A/N: Mild spoilers in this chapter for case 2-4: Farewell, My Turnabout.


Chapter 3: Suspicions of a Blue-Suited Kind

"My name's Conan! Edogawa Conan!"

Those accursed five words echoed in Phoenix's head over and over again, bouncing around the lawyer's skull and mocking the lawyer in the boy's childish soprano tone. It became grating to Phoenix when he heard a boyish voice say "My name's Conan!" in his mind for the tenth time. It got to the point where he had to actively remind himself, that no, the boy's name was most definitely NOT Conan.

Your name's Conan? Hah, that's a good one! And you know what, while we're talking about false names, here's my name, Larry Butz! How's that for ya?

Great, now I'm really going crazy. I'm literally arguing with my inner conscience about a false name. Like seriously.

Damn it all, Phoenix couldn't help but be snarky about it. The whole thing was so utterly surreal. Why did weird stuff like this always happen to him? Laughing about it was all he could do to keep that boy's spooky glare and bogus introduction away from his nightmares.

At least this was a way to make sure that I don't forget your name! Sheesh, normally I'm forgetful when it comes to names and faces, but thanks to those Psyche-Locks I doubt I'll ever forget about "Edogawa Conan" even after I fly back to the United States.

Those five innocent words that could have just been a small boy's regular introduction became infinitely more frightening when the five Psyche-Locks showed that it was a lie.

Why couldn't Conan have just told him the truth? Oh yeah, because that would make everything easy, and as far as Phoenix was concerned, nothing ever went the easy route for him.

The fact that a seven-year-old lied about his identity so naturally was a red flag to Phoenix, a lawyer who had encountered many, many, many lies from witnesses before in the courtroom. Not to mention the fact that Conan apparently had something important to hide, which made this whole situation so much more complicated than it needed to be.

The appearance of the multiple Psyche-Locks on Conan was ominous to him though. These locks almost always appeared succeeding a murder case, since key witnesses often had things to hide. However, this was one of the few times he'd seen them prior to anything wrong even happening. He couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding dread, as though something bad was about to happen.

Phoenix sighed loudly as he walked back to Maya and the others, hoping that once his head was cleared up he would be able to face that creepy kid without flinching. What did he even do to deserve this? Why didn't anything good ever happen to him?

Five damn Psyche-Locks! And on a seven-year-old child too!

A child that should have been remorsefully looking down and speaking hesitantly when he was fibbing, not look straight into the eye of an adult and confidently lie without the slightest hint of a flinch.

Just what kind of person was he?

Gah, just forget about the darn kid, Phoenix told himself in vain. As he turned around the corner and back to the lobby, he heard Maya's distinctive voice. One more second later and he was able to see her flailing around, jumping about like a bunny with additional springs on its feet.

"Nickkkkk! You should know better than to run off on us! You even ignored me when I was calling after you, you selfish man!"

Whup, looks like Maya was puffing her cheeks out again. Her pulling off that action was the usual way Maya expressed her irritation to his face.

Did he really want to tell an already upset Maya that he had just spent the past ten minutes obsessing over a seven-year-old that had lied about his name? Phoenix almost laughed out loud at his own thought. That was a rhetorical question, brain.

There was no way on Earth that he would ever let Maya know about this if he were to value his ego or pride. The moment Maya knew about what he was suspecting, she'd make fun of and hassle him for the rest of the trip.

"What the heck, Nick! Do you seriously think that cute little kid lied to us about his name? Shame on you!"

That was most likely be exactly what she would say to him in response, at least after she laughed for five minutes straight. After that, Maya would shrug it off as if it was no big deal, which was the last thing the uncomfortable lawyer needed to hear. He needed support and reassurance, but unfortunately Maya would only ignore him since there was no way she would consider it a huge deal.

As a result, Phoenix made up his mind not to tell her about Conan. Besides, how would he even be able to convince Maya if he did tell her the truth? Sorry Maya, but I got creeped out by the tiny seven-year-old kid we met earlier since he had a stare that was almost as scary as when I first met Pearls in Kurain. And also, he most probably lied about his name, background, and who knows what else.

Actually, Phoenix corrected himself — if it ever came to that, Maya might just mouth this off as "another one of Nick's idiot moments" to Apollo and Athena when they got back.

