File Sixty-Nine: The Clash of Red and Black
"Conan, what is it? It's weird for you to call..."
"What are you talking about? You called before and I couldn't answer. I'm just calling you back."
By the corner of his eye, he took a brief glance to Camel's direction, who was still being pressured into confessing what kind of work he had. For less than a second, he caught the man giving him a pleading look, to which he replied with an apologetic one of his own, mouthing the words 'hang in there', as in a feeble attempt to comfort him that wasn't reassuring enough.
"Ah, yeah, I guess I did that..." the voice from the phone said.
Conan let out a heavy sigh. He had initially been concerned that it was an emergency, given his unusual call, but from his reaction just now, he figured it was probably nothing.
"If you forgot, that means it wasn't important, and you just intended to annoy me."
"I didn't forget-"
"You were surprised I called you back."
"You never call me back."
"As a matter of fact, I do."
"Why couldn't you answer it, anyway?" questioned Shinichi, abruptly. "Ran said you were at the Professor's," then he added, with an almost recriminating tone. "You weren't doing anything risky, were you?"
Actually, the child paused at that. He hoped his brother didn't notice.
"Of course not, idiot," he rushed to think of a believable excuse. "I was helping Ai-san out with her new cat."
Silence suddenly met his ears, causing the young boy to blink and think over his words. I didn't mess up, did I? he wondered, but then realized that there was nothing particularly suspicious that was telltale enough of his lie.
"Are we talking about the same Ai-chan?" there was something in the high school detective's voice that Conan genuinely didn't like.
"... Yes?" he blinked. "If it's about the cat, I'm pretty sure you already knew."
"Yeah, Ran told me."
"Then?"
"As far as I knew..." with the teasing tone his voice had gained, Conan was pretty sure he could somehow picture his expression right now ─ a wide, teasing grin popped into his mind and caused his eyebrow to twitch by pure instinct. "... you have never called her like that, have you?"
At the sound of a terribly frustrated groan, all four children turned around to blink at their friend, confused at the way he rubbed his face, as if suddenly feeling exhausted, or the sight of his ears, that were completely red for some reason.
It completely slipped from my mouth. He mentally groaned, cursing himself for saying it in front of him. Of all people.
"I have only one question... Why?"
... Why does everyone keep asking that?
"So?" Shinichi pressed after a moment of silence.
"So what?" the boy growled at him. "You said nothing when I started calling Ayumi-chan by her first name."
"We both know that's different, right?"
"Hardly."
"You're cute when you want to, you know that?"
He was definitely not cute, Conan affirmed in his mind. In order to avoid being embarrassed any longer, the kid opted to bite back any other comment. It kind of backfired, though, since that prompted the teenager to laugh even louder.
"Yeah, yeah, keep laughing and I'll make sure you remember this next time we meet."
"No thanks," he stopped abruptly at that. "I doubt I'll like getting my nose broken by a soccer ball."
Conan perked up at that. "Ah, speaking of soccer..." he commented, scratching his chin. "I met with one of your soccer friends the other day."
Shinichi certainly noticed the sudden change of topic. "Eh?" but let it go due to his curiosity. "Who was it?"
"How am I supposed to know? I don't have a clue," Conan replied with annoyance ─ even if he was secretly grateful that he had let the other subject go. "He had a bandage wrapped around his head. Said he had injured himself in soccer practice and fainted, so I thought you knew him."
"Ah, that must be Nakamichi!" the teen exclaimed with a laugh. "Definitely tried to do an overhead. Seriously, that's the only person who could land himself into a hospital like that!"
Only silence met his words, and he silently wondered why. Before he could even ask Conan if he was still there, his voice rang through:
"... Oniichan."
"What?"
"I thought we agreed I was at the Professor's."
"W-Well..."
The child frowned, clearly hearing the nervousness in his brother's voice. "So you were there," he didn't need to tell him where was 'there'. "Were you following me?!"
He had gotten far too agitated ─ he realized when all eyes fell on him, to which he waved them off. They returned to their business, and he drew in a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.
"You were there," he repeated, slowier this time. "Why... Why didn't you say anything to me?"
