A/N: This chapter was actually supposed to be out earlier, so that future events would coincide with Halloween, but whatever. (Shrugs) Anyways, hope you like this chapter! ^^ Also, sorry for any strangeness that may occur in the writing or characterization. Everything I write now feels a bit awkward, but hopefully it'll subside. In another note, writing this chapter was annoying since Adobe kept crashing and I had to keep refreshing the page with the episode.
Chapter Fifty Eight; Transmogrification Arc
"What do I do?!" I whispered rapidly into the phone. Akako let out a sound that was almost uncharacteristically discomforted. My shaking hands gripped the cold porcelain of the sink as I steadied myself, feeling panic coursing through my body. What was going on? My eyes flickered up to the mirror. Instead of the usual dark brown irises, dark pink ones that were bordering red stared back at me.
"I'm not certain…," She intoned a bit hesitatingly. "However, Osamu-kun already called to inform me that he could bring you something to aid you. Apparently, Noboru-san gave them a forewarning yesterday while they were visiting." Her tone was unnoticeably uneasy and that made me uneasy. She honestly didn't seem to know what to think of this odd change in my appearance. If she did, then it was probably something she didn't want happening. Which was bad, in itself.
"O-Okay…," I trailed with a deep sigh. My phone clicking shut was loud in the silent bathroom.
After the fight with Spider yesterday night, I had woken up hours later to my phone's alarm. The room had been fixed, the bookshelf standing and neat, and the lamp on the night table no longer shattered across the floor. Despite the pristine state of the room, my whole body had ached and I'd begrudgingly gotten out of bed and headed to the nearest bathroom to shower and dress. It was only after I'd gotten out of the shower and dressed had I looked into the mirror to check out the bruises I knew were dotting my face.
Sure enough, the area around the bottom of my right eye was a bit inflamed, black bruise spots scattered, and my left cheekbone was a bit purple. But my eyes had also changed and after a moment of trying to see if I was being delusional (perhaps I got another concussion yesterday), I'd hurried to call the only person who could possibly know what happened, Akako.
I grimaced at my face in the mirror. Great, now I not only had to worry about explaining these bruises, but now I had to hide my eyes. I scratched my neck in discomfort, snuggling into the over-sized hoodie I was wearing for comfort. This had to be that stupid arachnids fault, somehow. I don't know how, but this had to be him. The only strange thing that had happened yesterday, after all, was his impromptu visit.
"Midori-chan, are you alright?" Ran's voice came from outside the door after a short knock. I jumped in surprise, scrambling around my belongings to find something to cover up my face. I was seriously starting to regret my lack of makeup products, other than the ones I used to make Jester's distinct panda eyes. I had some foundation in The Den, too, but that was, well, in The Den. It's not like I could magically make it poof into existence in my bag.
"A-Ah, I'm alright!" I called through the door, stilling shuffling through my trinkets. With a grin of triumph, I found my hat crushed under the several notebooks that I had with me. Quickly shoving it over my head and pulling it low over my face in hopes that it covered my eye color enough, I opened the door slowly. Ran's concerned face looked at me as I painfully left the safe haven of the bathroom. "Sorry for taking so long. I…, um, was feeling a bit sick to the stomach. I, uh, think it may be the murder getting to me finally." A bit of guilt circled in my chest at the lie and how she seemed to grow a bit more concerned, probably remembering what happened the time Ayako had died.
"Will you be okay searching today?" She asked softly, putting a hand comfortingly on my shoulder and leaning a bit closer. In response, I lowered my head a bit, not meeting her eyes as I broke into a cold sweat. Please don't notice, don't notice, don't notice, don't notice, don't notice…
"Oh my gosh! Midori-chan, what happened to your face?" Ran gasped suddenly, pulling back before carefully smoothing out the skin over my left cheekbone. I winced a bit at the light touch, feeling a tingling pain and the shallow remembrance of cold fingers. As she was about to tilt my chin up to survey my black eye, I quickly danced backwards out of her reach with an awkward laugh.
"It's nothing~! I accidently fell asleep while reading a book. It was pretty large and it landed on my face, haha~!" I waved off her concern. "A-Anyways, we should probably get to the others and start searching!"
Swiftly, I turned on my heel and bolted down the stairs to the others as quickly as I could manage.
ooOOoo
"Midori-han, are ya feeling okay? You look pale." Heiji commented after about half an hour of searching the large estate. My eyes glanced over to him under the shadows of my hat, world spinning for a brief moment at the sudden redirect of attention. I wasn't sure what was wrong with my eyes, but everything was in a state of tunnel vision; clear and cut, too focused on one thing that it blurred out the rest of the world. It made me nauseous.
"I'm fine~" I laughed, ignoring Conan staring up at me inquisitively. With him, it was kind of taxing to make sure he didn't have a clear shot of my eyes in any type of light. Without a doubt, he would notice the coloration difference and then I'd be even more in the dog-house. "It's just…a bit hot, isn't it?" I said, pretending to fan my face with a hand.
