Heya !
Let's solve that tiny cliff I let you in and go further towards the truth ! : )
I'll publish both last chapter and epilogue on Sunday so this is the last before last publication ! ; )
o.O.o
emmahoshi : Haha, I'm glad for you then, typing such long reviews must have been hellish with a phone, I'm impressed :O Ah, well, I'll give some fuelto your theories in this chapter : ) Nah, he's been hit front. as to why he couldn't see who... Same, answer in that chapter ; ) As to Heiji dealing with his father's death, nah, I'll be mentioning it but we won't be with him as he tries to climb the long way to accept that loss and try to cope with it... I wasn't feeling like describing the whole thing and it would have been quit sad, when I'm trying to have him more spirited in those recent chapters :p
Chapter 18 : Pommeau
"- Oy, Hattori !"
I was going to yell I wasn't dead - or deaf - yet, when two strong arms grabbed me under my shoulders to drag me under the trees.
No need to say it wasn't agreeable at all but, with another bullet hitting the ground at barely millimetres of my left leg, I agreed it was a good idea.
When Ayanokoji finally let me go, it was up to Kudô to decide it was also a good idea to keep me under pain, putting pressure on the entry point.
The bullet hit me somewhere around the upper left arm, not far away from the shoulder, from what I felt. I had a chill when I remembered my position when I got shot. If I hadn't decided to move right at this moment, the bullet would have probably ended 20 cm on the left, too close to my heart for my own good.
"- A sniper ?!" The policeman ranted, his eyes looking at the nearby skyscrapers through the leaves, probably trying to spot any trace of our aggressor.
"- If ya tell me whose name was on yer list... I'll tell ya who's shootin' at us..." I proposed, gently pushing my friend away to sit and face the man, bringing my hand on the jacket he had been using to compress the wound.
"- It was Superintendent General Tanioka's... But it makes no sense, the man is in jail..."
I paled a bit, turning to look at Kudô, mouth half opened.
"- But his son...
- That would explain a lot of things..." The fake boy concluded with a frown.
I guessed that, just like me, he was seeing that case with a new eye. And that answer was filling a few holes in our story...
Sahashi-han had been speaking about his book right to the ones he didn't want to when he spoke about it with Tanioka Takeo and his father... And that would have been easy, being physically close to the old man the whole party, to try to murder him. No need to force any door either when he finally managed to kill the author, he just had to knock and the man would have opened despite the late hour. But still... Was the BO hiring in kindergarten or what ...?
"- He's barely sixteen, no way that boy could kill anyone..." The policeman sighed, not really fond of our theory, also shocked by the young age of the culprit.
"- That's the best way ta hide, don' ya think ?" I smirked as I pushed on my legs to get up, using my good arm to stabilize, nevertheless grimacing with the effort.
And employing younglings wasn't anything new for the BO... That Haibara was the living proof of it, even without that shrinking pill, she'd still be pretty young to be in a criminal society...
"- What do you think you're doing ? We stay hidden, I'm going to call for he..."
The man stopped in the middle of his sentence as I grabbed his collar to drag him towards me, allowing him to avoid by barely millimetres a dagger sent at him from behind.
"- The nanny !" I warned with a pained hiss as Ayanokoji almost stumbled on me.
"- Just run !" Kudô ordered, pushing us away to avoid another blade.
As we could, we rushed towards the closest cover, a wooden kiosk, and flattened against it. I knew I was panting heavily but well, running with a bullet in the arm wasn't a sport I was fond of and my body neither.
"- The "nanny" ?" The policeman asked with startle as he looked at me.
"- She was the one acting like Tanioka-niisan's guardian when we visited him…" My friend explained, allowing me to catch my breath.
"- More like a bodyguard it seems…" I added with irony.
"- I bet she's trying to force us in the open, for Tanioka-niisan to have a clear shot…"
A noise of broken wood just near my head informed me she had been succeeding in her mission, since that bullet could only belong to the m... teen in black.
"- Crap, we're just sittin' ducks here…" I ranted before putting my cap on my head with a determinate expression. "I'm the one he wants ta kill so I'll be drawin' Tanioka's attention, ya both, just neutralize that girl with her knives an' come ta help me after that !
- That's mad, just don't…!"