The lack of instant reply only angered Conan even further, but managed to keep it inside. Just listening at the deafening quietness on the other side of the line as his little fingers clenched against the phone.
"Why are we playing this game again? Hide and seek, like it was in the beginning," finally, after a few agonizing seconds of silence, the child let out a rueful smile. "You know, Oniichan... I genuinely thought... Just this once..." he said in a weak whisper, before his face went serious, and his voice rose. "... I thought you could be honest with me!"
Shinichi made a sound, as if his words had hurt him, but the child couldn't care less at this moment.
"And you know what? I'm sick of it! All you do is lie, lie and then lie again!"
"Conan, I can explain it-"
"Can you?"
Before he could even give the chance to his brother to explain himself, his eyes fell on the door that just opened, revealing a smiling Jodie walking in. "Look," he sighed. "I can't listen to you right now. I'm in the middle of a case."
Shinichi was strangely quiet, not even trying to offer any explanation.
"But I will listen, okay?" the child assured him. "We'll have a long talk about this later."
"... We will," the older brother agreed. "But not now... Not in a long time either."
The bespectacled boy's lips pressed against each other.
"You see," he continued, with a small, awkward laugh. "I'll be busy for the next few days so..."
He trailed down into silence, which the kid didn't even bother to break. He just stood there, phone pressed against his ear and hand gripping tightly the device. Slowly, he closed his eyes.
"Conan?"
The sound of the call being disconnected was all the high school detective had as an answer.
With a long, heavy sigh, he gave the phone in his hand one last glare before joining the rest in the center of the room. At that point, Jodie had already told everyone that Camel was an FBI agent, he had shown the police his identification, and the rest was gaping, shocked beyond belief at the course of events.
Their shock only intensified when she blatantly declared herself his lover ─ she said Camel had come to look for her because her insanely long stay in Japan had worried him. Well... he stared at them, blankly. Not bad, I guess...
"Thank you, Conan-kun," whispered Jodie, kneeling in front of him as she passed by him. "For letting me know."
The jerky nod he offered in return seemed to satisfy the teacher, who smiled at the child before walking away, dragging Camel with her to the corner of the room. He still is a suspect for the police. He glanced at them from over his shoulder for a moment. But he should be safe for now...
He looked back ahead, with all the intention to give the body another look, only to pause and stare at the pair of serious eyes that were staring at him from close, blocking his view. Understandably, he blinked.
"Mitsuhiko?" Conan was genuinely confused. "Is something the matter?"
Mitsuhiko frowned, and now the other boy was beginning to feel a tad uncomfortable.
"Are you going to keep staring at me or-?" Conan's eyebrow rose.
"How do you know that other FBI agent?"
That question he didn't expect left the boy speechless, staring at his friend standing in front of him with wide, surprised eyes that gave everything away. He tried to say anything, he really did, but before that another pair of curious gazes fell on him from over Mitsuhiko's shoulder.
"He helped the FBI," it was Haibara, though, the first one to speak up. "That should be obvious by first sight."
He genuinely wanted to call her out for telling them such a thing, but figured out that she was right ─ it was awfully obvious. Better get that out of the way, he figured.
"EH?!" both Ayumi and Genta exclaimed. "You-!"
"Shh!" Conan hissed at them, then continued in a lower volume. "Do you really want everyone to know that much?"
Luckily, every other adult currently was far too preoccupied with the scene of crime to pay attention to a group of elementary school kids chatting with each other.
"Why didn't you say something, huh?" Genta crossed his arms in front of his chest, visually offended. "Are we not worth knowing?"
"Don't be stupid," Conan rolled his eyes. "Not even the police is supposed to know they are investigating stuff, so you better keep your mouth shut or else-"
"But it's so cool!" exclaimed Ayumi, a bit too loud for Conan's liking. "You're like a secret agent!"
"What did I just say?!"
Shaking her head with a soft smile on her face, Ai continued to observe the situation developing in front of her eyes. A frantic Conan desperately trying to calm down a very excited Ayumi, and to subside an angry Genta was a sight that amused her to no belief.
