File Sixty-Four: The Poisoned Chocolate
Of course, Ran had been angry ─ not surprising, considering she had received a call from Conan claiming that he was in Shibuya Station, and that he had almost given a poor station staff employee a heart-attack when he spotted a child riding in the roof of a train ─ but had managed to live through it
Even if he had to blame KID for the entire thing.
Ran's scary expression as he said that the phantom thief had decided to play a mean joke on him and had left him there prevented him from feeling any kind of guilt. In order to survive, some risks had to be made, he had decided.
Besides, it wasn't like Ran would ever meet Kaito KID in person... Right?
"Hey, Conan," whispered Agasa, from the spot next to him. "Is he here?"
Conan didn't answer right away, eyes scanning his surroundings before he let himself fall back on his ridiculously soft, First Class seat with a dashed expression on his face. "I honestly have no idea," he confessed, with a groan. "Well, he should be here, disguised as anyone but..." a frown caressed his features. "There's something else worrying me."
"What is it?"
The professor just watched the kid beside him as he silently turned to see the two girls sitting across the aisle. "Haibara-san sensed a member nearby," his eyes didn't look away from the scientist, who smiled gently at her friend as she chatted non-stop about something. "Even if they didn't meet directly, I can't stop wondering. What would someone like them be doing in such a place?"
Agasa frowned as well, seeing the reason in his words. "It was a famous theatre, lots of people usually gather there," he tried to reassure him. "The fact that a member was there doesn't necessarily mean they were doing any kind of shady business."
Conan merely hummed at that, cradling a hand to his head as he absentmindedly observed the two girls, still not completely convinced.
But Ai's sharp gaze fell on him, causing him to jump slightly and then look away, a weird glimmer behind his eyes as he did so.
"Say, Ai-chan," Haibara looked back at her friend when she spoke. "Did you and Conan-kun have a fight?"
"Not really," was the scientist's earnest reply.
"Then why...?"
"I have long given up trying to find out myself."
"I see," muttered her friend, giving Conan a worried glance.
Ai of course noticed that, and sighed briefly. "Don't need to worry yourself over this," she stated, returning to the book she had been reading. "If Kudo-kun doesn't bother to open up and give out a single hint to us, there's no way we can tell what's going on in his thick head."
This time, Ayumi didn't respond, her eyes still on Conan's form. Then, she frowned slightly and promptly stood up, greatly confusing the scientist sitting next to her.
"Conan-kun," she gave him an apologizing look, clapping her hands together. "Do you mind changing seats with me?"
"Uh, no..." the boy blinked, owlishly. "But are you sure you want to travel with the Professor?"
Professor made sure to pretend he didn't hear the clear incredulity in the young boy's voice.
"I'm a bit nervous," she pulled out an awkward smile. "Just to think that there's a chance that this plane falls down I..."
"I don't think that's going to happen... The odds of a plane crash are actually lower than-"
"Don't you see she's scared, Conan-kun?"
"Just change seats with her!"
Of course, Mitsuhiko and Genta were fervently defending their dear Ayumi, glaring daggers at their friend, who seemed to be unable to see he was bothering her. Fearing that this would result in bloody murder ─ even if neither the victim or culprits would be older than eight ─ Conan sighed and, without further word, he plopped down next to the strawberry blonde girl.
Who simply turned the page from the book she was reading.
"What's wrong with her?" Conan grumbled, more to himself than to anyone else. "It's not like this is her first time flying..."
"You are the detective, Kudo-kun," her voice, even as usual, rang at his side. "If you can't figure it out there's an ulterior motive behind her actions..."
The boy didn't answer, simply watching the girl beside him finally closing the book in her lap and fixing her icy blue gaze on him.
"I'm no detective either," she stated, eyes narrowing. "And my patience is getting thin. If you don't have the courage to give me, at the very least, a hint of what you have been wanting to tell me all this time, I will probably break your skull with this."
