File Forty-Three: Contact with the Black Organization
Game system engineer, Itakura Suguru's murder case had been quite the stressful one.
The reasons of this difficulty, however, did not come from the crime itself, but rather the disk, labeled as 'diary', where the victim had ─ hopefully ─ stored some clues concerning the mysterious Black Organization. Someone had seen a man that definitely fit with the description of Tequila walking out his room, after all.
"You don't know a thing about computers, Inspector-san!" the child had teased, then pretended to prove this by giving him some instructions like 'stand up the computer' or 'transferring some data from the disk into the computer', which he barely managed to do with the help of Takagi ─ even though he was huffing in annoyance the whole time ─ until realization hit Kogoro.
Just like Megure wasn't familiar with computer terms, the culprit probably didn't know a thing about Igo, making it impossible to know that the position of the beads in the board was wrong, and that it contained a secret dying message in braille.
While everyone was distracted, Conan had taken the opportunity to go to the computer and copy all the data into an empty disk.
"What are you doing, Conan-kun?" the child had jumped, clearly started, definitely not expecting to hear Ran's voice.
"R-Ran-neechan," his voice had sounded an octave higher than intended. "Inspector Megure left the computer on so I thought..."
Ignoring the raised eyebrow, that let the young boy know that Ran didn't buy his excuse, he had turned off the computer and stepped out, with a sheepish grin on his face, and the copied disk on his pocket.
And it remained there, as he walked back home with Ran, his right hand clutching it tightly, not wanting to let go of this lead for anything in this world. The girl was holding his other hand against his wishes ─ because he might be eight, but he was old enough to walk on his own, thank you very much.
"... I wonder if people change."
The barely audible voice ran through his ears at the same time as the grip on his left hand tightened, slightly. Feeling a bit confused about it, he looked up at Ran.
Confusion turned into concern when he noticed the tears collecting on her eyes.
And then, he understood where that thought had come from.
The criminal, Soma Ryusuke, had ended up confessing. Apparently, twenty years ago, the two of them dreamed of building the best Shoji program to be ever created, yet Itakura had never made any development through the years despite all the money Soma had invested.
"Well, we shouldn't have waited twenty years," he had said, before being taken away by the police. "Both hearts and dreams grow apart if they are separated."
"Ran-neechan..." despite the lump on his throat, Conan managed.
Her head snapped towards his spot, blinking a few times. It seemed as if she hadn't even realized she had said such a thing.
It all went away when she forced a smile. "Sorry, Conan-kun," she said to him. "It was nothing."
His piercing gaze never left her face, even as she tried to convince him otherwise. "It must be hard," then, he said, a bit of guilt tinting his voice. "To keep waiting for Shinichi-niichan."
All this time... All this time, without realizing, I have kept pressuring Ran-neechan to wait for him... Even if...
For the longest time, she did not say anything, just looked back at him with sad eyes until she sighed. Conan simply watched as she kneeled down right next to him before placing her hands on top of his shoulders.
"Listen, Conan-kun," she began, slowly. With a kindness and such an amount of patience that could only be hers. "I have already told Shinichi this. The only reason I'm still waiting for him is because I have decided to do it. It was my decision and mine alone."
The gentle smile curved her lips upwards once more.
"I know you mean well, and I have absolutely no doubts that you're trying to help, but..." she continued, struggling a bit to put her thoughts into words. "Just remember this. If there's a problem between Shinichi and me, it stays between us two. There's no need for you to be involved in all these stupid dramas, okay?"
The boy frowned slightly, but ultimately nodded his head, understanding her request. At that, the girl directed him a pleased smile, before standing up again to continue their way.
At least until someone stepped out the phone boot a few feet ahead.
Conan felt his blood freezing on his veins when his eyes met with Akai Shuichi.
"You're crying again?" asked Akai, giving Ran a blank look. "You're always crying."
"Is it wrong?" Ran didn't seem to be pleased, as she stubbornly wiped her unshed tears.
Her fiery gaze didn't disappear, holding Akai's with such an ease that seemed to amuse him. "No, it just occurred to me," he finally replied. "You remind me of a woman. One that always cries in the dark trying to appear normal... A foolish woman."