Her smile dimmed, however, when her eyes fell on the other member of their little detective club. He was listening to Conan's explanations alright, but there was something else. If it was the way his eyebrows knitted together in some expression akin to concern, or his eyes were gazing at somewhere far away, that she couldn't see, Haibara wasn't certain.
There was something that the scientist couldn't deny, however. That boy was scared for motives she couldn't hope to understand.
Detective Mouri Kogoro sighed, all but collapsing in his little stool in a bar as he raised his hand to the bartender without even looking at him, asking him to give him 'the usual'.
I sure am unlucky today, he lamented in his mind, unable to get around his head that the horse he had bet on had lost, again.
He had been so sure that it would be the winner today... Should he try another one next time? ─ Mouri sighed once more. If at least I could get another lead to that case, too.
Reaching down for his pocket, he pulled out a photograph he had stared at so many times already. A generic-looking man was staring back at him, and Kogoro could only shake his head in return. Anything concerning this guy over here.
Investigating further, Megure and he had found out that Jackal had been spotted a lot throughout the last year, most of the time in KID's heists. Every single instance, certain witnesses would claim that he would go confront the thief surrounded by several other men in black ─ supposedly, his under-men ─ demanding him to hand over whatever jewel he was attempting to steal.
They had identified one of those under-men ─ hadn't been careful enough and got his face caught by a security camera. And his face was now in Kogoro's hand.
Now, if he could somehow find out more about that guy.
"Uh, sir?" the bartender asked, and it was now that Kogoro realized he couldn't recognize his voice. "I'm kind of new around here, so I have no idea what to get you."
"Ah, sorry," he raised his head. "I'll get-"
He froze into place as soon as his eyes fell on the man in front of him, who just stood there blinking. Kogoro did the same, slowly lowering his head to look at the photo in his hand, before looking at the bartender once more. He noticed he was looking at the photograph as well, and sweating bullets.
No wonder, since their faces were exactly the same.
Kogoro's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Hey," he didn't miss the way the guy in front of him flinched. "Do you know someone that goes by the name of-?"
Certainly, he didn't expect the bartender to jump over the counter and try to make it out of the bar.
What the guy didn't expect, though, was that he would get judo-thrown into the floor, and immobilized, before he could make it two steps away from his original spot.
Apparently, the note the victim had written before death, that the culprit had taken with him, read 'Bring my tux,' in English. That had confused Conan more than ever before ─ why would that possibly incriminate someone? He couldn't see it.
"U-Umm," at some point Hal Buckner, an English teacher, spoke up. "If we're just waiting, I really need to leave in two hours. The class I'm in charge of starts very soon."
"May I please go to the hotel reception?" the victim's secretary, Irina Palmer, who couldn't read or write Japanese well, timidly questioned. "I have to cancel many appointments, and we may find out about the people the president met today."
"That's true..." Jodie commented, before turning to Megure. "I guess it won't be a problem if they're accompanied by a detective?"
The inspector agreed, even if he had to tell Hal that he would have to give up his lesson. Like so, the teacher left to inform the principal and Irina to do what she had told them she would, accompanied by Takagi and Chiba each.
But then Toby Keynes, a model, scoffed. "Someone was just killed here," he shook his head. "And they're worried about lessons and parties?"
At those words, Conan's eyes went wide open as they shifted to him. I see. Realization struck him. So that was it! That's why he...
"Don't you agree, inspector?"
Before the inspector could emit any kind of opinion, his phone suddenly went off, causing him to pause and take it out of his pocket. One glance at the screen was all it took for him to sigh, as if drained, and excuse himself to the corner of the room.
"What the hell?" Jodie's voice, in English, rang in the child's ears, taking his attention away from the inspector.
"What's wrong?" he asked, curiously.
"I thought Shuu might know the meaning of that tuxedo memo, but..."
Conan opened his mouth to speak, to tell her they probably didn't need his help because he had solved it, when he paused. Jodie was a FBI agent, he reminded himself. One whose face was known by the Organization ─ at least by Vermouth...
If the worst were to happen when she was on her own, in her way out, she would be without a way to communicate... She wouldn't be able to ask for help. Then...
"I can't reach him because my cell phone hasn't been working right since this morning..."
