Act 2 Scene 3 買い物 [Kaimono] 'Shopping'

With another anti-histamine in his system, the swelling in Conan's foot had gone down enough by the afternoon that he could wear shoes and walk with little difficulty. Upon learning this, Sonoko grinned and suggested, "Why don't we go shopping in town? We need to pick up souvenirs. Also, since we need to dote on Areku some more, since he saved Four-eyes again." She turned to Areku. "We can get you things that don't take up space, like taking you to a barber and replacing your clothes. That way you won't have anything extra to fit in your bag. Deal?"

"I just showed Ran the way through the woods to the doctor's house. Ran did more of the saving than I did," Areku protested.

"Shut-up and let us dote," Sonoko commanded. "Now, which way to the hair salon?"

"Does my hair bother her that much?" Areku whispered to Sera, who'd managed to get her hands on a pair of shorts and was merrily shoving her wallet into one of the pockets.

"It is quite…" Sera paused, trying to think of a tactful way to put it, "… wild."

He sighed and drug his feet.

At the hair salon, the shop keeper peered over her glasses at the tangled, matted mess before her. Her breath whistled through her teeth. "2,000 yen, up front. And it will be more later."

"Done!" Sonoko said, slapping down her credit card.

The barber smiled graciously and pointed out an empty chair at the end.

Guarded on all sides, Areku was dragged to it. "You're not going to cut around my ears, right?" he whimpered.

The brushing ordeal took about half an hour, with Areku whining between the two women who yanked away at the knots and mats. Because it had been so tangled, it was a good deal longer and thinner than it had at first seemed, and the sun had bleached it in odd patches. The length was also quite uneven, and full of split ends. Areku was adamant that they not cut around his ears, so they cut it at mid-back length. Then they dyed the bleached spots black. It took three hours, and Areku fled the shop as soon as they let go of him, before they could cut anymore of his hair off. He braided it as they walked up the street to the only restaurant that wasn't a bar in the town, and he tied it off with a hair-elastic band Ran gave him.

With just that, he looked completely different. He no longer looked pitiable or scary; he looked normal. His non-Asian heritage was much more evident, with his slightly stronger brow and longer nose coupled with his dark skin. His wide, hooded eyes and wiry, straight black hair proved his part-Asian descent. How long ago had Areku been born, and what forces had brought together the disparate lines of his past?

Conan didn't see Sonoko covertly snap a picture of Areku after his hair had been treated with her phone, and post it to her facebook account. Later, he'd wish he had.

While Sonoko and Sera played dress-up doll with Areku, Shinichi and Ran slipped quietly outside, away from everyone else.

She crouched down to face him at eye-level. "You said you'd tell me everything. How about you start now?"

He nodded, eyes down, still unable to look at her directly. "It'd take too long to tell you everything. But, there are several things you should know now, and be on the lookout for," Shinichi said. "First is: Tooru Amuro. He's one of their smarter agents, and he's been tailing us, and I'm not certain why. He knows I've been helping your dad solve cases. Don't ever mention the name Shinichi in front of him, and pretend you know nothing about anything in this case when there's the slightest chance he could be listening in. I thought he'd leave when he'd killed the ex-member Sherry.

"Second is: Sherry. She's Ai Haibara. You're right, she's shrunk like me, and she was a scientist for the organization. They killed her last living relative. She made the poison, and it's a top priority that she be kept safe and hidden. The 'Sherry' they killed on the train was Kaitou KID, and he managed to escape out the back with his hand-glider before they blew him up.

"Third is: I'm coming up with a plan to take them down within the next few weeks."

"Are you going to tell me what it is?" she asked, hands on her hips.

He missed that gesture. He missed speaking with her face to face, as an equal. But the potential it used to represent to him, it was all gone, and replaced by his long string of mistakes. He cleared his throat, his voice beginning to waver. "I don't have enough details figured out yet. Can we talk about it later?"

His expression must have been quite pained, because she made an affirmative hum. "One more thing, Dad's in on it, isn't he?"

He blinked, confused.

Not hearing him answer, she went on. "The whole Sleeping Kogorou thing – he's been letting you solve the cases with your bowtie then taking all of the credit, right?"

Slowly he shook his head. She was really going to hate him now. "He's not in on it. He's Sleeping Kogorou because I've been knocking him out." He winced, readying himself for some sort of blow, his eyes squeezed shut, but it never came. When he opened his eyes, she was gone. Hands in his pockets, he limped back to the others.

The makeover party wrapped up by replacing Areku's clothes, which he enjoyed much more than the painful and terrifying adventure in the hair salon. They found him a pair of shorts that had zippable attachments to turn them into pants, and very big pockets to put things in. The shirt they got him was a baggy t-shirt with a picture of some sort of waterfowl flying over stormy seas, which he'd chosen because he liked the artwork. Then they found him a blue rain jacket, which he tied around his waist.

After their busy, and weirdly exhausting adventure, seeing as most of it was spent waiting in the lobby of the hair salon watching Areku make new and improved expressions for "Ouch!" and "Eek!", they (sans Sonoko's grandparents – they'd left in a huff after Ran and Sonoko's announcement) joined Dr. Nishiyama at her house for dinner. Conan spotted Sonoko's father take the doctor aside and slipped her a wad of cash after dinner. Then he took Areku by the shoulder and announced to the party that Areku's address would now be the Nishiyama Clinic. His chest puffed out with pride and happiness for the benevolent deed he'd just done, and Areku gave him the thanks and gratitude high he'd been looking for.

Feeling particularly pleased with themselves, the group left for home.

Author's Note

Making arguments for things is pretty common in speech, even when you're not arguing. One Japan VS America cultural-linguistic difference is the approach to arguing a point. In Japanese, the more polite way is to present the evidence first, then say the conclusion. In the English speaking US, the polite way is to start with the conclusion, then establish the evidence. In fact, if you argue the other way in the English-speaking US, people may think you're being dishonest or wishy-washy. In Japanese, if you argue with the conclusion first, it makes you sound pushy and arrogant. This can come out more subtly when dealing with less argumentative arguments, like a habit worked into you by long practice.

This difference is apparent in the way Areku, Haibara, and Sera organize statements versus the way that Shinichi does. Despite being quite fluent in English, Shinichi didn't live for any extended period of time in the US, and wouldn't have picked this habit up. Sera, however, has lived in the US for a long time, and has picked up the argument style drilled into children in school from a young age. Areku has just been around it for a long time, so is more used to phrasing statements that way.

To spot it, organize an argument into two groups: supporting facts and conclusion, like this argument:

Conclusion: I like apples.

Supporting Fact: Apples are crisp and juicy.

Supporting Fact: Apples' bright colors never fail to cheer me up.

When writing dialogue for a character that is a native/longtime Japanese speaker, I'd structure it like this:

Apples are crisp and juicy. Their bright colors never fail to cheer me up. Therefore, I like them.

When writing dialogue for a character like Areku or Sera, I'd structure it like this:

I like apples. They are crisp and juicy. Their bright colors never fail to cheer me up.

As for me… when analyzing my own argument structures, I find myself flipping back and forth all over the place. I think it has something to do with being around a lot of Japanese exchange students, studying Japanese for years, and reading/watching an unhealthy amount of poorly translated manga and anime.

This subtle difference in argumentation was something that a Japanese professor of mine first alerted me to. She'd had her childhood in Japan, then her teenage-early adulthood in English-speaking Canada and US, then back and forth ever since. She'd picked up the conclusion-first argumentation style and expectation. Because of that, she had a good 10 minute rant about Japanese politicians using this to their advantage to trick people.

また来週！(See you next week!)

dreamingfifi