Time was passing far too slow for Conan's taste. He had been watching Aoko pacing up and down, her face looking extremely focused.
Kaito hadn't come out from the body check either so everyone was just waiting around, wondering what would happen next. Inspector Nakamori looked the most impatient, glancing at his watch every two seconds and complaining about something related to the heist's preparation while Jirokichi had been on the phone for more than twenty minutes, rambling to someone about how his museum's reputation would plunge if the murder case was known to the public.
Conan sighed to himself. He had gathered most of the pieces together but things still didn't add up to his deduction.
To change into his disguise, the restroom would be the idle place. But if he already slipped into the museum, why go through the trouble to disguise, even at the risk of getting caught since no one was knocked out. Kaitou Kid always knock out the person he wanted to disguise so there wouldn't be two same people standing in one room...
His frown deepened. Who can Kaitou Kid disguise if that's the case? If he didn't knock anyone out and everyone was present when they have their alibi checked, then...
Realization dawned over his face.
"Erm... excuse me!"
Everyone's attention were lead to the only girl in the room.
"Pardon my ignorant question." Aoko put her words cautiously, her eyes fell on Jirokichi and Ichijou. "What made you decide to piece up the entire jewel and exhibit them? Is there a reason behind it?"
Jirokichi put his phone down and decided to answer first. "Almost all, or you can say, all of my exhibition's sole purpose is to lure Kid out and challenge him. Including this one. I've recently got the star piece at an auction and I thought it would be a great chance to exhibit it too."
"Why not just the star piece then?"
"I doubt Kid would want an incomplete jewel." He shrugged casually as he glanced at Ichijou. "That's why I've went through a whole lot of trouble to find the other two pieces, to only know that they were being bought over. Neither of them were willing to sell to me so I proposed this idea of exhibiting the complete set."
Aoko directed her gaze over to the middle-age man. "Then why did Ichijou-san agree to this?"
There was a short silence and everyone's attention were all on Ichijou, but he remained calm even till the end of his reply. "Yes. I refuse to sell my jewel, but it would be brilliant to see it in a completed set. And I thought, why not?"
She tilted her head to a side, brows slightly furrowed. "Even... at the risk of being stolen by Kaitou Kid?"
"The thief always return whatever he'd stole so I wasn't worried."
It was the end of her question and everyone's attention soon drifted away from Aoko and onto their own conversation and discussion. Conan glanced up at the girl, her face showed cringed and obviously puzzled at whatever that was going through her mind.
"I know you're trying hard to prove Kaito-kun's innocence but don't ask too much silly questions." Inspector Nakamori muttered to his daughter. "Megure will handle these things, don't butt in too much."
"But there's just too much questions unanswered!"
"And there's nothing you can do about it." Her father gritted through clenched teeth before he walked away without staying to listen any further. She looked even more depressed than before.
Her questions were far from silly. In fact, it sums up whatever I need to solve this case. Conan sighed. He shouldn't be so surprise at this scenario, his questions and hints were often brushed off by Ran's father and any other adults too.
"I'm hopeless."
Conan glanced up at the teenager. Her lips were quivering and eyes hidden beneath her hair. Unknowingly, he took a few tentative steps and stood quietly beside Aoko.
"Aoko-neechan?"
The urge to comfort the girl was increasing every second but he bit his tongue and refrained from saying anything else. He was no one but a mere child, and his comforting words would do nothing to help the situation either. He understood Aoko's pain, the feeling in wanting to prove someone's innocence so badly but nothing was working in their favor. And if he were to put himself in Aoko's shoes, he preferred silence rather than hearing empty words.
"Kaito couldn't be the murderer..." Aoko said slowly as she raised her head, tears began to gather in her eyes.
Where's Sonoko when you need her? Conan sighed inwardly while he rummaged through his front pocket and fished out a packet of tissue desperately. He raised his short arm and handed the packet of tissue over to Aoko. Fingers trembling, she accepted it with a force-looking smile.
"Thank you Conan-kun." She hiccupped and wiped her eyes.
Silence ensued.
"You know, I really look up to you." Aoko said shyly, breaking that short silence as she caressed her wrinkled tissue in her hands.
"Look up to me?" Conan raised an eyebrow.
"It's a silly thing for me to say and an eight year old kid like you probably wouldn't understand... but," Aoko looked down Conan, "you're really an amazing and intelligent child. I've read all about you on the news when you managed to stop Kid and even ruined some of his heists."
Conan scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "T-Thank you." He said, not knowing what else to add.
Aoko smiled and looked down at the tissue again. "It's been almost a year since Kaitou Kid appear and even until now, there isn't a time when I'm close in bringing him to justice. All along, I'm just a weak and stupid girl who follows her father's footsteps of an incompetent policeman." She tore the tissue into a half and Conan swore he thought it sounded like her heart breaking.
"And now my best friend is being wrongly accused and I can't do anything about it."
"Why are you saying such things to yourself?"
"That's what Kaito said to me a while back." She managed a faint smile. "The more I think about it, the more true it seems."
"He's so mean to you. Don't degrade yourself like that." Conan raised his hand and gave an awkward pat on Aoko's arm that was hanging by her side. "No matter what he says about you, I know that you're a nice person!" His voice cracked a little at the end. Even if he had to put up a good act, having to sound so cheerful and loud in every sentence he used really hurts his throats sometimes.
Aoko's smile turned slightly bigger. "Weird huh? My best friend said such awful things to me yet I'm still racking my brain here and thinking of ways to prove his innocence."