Shaking his head, and scolding himself for thinking the worst-case scenario again, Conan took his phone out of his pocket. He gave it a hard, long look before letting out a heavy sigh.
"Jodie-sensei," he called, with a smile on his face. "Why don't you just borrow mine for a while?"
"Is that okay? Aren't your friends' messages and phone numbers inside?"
"It's alright, I cleared all of my mail data recently..."
As a matter of fact, he never kept his mail data stored for long, mostly for paranoia issues honestly ─ he dreaded to think of what people would do with that information if he ever lost it.
"... and if I remove my cell phone's sim card," he continued, as he did exactly as he was telling her. "You won't be able to see the phone numbers," he offered it to her. "Just put yours in there and you'll be done."
"But..." hesitantly, she accepted it. "Won't be a problem if you don't have a cell phone?"
"It's fine!" he smiled widely. "I have another one," as a matter of fact he did, even if it was shaped as an earring for reasons Conan would never be able to understand. "Besides, I don't need to call anybody right now."
She was puzzled at that ─ Jodie could've sworn that his smile had become a bit more sinister than innocent for less than a second. Whatever that was, it was gone right away, so she shrugged it off with a smile of her own and thanked the kid.
"But, that's strange, isn't it?" the kid added, confusing the teacher for a moment. "They have different shapes outside, but on the inside, they're the cell phones we're used to."
Jodie looked back at his phone, contemplating it for a moment, before while his friends questioned what in the world he meant with that. "We can't judge a book by its cover?" at the clueless looks he received by the other kids, Conan sighed, tiredly. "Look at Camel-san over there," the agent flinched at the mention of his name. "He has a very scary look, yet he's still with the FBI."
Camel winced, but didn't emit any opinion. The three children kept staring at his soul, not understanding what he was talking about.
"Oh, thank you!" Jodie cried in English while she smiled at the child. "Because of you, I figured out the mystery of the memo!"
Conan gave her a sheepish grin and nodded childishly.
"You did what?!"
Blinking in confusion, Conan's ─ and everyone else's, for that matter ─ eyes fell on the inspector in the room's corner, who was rubbing his face for some reason. Upon realizing that he had gathered a bit too much attention, he laughed nervously. "I'll be there as fast as I can," then he said to the phone, with a friendlier voice. "Just let me wrap this up, okay?"
With that, Megure disconnected the call and shoved his phone back into his pocket, sighing.
"Is something the matter?" seeing all that, Agasa asked him.
"Ah, no. It's nothing," Megure said, a bit too quickly. "It's about... my wife."
The bespectacled child gave the adult a very odd look at that, but let it slide. Instead, he turned to him, hands wrapped together behind his back. "Say, Inspector," he offered him a childish smile. "You need to solve this quickly, don't you?"
"Y-Yeah..." he muttered, unable to see his point.
"Why don't you try this, then? You only need one word for it to work. Well, some preparations as well, but I promise it will be quick."
Megure blinked, then kneeled down when Conan said he would whisper it to him. The way his face fell after hearing whatever he had said, his friends and Agasa got seriously curious, so they insisted, over and over, to let them know.
He hesitated.
"Don't keep it to yourself, Conan!"
"Yeah, just-!"
"Don't laugh, okay?"
Disconcerted blinking was all the answer Conan got so, with a long heavy sigh, he leaned forward and whispered. Of course, being the good friends they were, they all laughed emphatically, without exception.
"You liar!" Ayumi managed to get out through her amusement.
"You're such an idiot!" Conan did his best ─ but failed ─ to pretend that Genta's comment didn't annoy him as much as it did.
"If culprits could be identified like this, we'd no longer need the police!" Mitsuhiko laughed.
Conan's eyebrow twitched in response and looked away with a bit of a huff. I figured they would say that, but it didn't make him like it any better.
"And?" Haibara raised an eyebrow. "What are you really going to say?"
"Tell us without the jokes," Agasa smiled.
"I..." he shifted, clearly uncomfortable. "... was serious about what I said."
"... Seriously?"
"How is it going?"
"As it should," replied the agent, with a bit of a smirk, as he drove by the darkened streets of Haido City towards his destination ─ Akai Shuichi's last destination, he realized nonchalantly. "We agreed to meet tonight at 7 PM."