Conan's eyes narrowed in disbelief while Heiji let out a raucous laugh. "You can just take off your sweater, can't ya?" He asked.
"No!" I rushed before, "Erm, I mean, I like wearing it. It makes me feel safer…," There were more bruises on my arms and there wasn't any way I could explain them away like I had with the ones on my face – and that excuse had been horrible. Plus, it was the truth. The sweater was comfortable and warm, with a scent that made me feel at peace – and it also helped that despite being a thin layer, I liked to think that if Spider decided to show up again, I'd at least have a bit more protection over my body.
"Yeah, but if you're overheating, you should just take it off." He told me, flipping the hood playfully. With a huff, I pulled it back off my hat, straightening it with a petulant expression. Instantly, the Osakan's expression grew curious. "Hey, who'd ya get this sweater from?"
I blinked, looking down at the grey hoodie I was wearing. It was a bit baggy on me and I easily realize it was the sweater that I'd gotten from Yuuto by the initials sewn almost translucently into the fabric of the left pocket. A fancy Y.K. was scrawled in the English alphabet. My lips formed a small smile as I looked back over to the tanned detective. "From one of my friends. I had to change clothes and he let me borrow some. He said I could keep them. In fact, most of the clothes I'm wearing right now are his." I laughed sheepishly. I'd just grabbed clean clothes that were at the ready and these were the most recent ones that Akako's butler had washed, sitting at the top of the pile.
"How'd you know I got it from someone else?" I questioned in interest. I didn't think being a bit baggy was a big giveaway, but you never know with detectives.
"The smell." Conan spoke up from below, sniffing my sweater at an appropriate distance. "While it's faint from being washed, there's the smell of cologne coming from the fabric."
Curiously, I brought the fabric of the collar up to my nose and breathed in, surprised to find they were right. While I mostly smelled the detergent that the demon butler used, there was the unfamiliar smell of cologne drowned out, along the even more drowned scent of incense. I let out a tiny laugh at that. It seems Akako isn't the only one who uses incense a lot.
"Huh. I hadn't noticed it before." I said with a grin, shoving my hands into the pockets. While Heiji chuckled, Conan gave a deadpan look at my lack of observation skills. Rude. In revenge, I ruffled his hair quickly and easily dodged the half-hearted kick he sent my way. "Anyway, it doesn't seem like we're making any progress. For all we know, he could've left the property already and be halfway to Hawaii."
"No, that's not possible. We checked the security cameras and nobody was shown leaving the building." The shrunken detective intoned. "The tape didn't appear to be tampered with, either. The police would've noticed."
"Maybe there's a hidden passage somewhere?" I questioned absently, chewing on my lip in thought. If there was film, did that mean that Spider can make himself invisible or something? The thought made my skin crawl. He could be in my bedroom while I'm changing and I'd never even notice! Gross… He just kept turning into more of a creeper than I'd originally thought.
"A hidden passage?" Heiji asked in interest.
"Yeah. I mean, this place is big and all, and you know rich people – they like to be elaborate." My shoulders shrugged. "Since Hideomi-san lived here, he would probably know if there was anything like that….Though, if there was, I'm sure someone else would've said something about it." My attempt to drop the topic, since I knew this wasn't true, was broken when both Conan and Heiji both adopted a thoughtful expression. "Actually, what you said could be possible." Conan commented and surprise hit me in the gut like a pleasant warmth. Was that approval I hear in his voice? Say it isn't so! "If there were only a few people who knew about the passage, it's possible that the ones who know aren't speaking up to protect Hideomi-san."
"But…wouldn't the chairman know about it, since this is his house?" My eyebrow rose.
"Yeah, but you have to remember that we're dealing with a family here, Midori-han. It's possible that he's not speaking up because he feels the need to protect his son." Heiji cut in. He gave a hum. "I had a case once, where the whole family had proof that the elder son had killed his lover, but they all tried to hide it from the police. I found the evidence, but it was a pain to question people who weren't givin' the whole story, ya know?" In a brief show of frustration, he took off his hat and ruffled his hair into a spiky, brown, mess.
We had stopped our walking in front of the steps that led up to house and with a sigh, I plopped down onto the concrete. My sneakers scuffed at the ground in boredom as Conan decided to take a seat next to me, face making me nervous at how serious he was. Thank goodness he wasn't focused on me… "I guess it makes sense, in a way…" I nodded, "Still, it's probably the wrong deduction. Looking at the butler here, it's easy to assume he's worked here for a long time, due to his familiarity with his surroundings and charges, so it's possible that he already knows about the secret passage, if there is one. He's not family, so he would tell the police." Most likely.
"Watanabe's right." Conan agreed and yes, I was just waiting for the apocalypse to begin because he'd technically complimented me two times in a row. Surely, the world was about to implode; it'd go up in a pretty swirl of bright red flames. "There were a few pictures I saw in the mansion that included the butler when he was much younger. It looks like he's worked here since the chairman's kids were younger."
"He could be loyal." Heiji pointed out. "If he's worked here for that long, there's the possibility that he's grown to view them as his family."
