I finally changed the title mostly because I've now introduced most of the characters involved in this x-over.
This chapter was actually part of 9 but because it was long enough as it is, this became a new chapter. This was also a bit rushed so as of this moment I can't think of any way to fix it.
So now I can finally say this:
Disclaimer: I don't own Detective Conan, Magic Kaitou and Lupin III.
Chapter 10
The moment the small group was gone, the four thieves immediately moved to sit next to each other, so they can plan their next move. But there were a couple of things that Jigen just had to get off his chest.
"This is the reason that we're here?" He stared hard at their friend and leader of the group, Arsene Lupin the Third. Jigen's suspicions about why Lupin wanted to go to Beika City, and the fact that using that quick ploy of the Princess Diamonds to stop asking questions had worked, was justified. Jigen himself was surprised. Lupin should have known that this might have resurfaced again.
"I can't believe this!!" muttered Fujiko, the look of being here not for the Diamonds could be clearly shown on her face. "A woman?"
"And a young one at that," Goemon tried to be his stoic self but Jigen could tell the annoyance was slowly seeping through.
Lupin didn't say a word at first. He immediately took out the picture of the woman and the picture of the Diamonds. The woman had a serious look on her face and hard eyes. She had short reddish brown hair and she wore what seemed to Jigen a scientist's outfit. He wasn't too sure; the picture cut off at her shoulders.
"You're wrong, Jigen," Lupin said colorlessly. He pointed at the picture. "I'M here for the woman." Then he pointed to the Diamonds. "We're here for the Diamonds." He noticed his food on the table, poked at it and pushed the plate away. "I waited too long and now it's cold."
"Tch." Jigen grabbed his glass of wine and drunk it down. "Lupin, I hope this woman doesn't bite us in the ass in the long run." Lupin innocently stared at Jigen.
"Guys, have anything like this ever done so?"
"YES," all three answered in unison.
Lupin laughed weakly. "That's so wrong." The waiter came and picked up the plates. Lupin stopped her and asked for a whole bottle of Champagne. As the waiter left to get his order, Jigen thought about the past couple of days in which there was an over drive of plans that they quickly thought up.
During their plane ride from Kyoto to Tokyo, Lupin had told the three about the people they would be up against.
"Really!" said Jigen, pissed off about the fact that smoking was illegal in planes and really needing a smoke at this moment. He couldn't grasp the fact that three of the people they had to look out for were kids… KIDS for kami's sake, even that little boy, Conan Edogawa.
"I know!" Lupin said as he looked out the window; the four sat across from each other, first class, with Jigen next to Lupin and Fujiko next to Goemon.
"What are we going to do?" asked Goemon. There was a small table which sat their drinks. Goemon immediately took his glass of sake and took a little sip.
"I heard that Kaitou Kid already sent a letter about stealing these yesterday," complained Fujiko a little. Jigen swore that Fujiko was bitching even worse than before they left.
"It's only a couple days away!" Lupin said, his voice bordering on obvious annoyance at Fujiko's usual whining. "This leaves us with plenty of time to find out about everything there is to know about our… guests." He paused as he turned from the window staring at them with his famous smile, meaning that he had already thought of a plan to set this whole thing up. This was the reason why Jigen, Goemon, and even Fujiko stayed with him. Clever and extremely resourceful, Lupin was always the brains behind every heisting operation, with a high rate of success.
"What's the plan?" Jigen asked. Personally, Jigen thought that Lupin was acting strange ever since he read an old Japanese newspaper article. It was a little subtle but him wanting to go alone despite the fact that they were all here (he usually works alone if they weren't around), alerted Jigen that something was wrong. Jigen also knew that Lupin wouldn't tell them anything about what's happening until probably when he thinks it's time… or in a dire situation. Even then, he might not say. Until Lupin decides to spill the beans, Jigen decided to just roll with it.
Lupin smiled. (Now that Jigen thought about it, that smile was slightly strained and forced, as if he had too many things on his mind, with the added heist not helping matters.) "Jigen, my friend! I'm glad you asked!
"First off, we're going to need an apartment to set up our operations for a little while. Next, we're going to split up, doing our own research."
"I see," said Goemon. "When we finish, that is when we will make up the plans for the Diamonds."
"Yeah." The other three nodded in unison. Grinning, Lupin pointed at both Goemon and himself. "You and I are going on a reconnaissance mission." He then pointed at Jigen. "You are going to research." And he lastly pointed to Fujiko. "And you will do both."
"And what will all of this be about?" asked Jigen.
"Goemon is taking the next flight to Osaka," Lupin said. He took out a ticket and gave it to him, along with a small amount of money. "He will be watching Heiji Hattori and is going to tell us what he's like." Goemon nodded in apprehension. Jigen raised an eyebrow and stared at him for an explanation. "Hattori-kun's parents are reeeally traditional and he practices kendo."
"I see," said Fujiko. "Goemon would be perfect." Jigen grinned. Goemon tries to be just as traditional in his search for spiritual purity. "Just make sure that you got that cell phone with you so you can call us and we can call you for updates." Goemon reached inside his shirt to take out a thin modern cell. Nodding, he put it back. Jigen knew that the phone slightly ruined his traditional image, but it was a necessary evil to keep in touch with him.
"Fujiko is going to research the hotel and scope it out. She's also going to find things about that actor and the party." Fujiko nodded as she sipped her coffee.
