmative. The kids finally noticed the person behind us and turned to look at him. "Who's this guy?" Genta asked. At the question, the only official detective in our group also turned to see him.
"A friend of mine, who also happens to be the 'father' of Gomera, Director Mikami." The professor introduced happily. Mikami raised a hand, "Hello, kids." He leaned down a bit, hands on his hips. "Well, do you want to get a closer look at Gomera?" Ayumi gasped, "Can we?" The absolute hope in her voice was endearing, as was the looks on the other kids' faces, so surprised. "Sure, we're taking a break now. But, only for a little while." The director replied, arms now crossed as he smiled down at us.
I felt my face lit up, as did the other's. "Yay!" Genta and Ayumi chimed in unison, Ayumi even doing a small jump of joy, and the two were quick to run to the tiny city replica. With a grin, I tugged Mitsuhiko's wrist, "Come on, Tsuburaya-kun!"
Conan followed behind closely, like a doting parents watching his kids enjoy themselves.
ooOOoo
Walking through the tiny city was amusing. I felt like a giant, treading through some foolish mortals territory. Due to my lack of self-control, I couldn't keep a manic grin from creeping on my lips – I think it unnerved Conan a bit, or made him suspicious, because he was giving me a strange look from the corner of my eyes. Oh well.
Up ahead, I saw Genta and Ayumi stop walking. "These buildings are tiny." Genta commented, as if he couldn't believe it, as he looked around. Ayumi looked just as taken aback as the other before she pointed in a certain direction, "Hey, hey! Look!"
I clicked my tongue as a zipping sound filled my ears and Genta stated, shocked completely, "Gomera's back is opening!" And this, my friends, is when kids stop believing Gomera is real, I thought wearily, feeling a bit bad, but amused all the same. Mitsuhiko, Conan, and I all ran ahead, getting to the same openings between the buildings that the other two Detective Boys were at. A man popped out of the back of the Gomera outfit, sweating and looking very unkempt.
"Gomera just gave birth to some guy!" Genta gasped.
Conan laughed a bit, looking over to the others. "That's a costume, and it's used to make it look like the monster's rampaging in the city on film." He explained. "But, these buildings look so real." Genta said, and we all looked to said buildings to admire their life-like look. Really, the person who made them was amazing. Though, looking closer, you could tell the windows were made out of a plastic sheen – easy to replace and easy to removed. Genta brought a hand up to touch the building gently. Perhaps that was a bad idea, I reflected, as a sudden voice startled us all.
"You kids! Stop touching things with those dirty hands!" The man yelled from right behind us, the words jarring in my ears painfully and I winced, flinching as my eyes grew to the size of plates in shock, "If you break the set, I'm gonna beat your brains out!" The man continued in his gruff voice and I turned, feeling the need to retort. Crossing my eyes, I muttered balefully under my breath, much to the amusement of my fellow shrunken teen, "That'd be child abuse…,"
A pudgy finger was thrust in our direction as the director walked up beside the rude man. "Director! Can't you do something about these brats?" I glared at the finger defiantly, not liking that it was pointing at our group. Geez, who'd peed in his cereal this morning?
The director rose his hands placatingly, "Now, now…," He trailed. A new voice spoke up and my eyes glided to land on the person who had emerged from Gomera; he was wiping the sweat from his face with a small towel around his neck. "If you like, I can watch over these kids. I don't have any scenes until the afternoon." He offered, smiling as he walked closer. "Thank you, Matsui-kun." Mikami thanked his coworker.
"What a nice guy." Genta complimented happily. "Gomera is our ally." Ayumi added and Genta turned half-lidded eyes to the man from before – the rude one, "It's always the bad adults who blame Gomera." I snorted in amusement as the guy humphed and looked away. A new voice – female this time – chimed into the conversation and I blinked, looking over to a pretty woman with light brown hair pulled back into a long braid. Her bright, yellow, shirt and skirt fit her bubbly atmosphere. I recognized her easily from the Gomera movies.
"And the one who calms Gomera's anger is me, Emera the Fairy, kids." She introduced herself in a roundabout way, hands folded behind her back. It was easy to tell she liked kids by her demeanor.
