Kiss of Death
Epilogue II
A/N: Back! Second last chapter. I wanted to continue the poem but realised that the poem works for this chapter as well!
Serious CoAi talks to ponder: You know... I really am frustrated with how the series is going. I hate watching how Ai is pushed to the sidelines. I think she has one of the best development in terms of character (from a cold pessimist to a sweet caring tsundere), her history of growing up in an organisation etc. The CoAi moments had gone down as well. They used to spam those moments during the Haibara Ai arc and I really liked how she worked with Conan. Now, it's just showing that Conan doesn't regard her much, no matter what she does for him. It's really heartbreaking. That is why, my friends, I stopped following the series. Like, okay, I bet some fans are okay with how the series is going and that is good for them, but not for me.
I respect whatever Gosho does with his series, but yeah... I really hope the creators don't forget Ai.
The system's a lie. It claims to be fair.
For every sinner that arrives,
There is one good-doer that dies.
Eisuke Hondou was often physically challenged, his fitness could not pass for being an on-ground CIA officer, though his intelligence was exceptional. The effeminate man figured that he can still utilise his cognitive and deductive abilities in working in the cybersecurity sector in the agency, hell-bent on protecting people. His job is normally to hack and gain information useful to the agency - which he calls "the guy behind the screen". His background work was less showy, but nonetheless, he was still proud of it.
The three forces remained focused on tracing the remnants of the obliterated criminal syndicate, given that its Boss disappeared into thin air. The silver king piece of the precious chessboard set managed to survive the explosions, however burnt-up it turned out. The CIA was determined to retrieve and fix it, as its insides contained a small compact memory storage that contained some information about the criminal organisation. Eisuke was tasked to crack the mysterious item open.
"Shit!" he cursed at the sight of his computer screen being blank. The Night Baron virus activated once he had attempted to hack it and the virus had immediately done its job to destroy all the data. Eisuke's senses blanked out for the moment. How the hell was he going to report this?
That was the only lead they've got!
"Bummer-"
A white angelic figure descended from the skies, landing on the balcony of Eisuke's private room.
"What the- Hey! Don't sneak up on people like that, Kaito KID!" Eisuke let out a high-pitched shriek.
"What are you doing here?" Eisuke questioned, hostile in his stance, "if you're going to steal anything, well, news flash: the data are gone. The virus ate it all up."
Kaito KID chuckled at the other man's nervous nature. "Relax bro, I'm not going to steal anything. I was just curious... since that chessboard is pretty much in ashes too. I just wanted to know what happens, after all this hoo-ha about the Black Organisation and the Cisson case. But I guess it's all gone now, there's nothing here. They have been questioning the captured members that are currently on death row, though they weren't much of help. The Boss didn't tell them much, or rather, he told different stories to each of them. It was misleading, really."
Eisuke scratched his head and said glumly, "yeah... it's as if, the Boss didn't exist. Like he was a figment of our imagination - gone, just like that. I do wonder... what happens to all of us now? I'm lucky that my sister and I are okay, but the rest... they have things to patch up. I've figured out Conan's real identity before all of this, but I'm unsure how the rest will hear the truth."
"I didn't think I will agree with you, but I do," KID replied.
"Yeah... I wonder on Earth you actually bothered to help. But I was glad you did. Look, you're still wanted by the police officers because, in the eyes of the law, you're still a thief. But I'm going to say that you dropped in here. Take it as a favour for saving my sister. Now, I don't want to offend you... but please leave before someone sees you," Eisuke informed, trying to sound as nice as possible.
The thief flicked his wrist, "don't worry. It'll be the last time I'm going to be in this suit."
"The last time?"
"There's nothing much for me to do here. Things were interesting back then- say, I helped for the kicks-"
That earned a doubtful look from the CIA agent. He knew that Kaito KID genuinely wanted to help out of his good heart.
"What? I'm a bored kid. I like messing around with stuck-up police officers. But you see... I'm not getting any younger here and I have other obligations to fulfil. Seems like this whole magician-thief show is... out of date," Kaito KID defended.
The bespectacled man studied him. Something told Eisuke that the thief probably was planning to leave because of personal issues.
"O-Okay...good luck to your endeavours then-"
Kaito KID gave him a salute, before jumping out and appearing with the infamous white hang-glider among the night sky - possibly, for the last time.
But really, not all have an equal share.
Humans are imperfect creatures.
Some are granted a chance.
Ayumi sat across Mitsuhiko. They were on a date at a local food court, eating after watching a movie.
"You okay? You haven't touched your food. Was the movie that bad?"
Mitsuhiko's concerned voice shook Ayumi out of her daydream. She shook her head, "no... the movie is fine." The freckled boy leaned in, unconvinced.
