File One Hundred and Nineteen: Are You Ready?
"So, you actually know nothing about the sender, right?"
Gaze lingering on the ring she wore, Aoko could not hold back a sigh. "Not a thing," she replied to Sera's question with a shake of her head. "Like I said before, it just appeared randomly in my friend's mailbox. No return address. No letter attached. Nothing."
Crossing his arms over his chest, Shinichi leaned back. "As if sent by a ghost?"
From the corner of his eye, he perceived Ran wincing violently. "Don't joke like that!" she complained loudly, to which he laughed, apologetically, and turned back to the girl who had been talking before.
Being honest, he had kind of expected Aoko to be, at least, a tense up at such a comment ─ throughout his stay in Ekoda, Shinichi had come to learn that the extent to the uncanny resemblance between her and his childhood friend was not limited to their appearance only. Their uneasiness over the supernatural was something both high school girls shared.
But she didn't seem to be listening. Her entire attention remained on the ring her friend had received overnight.
"And because your friend was too frightened to come, you took her place ─ hoping that you could get a clue of who this mysterious sender is," Sera said, then continued when Aoko nodded. "By… drinking tea in an entirely different room."
"I waited for a while in my room in case they would show up." Aoko let out a nervous laugh. "But I kind of got bored."
Yep. Shinichi lifted the cup to his lips, taking a large sip. Figured that would happen.
"I'll go and check again later," she said next. "After Conan-kun and the others figure out the trick, of course. If they spotted me walking out and getting into my room here, in Carriage 7…"
Evidently, they would realize the trick. Apparently, back when Conan had gone with Ai and Ran to bring Kogoro back earlier today, the boy had met with every passenger of the eighth carriage ─ and Shinichi would've needed been stupid, or incredibly naïve, to consider the possibility of his younger brother not automatically memorizing every one of their faces. Since Aoko was none of them, it would have been impossible to keep on pretending it was the Carriage 8.
"Speaking of which…" Sonoko said. "How much longer do you think it's going to take them?"
"Not long." Shinichi would bet on that. "It wasn't that much of an elaborate trick. I'd say, any moment now-"
A door burst open.
"Ah, there it is."
Smirk in place, the teenager posed his gaze in the small form, standing right at the doorway with a glare fierce enough to burn and, instead of being intimidated by it, let out a snort at the sight. Something between a groan and a growl escaped the boy's lips while he advanced in a straight line towards him.
Next thing he knew, Shinichi was blinking at the hand digging inside his jacket's pocket. He watched it rummage through it to his heart's content, then frown further, and repeat the action with the other. "What are you doing?" he couldn't help but ask.
"The proof," answered the little boy. He paused, standing back to stare at the older teenager, forehead scrunched up in confusion. "Where did you put it?"
"Put what?"
"I just told you ─ the proof!" Conan was clearly growing exasperated. "You're hiding it somewhere!" He turned his attention momentarily to his pocket, fumbling to dig something out.
Finally, an envelope was presented in front of his eyes. "A card, just like this!" he continued. "You must have gotten one, telling you to switch rooms with the person playing the victim role and confuse the detectives that would come to visit."
From the corner of his eye, the boy noted his friends peeking inside, probably too hesitant ─ or frightened ─ because of his irritated behavior just now to make a single sound ─ that was stupid. Did they think he would bite them or something? The boy did not even glance over their way, however, far too busy in the staring contest he shared with his older brother.
Shinichi broke into a smile, raising his hands in front of him. "Okay, I give up," he finally said. "Like you deducted, this is Carriage 7."
Contented, Conan stepped back, a proud smirk hung on his lips. Turning around, he met with Sera's grin up from close, and a certain envelope tucked in between her fingers.
Which he, naturally, whisked away from her grasp with no kind of warning, looking down at the words printed to confirm his suspicions.
"Congratulations! You've been chosen to play the role of the accomplice!
The guest playing the role of the victim is waiting in Carriage 7, Room B, so switch with them to enliven the deduction quiz!"
"You're amazing, Conan-kun!" praised Ran. "It's exactly as you said."
"Yeah," he muttered through his gritted teeth. "Amazing."
And pointedly ignored Sera's hand stretched to him, wordlessly passing it to a surprised, and equally confused, Aoko. She accepted regardless, though eyeing Sera from the corner of her eye who, in turn, was now raising an eyebrow at the little boy.
"What's that?" Sonoko began, a smug grin plastered all over her face. "Is the brat's fragile little ego wounded because he didn't guess it on his first try?"
"More like 'disappointed'," replied the boy. "Had you been chosen as the victim instead, you'd be playing dead right now."
"What?! You're saying you want me dead?!"
"No, just blissfully silent."
Meanwhile, Ayumi, finally finding the courage enough to put a foot inside, curiously looked around. Her gaze stopped on each of the passenger's faces, analyzing them briefly, before pausing with a slight tilt of her head.
"Dad is not here," explained Ran, clearly sensing her confusion. "He was told to go to the dining car."
The statement shocked Conan so much that it brisked his attention away from Sonoko. "The dining car," he repeated, slowly.
"He wanted Dad to play the role of the detective who explained the answer to the deduction quiz at the end, so he was asked to stand by the dining car."
Conan, far from amused by the situation, crossed his arms over his chest. "So that he can get all the credit for our work?"
Shinichi stared at his little brother. Like that's any different from what you've been doing so far, he thought, but ultimately decided to turn his attention to the moving landscape from the other side of the window, and away from that certain female detective keeping an ear out for anything.
"Hm? Ah, it's you!"
But of course, Sera would always find the way to get into his skin ─ or his little brother, for that matter, since his panic-stricken, pale face was the first thing he caught sight of upon turning his attention back to the group. Next were the fingers digging into Conan's shoulder at the bright grin, inching closer to her shaky form, partly hidden behind the boy's body in an action that would remind anyone else of a painfully timid girl shying away from the unwanted attention.
"Ai-chan, right?" said Sera. "We didn't get to talk much the last time we met."
Her grip tightened, and Conan had to hide a wince of pain. Frowning profusely, he struggled to think of anything to defuse the situation, but failed horrendously.