He wouldn't doubt it, he realized with a shiver, eyeing the thick Sherlock Holmes' book ─ which, admittedly, he had lent her before ─ Haibara was cradling in her hands.
Slowly, his hesitant gaze rose to meet with hers and didn't break eye-contact until she closed her eyes, with a tired sigh.
"I won't pretend I don't know what all of this is about, though," she admitted, and he shifted uncomfortably. "You should know already that I don't bear any grudge against you."
"... I know."
Ai watched him look away, that deep frown carved into his face again, and deemed it safe to assume that it wouldn't be as easy to solve this just like that. So, she opened her mouth to speak.
Her voice died down before she could say a word, and a familiar chill ran down his spine, freezing the blood in her veins instantly.
"Haibara-san?" the frown on his features was far from gone, but this time instead of hesitance she could see plain concern, which was understandable.
But then, all of sudden, horror made his face grow pale. That was more than enough for her to know that Conan had realized what was going on.
Without waiting for an answer, the boy's sharp eyes wandered around the room. It can be anyone, he thought, a bead of cold sweat rolling down his forehead, as he watched Eri suddenly walking in ─ probably one of Ran's many schemes to get her parents together, judging by the way the lawyer had been surprised to see Kogoro sitting on the seat next to hers.
"Hello, everyone! Sorry to keep you all waiting!"
"Shinjo-san! Didn't you say you weren't coming because you were feeling ill?"
"Nah, I'm feeling much better."
Shinjo then went to the seat that Juri was now sharing with Kogoro, and kneeled down next to the woman. He kissed the Jewel of Destiny she wore on her finger as a ring.
Anyone could be KID...
"Ah! Excuse me!" a female flight attendant bumped into someone else, right next to the child. "I wasn't paying attention... Huh? Do I know you?"
"I don't think so," laughed the male one, scratching the back of his head as a nervous gesture. "I'm new at this work, so..."
"But I thought Yuki-chan..."
"She had a bit of a sick stomach, so I had to replace her at the last moment. Looking forward to working with you!"
Anyone could be their member, too...
He needed a better perspective of the plane, especially considering he was sitting on one of the front seats. So, he began to turn so he could watch over his shoulder.
"Don't," Haibara stopped him, however, by landing a trembling hand on his shoulder. "We're in an enclosed area. If they suspect that we know about them, with everyone abroad..."
Conan didn't need her to finish that sentence, since it was obvious enough. So, with a huff, he leaned back down. "But why are they here?" he wondered, outloud. "We still don't know what they were doing in a place like that the other time..."
"Do you think it has something to do with KID?"
"Impossible," he scoffed. "Why would that petty thief...?"
He trailed off into silence as realization dawned on him, causing his eyes to widen behind thick glasses. Could it be...? he managed to compose himself. That the actual reason he's doing what he's doing... More than just showing off...
No way, he shook his head. That's preposterous.
Taking a deep, quivering breath, Haibara held the book between shaky hands and continued to read. "All we can do for now is wait," she stated, eyes trained in the words on the paper. "You can continue looking for KID in the meanwhile."
"You're taking it much better than that other time on the bus," observed the boy.
"That woman isn't there," she informed. "And while their scent is certainly strong, I don't think it's someone ranked as high as the rest."
How she knew that just by scent, Conan didn't know, but didn't dare to question it either.
The plane soon took off, and the boy made sure not to let any detail of what was happening around him escape his attention. Such as Ayumi not wanting him to see her holding her nose and blowing because of the change of pressure ─ Haibara said something about him being the opposite gender so she didn't want him seeing something so disgusting, but honestly Conan didn't see the point of that ─ or Juri going to the toilet ─ which took, strangely, a bit too little time.
Service for the cockpit? Conan blinked, surprised, to see the female flight attendant carrying a tray of coffee and some biscuits to the pilots, which was unusual in domestic flights like that one.
It was even more strange to see Juri standing up, trailing behind the woman and entering the cockpit, waving enthusiastically. So, naturally, the young sleuth decided to slide out of his seat and take a peek.