"You mean the fairy that comes out of the ring to save the day?" Genta questioned. She smiled, "Yes, that's right." Genta's face grew a bit sour, though, at her agreement. "Lair! Emera's this small." He showed the size with his right hand. "But she looks just like her." Mitsuhiko said and I saw a bead of sweat appear on the woman's face as she gazed down at us with half-lidded eyes. A laugh bubbled up in my throat. "But doesn't she look a little older?" Genta asked, squinting at the woman suspiciously.
"How rude!" She pouted, leaning back from her stance to smile as the other coworkers laughed.
"Looks like you've got a great staff." Agasa's voice complimented off to the side, drawing my attention away from the laughter and bright smiles. "Yeah, we've put all of our love into Gomera for ten years. We're like family now." Mikami's voice answered back, tone fond. The moment of peacefulness was short-lived as another voice intervened. Again. Damn, there's a lot of people who were working here.
"Only until the end of this year." It was stern, but soft, and condescending at the same time. It instantly made me frown, not liking the man's attitude; I turned to see what the killjoy looked like. Curly black hair cut short on a boxy head, glasses framing dull, grey, eyes – not at all like Erise's father's eyes – and a snazzy suit made up the man. Even his appearance wasn't any better than his attitude, I mused, looking at his smirk/smile as he continued, "Monster movies are merely entertainment for the children. Their time has already passed."
To make it worst, he went on with a list of things bad about monster movies. By now, everyone was looking at him. "That annoying music, the same formula for every movie, those expensive sets and special effects, and the fairy that auditioned at fourteen is now twenty four." He let out a breath of a pompous laugh, "Better end it all now." Faces grew sour with all his listings and I felt myself glare a bit, too, not amused at all.
"Oh, that's right. The rush print of the movie is done. You should all go to the screening room and watch it." He announced, glancing at all of us with a superior gaze before he turned to walk away. Ugh, people like him make my stomach churn….
"You're not going, producer?" Emera, the fairy, asked. I still had yet to know her proper name. I hadn't been paying attention when she had introduced herself. My bad. I think it was Sakaguchi Tomomi, but I couldn't be sure. I'll just stick with Emera; it's easier to remember. He looked over his shoulder, "No. How about lunch, Tomomi-kun? We have some business to discuss, anyway." Ah, so her name was Tomomi. Okay, I'll stick with that then, I thought absently, resting my weight on one leg and letting the other bend a bit.
"No, thank you." Tomomi rejected and the producer didn't even seem to mind, instead just walking out of the door and disappearing around the frame. "Good riddance." I chuckled under my breath, ignoring the somewhat amused, stern, face from Conan – it seems he found my disliking of the guy amusing, but didn't exactly approve. I stuck my tongue out at him, eyes flitting back to the adults in the room when the director asked, "What was that all about?"
"About my next movie. He wants me to play a female detective." She deadpanned in annoyance, "How can he talk about that after criticizing all of us?"
"Well, it's good that you have another job lined up, isn't it? The rest of us are going to be out of work. Right, Mat-chan?" The rude man from before had a helpless face on as he looked to 'Mat-chan' – the guy who plays Gomera. The Gomera actor turned to his friend, "Uh, actually, they offered me the role of a criminal in the next movie." He sounded somewhat apologetic. The rude man – gosh, what was his name again? Daichi, was it? No, it was something else… – immediately got a bit grumpy again. "What? So, it's just me?"
Putting his hand in his pocket, Daiki – was that it? – began to walk out to the door, "Well, whatever. Let's go watch the draft of Gomera." He walked out. "See you, Matsui-kun. Watch after the kids." And with that, Mikami was also heading out the door with a short wave, leaving us alone with Gomera – Matsui, as it turned out. Agasa also left out the door with his friend, bidding us goodbye with a silent wave.