Understandably so, Ran did not like that comment. She glared at him, speechless as he started to walk, passing by them without giving her another glance.
"Wait," the young, serious voice caused Ran to look down at the child.
There was a serious look on Conan's face, eyes fixed on the man, watching him stop on his tracks and, ever so slowly, slightly turning his head to look back. Akai's expression hadn't changed, even when it focused on the kid.
"What is a FBI agent doing in Japan?" he asked him, a frown deeply carved on his features. "You need permission of the government to do that, don't you?"
Conan said nothing else, as Akai seemed to examine him with his eyes for a moment, that narrowing for some reason. "I'm just visiting," he answered with a faint smirk. "Do I need permission for that?"
"... No. No, you don't."
Giving him another last glance, Akai continued his way. The child's eyes did not leave the FBI agent's back as it became smaller and smaller in the distance. They did break away, however, when Ran's hand latched on his own.
"I guess it's enough for today, Detective-san," she said, with a slight smile. "Let's go home."
"Y-Yeah."
As he allowed himself to be taken away, Conan's mind did not stop wondering about it. Is that guy really with the FBI? Haibara-san seemed to react to his presence during James-san's kidnapping case...
Conan groaned mentally. He still had trouble digesting something so illogical as 'reacting to a presence', but he knew Haibara. That girl would never joke when it was related to them.
Akai Shuichi... Member of the FBI? Member of the Organization? Which one is it?
... He couldn't have infiltrated the FBI, could he?
Since he lacked of information and wondering about it any longer was going to get him nowhere, he pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind.
At this moment, he had other stuff to worry about.
"Oh, Conan, perfect timing!" said the professor as soon as he stepped inside his house. "I've invented a new gadget for you. Also, I have a pair of extra glasses so you-"
"Thanks," the child seemed to be in a hurry as he moved to the center of the living room, looking around for some reason. "Where is Haibara-san?"
"Ai-kun is in the shower," Agasa answer, a bit confused as to why he was asking that in the first place.
"I see," he smirked. "That's great news."
"Great news...? Wait, Conan, don't tell me you...?!"
Blinking confusedly at the angered reaction of the old professor, Conan felt his smirk dropping. "I... what?"
"... Nevermind," the professor waved it off. "Forget about it."
With a forced laugh, Agasa walked away, leaving Conan behind, who gave him a last questioning look before following, shrugging as he did that.
Once he got to the computer, Conan told Agasa everything that he had found out, as he put the disk in. Both of them looked through the diary, not finding anything out of the ordinary, besides what he already knew. That Itakura had met with a giant speaking Kansai dialect and that he hoped to never see him ever again.
Then, he realized they were some strange white spaces in between the entries, so he highlighted them. More information was revealed to them.
Apparently someone had been sneaking into Itakura's office after he met with Tequila, and then broken into his house. He had grown afraid and, eventually, left a message in his desk, stating that he agreed to their demands, then received an answer: the word 'OK' written in a deep red ink and a number. He knew what that colour implied.
He had decided to call a few days after that. A woman had answered and demanded to finish a computer program he had abandoned. He had exactly one year to do it.
But then he had written that he couldn't complete the program. He was scared to do so. For humanity, that was. Because of that, he had decided to run, leaving the incomplete program behind and check near the computer at his cottage. They would send a mail at midnight, five days since then to organize when to meet.
Which means it will arrive tonight in three hours.
There was one last entry, though, that made his blood freeze.
"February 15th:
I wonder what they were going to do with this program. I can't stop thinking about the strange thing that the woman said over the phone.
Right. When I was finally tired of her queen-like mentality, I asked her who the hell she thought she was, to which she only replied in English:
We can be both God and the Devil.
Since we're trying to raise the dead against the stream of time."
"What in the world-?!" Conan exclaimed right after reading that outloud, completely astonished, and equally horrified.
"What is that? Are you reading some fantasy story about a wizard?"
The young female voice caused both males to unintentionally wince and to spin around, shocked to see the little scientist standing right behind them, her eyebrow raised far above her hairline.