Come to think of it, at least he didn't see the kid around now. He had probably already gone off with his guardian. Oh well, at least that made it easier to brush him off. "Sorry for running off on you, Maya," Phoenix apologized, praying beyond hope to change the topic quickly, "I just needed to catch some fresh air."

Maya huffed, puffing her cheeks out even further. "And you did that by going further within the hotel where it'll be even stuffier? And not out the front doors to the streets that are less than five meters in the opposite direction?"

Crap! Wow, she got me, that's actually makes sense! Damn, that excuse would have worked if only I wasn't on the first floor lobby.

"Well… let's just say I needed some time to myself," he feebly protested, trying another lame excuse to try to dissuade Maya from her train of thought.

"Heh!" For a moment it looked as though Maya was going to retort and press the matter again. However, her expression suddenly changed to a smile. "Well, you're not the only one. Trucy and Pearly are off elsewhere too!"

"Oh, that's good to know…" Phoenix muttered in relief at Maya finally letting him off the hook. That was at least until the horror of the new topic that she'd just brought up dawned on him. "W-W-What did you just say?!" he spluttered.

"I said, Trucy and Pearly—"

Phoenix didn't even wait for Maya to finish repeating her sentence before he yelled out loud, attracting the attention of other guests in the lobby. "Maya! Why on Earth would you let them run off unsupervised?" He flung both his hands to his sides, a clearly upset expression on his face.

Shoot! He should have known something was off when the lobby seemed significantly quieter. Trucy was usually very talkative, so the absence of her voice should have tipped him that something was off.

"Nick!" Maya cried out, looking mildly upset by Phoenix's outburst, "The two of them are not kids anymore! They're teenagers now, doing teenager-y things! Plus, they both have cell phones with them! You don't have to worry about them being lost when you can simply give them a call!"

Phoenix had to literally stop himself from crying out in frustration. Did Maya not see the loophole with that? "This isn't our country, Maya. We're currently abroad! There's no coverage because I didn't pay for international calls!"

Maya cheekily grinned. "Nick, why didn't you pay extra for international call coverage?"

"Oh, come on! We don't go overseas often! I wanted to save a buck!" Phoenix cringed at Maya's point. It really was common sense, but he had really wanted to save on cash. "The point is, without international coverage, if they get lost or something happens, there's nothing we can do! I can't contact them!"

"C'mon, Nick! They're both just hanging around the hotel. What's the worst that could possibly happen? All that crazy revolution stuff in Khura'in also happened when we were abroad too, right?"

"Yes…?" Phoenix hesitantly agreed. Being threatened by an insane ruler with a crazy law like the Defence Culpability Act wasn't something the defence attorney was likely to forget anytime soon. "I don't see your point, Maya. You're just giving me an example of why I should be careful! If I recall correctly, you were kidnapped on that trip! So shouldn't we be careful when we're abroad?"

"My point is that we'll have to be supremely unlucky for that sorta stuff to happen again. The stars would have to be aligned wrongly for a terrible trip like that disaster to happen to us twice in a row. That has to be like a one in ten thousand chance!" Maya winked, patting Phoenix on the back in an attempt to get him to calm down. "So how about you relax and chill out, Nick! Just take it easy and have some fun for once in your stiff, boring life!"

Phoenix clenched his eyes shut, trying not to let his imagination run wild. The more Maya tried to reassure him, the more uneasy he felt about this whole situation.

A situation that seemed unnervingly familiar and hit just a little too close to home for the lawyer. Someone in a hotel who had wandered away, a bellboy, a transceiver, and a business transaction.

"However, there is one thing you can take as fact — right now, your very precious 'item' is with me, in my possession. Remember, you only have one chance. One chance, Mr. Wright…"

That conversation at the Gatewater Imperial Hotel from ten years ago rang out in his ears as Phoenix lost his cool and waved wildly his arms in panic. "Where are they, Maya? Where are Trucy and Pearly?!"

"I already told you, I don't know, Nick!" Maya looked down at Phoenix's outburst. Her nonchalance only served to make Phoenix even more paranoid.

"Please, Maya! Just listen to me! We have to find them immediately!" He laid a hand on her shoulder. "We can't lose them…"

I can't lose either Trucy or Pearly… like how I lost you to that assassin in that hotel on that fateful case. I can't, no… I won't let it happen again!


