Four points of the same star
DISCLAIMER:I do not own Detective Conan .
FOUR POINTS OF THE SAME STAR
Chapter 6
The secret investigation
Conan was running madly to Agase's house, followed by Haibara and the other kids.
"Didn't you say that he was tired?" Mitsuhiko asked Ai with bewilderment as they were running behind the bespectacled boy.
"He must have recovered." she answered simply but was secretly concerned.
'What has happened now?' she wondered, 'What did Agase tell him to make him stir from his state? I hope it isn't anything serious...'
They were getting closer to the scientist's house. Conan felt his heart pounding hard in his chest: a bit for the race but, above all, for his nervousness. He reached the front door and was reaching for the knob when something clicked in his head, making him freeze.
"Conan-kun, what are you doing?" Ayumi asked with confusion, "You've rushed here and now, you don't want to go in?"
"Yeah, why don't you ring the bell?" Genta asked, panting.
Conan didn't answer: he was not listening to them.
'I'm not myself now..' he thought, 'She won't recognize me! And I can't tell her what happened or she'll be in danger, too.'
Suddenly, the front door opened and Agase came out.
"Oh, welcome." he said, letting them in, "We've been waiting you."
'We?' Ai thought, 'Didn't Kudo-san leave this morning?'
They walked inside and noticed that there was a girl in the living room. She was wearing blue jeans, a white shirt, a dark denim jacket, dark trainers and a baseball cap. She got up as they entered the room. Conan froze on the spot, his eyes fixed on her while she looked at him with astonishment and tenderness, her blue cobalt eyes overjoyed.
Ai watched the scene and, then, she understood.
'Could she be...?' she thought.
The girl walked towards them. She knelt down and hugged Conan.
"I'm sorry." she whispered in a choked voice, "It's good to see you, little brother."
He was stunned: how did she recognize him? Had Agase already told her everything?
"Rei..?" he managed to mumble and she nodded.
They stayed like this for a while before pulling out of the embrace. Then, Rei looked at the other kids that had stayed quiet the whole time. She took of her cap, letting her shoulder length, dark brown hair to tumble back down. She smiled at them.
"Hello, my name's Rei." she said, "I am Conan's... cousin. I have arrived today. You must be his class mates, right?"
Her manners were so friendly and gentle that the kids promptly answered.
"Yes, we are. I am Ayumi."
"I am Genta."
"I am Mitsuhiko."
"Pleased to meet you, Rei-neechan!" they said together.
"Pleased to meet you, too." she replied and turned to the little red haired girl who was staring at her.
Saying that Ai was stunned was an understatement.
Rei looked a lot like Akemi: she seemed to be her younger version. The little girl jumped when the older girl knelt down in front of her, holding out her hand.
"Hello, pleased to meet you." she said, "I am Rei."
Ai shook her hand.
"I am Ai Haibara." she replied, "Pleased to meet you, Rei-san."
"Conan-kun, so that's why you ran away?" Ayumi asked him, "You wanted to see your cousin."
Conan managed to snap out of the astonishment of finding Rei there.
"Yes, I wanted to see her since we haven't met for a long time." he quickly replied.
The kids were already going to make other questions when Agase pitched in.
"It's getting late." he said, "Don't you think that your parents will worry if they don't see you coming home?"
"You're right, Professor." Mitsuhiko said, "It's a while since we left school."
"And I'm getting hungry, too." Genta added.
"Ok let's go, then." Ayumi said. "Bye Professor! Bye Rei-neechan!"
"See you at school, Conan-kun! Bye Haibara-san!"
"See you tomorrow, Ai-chan!"
Agase lead them to the door and as soon as the kids left, Conan turned to Rei.
"Well..?" he asked, expecting an explanation.
She looked at him without saying a word.
Agase helped her out.
"Shinichi-kun, I think that you should go home, too." he remarked, approaching him, "You told the Mouris that you would come back today: Ran will worry. You can speak to Rei-kun tomorrow."
"What? No way! I want to know wha.." he argued but Rei stopped him.
"Shinichi, I'll tell you everything but, please, not today." she said looking him straight in the eyes. "Agase offered me to stay here for tonight, so don't worry: I won't go anywhere."
Conan could only nod in agreement: there was a strange glint in Rei's eyes and he knew that arguing would have been pointless. But there was one thing he wanted to know immediately.