"That's possible…," I leaned back on my hands as I internally face palmed. A short mention of a secret passage had gone from a half-interest to see how Spider got in to both high school detectives suspecting everyone all the more, including the poor butler. Feeling the need to defend the innocent butler, I said, "But it's not certain. Human emotions are confusing and incomplete – even if he was loyal, he would probably feel the need to do the right thing if he wasn't involved."
Shinichi's blue orbs narrowed. "This is getting us nowhere. All we're relying on is circumstantial evidence and wasting time when we could be searching actively for Hideomi-san and the passage." Ahh, there's the detective I know – pointing out flaws to other people since 1994. At least he stopped this pointless conversation that I'd started.
As I was about to open my mouth to tell them we could continue searching the area, squinting at the almost-painful sunlight that was shining in the distance of the warped out sky, a blurred figure darted into my vision. Once the world stopped tilting, I realized belatedly that it was Takagi. Both the Osakan and Eastern detective were focused on him, probably wondering if he'd found anything that could be useful.
"Watanabe-san, there's three young men at the gate looking for you." Takagi told me in his almost nervous dutiful voice. "They said you called them to come here to give you something you had forgotten at home." At the mention of my house, two sharp pairs of eyes darted in my direction. I could practically feel suspicion leaking out of the small body by my side while Heiji seemed almost shocked – like he didn't expect me to actually have a house that other people knew about. Which was technically true – Midori didn't actually have a place she lived.
Suddenly, a voice called out and a blur of white-grey covered my vision while arms squished my sides and lifted me from my seated position. "Mi-tan~! I'm so happy you're okay!" The world spun in a circle as the smell of incense filled my senses and warmth flooded from the contact. My sneakers touched the ground after a while, but I clung to the boy in front of me, dizzy. Takashi's grinning face was too close to mine, silvery bangs mixing with mine. We were so close, I could see the exact detailing of his crimson eyes. With a cough of embarrassment, I tilted my head back a bit from his.
"W-What? I thought I left you back at the gate!" Takagi exclaimed in shock. Oh boy…
"Sorry about him. When the police came to the front instead of Midori-chan, Takashi grew a bit restless." Osamu's calm voice cut into the scene. My eyes flashed to him in surprise, not having noticed his presence either. Beside him, a quiet Yuuto was looking off to the side with a blank face, still adorning the cold mask and headphones. In the background, I could just barely make out the form of the butler stopping mid-jog at finally catching up with the boys. Oh gosh, had they come in without permission….?
"I was so worried! What if it had been Mi-tan who'd been murdered?!" Takashi asserted his 'well-found' worry. He removed his arms from me to give Osamu a pointed look, more petulant than anything really. "Osa-tama should be more concerned! I mean, just the other day–!" Osamu's hand wrapped casually around the white-haired teen's mouth before he could say more. His eyes were a cold warning as he glanced for a moment at Takashi. I could practically hear the internal scolding going on. Takashi almost looked like he was about to crumple to the floor for forgiveness. Honestly, he thought too highly of their black-haired leader.
"Sorry for the babble. He's a bit talkative." Osamu apologized once again. His grip on Takashi loosened to an arm slung around the shoulder, once again keeping the other on a short leash around new people. "If you wouldn't mind, the reason we were called here is a bit personal. Could we have some privacy?" His tone demanded it be done now, despite the polite disposition.
"A-Ah, sure…," Takagi stuttered before giving a short bow and leaving to go search for Hideomi-san again.
When Heiji and Conan didn't move, Osamu turned oppressive red eyes on them with another fake smile. The air grew thick. "And who might you two be?" He asked politely, putting a surprisingly gentle hand on my shoulder as he turned to the two. For a moment, I was grateful that he had a hold of Takashi, because the other's grin had vanished and he was staring at both detectives with an unnerving look – like he was waiting to sink his teeth into them or something. It was mildly disturbing.
"I'm Hattori Heiji!" The dark-skinned detective announced proudly, giving the three a grin. "Nice 'ta meet ya!" He was either unfazed by both looks coming from Osamu and Takashi or he was a lot more oblivious than I thought. Conan replied with a bit more hesitation, a bit more suspicion and caution. "Edogawa Conan." He introduced shortly.
"My name is Koizumi Osamu. I'm a relative of Midori-chan's." Osamu replied in kind, "This here is Koizumi Takashi and he is Koizumi Yuuto." Brief and to the point.
"It's nice to meet you." Yuuto finally spoke up almost silently, turning to the two and offering a polite, absent, nod of his head to them. I almost expected him to go back to daydreaming, but they seemed to have caught his attention, his eyes blinking lazily. He looked…surprised? It was hard to tell with his blank face.
"Anyway, I believe I will be borrowing Midori-chan for a bit." Osamu said and with a sharp turn of his heel, he led both me and Takashi away from the group, Yuuto trailing behind us. We stopped nearby the gate, where no one would be able to overhear us. Conan and Heiji weren't even in my visible eyesight despite the sharp tunnel vision I had suddenly acquired. Osamu's hand released my shoulder and Takashi seemed to blink out of whatever mood he'd been in before, returning to the too-wide grin he'd worn.