Shinichi hummed at that. "So in a little over an hour," he thought out loud. "Where is it? Remember, you're supposed to arrive early, before her."
"The seventh left curve along the Raiha Pass."
The detective was barely surprised ─ on that pass, so late, there would be few cars passing by, making it the perfect place for a clandestine meeting. "Raiha Pass, huh?" nevertheless, he couldn't help but laugh, dryly. "That's... fitting, I guess."
"Fitting?"
"Well, yeah... Raiha sounds a lot like-"
"Reichenbach Falls. The place where Sherlock Holmes and his enemy Moriarty fell to their death," he shrugged. "Except that Holmes didn't die there."
There was a pause, a long one, before Shinichi got his voice back. "You read it?"
"You're not the only one that likes Arthur Conan Doyle."
"... A-Ah, I see..."
It was silent for a moment, confusing Akai, even if he didn't let the detective know. Then, finally, there was a long sigh coming from the other side of the phone, letting him know the other was still there.
"Did you know? Any other day, I'd have said that there's no way someone that likes Holmes could be a bad person, but..." Shinichi's voice went deadly serious. "I hope you know none of this means I've forgiven you... for using Akemi-san."
Silence met Shinichi's statement, and a tight frown replaced Akai's smirk as he glared at the road in front of him. "I'm aware," his response was short, yet it was enough for Shinichi.
The teen paused for a moment, as if debating what to say next, before the sounds of pages being flipped could be heard from Akai's phone. "Then, if the meeting is going to take place at the seventh left curve along Raiha Pass," he mumbled to himself as he seemed to look through a map. "I should report a traffic accident around... here. Now, about the timing..."
Akai listened as the detective whispered and rambled to himself and suppressed a chuckle. "It seems everything is going according to plan..." the agent spoke up, causing Shinichi's words to come to a halt. "Except for something."
"Huh?" he asked, worried, before grimacing. "Please, don't tell me that Conan..."
Raising an eyebrow, although he couldn't be seen, he replied quickly. "No," he heard Shinichi letting out a breath of relief. "James found out," at that, the teen seemed to groan. "But don't worry. He can be trusted."
"If you say so..." the sound of pages flipping resumed. "Call me when you're nearby. I need to take care of more stuff here..."
"Understood."
"Is he really going to say it?" questioned Ayumi.
"There's no way!" Genta was certain.
"They would just laugh if he did," Mitsuhiko agreed with his friend.
Conan glared at them from the corner of his eye. It's not that stupid, he tried to convince himself, as he crossed his arms behind his head. At least, Inspector Megure doesn't think so...
"Now that you're all four gathered there... First..."
Contrary to what he had tried to convince himself, Megure hesitated, blushing over the stupidity he was going to say to the four suspects that stood in front of him, in front of the chairs. Hey, hey... Conan took offense in the way the inspector acted, but just huffed and stood there, quietly.
"Shiranpuri!"
Child laughter filled the room entirely, then died down suddenly upon the sight that met everyone's eyes ─ Toby Keynes was standing there, cluelessly staring at the other three suspects that had all sat down.
Conan couldn't fight the smug grin that crossed his features as he gave his group of incredulous friends a brief look, before turning to Jodie, who explained everything.
Keynes wasn't a foreigner, just Japanese, resulting in him only understanding the original meaning of shiranpuri, 'play innocent', instead of the English phrase 'sit down, please' that anyone used to live overseas would understand, especially if they were standing in front of a row of chairs.
That was why he had taken out the memo ─ he didn't know what it meant. He had been hoping to ask someone the meaning, so he had placed it inside his jacket, and remained there until the moment the police checked him over. Thus, he was forced to confess to the crime. The victim had tricked his American girlfriend into signing a contract in Japanese that he didn't understand, forcing to overwork herself until her death. Because of the contract, his brother was to be held responsive if she could not continue working, so Keynes wanted to save him from such a cruel fate.
Whatever happened in the past, the case was closed now, to which Conan was definitely grateful for. These last few days had been pretty agitated, so he was glad to go back home and spend a hopefully peaceful night.