"Ok, but just tell me this. How did you recognize me?"
"I met Yukiko-san before and she briefly told me what has happened." Rei smiled slightly, "But I would have recognized anyway: you don't have a child's look. Well, see you tomorrow. Bye, Shinichi." And with this, she went upstairs.
Conan was a bit surprised: it wasn't in Rei's character to be so cold. He turned to Agase with a quizzical look but the old scientist just shrugged.
"Don't ask me anything, Shinichi-kun because I don't know. Rei-kun didn't say a word about what's happened, except a few things she said to Yukiko."
"She talked with Mom?"
"Yes, she was waiting for the taxi when she recognized Rei-kun, walking to your house. I don't know what they spoke about because the taxi had come and I had to tell the driver to wait a bit. I just noticed that Rei gave Yukiko a piece of paper."
"A piece of paper?"
"Yes, but I don't know what was written on it. The only thing I noticed is that Rei-kun looks tired and worried."
Conan thought about this and sighed.
"Well, I suppose she'll answer all our questions tomorrow." he stated, "All right, I've got to go now. See you tomorrow morning then, Professor, Haibara." He nodded to both and walked away.
As Ai walked upstairs, Agase waited by the kitchen's door.
"I've got to get dinner ready" he said, smiling slightly, "I've got two young guests now."
Ran was really happy.
Conan was coming back after a week passed at Agase's house. She really missed the little boy who seemed to understand her better than anyone else and that always tried to comfort her when she was in low spirits because of Shinichi. Sometimes, she had the feeling that he felt guilty of seeing her in pain even though it was not his fault at all.
She was still lost in her thoughts when she heard the door open along with a well-known voice.
"I'm back, Ran-neechan!"
"Welcome back, Conan-kun!" she said, smiling widely. "Did you have a good time at Agase's house?"
"Yes, it was not bad." he said. "I helped him out with some new inventions."
"You'll tell me all about it later. Now go and wash your hands. Dinner's ready." she said going in the kitchen. Conan joined her shortly after and his eyes widened with surprise when he saw the table.
"Wow, Ran-neechan, how many good things you've prepared! What are we celebrating?" he asked, turning to the girl.
"Your return home, of course" she replied simply.
Conan blushed.
"For.. me?" he stammered.
"Yes, for you." Ran said and bent down and hugged him tight, making him blush even more."I felt lonely without you, Conan-kun."
"I missed you, too, Ran-neechan." he said softly, even though it was not the truth. During the past week, he had been so worried for Rei that he didn't think of Ran even once. He felt a pang guilt.
'I'm sorry, Ran.' he thought sadly.
Just then, Kogoroh entered the kitchen.
"Ran, is dinner ready? I'm hungry!" he said loudly. He then noticed Conan. "Oh, the brat's back."
Ran frowned at her father and served dinner as soon as they were all at the table.
-:-
It was quite late.
Conan was going to go to sleep. Ran had urged him to tell her all the things he had done during the week. He couldn't tell her about Rei so he had to invent a story. He also told her that he would have spent the next day out with his friends. She would have suspected something if he said that he went to Agase's house again.
'She really missed me.' he thought, changing his clothes, 'I wonder how she'll take it when Conan will go away... well, as soon as the antidote's ready.'
He sighed loudly, realizing that a lot of time would pass before Conan could become Shinichi again.
'Maybe, I can ask Haibara to give me one of those 24-hour effect pills. I could spend a day with Ran: that could cheer her up a bit.' But he quickly put the idea away at the thought of confronting the miniature scientist on this particular subject.
Then his thoughts flew to Rei.
'What's happened to her? She didn't seem herself today. Has she changed so much in three years?' Thousands of other questions came to his mind. He shook his head.
"I'll find out tomorrow." he said and went to bed.
Agase, Ai and Rei had finished to have dinner.
It had been a silent meal. Professor had tried to start a conversation but the two girls just gave short answers to his questions so he gave up at the end.
They were going to sleep, now. Agase offered to give Rei his bed so that she rest better but she gently refused, saying that a futon would have been enough and that she didn't want to bother him too much.
"Well, all right then. Good night, Ai-kun. Good night, Rei-kun."
"Goodnight, Agase" they replied and he switched the lights off.