"Oi, oi! Haibara! This is no laughing matter!"

Conan glared at the brunette girl, who just so happened to have an expression of sheer boredom on her face. Honestly, her indifference was grating! When he and Ran had returned to the rest of the group, he hurriedly singled out Haibara Ai in order to talk to her. Alas, once again, she was in no mood to talk.

"Kudo-kun, did you really think that your little kid act would fool everyone forever?" She gave the tiniest flicker of a smile when she saw Conan's irritated expression, "You forget that not everyone on this planet has the attention span of a goldfish," she continued, folding her arms in defiance.

"This is different, Haibara! Most adults I met don't even bother to give a passing glance to a child! It's natural for adults to ignore the opinion of children. I've had to learn that one the hard way!" Flustered, he thrust his arms out, listing examples that he could think of, "Look, I've worked with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police in cases before and not one officer there asks any questions or object to me being at the crime scene. That's because most people trust children to tell the truth! They just assumed I'm an overly curious child who has a knack of being at murder scenes! But this guy, he's different," Conan frowned as he recalled the suspicion he saw in Nick's blue eyes. "He knew something was off from the very moment I said my name. It's like he knew I was lying immediately!"

"So you are under the impression that he knew you were lying about your identity from the very start…" Ai's amusement at seeing Conan in a pickle finally faded as she lowered her voice. "Do you think he knows about you? You think he's part of Them?"

Conan's blue eyes turned icy as he whispered back, "To be honest, I don't think he's part of Them, but that's just my preliminary guess. Kaitou Kid's in their tourist group, so it doesn't make sense. He would have gotten rid of him if he was an Organization member."

With a sigh, Ai gave her verdict. "Kudo-kun, you are an exceptionally stubborn person. Why must you never listen to me whenever I tell you to stay put? And now, as always, your curiosity got you into trouble that could have been easily averted had you just kept away."

"Oh come on, that's not always the case!" Conan retorted, feeling the need to defend himself from Ai's admittedly spot-on accusation. "And trouble comes to me, not the other way around!" he added.

"You're actually right, Kudo-kun. Death always manages to find its way around to you no matter what. Perhaps you should switch your line of work?"

Conan replied in a split second, "Never."

"I thought so…" she replied. "Well, here's my advice. If it really is a random tourist, you don't really have to care. As long as he has no proof, no one's really going to believe him, and the whole group of them will be gone when their visa expires anyway, latest in a month."

"But…"

She raised her arm up to stop Conan before he could say anything more. "I already know what you're going to say. What if they're not actually tourists?"

Conan felt the hair on his arms standing on end as he spat out the question. "If it's Them?"

"Kudo-kun, I'm not an idiot. You think I'm unaware of the significance of this place?" She shut her eyes contemplatively before looking away, "I was almost shot to death on the roof of this very hotel. That's something that you don't forget anytime soon."

"I'm sorry…" Conan started, looking down before gasping when he realized what she had just said. "Wait a minute! So you knew that all this time that the concert would be held here?" He glared at her, "Why didn't you tell me, Haibara?!"

Ai chuckled at the remark. With a wry grin on her face and her hands on her hips, she retorted with some amusement, "From the tone of your voice and the look on your face, I suspect you didn't know that the concert location was the Haido City Hotel until today."

Conan looked away with a grouchy grimace. Seriously, her on-the-point remarks sometimes hit him hard. "But it's as you said! How can you willingly walk back into this place, the ballroom, knowing it was where… that happened…?" He looked away with a guilty expression, unable to finish his sentence. That whole disastrous situation had been entirely his fault.

Back then, he was much more reckless and risky when it came to the Organization. If only he had been more cautious that day, then perhaps Ai wouldn't have been kidnapped. He had been extremely lucky that the situation had ended the way they did. Pisco hadn't had the chance to mention his discovery that the apotoxin managed to succeed at its job—shrinking someone down to the age of an elementary school student—before he had been offed by Gin, which undoubtedly saved Conan and Ai from being tracked down by the rest of the Organization.

"That being said, I do have a bad feeling about this hotel, Kudo-kun." Ai grimaced as she gazed around the hotel lobby, "I'm getting shudders just thinking about this place."