"That was so cool, the way the culprit was revealed."
"Yeah! It was just like a magic spell!"
"But wasn't that guy an idiot? For keeping a note that had nothing to do with the case..."
"... I thought I was the idiot."
Flinching violently, the three children whirled around to see their friend who downright glared at them, arms crossed in front of his chest as if expecting them to say something to defend themselves. When they didn't, his eyebrow rose, causing the three to give out a nervous laugh.
"I'm sorry!" they chorused.
His expression didn't change more than a slight narrow of his eyes, before huffing and walking away, looking quite offended still.
"Drama queen," Haibara rolled her eyes as she joined the group.
Ayumi, Mitsuhiko and Genta nodded in agreement, a tad dumbfounded.
"I wonder if he got it from his parents," Genta questioned.
"From his mother, definitely," nodded Mitsuhiko. "Living out of dramatics..."
"Do you think that's the case with Shinichi-niisan, too?" Ayumi added.
"I can still hear you, guys," groaned Conan, sticking his hands inside his pockets.
The rest of his group either didn't hear or didn't care about it, because they continued on and on. Thanks, guys, he thought, sarcastically. Glad you always have my back.
"What the-? Why isn't he answering?" his attention drifted away from his friends to Jodie, who was grumbling to herself, as she held his phone to her ear. "I even went to the trouble of borrowing Conan-kun's phone to call him... He isn't picking up, that Shuu..." she huffed, before turning to the child who was still staring at them. "Sorry, Conan-kun, but is it really okay, for me to keep this until tomorrow?"
"As long as you don't break it or anything," he shrugged, blinking at her for a second. "But is there something wrong with Akai-san?"
"He's probably taking a nap," Camel reassured the kid. "It seems he didn't sleep much during that case."
Conan hummed, as if pondering over his words. "I see," he mumbled, quietly.
"Conan-kun!" Ayumi's voice resounded in his ears. "We're about to leave!"
"Hurry up!" exclaimed Genta, impatiently. "We're going to leave you behind!"
"I'm actually considering it, you know," he stated blankly, as he gave them a plain look.
"What? You're still mad?"
"Yeah, quite a bit," though the grin in his face betrayed him.
So, with a nod and a wave, he bid goodbye to the two agents before rushing to meet his friends. Pleased that this adventure seemed to be wrapped up, he climbed up the car and settled right next to Mitsuhiko.
Shinichi put the phone down, sighing as he tiredly leaned against the windshield of a borrowed motorbike ─ taken without asking first, actually, but who cared really? Besides the original owner, of course.
Random report of traffic accident, check, he listed in his mind, taking off that annoying voice-changing choker that he had used, so not to be recognized. Seems like everything is ready.
... It's all up to your acting skills, Akai-san.
Checking the time on his phone, he realized that there was still a bit of time until 7 PM. Considering how long it takes the police to get here, and that Gin likes the job to be done quickly... I'd say that the timing will be right. He continued to think over the plan. Akai-san made sure to show Jodie that he grabbed Conan's phone when I called...
His thoughts came into a violent pause at the thought of that certain child, and his fingers started moving on their own. His eyes softened at that particular photo that he still had on his phone. A photograph that Ran had sent him a couple of years ago, before all this mess, that she had found in her home while cleaning the house.
It was impressive how different thirteen-year-old Shinichi looked, in contrast to the current one. His eyes were full of life, full of dreams ─ he hadn't seen everything seventeen-year-old Shinichi had, and that was clear by the grin that stretched from side to side of his face, which was... different somehow. Ran was at his side, with the same pure, beautiful smile that had always been head over hills for. And there also was...
... Conan...
In the middle of the two teenagers was Conan ─ sweet, innocent little Conan. Looking at the camera with bright, curious eyes and an adorable, sunny smile.
It went without saying that that photo had been taken on their first day of school. Little had he known then how much their life was going to change a few weeks after that.
"I'm sick of it! All you do is lie, lie and then lie again!"
His words were fresh in his mind, and they still stung a little.
The worst part of it all was that the child was right ─ absolutely right. And, certainly, he didn't deserve this. He deserved a happy and healthy childhood, not being held at gunpoint every single week. Not being tricked and lied over and over, forcing him to go out his way to figure out everything by himself.