"I'll need to see your eyes." Osamu ordered, pulling a silver necklace out of his jacket's pocket after relaxing and relinquishing his hold on his charge.
"Erm, sure." I stuttered, reaching up and pulling my hat off my head. Instantly, light flooded my eyes and I flinched, squinting in pain. It felt like everything was too bright – the sunlight was too omnipresent. Osamu let out a short chuckle. "Don't worry, you'll adjust to it soon." He said and waited for me to finally stop squinting to get a better look. He let out a hum.
"They're the same color as Yoshiaki-san's." Osamu commented and Yuuto looked over at me. "Hey, did anything happen yesterday night?"
My mind flashed to Spider's stupid face.
"Nope, nothing really." I smiled sheepishly. "We spent most of the night searching for the murderer, but we couldn't find the person. Honestly, I thought I was just going to go on a pleasant case with those two and I ended up being dragged into a murder. Should've expected it, though, since chibi-chan's cursed." I snorted.
"He's not cursed. You would notice that now." Yuuto said and walked a bit closer. "Here, look at my left eye. You'll be able to see something if you look close enough." Curious, I followed his instructions, peering into his eye carefully, looking for something. For a few seconds, I was wondering if I was being tricked, but then it happened. There was a flicker. A black, smoggy haze flooding his eye as the almost indistinct shape of the Roman numeral thirteen covered his pupil.
I flinched back in surprise, eyes wide. "What's that? How did I not notice that before?!" I questioned in shock. Even though it had taken a few seconds, it wasn't like I'd never looked him in the eyes for that long the last time.
"It's a hexing eye." Osamu began, "Only certain witches and warlocks can place curses on others. People who can do that are born with a hexing eye. If someone has a curse placed on them, you'll see the same symbol somewhere on or near them, marking them."
"Mi-tan wasn't able to see it before because her eyes were closed~!" Takashi chimed, catching me in another hug and beginning to rock us both back and forth as he balanced on his heels. At the threat of both of us falling over, Osamu let Takashi lean back against him precariously, still keeping me captive.
"My eyes were closed?"
"Takashi is correct. While your regular eyes may have to been able to see, your…'magic-eyes' were closed off like the rest of your magic. It appears that they were opened for one reason or another. The change in the color also has to do with that. Magic is a strong substance that can change the variation of many things. As I'm sure you've noticed, a lot of people in our family have eyes a shade of red or other. It has to do with how their body reacts to the magical components. Others, though, look relatively normal because their bodies are more adaptable. It's also the reason why some people in our family are albinos yet have blue eyes instead of the usual red. The magic in their bodies affects their general appearance and the added components switch their eyes from normal to abnormal to balance out."
"But why wou–?" I cut myself off, feeling a short sense of horror wash over me before being replaced with a burning rage. Whatever Spider did to me after I passed out – and the thought that'd I'd been unconscious with him in the room made me shudder – must have done something. I'll be sure to kill him later…
Osamu raised one brow at me. "I assume you already know the cause of the change, then." He deduced from my reaction and his polite smile slipped into something with a hint of an edge, a malicious undertone. "You should really tell your friend that Koizumi's don't appreciate others' interfering in familial business." A sudden oppressing air had my throat closing in anxiety and I gave an awkward cough to cover the burning need to leave.
Takashi gave a sudden laugh in joy, breaking the thick tension that had cascaded over us all. I blinked up at him in interest. His grin was practically splitting his face in two. "I just realized! Since Mi-tan now has her eyes, she'll need to be trained~!" He sounded really excited at the prospect, for some reason. I was a bit worried, though.
"Trained? In what, magic? My 'eyes' only 'opened', though." I pointed out incredulous, "Plus, you brought something to help me, didn't you?"
"Yes, but it's only temporary and with your special conditions, it's quite possible your eyes will not be the only change to occur in your body. While they may be minor at first, its likely your friend will take all the chances he has to awaken the rest of your body. Surely, without the physical restrain and drain of having a master with a seal on her magic, they'll become stronger. They could possibly get enough charge from the sudden metamorphosis to create their own person." Osamu calmly stated, looking completely unconcerned as he threw a wrench at my brain.
"Free-willed artificial creatures aren't really why you need training, though." Yuuto began with his eyes focused off far in the distance. "Witches and warlocks don't awaken to their magic until they hit puberty, or sooner if they hold higher potential. A lot of people in our family awaken before puberty, you've probably seen with Seiichi-kun and Suzu-san. However, since awakening earlier is more abrupt, they have the tendency to lose control. Hormone levels in the body raise or lower when adjusting to magic, so you become more emotionally influenced and with the influence comes more fluctuation in power."
"Since you're awakening to your magic by force, rather than naturally, you will probably be subject to emotional highs and lows, which will then likely lead to more destructive outbursts. With the correct training, though, you should be generally stable. Training will stabilize your emotions since you won't be bottling up all the excess magic and if something does happen, you should be able to recover quickly."
