Title: Let's Play
Author: RanMouri82
Friends: Kudou Shin'ichi/Edogawa Conan and Miyano Shiho/Haibara Ai
Fandom: Detective Conan
Theme: #11—a night in
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Aoyama created Shin'ichi and Shiho. I'm a mere slave to their banter. (Published 10/13/2015)

Let's Play

It was well past sundown by the time Edogawa Conan skated up to Professor Agasa's gate. He stretched, thankful his jeans and hoodie were comfortable since it had been a long day. Despite having just solved a locked room murder with the help, or puppet status, of Suzuki Sonoko, he did need the professor to make the promised upgrades to his gadgets. At this point, he figured he might as well stay over.

Yawning, Conan grabbed his skateboard and opened the gate. The professor's car was gone, but the lights were on, so Haibara was home. A bit of water was freshly dribbled onto the driveway, so the professor had probably just left to run a quick errand. Agasa could not have forgotten Conan was coming over in the two hours since they last spoke, and there was a hint of mischief in the man's voice when he mentioned a 'special delivery'.

Just as the young detective opened the front door, his passing idea of Agasa adopting a puppy vanished from his mind by the clean scent indoors, absence of animal hairs, and distant presence of lush, familiar music. "Oi, Haibara!"

When Conan did not get an answer, he remembered something he had recently learned about his dad and, hearing the distinct trills of the game's orchestral soundtrack, was not surprised when he walked into the lounge and found Ai, in a violet racerback tank and shorts, sitting crosslegged on a cushion. She held a large, silver controller and stared intensely at the cutscene that was just finishing on the TV screen in front of her: A pale, lace curtain floated through an open Victorian window onto a roof, followed by a caped thief whose trademark mask glinted in the moonlight.

"And just like a puff of smoke," a deep, male voice narrated, "the Chalice slipped through our defenses and disappeared into the night, clutched in the bold hands of the Night Baron."

"Of course Dad sent us a copy of his new game," Conan muttered.

Ai bolted upright with a screech. If eyes were knives, when she turned hers would have cut Conan to pieces. She sighed and sat back, saying, "My defenses must be getting weak."

"Or I'm not an enemy presence to detect." Conan stuck his hands in his pockets and asked, "Where's the professor?"

"Buying a new toothbrush." Her eyebrow twitched as she added, "He didn't get the hint when I threw out his old one this morning."

'What a mother hen,' Conan thought, chuckling to himself. He nodded toward the TV. "So what type of game is this?"

"Not sure what type it is, but you play as a police detective in France, chasing the Night Baron and finding clues about the treasure he's after called the Blood Chalice, a mystic grail said to grant immortality," Ai said, picking up the controller and navigating her character's menu to show Conan several tabs marked Evidence, Notes, and Testimonies. "Doesn't hurt that it's solid gold and encrusted with rubies."

"Sounds like an adventure game. Dad was tight-lipped about the plot because it's an original story." He grabbed a stray cushion and joined Ai on the floor. "Could be interesting since he's not the type to say ghosts did it."

"Really? I'm more interested in the rumors about the Chalice's power. People will kill to live forever." Ai's bland stare at the screen hid just how aware she was of that truth. Reaching past her feet, she took a second controller and tossed it in Conan's direction. "Here. I only started a few minutes ago, so we can start a new, two-player game on one condition."

Conan accepted the controller and smirked. "I'll keep my deductions to myself."

Ai glared his way. "Or else."

Conan did not bother asking what 'else' was, but rolled his eyes and started to customize his character.

As they began, this time as a pair of detectives in alternating scenes but a shared pool of evidence, Conan said, "This game's mechanics are simple enough. Makes sense since it's based off of a book series." He made his detective, altered to look as much like Sherlock Holmes as possible, pick up a shard of glass from a drawing room's blue carpet, and then walked him toward the maid waiting in the doorway. "The more clues we find, the more complete the testimony will be. I like that we can attempt to solve each section if we think we've figured it out, but that there's a penalty for stupid guesses. Ran's old man would suck at this."

"The positive and negative rankings mean you can be promoted or demoted for the way you play," Ai said, nodding in agreement, "But its laboratory could use more work."

"How, by changing the process from 'mix this with that' to selecting 1 ml of mercury?" Conan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Exactly," Ai said, unflinching.

