I was quite surprised by your reactions to learning Yamamura was appearing. Some people didn't like it, some people thought it might be interesting, and others spammed the PM telling me how much of a bad idea it was. So I compromised. Everybody is still in character, too, which is hilarious. The lag between updates is a combination of work, school, and writing my book. So yeah. :P
Chapter Three
Inspector Yamamura was only too happy to assist Kogoro in his investigation. To him, spying on Conan was the thrill of a lifetime. He had all sorts of damaging information. "Well, to start off, the first time I met him wasn't with you. It was when he was with his mother, maybe about half a year ago? Oh, and she was a beauty, too! I never would've guessed they were related!"
Kogoro started. He'd left the bar and was sitting in a park, listening to Yamamura go on and on. However, he himself had met Conan's 'mother', and was rather surprised by Yamamura's description. "She didn't seem that beautiful when I met her," he muttered.
"And here I thought you had perfect taste in women," said Yamamura, affronted. "It was because of her that I even became a police detective to begin with, you know! Are you seriously telling me you don't think the actress Fujimine Yukiko is pretty?"
That took Kogoro aback. "What are you saying? This is absurd; I'm hanging up." Yamamura protested, but Kogoro was through with his nonsense.
XXX
The next day, Conan woke up to find that Kogoro wasn't in his bed. 'I bet he was out playing mahjong all night again,' he thought to himself. He was too used to it happening to care. He was therefore surprised when he went to get breakfast and found Kogoro sitting at the table, wide awake.
Kogoro was busy reading a newspaper, apparently not paying Conan any attention, which Conan was fine with. He could really go without getting hit on the head once in a while.
"Good morning, Conan-kun!" said Ran brightly, making both guys jump. She gave each of them a plate of food before sitting down with one of her own. "Isn't it a beautiful day?" she asked, not noticing the tension in the air. Both Kogoro and Conan were suspicious of each other, which made it really chilly between them.
The phone ringing broke the tension. Before Ran could get up, Kogoro sprang up and grabbed the receiver. He was whispering into it, so the two kids couldn't hear a thing. Once Kogoro had hung up, he ran out the door, his breakfast forgotten. 'What's up with him?' Conan thought. He came up with many solutions, each more improbable than the last.
XXX
At school, Kogoro's mysterious behavior continued to bother Conan. Ayumi had to practically yell at him to get his attention. "Are you OK, Conan-kun?"
"Oh, I'm OK," he assured her. "I was just thinking."
"Is it a case?" Genta interjected loudly, looking eager.
"It has to be," Mitsuhiko deduced. "The only thing that distracts Conan like this is a case."
Haibara looked on, amused. "They could be helpful, you know," she told Conan in an undertone.
"Oh, all right," said Conan, giving in. "Occhan was acting weird this morning, and he's been avoiding me for the last couple of days."
The three kids instantly began brainstorming, as per the usual. "Wouldn't this mean he's up to something?" Mitsuhiko suggested.
"Maybe he's having an affair," Genta offered. "Or he found a place that serves good eel." He looked up dreamily.
"Again with the eel, Genta-kun?" said Ayumi, exasperated. "Well, we should investigate, right? If Conan-kun can't do it himself, that means we can show him up!"
The thought of showing Conan up instantly convinced the two boys to give it their all. "Let's go!" Conan just looked at them with a 'Don't you realize I'm still here' face.
"What do you think, Ai-chan?" asked Ayumi.
"I guess I'll help you," said Haibara. "Just remember, you all have to take responsibility if you get caught."
"Yes, ma'am," they all said sulkily.
'Oi oi, is this really happening?' Conan thought, watching the three kids forming up a plan.
XXX
Kisaki Eri was in her office reviewing some court documents when her secretary buzzed her. "Kisaki-sensei, you have a visitor."
"Who is it?" asked Eri, not glancing up.
"Your husband. Are you busy?"
That got Eri's attention. Kogoro never visited her at work, and he hadn't called her to say he was coming. "Send him in, Kuriyama-san," she said, putting the documents away and rubbing her eyes.
Kogoro kept glancing over his shoulder and he came in, looking distinctly rattled. "I need help, Eri," he said as he shut the door.
"Dear, what's wrong?" she asked concerned. She jumped up and helped him into a chair.
Kogoro paused a moment before saying, "It's that darn kid again."
"Conan-kun?"
"I think he's responsible for my memory loss."
"Memory loss?" Eri was more confused than ever now, but she, as a lawyer, was trained to not show emotion in front of her clients.
"Ever since that kid showed up, every time I solve a case, I lose my memory of actually solving it. At first, I thought it was a fluke, but after talking to Araide-sensei and realizing that I'm largely immune to sleeping pills and stuff like it, I started realizing the truth. That kid is solving my cases for me."
Under any other circumstances, Eri would've thought he was crazy, but with him acting so paranoid, and since he was clearly NOT drunk out of his mind, she took pity on him. "Do you have any proof?"
"I remembered Yamamura-keibu from Gunma once mentioned that he'd have occasional memory loss too, so I called him this morning and confirmed. It was only when the brat was around, and whenever I wasn't."