-:-
Ai was in her bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep.
The others were sleeping: she heard their breathing, but she just couldn't.
Rei's resemblance to Akemi recalled many memories to her mind: happy ones like the time she spent with her sister or painful ones like the last day they met and her last statement.
"Don't worry, I'm fine."
That very day she had died.
She had tried to take her out of the organisation but Gin killed her.
'They killed her because she wanted to save me. It's all my fault.' she thought bitterly. She turned her head in Rei's direction,
'That girl…..'
Rei got up suddenly, startling her. She was breathless and sweating.
"Damn it... I thought I got rid of this dreams years ago.." she muttered to herself as she her hand wiped away some sweat from her forehead.
'I'm not the only one to have nightmares..' Ai thought, watching her.
Rei took a few deep breaths to calm herself and then, instinctively, turned around feeling a stare on herself. The two girls' eyes met and Rei smiled apologetically.
"Sorry, I didn't want to wake you up." she said softly but Ai just shook her head.
Rei got to her feet silently, not wanting to wake up Agase and glanced at the little girl.
"I'm going down for a glass of water." she whispered, "Do you want to come along? It seems that you're having trouble to fall asleep too."
Ai looked at her and nodded slightly. There was something in that girl that attracted her beyond the simple likeness with her sister. She remembered what Kudo had said about her.
'She didn't believe that her parents had died in an accident and decided to find out the truth herself.' she thought, getting up, 'She wants to know the truth... even if it could make her suffer.'
Rei quietly opened the door and the two slipped outside and went downstairs. They went in the kitchen and Rei took a glass from the cupboard and filled it with water. The chilly liquid seemed to soothe her tensed nerves.
Neither talked. They just stayed there, in silence.
Ai looked at the other girl as a sudden thought crossed her mind.
'She doesn't treat me as a seven year old child.' she thought, 'I wonder if Agase or Kudo-san have told her who I am.'
"Ikeda-san, can I ask you a thing?" she asked, deciding to find out.
Rei looked at her, slightly surprised.
"Sure... but how do you know my surname?" she asked.
"Kudo told me a few things about you when he read your letter last week."
"He read it only last week? No wonder I didn't get any reply.. but... what do you want to know?"
"Do you know anything about me?"
"No, not much."
"Not much?"
"You're wondering why I don't treat you like a child, right?" she asked and smiled slightly, seeing Ai's astonishment. "Well, I've noticed that you have Shinichi's same stare. The two of you look like children but your eyes can't lie: there's too much experience and wisdom in your stare to mistake you with a seven year old so I supposed that you were in Shinichi's same condition. And that you're probably my age as well."
"I see."
"Do you want to know anything else?"
"No, nothing."
"Can I ask you a something then?" Ai nodded and looked up at her. "Were they very worried about me last week? I guess you know what I'm talking of..."
"Yes, especially Kudo and his parents."
Rei looked down, pain and guilt flickering in her eyes. Ai noticed this and was tempted to ask her what had happened to her but somehow she knew that she would have not received an answer. At last, Rei looked at her again.
"I see." she remarked, "Well... I think it will be better if we try to get to sleep. What do you think?"
Ai shrugged and walked to the door.
"Haibara?"
Ai turned around to Rei who was still standing by the kitchen table.
"Yes?"
"Thanks for the little chat."
The little girl nodded.
As soon as the two girl were back to their room, they slipped into their beds.
"Goodnight." Rei whispered to Ai with a smile.
Ai gave her a small smile.
"Good night, Ikeda."
"Shinichi-kun? What are you doing here so early in the morning? Most people would be asleep!"
Agase let the miniature detective in his house with an annoyed expression.
"Well, I want to know what's up with Rei." Conan said, "And by the way, it's not that early, Hakase. It's already seven o'clock."
"Yes, only seven o'clock on Saturday." the scientist replied sarcastically.
"Is Rei up already?"
"Yes, she just had breakfast with Ai-kun."
"With Haibara?"
"Yes. It seems that get on well together."
This surprised Conan. The last thing he had expected was that Rei and Ai would have become friends so quickly.
The two went in the living room and found the girls reading. Ai was on the couch, going through the pages of a fashion magazine while Rei was on the armchair with the morning newspaper. They looked up as the boy entered.