I blinked. Well, that was uneventful.
ooOOoo
"Wow! Look at all the monsters~!" Genta gasped. "These are all the ones Gomera defeated!" Mitsuhiko said in awe as we all looked at the several costumes around the room. There were costumes I recognized as monster of some movies and others that were random at best; spikes and bobbles and rock-like surfaces creating interesting monsters. I took a sip of the juice we had gotten from Matsui – it was pretty good, if a bit bland. The brand Kaito and Chikage bought was a lot more flavorful, in my opinion. But, maybe that was because I was used to drinking that kind; the others seemed to enjoy it well enough.
A large, clawed, hand was put on Ayumi's shoulder by Matsui and I held in a snicker as he gruffed in a manlier voice than usual, "Oi!"
With a shriek and an immediate jump to latch onto Conan, juice flew from her plastic cup to land on the guy's white tank top, straining a patch of it a light orange. It happened so fast that I had to blink to register what had happened. "Sorry, sorry. I didn't think it would scare you that much." Matsui apologized, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly as he pulled the arm away from Ayumi's general vicinity. A small, short, laugh escaped my lips, but I hide it behind a cough, not wanting to embarrass the other girl in our group.
Calm now, everyone looked at the intricate hand, taking in the details of the ridged plastic – made quite well to look like actual dinosaur skinning. Who ever made it definitely was talented at what they do. "What's that hand?" Conan asked curiously. Said hand was raised slightly so that we could get a better look at it. "It's Gomera's hand. We use it for close-ups." The actor explained, "We also have a movable Gomera face. Want to see it?" Oh, that sounds cool!
I raised my hand with the other three – Conan was being a bit slow at the take up – and chimed with them, "We do~!" I shock Shinichi a dry look as he deadpanned, raising his hand quite unexcitedly. Really, can't he just enjoy a regular day out with us?
The man smiled, "Wait here, I'll go get it." He began to walk towards the door. "Okay~!" And with a click, he was gone. It was kind of strange when the mood suddenly grew somber. "Are they really going to stop making Gomera movies? But, they're so fun to watch…," Ayumi said, shoulders slumped. "That guy said that they were too expensive to film." Genta commented and I was once again struck with how…interesting Genta's comments were. He usually seemed dim, but there was just underlying things in his words that said he paid close attention to those around him. Hm…
Mitsuhiko turned towards are large companion as I wandered around a bit, still taking in all the costumes. "It must be the bill for Gomera's food, since he's so big." The freckled boy concluded and I hid a fond smile as I turned to look closer at a monster costume with eight limbs and a face that resembled a cat and a raccoon and a human at the same time. It didn't look too pleasant.
My head whipped around to the door, pale, when a curdling scream erupted from inside of it. Conan was quick to start running to the room, as were the rest of us, as we followed him into the adjacent room Matsui had gone into. The door was flung open carelessly, banging on the wall – "M-Matsui-san!"
My eyes widened at the sight before me. Matsui sat on the ground, looking quite pained as he clutched his knee – his knee that was bleeding intensely. Conan hurried to his side, looking shocked, "What happened to your leg?" Matsui seemed to have finally noticed us kids, turning his head to look at us. We all had gotten a bit closer now. "I-It was Gomera!" Hah?! The shrunken Heisei Holmes voice all our shock, "Gomera?!"
"Gomera was here and he stabbed me with a knife!" The wounded man continued. I couldn't help but let my brow furrowed in disbelief. Come on, can't we just have a normal outing once in a while? Though, now that I thought about it, this was definitely a bit familiar. "Where is he now?" Conan inquired.
"He ran through that door!" Matsui stated, pointing towards another door in front of him for a brief moment before going back to clutch his thigh. The layout of this building was strange, I thought absently, before focusing on the problem at hand. I shouldn't be getting distracted!
We sprinted forward, crashing through the other door like a small stampede, blatantly ignoring the call behind us – "Wait! Kids!" Going with the flow, we ran through a locker room of some sorts and ahead there was another door. Conan slammed it open – being our leader – and we entered a control room; well, at least, it looked like a control room. We all leaned forward to look out the large window in the front. The small city was visible.