"Then why?!" he asked, puffing his chest out, "Why would you even come back here?!"

"First of all, the others would outnumber me by three to two if I did protest." She gave a smirk when Conan sighed, knowing that she was completely right about that part. The Detective Boys could be extremely stubborn at times. "You know that the two of us can't win a vote of confidence against the rest, right?"

"And why else are you here?" Conan muttered, folding his arms.

"They don't like to return to places they've been before unless it is absolutely necessary," Ai stated bluntly with bored eyes, as though she was stating the obvious. "Returning to places would leave traces of evidence, and as you must already know by now, They don't leave behind even one shred of evidence. Not. One. Loose. End." she emphasized, pausing her last words for effect.

"What does that have to do with anything, Haibara?" Conan gritted his teeth together, exclaiming, "I already know all of that!"

"You are impatient, aren't you Kudo-kun? Just let me finish," Ai replied, holding up her palm. "Keeping their existence secret is their utmost priority, to the point that captured members would rather kill themselves than spill the beans. So in a rather ironic fashion, this hotel is actually one of the safer locations for me to be at. Would you really expect them to return to a place where they conducted an operation? You remembered that Pisco was caught on camera doing the deed, don't you? It was in the papers. It makes no sense for them to ever come back here as it would be an obvious link back to them. That's why despite everything, I think—"

Without warning, Haibara suddenly leaned forward, her face pale.

"Haibara?" Conan stared at the still girl. "What's wrong?"

"I-I sensed something… no, someone. I think I… I n-need to leave!" she muttered with wide eyes.

"Does that mean the Organization is here?!" Conan shouted. No, not now! Not when Ran was here! "Answer me, Haibara!"

Ai breathed heavily, taking out her cell phone. "Most likely, yes actually." Her confirmation only made Conan even jitterier. "I'll call Agasa-hakase and have him take me back in his car." She turned back to Conan, trying to control the panicked expression on her face, "I already know that you're going to ignore me again and go after them, aren't you? Just remember that one of these days your luck will run out, Kudo-kun." Upon finishing, she took a deep breath before rushing out in the direction of the front doors of the hotel, not even sparing a glance back.

Conan watched her go, feeling very nervous himself.

Damn it!

This time, he was completely vulnerable. Usually when he faced off against Them, he had at least some semblance of an action plan to go with for him to be able to stand a chance against the Black Organization.

But this time? Nothing. He had absolutely nothing. His only lead was the mysterious lawyer who knew more than he seemed, but the problem was that Nick seemed to know more than he let on and could very well be goading him into a trap!

Conan lowered his head, deep in thought. The thing is, Haibara suddenly freaked out, and I know she has a sixth sense for when They are around the vicinity. Which means… They really are here! Since I haven't spotted any other Organization members yet, he's my prime suspect for now.

And to be fair, most of the Black Organization members we encountered recently don't actually wear black, Conan thought with an ironic grin. Vermouth, Kir, and Bourbon. I don't think I've really seen them don that black suit that I learnt to associate with Gin and Vodka. Maybe they thought it was too obvious of a dress code?

Was that lawyer really a Black Organization member? At first glance, he didn't appear to be one, but wasn't that always the case about members?

It was only the fact that Nick reacted to him speaking out his name that tipped Conan off that something was wrong. If the man really was part of Them, how much did he know about the situation? None of the Organization members but one even knew about his identity as Kudo Shinichi.

So why was Nick suspecting him? And while he was at it, why not take him out immediately? After seeing the trigger-happy Gin in action before, Conan had learned that They immediately took out any threats without mercy. Leaving people alive or injured was not in their normal rulebook in the slightest. So why was the man just waiting around then? Conan had looked behind him to check if the lawyer had tailed him, but so far he hadn't even caught a glimpse of him since their meeting in the lobby.

Furthermore, why was he stationed here? Conan had to ascertain the man's motives and find an answer all of these questions before disaster struck.

The problem was that Haibara's explanation made complete sense. It was extremely unusual for them to be at the Haido City Hotel. So why were They here? Why would they risk everything by sending an operative to a place where one of their former members was caught out and killed?

A chill went down Conan's spine when one certain possibility struck out in his mind.

Was it because of him?

Conan had assumed that They were here on another operation like usual, but what if this time their operation was not about other matters, but focused on him?

