Chapter 7

On the road to Beika City, Ran-chan told Kazuha and Heiji about yesterday. They were stunned about the ordeal of Kudou and Ran-chan's friend, Kiyone-chan. Kazuha was glad to see that Kudou was safe, but Heiji could tell that Kudou had more to say but only Heiji will be able to listen.

"But get this!" Ran said. "When Sonoko called Kiyone last night to see if she made it home and how were her injuries, Kiyone stated that she never met us, that she actually went straight home after school so she could finish her detective essay." A stunned gasp came from Kazuha; Heiji's frown deepened.

"Kiyone said that her essay was never going to be about Shin'ichi or Dad, but it was going to be about you, Heiji-kun." Heiji gave a mocking grin to Kudou, who scowled back. "She also said that everyone else was doing either Shin'ichi or Dad and she just wanted to stand out by choosing a detective not too known here." A quiet mocking chuckle came from Kudou, with Heiji glaring at him. Ran-chan turned to look at Kudou. "Strange, right, Conan-kun?" Kudou nodded.

"She probably just wanted to put that ordeal behind her so she's pretending it never happened," stated Mouri-san, the driver. Mouri-san didn't own a car so he usually rented one. This time he rented a white van. Kazuha and Ran-chan were sitting in the row behind Mouri-san. Heiji and Kudou sat in the last row. They wanted to have a private conversation but waited until the girls moved on to something else.

Kazuha agreed. "I would do the same thing." Neither girl noticed the frowns on both boys' faces. "So Ran-chan, why isn't Sonoko-chan here, too?"

"Oh! It was because…" The girls looked at each other and began talking between themselves.

Heiji leaned back in his seat, happy that the chatty duo was no longer talking to them. He asked in a low voice, "So Kudou, what really happened?"

Kudou himself leaned back; his little feet dangling over the cushioned seat. "I didn't know at first until I thought about it for most of the night." With a sigh he continued. "Kiyone kicking and using dangerous objects isn't her at all. This led me to believe that—"

"That wasn't Kiyone." Heiji glanced at him. "I know you overheard what Megure-keibu and that other officer were saying in private. Spill."

"When Takegi-keiji stated what type of gun it was that shot that thug, Megure-keibu flinched, like he slightly expected that news. Listening in, I found out why." He stared at Heiji. "The shooter is an associate of L." Heiji's eyes widened.

"The police know who L is?" Heiji couldn't believe this news. Why the public wasn't told about this if they found out so quickly? How did they even found out about L? He knew that sometimes…many times the police were usually in the dark about many things, including about that organization. Some of it wasn't their fault, though.

Kudou seemed to read his thoughts. He gave a small smile. "I thought that, too. How did they know all this?"

"Did you find out?"

Kudou nodded. Of course you did, Kudou. But he didn't say. Instead he said, "I was wondering how Kiyone knew that my watch was a stun watch, and knew that I was going to use it."

Why is Kudou circling around this? He suspected Kudou had his reasons and so didn't press. He raised an eyebrow. "So, you think that fake Kiyone was L. But if that's the case, why did she want to know about you and Mouri-san?" Heiji became even more thoughtful. "Also, the reason that associate shot the guy was because he didn't want L's cover to be blown… but why did he need to?"

"Too many questions, not enough answers," he heard Kudou mutter. He then grabbed his head. "If only Ran didn't call me, I would have gotten L and his associates' names." An annoyed look settled on his face, the hand on his head moving to his chin. Heiji understood this as Kudou's thinking mode. So Heiji said nothing; he himself started to mull over all the information Kudou gave him and what he got from the media. If Kudou was right, and he certainly is, then L is a master of disguise, like Kid. He fooled Sonoko-chan, Ran-chan, and Kudou. The only reason he broke out of character was to protect Kudou. Who was L and why was he doing these things?

"To think about this some more, let's start from the beginning," Kudou suddenly said. Heiji snapped out of his thoughts. Good idea! Heiji nodded. Heiji took out a piece of paper from his pocket; Kudou took out a small mini notebook and two pens, giving one to Heiji.

"'Kay," started Heiji. "To begin… two days ago in Tuesday—"

"Kaitou Kid sends a letter to the police and to the actor Daisuke Yamada about stealing the Princess Diamonds."

"Right. The Princess Diamonds are really glass shoes with large diamonds on its toes and heels, sixteen in all. It was given to him as a gift from British museum because he gave a contribution."

Kudou started to concentrate. "Kid's letter was…." He began to write down something, probably Kid's note. Heiji knew that his letter was blasted all over the media… but in all honesty, he forgot what it said. The only reason Kudou was able to remember was simply that Kid and Kudou were rivals. Kudou was always eager to bring Kid down. Heiji waited until Kudou finished; it took about three minutes. He gave it to Heiji and Heiji began to read quietly to himself:

'During the empty night of the mountain rice field's party, as a masquerade, I will be stealing the Princess Diamonds in the flash. The Law will always be on my side.

Kaitou Kid'

"Solving this at best, he's stealing the shoes during the actor's party, two days from now, on Saturday, since that night will be a new moon."

Kudou nodded. "Yeah and the mountain rice field is Yamada-san. The masquerade part is that he'll be there in disguise. But I haven't figured out the flash and the law part."

Heiji wrote down notes. "On Wednesday, yesterday, at about noon, L drops flyers from the sky all over Beika City. His flyers state that he will also try his hand at stealing the diamonds."

"He does this to make his mark there, to be the talk of the town, which works. He also proclaims that he wishes to meet Kid."