"Because you still care for him." He answered for her.
Aoko closed her eyes and gave a soft laughter. Although it sounded sweet, Conan could hear a hint of bitterness in it. "It's really embarrassing, to have to hear such an obvious answer from a child. But... thank you."
Conan gave her some time to recollect her composure and to wipe the remaining tear lines that stained her puffy cheeks. When the moment was right, he decided it was time to ask that question that had been stuck in his throat for the longest time.
"Aoko-neechan."
"Hmm?"
"Previously, what do you mean when you said that Kaitou Kid can't kill Akemi-san?"
Aoko turned her head so fast that Conan thought her neck might actually snap. She blinked at him, eyes carefully looking right into his. A cold shiver went down his spine. Even until now, he still couldn't get use to how similar Ran and Aoko were.
"You heard what I said?" She muttered.
"Many people said that I have a good sense of hearing!"
She looked away for a moment before looking back at him, her eyes were suddenly so serious that it scared him a little. There was a few moment of silence and Conan could easily tell that she was contemplating if she should say what she want to say.
"Kaitou Kid was shot just a few days ago." Aoko finally spoke.
Conan widened his eyes by a fraction.
Aoko lowered her gaze. "I wasn't sure at first, but after thinking about it for few days. I think he was shot."
"What do you mean? If he's shot. He's shot. If he wasn't, he wasn't. What do you mean by you think?" Conan leaned forward, his child like features were gone. Both of his eyes hardened and his voice sounded demanding, and he didn't really have the attention or energy to continue his acting either. That information that Aoko just gave him was something he never knew he would ever get in his lifetime and this was the only opportunity for him. "Which part of him was shot? Why wasn't it on the news? What makes you think he can't kill just because he's shot?"
And after that last word escaped his mouth, he never felt so shitty in his life before. Damn it. Conan screamed in his head. Why was he so agitated that he lost his cool and blurted out so many un-childlike questions?
"My mom taught me to ask lots of questions!" Conan chuckled out loud when Aoko didn't say anything. "It helps me to learn and understand better."
After watching him for a while, Aoko squatted down to his height level and Conan suddenly realized that he had truly underestimated this girl. The gaze she used on him was no longer how a teenager look at a child. It was like she was staring at him with... suspicion.
"You're not... a kid, are you?" She finally said the words that Conan dreaded to hear the most.
"W-What are you talking about Aoko-neechan?" He laughed like usual.
She continued staring at him with that same look while he smiled back sheepishly with that cute face he always used. After a while, she finally stood up from her position and Conan observed her carefully.
"You're right, what am I saying?" Aoko ruffled her already messy hair before bending slightly forward to rub Conan's hair as well, her soft fingers brushing through his smooth and neat hair. He grunted inwardly until she pulled her hand away. "I'm sorry Conan-kun. A weird thought just flashed across my mind, that's all. I guess I'm just- you know... worried about Kaito."
Conan gulped.
"He's shot. Most probably at his back." Aoko stood back up and straightened her back, her voice turned into a whisper that Conan had to strain his ears to hear what she was about to say next. "No one knows about it, not even my father because only I witnessed it; other than the men who shot him too."
Men...? For a moment, Conan couldn't breathe.
She held out a pinky and he blinked, his attention immediately on the intriguing little finger that was poking out of her fist.
"Please don't tell anyone about this." She said.
Conan hooked his pinky around Aoko's and nodded. "I won't!"
Right on the cue, Kaito exited the bathroom as he walked to the middle of the hall with Inspector Megure and the rest of his squad. His hair was even messier than before and his clothes were obviously crumpled.
Aoko's eyes widened and rushed to Kaito's side, leaving Conan alone and forgotten. Conan stared down at his little finger before looking at Aoko's back.
When he was in his child like body, adults tended to ignore him and treat him like a nuisance. He was used to it, but it wasn't completely true that everyone older than him didn't trust him; certain members from the police force and the FBI respected him to a level that he didn't expect.
And there was Aoko.
"You know, I really look up to you."
He shook his head and took in a deep breath. He had been going through this child act and he rarely let it slip up so easily unless intended. Maybe he had laid down his guard for the girl who looked like Ran.
Getting his head back to the case, he creep towards Takagi who was standing alone by himself and reading the notes he had taken down. Conan tugged onto his dress pants and signaled the police to bend down to his level so he could make sure no one will hear what he wanted to say.
"What is it, Conan-kun?"
"When you conduct the body check for Kaito-niichan, is he hurt?"
Takagi raised an eyebrow. "Hurt? Hmm, not exactly. There was a bandage on the back of his left shoulder though. When asked, he said he got a cut from a sharp branch a few days ago."
"Is it really true?"
"The bandage was too neat to contain any weapons so we decided it was unnecessary to open his wound. But if you were asking if he really got that a few days ago, then he did say the truth."
Conan slowly lowered his head, his lips turned into a sly smile. "Is that so?"
"E-Eh?"
"Thank you Takagi-keiji!" Conan raised his head and grinned, showing his clean sets of teeth before he bounced towards the direction where the plump Professor was.
For the entire time when Conan made his way towards Agasa, the latter felt a little uncomfortable with how unusually happy Conan was and it was becoming too weird to ignore. "What happened? You've found the murderer?" Professor Agasa couldn't help but ask.
"That can wait."
"Finding the murderer... can wait?" The Professor placed a hand over Conan's forehead and frowned. "You're not having a fever."
He growled and moved away from his hand. "What do you mean by that?"