After all, his prime suspect for an Organization operative, the attorney Nick, had stared at him when he introduced himself with a curious look. Way too curiously in his book. Had they finally put the pieces together and realized that Kudo Shinichi wasn't dead? Was Nick here to confirm that theory? After all, it would explain why they hadn't tried to kill him yet.

Was that why they had dared to show their face? Were they trying to make sure that the drug that Ai had made really had a side-effect of shrinking people, and in doing so, also finally track down the thorn in their side that had been irritating them for so long?

If he was right, this was bad. Very, very bad. Like unbelievably terrible levels of bad.

Just what the hell was their motive?

Biting his lip, Conan made his way back to the Detective Boys, the trio still engrossed in their argumentative debate. Catching a glance of Ran out of the corner of his glasses as he returned, Conan suddenly felt himself seized by panic.

It had completely slipped his mind that this time Ran was in the same location as well! To make matters even worse, there was no making Ran leave the hotel before the entire concert came to a close! He clenched his fists, tempted to swear words that no seven-year-old should know.

He breathed heavily to calm himself and rid his face of all the tension he was feeling, feeling the childish mask he usually wore fall back into place. At the very least he could try to stay away from Ran. That way, in the worst case scenario, at least she wouldn't be dragged into this ugly mess.

"So, did you manage to decide on who you think would win?" Conan asked out loud to announce his presence, although he honestly doubted the Detective Boys even noticed he was gone.

"Yep!" Genta said, hitting Mitsuhiko in the back just a little bit too hard, causing the smaller boy to wince. "I managed to convince Mitsuhiko here that they won't dare let the Kamen Yaiba lose on home ground. We got the home advantage!"

Conan was just about to give a bored retort back when a terrifying voice reached his eardrums.

"Oh my gosh! Ran, what a coincidence!"

His eyes went wide. Oh, lord. Why? Just… why? Please, no. Not her. Not now.

"Sonoko! You're here too?" Ran walked towards the source of the voice, an impressionable girl that appeared to be innocent at first glance, but many years of knowing her as Shinichi meant otherwise for Conan. That daring girl's mischief spelt out T-R-O-U-B-L-E with a capital letter T every single time she showed her face.

He cursed his luck. So far, it appeared that the past ten minutes alone seemed to have started a chain of dominoes that caused his luck to spiral further and further down into oblivion. Kaitou Kid, the Black Organization, his identity in peril yet again, Ran being here in a very vulnerable position, no leads, and now Sonoko? Somewhere out there, there must be a very amused person who had decided in advance that he, Kudo Shinichi, would be the world's most unlucky person.

"So," Sonoko started grinning in a very familiarly unnerving way for those who knew her, "is that baka Shinichi-kun here with you?"

There she went again. In his mind, Conan could hear the words "on a date" added onto the back of her question. He tried his best not to pay too much attention to Sonoko lest she end up saying something very humiliating and cause him to be flustered.

Ran, also sensing the implicit date question Sonoko was baiting her into answering, hurriedly denied it. "No! He isn't here, unfortunately. I'm just here with otou-san and Conan-kun. But what about you?" she asked, turning the question back around. "What are you doing here? This doesn't strike me as something you are interested in, Sonoko."

"To be honest, I'm here with Makoto-san. He's chilling at the reception area right now, but he bought tickets for the live show because he wants to study and observe the moves for the fight scenes."

"Eh, I thought Kyogoku-san practices karate?" Conan spoke up, asking for clarification. "Wouldn't the stunts for the concert be of a fencing nature? That American superhero, the Steel Samurai, has a spear, so wouldn't a kendo specialist like Heiji-niichan be more interested in the fight scenes instead of someone like Kyogoku-san, Sonoko-neechan?" Conan chuckled at the thought of Heiji coming all the way to Tokyo for a concert. It was a funny scenario, even though it wasn't really likely to happen, the Osakan detective was busy enough as it was.

Sonoko stared down at Conan, making the boy squirm slightly. Yeesh, that girl never let up on him. "You're kinda dumb, aren't you? The Stee-whatever his name was might have that sword-sorry, spear, but you're forgetting about his opponent. Our local Kamen Yaiba will be going bare-fisted against him, and that's what Makato-san wants to see!"

