SailorStar9: With Chapter 7 uploaded, this is Chapter 8 of this fic. (Sighs) Guys and girls, is it too hard for you to leave a review, instead of just putting this fic up on your favorited list and story alerts?
Disclaimers: I own absolutely nothing, except this plot and potential pairing.
Pending pairing: Furuya Rei/Mizuno Ami
Chapter 8: The Life-Threatening Broadcast of Love: Begin Broadcasting
Time passes...
Takagi was walking home one evening when Yumi's patrol car pulled up beside him.
"Hey, Detective-san." Yumi called out. "Going to a stakeout?"
"No, I asked to leave early today." Takagi replied. "Right now, I have to go somewhere. After spending the night there, I'll come back first thing in the morning."
"What's this?" Yumi teased. "Spending a night, on a date with Miwako, at a onsen?"
"That's not it." Takagi corrected. "It's not a date."
Later that night...
"No way." Yumi gaped. "Miwako, you don't know where Takagi is going, either?"
"It seems he told Inspector Megure that he had something to tell a certain someone." Sato replied.
"Could he be visiting your parent?" Miike suggested. "'May I have your daughter?' or something like that."
"Why would he have to keep that a secret from me?" Sato retorted. "Furthermore, my mother lives in Tokyo, so he doesn't have to spend the night. Who are you, again?" she blinked.
"I'm the one who transferred from Haido Station, Miike Naeko." Miike snapped.
"But maybe Inspector Megure knows who this person is." Yumi guessed.
"He didn't tell me about that." Sato admitted. "He said 'When I come back, I'll tell you once I've cleared my mind.'"
"Something smells fishy." Yumi pondered.
"I don't think it's a love affair." Miike supplied. "He clearly told us it wasn't a date."
"I wonder if he still remembered Date-san's death anniversary." Sato sighed.
"Now that you mention it, it will be one year soon." Yumi recalled.
"He was saying 'Let's go visit his grave together.'" Sato added.
"Who are you talking about?" Miike was puzzled.
"The detective who was Takagi's mentor." Sato explained.
"He was such a tough guy who wouldn't die even if he was killed, yet he passed away in a mere car accident." Yumi remembered.
"Then, maybe Takagi had something to report to Date-san's parents?" Miike proposed.
"No, Date-san's parents also live in Tokyo." Sato refuted.
"Which means, it really has something to with a woman." Yumi concluded.
"Now that you mention it, Takagi is quite popular in the traffic department." Miike noted.
The next day...
"Come in." Ami stopped her typing on her keyboard when she heard the knock on her office door. "Oh, it's you." she stated blandly when her former one-night stand entered the office.
"Now, is this the way to greet someone who brought you a long black?" Amuro held up a coffee Styrofoam cup.
"Your interview is already over." Ami focused back on her report. "Shouldn't you be leaving, Furuya-san?"
"I suppose you've heard about Squad Leader." Amuro cleared his throat, unfazed by the sheer hostility the woman showed as he placed his peace offering on her cup holder.
"Date-san?" Ami turned to the blond. "Yes. Hagiwara and Matsuda, too. What about Morofushi? I seem to recall you two were pretty much attached to the hip."
"Hiro's... gone." Amuro looked away.
"In other words, out of the 'Five Musketeers', you're the only one left." Ami remarked flatly. "Wait a second." she scribbled a location on her memo pad and tore the piece of paper off, handing it to her visitor. "The location of Date-san's gravestone."
"Actually, I was hoping you'll visit Squad Leader's grave with me." Amuro offered.
"I'll have to check my schedule first." Ami answered.
Reaching over, Amuro retrieved a pen from Ami's pen holder and wrote own a phone number on her memo pad. "My number." he clarified. "Send me an email after you've confirmed the date. By the way, for all it's worth, I never meant what I said six years earlier."
Outside the police headquarters...
"We, the Detective Boys, have finally done it." Mitsuhiko crowed. "To be models on a pamphlet of a crime-prevention project for children. But I wonder if the professor is okay. He said he would come, right after parking the car. And Detective Takagi is late, too. He told us to wait for him when we arrived at the Police HQ. He wanted to guide us around the Public Relations Department. But he's not answering at all."
"Could he be flirting right now?" Genta teased.
"Even if it's Detective Takagi, he wouldn't do stuff like that while on duty." Mitsuhiko chided.
"Are you kids acquainted with Detective Takagi Wataru?" Fuemoto Ryusaku approached the Detective Boys.
"Yeah, we are." Mitsuhiko nodded.
"What perfect timing." Fuemoto noted. "I've got a package for him. Could you hand this over to his girlfriend?"
"You mean Detective Sato, the person were just talking about, right?" Mitsuhiko took the parcel.