"W-We didn't either!" Surprisingly enough, there was no need to. Valiantly, Ayumi had taken a step forward and in between her friends and the detective, inadvertently causing the latter to take one back. "There was a lot I wanted to ask you about but…"
"Didn't we?" Sera tried, a nervous chuckle escaping her. "Weren't we rooming together that time at Gunma? The three of you, Professor Agasa and me…"
"Not enough!" Mitsuhiko exclaimed as he, alongside Genta, burst inside suddenly. "We wanted to hear so much more from you!"
Genta nodded enthusiastically. "You're an amazing detective, aren't you?"
It took Shinichi a moment to completely comprehend what his eyes were seeing, but when he did, he all but leaned back into his seat, a relieved sigh escaping his lips. Those kids, in their blatant pretense of excitement and admiration, had, intentionally or not ─ though he was more inclined to believe it was the former ─ positioned themselves in a way they covered their other two friends away from sight, thus effectively directing all her attention to themselves.
They're skilled, those three. More than what he had given them credit for, evidently. Though it could've been better, for kids their age, they're not that bad at acting under pressure…
Had Conan been training them or are the newest generations, like, that-?
All of a sudden, a wince wracked his body whole, evaporating any prior sense of relaxation like dew on a summer morning. No way… Like predicted, the frigid chill ransacked his soul, leaving his body shivering at the realization that followed ─ a feeling like that one could only be attributed to one single, terrifying presence.
By the looks of it, he wasn't the only one ─ the speed Conan's head craned over his shoulder with a jolt that he assumed to be pain, to gaze at the girl that surely had inflicted it, was proof enough of it.
"Who's there?!"
Before he could even wonder what Sera was yelling about, the girl had, in two long strides, reached to the slightly open door, pushing it on her way outside. Her head moved from side to side, eyes inspecting every corner.
But there was nothing out there.
"Just now, I thought someone was peering in through the crack in the door…" she mumbled, giving the empty hallway one last check before giving up completely and getting back inside. "Did I imagine it?"
Yet, never did her eyes catch with the tiny figure ─ back flushed against the wall, heavy breathing shaking her entire frame. Only when the sound of the door clicking shut reached her ears did she have enough courage to check, the ponytails hanging in each side of her head while she peeked around the corner.
Fingers curling against the frame, the little girl stood there. Silent and still ─ just like a doll.
"Maria-chan?" A violent wince shocked her entirely, spinning on her heels to find a boy ─ raven black hair covering most of his face, moving slightly as he laded his head, just enough to reveal a pair of curious, wide eyes. "Is there something wrong?"
She immediately shook her head from side to side. The boy smiled at her, then promptly seized her wrist and, running, said, "Let's hurry ─ Hiroki-kun and Takuma-kun will find us if we don't!"
Before she could agree, Maria's attention was grasped, ever just momentarily, by something else. Curiously, her head turned over her shoulder, gazing curiously at the tall figure they had just passed by, now standing in the middle of the hallway, using his hand to adjust his hat closer to his head.
It had been for a split of a second, but the girl could've sworn she had seen scars ─ burn scars, covering the better part of his face.
But of course, the cards were fake.
The conductor of their carriage had confirmed it, affirming that, while the envelopes were certainly similar to those they normally used, the planned trick bore no resemblance to what they had received.
Obviously, Sonoko had been annoyed over being fooled like this. It couldn't be a coincidence, really, that the 'victim' who had changed rooms with them had been the same Conan and the others had met before boarding the train ─ the same guy whose room had been double booked, leaving him to, much to his dismay, turn his beloved room in to Kogoro.
To her, it was an elaborate plan to get his room back.
To Conan… Well, he didn't have an opinion there. In fact, he cared little about anything besides the shadows cast around them, growing as they walked through the halls of the eighth carriage ─ or rather, what they hid beneath them.
Or the hand that, far from leaving his shoulder, continued to squeeze, hard enough to hurt.
"Don't you feel a strange presence on this train?"
His eyes darted to a certain corner of the room and inwardly winced ─ bracing himself for what was to come.
Nothing happened ─ there was nothing but his overactive brain playing tricks on his overly alert brain. Although the initial fear had initially disappeared, the slight trembling on his limbs remained, as if they prepared themselves to fight or run if something were to jump at him from the darkness.
"Like a menacing feeling…"
A lady in a wheelchair passed by them, pushed forward by her maid. Conan kept his gaze away, knowing well that, in the dim light they were in, her features would morph into something that would leave him breathless and with a frenzied heartbeat pounding against his ribcage.
He knew he was overeating. That the train was merely driving through a tunnel, and that light would eventually shine down on his childish fears and concerns. That he would feel incredibly stupid at any second now.
"This presence… isn't just one or two people."
Yet, her words from a moment ago did it unwittingly much harder. They would echo, over and over, rousing those fears from the depths of his mind so that they could feast on his already questionable sanity.
Sonoko's knuckles brushed against the door to her room. "Hey, mister! The trick's been found out!" The lack of reply prompted her to sigh. "Don't tell me he's sleeping in our room-"
And, forgetting the norms of etiquette she had surely been taught of as a child, the girl tried to open it ─ the keyword was 'tried', because it didn't happen. "Mister! Wake up and undo the chain lock! Mister!"
Aoko inched forward, peeking inside from the small gap from the door, and opened her eyes wide. "Is that… another deduction quiz?" she muttered.
Shinichi immediately walked closer. "What do you mean?"
"He's taking a nap on our sofa!" Sonoko said. "There's blood coming from his forehead. It almost looks like he's really dead-"
"Let me through!"
The two girls barely had the time to move out of Conan's way. As the boy moved closer, his nose all but peeking inside that small gap, Sera followed on his steps, standing right behind the child to have a look as well.
In perfect harmony, Shinichi heard them gasp ─ all blood draining from both of their faces at whatever realization crossed their mind.
"It smells like gunpowder," Sera muttered.
And a collective noise of confusion was shared by the rest of the group. Shinichi paused to gather his thoughts for a moment, until he caught sight of his little brother, or rather, his hands gripping onto the door, as if he could break down the lock by sheer strength if he tried hard enough.