A cutscene unfolded after the maid finished her testimony where, as soon as Conan's detective left the building and stepped onto the moonlit, cobbled streets, the chief inspector approached from a nearby streetlamp to ask for his report. Ai glanced at Conan who gripped his controller tightly and squirmed.

Ai sighed. "Go for it. The worst that can happen is the game will raise its difficulty level."

As Conan breathed a quick sigh of relief and began entering responses and selected items with lightning speed, Ai followed along, peering at his answers on the screen. She tilted her head. "I figured the Night Baron used the curtain rod in his escape, but—" Suddenly, a new page opened with dozens more blank spaces, this time asking about the overall case. Ai blinked and said, "I never saw that screen before—"

Conan filled every blank, pausing only at the last one. "They didn't let us into the superintendent's hidden room yet."

"I doubt we're supposed to know it exists yet," Ai grumbled, resting her chin on her palm.

"Hmm, then going by the absence of burn marks on the door, since that answer was correct..." Conan entered one last word: 'Iodine'.

The report screen flashed, froze, and then shattered into a rainbow starburst of pixellated fragments. Ai and Conan's mouths dropped open.

"What the hell?!" Conan cried, jumping to his knees.

"Kudou-kun, you..."

He gulped. "Broke it."

Ai clenched her jaw and placed her controller on the ground. Slowly, she rose to her feet and picked up the game's CD sleeve. "Now that note makes sense."

"What note—" Conan was cut off by the paper Ai shoved under his nose. 'Professor, make sure you two play it first. There's a bug, but it shouldn't cause you any problems. — Kudou Yuusaku'

Conan chuckled as he turned over the note. "So Dad broke it, too."

"Glad you think this is funny," Ai said, removing the game and sliding it back into its case as a vein throbbed on her forehead. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to find out why it's taking the professor so long to buy a simple toothbrush." She marched to a nearby table, snatched her cell phone, and texted Agasa with swift, jabbing fingers.

'Not like I did that on purpose,' Conan thought. Easing onto his cushion, he leaned forward on his elbows and glanced into the small, open cabinet by the television. The professor's collection was never extensive, but included several consoles acquired over the years, some games Agasa made himself, games given him by friends, and a few old favorites. Conan walked toward the cabinet, crouched, and muttered, "May as well find something else to play until he gets here. The professor's taken good care of these consoles. He's the only one I know that still uses his Atari." Lifting one gray, plastic cartridge and wiping off its light coating of dust, he smiled and said, "How about Space Invaders?"

"Space Invaders? Hope that one doesn't involve deduction," Ai grumbled, giving up and leaving her phone on the table.

Conan blinked at her. "You've never played this? It's a classic!"

"Why would I? Most of these games look the same to me," Ai said, crossing her arms. "Excuse me for lacking a childhood."

Grinning as he tested the cartridge and found it still worked, he said, "Better late than never."

A short time later, Agasa parked his yellow Beetle and breathed a sigh. It was hard finding a store that carried toothbrushes and was still open this time of night, and the effort had made him hungry for a snack. He only hoped he had cleaned his moustache of all the grease and crumbs. If not, when he faced Ai he was as good as dead.

Tense fear gripped Agasa enough to make him tiptoe to the door and pray that Ai had somehow fallen asleep. Instead, when he stepped inside he heard a four-note digital melody and boisterous chatter.

"I didn't realize you were that uncoordinated," said Ai.

"Shut up. The aliens move faster as I progress, you know," Conan replied. "It's harder to shoot them down."

"Hmm, now he makes excuses," Ai said. As Agasa shuffled toward the pair, he peeked through the doorway and, in the dull glow of black screen filled with parallel lines of white, 8-bit creatures, watched Ai give Conan a self-satisfied smile. "My turn." She picked up her controller, bobbed and weaved her spaceship, and shot down the entire wave of aliens in a flash. In the darkness, her cheeks glowed and her eyes were alive. "Yes, excuses."

"You'll be eating those words in a minute," Conan said, taking up the controller and firing onscreen pixels with a fresh burst of speed.

Professor Agasa decided to wait a little more before interrupting them. Grinning, he thought this was one of the rare times his two young friends behaved like children.