"Finding murderers is what you always do in your life. Now you're saying that it can wait?"
Conan smirked and Professor Agasa tensed at the horrible looking smile that looked so wrong on a cute and young child.
"I've found something even better."
The older man gulped.
"I'll find the murderer soon," Conan pushed his spectacles further up to his nose before he glanced over at the teenager couple standing in the middle of the hall. "In fact, I already know who the murderer is."
Aoko was staring silently at Kaito while that bastard was looking elsewhere, seeming a lot more annoyed than usual. Her eyes contained the same sadness that Conan was all too familiar with; those eyes held the same emotions as Ran when she watched Shinichi in the past, looking all worried and scared to let him go.
It hurts him to see Ran like that, which was why he couldn't believe that the asshole didn't even care when Aoko was looking at him that way.
Conan clenched his teeth and closed his eyes. Wait, why am I comparing Ran and I with them? He shook his head in confusion. Ran and Aoko were different. Kuroba Kaito and Kudo Shinichi were different beyond the universe.
He narrowed his eyes at Kaito.
"Kaitou Kid's heists is going to happen in less than an hour." Inspector Nakamori glared down on his watch before he flicked his gaze at Megure's squad.
"Will he even come?" Megure drawled.
"Of course he will!" Nakamori waved a fist in the air before he gave Megure a withering look, "although I'm not sure since this murder case isn't even close to solving."
Megure's eyes twitched. "We'll solve it very soon."
"Then who's the murderer?" Nakamori challenged.
As the adults began their argument, Conan took the chance to slip behind Agasa's wide back while everyone was too distracted to care about him. He then nudged the Professor's butt and the inventor looked over his shoulder and down at the child.
"Get ready." Conan simply said as he pulled up his bow, tweaking the small screw to adjust to the proper voice.
"Er-hem!"
Everyone blinked before turning their heads towards the Professor as he put both hands behind his back, looking extremely professional in some way.
"Can I have everyone to gather down at the hall?"
Without hesitation, Megure began to order his team to get all the needed wittiness back to the hall. Once everyone was gathered, Conan brought the bow to his lips.
"Why does he have the authority over you?" Inspector Nakamori looked at Megure in slight disdain.
"The Professor solves several murders for us." Megure said dryly.
Nakamori raised a skeptical eyebrow "He's a professor? I thought he's a scientist."
The real Professor Agasa cleared his throat and Conan used this chance to start his deduction before anyone interrupts again. "I think that we've cared too much about the alibi issue and neglected the most important point."
"What important point would that be?" Megure asked, the conversation he had with Nakamori was long forgotten.
Professor Agasa raised a finger. He was all too familiar with what hand gestures he needed to do to fit with Conan's way of explaining things.
"Motive."
"Motive?" Megure repeated.
"Yes." Conan said. "Kuroba-san clearly held no grudge against Akemi Harumi, so why did he kill her for?"
"She did sexually harass him this afternoon." Ichijou prompted.
Before Conan could say his next sentence he was cut off by Aoko's words.
"If that's the case, I'd kill Kaito a hundred of times for flipping up my skirt! He have no rights to kill someone for being sexually harassed!"
"Eh?! Don't say such things in front of the police!" Kaito gritted his teeth. "Even if I'm not charged for murder, I might be thrown into jail by your accusation!"
Aoko rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "That's even better."
"Kaito-kun... you flipped my daughter's skirt?!"
"Ah... I can explain."
Conan coughed into his bow, waiting for a moment when everyone seemed to settle down then he decided to continue. "So, about the motive. Kuroba-san's motive for killing Akemi Harumi was still weak compared to the true murderer's motive for killing her."
"True motive? Then who exactly is the murderer?" Megure demanded an answer.
"I'll save that for later. As for now, I'll talk about what Nakamouri-san had mentioned previously, regarding Kaitou Kid's ability to disguise."
"Yes, about that..." Takagi started looking at his notes, "there's a possibility that Kaitou Kid disguised as the murderer, thus allowing the murderer to get away with the alibi issue."
"That was what we discussed earlier. What if we view it at another angle? Kaitou Kid didn't create alibi for anyone. Instead, he created the wrong timing of Akemi Harumi's true death." Conan paused, allowing his words to sink in. "The Akemi Harumi that the task force members saw wasn't the real Akemi Harumi, but Kaitou Kid."
Everyone in the room gasped.
"Then... if that's the case, Akemi Harumi was already killed at that moment when Kid disguised as her?" Takagi breathed out his words.
"That's right. Thus, the murderer had an alibi since he was present when the fake Akemi Harumi was around."
"But how do you prove that?" Megure asked.
"There was a schedule card slotted by the side of the restroom door and it stated that the restroom is checked once in every three hours. The timetable stated that the restroom would be checked at 4:00 pm, however, the body was discovered at 4:30pm. Why?"
"I'm not the murderer!" The cleaner shook her head desperately.
"Of course you're not." Conan quickly added. "The body was already in the toilet before 4:00pm, but you only find the body after 30 minutes was because you're having a personal tea break in the toilet before you really start on your work."
The old woman blushed.
"I've noticed a few biscuit wrappers and an empty Styrofoam cup with coffee stain at the bottom of it. No one could have possibly eat inside the restroom, moreover there was no reason for anyone to hide too. I suppose you've sneaked the tidbits from the resting area, which were originally meant for the guests and police task force and have them yourself."
She looked down at her feet, both hands placed at the front as she bowed apologetically "I was hungry back then. I'm really sorry!"