Although it was tempting to just watch, amused and curious about how long he would be willing to try before giving up, Shinichi tapped him gently on the head, prompting his gaze to rise to him, expectantly.
"Anyway, let's break down the door," he said.
Though he was facing Sera exclusively, he noticed Conan had nodded, stepping up so that he could take his place.
He didn't have to wait long for her to get into position and start counting. "One… Two… Three!"
With their combined efforts, the chain snapped, allowing the kid to dart inside, climbing up into the seat next to the body to get a closer view of it ─ or rather, the hole etched in the side of his head. By the time the teenagers reached him, his little fingers had already moved away from the victim's head, and a frown had taken over his every attention.
Shinichi didn't need to be a famous high school detective to deduce what was going on.
"Awesome!" He couldn't say the same for his friends, though. "Another deduction quiz?"
A long sigh escaped his brother's lips as he sat down, head shaking slowly.
"More like another murder," he mumbled.
They instantly stiffened at the notion.
"Not your ordinary murder." Shinichi's hands slid down to settle inside his pockets. He turned around, just enough to narrow his gaze on the lock they had broken just moments prior. "This is a locked-room murder."
"Yeah, yeah." Conan waved it off, leaning back against the seat ─ Shinichi could not decide if he should have been more disturbed over the fact that his brother had no problem chilling next to a fresh corpse, or that he wasn't surprised about it all. "Your slightly less-ordinary murder case, that's about right."
And had to stop himself from wondering how come this child in front of him was acting like he had seen so many locked-room murder cases at eight. Worst of all, he was probably right ─ really, at his age, Shinichi could not imagine him doing such a thing. He had been so proud of himself when he solved that one cypher all those years ago, and even then, he had been wrong, as Ran had told him…
This brat had solved it too, years later, come to think of it. That's a little frustrating…
"But how?" Ran's forehead creased in confusion. "Wouldn't this be a suicide?"
"I haven't figured out how the door was locked yet," said Sera. "But there's no burn mark around the gunshot wound."
At her side, Aoko hummed, deep in thought. "So it really wasn't," she mumbled. "If you were to shoot yourself in the head, you'd have to hold the gun from real close…"
"But maybe he got scared right before shooting, and pulled away unintentionally?" suggested Sonoko.
Conan's eyebrow rose. "What is he, Slenderman or something?" At the lack of any answer further than her confused blinking, the boy rolled his eyes and motioned to the gun, currently sitting on the victim's limp hand. "Look, there's a silencer attached to the gun."
Eyebrow fairly above her hairline, Sonoko walked closer, and leaned forward to confirm, with her own two eyes, that he was correct. The thing was large ─ no matter how long his arms were, there was no way he could hold at a distance from his head and still fire it.
"And, there's also that," interjected Shinichi, motioning to the seat on the opposite side of the room. Once pointed in the right direction, it was not that hard to see a hole, suspiciously like that of a gunshot, embedded on the cushions. Conan said nothing about it ─ he had taken a glimpse of it before they threw the door off, so he had already acknowledged its existence a while back.
Sera nodded her head. "The killer probably made the victim hold the gun and shoot an extra shot round," she explained. "In order to leave gunshot residue on their hand and sleeve, to make it look a suicide."
"Yeah, and that worked brilliantly." The sarcastic comment rolled off Conan's tongue before he could help it, but really, denying it was impossible, especially when it wound up becoming one of the crucial clues that led them to believe the shot was not, in fact, self-inflicted. Well, hopefully, for them, they didn't walk out with their clothes full of gunshot residue…
Though that would have made it too easy for detectives such as himself struggling to figure it out ─ just a good hand wash and throwing the clothes out of the window would've done the trick.
"But the killer must still be on this train." As a smirk crawled up to the female detective's face, Conan felt his attention drifting to his pocket ─ or, rather, the faint buzzing that came from inside. "They won't get away!"
Thus, nobody was paying enough attention to note the abrupt halting of his breath, or the eyes that opened violently, as if they could take into the words in his screen better merely by widening ever so marginally.
Nobody besides his older brother. Shinichi made no comment, however, not even as he trained his expression back to neutrality and turned to his group of friends.
"Anyway, you guys go back to your room with Ran-neechan for now."
Shinichi wondered if the smile the kid put on was actually just as fake as it had just appeared to him.
"Eh?!" Evidently not. "But we want to help, too-!"
"Don't be so unreasonable!" As if a switch was flipped, the boy's demeanor had morphed into something entirely different. Something fiercer, and maybe a little desperate. "Until I come back, lock your door and don't open it for anyone at all!"
It wasn't until a beat later that he seemed to rationalize his previous reaction and stepped back, probably just as shocked as his friends were, right in front of him ─ a good distance away, eyeing him like he had lost his mind.
Ai was the first to frown. "What's with you, all of a sudden?"
"You're scary, sometimes…" observed Genta, his eyebrows raising.
And, even though Conan's mouth opened, no sound ever came out, besides that of an intelligible mutter that wanted to be a plausible excuse, but could not be. His friends were relentless, though, crossing their arms over their chest, expecting an explanation.
But, for Ai, it was different, though. Shinichi noted the light opening of her eyes, and her head turning to look over her shoulder ─ as if she entirely expected something to jump at her.
"Please forgive Conan-kun here." A hand dropping on his head silenced all of that. "He's just upset because he's been looking forward to this deduction quiz for so long." With a chuckle, and a ruffling of the boy's hair ─ which, given the grunt that reached his ears, had not been appreciated ─ Shinichi continued, "But what he said is true. It's dangerous to roam about this place with a murderer lurking around."
Now, he really did not know how that action came to be, but his gaze still drifted away from the children, upwards, until it met with hers.
And narrowed.
"It's dangerous here," he said ─ to her, no matter how much he had intended to be directed to everyone else, it still ended up like that. "I'm counting on you to take care of the kids."
Ran paused for a beat until her expression finally mirrored his. "I got it," she said, nodding. "I should get Dad and have him come here, just in case."
"Excuse me… What's the commotion about?"