Conan raised his eyebrows in slight curiosity. "Wait, so the Kamen Yaiba is unarmed and facing off against someone with a long-reach weapon? That doesn't seem very fair of a fight to me," he bluntly stated. Just what were the writers thinking? The fight between the two would be terribly one-sided if that was the case.

"It doesn't matter if it's fair!" Sonoko folded her arms. "Makato-san just wants to see how a bare-fisted opponent can fight against someone with a weapon! He told me that he wanted to see live proof that people shouldn't underestimate the skills of a master of karate!"

I live with Ran… Conan gave a tired smile. I already know not to underestimate a karate master… under a threat of very painful fists.

"Anyway, back on topic!" Sonoko's face turned cheerily bright again, which was a gesture that did not go unnoticed by both Conan and Ran. A cheery Sonoko usually meant that trouble was just a couple of seconds away. "Why don't you invite Shinichi-kun here, Ran?"

Annnnnddd that was his cue to get out of here. Immediately.

"Sonoko!" Ran blushed, also trying to squirm out of the embarrassing conversation. "The tickets are sold out for today's concert. I can't buy tickets for Shinichi even if I wanted to!"

"Don't forget, I'm the Great Sonoko! All I have to do is tell them that I'm connected to the Suzuki residence and I can purchase a VIP pass for you both! I bet I can get it in less than an hour if I talk to the organizer of this event."

"Please, Sonoko!" Ran waved her arms furiously. "There's no need for me to trouble you like this…"

"Never mind about that!" Sonoko stepped forward, hopping in excitement. "What are friends for? It's no trouble for me, honest! You can thank me later by having fun with Shinichi-kun!"

I already have a ticket, you know. Conan couldn't help but laugh at the irony of the very enthusiastic Sonoko wasting effort and money to buy a ticket for a concert that he was already going to attend.

"But he's still on his case!" Ran protested, "Even if you acquired the tickets, he won't be here."

Sonoko ignored Ran, declaring, "Ran, if that mystery otaku cared about you, he'll be here for you in a heartbeat!"

"Sonokoooo!"

Conan slowly backed away from the two girls as they began to debate furiously about a topic that involved him. It wasn't just because of the very private girl-talk conversation that he was unintentionally eavesdropping on. Right now he needed to get away from both her and the Detective Boys as long as They were in the vicinity.

Hopefully, Ran wouldn't notice that he was gone. At least with Sonoko, that would be relatively easy to pull off. That girl would not shut up even if her mouth was taped shut, so with Ran caught into a conversation with her, she wouldn't notice his disappearance for a while.

Keeping himself low by using his short stature, he snuck away from the group and made his way back to where he last saw the lawyer. Darting around the legs of adults as cover, he heard Nick's distinctive voice again after not too long.

"Please, Maya! Just listen to me! We have to find them immediately! We can't lose them…"

Bingo! That's him! So he is looking for something! Conan craned his head up to try to locate the voice, but the sea of people made it really hard for him to get a visual cue.

"Oh alright, Nick. But you owe me burgers for this!"

That was the voice of the woman next to him, Conan realized. From what he could recall, Nick addressed her as Maya. He seemed exceptionally close to her. Were the two of them partners?

"Fine! I doubt they went too far, so let's try the stairs and see if they're upstairs! I swear, I'll comb the whole place if I have to!" From the corner of Conan's eye, he saw the two of them run up the stairway to the second floor.

Shoot! What are they looking for? That man said that "we have to find them", which made it sound that he's not looking for an object, but rather a person. Actually, it was likely to be more than one person, else he would have used a pronoun.

Wait a moment! The two of them were looking for more than one person?! Conan's eyes widened. No, no, no! Were they looking for him and Haibara? Was his theory right after all?

"Damn it!" he swore out loud. Conan started to tremble in fear. His heart started to race, face turning pale. It couldn't end like this!

He looked down to the carpeted floor, thinking frantically about a remedy to this situation. If they're after me, then Ran… no, Haibara, the Detective Boys… actually, scratch that, EVERYONE is in danger! If they come after me… hey, wait a minute!

