Act 3 Scene 2 釣瓶打ちの始め [Tsurubeuchi-no Hajime] 'First Volley'

"I'm home!" Ran called into the apartment as she slid off her shoes.

Conan was sitting at the dinner table in his high-chair, working on something in his little Detective Boy notebook. "Welcome home," he said absentmindedly.

"I got to meet another martial artist today. He was really good, a step above the others. I don't think I ever got a clear victory. Amuro seemed to respect him a lot and let him run the practice session. I think I've met him before, actually."

"Really?" Conan looked up from his notebook. "What did he look like?"

"He was older, really tall, had long grey hair, and dressed in black from head to toe." She paused seeing Conan's terror-stricken face. "You recognize him?"

Conan nodded. His pen dropped from his trembling fingers.

"Who is he?" she asked softly.

Conan looked around, then slid off his high-chair to run to her side. She bent down so he could whisper in her ear. "It's Gin, the one who force-fed me the poison! We need to sweep for bugs, now!"

Ran saluted and ran to the office downstairs. She returned a few minutes later with her dad's bug-sweeping tools. After a few hours of tense poking about in corners, they were satisfied. There were no bugs hidden in the apartment.

Free to talk out loud, Conan said, "Bourbon's probably been relying on his daily visits and keeping tabs on the traffic in and out of the building instead of bugging the place." He stroked his chin, squinting to find some invisible truth. "I don't know why Bourbon would bring Gin to spar with you though… maybe it was a test, to see if you'd recognize him?"

"He introduced Gin as a bodyguard friend of his, named John Mizuki. Oh, there was one odd thing, he was carrying a gun."

Conan frowned. "Why would he do that? Guns aren't exactly legal here, so carrying one would mean higher penalties if he was caught by the police, and a guaranteed arrest if they saw him with it. I'll have to contact Kir, see if there's been an event recently that makes him fear for his life."

Ran laughed, "He didn't seem the type to be scared! He was really intimidating. If he was at all scared, then he hid it really well."

Conan yawned, then checked his watch. "I'll call Agent Jodie, then I'll go to bed. It's past 10PM."

"Really?" Ran asked, checking her own watch. "I'd hardly noticed."

Ran took a quick shower as Conan made his call. Then they put on their night-clothes and went to sleep.

In the early morning hours, Conan was awakened by his phone. The caller ID said "Mom." He slipped out of Kogorou's room to the kitchen to answer it.

"Hello Mom, what's up?"

"Shin-dear, your friend is nowhere to be found. When I checked his room, there was an ancient coma patient in his place. I think he's been taken!" Her voice was rapid and high-pitched, indicating an anxious state.

His thoughts raced. A mix-up didn't sound likely, as Areku had been awake not long ago. "What about Dr. Nishiyama?"

"I found her. Shinichi, do they know about your connection to Areku?"

"I don't see how they could know, unless they interviewed the people with us. We'll play it safe tomorrow, and I'll stay home from school. I'll give the FBI a call and let them know."

"Good night Shinichi, and be sure to get a good night's sleep, okay?"

"Yes Mom. 'Night!"

Blinking sleep from his eyes, he called Jodie again. To his surprise, she answered right away and sounded wide awake.

"Ah, Conan, I was just about to call you!"

"Really? Why?"

"You were right, the Black Organization is moving in a big way. We just got a call from Kir. We may have to move up the extraction schedule. What were you calling about?"

"One of their former prisoners, codename: Ambrosia, was kidnapped by them earlier tonight. He knew his cover was probably blown, so I sent someone to pick him up, but they were too late. I can't tell you much, but he's a high value target for them."

"His name comes up a lot in the files you got us from your mysterious defector. It sounded like he was important in some way, but the reasons why are redacted from the files we've found. If that's true, then I have bad news for you." She paused. Conan could hear a loud, busy room in the background. "There's a hitlist that was circulated about an hour ago to all of the Japan-area operatives. You and Miss Mouri are on that list, though you're listed as 'Plan B' hits, so they have another plan for you two. Whatever the plan was, Kir didn't know. What's the progress like on the disguises front?"