The rest of the passengers were there when she turned about, crowding in front of the door, seeking to get a glimpse of the current situation. Immediately, Ran noted a tug in the hem of her shirt, and her hand unconsciously went to pose itself at the back of a small head, fingers running through a mop of hair ─ in which she hoped it was a comforting gesture.
So, as Aoko stepped forward to explain the situation, Ran ─ and her small addition to her side ─ silently slipped away from the room. Following were the little girl's friends, from what the rushed set of steps that accompanied their way told her, and she barely got to hear Sonoko gasp in surprise, barely missing that her friend was gone.
But, as things were, she could barely get to pay attention to anything. Anything, that was, besides the little hand that remained there, gripping to her like she was the sole anchor to reality.
At least, until they were steps away from leaving the carriage.
"It'll be okay!"
The boy's voice filled the air, prompting the little girl to stop and, for the first time, raise her head, if only to turn and glance over her shoulder. There, in between the crowd of suspects and detectives-wanna-be all the same, a small head peeked out.
His wide, confident smirk made her grip loosen somehow.
"We'll solve the case real quick!" Conan yelled into the shocked silence. "So don't worry about anything at all!"
Ai stared for an entire second, stunned beyond any belief, before her head moved in a small, almost unnoticeable nod ─ which made the boy smile, nevertheless. Such was the case for Ran who, keeping a good-natured giggle to herself, said, "We'll be waiting at your room, Conan-kun," even though it was clear, to her anyway, that none of them had been the intended receptor.
Besides the little girl, of course, huddling close to her ─ in such a blatant search for comfort that Ran doubted it was intentional.
Conan, unlike any of them, did not attempt to move. He waited, watching them as they turned around, disappearing from his sight, before allowing the tight frown he had been fighting for so long.
I was hoping they wouldn't be here… That she had been simply overreacting. But the text on his phone was proof enough of the contrary. But they are. Waiting for the moment to strike… Just like we have been fearing.
And to make things worse, there was a killer on the loose. That one thing, he had not predicted it ─ though, he should have. It should still be fine ─ Sera-san and Oniichan are here, so it shouldn't be so difficult…
The tough part… was yet to come. Yet even if our plan were to succeed… His knuckles had acquired a white color without him noticing, from gripping the doorframe so tightly. She…
"Don't think much about it." Conan felt his body start at the voice, head whipping towards the reassuring smile directed at him, much closer than he had first believed it to be. "Let's just go one thing at a time."
A sigh escaped his system as he nodded. "This will be a long day," he muttered, starting his way back inside the crime scene, hoping to get one last look of the body before Kogoro stumbled in.
But that ominous feeling never faded away completely. It lingered, clung to her own, darkened soul like leeches ─ sucking in all energy and leaving her drained, nothing to hold on but sheer, familiar fear.
And Ran's shirt. There was also that, but the older girl had yet to emit any comment about it. Though, knowing her, Ai was inclined to believe she wouldn't.
The boy had probably sensed it through her ─ it wasn't like she had been trying to hide her discomfort, and had even confessed it to him about half an hour earlier. Reason for which he most likely had gone out his way to shout out to her, to reassure she was going to be okay. That he had everything handled, somehow.
That being the case, Ai was probably slightly more afraid of what kind of plan he had thought out than the actual Black Organization.
For him to snap like he did earlier, she thought. Doesn't look like he has everything planned out.
Like struck by thunder, Ai felt her entire body jolt ─ that ominous feeling from before returning at full force, all but knocking her out of her feet. Her hands tugged into Ran's shirt, her face all but burying against her body ─ as if, like that, she could bask on her warmth that remained in the middle of the freezing icy fear her mind was sinking into.
Right past her, he passed by. Looking straight at her beneath a raven black hat, the eyes of a man with a hideous burn mark etched on the right side of his face pierced through her soul.
"What?" Genta's loud voice broke through. "You guys again?"
The man simply walked away, as if nothing had ever happened. Yet, Ai knew it had ─ that certain pounding against her ribcage would not let her lie about it.
"That's exactly what I want to say!"
Finally, she gathered enough courage to peek from behind Ran. "Why are you everywhere we go?!" That was Takuma, who they had met earlier, followed by Hiroki, nervously fluttering about, fruitlessly attempting to soothe his friend's ruffled feathers. "Weren't you away playing detectives or whatever?"
"You sound jealous," observed Genta, a proud smirk hung on his lips.
"Nevermind that!" Mitsuhiko pushed his friend away to make his point across. "You have to go back to your room!"
Ayumi nodded empathically. "There's been a murder!"
Both Hiroki and Takuma exchanged gazes. "I… thought that was the whole point of the deduction quiz?" muttered the former, tilting his head in confusion.
"It was a real one, kid." Probably irritated over the steadily increasing number of children per square meter, Sonoko stepped ahead, setting an unfriendly gaze upon the two brats she had never seen before in her life. "So run along, or a bad guy will kill you."
Ran sent her a look ─ which she naturally ignored.
"But we can't!" argued Hiroki. "We still haven't found Maria-chan or Isamu-kun yet!"
"Look here-" Sonoko tried, but gave herself just before starting with a heavy sigh. "Just… Where are your parents?"
"They are not here."
"What?! You came here alone?!"
"No, no, they didn't."
Both children turned about, and their faces instantly lit up at the sight of the platinum blonde, tanned man approaching the group. He grinned at them momentarily, until he caught sight of a certain face amongst everyone, and paused.
"Ran-san?" he called, in shock.
Her surprise was comparable to his. "You're on this train too, Amuro-san?"
"Yes, I managed to get a ticket." His hand went to tap Hiroki lightly on the head. Smiling, he continued, "Hiroki-kun's mother suddenly got a bad case of food poisoning and couldn't come. These children were too excited to come, so she asked me to take her place."
"Ah, is that so?" commented Ran. "You seem to get along with her pretty well… To trust you with her child, I mean."
"Oh, no, she's just regular at Poirot," said Amuro, smiling down at the squinty-eyed kid. "But if it's about Hiroki-kun and me, I think we do get along nicely."
Hiroki happily nodded his head.
"But if your mother is a regular who suddenly got food poisoning out of the blue," began Takuma, crossing his arms behind his head. "Wouldn't it make more sense if his guy's cooking caused it?"