But I didn't hear the end of Ayanokoji's order, I was already long gone, trying to go deeper into the park, not wanting to meet any innocent wanderer, crossing my fingers for the sniper to be more interested in me than in my friends.
A few gunshots later, I knew two things. First, that Tanioka had decided to go after me, just like I hoped. And second, he clearly was now physically in the park. It was up to Kudô and Ayanokoji to neutralize the woman, I, on my side, was just planning to run around, in the hope I'd last long enough against the teen despite my wounded arm.
I was surprised to see that I wasn't that slow in the end, it was funny how adrenaline could help you to run sometimes… Though I knew my body would have to pay the price… Well, it would be time to regret it later !
It lasted something like what, ten minutes ? I had to admit that, adrenaline or not, I was at my limit… And the limit of the park ! And the last thing I wanted was to find myself zigzagging among a crowd with a mad guy with a gun at my heels…
But that was when I spotted Kudô, in a bush a bit further, his finger against his lips when he saw I was looking at him. He had a sign of the chin, to show me Ayanokoji was hidden not far away from him, his weapon roughly in the direction I thought Tanioka was, he probably saw him too. Did they neutralized the aunty ? Probably…
I stopped to hide behind some tree, knowing now would be our best opportunity to try to seize the guy. But we had to get him out… I guessed it was time for me to try to distract him…
"- Oy, Tanioka, why not try ta speak man ta man ?" I tried as I got out of my hiding, hands in the air.
Some long seconds went by, long enough for me to think it was perhaps not such a good idea and that I was soon going to decorate some drawer in a morgue but… Rah, I had to try to have him step into the open, for the policeman to neutralize him… Mentally crossing my fingers, I tried to provoke him a bit more.
"- Or ya perhaps want me ta call ya somethin' else ? Don' ya have those alcoholic names in the BO ?"
A bullet hitting the ground at my feet informed me Tanioka wasn't really appreciating my joke. He had stepped a bit closer to me, but not enough to be clearly in Ayanokoji's line of fire, there still was some vegetation between them... Crap.
"- Alcohol names. Not alcoholic…
- Ok, ok..." I tried to calm him down, raising my hands between us, sweat-dropping a bit as my eyes laid on the weapon in his hand.
"- I am Pommeau. That name is my pride. Ya won' insult me anymore, Hattori Heiji."
And the gun fired.
Well, the gunS. I didn't really remember which one first.
The only thing I remembered is that the impact threw me to the ground but, strangely, I didn't feel much pain.
A second detonation echoed when I hit the floor, before I heard some footsteps rushing towards me. I pushed on my good arm to sit and looked at my two partners coming to me with a concerned face, though there was some kind of relief when they saw I was conscious and moving.
That was also surprising me, having felt a hit against the left of my torso so I dug into my chest pocket. To then triumphantly take my phone out and show it to them with a smile, my talisman hanging from it, just at my eyes level.
"- Lucky !
- Hattori..."
It looked like I was the only one to think it was funny, since Kudô darkened even more at the sight of my broken phone, I didn't really understand why…
Though, after a second look... I noticed that I could see my friend through my phone.
"- Perhaps not... " were my last words as I slowly looked down to stare at my chest, seeing the red starting to taint my clothes.
What happened after is a mystery to me.
o.O.o
Well, was a mystery, until I opened my eyes again.
I guessed that, at my lack of sensations, I was being fed with painkiller medication. I felt a bit heavy on the left side but that was all.
A bandage around my chest and shoulder confirmed that first impression.
With a sigh, I looked around me. The room was dark, except for a small light on my bedside table. Night-time probably.
I guessed with a little smile that I was a bit late to bring Kudô to the station. Wouldn't change much, right ? Neechan was going to think I was really doing that on purpose…
Speaking of the devil, the door opened slowly on Ayanokoji and my best friend.
"- Ah, you woke up ?" The fake boy smiled as he came closer to my bed.
"- An' ya ? Not in yer train ?" I coughed a bit, my throat dry, grabbing with my good hand the cup of water near of me.
"- I managed to convince his guardian I had to keep him a bit more with me, as a witness for my investigation …" The policeman declared, with his usual calm voice. "They came back to Osaka, to your mother's house.