"T-That's right," Agasa laughed awkwardly. "I've gotten hooked on a foreign story, right, Conan?"
"Y-Yeah."
"And why is Kudo-kun here?"
"He's here for my new invention," the professor bend down and picked something from a box. "Right, Conan?"
"Y-Yeah."
Next thing the young boy knew, he was blinking at the belt that the old professor had put around his waist. He watched, with a very blank look as he turned a dial and pressed a button, causing a soccer ball to pop out, bounce a few times on the ground before deflating.
"With this you don't have to worry to find anything nearby to kick! Isn't it terribly useful, Conan?"
"..."
"Conan?" he repeated, with a more stern tone.
"Y-Yeah. Truly amazing."
"This is stupid," Haibara rolled her eyes. "I'm going to bed."
Once she was gone, the two of them let out a long sigh of relief.
His plan was supposed to be a simple one, even if a bit dangerous at the same time. Agasa would drive him to Itakura's cottage where they would intercept the email the Organization were going to send him. With that they would be able to trace them and done. Everything would be perfect.
But of course. Of course they had thought ahead. It turned out to be programmed to require a password. Predictably so, none of them had no idea of what it could be, so the mail got deleted after five seconds.
And the phone rang. Both of them had a pretty good idea of who it could be.
"This is bad," Agasa commented, before fixing his gaze to the heavy storm outside the cottage. "If they are watching, we have no other choice but to go out into the blizzard through the backdoor, despite the danger..."
"No thanks. Don't want to catch a cold."
"Eh?" then his blood froze when he spotted the child walking towards the phone. "Wait, Conan, what are you-?!"
Before he could even finish that sentence, the young boy was picking it up, bowtie over his mouth to mimic Itakura's voice. "Yes?"
"Yo, what's up?" Conan recognized the voice that greeted him. "Heard you failed to open the email."
Vodka.
"Ah, sorry. I guess the lines got disconnected due to the storm. The power went out before I could check my mail."
Conan felt, for the first time in a while, extremely lucky that Vodka was the one behind the phone and not Gin, who was notoriously smarter and would have most likely seen right through his lies.
Had it been the silver haired one, Conan wouldn't have manipulated the conversation to rearrange the meeting for that day at four in the morning, either. It wouldn't be good, after all, if the Organization caught wind of Itakura's death in the news.
They got back into the Beetle as soon as possible, hoping to make it to Tokyo in four hours so they could trick them with the help of the police. As Agasa drove, Conan took the professor's laptop and tried the disk with the incomplete program.
It was password-locked, however. "We have nothing to tell the police now," the child groaned, desperately typing random words, hoping that it would, somehow, work out.
"But don't those guys always carry guns?" Agasa tried. "If we report to the police that they're selling illegal weapons, they'll come."
The child paused at that, turning to look at the professor's way and noticed, for the first time today, how terrified he was at the prospect. Hands clenching against the wheel, eyebrows brought together and a colourless face were proof of that.
So Conan frowned slightly. "You're right."
By the corner of his eyes, the child noticed how some tension disappeared in Agasa's shoulders as he pressed the phone against his ear. "Hello? This is Kudo," Shinichi's voice then filled Agasa's ears, as the child spoke close to his bowtie.
Little did the old professor know that he really wasn't calling anyone.
Because the child knew that, if he did, it would be just like killing those few officers that would be sent. Not even the police was aware of how dangerous this secret organization could be.
It will be okay, he thought, staring outside the window to the purely white scenery outside. I will live.
So I can bring all of them down for once and for all.
Only then Oniichan, Haibara-san, everyone...
He was brought out of his thoughts when the car suddenly started shaking and came into a stop. It wasn't long until they realized they had a flat tire. Just my luck.
"We'll have to ask a gas station nearby to bring us a spare," Agasa huffed.
"But that will take forever!" Conan loudly complained. "Especially at this hour."
"Well, we can just wait in the car," with a shrug, he opened the back door. "Why don't you get some sleep in the meantime? It's pretty late."
"There's no time for that!"
Agasa paused, blinking confusedly at the boy that seemed to be in a hurry, for some reason he could not hope to understand. Realizing his mistake, Conan flinched, before forcing a smile, visually calmer than before.