"I went with her and I'm still fine!" argued Hiroki, visually irritated. "But we went out somewhere else for dinner and we ordered different things! Meaning, Amuro-niichan was not the culprit!"
"Now, now…" Kneeling down, Amuro tried to appease both children. "It's not time to fight. Just go back to your rooms, alright? I'm sure the other two will turn up soon."
Both children reluctantly nodded and walked right past them. Amuro watched them go for a moment before sighing, clearly exhausted, and turned to the group he had just encountered.
"Anyway, about this accident you were talking about... Do you know anything about it?"
Too focused on their conversation they were, they never noticed a door ─ the one with the letter 'E' etched on it ─ opening a sliver, just enough for someone to peek out.
Smirking, Okiya Subaru closed the door again. "It appears that the heavens are siding with us," he said, turning to the woman typing out something on her phone.
Not even bothering to avert her gaze from the screen, she grinned.
Carriage 7, Room A… is it?
This was dumb ─ she was being dumb. Aoko held back a sigh, her knuckles brushing against the door, yet not quite knocking. There was no need to do so, she knew that well ─ evidently so, since it was her room.
Or rather, Keiko's ─ or so it would have been, had her dear friend the courage needed to uncover the mysteries behind the mysterious ring that had suddenly come to be in her possession.
"But Aoko!" She had obviously been against it, had argued against what she considered to be her worst idea to date. "It could be dangerous!"
"We won't know unless we try." Aoko quickly dismissed the unconvinced frown her friend sent her with a confident smile. "Don't fret! I'll call you once I know who this person is."
"Shouldn't we just ask Hakuba-kun-?"
"This is barely a mystery ─ I'll just take a look and be gone!" Aoko smiled, proudly. "We don't need to ask for Hakuba-kun's help."
I should have asked for Hakuba-kun's help. Or, at least, asked Ran-chan or any of the others to accompany her. What if this sender is still inside-?
Her thoughts were silenced by a slap, and then the sting of pain stemming from each side of her face. Get a hold of yourself, Aoko told herself, her hands, which had yet to leave her cheeks, pressing further. You promised Keiko you would do it, right?
Renewed with determination, her eyes fell on the door once again, but instead of shying away, she placed a hand on the knob. Sucking in a deep breath, she gathered herself and pushed it open.
Eh?
Indeed, she was not alone ─ but it did not mean she didn't stand back there, far too stunned to make a single movement. Everything she had imagined, all those scenarios she had made up in her mind, or assumptions of what the mysterious sender she had created, just evaporated.
All because of the little girl looking up at her with teary eyes through round, oversized glasses. But it wasn't her unassuming appearance that differed so badly from what she had imagined which made her pause, and take a second glance.
No.
It was because of that nagging feeling in the back of her head ─ that of a strange sense of familiarity she could not exactly pinpoint where it came from.
The child did not stop looking at her, and neither did she release the fancy-looking envelope she held in between her hands ─ it was crumpled, probably because of all that nervous gripping. She kept on watching Aoko, as if taking into her entire frame, quiet all the while.
Quiet she remained, despite the tears that overflowed, dripping from each side of her face.
The sight finally woke Aoko out of her stupor. She instantly rushed towards the girl, dropping to her knees right in front of her.
"Hey, it's okay," whispered Aoko, gently so as not to scare her any further. But the child, though frozen in place, was trying to inch away, eyes traveling around the place ─ if the teen didn't know any better, she would have said this child was seeking a way out of the situation. "I won't hurt you."
The girl slowly, but surely, relaxed somehow. At least enough to meet Aoko's gaze. "My name is Aoko," she said, making sure not to raise her tone a little more than it would've been wise. "What about yours?"
She waited patiently for the girl to choke out, in between a sob, "Maria."
"Maria-chan, eh?" A bright grin stretched from side to side in Aoko's face. "What a pretty name!"
Maria nodded faintly, gaze cast to the ground as she tried to hold in yet another sob. Aoko tensed at the notion ─ she's too silent, even when she cries. The thought made her heart clench, but she kept on smiling. For her sake, more than anything else.
"So, Maria-chan," continued Aoko, her eyes sliding away from the girl momentarily, to get a better look at her ─ what she found, however, did not please any further. Even though they were in the middle of summer, she was wearing a coat ─ big and thick enough to swallow her in. "Why are you here?"
"I was playing hide and seek…" Her voice was too soft, almost as if it had been the wind speaking, but Aoko caught it just fine, even making out a bit of a Kansai accent. "With my friends…"
"Ah, hide and seek?" Aoko's attention was on her coat ─ her eyebrows drawing in together despite herself just by picturing what this girl might hide beneath. "You hid in my room, I see-"
Her words came to a sudden halt. What… There was something barely peeking out from her coat. What is-?
Maria shook her head, with much more energy than ever before. Though she regretted instantly, and froze instantly with a look of utter horror in her features, the movement allowed that 'something' to come out into sight, much clearer than ever before.
And, oh, she had been wrong ─ so, so wrong-
"A friend and I were trying to hide in the toilet earlier," Maria began, her trembling hands clenching against the envelope. "We heard a sound ─ we thought the others had found us, but…"
The reason this child had not dared to move, or what she had been hiding under the coat…
Her breath hitched in a sob. But Aoko could not get her attention away from what her eyes were seeing.
Or rather, the bombs strapped against this little girl's torso.
"And suddenly, I was here alone. And… and… This card…"
"A card?" She looked up at the envelope she had been holding all this time. "Can I see it, Maria-chan?"
Maria had no qualms about handing it to the teenager.
Aoko, on the other hand, felt her blood running cold at the mere sight of it.
"Congratulations! You've been chosen to play the role of the hostage!
That bomb is the real deal, so make sure the detectives don't leave this train before the quiz is solved!
P.S: Don't even try to defuse it. Stopping the train is no good either! The other kid is with me.
And I'm watching your every move."
She did not even look away and blindly fished her phone out. Quickly, she dialed a certain number, and pressed it against it to her ear.