"Good morning, Shinichi." Rei greeted him with a smile and then turned to Ai. "I've told you that he'd be here at the crack of dawn."
The knowing remark made the little girl smirk. The boy raised his eyebrow.
'I can't believe it.. Haibara and Rei... Friends?' he thought but quickly pushed aside this thought, remembering why he was there.
"Rei?" he asked tentatively, "Do you finally want to tell me what has happened?"
She looked at him and nodded.
"I think that you've already waited too long. Come on and sit down. It's a long story."
As he sat down on the couch, Ai got up, ready to leave.
"Haibara, I think you have to listen to this too." Rei stopped her with a hand. "There are some things that you must hear as well. And..they might interest you... personally as well..
Ai looked at her in surprise but sat down again and put the magazine aside.
"Ok, I'll start from the beginning," Rei said, clearing her voice slightly. She noticed Agase at the door . "Professor, you can listen if you want."
When everyone was seated, she started her story.
-:-
"I managed to enter FBI right after graduation. At first, I was not highly considered by the other agents: they treated me differently because I was younger and didn't have experience. But, at last, I found a way to be accepted."
"How?" Agase asked.
"I'm a graduate in computer science which is basically everything that is computer related from hardware, software, networking and even hacking into systems if one's really talented. I helped out with a few cases that included hackers and system intruders, so people began to trust me. Until..."
Her face darkened.
"What?" Conan asked, "What happened, Rei?"
"Well, I got involved in a case, a strange case that... Wait I'll explain you this later. I have to give you all the details before. You see, I was not the only teenage agent in FBI: there were also two boys I knew. They had been recruited the year before and had a good deal of experience more that me.. I think I mentioned them in the letter I sent to you, Shinichi." Rei turned towards him the boy that nodded.
"Yes, you mentioned a boy that studied engineering." he said.
"Yes." Something in Rei's stomach twisted uneasily, but she didn't show it openly. "We met, the three of us, back at college. The engineer's Ryuji while the other boy's a lawyer and his name is Matt."
"Hey, wait a minute." Conan interrupted her and sat up straight. "A lawyer and an engineer worked for FBI? Why? For what purpose?"
Rei smiled slightly, seeing the astonished expression on his face.
"You reacted the same way I did when I saw them at the headquarters the first time. I thought it was strange, too." she said, "But they told me that it was all part of a plan."
"Plan?"
'Here comes the tough part...' Rei thought. She took a deep breath and continued.
"Let me explain better. Matt's father is a chief inspector at FBI and the boys often help him with some cases. One day, a young woman showed up and asked them to help her. She addressed herself specifically to Ryuji.
"What did she want?" Conan asked but Rei didn't even look at him. She turned to Ai, instead.
"She... she talked about the existence of a big underground criminal organisation. She said that she didn't know much of its activities because she was just a simple agent and not too deep into it but she knew what those criminals were capable of. She had looked for Ryuji because she wanted to ask him a favor."
Rei had said this very slowly, giving the others time to understand what she meant. She noticed that Conan and Ai had stiffened. Agase broke the silence, oblivious of their changement.
"What did she ask?"
"She said that she would have helped him and didn't care if he would arrest her or if something would happened to her... but she made him promise... she pleaded him to swear that he would save her younger... sister." Rei stopped, her eyes fixed on Ai.
The little girl had blanched in shock.
'It can't be her..'she thought.
Conan was dumbfounded just as much as her.
"The woman's name was Akemi Miyano and I think that she was your sister, right Haibara?" Rei asked softly.
Ai nodded absently but quickly looked up.
"How do you know?" she asked sharply.
"Ryuji decided to help her, sure that she was honest." Rei said, without answering her, "He told Matt what had happened and together, they worked on a plan to do what Miyano-san had asked. They had just entered FBI and were not very well known so they decided to investigate on their own; secretely, most of all since Miyano-san had said that many important people from politics to high ranking police members had been corrupted and were double-dealers. It was at this point of the investigation that they came to a dead end. And this brings me in the story."
"You got involved.." Agase remarked.
"Yes, it's the strange case that I mentioned. The boys knew that I was good in computers and that I was trustworthy so, six months ago, they asked me to help them. They told me what the investigation was about, what they had discovered till that moment and then put me to work."
"What did they found out?" Conan urged.