"At the moment Kuroba thinks he has a few more weeks to get ready, so I'll call him. What are the names on that list?"

She rattled off the list of names, which Conan wrote down in his Detective Boy notebook. Then he thanked her and hung up.

There was no way around it, he'd have to rouse Ran somehow. She was a heavy sleeper. He started by shaking her, then he pulled her from the bed and rolled her on the floor, and finally, after fifteen minutes of no progress, he went into the kitchen and retrieved some ice cubes from the refrigerator. He slid them down Ran's pajama top, and got out of the blast radius.

That did the trick, as she came roaring around the corner, eyes burning, pajama top wet, fist clenching the slick icecubes. Conan thanked his lucky stars that Kogorou was similarly sleep-inclined.

"There's a really good reason for this," Conan said, pressing his back against the wall.

"There had better be," she snapped.

"There are hits out on all of our friends and family. Well, most of them anyways."

Her expression changed immediately. "What's our plan of action, Shinichi?"

"Conan," he corrected. "Remember, I'm Conan from now on." He held up his cellphone. "It's the same plan as before, just a few weeks earlier. We just have to get the word out."

They went back into Ran's room, and started coordinating the disguise and hide efforts. Conan got the Japanese policemen he knew he could trust in on the plans, and connected them to the FBI, which took a while because the FBI wouldn't trust an unknown incoming number, so Conan ferried contact information back and forth. Meanwhile, Ran roused Hakuba and Heiji, and got them ready to coordinate the capture of the organization's over-seas operatives with Interpol, since their analyses hadn't been circulated through all of the agencies that needed them yet. In order for this to work, they'd have to capture or kill as many operatives as they could before word got out that they'd been compromised, and they'd go into hiding.

That morning, when Kogorou came to wake Ran, he found them talking on their cellphones, surrounded by lists of names scribbled on notebook paper. Upon seeing him, they grabbed him and yelled, "Don't go anywhere until the police arrive!"

A few minutes later, a sleep-deprived Officer Takagi came and picked Kogorou up to get him into hiding.

Kir ducked into a store's doorway in the evendim, her black clothing reducing her presence into a mere shadow. Gunfire had just erupted down the street. Some heavily tattooed men were already lying on the street, bleeding out. She wasn't going to be able to pass through that way. Her fingers itched to hold her own gun, safely concealed under her jacket at the moment, but she grit her teeth and resisted. No use in making herself a target right now. She almost jumped out of her skin as a cheery tune erupted from her pocket. It was her handler. After giving the codeword that indicated that she not in danger of being overheard, she rattle off her identification and code number. She took a deep breath, and received her instructions.

"Sniper spotted where?" she hissed into her phone. She wasn't far, and it was away from the gunfight. She started running.

"Take out the sniper and secure the Good Witch," the tired, scratchy voice of her handler sternly commanded.

"Yessir," she said, hanging up.

Then she dialed a number she'd memorized. He picked up immediately. "Hello, Akai?"

"What is it Kir?" His voice sounded tired, like he'd already been working through the night.

"Get Dr. Agasa and Ai Haibara into hiding. I've been assigned to killing them. You don't have long."

There was a brief pause. "Calling me like this, you're sure you aren't been watched?"

"I am. They're stretched pretty tight, trying to plug all of the leaks created by Conan Edogawa." She ducked into a tall building and ran into the elevator, jamming the button for the top floor a few times.

"Rodger. I'll get them to safety."

Top floor, top floor, hurry up!

"Thank you." Kir hung up, and stepped out of the elevator, right into Vermouth, who was casually leaning against the wall, listening.

"So I was right, you are a CIA agent," she uncrossed her arms and stepped away from the wall. Holding her hands up, to show that she had no weapons in them, she stepped closer.

