Disclaimer: Nope, I'm not rich yet. I'm still here, calmly sipping coffee with my friends in the heart of Europe. It certainly would be Japan if I had any say about the place. Then again, higher powers (such as god, fate, the universe, circumstances or just little old me) dictate that I have to still spend some time here until such a time that I have saved enough money to get out of the country and into the land of my dreams. That process certainly would have sped up considerably if I owned Detective Conan and/or Magic Kaitô… which I don't.

Nervously he pulled the white cap that he was wearing more into his face. He'd gone for a "normal look". In order not to stand out too much he'd disguised himself as a rather plain-looking, burly man in his mid-thirties who blended in perfectly with the crowd of onlookers that had congregated at the scene. The pullovers he had on were truly helping with that "burly look" he was going for. Impatient to get away, he wiped away the small beads of sweat that had gathered close to his eyes from the constant sprinting he'd been doing all day.

RollerCoasterMurderCase

Honestly! They couldn't have hidden the clue about the amusement park more, could they? It had taken quite a lot of guessing and pointless poking around in the fog of confusion that the note had sparked for him in order to find the answer. But once he had figured that "ride" was the most important clue in that last sentence, he'd only had to list all the "rides" that he could think of. The question of it being either am or pm had been eliminated early on, when he'd thrown a look at how his criminal number had been put down. 14:12. According to digital clocks, such a time could only mean the afternoon. Fortunately, most every ride there was (boat ride, train ride, he checked the plane rides even!) he could cross out, seeing as, according to the schedules, no boat, train or plane went through a tunnel or anything even remotely resembling something that could shade the passage anywhere near Tokyo at five pm.

As for the cars, that was where Kaito'd been on the wrong track at first. He'd played around with the word "to cut the line" – Kaito'd already looked up any and all place names that had the kanji for "to cut" in them. No such luck. They were all located either too far in the north (no way he'd be called to Kitta, close to Hokkaido, or to Kirize which was in the prefecture of Miyagi) or too far south for his tastes to have been a plausible place for a meeting (the others that he had been able to garner were to the north of Nagoya).

And for whatever inexplicable reason, the place name Kirigo typed into Google had thrown him for a loop by giving him the address of the Meiji Daigaku Hakubutsukan – the Meiji University Museum. That had made him pause shortly. Blink. Rub his eyes. And blink again for good measure. Then go on searching again.

Next he'd played around with the sounds of "to cut", kiru in Japanese. Kaito'd come to the solution that Kita-ku, Tokyo's special ward Kita (=north), would be the perfect phonetic fit, seeing as "kita" can also mean "it was cut". He'd disregarded that one rather soon, however, when he had realized that Snake and his men couldn't possibly expect him to do as much research as he was putting into finding out where the meeting place was going to be.

As he hadn't had any other hints or clues on what to do now, other than monitor the patrolling officers of Kita-ku and passing-through detectives, he had set himself to just that. The Shuto Expressway and the Nakasendô passed right through the ward, making it difficult for him to find out just when a police car would go underneath a bridge. Then again, he knew it would be a pretty pointless task and, until he could find out where the meeting place really would be held, he'd be stuck.

Naively hopeful to be right despite already knowing the truth, he had positioned himself over one of the main bridges in the area, binoculars hanging off of his neck and a bottle of juice in his hand. The teenager had already walked around the area, finding out where any other bridges were located and trying to rack his brain what else the "five o'clock detective's ride through darkness" could mean. It had taken until half past four and about three to four couples with a balloon and candy floss in their hands and a heart made of ginger bread around their necks, and three more families decked with flags, balloons and t-shirts in the brightest colors until he'd made the connection with the riddle. As fast as that, he'd sprung up and run off. Kaito was sure he'd startled all of the passersby in his near vicinity.

RollerCoasterMurderCase

And now here he was, in the amusement park. "Tropical Land" – the only one with a rollercoaster called "Mystery ride" that went through a tunnel close to the end. That was as close to "detective's ride through darkness" as he was going to get, he was sure of it. Kaito was in the queue, dressed out in a dull light pink jacket, red trousers and a shirt – with a moustache for additional safety – and ready to ride on it, several minutes after the oh-so-mysterious five o'clock-ride that might have changed his life. Yes, he was late. That had been attributed to the fact that he'd needed this much time to figure out just where to go. Nevertheless, at five sharp he'd definitely seen the two men that had sat down in the last two seats of the cart and immediately known that there'd be trouble. Two men wearing long black trench coats and hats while on a funfair? That was as suspicious as it was going to get he knew. Never mind the grim faces they maintained all the time. With a disapproving frown – naturally attributed by any bystander to the way they had shamelessly jumped the queue just then – he watched them getting into the cart, having to wait himself for his own turn, seeing as he was several paces behind in the queue.

He'd been proven right when at the end of that very ride there'd been a murder victim to announce. Naturally, he had NOT counted on the presence of that Kudo detective who had hunted him once at that clock tower heist. Yet, a little more concealment didn't hurt, so he made sure to be absorbed by the mass of people without making it obvious. Subtly he fell back, turning around at the end of the room, all the while claiming queasiness and nausea as source of his growing uneasiness and discomfort.

Once outside, Kaito had to lean against a wall to steady himself. Quite frankly, that head – or lack thereof, for want of a better word – had been far more than disturbing. It had been a gruesome sight. Not that he hadn't been prepared for some action, but to have such a thing happen practically right in front of his eyes was alarming. He had doubts whether he'd ever be able to look at roller coasters the same. If he closed his eyes the teenager could still see the head, cut off at the neck and with all the blood raining out of it. Blergh! What a horrible image! Naturally he hadn't wanted to stay put to see just how such an end result had been achieved by the soon-to-be-prisoner. He had no illusions about whether the high school detective would be able to solve the case or not.

Wearily, he put a hand on his face. Already resigned to having nightmares about this for several nights to come, he decided on his next course of action and went off in search of the exit of the "Mystery ride". These scary men-in-black had to come out of there sometime, right?

AN: Like it? Hate it? Want to complain about Kaito's choice of attire? Comments are greatly appreciated! J Hope everything was clear to you, regarding the riddle! If not, please tell me so I can change things to make it better! ~ aiming to improve, always ~

MnC21: Thanks for that review on the last chapter, btw! :-D It made me dance & jump around and be bouncy all day ^_^

And many many thanks to my beta, LostInTheDreams! This story wouldn't have been put online without your help!