Conan suddenly jerked his head up in realization. If they were after him, then why didn't they simply capture him when he had gone over to them after he apparently saw Kaitou Kid? Just barely a few minutes ago, he had snuck off due to his curiosity. He was alone then, which meant that it was the perfect opportunity for them. Even if Nick had decided to wait for a better moment, the lawyer could have discreetly followed him when he went back to Haibara and the others and ensured that he and Maya knew where he was.

In other words, they would have no need to scour the hotel for him. Since that was the case, that meant that the people that they were looking for didn't include him.

Conan heaved an audible sigh in relief. If the operation was about finding someone else, then he was in the clear. They mostly likely didn't know his identity, which meant that he was most likely safe… for now at least. Nick was still suspicious, but at least Conan knew that the lawyer didn't know about him for certain.

With a second wind behind him once he realized he wasn't in mortal peril, Conan put his hand to his chin, thinking about a counterattack. If they were looking for somebody, he had to beat them to it.

Conan glanced down at his silver watch, "The time now is 9:14am, and the Neo Olde Tokyo concert starts at 10:45am." He tilted his head, trying to work out the calculations, "The Haido City Hotel has nine floors. Since they are not scanning the lobby, that's eight floors total for them to search. If the two of them want to make the concert, they have about an hour and a half in total." He was almost certain that they would watch the concert. Given that they most likely had tickets, it would be suspicious if they didn't turn up for the concert, considering they could use the guest admission list as an alibi if anything went wrong.

"Eight floors in ninety minutes. If I divide it up, that would give them about ten minutes per floor if they search thoroughly!" Conan declared, smirking cockily to himself. Finally, he could piece together a plan against the two.

Since they took the stairs to the second floor, he knew that they were going from bottom to top. To avoid suspicion, that meant he should head to the top floor first and search for anything suspicious from the ninth floor down. Since he had predicted their timings, he was fairly confident that he wouldn't run into Nick or Maya.

He took off, sprinting to the elevator lobby as fast as he could. Giving the bellboy a nod of acknowledgement, he entered an empty elevator and pressed the button for the ninth floor. As the elevator went up, Conan started to feel apprehensive, unsure of what he would find on the other end.

Ding!

The bell rang, signaling the arrival of the elevator. Conan slowly walked out onto the empty hallway as the elevator doors opened. Glancing around, he found no one in his line of vision. The entire floor was devoid of people in the hallways. Seeing his chance, he reached for the nearest hotel room door and tried to push down on the door handle. Despite his best efforts, it stayed firm, refusing to budge down even an inch.

Locked, he thought. Looks like both his and Nick's searches would be limited to the corridors as all the rooms to the hotel were locked by the room access card. Still, there was the chance that they had a master key to unlock the doors. He wouldn't put it past Them to do something like that.

Conan crouched down, looking into the small opening between the door and the floor. Unable to see anyone, he concluded that there was nobody in the room. Preparing to stand up and head over to the next room, Conan suddenly froze up as he heard footsteps come up and stop behind him.

"There you are! What are you doing crouching down against the floor like that?"

He instinctively fell down to the ground, backing against the door like a deer caught in headlights. At least, that was until he realized that the voice sounded familiar. "You!" he cried out, looking up and pointing at the newcomer. "Just what are you doing here?!"

Trucy put her left hand on her hip, her other gloved hand holding a black briefcase. "I've been looking for you! Or at least I was going to, but you came to me instead, so thanks!"

"Huh?" Conan tilted his head, frowning in surprise. "You were going to look for me? I don't think that's a good idea for today. Your safety will be compromised if you stay around me today," he glared up in irritation. Couldn't Kid just leave him alone? Now was seriously not the time, at least not when the Organization were around. The thief probably had no idea of the danger he was in by using this disguise. Just what was he thinking, disguising himself as the daughter of a possible Organization member?

"I don't believe you, Conan! You're just saying that because you want me to stay away from you. Well, the great Trucy doesn't give up so easily! You will be my third magic assistant! I believe you can do even better than Polly! He really sucks at magic tricks!"

Conan resisted the urge to glower at Trucy's enthusiasm. Wasn't Kid in a fancy mood today? Why was he even trying so hard to recruit him into a life of crime? As a detective and upholder of justice, that'll only happen over his dead body.

