Kiss of Death Chapter 10
"Hair-pin"
Previously: Knock, knock. Who's there? Ai-chan's getting visited by the Black Organization! But who? There are still many mystery to figure out! Like the whole mystery of the deaths among Violette and Kaito Kid's motives! But wait. Before we delve deeper into the details, Conan and Ai just kissed. How will the two react? Find out!
It was short, but felt like eternity.
Haibara immediately pushed away, stumbling backwards, with her face flushed with humiliation. Conan stared at her wide-eyed, waiting for her next reaction. His heart was now banging against his ribs so hard that it felt like he was going to get a cardiac arrest, while his mind was in a hurl of hurricane, trying to process what had just occurred. Everyone had their feet rooted to the ground, horrified at the scene like they've just witness murder. The smacking of their lips were still ringing in their ears, it was audible enough for the rest of the students nearby to crane their necks.
Shit! I did not expect that. Now the rumours about Haibara and I will be reignite once more. But screw what the rest think, I'm more afraid of Haibara's thoughts.
Ai scanned her surroundings, feeling intimidated by the stares she was receiving. They seem to poke her skin like a thousand knives, she screamed internally, wanting to bury her head in a lump of soil. She shut her eyelids the moment her and Ayumi's met. Whether it was horrifying shock or a pleasant surprise, she couldn't tell. Opening her eyes once more, she caught Phoebe smirking maliciously at her from her peripheral vision.
This ain't good. I'm not sure if Ayumi or Ran will accept this!
She shifted her attention to Conan. He was looking at her intensely with his cerulean blue irises, they were shining with mixed emotion. Ai couldn't help but to be intoxicated by him, it's like she could see the ocean in his eyes. She noticed that he was noticeably flushed as well, unusually red around his nose and cheeks. Then, with one blink, the waves of his oceanic eyes seemed to change in ambiance, replacing with the usual tensed gaze. At this, Ai knew that he was trying to read her like a scanner. She panicked. For one thing, she disliked being psycho-analyzed. Even if she knew how dense he was in figuring the hearts of women, he was a detective nonetheless, capable of looking into the minds of wicked culprits. Fearing that it would be evident that she would be affected by the kiss, she kept a still face, rubbing her lips with the back of her hand. The persistent pounding in Conan's chest halted abruptly, feeling it rise to his throat. He felt uneasy.
I don't understand...We've kissed before, it may be an accident, but why did Haibara have to erase it away?
She walked past him, with her cold emotionless expression still plastered on her, walking off as if he was dust. He felt strangely pained, extending out his arm to call her, but her name didn't articulate in his voice. He felt mute, helpless. Ayumi called out to Ai, but it fell on deaf ears. She was about to call her again when Conan gave a gesture, silencing her. He lowered his arm and head, concealing his face with the round spectacles of his. He was visibly upset.
The rest of the day were boring as usual, with the students of Moriarty Academy separated from Teitan middle schoolers. They were taken to a Japanese museum by bus, while the locals were back in their usual class lessons. Silence filled the atmosphere between the two shrunken adults. Conan glanced up the wall clock every 30 seconds, waiting for the day to end. He felt the room temperature rising as tension continues between her and the girl next to him.
We're seated next to each other and yet we're so far apart... What am I thinking? Haibara's just being "Haibara". Forget it. I can't wait for school to end so that I can discuss the case up with Hattori.
Soon enough, the irritating sound of the bell went off, but was like a melody to his ears. Conan sped off the moment their teacher dismissed them. He hurriedly shoved his books in his locker and took off his school shoes. As he switched to his outdoor ones, a shadow crept up on him. He was intimidated by Ai's presence, but waited for her to speak up. Placing her books inside her own locker, she said softly, almost monotonous, "before you go off investigating a case, just know that you need to meet up with Tyler after their trip because all exchange buddies have to accommodate for hospitality. In other words, we'll have to make him our guest to stay at Hakase's place. I'll do the cooking while you handle the rest."
