Case Closed AU
By: FunahoMisaki
(A/N: I own nothing and read last chapter)
"Snow dollies?" Irene asked as she snowboarded up behind the two 'ski instructors' flirting with Ran and Sonoko. It had been several weeks since the Osaka case where Greyback nearly stabbed Irene and Irene had solved plenty of mysteries since then, using Richard as a dummy so that he gained the title of Sleeping Sleuth, whereas her own title of Shinigami Detective was proven to be more apt than not. Personally her favorite case was when she helped save the brother-sister band Two Piece… she thanked her lucky stars that as a girl she had her mothers singing voice rather than her fathers tone deaf one when she and the Junior Detective League had been led onto the stage to perform with the band.
"Sorry but I'm already in a happy relationship." Ran said turning the two 'ski instructors' down cold, making them face fault almost.
"Are these guys bugging you Ran-hime?" Jessica asked skiing over and glaring at the two men protectively. She took some time off from writing scripts and directing movies to go to the ski resort with two of her favorite girls and Sonoko. She wasn't the only ne there either. Karen was on a skateboard next to Irene, holding one of the girls small hands in hers, her girlfriend of a few months was skiing on Irene's other side holding her other hand, and Fonke was behind them on a pair of skis as well.
Karen's dentist clinic was being remodeled and upgraded so she had time to spare, her girlfriend Seiko was her own boss so when she got the invite she accepted immediately since it wasn't like the company couldn't reach her if they needed her and besides her employees couldn't very well fire her, and Fonke well Irene didn't know for sure what she did but she was always able to take time off whenever she wanted to so that meant she was probably a business owner or high ranking official of some kind. Irene and everyone else in the 'gang' of people that surrounded Irene at almost all times had cheered and let out a 'finally!' as soon as Seiko and Karen got together. The two had been dancing around each other enough to annoy all of them to the point that they nearly locked the two of them into a closet together.
"Sonoko-chan! Ran-chan!" A woman's voice called out, making everyone look to the side where two women were skiing towards them, the one with long brown hair waving.
"Preston-sensei?" Ran asked looking at the woman skiing towards them.
"I thought that was you two! My look how you both have grown!" The brown haired woman said smiling while Irene blinked. Preston? Wasn't that the name of Ran and Sonoko's third grade teacher? She thought so but better make sure…
"Ne? Tou-chan how does the oba-san know kaa-chan?" Irene asked looking up at Jessica from in between Karen and Seiko, causing all the adults to look at her.
"That 'oba-san' was mine and Sonoko's third grade teacher Irene-chan." Ran said smiling at her 'daughter' who blinked and looked up at Preston who was looking at her curiously.
"She looks pretty young to be a teacher. She can't be much older than Kobayashi-sensei. Thirty if I had to guess." Irene said looking up at Preston curiously and narrowing her eyes slightly when she felt a killers 'aura' for lack of better words around the woman. She had either already committed murder and was planning on using them as an alibi or she was planning a murder with them as an alibi.
"Wow the little cutie guessed your age pretty quick huh Ann?" The woman behind Yonehara teased causing Irene to tilt her head to the side slightly.
"She's ADORABLE!" Preston and the other woman squealed as they tried to glomp Irene, too bad for them that Seiko, Karen, and Jessica beat them to it with their by now infamous three way 'hug of death' as Irene called it.
"Don't smother her!" Ran said worried as Irene poked her head out from in between the three women bodies and gave them a deadpan look.
"I swear you three do this just because you can." Irene said blankly as they let her down, grinning sheepishly at her and Ran.
"Well you are adorable Irene-chan." Fonke said smiling down at Irene while Ran kneeled down to check on her as Sonoko talked to the two women and the nervous/jealous men.
"Ski instructors?" Preston asked raising an amused eyebrow at the two men who gave her guilty and panicked looks.
"They aren't ski instructors Aunty. They're probably teachers at the school the oba-san works for. That's how they know her and she them." Irene said looking past Ran to Sonoko who blinked before looking at the two men, before scowling.
"I detest liars." Sonoko said turning her back to them and skiing over to Ran and the others.
"Geez with my luck around men being the way it is I might as well bat for the home team instead! I have much better chances of finding a girlfriend than I do a boyfriend at this rate!" Sonoko said pouting at Ran who snickered at her reaction while Irene smirked as she took a notebook out of her pocket.
"Alright Aunty. Give me your preferences and I'll do some investigating to see if I can find anyone to your liking." Irene said holding open the notebook pointedly and making Jessica snicker loudly.
"Don't get cocky brat." Sonoko said with a fond grin as she flicked Irene's forehead, Irene put up her notebook and stuck her tongue out as she hid behind Fonke's leg to get away from Sonoko.
"Ne? How about we catch up over some drinks? The four of us are supposed to meet someone at the lodge soon anyways." Preston offered as she motioned to herself and the other three.
"We're supposed to meet Nancy-nee at the lodge soon too…" Irene said frowning slightly while the adults around her agreed, Irene taking off her snowboard when Jessica picked her up to carry her into the lodge. The librarian had the week off for the library she worked at to be updated and security to be upgraded so she decided to join them when Irene mentioned the trip to her over the phone. She was supposed to meet them at the lodge at 2 o clock.
"Ah! Irene-sama!" Nancy said standing and smiling when she saw Irene be carried into the lodge. Everyone turned towards her and Irene waved while beside Nancy, two other women looked up.
"Nancy-nee! You don't have to call me 'sama'!" Irene said smiling at Nancy who was being stared at shocked by the woman Ms. Preston introduced as Shelly Clifton, another teacher at the school she worked at.
"Irene-chan!" Yumi said happily darting up and over to Irene, Sato hot on her heels.
"Yumi-nee! Sato-nee! I didn't know you two would be here!" Irene said looking happy but surprised as Yumi plucked her out of Jessica's arms and hugged her close.
"You know that the Inspector likes to know where you are and where you are going to be at all times. When Yumi mentioned that Sonoko-san and Ran-chan were taking you skiing in front of him he told us to go along in case your moniker decides to strike." Sato said stealing Irene from Yumi and hugging her for a second before she was stolen by Nancy.
"Would you like something to drink Irene-sama? Some juice or maybe hot chocolate?" Nancy asked carrying Irene back to the table she had been sitting at. All the women aside from the teachers and the teenage students tensed when Irene motioned something with one hand as Nancy was carrying her. They grew even more tense when Preston looked confused about the young girls reception and looked at her former student curiously.
"Um am I missing something Ran-chan?"