"Come to think of it," Eri remembered, "the time Ran and Sonoko-chan had to land that airplane, I was asleep for the entire descent. Then Ran said that my testimony had helped identify the criminal, but I don't remember doing anything like that…"
They were suddenly interrupted by a loud commotion coming from the exterior office. Eri got up to see what was going on. "You kids!" Eri exclaimed once she saw that all of Conan's friends, without Conan, were badgering her secretary, Kuriyama Midori, about Kogoro's location.
It took a while to get rid of the kids. Genta kept insinuating something was happening between Eri and Kogoro in Eri's office, which shocked both women and Haibara, who then took Eri's side in getting the other three kids out. Ten minutes later, Eri slammed the door to her office and collapsed in her chair, where her cat Goro jumped in her lap. "See what I mean?" Kogoro asked, trying really hard not to panic. "Those kids have it in for me, I know it!"
"Calm down, dear," said Eri, her tiredness ebbing away as she pet the cat. "I'll help you get to the bottom of this. It's probably just a misunderstanding."
"Eri, thank you," said Kogoro. He made a hasty exit, still looking around like a hunted animal.
XXX
"He's definitely suspicious," said Mitsuhiko. The four kids had left the building, but had staked out the entrance to keep an eye on Kogoro. They'd been following him since they got out of school, although they hadn't really liked getting yelled at by Eri.
"Isn't she his wife, though?" asked Ayumi.
"But they're separated," reminded Mitsuhiko.
"And they always argue!" added Genta. Haibara simply stood back, bored.
The kids were interrupted by Kogoro leaving the building. He looked both ways before briskly walking away. The four kids followed, but took great care to make sure they were hiding whenever he glanced back, which was frequently. Haibara noticed at once that whenever Kogoro passed cute girls, he would not look at them, which indicated he was really scared about something.
Kogoro's destination, it turned out, was somewhat off the beaten path. He entered the back door of an old factory complex, before disappearing inside.
"Let's follow him!" said Genta, running forward and putting his hand on the handle.
"Don't do it," Haibara commanded, making the other three flinch. "We don't know the situation on the other side of the door. He could be pretending to have business in there and is actually listening on the other side of the door."
That statement made the kids look at the door nervously. Then they went and hid behind a dumpster for Kogoro to come back out. It didn't take long. After about five minutes, the door opened again and Kogoro exited. He glanced around several times before continuing on.
"I wonder what that was," said Genta.
"Maybe he was getting a gun from a gangster," Mitsuhiko suggested.
"A gun?" Genta and Ayumi said loudly, looking fearful.
Haibara quickly butted in before the kids started panicking. "We don't know what he had in that bag, and speculating about it with no proof won't help anything."
"You're right, Haibara-san!" Mitsuhiko exclaimed.
With that out of the way, they continued following Kogoro. He was heading back in the direction of the Detective Agency, but he made two stops on the way. The first was to a sporting goods store, where he bought something small. The kids couldn't see what it was, unfortunately, since it was inside a plastic bag. Then he made a detour through Beika Park to use the public restrooms.
"What was that for?" asked Mitsuhiko once Kogoro had exited ten minutes later. "That was way too long for a normal bathroom break."
"Maybe he really had to go," suggested Genta.
"Genta-kun, you're so vulgar!" Ayumi whined.
"He isn't carrying the shopping bag anymore," said Haibara, breaking off the conversation. All three kids looked at Kogoro. "Kojima-kun, go check the trash can in the men's toilet," Haibara commanded. Genta ran off at once, followed by Mitsuhiko.
"Shouldn't we follow him?" Ayumi asked, watching Kogoro walk away.
"Let's see what the guys find, first, OK Yoshida-san?" said Haibara, smiling gently.
"OK!" said Ayumi happily. The girls sat down on a nearby wall to wait.
It wasn't long before Mitsuhiko and Genta emerged, looking disgusted. "Some hobo mistook the trash can for the toilet, so it was nasty," said Genta, holding his nose.
"But we did find this," said Mitsuhiko. He pulled an empty brown paper bag out of pocket and showed them. It had the shopping bag stuffed inside, along with an empty box for a small mp3 player, they type that joggers used.
Haibara took the bag gingerly and looked it over, but couldn't find anything else of note. "I wonder if Edogawa-kun could find something useful," she muttered, loud enough for the kids to hear. The three kids looked at each, sporting identical mischievous grins.
Then Genta snatched the bag back. "We can do this ourselves, Haibara," he said loudly. Before she could say anything else, the three kids had run off.
'Kudo-kun, I do not envy you," she thought to herself, slightly irritated.
I don't find the kids nearly as annoying as most people in the fanbase, which is why they appear so often in my stories. Plus, I enjoy exploring Haibara's personality, which only really comes out when either they or animals are involved. Before anyone calls me out for how the KogoroXEri scene is OOC, there IS precedent. If you've seen the tenth movie, it's Eri's only appearance in it and she does something similar. Though I intend for Eri to get more screen time later. And maybe Yamamura XD.
BTW the mention of Yamamura's memory loss comes from Movie 13. The airplane landing comes from Movie 8.
Next up, another murder. And Kogoro's paranoia actually makes him smart for once. :D