"Hello, Hirai-kun? Think you could come to Carriage 7, Room A for a moment?" The corner of her lips twitched, anxiously. "You… might want to look at this for yourself."
"What?! Maria-chan is a hostage?!"
He had not meant to shout it out yet, honestly, there was no way he could have concealed his shock. Because, out of everything, those words were the least he had expected to hear today ─ and he could sort of tell, too, his brother on the other side of the line had not found it any less surprising.
But, since he had yelled it, there was no avoiding the three gazes belonging to Sera, Kogoro and the train conductor, falling onto his form.
"Tell them not to stop the train!" Shinichi's urgent tone made him flinch. "Quickly!"
"Whatever you do, don't stop the train!" parroted Conan. Then, both hands holding the phone against his ear, he added, "I'll explain later!"
Followed by that, the child spun on his heels and hurried over to the furthest end of the carriage, leaving no room for further questions. Once he got there, he allowed himself to rest against the wall, deflating with a long, exhausted sigh.
"Hey, don't push yourself too hard." His brother had surely heard everything from the phone. "You're still a growing brat."
"Yeah, thanks for the concern," said Conan, though he was scolding all the while. "Back to what you were saying… Is Maria-chan okay?"
Back on the seventh carriage, Shinichi turned to peek back into the room he was standing in front of where Aoko, a gentle smile on face, was leaning forward, saying some words that, even though he could not hear from his position, the detective knew of their comforting nature.
"She is ─ if you can call 'crying and freaking out' as being 'fine'," admitted Shinichi. "Apparently, someone has knocked her out, strapped bombs on her and left a card."
"A card?"
"Just like the ones we got." His gaze narrowed, settling on the card he had gotten from Aoko just minutes prior. "It says to 'make sure the detectives don't leave this train before the quiz is solved.' And that the other kid is with them."
Conan pondered over it ─ come to think of it, Hiroki and Takuma had said there was another friend tagging along besides Maria, so it was likely him. "In order words," he said. "The culprit doesn't want this train to stop."
"Exactly." Though Shinichi was only confirming his thoughts, the kid could not help but swallow in anticipation of what was to come. "Like we predicted."
"Those people… Mom said they were here." Conan's hand gripped his phone, just a little harder than before. "It's evident that Murobashi-san's killer is not who sent that one last letter and kidnapped Maria-chan and that other kid… But rather…"
His voice trailed down into silence, mostly of its own accord than his own will.
"You're getting cold feet?"
"No." His response was immediate ─ too immediate. "I just… was hoping we were wrong, you know."
"Just stick to the plan and it'll work out."
"But… what if I don't want it to work?" The silence that met his sentence made him pause, only now fully realizing what he had just said. "I mean, of course I want it to work! But… The thing is…"
Shinichi said nothing at all, and merely stood there in the hallway ─ awaiting the thoughts the kid was trying, and failing, to organize and put into words. A sigh, followed by what he imagined it to be a shake of his head, told him that was everything he was going to get for now.
"Forget it," Conan finally said, or groaned, more accurately. "By the way, he's the maid, right?"
"Oh? So you knew already?"
"More like suspected, but yeah." Conan shrugged. "I could've pulled something out to separate the maid from the old lady and prove it, but asking you makes things easier."
It confused him for a moment until he finally got it. Jii could not, by any means, imitate Komino's voice, so it must have been Kuroba using ventriloquism to compensate. Conan's child stature would've easily let him see past the veil the 'lady' had been using and figure out the lips were not syncing to the voice.
"The perks of being a sharp-eyed midget," he teased lightly, but the lack of a comeback made him frown. "Hey, it'll be fine. I'm here with you."
Conan fought to keep his lips from twitching upwards, yet absolutely failed. Fortunately for him, his brother could not see him, so he just added, "Hopefully, it stays that way."
"Go solve that case for me, alright?" said his brother, not appearing to be affected by the comment. "I'll see you in a bit."
"Got it."
With a click, the high schooler finished the call. Placing the phone back inside his pocket, he took a moment to take one last glance inside the room. As if sensing him, she rose her head, and their eyes locked for a beat.
She nodded.
And he walked away.
'Go solve that case for me,' he said. 'It'll be easy,' he said….
Although he had not actually stated that last part, it was as if he had. It was likely that his older brother was under the impression that it was just another case, and that it would be solved in a blink of an eye.
He surely trusts Sera-san's deductive skills an awful lot. Because, yeah, there was no way he was holding Kogoro in that regard. And I seriously have no idea of what's going on.
The last time the conductor had seen the victim was in front of Room A, peeking out of his room, Room B, with a phone against his ear. After hearing the bell ring, he had gone there, but the passenger, Noito Taisaku, claimed he had never called him. As it turned out, the light to his door was burned out, so when the conductor had heard the ring and noted none of the lights on, he had concluded it was Noto's.
After both doors shut, the conductor was called to Room E where its passenger, Idenami Mari, complained of strange noises in her room ─ just complain, because the lady did not want him inside. Conan had rolled his eyes when she had said that ─ really, were there annoying people like that in this world?
In any case, the sounds were later discovered to come from a wristwatch's alarm stuck down on the back of the sofa, that definitely did not belong to her. The only remarkable fact of the entire thing was probably the feeling that had struck the conductor, that of someone peeping from the door furthest to his position ─ that being, logically, Room A.
Which had not been open when Komino Natsue and her maid, Sumitomo Hiruka ─ was he supposed to call him that? ─ passed by around that time. Neither had they seen anyone suspicious standing by the door, apparently…
If the word of a thief can be trusted, in any case. Conan mentally scoffed, keeping everything out of his face to raise his head at the last passenger, Ando Satoru from Room C ─ who 'Komino-san' had spotted earlier, stepping up into the hallway about that time.
"I could hear Idenami-san shouting even in my room. So I left my room to find out what was going on," the potential suspect said when asked. "But I can't say whether the door to Room A was open or not, since I went in the opposite direction, to Room E."
It was a plausible explanation ─ and Conan absolutely despised that fact. More often than not, through listening to the suspect's stories, focusing on every single detail of their story to be subjected to a critical analysis, he found it easy to unravel slivers of the concealed truth ─ just a little spark to lead his way to the bigger scenario, and hopefully the entirety of the case.