"Then Kaito-!" Aoko cut in. "Kaito is innocent, isn't it?"
Conan slightly smiled, immediately noticing the change in Aoko's tone. "Yes. Now that we can narrow down the estimated time of death to the first hour, his alibi is valid since he is present at the true point of time when Akemi Harumi was murdered."
Aoko closed her eyes, relief washed over her face. She turned and grabbed hold of Kaito's arm, bouncing around happily and it made her father's eyes twitched a little.
"I told you I'll be fine, didn't I?" Kaito flicked a finger on her forehead.
She just nodded, too glad to say anything else.
Conan cleared his throat once again, trying to focus back on what he was about to say next. "To sum it all up, there's only one person without an alibi. And that would be you, Ichijou-san. You have an alibi for the second hour, but what about the first hour?"
"I've been inside the resting room for the whole day."
"Do you mean waiting room or resting room or painting room?"
"Does it even matter? It's that same room when the girl brought me the coffee. I can't be bothered to know what waiting or resting room or whatever room it's called."
"Then let's not talk about the alibi issue then. We'll move on to how Akemi Harumi was killed."
"She was hanged." Ichijou chuckled lightly as if he just said a joke. "But you see... I don't have the capability to hang her from the ceiling, do I? At the crime scene, there wasn't any stool or anything stable for me to stand on to be tall enough to lift her up to the noose. Not to forget..." He pat his right leg. "My legs couldn't climb onto anything."
"But what if you don't have to climb or to be tall enough to kill her?" Conan speak through his bow, his eyes carefully eyeing at Ichijou through the space between Agase chubby legs.
"W-What?" Ichijou blinked.
"Who says that the criminal must climb in order tie the noose to the pipe and hang her afterwards?"
Megure raised an arm with a frown etched on his face. "What do you mean, Professor?"
"It's a trick. The murderer used the concept of a pulley." Conan explained. "After putting the noose around Akemi's neck, you tie the end of the fiberglass rope to a pole or some sort and throw it over the toilet pipes. After that, you pull the pole down, hence lifting Akemi Harumi up and choking her to death."
Ichijou smirked. "Then explain how is the pole removed? If the pole is removed, wouldn't Akemi-san fall back onto the ground?"
"Ahh... That's pretty easy. Can I have the picture of the pipes which the noose was tied on?"
Takagi immediately handed the picture over to the Professor and he showed it to the crowd.
"As you can see, the noose wasn't even tied properly to the pipe. Indeed, a knot was created around the pipe, but to make the noose more stable, shouldn't two or three knots be tied instead? It clearly shows that the first knot was done after a lot of tries. Also, the messy tangles that were created around the string of the noose was caused by the pole trying to entwine the rest of the rope that was used at the lever, so it wouldn't hang out weirdly."
Ichijou scorned. "So? What does that got to do with me?"
"This proves that even with a disability like yours can actually kill Akemi Harumi."
He clicked his tongue as he slowly backed away when the stares everyone directed on him intensified. "Where's the proof? You sounded like it's me who killed her but what proof do you have?"
"Your cane."
The man froze.
"To be exact, a pole which is shaped as a T or an L would work. And your cane fits the criteria to make that very knot. A simple pole is not possible as the rope would definitely slipped out at the end of it."
Ichijou growled and raised his cane. "How do your prove it? What can you do with my cane?"
"You cane, Ichijou-san, is made of wood. There would be marks or scratches created by the rough ropes when tied to the middle of your cane."
"What now? Even ropes have DNA? Are you going to match the ropes and the marks on my cane? I can be at home practicing pulling ropes with my cane for all you know!"
"That's just one of the proof I'm referring to."
"Not that I'm trying to question your stupidity, "Ichijou added from his last sentence as he stared at professor with a bored look, "murderers tend to wear gloves when they commit murder? No?"
"It's normal for anyone to sweat throughout their daily activities. Also, flaky skin problems is very common as you grow older." Conan ignored whatever Ichijou said and continued on his point too.
"And what do you mean by that?" Ichijou glared. It was like everyone in the room wasn't there anymore and only the Professor or rather, Conan, was conversing one to one with the middle aged man.
"It's basic knowledge to know that murderers use gloves so there wouldn't be any fingerprints left behind. However, fingerprints is not only the evidence that our hands can provide. Like I said previously about sweat particles and flaky dried skins. They can be used as a DNA evidence."
Megure blinked, his face clearly showed doubt. "But if the murderer wore gloves, how will they leave those evidence behind?"
"Exactly." Ichijou shook his head amusingly.
Conan narrowed his eyes, a little irritated at how Ichijou was acting so smug right now. "True. But, you're not wearing any gloves while holding onto your cane, right?"
When that last word slipped out from Conan's mouth, Ichijou gasped and glanced down at his right hand, looking extremely surprise like he just realized he had six fingers instead of five.
"Your sweat particles and dried flaky skins would accumulate on your handle of the cane since you're holding it wherever you go. So when that very string slipped through the handle of your cane; since you needed that part of the cane to make that knot, it would definitely collect enough DNA evidence. And that, would be the proof."
Megure signaled over his squad and his subordinates immediately took action without a word said.
"It might take a while to collect the DNA, but it's definitely there. At the end of the rope." Conan put down his bow, deciding that would be the last sentence that he needed to say.
There was a long pause. The hall was quiet, too quiet, as everyone was waiting for Ichijou to defend himself like the previous times. But he didn't. Instead, he collapsed onto the floor as he threw his cane away and yelled at the ceiling, angry tears spilling down his cheeks.