"Quite a bit. The Black Organisation was involved in all kinds of activities: thefts, receiving of stolen properties, corruption, murders and lots of other things. The boys re-examined all the cases that they thought could be related to the organisation and found out..many other things..." Rei stopped, pain filling her eyes. "Even what I had been searching for years."
The other three looked up at her and noticed that tears were filling up in her eyes. Conan understood immediately.
"Your parents death was not an accident, right?" he said softly.
Rei dried the unshed tears with her shirt's sleeve and nodded.
"No, it wasn't." she said, "It was.. a murder. Dad was a diplomat while Mom was a lawyer: I think that the men of the organisation have tried to corrupt them and take them to their side but they must have refused. That's why they got killed." After a pause, she went on. "But I was not the only one to be personally involved with the men in black. Ryuji's family had been killed by them too. He was the only one to survive. Fearing for his safety, Matt's parents had adopted him and changed his surname so that the men could not track him. But he did not forget what had happened so he worked out a plan, a very dangerous plan."
"What kind of plan?" Conan asked.
"Ryuji had decided to find his family's murderer just like I did. As soon as he found out that he was from the Organisation, he decided to infiltrate into the group." Rei replied, "Not many knew he was an FBI agent, except Matt, his parents, me and a few others, so he couldn't be recognized easily. He's very talented in engineering and he also worked with the bomb disposal experts, so he thought that he had a chance to get inside."
"Did he manage to do it?" Ai asked.
Rei looked at her and nodded.
"Yes, he was in the organisation a couple of months after Miyano-san's visit and every now and then he appeared to hand out notes, floppy disks and other information that he managed to bring out from there.
That was the precise moment when they got me involved. The material he had retrived was all written in a kind of code that they just couldn't decipher. I was put to work on it and spent weeks and weeks trying to find a way to crack it. I worked endlessly on those combinations of letters and numbers but, at last, I think I found a clue to its translation."
Conan got up.
"You've found a way to bring them down?" he asked, excitement in his voice.
"No... " she answered, making him slump back on the couch. "Not yet, at least. We have some clues but not the final evidence." Rei looked up at Conan, Ai and Agase. She was doubtful whether telling them the rest.
'I will put them in danger if they know everything' she thought, 'But... I also need their help to find him and work on the investigation. I can't do it alone.'
Ai was staring at her: she noticed that the girl was hesitating.
"Ikeda, there is more, right?" she asked.
"Yes, there's the last part." she replied quietly. She was still uncertain on what to do.
"If you're worried to put us in danger, well forget about it because we're already involved." Conan said airily, "I don't think that knowing something more could harm us any further."
His words managed to stir Rei up. She nodded.
"You're right: we're all on the same side." she said, "So... we continued to investigate and we were sure that we were getting closer to our goal. Ryuji had been infiltrated into the organisation for nearly ten months and I was slowly working out all the material he had brought. Matt, on the other hand, had managed to keep people out of our work and was working on other related cases as well. But then, suddenly, three months ago, everything just fell into pieces."
"What do you mean?" Conan asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Ryuji vanished. He stopped sending information and stopped calling Matt who was his only contact. We feared that they had found out his true identity, that he had been killed or worse. We couldn't ask for help so we just waited.. hoping to get some sign from him. A few weeks later, I received a short message by e-mail. It was from him." She shook her head, recalling the the feeling of disbelief she had felt when she read those words on the screen. "MYSTERY ALL OVER, BLACK AT YOUR SIDE. BE CAREFUL. ELLERY."
"What did he mean?" Agase asked in confusion.
"He wanted us to know that they had found out who he was and, worse of all, that there was one of their men on our side. One who knew everything about our work. We never thought that they would infiltrate a man in the police department. It took us completely unprepared."
"Rei?" The girl turned towards Conan.
"How can you be sure that the message was written by your colleague and it's not a way to lay you a trap?"
"No, Ryuji wrote the message. I'm sure of it. He used the code names we created to communicate with each other. Mystery is the name of the case we are working on while Ellery is his code name."
"Did you find out who the double-crosser is?" Ai asked.
"No, Matt's still working on it. But then another problem came up. Someone sent a letter to the headquarter, saying that one of the agents was a traitor. There were some photos inside. Guess who was the subject?"
"Ryuji." Conan and Ai said together.
