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A Curse Marked Fate

12: Echo Chamber

The party was winding down. Those guests who were there only for the one evening had mostly left to return to their homes while those who had booked rooms at the resort had dispersed to explore some of the available facilities or retreated to their rooms to rest. Only a handful of guests remained in the ballroom. A few were engaging in one last dance to the slow, soothing melodies with which the band was ending the night. Others sat or stood in small clusters, talking quietly or enjoying a last drink or snack.

Ran was one of this latter group. She had acquired a cup of warm tea and was seated on one petal of a flower-shaped sofa in the corner of the ballroom. Her father had already gone up to their suite, but she was waiting for Kaito to bring Shinichi back. They had been gone for a while now though, and she was beginning to wonder if she should try calling Shinichi. On the other hand, she felt that Kuroba-kun could be trusted to look after her trouble magnet of a little brother. The Sky Mage came across as very laid back and good humored if, according to Aoko, rather more mischievous than was healthy for those who had to spend extended amounts of time with him, but he also struck Ran as responsible. After all, if he wasn't, there was no way he could have mastered the magical skills necessary to earn a Level Seven license at such a young age.

She wondered why Shinichi had never mentioned that he knew Archmage Toichi's son.

She was snapped out of her thoughts as Sonoko plopped down onto the plushy petal next to her.

"Well?" Sonoko prodded, a sly grin plastered all over her face. "Do you have something to tell me?"

Ran gave her friend a confused look. "About what?"

"Kuroba-kun, obviously!" the petit girl exclaimed, bouncing up and down in her seat. "You two were talking, like, forever. I think he might have a thing for you. He looked really interested in whatever you had to say."

"I was telling him about Shinichi," Ran replied, waving away her friend's disbelieving look. "Really. I guess he's read about some of the work Shinichi's been doing for the police. And he was curious about why Shinichi was living with us."

Sonoko's expression grew solemn. "Did you tell him?"

Ran hesitated. "Well, not exactly… I just told him that Shinichi's parents felt it was the best place for him because they had to keep traveling for their work and constantly transferring from school to school is too taxing on a child—you know, Shinichi being only ten when he came to live with us."

"And he didn't think that story was strange?"

"Not any more than everyone else at school has," Ran pointed out. "I did tell him Shinichi wants to do detective work, and he thinks staying here is a good start for that."

Sonoko snorted. "Me thinks the causes and effects may be a little mismatched here, but I guess it's mostly true enough. You know, he asked me a lot about Shinichi too when we were choosing dishes for the dinner. It kind of makes me wonder…"

"Wonder what?" Ran prodded, curious when the usually very vocal Sonoko suddenly went quiet.

The heiress frowned then shook her head and laughed. "Never mind. I'm just tired. Hey, maybe he has a case he wants Shinichi's help on."

Ran frowned. "If that's true then maybe we should consider telling him what really happened. If he believes us, he might be able to help us figure out what we should be doing next."

Sonoko shrugged. "You can ask our little bookworm about it. I can't imagine him wanting to add another potential problem to our bubbling cauldron, but you could be right. Kuroba-kun certainly knows his stuff. And he's well-connected. And if he does have a case or decides to help out, we'll get to spend more time with him," she added, brightening. "And naturally he'll come to see what an amazing person I am, and we'll live happily ever after!"

Ran had to laugh. Sonoko would never change. "What about Makoto-san? You danced with him a long time."

Sonoko looked thoughtful, tapping her chin with one manicured finger. "I'm not sure," she admitted eventually. "He's pretty amazing too—and handsome. But he told me he was thinking of going abroad."

"For college?" asked Ran.

"To compete, actually. He's a martial artist."

"Oh, right. I thought his name sounded familiar," Ran exclaimed. "Some of the other members of the karate club are big fans. He's won several big tournaments all over Japan. They said he's never lost. I think I might even have seen him briefly at one of the tournaments I went to, but I wasn't really paying much attention to anyone but my opponents. So I could be wrong."

Sonoko laughed. "No, you're not. He told me he saw us there."

"And he remembered? I mean, it was a while ago."

"He did." Sonoko looked away, blushing faintly.

Ran hid a smile. "It sounds to me like he might be interested."

"Maybe," Sonoko hedged. "But he didn't really say so. And I'm not sure how I'd feel about a long distance relationship."

"Well, no one said you had to decide anything right now," Ran reasoned. "Just think about it, keep an open mind, and see what happens. Will he be attending the expo tomorrow?"

"I think so. He said one of the inventors asked him to help in the demonstration for some sort of new enchanted weight training system."

"Then you'll have the chance to try and get to know him better."