"What is this place?" Genta asked. "I can see the studio." Mitsuhiko informed to the others question. Genta was in the back of us all, so it's possible he didn't see the city. "Huh? There's someone there!" Ayumi pointed out, finger extended to a man that was, indeed, in the middle of the city, looking like a giant. It was the snotty producer from before. As if voicing my thoughts, Genta's voice started, "Isn't that the producer?"
Something large and identifiable came up behind the man, and something tipped over, green staining fake roads. The man looked behind him and a long, butcher, knife in Gomera's hand glinted in the lights. We all gasped, face going pale, as we realized what was going to happen. It was inevitable. However, no one moved as we watched; like a car crash, horrible but you couldn't take your eyes away. The producer turned to face Gomera completely, backing up in shock – it seemed his mind wasn't working properly enough to suggest running.
Then, with a strong thrust of Gomera's arm, the knife was thrust into the producer's torso and as the knife was pulled back, the force knocked the man down to the floor, mouth gaping. Gomera turned and began to walk away, green paint trailing after him. It wasn't as grotesque as one would imagine; green paint didn't have the effect red paint probably would have had. I looked to the side as Conan moved from his position, running out a nearby door in the control room to get to the set. "Conan-kun!"
Blinking slightly, I hurried after, along with the children. "Wait!" In the distance, I could see Conan crouch to check the man's pulse, a grim expression settling over his features. Dead, then, definitely. Conan sprinted down one of the small street, to where Gomera had disappeared from, crouching once more to get a better look at the green paint. Then, he was off, and we finally managed to catch up to him, just behind him as we ran along the trail of green. "H-Hey, Conan!"
Another door was slammed opened and we were about to continue following when our running was cut short. Conan and Genta, the two in the front, fell backwards, obviously pushed back by the momentum of running to someone else. Mitsuhiko, Ayumi, and I had to crowd in the doorframe for a moment and I watched Tomomi fall down, managing to catch herself from falling completely with her hands braced behind her. She opened one eye – they'd been closed in shock – to look at us, "What are you doing?"
Conan disregarded the question quite rudely. "Have you seen Gomera?" He asked, stepping closer and the woman nodded, pointing to her left, where I could see Gomera's tail just disappearing around the corner. More green trails when in that direction and I wondered absently why he had to ask – he could just follow the paint. "Yes, over there. He bumped into me."
We immediately began our pursuit again, ignoring the, "Wait! Wasn't that Matsui-san…?" that came from behind. Dark green smeared around a corner and we followed, it thinning out as stairs came into view, footprints on each step, but missing the smudging the tail had brought upon. One step, two step, three step, four – the strain of running at full speed was fun and I nearly stumbled once, had my foot not already been upon the next step, balancing me as I went on easily.
We reached the top of the staircase quickly and Conan again opened another door, leading us all out onto the roof. Warm air hit my face, cooling me as I sucked in some fresh air; it was nice to be outside again, the smell of the paint had been overwhelming. "Huh?" Conan voice as we all scanned the roof – it was an expanse of clear area, stretching quite far. We walked a bit further out onto the roof – "Gomera's not here…," Ayumi trailed in confusion. Conan, of course, was frustrated, looking around with sharp eyes, muttering.
"Impossible! There's nowhere to hide." I almost laughed as he walked forward, frowning, but I didn't – only for the sole fact that it would attract his unwanted attention. All of us followed Conan as he walked to the edge of the building, the safety wall almost as tall as me, and towering over Conan and Ayumi just the slightest. I was in between Ayumi and Mitsuhiko's height, taller than Conan by a bit and shorter than Mitsuhiko a bit. Genta still towered over me, like he did with the rest. He was really tall for his age.
"Maybe he flew away?" Genta suggested. Conan reached the edge and stood on a small foothold to see over the edge as Mitsuhiko scolded, "Genta-kun, Gomera can't fly."
There was a gasp of surprise from Conan as his eyes moved downward and we all stepped on the foothold to peer over the edge as well. Smoke billowed in the air, black and cloudy, and fire raged on top of fake reptilian skin – Gomera was on fire on the cement, lying on the floor prone after the fall. "He fell off the roof–" Conan jumped off the foothold, running back to the door on the other side of the roof. "Damn, a suicide?" He thought out loud, ignoring our existence as he continued. We didn't follow this time.