"Yes, and everyone believed it right away since he hadn't shown up for months." Rei shook her head in frustration, "Matt and I couldn't even defend him because if we did all our work -his work, especially- would have been wasted! Their plan's working perfectly. Ryuji's considered a traitor and is wanted by FBI all over America."
"Rei, what has this got to do with you?" Conan asked, "You're not in danger."
"She is." Ai said. "Don't you get it?"
Conan turned to her.
"No." he replied flatly.
"Haibara's right, Shinichi." Rei said "Many people saw me working with Ryuji, so they began to suspect I was a double-crosser, too. Things were getting really hard to handle so Matt told me to stay home for a while and let the dust settle. But I was too worried for Ryuji so I started to investigate on my own, doing a couple of researches and, at last, after a week's work, I found a clue."
"What did you find?" Agase asked, curiously.
"Well, I entered the local airline's system and found a reservation on a flight to Japan made by Mr. Ryuji Kazama. This was Ryuji's real name, before the adoption. I immediately informed Matt and we made a plan to let me leave the States."
"Was your suicide included in the plan?" Conan asked sharply
Rei looked at him straight in the eyes.
"Let me explain first, then you can retort." she said. "We decided that one of us, only one, should go and find Ryuji and inform him of his current condition, then we would have found a way to help him out. The choice fell on me since I was already released from work and Matt couldn't go because it would have been suspicious and we needed him. He had to give us steady information of the inquiry. At the beginning this was the plan but we had to change it shortly afterwards."
"Why?"
"I received an e-mail on my laptop.
You know too much, Ikeda. Kazama's hours are counted and so are yours. You two will end like your parents." Rei gritted her teeth, saying the last words. "I tried to trace the sender but without success."
"How did they find out?" Conan asked in shock.
"Don't ask me becasue I don't know. I've always been very cautious when I worked on Internet or opened their files, linking to their system for a fleeting second's time. They probably have some experts working for them otherwise I don't know how they could have tracked me down."
"So, you're wanted by the organisation, too?" Ai stated simply.
"Well, yes.. unless they have fallen in our trap."
Conan looked at her with confusion.
"Trap?" he echoed.
"Yes. As soon as I read the e-mail, I went down to Matt's place to discuss about the situation. Ryuji and I were in danger and he knew that we had to do something. Ryuji was probably flying to Japan while I was still in America and Matt was the only one who was really safe. We guessed that they didn't know where Ryuji was, so the problem was me. I had to disappear. So.. we decided to set up my death. I asked Inspector Xanders, Matt's father, to help us too, after having told him what had been happening."
"Wait a minute." Agase interrupted her, "What do you mean with set up your death?"
"We waited for a death. " she answered simply." I know that it sounds awful but it's the truth. Matt and his father controlled every notice: car crash, murder, suicide but the none of victims were suitable until three weeks ago.."
"A young Asiatic girl killed herself, locking herself in her burning car." Conan said coldly, "Perfect death for you."
Ai turned to him in stunned surprise. She had never heard him talk in that way before.
"Shinichi-kun, what are you saying?" Agase scolded him, "She.."
"No, he's right." she said, interupting the man. "I acted selfishly without thinking of the consequences." She turned to Conan, "I'm sorry. I didn't think of you and your parents. I should have informed you in some way but I didn't think of it at the moment but... please, Shinichi, try to understand. I didn't want to put you in danger: you're the only family I have."
He didn't reply. He just couldn't. What could he say? So, he just nodded, taking in her words.
"As soon as we got the news, we began to work quickly. Mr. Xanders assigned the case to Matt so he could be the only one to examine the body and the victim's things. I left him my chain and another few things so that he could say that the victim was indeedReila Ikeda, one of his fellow colleagues. I entered the passengers' list of a plane going to Japan and put my name in as soon as they told that I could do so. I left that same day."
"What? You mean that you have been here for three weeks?" Conan exclaimed, "Why didn't you contact me immediately?"
"Think, Kudo. She had to wait for the news of her death to become official." Ai remarked, "Only then she could move."
"Yes, Haibara's right." Rei said "Matt declared that the victim was me, only yesterday morning. That's why I came to your house, Shinichi. I need your help."
"You know I'll always help you, Rei." Conan said with a smile, "But before that, what did you give to my mother?"