I frowned at the words before realizing something. "Wait, what 'special circumstances'?" My fingers quoted the words in between in irritation. I didn't like being singled out. It made me self-conscious.
Takashi blinked, leaning in too close to my face. "Whaaa, Mi-tan wasn't told by Aka-tama?!" He asked, completely scandalized. He pulled me closer, smothering me like some poor pitiful teddy bear. I quickly separated us enough to breathe again, sending him a petulant expression that he seemed to ignore.
"Told me what?" I was feeling horribly out of the loop.
"You're a special type of witch. With witches, there are two types – ones who receive aid from snakes and ones that are aided by foxes. However, it's not just personal preference, it's based on their structure and magical terms. Even though fox-witches are common in Japanese mythology, they're actually pretty rare. Snake-youkai are easier to form a bond with and kitsune only enter contracts with witches who are more 'youkai' than 'human'. A few people, like you if you'd been born here, carry more youkai blood than the normal percentage."
"So…I'm half-demon." I said, blankly.
"No, you're confusing demons with youkai. Youkai and demons are completely different classes of…'monsters'. Youkai are more free-ranged beings that are on the supernatural side of the pendulum – they're neither innately good nor evil. Demons are a class of 'monsters' that work under a certain force, I'm sure you're aware, and they're often malicious and filled with ill intent. I'm assuming Akako-san referred to youkai as 'demons' when she was talking to you, since she already knew you'd get confused between the two." Osamu continued in his matter-of-fact tone.
"How am I even more youkai than human? That makes no sense. If youkai are free-ranged beings that happen to be supernatural, than doesn't that make all witches and warlocks complete youkai?" I questioned, scrunching my brows in confusion. This was getting a bit too detailed for me to follow completely, the information flooding my brain as I tried to process the fact that my eyes were technically no longer 'human'. In this case, I was beginning to wonder what the difference between 'human' and 'monster' was; I was 'human', and yet there were parts that weren't now. I think I understand how characters who find out their half-something feel now.
"No, witches and warlocks are more 'human' than 'youkai'. A long time ago, youkai and humans interbred and created offspring like you and I. On one hand, the children's' bodies were more human despite having the abilities of attaining youkai prowess and on the other, the children were born with more youkai-based bodies while attaining the ability to maintain a relatively human perspective. There's more to it, but I believe that's enough detail for now."
"Erm, right…," My shoulders hunched in mild discomfort. "So, I guess I'll have to train, then…Do you think Akako-neesan will be willing to help me, though?" She really didn't seem like the type that would be willing to teach someone like me magic. I'd be too incompetent or something and get on her nerves a lot. Plus, the thought of learning under her was a bit nerve wracking.
Osamu gave a private little smile, as if that's what he was expecting to hear. This guy… "Akako-san is a busy person who doesn't have time to do such trivial things." He rose the silver necklace he had taken out before, showing off the metal pendant. "However, this will keep your magic from going out of control until July. Summer break starts then for you, correct?"
"Yeah." My bangs brushed my forehead in a nod. Please don't tell me why I think you're about to tell me. I could feel exhaustion creeping into my body. It was too early to deal with this crap.
"Perfect. It's decided, then," He clapped his hands together once before clenching the pendant with his left hand. For a short second, his eyes burned a fiery red and when he opened his palm, a magic sigil was burned into the silver. "Starting July, you'll be joining us at the Koizumi summer estate where you'll be trained until summer vacation is over." There was no room for argument as he pulled the pendant over my head, patted my head like I was a small child as the world shocked back into regular focus, and then began to lead the two away with a brief wave and, "We'll be seeing you then. Be ready for us to pick you up around six after vacation starts."
Just as they were about to round the bend out of my sight, and I was still frozen in dumbstruck confusion at the turn of events, he turned to me with that suppressing air again. Once again, it was hard to breathe. "Oh, and if you run into that friend of yours, do be careful. They'll probably try to inject more magic into your already unstable body, slowly and unnoticeably, and that could force more changes, which would make more problems for me." His eyes looked murderous before he smiled and then they were gone, rounding the bend, presumably on their way out of the chairman's estate.
I blinked.
Well, there go my plans for the summer…
ooOOoo
Conan and Heiji found me just as I was about to head back inside the mansion to look for them. My hat was pulled backwards, since I could now see clearly without the sun searing off my eyeballs. It was nice to have my regular vision back. Absently, I wondered if it would go back to the tunnel vision when July came, but I brushed it off – I could think about that later. "Hey, sorry for being pulled away like that~!" I laughed, expression a bit sheepish. "I forgot some little trinket back at home and I needed it because I'll be going somewhere after we finish up this case."
"Where to?" Conan asked, trying his best not to look too interested.
With a cheeky grin, my fingers patted his cheeks mockingly. "Wouldn't you like to know~?" Smaller hands swatted mine away as quickly as they'd made contact. I stifled a laugh. Prickly…
"Anyways, shouldn't we be searching? I have plans for later." I said, shoving my hands in the pocket of my sweater.