I blinked, stepping off the ledge, sighing to myself as I dug my cell phone out of the back pocket of my camouflage capris. It was a hilarious clash with the cotton, rainbow, sweater I had pulled over – not closed – a black t-shirt that had the words 'Don't start wars' randomly on it in a cool font and the red flats I was wearing. I probably could have coordinated better, but I didn't really care. It's not like little kids were high on fashion, either way, so it was fine to look mismatched.
"Koizumi-san, what are you doing?" Mitsuhiko questioned curiously, watching as I punched in 110. I gave him a little ironic smile. "This seems to be a reoccurring theme." I said dryly, eyes glancing up to the blue sky – it looked bleached a bit with the sun shining brightly and I squinted at it, "I'm calling the cops. It seems we'll get the chance to endure another case." I flashed the boy a smirk and was a bit amused to see him give a small 'oh'.
"110, please state your emergency."
"Uh, yes. There's been a murder and an assault. Someone was stabbed in the leg. We're currently at…"
ooOOoo
The police arrived quite quickly. Our group had gathered back on the first floor and Conan had arrived back into the building after checking out the Gomera costume. He had informed us it had been empty and I had informed him that I had called the police. As if on timing, the police had arrived at that moment, Megure-keibu in the lead. And so here we were, accompanying the inspector for questioning.
"Pardon me, but where were you at 11:30 AM, the time of the murder?" Megure questioned, looking at the director, who was sweating buckets. The back of his shirt around his shoulders was soaked through, the maroon color darkened to a bloody red – eww…
The expression on his face was worried as he began, "I was alone in a studio on the first floor, doing a final continuity check on the film." He wiped some sweat from his cheek with a handkerchief. "So there were no witnesses?" Megure's tone was suspicious as he stared the man down. Mikami nodded, "No."
Conan walked up to the man, taking in his sweaty appearance. "You've worked up quite a sweat, director-san." He commented 'innocently'. A smile twitched on my lips. "I tend to sweat a lot." The director answered, leaning down to talk face-to-face with the smaller.
Then we went to the storeroom Matsui was currently prone at. Megure turned to look at Matsui, who was currently getting his leg bandaged by an officer. "When you entered this storeroom, the criminal was already standing here wearing the Gomera costume, correct?"
The rugged man nodded, "Y-Yes." He seemed about to say something more, but was cut off as a pained groan escaped his lips as the officer tightened the bandage. Everyone seemed to pause in concern, and Megure voice most of our thoughts, "Are you alright?" The unidentified officer bandaging Matsui spoke up. "I've managed to stop the bleeding, but he needs to be treated at the hospital." He explained and Megure leaned back with a hum, crossing his arms. "There's no way he could have committed the murder with his injured leg." Megure-keibu decided.
We then quickly located Tomomi. "At the time of the murder, why were you here, Sakaguchi-san?" The inspector asked sternly, doing his stare down thingie once more. His eyes were very intense; I found myself shifting uncomfortably, wishing Kin was here so that I could distract myself with him. But, Akako had come earlier to take care of him for me and even though he liked her better than Kaito, he had still had a sulking air about him as I had departed that morning. Animals, unfortunately, weren't allowed in the studio, after all.
I wanted the producer to see the rush of the Gomera movie." Her smile softened out, "I wanted him to see how well it was done." Megure's eyes just narrowed. "'Rush'?" "It's a rough draft of the movie after it's been partially filmed." She explained before turning to survey the crime scene in the tiny city behind her, body outlined and officers taking photos already, "But I never thought something like this would happen." Nobody expect something like this. I didn't and I had freakin' watched the anime series – some things were just meant to be an unpleasant surprise, I suppose.
"Tomomi-san, you saw the back of the criminal wearing the suit, didn't you?" Conan asked. "Huh?" She looked down at him in surprise before answering. "Yes, but I couldn't see who it was. However, the way he was running…," She trailed. "The way he was running…?" Megure jumped at the sentence. "Yes, it looked like he was having a hard time running. Almost as though he couldn't get a hang of it…,"
"Of course. If anyone besides Matsui-kun tried to walk in that thing, they'd move like that." The director announced, walking up from behind Tomomi and catching all our attention.