"To Yukiko-san? Oh, nothing just a note. I asked her to do me a small favour. As soon as she gets home, she'll call Matt and tell him that I'll start the research and she will also call Shiro Ayase, my guardian, and ask him to send the rest of my things here in Japan. They are the only people to know that I'm still alive."
"I see.. wait a second.. where have you been living in these days?"
"I have a room in a small hotel in the suburbs."
"What? It's on the other side of the city! How did you come here?"
"By bus."
"And you're going to come here everyday by bus?"
"I've had a few things being sent from America and one is a scooter. I can ride it here."
"No, Rei-kun you can't live alone" Agase piped in, "Why don't you come and stay here?"
"What? Agase,I don't want to disturb you." Rei replied, "All my things will be here in a few days and I can't stock them in your house."
"Well, my house is large." Conan said, "You can put them in one of the rooms."
Rei thought of some loophole to hang on to but didn't find any.
"Ok, Shinichi and Agase, you've convinced me." she sadi with a smile, "I'll stay here."
Agase looked down at Ai.
"Is it all right for you, Ai-kun?" he asked.
"Not all, Hakase." she replied in her usual tone but she secretly appreciated that he had asked her opinion, too. He treated her as a member of his family.
"By the way, Rei, how can I help you?" Conan asked
"You must help me find Ryuji. He's in danger and I must find him before they do. And then, we go on with the investigation."
Conan was going to ask her another thing but Agase blocked him.
"Enough now, Shinichi-kun. I don't know if you noticed but it's nearly two o'clock! Let's have lunch. You can talk later.."
"All right." the teens replied and they all got up.
-:-
The four had a pleasant meal.
Shortly after lunch, Rei told that she would go and get her things down at the hotel. Conan decided to go with her and Ai joined them, too. She said that she didn't want to stay in the house the whole day. The three took the bus and arrived at the small hotel where Rei had lived for the past weeks. Her room was small but cozy. Conan noticed that there was just a large sports bag on the table.
"You didn't bring many things, Rei." he said.
"Well, I didn't come here for a holiday. I just packed up the necessary things." she replied, putting her clothes in the bag, along with a laptop and a few notebooks.
She quickly packed her things and looked around the room for a last control.
"Ok, I've finished. We can go, then." she said.
-:-
They went down to the hotel's entrance to hand out the room keys, pay and left.
"Rei? Where did you leave your scooter?" Conan asked, looking around.
"I left in the hotel's parking lot." she replied, "I hope it's still there."
Suddenly they heard a yell and saw a man running towards them.
"Stop that man!" a woman shouted from far behind him, "He's a thief! He's just stolen my bag!"
Conan looked around for something he could kick to the man.
'Come on.. a rock, a ball, anything or he'll escap-huh?'
Rei had stepped in front of him. She put her bag on the ground and lowered her cap on her eyes.
The thief was coming close to them.
"Get off the way, girl!" he snarled but Rei didn't move.
"It's better if you surrender." she said firmly.
The man tried to push her out of his way but she was faster.
Rei dropped on a knee and kicked the man's feet with the other leg. The man didn't even realize what was going on that Rei had already slipped behind him, pinning his arm on his back. He fell to the ground, face front, dropping the bag he had just stolen.
The woman that had been robbed had managed to find a policemen, so Rei handed the thief to him and received the woman's thanks.
"All right.." she said, turning to the kids, "We can go now..huh? What's wrong?"
Conan's mouth was hanging open while Ai had an amused look on her face.
"Hey, are you two all right?" Rei asked.
"What was that?" Conan had finally managed to put words together.
"That?" Rei asked confused, then she understood. "Oh, you mean what I did? Jeet kune doh."
"Geet- what?"
"It's a martial art, Kudo." Ai replied and he shot her a surprised look.
"How do you know?" he asked.
Ai smirked.
"I didn't only learn how to make experimental poisons in the organisation." she replied.
"Ah.. ok." He then turned to Rei, "Where did you learn it?"
"Well, I didn't only learn how to violate computer systems and track hackers back in USA." she replied, smiling slightly in a very Haibara-like fashion.
Conan looked at both the girls and shook his head with exasperation.
"I'll have a pretty hard time dealing with you two" he muttered under his breath as he strolled behind them.
-:-
They reached the parking lot and found Rei's grey scooter still there.
"We have a little problem." she said, turning to the other two.