But here? All he got was a headache.
"Not to mention that at the time, the train was passing through a tunnel, so there wasn't any light shining through the windows, and the passageway was pretty dark…"
Too many suspects, too many rooms… The Organization hiding somewhere in this train, awaiting their chance to strike… As the rest continued to chat, Conan allowed himself a moment to step away, hand carding through his hair. What am I gonna do?
I need to solve this… as soon as possible…
Shaking his head vigorously, he plopped down on the floor and placed his small notebook over his lap.
Maybe all he needed was to put his thoughts back in order.
Thus, a focused frown took over his face, and his hand started to scribble away. So immersed in his own little world he was, he never noticed Kogoro glancing in his direction, gazing at him curiously for a while, before turning back to the suspect in front of him.
They were here for her.
Trying to come up with any sort of explanation other than that one would not be any different from denying reality itself.
Ai's legs pressed together, her hands balled into fists sitting stiffly over her lap. That feeling of doom, that urged her to run away as far as possible and stay frozen on her seat, all at the same time, had yet to leave ─ in fact, it had become stronger than ever before, reinforced by that look Conan had sent his friends, the desperation he was not able to hide at the thought of them roaming around any longer.
He told me not to worry earlier, the little girl recalled. Was he just lying to soothe me somehow?
Or does he actually have a plan?
Both theories were just as probable to her, and it was hard to decide about which she should be worried about the most, provided they were true.
Suddenly, her phone buzzed, and for a moment, she wondered if it was Conan trying to reassure her again, or alternatively, Shinichi warning her that one of their members was outside of the room. Whichever was the case, she quickly brought it out, hurrying to check it out.
She fervently hoped it had been one of those two brothers ─ regardless of who, or what, they wanted to say.
It was an unknown address ─ but the sender was someone she would recognize anywhere.
"Are you ready?
─ Vermouth"
"Haibara-san?" Mitsuhiko's voice had never in her life spooked her so badly as just now. "You got an email?"
"Who's it from?" Ayumi smiled, bright as usual.
"Is it from Conan?" inquired Genta.
"... No." It took her a little while to answer. "It's just spam."
She promptly stood up.
"Ai-kun?" called Ran, concerned. "Where are you going?"
"Toilet."
Ai did not even cast the older girl a single glance, all but closing the door on her face before she could suggest coming with her ─ because it was obvious that she would. She had been clinging to her for the entire day, she had made it pretty clear she was scared out of his mind.
Ran would stick by her side if she knew the Organization was involved ─ she was like that.
Knowing that she would come after her as soon as the shock subsided, Ai hurried to get away from sight as soon as possible. She could not be seen by her.
Or maybe it was Ai who could not see her. For what she knew, if she got a sight of Ran's gentle smile, she would give in her kindness and protection.
But I can't. She leaned against the wall, just around the corner. Her name was being called by Ran ─ just like she anticipated. I can't put her in danger.
As long as she could see her with each smile. As long as she could hear her with every utterance of her name. As long as she could feel her warmth…
Shiho could not bear the thought of losing her again.
She shook her head ─ no. That was not it.
"Okay, so until your nineteenth birthday, bye-bye."
Her mother's voice grazed her ears from the inside ─ not that she was certain why it had come back to her at a time like this. Maybe it was because a deeper part of herself was trying to remind her of what she had lost, far earlier than her memories could retain.
"Oh, maybe it's about time I told you… The truth is, your mother's making a terrifying drug right now."
A face she was only able to see through old photographs.
A voice she would have never heard if it wasn't for the recordings she had left behind.
A warm embrace… she would never experience.
"My lab mates are getting all hyped up about it, like it's a dream drug. Your dad and I are putting our hopes on it and calling it… 'Silver Bullet'."
Would she be mad, she would wonder, about her listening to the recordings before the intended age? Would her mother scold her for it, or would just giggle in amusement and not mind at all?
Ai figured she would never know.
"But to finish this drug, your dad and I will have to leave you and your sister." Though she had never met her, Ai had caught on the sorrow coating her words. "Please understand, Shiho."
Everything… because of a stupid drug.
Her eyes scrunched shut against a certain reassuring smile flashing behind her lids ─ that of her dear sister, assuring her that everything would be okay. That of the last time she had ever seen her.
I'm sorry, Onee-chan.
Tears peeked out of her eyelids.
I'm sorry, Mum. I didn't understand… That drug was something that shouldn't be made.
This warmth… Her hands rose to her shoulders, hugging herself tightly. Ran-san's, everyone else's, too…
If because of her own failures, her inability to see… They-
A creaking sound made her eyes snap open, instantly zeroing on the door in front of her, or rather, the figure that towered over her, gazing down at her from under his glasses. She tried to back off, but all she managed to do was press her back against the wall.
"Just like your sister, I can read all your moves."
All the blood drained from her face.
"Now, would you step this way?" He stepped ahead, towards her. "Into our area."
Trembling, the girl took a tentative step sideways, desperate for an opening so that she would get away. Though, she knew how fruitless it would be ─ Okiya Subaru was at least thrice her size. Even if she made a run for it, she would have made it too steps before he caught up.
If she was lucky.
"What are you doing?" Ai felt herself blink. She knew that voice ─ and it was coming from inside that room. "I told you to sneak her in here, not to freak her out."
A smirk drawing itself on Subaru's features, calmly turning to face whoever was inside. But said nothing in return.
This seemed to irritate his interlocutor even further.
"So, let me get this straight." The suffocating fear had retreated away somehow, and curiosity took over. "Are you naturally inept with children, or is it actually intentional?"
Not minding if he got close to that individual she had just been so terrified of, Ai ventured closer to the door. Mentally, she was scolding herself for trusting a familiar voice so much, especially when that woman was around.
Copying his voice certainly was not beyond her abilities.
But there was no scent.
And sure enough, a certain face made itself visible as she peeked inside. That wide grin, brilliant and comforting, too, greeted her eyes as soon as he caught sight of her.
"Hi, Ai-chan."
S-Shinichi-san?!