"I-I mean, Ran-neechan would definitely be very angry if I arrive even later than it is."
"Eh? Weren't you supposed to stay the night at my house?"
"I don't have any desire to stay in the same house as that evil-eyed yawny girl."
"Come on, Conan. Don't be so unreasonable-"
"Ah, look! A car!"
Without waiting for a reply, Conan started to wave his hands to get the car to stop. Agasa sighed, tiredly, as he watched the kid cutely asking for a ride.
On the bright side, they got their trip to Tokyo.
On the other, they had just gotten inside a stolen car from a group of jewel robbers that were on the run.
Not even in his wildest dreams had Conan believed that the day he would be saved by a balloon would come, but there he was, hopping off the car where one of the criminals had been knocked out by one of his darts, and the other was pressed against the car window because of said balloon. I guess this invention proved to be more useful that what it looked like, huh?
"Well, I'm leaving now," the kid smiled at the old professor. "Call the police and tell them you caught the jewel robbers they're looking for, okay?"
"Hey, hey, where are you going?"
"Home," he replied, easily. "There is a train station nearby, so I might as well ride one."
"Wait a second, Conan-"
"Later!"
The professor only watched, with a worried expression, as the child began to run away from him, disappearing around the corner the next second, and sighed tiredly. Well, taking a train this late definitely not the most dangerous thing this kid has done, but...
He frowned.
Please be safe, Conan.
Not even Agasa knew if he was talking about his trip home anymore.
As soon as he got away from Agasa's sight, Conan's smile disappearing, adopting a more serious expression. If I told him I'm going to do this, he wouldn't let me go, he thought, pulling his hoodie over his head. I can't keep getting people involved.
Like so, he ran down the stairs, as quickly as he could. Once in place, he put his plan in motion.
At exactly 04:00 PM, Vodka arrived at the place they had accorded to meet. His flashlight illuminated the entire locker room, but there was no sign of life in there. He figured he had freaked out at the last minute, not that it was surprising.
So, he took his time to lit up a cigarette, unaware of the small boy watching him from a distance away, hiding from plain sight.
Then he noticed a check poking out from the locker he had told Itakura to met in. Opening it, he couldn't help but laugh at the sight of a CD case, covered in tape for some reason. "Such a fool," he said to himself as he started to peel it off.
Conan smirked when he let his cigarette fall into the ground.
Click.
His smirk was wiped out at the sight of the gun placed in the back of Vodka's head. Gin, he recognized him instantly, then frowned slightly when the silver haired man picked up the cigarette, placed it back on his partner's mouth and told him that the tape was, most likely, to get his fingerprints.
He cursed in his mind when Gin showed Vodka the tracking device stuck in the CD case.
"This is a clever fox," Gin smirked.
"Itakura, that bastard..." Vodka was angry.
"No, it wasn't Itakura," he dropped the tracker into the floor and smashed it into pieces with his foot. "Extreme climate condition place stress on the heart. Someone with heart issues would never go somewhere like that during a snowstorm."
Damn it, everything was going so well... Why did it have to be Gin...?
"This case... It's been wiped down, but it's still emitting heat," Conan's hair stood into an end.
This can't be good.
"That means..."
"Yeah, he must be hiding nearby."
Definitely not good.
The sound of gun's safety unlocking made his blood to freeze and the steps slowly coming closer and closer caused his heart to start pounding heavily against his small ribcage.
His head spun around, frantically looking for a way out. To his dismay, the exit was far too away from his current position to be accessible at the moment, so that was not an option.
The two men in black were getting closer and closer.
Then, his eyes fell on the locker behind him and instantly started to move. By the time he had gotten inside, he heard those same steps right in front of him, evidently confused about the fact that they were, apparently, all alone.
By now, Conan was sweating profusely.
"What do we do know?" he heard Vodka say.
Calm down, Conan tried to keep his breathing even, despite the panic he was going through, painfully aware of how loudly it was sounding in his own ears. He could only hope that none of them could hear him from outside. You're okay. You will be fine.
But Gin was deadly silent. That, above all, scared him the most.