"If she agreed to return my piece back, I wouldn't need to kill her! She stolen the plate from me yet she claimed it was hers and even agreed to exhibit my priceless piece of jewel for a stupid thief to steal! Unforgivable! That witch!" Ichijou balled his hands before slamming them onto the ground continuously. "All I want is to get back what belongs to me!"
Conan stuck his bow back to his collar and moved away from his hiding spot behind the Professor when everyone's attention, including Aoko and Kaito, was on the crying man.
.o.
After Ichijou Kenji was brought away, Megure was quickly making preparation for his leave, all thanks to the constant glares and remarks Nakamori directed at the plump Inspector about how the museum was currently his territory and no longer a murder scene.
"Thank you for your effort." Megure shook hands with the Professor as the latter sheepishly accepted his compliments. Conan then made his way to the other side of the hall where the two teenagers were.
Aoko's mood was clearly lifted as shown at how she was laughing even when Kaito was clearly mocking her at that split second.
"Wait a minute." Inspector Nakamori brushed past Conan as he yelled across the hall and directed his question at Professor Agasa. "Where's Kaitou Kid? I mean, you did say that thief disguised as Akemi Harumi, so what happened to him after that?"
"Uhh..." Agase gave a quick glance at Conan, who amusingly shrugged back.
"So did Kaitou Kid stay after he finished disguising or...?" Jirokichi joined in the conversation as well, stroking his wrinkled chin.
"Then it means Kaitou Kid was really here along, maybe from the very start!" Megure slammed his fist down onto the palm of his hand. "Then... who is Kaitou Kid?"
Amazingly, all the lights went out, as if creating a grand ending for Megure's speech. But at that moment, no one recalled his question anymore as everyone was in a state of panic.
"It's already 7pm!" Nakamori yelled. "Hurry and switch the backup electricity! Kaitou Kid's here! Damn you Megure! Taking your own sweet time like always that I've missed the time."
"It's your responsibility as the head to take note of the time." Megure grunted. "And I can't see a bloody thing here."
"Where's the freaking light? Why isn't the back-up electricity running?!"
"Stop pushing me."
"Men! Go and open all the windows; At least let some light in!"
Thunderous footsteps echoed everywhere in the hall and it seemed that they even had the difficulty in locating the windows. "Ughh! The windows are stuck, Sir!"
"God damn it someone stepped on my foot twice already!"
"Everyone! Prepare your gas masks! Kaitou Kid might put us to sleep anytime so stay on your toes!"
"Wait what? Why didn't you supply us with gas masks too?"
"You are not on my team, Megure! You're supposed to be out of the picture once you pack your bag and go home after the murder case!"
No... If he wanted to use sleeping gas, there isn't a need for a blackout to happen. What's the point of blinding us when he can put us to sleep?
"Anyway, just stay where you are!" Conan yelled out, a little frustrated at how everyone was reacting so senselessly. It took him a while to be able to feel the small button on his watch that switches on his mini torchlight. He shone it up, but the light was too dim to illuminate anything. "Stop panicking! This is what Kid wants!" He added afterwards.
One the cue, he felt a breeze behind his back.
"Don't shout like that." A familiar and cocky voice whispered into his ears. "It's very un-childlike. Not a wise move." Conan could almost hear the smile in the voice.
Conan shivered at the hot breath that tickled the back of his ears. He was one second too late as he spun around and raised his feet to give a kick, but he never make any contact. Shit, my light must have exposed my location! He quickly switched the torchlight off.
"Ladies- I'm sorry. Lady and Gentlemen! I've now come to take the Star of Hope. Thank you for your cooperation."
"We didn't cooperate with you!" Nakamori snarled.
"Kaitou Kid! Show yourself!" Jirokichi shouted.
Everything was pitch black. Even if Kaitou Kid was the best magician in the world, he was still a human. How can one human see anything in such a dark conditi-
Night vision goggles! Conan growled in his head and clicked his tongue in annoyance. He then closed his eyes; although it didn't make any difference as he waited patiently for Kid to say his next sentence, hoping to be able to pin point his location that way.
But it seemed like he was at a losing end. Kid never speak, as if he knew what Conan was planning that all along. He gritted his teeth, hands clenched into a fist. In this darkness, he was nothing but vulnerable. He couldn't see or hear Kid, but Kid could see him and with just that fact, the thief got the advantage.
As if that would make Conan give up. He then curled his lips into a sinister smirk.
"Kaito-niichan! Where are you?" Conan exclaimed.
Now, expose yourself you thief!
There was a slight pause and Conan couldn't help but grinned at that fact.
"Here!" A brief shout and then his reply ended.
Conan spun to his left, his smirk grew wider as he sprinted to the direction of the voice "I am scared!" He continued yelling out. "Where are you?"
It was like a cat and mouse chase. The mouse was trapped in the same room as its predator, but the cat was blind. Conan tripped two times, but he continued yelling, in hopes that he could corner the thief in the end.
Yes. Conan had deduced that Kaitou Kid was none other than Kuroba Kaito.
Kaito gave the same brief replies back and although the voice was often covered by the Inspectors and Jirokichi's shouts and arguments between themselves, it didn't matter. It was already enough for Conan. Either Kaito replies and exposes Kid's location, or he didn't reply and fall into everyone's suspicion. Simple as that.
And it seemed to be working. Kaito's voice was getting nearer and nearer, like he could almost touch him if he was a little closer. But even if that was the case, Conan choose to remain calm rather than to get excited at the fact. It could be a trap that he planned and he should be staying alert instead of getting even a bit overjoyed at his possible chance of catching him.