Heiji nodded and with a short wave, he headed back inside to give the mansion another thorough sweep. I glanced down at Conan from the corner of my eye, giving him an imploring look. "Aren't you going to start searching again?" I asked as I rocked back onto my heels. One of my brows rose.
"I could ask you the same thing." He retorted and were we really going to argue here? Before I could shoot off another witty remark, he had cut me off. "By the way, I wanted ask you. Koizumi?" He gave me a narrow-eyed expression that was searching for any signs of discomfort. Whoa, déjà vu.
"Oh, yeah, Koizumi! I'm actually distantly related to the family! Why, do you know someone with that last name?" I questioned, peering down at him with a friendly grin. For a second, an almost disturbed look crossed his face, but it dispersed as quickly as it came. I wonder if he was getting Jester déjà vu.
"Uh…yeah. No one important, though." He said and why was he smirking at that line? Brat… "She's a classmate of mine, Koizumi Alice."
"Alice…? Oh! Alice-chan! The little brunette with a cheeky personality?" I nodded my head rapidly in approval with a small huff of laughter. "I've taught her well~! We used to live together, until I moved out and started to live with the others." I informed him, adding as much details without being too detailed. Believable lies lie in details.
"You don't live with you parents?" The shrunken detective of the east blinked, as if surprised.
"Nah, they like to travel overseas a lot. I haven't seen them in a long time." I laughed, almost feeling a bit sad at the half-truth.
"I see…," He was quiet for a bit before offering a small smile. "We should get back to searching."
ooOOoo
It was around sunset when the others were finally beginning to give up their searching. As for me, I had given up around lunchtime and had supervised for the rest of the hours while having a calming glass of water and a plate of snacks that the butler had fetched for me after he'd passed by at the same exact moment my stomach had decided to rat me out. Megure had given me a few deadpan looks when I hadn't helped with searching, instead deciding to eat and laze around, but other than that, it'd been smooth sailing.
It was just as Takagi was crawling out from under the bushes, sky a hazy orange, did the plotline start rolling again. Nearby the fountain, Scowly and Green Suit, who was actually wearing another green suit (go figure), were beginning to have another scuffle.
"What do you mean? It's my fault Hideomi didn't get married?!" Scowly shouted and leaned in real close to the poor girl's face. "So are you suggesting Hideomi restrained himself for my sake?!"
"No, all I'm saying is that he was a kind brother who was always thinking about you." Green Suit clarified and wow, did she really just say was? She's giving herself away ahead of time. I'm honestly surprised nobody noticed that. Scowly sucked in a sharp breath in rage and then her hand struck out like a cobra. A resounding smack sent Green Suit flying into the fountain nearby, her pen falling into the water. As Miyuki was getting up to retrieve her pen, sitting on the edge of the fountain, about to get in, Ran hurried to her side.
"Miyuki-san…wait a second…!" Ran said, holding back the woman from jumping into the murky water of the fountain. The butler quickly made haste to help Ran's cause, "Please don't! This pond is deep!"
"But that pen is a memento of my father! If I were to lose that…!" Miyuki protested, still trying to get out of Ran's grip. As you can probably guess, with Ran's karate strength, she didn't stand a chance.
"Please drain the pond for her!" Megure-keibu practically ordered the butler, probably in the hopes to diffuse a situation that could possibly end with another corpse on his hands. After all, it was a deep pond and it was getting pretty chilly out – and none of us knew if she could even swim. It was best not to test our luck.
"Yes, right away!"
It wasn't too long after that the pond was draining, brown-ish water swirling down, and leaving algae clinging to the rims. "But what a dirty pond!" Kogoro voiced what all of us were thinking as we watched the water slowly disappear.
"Madam used to keep carp in here, but after she passed away…," The butler trailed. Leaves and branches began to surface from the water's surface and then something more disturbing, the top of shoe-clad feet, a shirt covering a chest, and soon and face half-covered in burns. There was almost impenetrable silence, other than gasps, as Hideomi's full figure came into view, soaking in dirty water and covered in leaves. It was almost pitiful to see him like that.
As expected, the inspector and all three detectives – yes, Kogoro included – were the first to recover from their shock. Well, me too, but I already had the 'foresight' of it, so that didn't count. Before I knew it, Hideomi's body was out of the fountain and laid onto the ground nearby, Smiley weeping over his body.
"Why…Why did things have to end this way?" She cried, "Onii-sama! Hideomi-oniisama!"
"When was Hideomi's estimated time of death?" The inspector questioned one of the forensic officers by his side. The man with glasses answered promptly, "It appears that one and a half to two days have passed since his death."
"Mitsuaki-san was thrown from the balcony around ten o'clock on the day before yesterday. That would've been forty-four hours ago. If Hideomi-san had committed suicide before we police arrived, everything would add up." Megure deduced with a hand on his chin.
"But the cause of death was not drowning." The forensic officer said, cutting into the inspector's deduction. "Huh?" "I can't be certain without an autopsy, but…I think he went into the pond after being poisoned." The glasses-wearing officer went to kneel beside the body, picking up a rock that had been beside the corpse. The body stayed submerged because of the rocks that were placed inside his clothing."