- Did ya warn Okan ?" I wondered with a grimace as I started to move to settle in a sitting position.
"- I had to." Ayanokoji confirmed as he helped me to straighten my bed. "An underage wounded in a shootout… It was out of question not to warn her. She'll be here in one hour, I think… I don't know how many will come, seeing the Mouri are with her but I advised not to bring too many people.
- Ok, thanks… An underage ? What happened ta Tanioka ?
- Sorry, when I saw he was going to shoot, I tried to stop him but I couldn't aim properly, with those trees around him…
- Which explains the second gunshot I heard…
- Yes. I didn't want to…"
The man put his hand in front of his head to rub his face. He was conflicted, it was obvious. But who wouldn't have been ? That man had been forced to shot a teen to protect another… I was glad with the decision he took since it was the reason I was able to talk to him right now but dealing with young criminals had nothing easy…
"- … But he shot you and was going to do it again… He's in the intensive care unit, they don't know yet if he…"
I nodded in silence, for him to understand I got what he meant.
"- You've been lucky by the way…" Kudô finally declared, probably to change the topic. "The bullet nicked your lung and a nearby artery but, since it already went through your phone, it didn't dug too deep…
- So I really was lucky in the end !" I grinned with pride.
My best friend rolled his eyes dramatically, sharing our usual little game : me spurting nonsense about having been cautious and him being the mother scolding a child… Things were back to normal !
"- Hattori-kun…" Ayanokoji's voice said, interrupting our private joke. "Whose number was it ?"
My grin leaving my face, I looked at him straight in the eyes. Was he going to believe me if I started to accuse Osaka's Superintendent General of everything ? I had something to ask first…
"- Ayanokoji-keibu… I need ta ask ya one thin' before that. Why did ya help me ? We both know it wasn' fer my charmin' smile… So why ?"
The man sighed as he crossed his arm in front of his chest. But, after a long silence, finally spoke.
"- The questionings. Of that criminal group who had allowed Saijô-san to escape. Those men seemed… too narrow-minded to have organized all that. I felt there was something else… And Saijô-san also admitted targeting you wasn't just to have his revenge. That the ones who freed him asked him to kill your father and you were just the side dish… But I think you already knew that, right ?"
I nodded a yes, knowing it was useless to hide anything now.
"- So my hunch was right… Well, all those things are why I helped you. And I felt you knew more than you were telling…
- I hoped it was somethin' like that…" I admitted, turning my head to look at my best friend, to see him shrug. Yea, it was time to spill the beans. "That number… It belongs ta the Superintendent General Kasai. "
Just as expected, I could see, even in the faint light, that the officer had paled.
"- Ya probably guess now why I didn' share that information before… Who would have believed me…?
- Tell me everything. "
It was my turn to sigh. I was starting to feel tired and speaking wasn't exactly agreeable with the heavy weight I was feeling on my chest.
"- K… Conan-kun, could ya …?"
My friend didn't even scold me for almost slipping his name and turned to Ayanokoji.
"- I was with Heiji-niichan the whole time so I know everything !"
I had a small smile at his childish tone, always feeling the urge to tease him about that when he used it but I didn't, for once. I was too grateful for him to take over.
I remembered I closed my eyes after our chat but it probably lasted longer than planned because what woke me up were Kazuha's arms around my neck.
"- Heiji !
- Hey, I'm no teddy bear, Kazuha..." I grumbled, blushing, a bit embarrassed by the fact she was so close.
I felt she smiled, her cheek being against mine.
"- If that's the only way fer you ta stop hurtin' yerself, I'll stay around yer neck the rest of yer life !
- Aho, how do ya want me ta solve cases like this …?" I pointed out, my ears now scarlet at her declaration.
As I looked elsewhere, trying to hide my embarrassment, I noticed Okan and Otaki-han were also here, a small smile on their lips.
Great, as if I needed some witnesses right now…
But the fact they were smiling was comforting. Though I knew I'd have to apologize once again for scaring them…
But this case was reaching its end.
Kasai. He was the last one to bring down, along with his politician…
We had to find a way to link both to that case.
Pommeau : French alcohol between cider and calvados. A bit stronger than wine, around 20°. I liked the idea, for a young agent, to have a name a bit harder than a wine, softer than a strong alcohol.