At that moment, his thoughts were interrupted when he felt something ran across his foot. It wasn't heavy to hurt him, but the fact that something like that existed on the ground made him wonder what just ran over his shoes.
It happened again.
"Kaito-niichan?" Conan spoke, not even shouting anymore.
"Over here!"
The same thing, or that thing that just emitted Kaito's voice ran over his foot again.
Impossible, why is Kuroba's voice beneath me? Don't tell me... Conan immediately squatted onto the ground, placing his hand near the floor and then- Grab!
Conan could hear the sound of soft rolling on whatever that he had caught in his hand. Cautiously, he moved his other free hand slowly towards the rolling sound, clearly unsure if the item he was holding right now was the thing he guessed in mind.
Before he could confirm his guess, the lights flickered back on and Conan winced at the sudden brightness in the room. Everyone made a grunting noise, clearly disturbed by the sudden light too.
In his hand was indeed the mini racing car that he had originally guessed, along with a small recording machine that was stuck on the roof of the car. Conan's brows crossed, furiously realizing that had had been foolishly running after a toy car. Before he could flare up and smash the car into pieces, it started beeping very loudly and in reflex, he threw it into the air,
"What the he-"
Instead of seeing it being blasted into pieces like a bomb, it burst into a pink cloud of gas and the car was gone. Conan gritted his teeth in frustration. "That bloody thief-!" He closed his eyes and put a hand to his chest, trying to calm his heart down. He's too young to suffer a heart attack right now.
Just a few seconds after the lights came back on and everyone were trying to register what was happening, tons and tons of Kaitou Kid's signature cards floated down and landed on the hall floor like snow petals. As their attention were too focused on the cards, Conan quickly glanced around the room, knowing this was the simplest distraction trick that the thief always use. The windows were open, and the moon was hanging brightly in the sky, its beauty not degrading in the least even when Conan was in a fully-lit room.
Who opened the window? Conan frowned before he turned away and continued looking around the room.
Kaito was standing by himself in the middle of the hall, watching impassively at the cards that were still falling from the ceiling. There was absolutely nothing suspicious about him, his same messy looking hair, slightly crumpled clothes due to body check previously...
The jewel!
Conan's head snapped to the glass case, but apparently Aoko beat him to it. She was already by the case and glaring down at the red cushion, her fist drilling into the hard glass. Conan jogged over and stood beside her, glaring hard at the cushion too.
It took everyone another few seconds to notice that the crystal was missing from its case after Aoko and Conan did. After a quick panic search, Jirokichi found it hanging loosely with an invisible string from the ceiling, with another card that had Kaitou Kid's true message.
It took them another full minute before a subordinate from Kid's Task Force could bring the jewel piece down. While Jirokichi was hastily inspecting the gem to see if anything bad happened to it, Nakamori scanned through the card before throwing it on the ground in a huff.
"He's bound to be somewhere! That Kaitou Kid! Up the roof! Everyone go, go, GO!"
Conan picked up the card from the Inspector's feet while he was still screaming out more orders.
The Star of Hope is not what I'm looking for so I've gladly returned it back.
-Kaitou Kid
Conan frowned, his thumb and fingers pressing on the card so tightly that it wrinkled the paper. Before he could throw the card back onto the floor, Aoko took the card from his tiny grasp and read the note silently. Kaito appeared behind her shortly after as he peeked at the card from behind her shoulder.
Kaito shook his head and gave an overly-reacted disappointed look. "You've jinxed the whole mission in capturing him."
"Then how much did you help?!" Aoko burst, earning a shock glance from Conan. He knew that she would be furious, but not to this level. "You only stared at the glass case all day! And now Kaitou Kid managed to steal the jewel from the very same case, which you said was 100% Kid-proof! So tell me, how much have you helped?!" Aoko scowled before she threw the card right at Kaito's face.
Kaito dodged it as the card floated to the ground, camouflaging with the rest. He turned and gave an incredulous look at her. "Why are you so angry?"
"You really want to know the answer?" Aoko's lips pursed.
Conan wasn't sure why but even he himself was trapped in the suddenly tensed situation. It was like the air pressure was so low that he couldn't breathe. Conan glanced over at the other teenager who still hadn't give his reply.
"Aoko-san!"
The said girl turned, along with Kaito and Conan as they watched Sonoko running towards them. Before anyone could react, Sonoko grabbed hold on Aoko's shoulder and swung her around like a doll. "Did Kaitou Kid appear? The police refused to let me in because they said something about a murder happening inside so I had to wait outside for the whole time!"
"Yeah." Aoko cooled down almost immediately once Sonoko appeared. She looked down at the floor and Sonoko followed her gaze, her eyes glancing at the white cards that was scattered all over the place. "He'd stolen and returned the jewel too."
"It's not fair!" Sonoko cried out and began messing up her originally nice hair. "I even went all the way to get my hair done and he isn't here to see it?!"
Conan shook his head and left the scene, not wanting to hear his old classmate's constant blabbering. He leave the other two teenager to hear them for him. Besides, with Sonoko around, it seemed his presence wasn't really needed to ease the rising tension from previously, though not like he helped anyway.
Professor Agasa walked over towards Conan. "I guess you've failed to catch Kaitou Kid again."
He sent an irritated look. "I did not fail."
"I don't see how you succeeded though."
"He's still here, in fact."