"So, that means everyone besides Matsui-san, Sakaguchi-san, and director Mikami was in the screening room." Megure deduced. I flinched as a familiar voice spoke up, "That's right. I saw the rush, as well." Agasa entered the conversation. Megure turned to him in confusion. "And you are?"
The professor pointed to himself with an offended face, "I'm Agasa! The brilliant professor who lives next door to Shinichi-kun!" That seemed to ring a bell.
"Oh, he told me about you! You're always making crazy inventions!" The inspector exclaimed, pointing to the white-haired scientist. "Well…," The professor trailed, rubbing the back of his head modestly while letting out a kind laugh. He leaned down to Conan as the inspector turned a way, giving him a face, "Why, you…," Conan flinched before putting his hands up placatingly, "Now, now…,"
Agasa's attention was snatched away by Megure as he questioned, "So, the staff was all in the screening room?" Agasa lifted his hand to gesture to Tomomi, "She was the only one who left in the middle of it." He informed. Suddenly, he changed his mind, bringing his hand to his chin, "Actually, there was someone else who left…,"
"Who was it?"
"It was…," The thought was interrupted by another voice coming from the tiny city. "Look, I told you, I don't know where this paint came from!" The voice was familiar enough. The rude man. Agasa made a hum before turning and pointing at said rude man, "It was him!" We turned to look at the man as he continued to grump at an officer, "We were going to film in the afternoon. Why would I leave a can of paint lying around on the set?!"
ooOOoo
After we'd finally gotten the man to calm down a bit, the inspector began his questioning. "Yeah, I left." The man admitted, looking to the side and cleaning out his ear absently, "While watching the rush, I noticed some things I needed to fix on the set." He sounded honest enough and he brought down his hand to point at himself with a thumb indignantly, "You aren't making me a suspect, are ya?"
"Adachi-san only left for four or five minutes." A random studio worker testified. Definitely not enough time to commit the crime, I decided.
Adachi turned to look at the paint-stained city road, arms crossed, "Anyway, who left this paint can here?" Tomomi spoke up, "Wasn't it you, Adachi-san?" I turned to look at the woman, as did Adachi, looking startled. She smiled and there was something in her expression that made me frown deeply, my brows furrowing. "After the morning rehearsal, you left it there. Did you forget?" Even in her tone, there was something odd. My eyes darted to Adachi's face, who was blank for a moment, before something dawned to him. My eyes narrowed.
"Oh! I forgot all about it!" He announced suddenly, putting a hand to the back of his head as he told the inspector. The inspector deadpanned, "Geez…,"
Conan stepped forward a bit, "Hey, why didn't Matsui-san watch the rush?" The rude man crossed his arms, "I don't know. We asked him, but he said he didn't want to." Tomomi and Mikami walked closer at the denial of knowledge. "Don't be upset. He did say he wanted to quit being Gomera." The director soothed.
"Matsui-san did?" Conan sounded surprised and I blinked before sighing absently, scratching at my neck. "Yeah, he mentioned it to the producer once. He said he had enough of being Gomera and wanted to take a normal role." The director's tone was somber. And hey – who could blame him? One of his actors didn't like his job and had enough of it; that was enough to make any director sad.
Conan looked down in thought.
ooOOoo
We – the Detective Boys – were currently retracing our steps. Again, Conan was in the lead, hands in his pockets, face serious. We walked on in silence for a while, arriving at the base of the staircase, where we stopped. Mitsuhiko bent a bit to check the green trail and Ayumi broke the silence, "Hey….Conan-kun, let's make a grave for Gomera." She suggested, sounding heartbroken at the mere thought of Gomera being dead. Conan ignored her, looking up to the door at the top of the stairs. Naturally, Ayumi tried to grab his attention. "Come on, Conan-kun, a grave–"
"–Shut up! We don't have time for that now!" The shrunken Heisei Holmes snapped, face a bit red in frustration, startling me and making be flinched back into the wall, Ayumi also flinching away from him, tears appearing in her eyes in shock.