"It's just...nevermind-"
"Hey," the boy moved in to hold her hand, "if something's bothering you, you can confide in me. Come on now, why the sad smile on your pretty face?"
"It's been... I don't know - months? Since that incident. It was just so horrid, I didn't like talking about it. I remember us... being shocked and devastated when Genta- he.."
She choked out a whimper. There were in public after all. It will be highly suspicious if she starts bawling her eyes out in the place that was swarmed by people. Mitsuhiko squeezed her hand tighter in response. She smiled at the comfort he gave. He spoke, "I know. I felt the same. He was our friend since we were kids. He mattered to us, to all of us."
There was an unspoken emphasis in their group, as a collective whole.
"Then... to find out Conan and Ai-chan were not who we think they are... it makes me feel..." Ayumi searched for the right word.
"Angry?"
"No, disappointed."
There was silence between the couple.
"They have always been in a world of their own. Whenever they walked with us, they often talked in their own terms, speaking topics that we did not understand... Then, when we got in trouble, they looked after us - like they were our parents. I had always noticed that, since we were kids," Mitsuhiko commented.
"Did you... suspect them to be older than us?" his girlfriend asked.
"No," he answered, "I just figured they were different. That they were far intelligent than the norm and they found comfort in one another because they were at the same wavelength."
"I was disappointed at first," Mitsuhiko was confessed, "pissed off, even. I felt like they fooled us as if we were way below their intellectual capacity. I hated how they didn't tell us because we were no longer those snivelling children that we once were. If they told us, then we would have taken precautions and maybe Genta wouldn't have-"
He had to pause when he saw Ayumi winced. They hated talking about that.
He continued, "but I guess, after talking to one of the officers about the whole story... I figured that I was being childish. There was a syndicate after them - they had a lot of ordeals. I just assumed that they were trying to keep us away from that part of the world. They just acted in ways that they thought was the best."
"Ohh..."
Ayumi shuffled about, ruffling her skirt a little. She said, "I - I have a lot in my mind lately. From the day when we had to go through my grandmother's stuff and- and... I had to see that picture. That picture of her and a blond boy with green eyes. It was in greyscale, but I can make out who it was. I thought my head was playing tricks on me! When I first met Cedric, I just thought it was a weird coincidence and I wanted to get to know him more. Until I found out the truth about Conan and Ai-chan... Then I knew, that it was possible that Cedric - or maybe that isn't his real name- and that kid my grandmother talked about... was the same person. They told us that the Boss is missing and currently they are searching for him, right? But they didn't tell us who it was."
Mitsuhiko nodded in acknowledgement, waiting for her to proceed with her narration of events.
"And don't tell this to anyone - I went to Ai-chan's place the other night. I made the excuse that I was going to the bathroom, but I racked up her files a bit. I found out... that 'Cedric' was the Boss of the organisation. And then there were these secrets about the Moriarty Academy - it was... shocking! They were children in there that suffered. Tyler and Phoebe are dead. I panicked. I tried to get them back to where I found the files and left immediately. I regretted it," she finished.
"You shouldn't have done that-"
"I know! I was just so sad... Sad that Conan and Ai-chan hid many things from us!" she defended, almost shouting indignantly.
"Still, there is information we ought to know and those we don't need to," he clarified stubbornly. Ayumi kept quiet. There was truth in his statement. She muttered an apology.
"What's done is done," the freckled boy sighed, "we both know now... Though now that you'd brought it up... I am curious why the Boss went through the trouble of acting like teens and getting near us. If I was a criminal mastermind, I will let my goons do all the infiltration for me." The pair was silent for a few good minutes, giving that notion a thought.
Why did the Boss do that?
"This may seem a stretch..." Ayumi answered, "perhaps the Boss did want to know what's it like... to be normal, even if it's temporary. I do want to believe that was the case."
"I see-"
"Do you think... you can forgive them? Haibara and Conan, I mean," Mitsuhiko managed to veer the topic back to their friends, "they might have made us feel left out. However, they are still our friends. They took care of us, like they were our mother and father. I remember... when we were little kids, Conan-kun will scold us for being reckless while Haibara-san will remind us to bathe and pack up - little gestures like that. They did let us down... but they are practically family. I don't think I'll ever stay mad at them. I hope you see it that way too, Ayumi-chan."
Ayumi forced a smile. She was hurt, but there was truth in her boyfriend's words.
"Alright..."
While some see the grim reaper dance,
and their remains fed to vultures.
Nothing.
That was what it was when somebody stared at Jodie's eye sockets. There was nothing.
It pained Akai to watch Jodie wither, yet, the man swore to remain by her side. "Do you like those flowers, Jodie?" he asked while he held up a bunch of Ixora that he plucked when they were walking around the garden.
No response.