Also, Kid's acting was incredibly on the ball today. Conan scowled. Sure, he might not have the best impression of Kid, but he would hate to see the thief get caught out by the Organization just because he had picked the wrong disguise. They were his fight, not the Phantom Thief's or anyone else's. No one innocent needed to get involved.

"I'm serious, Kid," he said warily, not even bothering with the subterfuge anymore. "I don't know what you're up to, but there is a possibility that if you don't disappear immediately from this place, someone else will make you disappear, and it ain't going to be the police."

"Who are you calling a kid? I'm not a child anymore!" Trucy pouted in response, not comprehending what Conan was warning her about. "Look at you, talking all like you're a grown-up. You act just like Polly, always wanting people to take you seriously." Conan could only groan at the carefree response, starting to feel sorry for whichever assistant this Polly happened to be. "You should really lighten up. You're a kid, so just have fun and enjoy yourself! Life isn't always meant to be a serious affair!"

"For the last time, this is serious!" Conan shouted out in frustration. "This isn't one of our usual games! People can die this time!" he cried out, trying to get her to understand.

Trucy frowned to herself. Honestly, right now little Conan was acting almost like her Daddy when it came to paranoia. She was having none of that. Deciding it was time for a little fun, she smiled predatorily. "Here, catch!" she said, tossing the briefcase in her hand in his direction.

Conan squeaked in terror, hurling himself to his left and into a prone position to avoid the projectile headed at him. His sharp reflexes saved him, as not a second later, the briefcase hit against the door in the area that he was just at a moment earlier. "What do you think you're doing?!" he howled at Trucy as the briefcase clattered to the floor. "That thing could have taken out my eye or something!"

Happy that her stunt managed to get Conan out of his angsty funk, Trucy ignored him as she answered, "A little birdie told me to give this to you! Have fun, you little cutie! I need to go look for Pearls now! See you later!" she waved before hopping down the corridor.

"Hey, come back here!" Conan reached his arm out, too tired to get up and chase after her. "Oh, I'll get you for this!" he called out as she turned around the corner and disappeared from sight. He slowly got up from his sitting position, feeling himself getting a slight headache from everything that had happened.

Just as he was about to resume his search, his eye fell onto the briefcase that had fallen by the door. The dark black briefcase contrasted and stood out against the lighter palette of the hotel surroundings. Drawn towards it, Conan found himself walking towards it and analyzing the slick black leather briefcase.

The case itself was standard, nondescript, with no brand name or label attached. It had nothing identifiable at first glance and was probably untraceable to its purchase location without any proof of purchase.

Deciding it wouldn't hurt, he reached down to pick it up. He was surprised to find that the briefcase was unusually heavy, to the point where he had to use both of his hands to grip the handle just to lift the case. "Gah!" Conan grimaced as he felt himself sweating. His little kid body didn't exactly have very good muscle strength.

"What exactly is in this thing?" he wheezed, placing the case back onto the ground to conserve his energy. Greedily eyeing the combination password dial, he grinned, "Guess it wouldn't hurt to find out." He reached for the metallic unlock catch and pressed it down. To Conan's surprise, the briefcase flung open.

The briefcase isn't locked, he thought to himself before his eyes widened in surprise at the contents of the case.

What the heck is this?! This briefcase is filled to the brim with money!

In the black briefcase were US currency banknotes in large denominations, all neatly bundled up and stacked together in rows. Even though there was a slight rounded depression in the centre of the notes, Conan estimated that there had to be at least a million dollars stuffed into the case.

He jerked his head back at the direction that Trucy had walked off earlier. What sort of damn game was she playing?! Why had she handed him a briefcase full of money?

And more importantly, where had it come from… and how did she managed to acquire it?


Author's Note:

Since the last two chapters were all introductions, now I've decided to start up a little bit more action and mystery. I've already wrote out the outline for the whole mystery, so I hope it's up to standard!

To absolutely none of the readers' (except poor Conan) surprise, our big bad Black Organization is indeed here. Trouble's brewing!

ermmys & iniziodellastella: Agreed! The whole reason I wrote this in the first place was because no one else did… which was surprising to say the least.

D: Thanks for the detailed review. I admit, I never actually thought that Conan will believe the Magatama's power. After all, it's paranormal and defies common sense or logic. :P

Guest (Oct 26): I could, but I think you'll find that it's harder for Conan to do that compared to usual, because reasons.