Genta got in front of me, Ayumi backing up to him, fist clenched. "Don't get mad like Gomera!" He roared protectively.
Instantly, just like that, the anger from Conan's face disappeared, leaving only baffled shock, "Like Gomera?" He queried. Genta moved forward, pointing downwards to the paint on the stairs. "Look here! There's no tailprint on the on the stairs, right? It's proof that Gomera was angry when he climbed the stairs." He said, as if it was obvious. My eyes flitted to the detective, who seemed to be having a revelation as Mitsuhiko continued, "Because when Gomera gets angry, he raises his tail."
And bingo~! Just like that, Conan's revelation completely. Then he was off, moving to the side and beginning to run down the stairs parallel to the ones that went up to the roof. "O-Oi!" Genta called, unheeded, and we hurried after him. I feel like I've been doing quite a lot of running lately, I mused, arms spread out as I dashed down the stairs. One step, two step, three step, four… "Wh-What's going on, Conan?" Genta shouted as we followed the shortest of the group to another room on the floor just below the one we had been one. "Oi!"
Another door was burst open carelessly and he ran into the room, boxes and other random things lining the walls, straight to the window at the end of the room. It slid open with little noise and we finally made it to the room, catching up with the surprisingly fast runner as he stopped. We crowded around him as he continued looking downwards, glasses glinted with light from who-knows-where. There was a small smile on his lips that gave me a chill.
"What are you looking at?" Ayumi asked, popping her head up to look out the window. "What is it?" Mitsuhiko questioned, doing the same. "Hey, Conan!" Genta grumped, popping up as well. I took that as my cure, popping up right after Genta, "Oi, tell us, Edogawa-kun!" I whined, before spotting what he was looking at. Gomera's costume was currently being investigated by some officers.
And then there was a laugh. A laugh from Conan's lips, sounding childish and happy – but it was anything but. I flinched back, feeling goosebumps prick up my arms and the hair on the back of my neck standing on end. Conan maneuvered between us and was once again off, leaving the room in a run. "Conan-kun?"
With nothing else much to do, we ran after him again – I closed the window behind us and closed the door – and ended up in front of a door marked 'Studio A'. Two officers were guarding the door, not letting us pass. "Eh?! Why won't you let us in the studio?!" Conan whined, leaning forward as the officers looked down at us. "I can't, I can't. This isn't a place for kids." The officer-guard with his hands on his hips scolded, as his partner watched on with his arms crossed.
"This way." Conan directed, running again. We followed after and I got the odd sense of feeling like Kin. Haha…
Conan stopped at the end of the hall wall, leaning back against it and peering sneakily over the edge. We huddled behind him. "Oh man, there's one here, too…," He mumbled before he smiled, going around the edge. He tiptoed to a door that wasn't being guarded slowly and we followed, looking to the officer-guard at the end of the hall nervously. Conan opened the door quietly, the back labeled 'Storage Room #1'. He noticed.
"Hey!" The officer shouted, mouth moving away from where he'd been saying something in his walky-talky. Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, Genta, and I hurried into the room discretely as Conan kept the door opened, "We forgot something." We all smiled to the officer sweetly before we dashed into the room, the door slamming behind us.
We walked through the storage room, the one we'd passed through before earlier, and to the room Matsui was in. The director, Agachi, Tomomi, and Agasa were all there. "What's wrong, everyone?" Conan asked. Tomomi was fretting over her injured colleague, it seemed, and the rude man was helping Matsui stand, the director standing watch. "Oh, Conan-kun." Agasa greeted. "We're taking Matsui-kun to the hospital." The director answered.
Agachi finally managed to wound Matsui's arm around his neck with little help from Tomomi, standing with the other leaning against him for support. He didn't look too happy about helping, but did so anyways. Seems like he was a good guy, after all – just annoyed a lot. "With that leg, he won't be able to act as Gomera for a while." The professor commented, walking closer to look down at the other's injured thigh.
"Gomera nothing – he won't be able to do any acting at all." Agachi grumbled, still looking unpleased.