Shit! I forgot about that.
"So... Haibara, if you mind, a favour-"
"I'm not going to fetch him. You can bring him wherever you go," Ai gave her answer before he could finish. She was too familiar with him.
Conan nodded. He was at loss of words, anxious around her. Whether or not she was holding a grudge against him, he was unsure. Their relationship was like a roller coaster ride and her mood swings were fluctuating and unpredictable. He turned to leave, but his stomach lurched, uneasiness and guilt sweeping over him. He couldn't bear to turn his back on her.
So he slowly turned back, giving a concerned look, "take care okay?" No replies were uttered from her, just a small nonchalant shrug. Conan tried his best to pretend that he wasn't affected.
About an hour later, Conan and Tyler hopped onto the backset of Heiji's vehicle.
"Yo, Kudo!" Heiji greeted.
"Kudo?" Tyler commented, craning his neck to the side. Heiji was startled by the boy's presence.
Pointing a finger at him, Heiji grabbed Conan's collar, whispering to him, "what did I tell you about bringing other kids?"
"I've got no choice!" Conan replied in defense, flicking Heiji's hand off his shirt, "I needed to be like a tour guide to him or something. Besides, this hotel was where he and other Moriarty students were staying for the first week. This week, they will need to stay in with their "exchange school buddies" to have a grasp in the Japanese culture."
Heiji raised an eyebrow, doubtful. "Eh? Alright but don't screw around the case."
Tyler nodded, shrugging his shoulders, "If it's about detective work, you should've asked Cedric. He's been a Sherlock Holmes fan."
"And we're here-"
"So you're not tagging along?" Conan asked, as he pushed the car door open and got out.
"Nope, mystery and solving cases aren't really for me," the other teen replied, lying down on the backseat and taking out his smartphone, "I'll just be here, guarding the vehicle and playing games."
"Alright," Conan said, chucking the extra detective badge at him, "use this to communicate with me."
"And why can't I just use my phone?" Tyler inquired, raising his eyebrow. It was more like challenging the detective's rationality, making him feel uncomfortable.
"It'll come in handy later on," he said in deadpan manner, too pissed to communicate with a rouged, egomaniac teen.
"Whatever."
I guess a teen is still a teen. I wasn't like that when I was Shinichi Kudo, was I?
Conan turned to leave, but halted when Tyler called his name.
"What?"
"I'm not sure what's up with you and that half-Japanese girl, but I tell you, she's a good catch. Why don't you ask her out to the Winter prom? Before someone else gets ahead of you," the Lebanese boy said. Conan only shrugged, a little unsure what to reply on that topic.
Haibara and I kissed, more than once actually. But all are accidental except for that one time where we almost did, out of pure care for each other when we were at this very hotel. Still, it doesn't seem to be of significance for her. So would it matter to me then? Wait... Why am I thinking of this? The case! The case! I need to focus.
"Eh! Kudo!"
"Kudo, are you listening?"
"What?" Conan blinked, unaware that the Western detective was calling out to him. He shoved an envelope to his hands, causing Conan to be perplexed.
"Eh?"
"Those were the pictures that the investigators took from the crime scene," Heiji explained, with both them scrutinizing the photographs, "there are strange things in them, like you see."
"You're right," the boy replied, eyeing heaving on every detail of the pictures, "there were chess pieces all over the place. Three pawns in particular, yet the rest were in place. Another thing that bothered me was how the key happened to be under the chess board."
"Yeah," Heiji nodded, "and did you know? Violette was dominantly right-handed and yet, the incision was in her right pulse. If you were a right-hander, you would naturally cut your left wrist. The direction of the incision was slanted downwards, from right to left, confirming that it was cut using the left hand." At this, Conan grinned, that famous expression he makes when he figured the case out. Heiji noticed this quickly.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Yeah. It's possible for someone to sneak in, force Violette to write the suicidal note. Then, drugged her and perform the incision on her pulse. If you stand behind the victim and do the incision of the wrist, you'll make it look like the person did it on herself and then took the water concentrated with sleeping pills to mitigate the pain. Of course, the culprit was careless and ignored her dominant right-handedness. The possibility of him or her being left-handed is high," Conan deduced as they neared the Shangri-La Tokyo Hotel.