"This ends up being a struggle between thieves, police, and detectives, which L also calls out. I got invited to the party as well as Mouri-san and you so we can become the —" Both boys eyes went wide and they glanced at each other. "Kudou! You don't think—"

"Uh-huh. L was studying me, both Conan and Shin'ichi, to learn about the detective competition." They both looked at Mouri-san, who was listen to the radio in horse racing, which if memory served Heiji right, he was a fan of. "He probably took one look at him and considered him no threat," both Kudou and Heiji muttered at the same time. As if on cue, Mouri-san suddenly cried out, "Don't lose, you stupid horse! My money's riding on YOU!!!" Yep, no threat.

"Hattori, did you felt anyone following you?"

"Huh?" Heiji bit his lip. "No, Kudou. Why?"

"From what I heard from the inspector, L has three associates."

Heiji raised an eyebrow. "He has more that one?"

Kudou nodded and continued. "Not only the names, but I wasn't able to hear their description. I thought that one of them might have stayed in Osaka to study you and then came with you to Tokyo without you knowing it."

"Besides the shooter, we have two unaccounted for." Heiji kept thinking hard, and as he did, he wrote down, 'L, disguised as friend tries to study Kudou and Mouri-san; probably succeeded. Might have studied me." Heiji smiled to himself. They have figured out so much, like he knew they would. But one thing kept bugging him and he knew what it was. "Kudou, you haven't told me yet." He stared at his "child" equal.

Kudou flinched at Heiji's stare and sighed. "It seems that someone not in the police force told them about L. This guy not only knew immediately who L was, but has all information on him and his associates. The superiors had sent this guy to be in charge of dealing with L and Kaitou Kid."

"I see. So this person is now in charge of trying to stop these thieves from taking the diamonds." He still stared at Kudou. "And?" What is he so afraid of? And why is he holding back information from me?

Kudou immediately braced himself. Why is he doing all this? "The man is from the ICPO." Heiji quickly grabbed Kudou.

"WHAT, YOU'RE KIDDING?" cried Heiji. "FROM THE ICPO?"

"What about the ICPO, Heiji?"

Heiji turned to see Kazuha and Ran-chan staring at both of them. Mouri-san was also staring at them through the rear-view mirror.

"Geez, that big mouth of yours will be the death of you?!" Kudou hissed. He then said out loud. "Hehehe. Heiji-niisan said that he heard that someone from the ICPO is working with Megure-keibu."

"What?" cried all three. Mouri-san suddenly became thoughtful and Kazuha and Ran-chan once again talked among themselves. Heiji put Kudou down. Heiji knew that he sometimes acts without thinking and that he sometimes shouts without meaning to. Kudou's expression told him that he just did one of these things. That's why he did all this…

"Sorry," he whispered. Kudou fixed his collared shirt. Then his face brightened. "What's up, Kudou?"

"Hakase!" He gasped. Heiji lightly slapped his forehead. Of course! That old man! Hiroshi Agasa-hakase was a retired inventor and scientist and a family friend of Kudou's. He was another person who knew that Kudou was now a child. Hakase had a database with police records and such. Kudou took out his cell phone and speed dialed Hakase's number. Heiji leaned close so he can hear too.

"Hello?" asked an old man.

"Hakase, it's me. Heiji's here, too."

"Ah, Shin'ichi. Where—" A voice could be heard on the background. That's that smart little girl, Haibara-san. She was another person who knew Kudou's secret but at the same time was in the same position as him; she was also another teenager shrunken to child size. This voice was followed by three angry voices. That's those three kids. Boy, do they sound pissed!" Then Hakase's voice became lower. "Sorry, Shin'ichi. The kids are mad at you for lying to them. Ai-kun's distracting them from the phone. Hello, Heiji-kun."

"Hey there, Hakase," Heiji answered. "Kudou called you—"

"About this 'L,' right?" Hakase finished. "I knew that you two would call me after Shin'ichi picked you up and the two of you have figured some things out." The boys heard typing of keys. "I've already researched under first names, last names, aliases, and nicknames beginning with L and reduced it with anyone wanted for thievery… they're a lot of names, Shin'ichi, Heiji-kun."

"Good job, Hakase," Kudou said with a smile. "We're going to add a few more to lower the amount. First, he's probably wanted in a lot of countries…"

Heiji continued, "Next, he has known living associates, at least three in number…"

"And third, he's under the eye of Interpol." Kudou finished.

"Okay." There was typing of keys. "There are still a lot of names. I'll give them to you after you come over. See you later." He hung up.

Both boys sighed. Heiji knew they had tons of work ahead, with little time left.

NOTE:

A) Yamada is made up of two kanji, yama and ta. Yama means mountain and ta means rice patty fields. Yama's kanji looks like the blade of a three prong trident, the two ends being smaller then the center. Ta's kanji looks like a square with a cross in it. If you can imagine these symbols and compare them to an image of their translations, then you'll get the point.

B) Hakase means doctor (PhD), Keiji actually means detective but is used as 'officer', and Keibu means inspector. Both are general nouns, but can also be used as specific nouns and as occupational suffixes. So when Conan calls Agassi "Hakase," it's not Agassi's birth name but it is his title. Just like when we in the US don't really call our president by just his name, we say, "Mr. or Ms. President" or "President (insert name here.)" Its really gives respect to the person who has that title.

C) I'm sorry to blab on about things you readers probably know, but I can't help it sometimes. It was kind of hard for me to make up a Kid letter, the L letter, and to make Conan and Heiji deduce the way they do in the manga and anime. I did try so please be gentle.

D) NEXT CHAPTER: I WILL REVEAL THE SECOND GROUP CHARACTERS AND THEY AND CONAN WILL MEET FOR THE FIRST TIME!!! WHAT WILL HAPPEN?? STAY TUNED!!!