Once the workers, along with their injured colleague had left, Agasa turned to Conan. "So?" He asked and Conan blinked up at him in question. Agasa leaned in to whisper in Shinichi's ear. Though, I could still hear him easily from my spot beside the professor. It seems like a lot of people weren't skilled in whispering, I mused in amusement. "Have you solved the case yet?"
"No, I'm still not sure who the culprit is." Conan replied and his hand curled around his chin in the classical 'thinking-pose'. "Also, why did the killer attack Matsui-san in this storage room?" Agasa's brow furred, but he suggested, "Maybe he came here to get the murder weapon and then Matsui-san came in and saw him." My eyes glanced to the kids, seeing they were talking amongst themselves, before I looked back to Conan in interest.
Conan gasped, running towards a box not too far from us. The box was marked 'Edged Tools'. He began to rummage through the fake weapons in the box. "A movie prop couldn't kill anyone." He vetoed. He kept looking through some of the things before he flinched, pulling his hand out of the things, taking a look at his finger with a somewhat pained face. Suddenly, something dawned.
He turned serious eyes towards the both of us, thinking for a moment, and I raised a brow. Crossing my arms after a moment, I gave him a tiny smile, "I take it you figured something out, Edogawa-kun?"
He blinked at me, as if just getting out of his thoughts, before giving a smirk, looking quite accomplished. "Yeah, I figured out who the murderer is."
Now, my smile morphed into a smirk, as well, and I glanced up towards a clock in the room before turning to chuckle at him. He deadpanned at my next words and Agasa gave a small laugh as I snickered, "About time. You're late."
Review Replies:
To: Kudo Shinichi Tanteisan – Yay~! I'm glad! 8D I was worried people would be like, "What kinda lair is that?" XDD Haha, me, too~! (Snickers) (Laughs) It could possibly be the same… (Trails and looks innocently to the side) Kudo will explain it easily~! (Laughs) ((Feels kinda bad what I'm gonna make Midori go through, but finds it amusing)) XD And yeah, I had that in mind, too, when I was writing it. XD (Grins as snowflakes fall and eats cyber cookie) Thank you, E-chan! 8D
To: MiniMiao – Thank you! 8D And me, too! They're always fun to read. ^^ As for the sequel, this series is a trilogy series – it has three corresponding stories. Another ones in this world and the other is how you requested. It may – probably – will take a while for me to get to that story, but hopefully you'll be patient with me. XD
To: MagicMilkbone – Ah, tests. (Winces in sympathy) I have a whole bunch I still need to do… (Frowns) But, yup, she was deaf for a while! Though, it wasn't permanent, since it was only nerve deafness. After encountering an explosion, some people have temporary deafness due to the rattle the explosion causes – it can either be temporary or last. Yay for research~! XD And thank you! 8D Me too. XD I really want one to chill at, lol. Ah, don't worry, I'm extremely lazy and such at solving codes – I only like making them. XD Your theory was super-duper close! XD Ah, I hope she can get it for you soon. ^^
-Whoo, this was sorta hard to write. XDD Continuation will come next, then the heist, and some things happen… XD See you next time! ^^
Omake:
Conan stepped forward a bit, "Hey, why didn't Matsui-san watch the rush?" The rude man crossed his arms, "I don't know. We asked him, but he said he didn't want to." I blinked – ignoring the script in the back of my mind – before smirking up at them, crossing my arms. "Wow, the animators made a big mistake. Perhaps it was Gosho-sensei, though."
Conan turned to me, "Eh?"
"Well, earlier, Matsui-san didn't watch it because he was watching us. He offered, remember?" I stated the obvious, frowning a bit. How could they mess that up? It hadn't even happened that long ago. What were these people thinking? I rolled my eyes in annoyance and Conan deadpanned, along with the other people around.
"Koizumi, quit ruining the script…,"
- Breaking the forth wall! (Laughs) 'Cause I noticed that mistake. Also, the kids disappear in several scenes, even though they're supposed to be there. XDD;; Anyways, it's three in the morning! Good night~! 8D