Sonoko was saved from having to respond by the appearance of Kaito with Shinichi in tow.

X

Lying on his hotel bed with his arms folded behind his head, Kaito traced the faint pattern of leaves painted on the ceiling overhead as his thoughts wandered. His parents were already asleep in the suite's second bedroom, but his own thoughts were still too restless to allow sleep to draw near.

The focus of his thoughts was the Mouri entourage. His gut was telling him that they were hiding something from him. Well, maybe not from him specifically, but they had definitely been less than forthright when it came to talking about Shinichi.

Sure, they were happy enough to share stories of their exploits with their trouble-prone friend, but their comments about his current whereabouts ranged from vague to outright contradictory.

Then there was Conan. The little boy looked so much like Shinichi that it was downright surreal. Kaito had noted when they were younger that they could have passed for brothers. But Conan and Shinichi took looking alike to a whole new level. And it wasn't just their looks.

The child behaved a lot like Shinichi too. His expressions, his comments, the way he spoke… It was eerie, and it seemed to Kaito like it should mean something.

It was like someone had cloned Shinichi. That, or Shinichi had gotten younger somehow. Kaito wasn't sure which idea was more ridiculous. Even magic couldn't create life out of nothing. A truly powerful and skilled Earth Mage could coax new growth out of freshly felled plants because of the unique nature of plant life, but animal life was something else entirely. As for age reduction, the closest people had been able to get was magically enhanced cosmetics that provided limited rejuvenation, slowing and sometimes reducing signs of aging, but that was about it. Nothing could turn an old person into a young one—and it wasn't for lack of trying.

Such endeavors were, it was now generally agreed, against the natural order, and so the heavens had made it impossible for mages to succeed at them.

Of course, that was unless a curse was involved.

Now there was a thought.

He knew Shinichi had a Curse Mark even though the other boy had never told him in so many words. He even had an idea of what it looked like, for all the good that was. His father had refused to divulge the nature of the curse, saying that such things were private and should only be shared with the consent of the bearer of the Mark—which made sense, Kaito supposed. But just because it made sense didn't mean he had to be happy about it. As it was, all Kaito knew was that, whatever Shinichi's curse was, it was severe enough that his parents had felt the need to find someone with a magic nullification curse to take him in. Providing that his parents weren't just flaking out on being parents, that meant Shinichi's curse had to be something unpleasant, maybe even dangerous, that couldn't be controlled.

But that also meant that, whatever it was, it shouldn't be the cause of, well, whatever was happening.

Kaito made a face at the ceiling. He hated not knowing things. He preferred to be the one keeping everyone else guessing.

Still, he supposed he didn't actually know the extent of Mouri Kogoro's curse. That meant he couldn't make any assumptions for certain.

He could always go search the archives, but he immediately relegated that idea to the slot of something like Plan Z. He hadn't put all this together because he wanted to find out what Shinichi's curse was. All he really wanted was to find Shinichi—talk to him, maybe rebuild the friendship they had so foolishly let slip through their fingers with their negligence.

Of course he couldn't guarantee that they would still get along the way they used to, but that was the point. He wanted to know. The way things had ended back then had simply been too sudden, leaving him irritated and dissatisfied.

Sitting up abruptly, Kaito hopped off the bed and began to pace. His feet sank into the thick, soft carpet of the bedroom floor, making no sound even as he circled the room first one way then the other before he eventually fetched up by the balcony window. It was pitch black outside, but he slid open the door, allowing a waft of chilly spring air into the room. It carried with it the scent of leaves and other green things touched by dew, and the soft whispers of the wind in the canopies slithered into the earlier stillness of the room. With the air moving, it no longer felt so stifling, but the echo chamber of his own thoughts was rather more difficult to crack. He just didn't have the pieces of the puzzle that he needed. Without them, all he could do was sit here and listen to his own speculations bounce around and around inside his head.

He would just have to see what additional information he could get out of little Conan. If they really were close relatives, the boy might have been told or overheard something about Shinichi's curse or other matters surrounding him and the Mouri family. Though if the kid and Shinichi really were only ordinary cousins then Kaito was the most modest mage in his school.

Yes. The place to start was Conan. And if, as Kaito was starting to suspect, Shinichi was actually in some kind of trouble then Kaito would just have to go to his rescue. He pictured himself dressed in a suit of shiny armor, brandishing a sword, and laughed. That would certainly make for a grand entrance, and he did so love making grand entrances.

Plans made, he hopped back into bed and pulled the covers over himself. A few good hours of sleep and he'd be up on all cylinders by sunrise. Then it would be time to begin this treasure hunt.

TBC