"You also know the female detective?" Fuemoto was impressed. "Then, here's a message to his beloved detective girlfriend. 'That's perishable, so please open it as soon as possible. Don't wait too long, it will spoil in one or two days.' I'm counting on you." he walked away just as Conan ran up to them.
"Who was that guy?" Conan asked.
"It seems he's an acquaintance of Detective Takagi." Mitsuhiko replied.
"More importantly, where's the professor and Haibara?" Genta asked.
"It seems the professor really did catch a cold." Conan sighed. "I made him go home with Haibara."
"Then, we'll have to do it without Haibara." Mitsuhiko sighed. "That's too bad."
"That's too bad for me, too." Amuro cut in. "Just when I thought I could meet the rumored Professor Agasa."
"Amuro?" Conan gawked.
"I heard it from Mouri-sensei." Amuro supplied. "He said that today, the Detective Boys will be coming in Professor Agasa's car to take pictures for a pamphlet at the Police HQ. I was called into Police HQ around the same time. However, I'm already finished."
"Why were you called in?" Conan was confused.
"It was about the incident when I made your kidnapper crash into my car." Amuro explained. "They asked me if I went too far. I was questioned even more. I did have another reason for coming here. Never mind that." he bade the kids farewell. "I've already gotta my answer."
"Conan, who's that guy?" Genta asked.
"He's Kogoro-oji-san's apprentice and a detective." Conan replied. "Anyways, Detective Takagi still hasn't come?"
"It looks like he's forgotten." Mitsuhiko answered. "And he won't even answer his phone."
"Then let me try calling Detective Chiba." Conan sighed.
"If you're going to call someone..." Genta grinned.
"Call Detective Sato." Ayumi beamed.
"This seems to be perishable." Mitsuhiko supplied.
Inside the Police HQ...
"A delivery from Takagi to me?" Sato blinked. "That's what the stranger told you?"
"This is it." Mitsuhiko handed the package over.
"What now?" Sato unwrapped the parcel. "He didn't even come to work."
"Detective Takagi still hasn't come in?" Conan wondered.
"He said that it's perishable, so you have to eat it in a day or two." Genta added.
"But this doesn't seem to be edible." Sato pulled out a tablet from the box. "Takagi!" she gasped, switching on the tablet and seeing an image of a tied up Takagi on a wooden plank. "Hold on, if he fell with a rope around his neck... wake up, Takagi!" she shouted.
"Takagi is kidnapped by an unknown subject?" Megure echoed, after Sato informed the other officers.
"This is the footage." Sato confirmed. "It's possible there are three cameras." she added, when the camera angle changed to a close-up view of Takagi's face. "The three angles: close-up, side and above, are broadcasting randomly."
"Do you know where the camera signal is coming from?" Megure asked Shiratori.
"If we let the Cyber Crime Police handle it..." Shiratori nodded.
"I don't think you can anytime soon." Conan cut in. "The only thing you can investigate on the outside of the tablet is the on/off switch. Anything else, including the touchscreen, power button, and the charging connector, have been rendered useless."
"However, Conan." Shiratori spoke. "If we open the tablet, we can recharge it directly from the inside. If we get the data from the hard drive, couldn't we figure out where the signal is coming from?"
"After we take it apart, what happens if we can't see Detective Takagi anymore?" Conan asked. "The culprit is smart enough to modify the buttons and make the touchscreen useless. It's safe to assume there's a trap set to shut it down completely if we mess with it."
"There's another way to avoid that risk by using the tablet's network provider." Ami interrupted. "However, seeing how our culprit used an overseas server, it would be close to impossible to find out with such little time. Isn't that right, boy?"
"Yeah..." Conan gawked.
"But, if we have a possibility of doing that..." Megure pointed out.
"Inspector, have you forgotten about the deadline?" Ami reminded. "It's either tomorrow or the day after."
"That's what the old man told Genta and the others." Conan supplied. "He said 'That's perishable, so please open it as soon as possible. Don't wait too long, it will spoil in one or two days.'"
"Most likely, if he was left along tied up like that..." Shiratori realized.
"Not eating and drinking for three days will be his limit." Chiba gasped. "In other words, we have until the day after tomorrow."
"But, why does Takagi have to end up like this?" Sato wondered.
"He's not the type to make someone hate him." Shiratori agreed.
"A detective will inevitably be resented." Matsumoto stated. "Nobody knows when they'll be hated. Something I believe Coroner Mizuno can attest to."
"Superintendent Matsumoto." Megure greeted his superior.
"Megure, is it true that Takagi told you he was going to spend the night somewhere to meet someone?" Matsumoto asked.
"He was concerned about the monorail times." Megure confirmed. "So he probably headed towards Haneda Airport."
"Then, contact Haneda Airport and ask if Takagi Wataru was on the boarding list last night." Matsumoto instructed. "Shiratori, take Mizuno with you and go to Takagi's house and check his laptop and mailbox. Find out who he was going to meet. Chiba, you monitor the tablet. Don't leave it on. We can't recharge it, so we only have about ten hours. Turn it on every hour for ten minutes and record the screen. Look for anything in the footage that might indicate his location."