Well, it seemed to be that none of the passengers were strangers to each other ─ aside from that certain thief and his assistant, naturally, but at least the identity they had taken fit the bill.
The old lady, Komino Natsue, had a magnate as her nephew who died in a fire ─ on his birthday's party, of all days ─ alongside his family and about twelve other attendees. She, like her maid and another four people, had been the only survivors of the tragedy.
Surprise, surprise, those four were the other passengers.
The cause was put down to a problem with an electric cable, but no clear reason was found, that much they had found after a quick internet search earlier that day. Yet, as the reason for murder, it couldn't be clearer…
Revenge. Something must have happened that day. Could the fire have been the victim's fault? Or was there some other reason the criminal had resorted to murder? It's too early to tell yet.
Conan massaged his temples. This was pretty bad, actually. Besides the motive, there was so much yet to uncover. Such as, well, the basics ─ how the hell had it been done?
There has to be something I'm not seeing. He flipped over a page, scanning his notes for the eleventh time this day, and jotted 'magnate's birthday party fire' under the words 'darkness' and 'missing uniform'. And sat there, on the floor, squinting his eyes at his scribbles, as if the answer would manifest itself if he tried hard enough.
Laws of nature could not be bent so easily, so virtually nothing happened.
"What're you doing, brat?"
Nothing, of course, besides Kogoro's rough tone crossing his ears. "Solving the case," replied Conan, without raising his head. Aside from the actual 'solving' part.
He leaned over, resting his forehead over his palm. "I'm stumped, actually." He tried to smile, but the hand closed over a fistful of his own hair.
Silence was his only response, and really, Conan was not expecting anything else from the man. But did not move from his position, only allowing his gaze to shift towards the farthest corner of the carriage where Sera, in a last desperate attempt to advance in the case, was talking with the conductor. Conan hoped she would find out anything new.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Kogoro's long legs vanishing from his visual field, and shrugged. But then, he heard a shifting of clothes, and sensed something settling down right beside him.
Sitting ungracefully just like him, Kogoro was eyeing his notebook with a raised eyebrow.
"Is something else going on?" His tone was as soft as it was nonchalant. "Like a certain bunch of black-obsessed drunkards I should know about?"
He did not know what his actual intentions had been, but the child felt himself snort at the unusual analogy. "They're not drunkards." You are.
"Not my fault if they choose all those fancy alcohol themed pet names." He paused, before adding, "They are here, right?"
Conan sent a look towards that certain female detective and, only once he made sure she was not listening in their conversation, nodded. "We had a plan, in case this happened," he admitted. "After everything, you'd have thought we should have considered a completely unrelated murder aboard…"
The kid sighed, shaking his head. "Oniichan thought it would still be fine if the case was dealt with quickly… but at this rate…"
"Of course you aren't solving it," said Kogoro with a scoff. "You have the Great Detective Mouri Kogoro here and still insist on solving it alone."
Conan's head rose and stared dully.
"Let's see…" He said nothing either, even as the man leaned over slightly to check his notes out, reading them over and over, nodding to himself with every word sinking on his head. "I see."
"What do you see?"
"That he, uh, died?"
"Maybe I should just launch myself out of the window."
"Are you sure it isn't just a suicide?"
"Better yet, I should toss you out of the window." Conan's eyebrow twitched violently. "Did you see a burn mark around the wound?"
Kogoro blanched and tried to get a word out. Under the dark, irritated glare of a boy about thirty years younger, he only managed a weak nod.
"Or are you telling me you missed the gunshot mark on the sofa opposite, too?" His voice rose, way louder than before ─ to the point that it had Sera and the conductor glancing in their direction. "Come on, that one was obvious! I saw it before we even got inside-"
"Wait." At Kogoro's confused expression, the raging child quietened. "Before?"
"Yeah?" Conan replied slowly. "You can see inside a room, even though the door is chain-locked."
Kogoro was silent for a beat. "What with it?" Conan asked, his irritation surging again, as if it had never dispelled.
"It's just that, when we talked with Idenami-san and she did not let us in…" began Kogoro. "I tried to look around her room, but I don't remember being able to see if there was anything over the sofa…"
Conan paused, as if trying to allow his brain to process the information, before gasping ─ how could he have overlooked it? Of course, it didn't make sense. Nosy as he was, he had tried to look too, and noted the same thing. How come he could see at the scene of the murder, but not in the other room?
"Maybe if there was an extra link…" mumbled the boy. "The murderer would've been able to open the door…"
"And there's no locked-room murder anymore!" said Kogoro, eyes widening in shock. "Wait, wait. But how?"
"The missing uniform!" exclaimed Conan. "The conductor said that earlier, too. They could not find any extra light bulbs today, and that's why Room A's still burnt out."
"Which means-"
"That the culprit was disguised as another conductor." Both turned about just to see Sera in front of them, grinning down at the duo. "So that they could make all the preparations for his crime unsuspected."
Conan hopped back onto his feet. "Let's check what the suspects are holding onto inside their rooms!" Right after saying that, the boy skipped forward, already knocking on the first door.
"Wait, brat…" He muttered, struggling to get back on as fast as possible.
But seeing the kid doing it so quickly and easily made him sigh and wonder, damn, am I getting that old already?
A/N:
Neyane: Thank you for letting me know! It's fixed now.
CherryGirl 21-6: For the first point, thanks for telling me! And about Ai, yeah, she isn't wearing a facemask. In the original she got the cold from Conan, but he wasn't even sick here in the first place. Since there's no shrinking drug involved here, I figured there was no point in adding any of it.
F.C. Meyer: I hope so too, actually xD I'm writing down a lot of stuff separately so I don't lose track of any character, so it shouldn't happen (though, knowing myself, it might). Actually, Hakuba was going to be there, but there wasn't anything really for him to do and I thought that getting yet another detective involved would complicate things for me a lot. And, yeah, not all of them, but some of the children will be important in the future.
I absolutely loved the new opening! Though the song was stuck on my head for, like, a week or more xD And, I might be mistaken, but I think the clothes Vermouth is wearing in the opening are the same as the ones she used in that chapter where Run was revealed. Unless she has worn them earlier and I can't remember, I think that case is going to be animated soon.