"What? Is it damaged?" Conan asked, pointing the scooter.
"No, no, it works perfectly. But.. I can take only one person and you are two."
"All right." Ai said and turned to her side, "Kudo, you'll have to take the bus back home."
"What? Why me?" he demanded.
"Well, we live down at Agase's place, while you live with the Mouris." Rei replied, "Mouri-san probably remembers me, so I can't drop you there; it could be dangerous for both. And, moreover, Shinichi.." She tried to hide a smile but couldn't. "You are a gentleman: you won't let a girl go home alone by bus, would you?" Conan made a face at her, while Ai snickered. "By the way, how are things going between you and Mouri-san? Have you finally got together?"
The boy blushed deeply.
"What.. you.. no.. not.. yet." he stammered, "Look, the bus is coming!"
She laughed, seeing his embarrassment. She also noticed the slight frown that crossed Haibara's face for a fleeting second.
'I see..' she thought knowingly.
"Bye, see you tomorrow." Conan said, going to the bus stop.
"Bye."the two girls replied.
"Come on, Haibara." Rei said, handing her a helmet, "Let's go."
"No!"
Rei woke up, breathing heavily. She had that dream again: her parents' death and then...
She got up and went downstairs, being careful not to wake up Agase or Haibara. She sat down at the kitchen table and clutched her head with her hands.
'Why? Why do these dreams torture me every night?' she thought, 'Not only my parents but why even him? He's still alive... at least, I think so.'
"Where are you?" she said softly, "I don't want to lose you, too."
"Another restless night?"
Rei looked up and saw Ai standing by the door.
"Yes, I had a nightmare." she said with a small smile, "What about you?"
"I don't feel like sleeping" she replied, "And.. I wanted to ask you something."
"Sure. Does it have something to do with what I said today?"
Ai nodded.
"How did you know that Akemi Miyano was my sister? Did she tell you?"
"No, I never met her. She talked with the boys before my arrival. I only guessed."
"Guessed?"
"While I was still in America, I searched for news of the Organisation in Internet for the investigation; even on foreign sites. One day I found an article of the death of a young woman called Masami Hirota. A case closed as a suicide. It seemed suspicious to me so I informed Matt and he recognized the girl immediately. I guessed that you were her younger sister since Yukiko-san told me that you betrayed the organisation after your sister's murder.
Ai looked at her with a strange face: a mix of sorrow and pain and Rei understood.
"I'm sorry but I never saw her. My friend Ryuji spoke with her: I'm sure he'll tell you everything.. as soon as we find him." Rei's voice wavered slightly.
"Are you worried about him?" Ai asked noticing the look on her face
"You heard what I said before, right Haibara? The other girl nodded. "I'm very worried about him: it's more than three months since I've heard him. I don't even know if he's safe or not. We were always in touch before and after the case started. I'm so used to hear him every day that.." Rei stopped, blushing slightly.
"Is he more than a simple friend?" Ai asked, gently.
Rei looked up in surprise.
"Let's say that I care for him more than I do for others." she said "He's more than a colleague and he's a very close friend." She looked at Ai, smiling a bit, "I think that my feelings for him are similar to yours towards Shinichi."
Ai blushed.
"What..? I don't feel.." she protested.
"I saw your frown when he talked about Mouri-san and also the way you look at him." Rei interrupted her. "So don't lie."
The small girl looked at her. She had the feeling that she could trust Rei.
"Don't tell him anything." she said.
"Don't worry, I won't say a word but you must do the same. Don't tell anybody about my feelings."
Ai nodded.
"All right." she said, "You've got my word, Ikeda"
"Oh.. and call me Rei." the older girl said, "We have a.. secret in common, so no more formalities."
"Ok, then you call me Ai."
"Ai-kun! Rei-kun!" Agase came in rubbing his eyes, "What are you two doing in the kitchen at this time?"
The two girls got up.
"Don't worry, Agase." Rei said, "We just had a talk."
"A talk?" the scientist asked, raising his eyebrows and looking at both. "At two in the morning?"
The girls smirked.
"We're going to sleep, now." Ai said and they went upstairs, leaving a very confused Agase downstairs.
'It seems that they have become friends.' he thought with smile 'Well, that's a good thing.'
And he went back to bed, too.
More corrections and changes have been made.