"Superintendent, what about me?" Sato asked.
"Sato, you question the kids who're waiting in the other room." Matsumoto answered. "They're precious witnesses who met the suspect personally. Not only his appearance, but ask them if he had any unusual habits or speech patterns as well. For everyone else, investigate every case Takagi was involved in; including all suspects and victims."
In the interview room...
"I'll go over again, just to make sure." Sato produced a sketch of the suspect. "This is the man who gave you the tablet, correct?"
"First, he asked us if we knew Detective Takagi Wataru." Mitsuhiko nodded. "When we said we did, then..."
"He asked us to hand that to Detective Takagi's girlfriend." Ayumi continued.
"Then, the culprit might have a grudge against me, too." Sato concluded.
"I don't think so." Conan refuted. "Even though he knew Detective Takagi's full name, he referred to Detective Sato as just a girlfriend."
"Then, did you notice any particular habits or speech patterns he had?" Sato inquired.
"Big trouble, Sato-san!" Chiba burst in. "Takagi-san is..."
In the office...
"What happened?" Sato gaped, rushing back. "Why is he about to fall?"
"When we were about to record for the third time, we turned it on and he was like that." Chiba explained.
"He's been like that for who knows how long." Detective Okumura mused.
"I won't be surprised if he fell at any moment." Detective Sugita agreed.
"If someone finds that and reports it, we'll know Detective Takagi's location." Conan supplied, noticing Takagi had dropped his police badge. "It looks like Detective Takagi is calm."
"What's going on?" Matsumoto barked. "None of the passengers lists from last night, at Haneda Airport, have Takagi Wataru's name on it? Zero clues from Takagi's home? No notable suspects from the cases Takagi was involved in?"
"Now that I think of it, I saw him coming out of the record room." Detective Hirota supplied. "I noticed he had tears in his eyes, so I was a bit curious about the record he was looking at."
"Find every record he was looking at bring them to me personally." Matsumoto ordered.
In the Police HQ corridor...
"All the cases in the records Detective Takagi looked at had to do with women who hung themselves a year ago?" Conan was intrigued.
"Three cases in all." Sato nodded. "It looks like nobody manipulated them, so all of them were left to the jurisdiction."
"What were the circumstances of each case?" Conan asked.
"If I recall correctly, one of them was named Tokugi Yuko." Sato related. "She was a sixth year student at Touto University Medical School when she committed suicide in her living room. The room had no feminine touches, but everything was neat. She left a suicide note by her feet. A few days before, she was responsible for a hit-and-run accident and she was overwhelmed by guilt. The second, at a school for English conversation, was a professor whose mother was an American. Her name was Kuruma Natalie. Judging by the notes on the calendar in her room, she went on a date with her boyfriend every day. It seems like she was despondent after he dumped her. Apparently, she had a date on the day she committed suicide."
"How do you know that?" Conan wondered.
"Her cell phone." Sato replied. "There was a text in English to her mother; according the rapid-response team, who got there first. The third person worked as a bar hostess in Roppongi. She was the number one, most popular hostess, Hikoue Kyoka. She saved up a considerable amount of cash, but lived in an old apartment. The room was littered with empty beer cans. According to her diary, she found out her husband was a marriage swindler. She lost the will to live and hung herself."
"Was the swindler caught?" Conan pressed.
"He wasn't charged for swindling, but for murder." Sato answered. "The man was shouldering a pretty huge debt. He had trouble with a loan shark and ended up stabbing someone. I think the one who captured the swindler was Date-san. Oh yeah, Conan, you've never met him. Date-san, after capturing the swindler, got into into a traffic accident and passed away. While trying to pick up the notebook he had dropped, he got hit by a driver that had fallen asleep at the wheel, according to Takagi. Takagi was also there when it happened. In the morning while walking back from an all night stakeout, he tried to show Takagi something in the notebook. That's when he got run over. You know, that black notebook Takagi always uses. He inherited it from Date-san. He wanted to make it completely black to become a detective just like Date-san. He was hyped about it."
"Detective Takagi and that detective were best friends." Conan was impressed.
"Since Date-san was Takagi's mentor, Date-san nicknamed them the 'Wataru brothers', without permission." Sato reminisced fondly.
"Why 'Brothers'?" Conan was confused.
"That's because Date-san's name is Date Wataru." Sato replied. "He had the same first name as Takagi. Even though they're both named Wataru, Takagi was cool and reserved while Date-san was wild. Even though we were only a year apart, Date-san looked more mature."
"If Date-san's one year older, does that mean he's in the same cohort as Coroner Mizuno in the Police Academy?" Conan posted a question.
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.