"So, you're saying Hideomi-san grabbed some stones, stepped into the pond, then poisoned himself?!" Megure looked incredulous at the notion and Kogoro piped up from nearby, "Maybe he didn't want anyone to see his body."
"Or someone else didn't want us to see his body." A sly smile played at the edge of my lips.
Megure looked over to me, as if startled. Slowly, his face deadpanned again – I feel like this was something I was going to be seeing a lot of in the future, as well... – before he turned back to Kogoro to continue the discussion after I didn't elaborate. I think he expected me to be like Heiji or Shinichi, where if I started a deduction, I'd follow through to the end. Sorry, I don't really work like that, inspector~!
"However, Mouri-kun, even if they didn't get along, Hideomi-san didn't have to kill Mitsuaki-san."
"It may be because Hideomi-sama got along especially well with Yasue-sama." The butler intoned, turning to look at Smiley still crying by Hideomi's body. No one was even trying to offer her comfort, anymore. It was best to just let her let it all out. "The only person against their marriage was Hideomi-sama." I could see why – Suit Man had been a big dickface.
"So, he was upset to lose his precious little sister to him." Kogoro figured.
"Foolish boy…," Scowly said, almost softly, turning her head away from us with a frown.
Takagi broke the silence of the moment by running in with news, "Megure-keibu! The forensics results are in!" In his right hand was a sheet of paper that he read out loud when prompted by his boss. "The knife matched Mitsuaki-san's wounds, and the blood on the knife was also Mitsuaki-san's. Also, the hairs found on the bandages and hat were Hideomi-san's. Also, when I was rechecking the security footage, I noticed a man with blond hair appearing for a moment in the hallway where Watanabe-san's room was. He was almost unnoticeable." He added as an afterthought, turning to me in question.
Several other pairs of eyes focused on me, too.
I felt my face heat in the embarrassment of so much attention. "O-Oh…, that was probably my…friend. He knew I was going to be here and came to check-in on me, that's all…," I mumbled, rubbing the back of my neck. So, turns out the arachnid freak couldn't turn invisible. Or he could, but he didn't because he was an ass that wanted to make trouble for me. Considering the fact that he had stalked me for a good week or so earlier on, I'm gonna assume it was the latter.
"How'd he get in, though? There's a gate at the front." Ran pointed out, blinking in concern, eyes trailing over the bruises covering my cheeks. Oh, gosh, please don't connect my 'friend' with those…
"He's a magician. He picks locks and such for a living, so…," Please don't realize. My fingers clutched at a bruise hidden by the sleeves of my sweater nervously as I gave a grin. "Breaking through the gate and then unlocking the door to the mansion was probably an easy cake-walk for him. Don't worry, he's…a good person." That's such a lie…
Megure gave a deep sigh before turning back to Takagi. "Was there anything else, Takagi-kun?"
"Oh, right! We also found a kite string about a meter long in Mitsuaki-san's coat pocket." He added dutifully.
"Kite string?" Megure questioned. "Was the wound on the backside of his hand also made by the knife?" Conan piped up from beside the portly inspector. Takagi's gaze fell from his superior's face to Conan's, who was once again trying his 'I'm just a cute little kid' expression. It was weird. Beyond weird. "No, it wasn't." He answered.
"What was the blood type of the saliva that should've been on the knife?" Heiji spoke from beside me.
Takagi looked at a loss. "Well, none was found…, it must have been wiped off." Just like the flick of a switch, Heiji and Conan were once again in serious-mode.
"Inspector, I found this paper in the body's pocket." A random officer informed, taking a piece of paper from Hideomi's corpse and handing it to Megure. Surprisingly, it was still intact and seemed to have already dried off most of the way, only patches of the paper were damp. The inspector began to read it paragraph for paragraph out loud. "'I have no right to marry you. I give my life to atone for the crime I commited'. …T-This is a suicide note!" He turned to Green Suit behind him, "Miyuki-san, this was written to you! Is this Hideomi's handwriting?" He asked when she came over to observe.
"Yes, it's similar, but…," She trailed and hung her head down in…guilt? "I'll bring a sample of his writing from his room…," She walked off without another word, even ignoring Ran trying to hand her back her fountain pen. Erg, this is why I always had conflicted feelings about this case…
"Let 'er go." Heiji interrupted Ran from running after Miyuki. "I'll give that fountain pen to her later."
ooOOoo
"I thought you said you were gonna give it back to her." I snorted after Heiji admired the oldness of Green Suit's pen. My sneaker scuffed the ground to snuff the small snort that came from the shrunken teen detective standing next to me. We were once again in front of the steps near the mansion, Heiji and Conan standing in alertness while I practically laid on the concrete steps. Thankfully, not as much people were going in and out of the house like earlier, otherwise I would've been stomped down to a pretty little stain on the steps.