The inventor widened his eyes before he looked around the hall. "Are you serious? Then what are you waiting for?"
"I don't plan in catching him unless he's wearing that stupid white uniform." Conan then waved him off. "Nonetheless, it's still a fruitful heist for me."
Agasa still looked confused.
"Anyway... Professor."
"Yeah?"
"Can you make a new type of spectacles for me?" Conan touched his spectacles on reflex, "one that I can see in the dark. So next time if something like this happens again, I'll know where exactly I should kick in order to break his nose."
.o.
"I've promised Professor Agasa we'll use just an hour before he comes to fetch you home after my small desert treat." Aoko then glanced down at her watch before looking at Conan again. "Remember to brush your teeth once you go back!"
Conan nodded.
"You sound like an old mother." Kaito snickered.
When a waitress approached their table and was ready to take their orders, Aoko narrowed her eyes at Kaito for one last time before turning to the waitress. "One ice latte." Aoko said before she turn to Conan. "How about Conan-kun? Is ice cream fine?"
"Dark chocolate. It fits his bitter personality." Kaito interrupted as he glanced down at the kid sitting next to him. "Besides, he doesn't like sweets."
Aoko made a face while Conan smiled. "I want dark chocolate!"
"One cup of dark chocolate ice cream too." Aoko closed the menu.
"What about me?"
"Nothing for you."
"H-Hey!" Kaito grabbed the menu and scanned quickly before handing it back to the waitress. "A cup of vanilla ice cream."
After the waitress repeated the order and left the table, Aoko excused herself and mentioned about a phone call that she needed to make and left the two boys alone at their table. The silence wasn't awkward, but the tension was there. Kaito crossed his leg, his dangling foot twisting about while Conan continued to pick dirt from under his nails.
The silence was dragged for far too long and Conan decided to break it first. "If you didn't disguise yourself as Akemi Harumi, there wouldn't be so much trouble."
Kaito gave an amused look. "Is it bed time for you now? Are you sleep talking?
Conan didn't take the bait as he continued his explanation, something he felt was a must to do to get his point across. "Because you wanted me to stop following you around, you disguised yourself as her since you know I wouldn't approach her and follow her around. Once my attention was no longer on you, you could then roam freely in the museum like what you originally intended to do. Sadly, it seems your plans backfired."
This time, Kaito choose to ignore him as he began whistling to himself.
"You know... you could have easily just clear the police's suspicion if you admit that you got an injury on your back."
This time, Kaito raised both of his eyebrows and blinked curiously, his attention was directed back to Conan "Huh?"
Conan couldn't be bothered to acknowledge Kaito's fake acting. "With your injured arm, it's nearly impossible for you to carry or pull a weight of a full grown woman." His face fell lax before he made an animated gasp. "Oh, I almost forgot. Admitting that a bullet caused the injury would be a whole lot more troublesome than admitting that you couldn't do it."
When Kaito still didn't reply, Conan continued. "The cat is out of the bag. I already know who you are."
"The way your small brain fills itself with unnecessary and useless metaphors amazes me." Kaito was about to mess Conan's hair again but the latter was faster as he moved his head away.
"There's no point in trying to bluff me with your stupid act. I'm not Aok- Nakamori-san, I don't trust you from the start to believe anything you do or say."
"Since when are you close to Aoko now? You clearly was about to address her by her name." Kaito chuckled. "Is it because she looks too much like your girlfriend?"
Conan pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes. "Watch your words." He muttered.
"I would say the same to you." Kaito crossed his arms before he specified what part he meant. "I already know who you are too."
At that moment, the same waitress came back and put the respective orders down on the table before leaving again. Another silence was created, but it was much quicker to break than before.
"What do you know about me?" Conan sneered.
Kaito looked bored, as if their conversation was nothing but just describing the weather. "What do I know about you? True, I don't know how the hell you turned into a kid, though I do know that it must be nice to be free-lodging at your girlfriend's house and being all cute and cuddly and-"
"I'm not here to pick a fight with you." Conan balled his hand into a fist and looked up, his eyes glaring right through the fringe of his hair and right at Kaito.
He stared down with a solemn expression, something that Conan never thought Kaito was capable of showing. "Why do I feel like you are?"
"I don't beat around the bush and act like you when the truth is clear." Conan rolled his eyes. "In fact, I'll be more surprise if you didn't find out my true identity."
"What an honor. I'll take that as a compliment?"
Their glaring contest came to an end when Kaito choose to look at his ice cream instead. "And so, what do you want from me?"
Conan gave a questioning look.
"Listing down the actions and trying to make me admit all your baseless theory... Isn't this the moment where you threaten me and asking me to do whatever you want?" Kaito explained.
"I'm not so despicable."
"Haha. The way you confronted me sorts of contradicts what you're saying."
"I won't reveal your identity. Not to her, at least." Conan gave a sidelong glance at Kaito, but his face showed no emotions when he mentioned her. "The fact that you only hunt for jewels and not any other priceless things stumped me and I always thought there's a good reason behind it. But I will find out and expose everything, only when you're clad in that ridiculous white outfit of yours."
"Oh?" Kaito poked his spoon into his soft white ball and grinned as he brought the spoon to his mouth to savor the taste of his ice cream. "What identity are you talking about?"
"I thought we were done with the conversation about stopping all your pretense."
"It's all your words. I didn't even say anything." Kaito picked up the cup and brought it close to his chest as he leaned back on the chair comfortably. "You don't have any proof to support your claim. I thought all detectives love to show evidence, evidence and evidence?"