"But the problem is, it'll be deemed a locked room murder case. They found her body in a sealed room. The only keys were also placed on top of the chessboard. And it was confirmed through CCTVs and staff from the pharmacy drug store that it was Violette herself that purchased the drugs," Heiji said, placing his hand on his chin, in deep thought.
Yet, the bespectacled boy kept his smirk on his face, brimming as wide as ever. "Then what about this?" he said smugly, unable to restrain his pride, "Violette planned to murder the culprit at first and purchased the pills. The strange message that Violette sent to the unknown person of meeting, Violette had an intent to kill whoever the person was. But the culprit had other plans, which is to murder her too. The culprit could've threatened her at gun point and forced her to write a suicidal note. Then, noticing the sleeping pills she purchased, the culprit used this to reproduce a suicide-like murder in a sealed room."
"You got a point."
Still, that culprit managed to have a well-thought out plan. Amora had an alibi, but what if someone pretended to be her in America and spent time with Jim Cisson?
"Neh Kudo. Do you think it's possible if Amora was the culprit, a master of disguise could've helped her pretend to be her and fool Jim Cisson? Then it would've made perfect sense-" Heiji spoke up, bumping onto the glass door, "oh, we're here." They entered the Shangri-La Tokyo Hotel, grand as ever.
"What's more, her suicide note is suspicious," he continued, thrusting a photograph into Conan's hands, "it's written in English, look." Conan studied the photograph eagerly, squinting his eyes. He began to read aloud the words written on the paper that the picture contained.
"to whoever found my body, i would be gone by now, i will be joining father because the Grim Reaper took him away. please tell grandfather that he'll always be the King in the Alternate Universe, because he won't be the Other one. we will meet someday. for now enjoy a cheap wine like Sherry, or eat Dry Nuts and cuisines soaked in Sweet Sauce. farewell, for now."
This suicidal note is strange. All the words are capitalized. So the words "Grim Reaper", "King", "Alternate Universe, "Other", "Dry Nuts", "Sweet Sauce" and "Sherry" are capitalized. This is not suicidal note, this is a dying message!
"Figured it out yet Kudo? I can help you with some parts. The gold-plated king in the chessboard is taken away, right? Likely the culprit knew that something is valuable in it, and took it away. After all, "Alternate Universe", is often dubbed as "AU" which in the field of Chemistry, represents aurum in latin, which is gold," Heiji deduced, giving a teeth-showing smile.
"Now, for the rest of the words," Heiji added, " 'Grim Reaper' is a personification of death, since her father went missing-"
"No," Conan cut him off, "the obvious interpretation will be that. But in the context of the Black Organisation, the Grim Reaper, in addition to death, it is often portrayed to be wearing black robe or cloak, to symbolize death. If my assumption is right, she's referring to the members of the Black Organisation. In other words, those bastards murdered Violette's father."
"I see"
Now what really disturbs me is the word "Sherry", which is Haibara's codename. There's no mistaking that Violette deliberately mentions her. But why? I can't help but feeling Haibara will be in danger. If something happens to her, I'll never forgive myself!
"Ah, Hattori-kun, Conan-kun!" inspector Megure greeted, beaming with joy that two young detectives were present to aid him in this baffling case.
"Inspector Megure, remember the case that happened 5 years ago? The one that Kudo Shinichi was involved in," Heiji asked.
"What?!" the aged inspector gasped, panic striking in him, "this case is involved with that dangerous organisation again?"
"Yeah," Conan nodded, "remember when one of the members escaped just before his death sentence just weeks ago?"