Honestly, Shinichi would be more than willing to be sincere with him.
But if keeping his little brother in the dark protected him from danger, he would take it ─ Conan's anger towards him, the ache of his own heart, all of it.
But first, there was something that had to be done ─ if that phone was to end in the wrong hands… He couldn't have something like that stored in there. So, like many other nights, his finger hovered over the 'delete' button.
And, like all those nights, Shinichi sighed and put his phone away before he could commit the deal.
Looking back ahead, he noticed a car arriving, several kilometers away from his current position ─ so that Gin and Vodka, who were undoubtedly hanging around, would see him. Kir stepped up and leaned against it, checking her wristwatch. So she came early, huh? It shouldn't be long for Akai-san...
True to his predictions, Akai's Chevrolet pulled in front of hers. The agent stepped out, hands in his pockets, and exchanged a look with Hidemi.
Shinichi's eyes narrowed.
"I'm home!"
"About time! What were you doing out so late?"
Conan closed the door behind him and gave Ran an innocent look. "I ran into a murder case," he stated, shrugging.
She sighed, tiredly, as she stood up from the couch ─ muttering under her breath something about being 'just like his detective-freak brother', which he ignored on purpose so he could walk closer to her.
"And Dad should have been back by now, too..." she complained, shaking her head, almost irritated. "There's no helping it, he will have to go without dinner tonight."
"I don't think he will need it," he stated, with a sheepish smile. "He's probably just going to pass out on the couch drunk later."
Much to her displeasure, she couldn't really tell the child he was wrong. So she huffed, annoyed as if her father's inevitable drunken arrival had already happened and went to make something for them two.
The kid opened his mouth, with all the intention to tell Ran that he would help her out with that, when his eyes fell on something else. The newspaper the girl had been reading until the moment of his arrival was on the coffee table, open for him to see a random article about New York and the FBI.
"It has been a while, eh?" said the girl, upon noticing what had caught his attention. "From the time we met that FBI agent in New York."
"Yeah," Conan's eyes were still glued on the newspaper. "There was that other time, too. We crossed him around February."
Ran nodded at that, her gaze falling on the window momentarily as he recalled that time. She had been crying, just like the first time they met, and Akai had walked out of a telephone box.
"You remind me of a woman. One that always cries in the dark trying to appear normal... A foolish woman."
I wonder who he was talking about? Ran wondered, frowning at the memory, before silently making her way to the kitchen. Meanwhile, Conan did not react to her odd actions, just continued staring at the 'FBI' word that was covering a good part of the page.
Everything was fine at the moment. Mizunashi Rena had returned as planned and everything had gone exactly as he had expected...
But why was he feeling like there was something he had overlooked?
Bang!
Kir's gaze remained impassive, silently watching as Akai stumbled backwards, one hand on his chest and the other still firmly placed in his pocket. It wasn't long until blood began to leak from the wound, soaking his shirt entirely with red.
Even if nobody would survive a bullet piercing his lung, Gin wouldn't wait any longer. "The head," Kir stayed silent, her gun still pointing at the troublesome FBI agent. "Drive a bullet right into his head."
Not even thinking of disobeying him, Kir slowly approached Akai, who seemed to struggle to breathe. Her pulse did not waver as she pointed at his forehead.
The FBI agent's gaze rose to meet hers. He smirked.
"To think you'd go this far..."
"I'm surprised myself," she sneered at him. "That it's worked out... this well."
Bang!
Kudo Shinichi didn't even flinch at the sound of another gunshot, just stayed there, silent, watching everything developing in front of his eyes exactly like he had predicted it would.
The sounds of police cars filled the air barely a second after Hidemi shot, causing her to turn her body around and see them for herself.
Her car left right away. Gin's Porsche, that had been parked a distance away to witness everything, did the same thing. And then an explosion took place.
As he watched the flames dancing in front of his eyes, Shinichi felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. Calmly, he took it out and studied the text message he had just received. He didn't fight the satisfactory smirk that crossed his lips the moment he read it:
"Mission Accomplished."