"I know I don't have any." Conan tried to hide his displeasure. "But I'll know where to find you once I have one."
"Then let me wish you good luck."
"Don't. You'll regret it."
Kaito made a noise, as if he couldn't be bother to answer properly anymore.
"Now that we've cleared the identity crisis-"
"Wrong." Kaito wagged a finger at Conan's face. "Like I said before, you know nothing about me."
Conan slapped Kaito's hand away. "You can say whatever you want but you know it clearly yourself."
Kaito ignored him once again and focused his attention back on his ice cream.
"So, since we're both on the short end of the stick, we might as well compromise." Conan continued what he previously wanted to say. "There'll be times when you'll need my assistance, and regretfully, I might need yours too."
"Heh." Kaito smiled dryly. "I'm not so despicable." He mimicked the same exact voice and tone that Conan used to say out that sentence.
Conan flashed an irritated look. "I've phrased out the words nicely. If you're going to twist my words, so be it."
"No matter how you phrased it, the meaning is still the same." Kaito rolled his eyes. "Gosh, I really hate detectives." He muttered under his breath.
Conan gave a withering look. "So is compromising an option or not?"
"Didn't you say you'll expose whatever crap you found out about Kaitou Kid, only when the thief is clad in his stupid white uniform?" Kaito glanced down at Conan wearily. "You should try the same for the rest of your Q&A sessions, you know."
A huge smile spread across Conan's face. "Of course, even Kaitou Kid has his working and resting days. My apologies."
Kaito scoffed. "You have a big heart, little detective. How kind of you."
"Speaking of kindness," Conan cleared his throat, "there's something else I thought I should be kind enough to tell you, in case you're too oblivious about it."
"Oh?" Kaito blinked, looking slightly amused as his plastic spoon hung out from his mouth. "Enlighten me."
Conan lowered his voice warily. "Nakamouri-san. She's really smart, smarter than you think."
His face turned emotionless again, just like previously when Conan mentioned her. Was this a facade he created whenever Aoko was involved in their conversations? For a moment, Conan was curious, bloody curious about what Kaito was truly thinking behind that mask of stone.
"I know." Kaito simply answered, breaking Conan's chain of thoughts.
Conan quirked an eyebrow. "Aren't you going to do anything about it?"
He looked away and began eating his ice cream again. "I am."
"And?"
Kaito glanced back at Conan. "Why don't you worry about your girlfriend instead? You practically live with her."
"I got back up plans."
"Really?" Kaito wiggled his eyebrows.
"Don't even think about going near Ran, ever."
Kaito smirked. "You said you have back up plans."
"I'm just making sure." Conan growled under his breath.
Their conversation ended right there and Kaito looked more engrossed on his ice cream rather than Conan. After contemplating for a moment, the child finally found the correct moment and choose to break the silence again.
"About the men that shoot-"
"Sorry I'm back! Oh the stuffs arrived?" Aoko gladly sat back on her seat as Kaito gave a cheeky smile. Conan's eyes twitched. For some reason, he felt that the teenager was glad that his best friend came back at the correct time so he could avoid the question Conan wanted to ask.
Conan continued jabbing his plastic spoon into his dark chocolate ice cream, watching from the corner of his eyes at the two who were quarrelling at something that made no sense to him. Somehow, they reminded him of Heiji and Kazuha.
"Why are you acting so refine in front of a child?" Kaito gave a judging look. "Ice latte? You should stick to your strawberry smoothie."
Aoko slammed her fist on the table. "Why do you care? He's my idol!" She stuck out a tongue.
Kaito scowled and Conan laughed inwardly. That moment felt sooooo good.
As he continued to listen to their bickering, Conan suddenly felt a pang of jealousy hitting him like a truck. It sucks. Even if Kaito had an identity that couldn't be revealed to Aoko, he's still Kuroba Kaito at the same time. But what about himself? He's Kudo Shinichi, yet he wasn't either. At least Kaito had a choice to change his identity whenever he wanted, but Shinichi couldn't. Even with the help of an antidote, how long would it last? A day? Three hours?
He should stop thinking about it. There's nothing good in trying to outshine someone or degrade yourself by comparing with other people. This was the life he had to live, since that very night when he chased after Gin and Vodka and leaving Ran alone at Tropical Land. This was what fate had planned for him and if he's going to be a cry baby and to compare and complain about how others are better than him, he's just going to feel more upset.
But even if that was the case, Conan felt a little at ease. Aoko obviously hated Kaitou Kid, yet her best friend was actually the very same person she hated. It would ruin her if she were to know that truth and Shinichi clearly knew how horrible it felt to hide that kind of secret.
Not to mention, Ran didn't even hate Conan...
It was always the girls that gave the boys a headache. Or maybe it was just him.
Nonetheless, Conan decided as he took a next bite of his bitter chocolate ice cream;
Kuroba Kaito and Kudo Shinichi were different beyond the universe, but at the same time, they're not really different at all.
I've always thought how cool it would be if Kaito and Aoko and met Conan and the rest while they prepare for Kid's arrival. But well, we don't always get what we want so hell yeah for fanfiction.
And I felt that if Conan and Kaito really were to meet, Conan would be smart enough to guess Kaito's real identity, although it might sound unconvincing with how I write the story out. :/
I think the whole murder plot sucks because it's super rush and may not make sense? (I've spent a lot of time thinking about the evidence and gosh, it was hard!) But I needed to end this chapter nonetheless so... I'm terribly sorry if anyone is disappointed with how it turns out.