"I don't really know much about this case. The FBI knows more about it more than I do. Only if Shinichi-kun was here..." Megure trailed off, still saddened by Shinichi's absence. He had high hopes on the young man to be solving the most difficult cases. Unbeknown to him, Kudo Shinichi had faked his death, having to stay as Conan Edogawa.
"Don't worry Inspector!" Conan intervened, hoping to cheer the old man up, "Heiji-niichan and I are here to share with you because we've solved Jim Cisson's case!"
"Then how? How did the culprit kill him in the suite? He was found dead in the most grotesque way as possible, the key was underneath a notebook with no fingerprints except for his, yet the suite room is locked from the inside. The spare keys were in his pockets. There were no signs of forced entry," the inspector recalled.
"It's apparent that the culprit placed Caesium in his food so when he digests it, it would explode in his stomach," Heiji started, unfolding a deduction show, "as for the sealed room, the culprit never used the key."
"Neh, inspector, ever heard that you can pick a lock using two simple hair-pins?" Conan questioned, but answered it himself anyway, "a lock consists of different pins of different levers. It only opens once all are of a certain level. You use one to tamper with the levers of the pins, while the other can be bent to be used as a lever and turn the whole keyhole once it's unlocked. Now, the culprit can use this in a reverse method, to lock the door. Thus, the sealed room murder case is made possible."
"Then? Who did it?"
"Jim Cisson didn't order the food by room service. In the crime scene he had his medication nearby. What if the culprit gave him food so that he can eat it before taking his medicine. In other words, the culprit is someone whom he trusts," Heiji explained.
"But that's not possible! It's impossible for Amora to do it because she gave a speech to the students. There was even a video of it!"
"What if there really is a master of disguise?" now it was Conan's turn to speak, "someone like Vermouth, would've easily dress up as her while they did the deed. Or it can be the other way round."
"And the evidence?"
"Of course, the culprit couldn't wear gloves as it might be questionable to the victim upon seeing her, but with glue to cover up your fingerprints, it'll be easy." Heiji answered, "But there's always a clue the culprit can leave behind. Say, a strand of hair or sweat. Picking a lock requires time, so what if the culprit's hands begin to sweat? The glue loses out and there might be fingerprints on it. The hair-pin might've been disposed somewhere because the culprit needs to get rid of it."
"Now that you've mentioned, a student as same age as Conan's did say that he found a hair-pin in a corridor, but the police thought he was spouting non-sense and he keeps it, claiming that it's precious," inspector Megure recalled.
"What's his name?" Conan suddenly looked alarmed.
"I think... His name's Tyler"
Shit! We left him alone in the car!
Conan pushed Heiji aside, running off towards the hotel's exit.
"Kudo-?"
"That kid might be in trouble if he still has the evidence!" the shrunken detective yelled, frustrated.
Tyler was pushing all sorts of buttons on his electronic device, engrossed with the game he was playing. So engrossed that he failed to see a burly man with a scar on his left eye, approaching the car like a hunter awaiting its prey. The man in black smashes the car window with his bare hands, causing the teenaged boy to be alarmed. He immediately sat up, trying to exit by the opposite door.
But he was too slow.
The man covered Tyler's face with a cloth soaked in chloroform, enchanting him like a sleeping spell. He fell face flat on the backseat, while the man with the scar on his eye forced open the driver's door. He hot-wired the car in attempt to start the engine.
Meanwhile, Tyler was in the backseat, knocked out. The hair-pin on his pocket poked out, as if it was alive and got out of its hidden cave.
The car jump started, causing the hair-pin, or now dubbed as the evidence, falling soundlessly on the floor.
A/N: Damn. So expect a BO member vs Conan showdown!
NOTE: I WILL BE CHANGING RAN'S HUSBAND'S NAME TO ARAIDE SOON ON MY NEXT UPDATE! Please read & review!