"Jigen, you're gonna research about our three Tokyo detectives, Mouri-san, Kudou-kun, and Edogawa-kun." Jigen nodded.
"What about you?"
Lupin stared at Goemon. "I going to watch those said three on the field. I'm also gonna check out the police department, to see if you-know-who will be there." He rolled his eyes. "We all know that he probably will. Annoying old man!" Lupin leaned back on his chair, staring out the window again. "After finding enough info, we'll then plan out the heist… and probably take a little vacation there, too…."
"What about Kid?" asked Fujiko.
"And about your Heist note?" added Goemon.
Still staring out the window, Lupin said with a smirk, "It's all taken care of." The three stared at each other and shrugged.
When the plane landed, Goemon left to take his next flight to Osaka to start his mission while the rest 'borrowed' a fine looking car that was left unprotected on the curb. They found an open apartment that would serve as their base of operations for the next four days or so. Jigen later found out from Lupin that he sent the letters not only to the police but had actually borrowed a plane and had flown it around Tokyo spraying the flyers all over, some of them reaching outside the city. The Jigen was surprised but not fully. Lupin would sometimes do things over the top.
"It's to find everyone involved," Lupin had said with that same strained smile. Jigen shrugged and thought no more about it.
"Jigen! Jigen! Anyone there?" Jigen snapped out of his daydream to see Fujiko staring at him, a smirk planted on her face.
Jigen waved away her stare. He still can't stand that woman. He noticed that Lupin got his bottle of Champagne but didn't open it. He wasn't staring at Jigen like Fujiko and Goemon was but was staring at the bottle with a strange grimace. Sensing Jigen's stare, Lupin gave a bright smile.
"Since we learned everything we needed to know about the detectives and about Kid--."
"Who would have thought that Kaitou Kid was really another kid?" muttered Jigen. This annoyance factor of kids probably screwing up everything is getting on Jigen's nerves. Man, he really needs a smoke, bad!
"We're going to Saturday's party in style!" Lupin spread his arms wide. "Tomorrow will be the preparations and also our day off to do whatever the hell we want!!!" He then looked at his watch. "Look at the time!" He rose from his chair, producing a bag for his bottle.
"Lupin, wait!" Fujiko cried. She pointed at the picture of the woman. "Who is she?"
Lupin raised an eyebrow. He picked up the picture and shoved it in his pocket. "Shiho Miyano." A smirk appeared on his face. "Conan-kun and Heiji-kun knows who and where she is." He looked at Fujiko with a bigger smirk. "Amazing! You actually show an interest to what I'm doing!" He leaned forward. "Does this mean you're jealous?"
Fujiko looked away. "No! I just want to know if she will interfere in some way to us!" For a moment Jigen saw a shadow appear on Lupin's face before it vanished, replaced by that strained smile, which Jigen noted, was worse than before. Goemon frowned. So he noticed, too. Fujiko was too busy hiding the obvious jealousy to notice that flash of emotion. "I love you, too, Fujiko-chan." He strolled out the restaurant, waving at them. Through the window, they saw Lupin waving for a taxi, which came. He entered and the taxi left.
"I should go too." Fujiko rose from her seat. "I have a date with a businessman." Took no time in your 'relaxation', huh, Fujiko? As if sensing Jigen's thought, she added, "I was with him before Lupin asked for our assistance."
Yeah, right. Jigen even repeated this out loud.
"Humph! I don't need your opinion, Jigen!" She walked out the restaurant.
After a couple of minutes, Goemon finally said, "I know you saw that quick flash of emotion, Jigen, that Lupin exhibit. Something's going on with him and this Shiho is the focus of this."
"Wait, didn't he say those detective brats knew about her? Then why did they lie, especially that Conan?" Jigen thought back and remembered seeing their shocked, pale faces when seeing the picture, Lupin's slightly smug smile after seeing their reaction, their faces growing paler when Mouri noted that there was a look-alike girl in Conan's class, and the boys' successful attempt to leave the restaurant as quick as possible.
"Goemon." Jigen turned to his comrade. "What the hell is going on here?"
Goemon shook his head. "Everything might be revealed in the end." He rose to his feet, as well as Jigen. They both left the restaurant and went their separate ways. Jigen took out a cigarette and finally lit it, puffing in the sweet tobacco flavor. Revealed in the end, huh? Lupin behaving strangely, a mysterious woman, weird detective kids… this might become more troublesome than it's worth.
Lupin sat quietly in the back seat of the taxi. He suspected that Jigen and Goemon were becoming suspicious of his behavior over the last couple of days. But he can dodge them for a while. He dug under his shirt and took out some sheets of paper, spreading them out on his lap. On one of the sheets was names with the word 'deceased' next to each one. One of the names said, 'Shin'ichi Kudou'. Frowning somewhat, he took out the Conan-kun and Shin'ichi-kun pictures and compared them. They looked eerily similar to each other. Lupin then took out an old picture of Shin'ichi-kun as a child and compared that to Conan-kun's. His eyes widened a little. They're an exact match!
"Interesting," he muttered. "Then the sparse information on him and his disappearance are linked." He leaned back in the chair. He won't tell the others about his little discovery… not yet anyway. He then took Shiho-chan's picture from his pocket. Staring at it, he face turned into a grimace.
"Sherry." He suddenly looked over the picture to the bag carrying the bottle.
"'Bite us in the ass', huh?" He took out the bottle of champagne and merely stared at it. "It's too late for that, isn't that right?"
The liquid inside the bottle bubbled in response.