SailorStar9: After two months of no update, I present Chapter 115 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?
Pairings: Established!Furuya Rei (Amuro Tooru)/Mizuno Ami
Disclaimers: I own absolutely nothing, except this plot and pairing.
Chapter 115: The Detective Boys' Test of Courage
Time passes...
"What are you guys watching?" Conan deathpanned, hearing Genta, Mitsuhiko and Ayumi scream as they watched a horror clip on the Internet, the Detective Boys were gathered in Professor Agasa's house for the weekend.
"You've heard of Sadao and Toshiko?" Ayumi inquired.
"They're a famous duo that visit reported haunted sites and film real ghosts." Mitsuhiko explained.
"All their videos are so scary they'll make you pee in your pants." Genta added.
"Sounds fishy." Fumio slurped his orange flavored soft drink.
"Fishy or not, apparently you can make decent money if your videos go viral." Haibara pointed out.
"Then, the Detective Boys will film ghosts too and eat our fill of eel bowls." Genta declared.
"Now look what you've started." Fumio gave Haibara flat look.
Later that night...
"Maybe we should've had the Professor come with us, after all." Ayumi shivered as the Detective Boys headed to a haunted hospital.
"What are you talking about?" Mitsuhiko chided. "He definitely would've tried to stop us."
"If any ghosts show up, I'll knock them out." Genta bragged.
"Tonight, we're visiting an abandoned hospital that was closed a long time ago." Mitsuhiko started. "Rumors surrounding the place have only recently been spread and Sadao and Toshiko haven't yet to visit this super-secret spot."
"They say a big red oni baby comes crawling to you while crying." Ayumi added.
"Apparently, a mummy chases after you in a wheelchair." Mitsuhiko supplied.
"A long-haired lady doctor charges at you with a scalpel." Genta stated.
"Those are some pretty random rumors." Conan muttered.
"Sounds nice and lively." Haibara noted.
"Looks like the real deal." Conan blinked, the kids were in front of the hospital gates.
"In any case, there's a locked room on the third floor inhabited by a ghost." Mitsuhiko informed. "Fumio, film as we head towards the room." he handed the video camera he brought along to Fumio.
"It's just a scarecrow." Conan snorted, seeing the makeshift puppet in front of the hospital doors. "Look, it says here that entry is forbidden, so let's get... you can't go in there." he scolded as Mitsuhiko, Genta and Ayumi ran past him into the hospital. Jeez..." he sighed.
In the corridor...
"We're currently on the first floor of an abandoned hospital." Fumio narrated. "Is this abandoned hospital truly haunted by ghosts?"
"Did you hear that voice?" Mitsuhiko stopped in his tracks.
"It sounded like a crying baby." Genta replied.
"It could be a blue oni." Haibara reminded and walked forward. "This must be it." she shone her flashlight into the room. "There's no red oni baby."
"What's wrong, Haibara?" Conan asked, hearing Haibara's startled gasp.
"That tickles." Haibara giggled on the floor, a black cat was licked her cheek.
"So, this is the red oni baby's true identity." Conan chuckled.
"This is what most ghosts turn out to be." Haibara dusted herself off. "Let's get this over with."
With one rumor dispelled, the group headed upstairs.
"We've arrived to the second floor." Fumio continued his narration. "I'm sensing... some kind of mysterious presence."
"It's just cooler because the sun has set." Haibara supplied.
"What was that..." Fumio gaped, hearing a metallic 'ping'.
"The mummy in the wheelchair." Mitsuhiko, Genta and Ayumi exclaimed.
"Whatever." Haibara sighed. "Let's go. This is it." she led the group to a room past the registration counter. She shone her flashlight into the ward and centered on a bandaged figure in a wheelchair against the window. She peeled the bandages off the figure's face, Conan's tranquilizer was ready to fire when the uncovered face was revealed to be...
"A doll?" the others echoed incredulously.
"We heard the sound of the wheelchair moving until a moment ago." Genta pointed out.
"This is what caused the noise." Fumio pointed to the open window pane. "This doll looks rather new, though."
What are these doing here? Conan spotted the newspapers scattered on the floor. "These are several newspapers here from the same day six months ago. Haibara, was that doll facing this way?"
"Let's get moving." Genta stammered.
"We're on the third floor." Fumio declared. "This floor is even creepier than the last one."
"It's Room 304, right?" Haibara took the lead. "The locked door."
"What is that?" Genta gulped, the camera's light shone on the door of Room 304 which was covered in red palm prints.
"This is just someone's prank." Haibara snorted. "Something just passed by my feet." she stopped suddenly and shone her light on the floor, revealing the black cat from downstairs.
"What is that?" Genta asked, the cat merely strolling down the corridor and stopping before a person wearing a doctor's coat.
"Damn it." Conan cursed, he and Haibara took off after the others who were frightened off.
Outside the abandoned hospital...
"Conan?" Genta blinked, seeing Conan was reviewing the film Fumio had taped.
"Notice anything interesting?" Haibara asked.
"Take a look at this, guys." Conan called the others over.
In the hospital lobby after scaring the Sadao-Toshiko duo...
"That was awful." Sadao complained.
"You're the ones who scared us first." Haibara retorted.
"I'm disappointed all those videos turned out to be fake." Genta sighed.
"How did you know we set everything up?" Toshiko was confused.
"It was this." Conan showed the pair the paused video of the doll. "You're at the edge of the frame."
"What's with this cat?" Toshiko gaped when the black cat hissed at her.
"Did you two come to this abandoned hospital alone?" Conan asked. "What happened to the actors who always appear in your videos?"
"They haven't arrived yet." Toshiko replied.
"This is the ghost that appeared when we went to the third floor." Conan had the Detective Boys gather around him. "Look at her left hand. Toshiko-san doesn't have this scar. The cat that doesn't like any of them loves whoever's in this video."
"What are you guys doing?" a slimmed down Maruo Junji flashed his torchlight at the group. "You kids shouldn't be in here. Didn't you see the sign out front?"
"Wait." Conan voiced, the black cat snuggling up to Maruo.
"That cat seems quite attached to you." Haibara noted.
"I frequently patrol this place." Maruo answered.
"How'd you get that scar on your hand?" Conan pressed, shining his torchlight at Maruo's face and forcing him to use his hand to shield his eyes.
"It's the same scar on the hand of the ghost we saw on the third floor." Mitsuhiko recalled.
"And from the looks of it, that's a piercing bullet wound." Fumio added. "You were shot by a gun. It doesn't look like it was properly treated, either. To put it simply, you're the escaped murderer after the shootout in the newspapers."
"That's why there were several newspapers from the same day in that room." Haibara reasoned. "The murderer was trying to get as much information as possible on the crime they committed."
"There should be something even more desperate to keep hidden in the locked room 304." Conan added. Like the gun you used in the crime or the goods you stole."
"The culprit in that case was fat." Mitsuhiko pointed out.
"And had short blond hair." Genta added.
"He had been hiding here for the last six months." Fumio reminded. "Besides, it wasn't only his left hand that was injured; he was covered in blood and writhing in pain, it seems that he managed to stop the bleeding using the bandages he found in this abandoned hospital."
"Enough." Maruo growled. "I'll erase all of you."
"Let's flee to the second floor." Mitsuhiko suggested, the group split up to avoid getting slashed by Maruo.
"We've saved." Toshiko sighed in relief, Sadao, Genta, Haibara and Conan teamed up to scare Maruo by pretending to be the ghost of the late Kito Tomoe, the accomplice Maruo had killed.
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted, by the way. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.