"I will, I will." Heiji waved off carelessly before tucking the pen back into the pocket of his beige pants. I was trying not to comment on his fashion sense, since I'm pretty sure mine was nonexistent but who wears beige pants and brown shoes? Salary men, that's who. It was alright in certain occasions, but most of the time…
"It's odd." Conan broke into my thoughts of bad fashion. His voice was sharp. "Yeah, this case is really odd." Heiji agreed without a second thought. No longer was he thinking of competition, but they were beginning to work together as the well-oiled machine they would soon be known for. I could practically see the cogs turning in those big brains of theirs as I fiddled with the hoodie strings on my sweater, trying to find a comfortable spot for my head on the hard surface I was laying on.
"What's odd is that note." Conan started. "It said 'the crime I committed'. That would mean he wrote it after he killed Mitsuaki-san. There's no way he would have the time to leisurely write a note." Heiji continued, hands deep in his pocket. Both of the boys' eyes were focused in the distance, where the horizon went from red to orange to deep blue. They were slowly putting the pieces together, there was really no need to prompt them now.
I snagged my phone out of my pocket and began to send a text to Kaito, telling him I'd probably be home late due to family coming to visit us at Akako's unexpectedly. Last thing I needed was to be grounded again, I mused. The silent beeps of my phone didn't drown out the rest of the conversation, though.
"That means someone made him write it, or someone forged his handwriting. In any case, there's no doubt someone poisoned him and then sunk him in the pond with the note." Shinichi deduced.
"But the only time anyone was near the pond was when we were all looking for Hideomi-san." Heiji refuted, his brow furred a bit at the information.
"That means Hideomi-san had been killed before Mitsuaki-san was murdered!"
I snickered from my position, knocking them both out of the creepily serious trance they'd been in. "Wow, you two catch on fast~!" I teased, biting on the straw of the lemonade that the butler had offered me a while ago. I think he favored me or something because he was being super nice! It was pretty nice.
"Eh? Do you know who the murderer is?!" Heiji yelped in surprise, leaning down to look at me with wide blue-green eyes. Conan looked just as startled, but he looked a bit offended that I'd figured it out first. It kind of resembled a frustration with his own lack of awareness. A hum escaped my throat cheerfully, "Well, not so much know as to having a…guess of sorts. A theory, you could say, based on the information we've received so far."
"A guess?" Conan grumbled, giving me a petulant look from behind his glasses. "It's hardly proper detective work to make conclusions before receiving all the information." Wow, someone was grouchy today~!
I sat forward from my laidback position with a Cheshire grin already stretching over my lips as I folded my hands together the same way I saw mafia bosses do on television. "Oh? You don't believe in guesses, huh? Well, I'm actually pretty fantastic at guessing. Never wrong, I tell 'ya." Conan's face was utterly unimpressed, so I pushed on. "Wanna make a bet then? I bet 2000 yen that the killer is Green Suit."
"…Green Suit, Midori-han?"
"Err…, Miyuki-san."
Maybe it was the blow to his pride that made him agree to it, or some weird black hole effect, but a second later a confident smile had adorned Conan's face.
"Okay, you're on."
Review Replies:
To: Smile Ren – Thanks! ^^ And yup, I'm in pretty good health conditions right now. I'm hoping it stays that way for the rest of winter. XDD Haha, Spider's fun to write but he's a buttface. And that's for you to interpret as a reader. It could've been in real life or a nightmare that he entered again that affected her body. It's not really too important. XD Thanks for the review! ^^
To: kittyfinatic515 – (Laughs) Yeah. XD And yes! You're correct. Sometime around KID's heist, which is after the case after this one with the next one building up to it, is when some plot development happens between Conan and Midori. So far, they've been at a stalemate, so it'll be fun to write out what happens. ^^ Thanks for the review!
To: DDmasters – Thanks! ^^ (I just realized you followed my personal as well and I want to warn you that there's shounen ai/shoujo ai posts that I reblog. I wasn't sure if you read the little warning on my blog, but I thought I should let you know. XDD) Thanks for the review!
To: Loyal DC Fan (chapter five) – Haha, it probably is, but I'm just going off the wiki. XDD Since I've been calling it that for a while, I'm just gonna stick with Ekoda. Sorry if it bothers you.;; Thanks for the review! o^^o
To: Iriss-sama – (Laughs) It's no problem. XDD Don't worry, I've been pretty bad, too. I haven't really been catching up on stories I'm following and such. (Nervous Laughter) I'm glad you liked it! o^^o Theories are always good! I like to brainstorm with my readers and a lot of them time, I'll feed off their ideas. XDD It helps me a lot when I'm in a slump. ^^ Thanks for the review, Ri-chan! ^^
-Black hole effect, indeed, haha. XDD Anyways, that was the second chapter to the Transmogrification Arc. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Also want to let you know that I have opened up a tumblr page/blog for Revolver on the request of one of my readers! You can find the link to the page on my profile page, because trying to write links in fanfiction is like war. XDD The name, though, is alice-midori, with all the normal tumblr url things. See ya, guys! Also, happy thanksgiving, just in case I don't update between then and now. XDD
"Next Conan's Hint: Fountain Pen!"