"I guess that makes you a simple traitor," Kir said with a little half smile. "I heard about the intel the FBI suddenly got their hands on. That was you, I presume?"

"How'd you guess?"

"I heard about the conversation between you and Gin right before Akai shot him. You protected Conan. That only made sense if you knew him already. You've been grooming him to help you take them down for a while now, haven't you?" She raised her gun. "Will you come in peacefully then?"

Vermouth stepped forward, letting the gun barrel press against her chest. "You misunderstand, dear. I'm not coming in. I've done my part to put down this sick beast of an organization. Don't hunt for me. I'll be living a peaceful life with my younger brother from now on." Seeing Kir's determined face and the gun still pressed against her chest, she sighed dramatically. "Oh, and Korn is sniping a civilian on the roof. If I know him, he's probably about to kill that poor, unsuspecting woman. That's why you came here in the first place, right?"

Kir turned and ran up the stairs, to the rooftop, where Korn was absorbed in lining up a complex shot on Eri Kisaki at her office. He squeezed the trigger, and she squeezed hers. Their guns went off in the same instant, making them sound as one.

Author's Note

Last chapter's talk of politeness versus familiarity in speech is the inspiration for this author's note. I've been told by people who speak English as a second language that they find it either jarring or refreshing that they didn't have to learn polite forms in the grammar. Speaking politely in English is indistinguishable from speaking impolitely, I've been told. But, that is an illusion. English, like every human language on the planet has just as many layers of politeness or familiarity or disrespect that can be expressed in it. The reason that these people couldn't see it, was because it is formed differently than their native tongues.

There are several topics to discuss here, and I'll try make them as simple as possible. First: What am I talking about, politeness, familiarity, and disrespect? Second: What is "marked speech?" and Third: How are these concepts expressed in Japanese and English?

One: It's best to think of this by using a part of communication which is much easier to visualize – the distance you stand from people when you speak with them. Speech that we classify as "polite" is putting distance between you and your conversation partner. Speech that we classify as "familiar" is much less distance between you and your conversation partner, maybe even physical contact. This is a pretty loose analogy, and every dialect, region, and culture defines when it is alright to come close or when you should back away differently. In my culture, you speak formally at first, but very quickly, maybe even the space of one conversation, you will be speaking like old friends. It is our way of trying to make someone feel welcomed. Conversely, I found when I moved to the city (or what counts as a city in Montana) people speak less formally when you first meet them, but it is much more difficult to get them to the chatting like old friends part, and if you move in too quickly, they get uncomfortable and try to put more distance between you.

Two: The concept of "marked" speech is pretty easy. It's that there is a basic, root form of the language, and other forms are based off of it. For example, in English, the 3rd person singular conjugation of present tense verbs (like, "he runs") is based off of the root form. You can tell because it adds something to the verb, when the other forms (I run, we run, you run, they run) do not.

Three: In English, the reason for my friend's confusion was that in English, polite speech is unmarked. Familiar speech is marked with slang and cussing, possibly combined with using vernacular or local dialects from the lower classes. Of course, extremely polite speech is also marked, using special titles to refer to people and taking a very long time to say anything. ("No." becomes "I'm dreadfully sorry, but I must decline.") In my experience with human languages, the more long winded you are, the more polite it is.

In Japanese, the unmarked speech is familiar. To make something polite speech, you add -(i)mas- to the verb, and go- or o- to the nouns. In French, you use a different pronoun for the word "you" in polite speech. So, when students are taught a language in school, they're taught the polite, unmarked English forms first, and if they want to learn familiar speech, they often don't get to interact in it until they meet a native English speaker or come to an English-speaking community. Because these people came from languages with marked polite forms, when they met with English, they assumed, since there was no marked polite form, that there was no polite form.

Cool, huh?

また来週！(See you next week!)

dreamingfifi