"You're prettier than these flowers," he commented lamely and tossed them aside. He continued pushing the wheelchair she was on. He gave her a bittersweet smile.
"I'm sorry... I wasn't there for you..."
"Akai? You're here..."
Akai turned around to see a man with light blond hair. "What are you doing here? In a place like this..." he asked. They were at a local institute of mental health.
Rei answered, "You know the boy with the codename Williamine? We dug out his records and discovered that his true name is Junpei. I'm currently taking a watch on him. We're here because Junpei wanted to visit this girl that also was used to be in the Black Organisation."
"Ohh... How's the boy?"
"He's doing a fast recovery," Rei replied, "he made a quick progress in rehabilitation. He might just get to enter school one day. Proud of that kid. He's determined to live normally. The other kids that were experimented and trained in the Moriarty Academy though... they are still struggling. The court considered that they were still minors and they were influenced and coerced to do criminal deeds. So the court ruled that they will not face capital punishment, but to be on strict probation and undergo rehab. Since they are young, it has been decided that it was only right to have them re-integrated into society. They're still trying to get rid of the bad memories and getting them to have a moral judgment that was robbed away from them... it's hard."
"The organisation had done irrecoverable damage," Akai commented as he caressed Jodie's hair. The blond-haired man glanced at the woman with pity.
Light footsteps approached them. It was Junpei. His purple eyes looked upset.
"Hey, Rei - oh, and Akai. I just visited her. Vinsanto started to create a ruckus when she asked me for the Boss. I didn't say anything. I don't know anything. That's when the nurses told me to leave," he recalled while biting his lip anxiously.
The boy's purple eyes perked up at the sight of Jodie. He held her hands and asked sincerely, "hey Miss Jodie, how are you?"
The woman managed to smile softly at him. Akai noted the way Jodie responded to the boy. Unlike Junpei, Jodie would flinch under his touch and she would be irresponsive to him whenever he tried to talk. It made him envious.
"No leads on the Boss yet, I see..."
"Yeah, Rei's future brother-in-law said that there was a virus on that king piece. There's nothing much we can do, for now..." Junpei interrupted. Rei hissed at him referring Eisuke Hondou as his 'future brother-in-law', which implied a romantic relationship with Hidemi Hondou. Junpei stuck his tongue out, knowing that he had hit a nerve.
"We shouldn't have agreed to remove the bomb inside Gin's head. That was the only indication whether the Boss is alive," Rei said angrily, pointing at Akai, "and if you didn't almost beat him to death during the raid, they would not have been in favour to him."
"It's unethical to keep a bomb in someone. That's like keeping a living grenade as a pet. And you darn know why I beat him that way," the green-eyed man explained darkly, glaring at Rei. There was lurking wrath within him, that threatened to detonate in any moment. It was frightening. The day where Akai saw Jodie's state... he saw red. Rei was there in time to cease him from murdering Gin. Bringing a dead body will only cause complications and make the court question the authority the forces had abused.
"That hound already did enough damage. First my cousin, then the murder of Akemi, and now Jodie. If I had my way, I would've killed him. I won't hesitate," he added.
A gush of wind hushed the three of them.
Beep. Beep.
Akai looked at his watch. "Ohh... we gotta go. Jodie needs to go back. Take care, Junpei. Go to school soon. See you around," he said as he pushed the wheelchair, back facing on the two.
"Bye Akai, please take good care of Miss Jodie," Junpei called out. Akai gave a small wave in acknowledgement. Of course, he will not make that mistake of leaving her again.
"And Akai?"
The man turned around slightly when Rei called his name.
"Don't be too hard on yourself. Deep down, she loves you and wouldn't want you to suffer, either-"
The ones biased for pretend and repent,
in the name of crime and punishment.
Just a few pointers:
1- Let's face it. Kaito KID will have to stop with his heists and get married to Aoko or something. The Night Baron virus was featured in the older episodes. That virus is used by the BO to delete files when others are trying to uncover them.
2- I figured Mitsuhiko and Ayumi will feel disappointed when they found out Conan and Ai's real identities.
3- The Boss is still a mystery, eh? I initially planned for him to reveal his past and die honourably, but I figured it will be cliche and that will divert the attention of CoAi to him. So I just let it be this way - the Boss, shrouded in mystery and disappearing as if he never existed.
4- Hmm, some characters are supposed to have a sadder ending than the rest. It pains me to write something like this about Jodie but... (actually I don't really have an excuse, I just thought that it'll be weird to have everybody being happy). And in canon, Akai really disregards Jodie a lot (in my opinion) when Jodie cares so much for him. I think it will take something very drastic for him to realise that Jodie was there for him. As the saying goes, "you'll never know what you have until you lose it".
5- There will be a FINAL CHAPTER ON COAI. STAY TUNED!