His heavy breathing suddenly came into a stop, air freezing on his lungs, when he heard what came next. The sounds of lockers bursting open, one after another, in a frenzy. But there was nothing the child could do, but to pray in the darkness for a miracle.
When light filtered through, Conan honestly thought everything was all over.
But Gin froze, right before he could completely open the locker he was in. "What am I doing?" he shook his head. "An adult couldn't fit in here."
The door slowly closed shut, and Conan didn't even think about moving from his spot.
"Well then, let's disguise and leave. The police could be on their way," Gin told his partner, as they got far and far away. "We should always be on guard, because there's someone investigating us. A fox as clever as a detective."
Gin's voice caused a chill to run down his spine, terror washing over him like a cold breeze, and realized it. If this person was this terrifying to the point to cause the little boy to genuinely want to run away at the sound of his voice, he really didn't want to know how hard it must have been for Haibara to be actively taught all those terrifying things by him.
The girl was afraid of this guy, understandably so.
Now it was quiet, awfully quiet, causing the boy to wonder if they were truly gone. His breathing was becoming more ragged as time passed by, which he attributed to the panic, and he really, really didn't want to move.
Like so, all alone in darkness, the boy hugged his knees in front of his chest. I want to go home, the childish thought invaded his mind before he could help himself and, with a shaky breath, he closed his eyes, face pressing against his legs. Behind his eyelids, he could see his friends, Haibara, Ran's radiant smile as she welcomed him home...
And of course, his brother was also there. Grinning at him so brightly that it could have lighted up all darkness in the world.
But it was still dark. Dark, cold and cramped.
And Conan could hear them. Voices speaking with each other that, for some reason, he thought he needed to listen to. So he just stayed there, completely still and silent, taking into every bit of the conversation, hoping, praying that nobody would know where he was.
They would kill him if they knew he was there.
But... he needed to know. He had to know more.
So, ever so slowly, his little finger went to the zipper and gingerly poked a single hole open.
Light momentarily blinded him, causing his eyes to close shut tightly because of the pain...
And Haibara's face came into view.
To which, once he became used to his overly bright environment, Conan blinked as if he was stupid, feeling completely disoriented and confused about the fact that it was that bright at four in the morning.
"Haibara-san," he managed, however. "What are you doing here?"
"That's what I should be asking you," she looked as confused as him. "What are you doing inside a locker, of all things?"
"... How did you...?" he ignored her question.
She simply stepped away so he could crawl outside. "When the Professor hadn't come home by morning I used the spare glasses to find you."
"M-Morning?!"
"Yeah, morning."
It took a moment more than necessary for the young boy to realize what had happened. In such a small, cramped place, there was no wonder he passed out from lack of oxygen, especially considering he might have taken more than needed due to the frightening situation he had barely gotten out of.
"Little girl, did you find your friend?" a worker asked her.
"Yes," at the cherry, overly sweet voice she had never, ever used before, Conan couldn't help but wonder if he was still passed out in that locker and hallucinating, or something.
But he kept those thoughts to himself. The boy simply gave the adult a shaky nod when they were told to go back home, before following the scientist outside.
"So?" her voice had dropped to her mature, stern one. "What were you doing in there?"
"... Napping?" it came out as a question.
She gave him that look, causing Conan to quickly realize she was not buying it. So, he waved it off with a nervous laugh, and started to walk, only for her to follow suit, even if her sharp gaze had yet to disappear.
As he started to explain however that the professor was with the police, he noticed Haibara stopping on her tracks, head whipping around to look over her shoulder.
Her pale expression did not take long to show itself.
"Hey, what's wrong?" so, the boy asked.
"Ah, no. It's nothing."
"Haibara-san, do you seriously believe it's nothing when you're wearing that expression?"
"Says the one who claims that took a nap in a locker."
Conan opened his mouth to speak, yet nothing came out. Sighing tiredly, he continued his way home.
After everything he had gone through, he couldn't wait to get there.
"Anyway, let's hurry up," Haibara shrugged, finally giving up in the previous discussion. "You still have to pick up your backpack at your house."
"Huh?"
"We have school, remember?"
A loud groan ripped away from the young boy's throat before he could help himself.