So Juri-san used to be a pilot, huh? he hummed to himself, watching as the two pilots kissed her hand.
"This is not a place you should be at, little boy," at the voice behind him, Conan jumped slightly. "It can be dangerous."
Spinning around, the boy's gaze rose to meet the face of the male flight attendant from before, a kind smile plastered all over his expression. I didn't even notice him, he realized, unconsciously taking a step back.
"Will you please be a good boy and get back to your seat?" the young man continued, glancing at where Haibara was currently seated. "Leaving your friend there, alone, isn't nice, now is it?"
Nodding, a bit dumbfounded still, the child hurried off back to his seat. Once he was in his proper place, the young man smiled and walked away, further to the back of the plane. Only then, did Conan let his frown take place.
"He isn't them," Ai's voice broke through before he could think of anything else.
That made him relax, somewhat. But there's something that doesn't fit about that guy, but he couldn't quite pinpoint it. Is he KID? Or...
Sighing, he focused back on the jewel in question, moving back and forth in his view as Juri's finger hesitated, carefully studying each and every single chocolate from the box her assistant was holding up for her.
Once she picked one, Masayo offered Kogoro one. By the time he was putting it on his mouth, Juri was licking her fingers.
"Delicious!" Kogoro cried, happily.
Yet, it seemed like the actress wouldn't be able to enjoy it nearly as much, if the way she wrapped her hands around her throat, sounding like she was choking, was something to go by.
"Miss, are you okay?!" the male flight attendant pressed a hand, gently, against her shoulder. "Miss-?!"
His voice died down on his throat when the woman just fell into the ground, leaving his hand grasping the air. Instantly, he dropped on his knees, unable to do anything but to watch her desperately trying to breathe.
Then, all sound was gone, and Juri just lied there, motionless.
Kogoro kneeled down next to him while the young man searched for a pulse. No avail ─ he dejectedly shook his head from side to side.
"There's an almond scent," pointed out the kid, from beside them.
This time, Kogoro didn't push him away, just nodded gravely. "Cyanide poisoning, then," the older detective nodded.
"It's the chocolate!" Ban cried. "There was poison in the chocolates!"
It took a moment for Kogoro's brain to process those words, yet when they did his face contorted into a horrified expression, his face going white as he realized the implications of that sentence.
"Five minutes," Conan's plain voice rang through his ears, as he stared at his watch.
"Five minutes?!" he was screaming now. "You can't just say I have only-"
The boy's blank eyes rose to meet his, and raised an eyebrow. "Five minutes have passed since you ate those chocolates," he explained, with a bored tone, crossing his arms behind his head. "Since you're screaming like a madman right now instead of dropping beside Juri-san, I think it's safe to assume that you are okay."
Conan guessed that the relief of actually being safe prompted Kogoro to let him off the hook, despite his rude statement, with no more than a weak glare before bending over the deceased actress so he could get her out of the corridor.
Moments later, Eri was placing a cloth over Juri's body, that sat on her previous seat. In order not to let panic settle in, they were told that the Captain had decided not to let the news of that incident leak until they arrived at their destination.
But, who? Conan studied each and every face of the people surrounding the body. It must be one of them.
But as Natsuki had pointed out, all of them had a motive to end her life ─ she had treated everyone poorly, in one way or another.
"In order to preserve the crime scene," Kogoro called out. "Would everyone please move to the seats at the back?"
Instead of raising from his seat, Conan's eyes shifted to look at the girl that just sat there, unmoving, unblinking. She seemed to have forgotten to breathe, as she just gave the seat in front of her a hard look.
It didn't take a genius to see that the reason she acted like that was there, in the back of the same cabin they were at.
"Left or right?"
If he knew what side of the aisle that person was sitting at, he figured he would be able to block his sight with his body by walking beside her, but the look Haibara gave him was enough to know that she had absolutely no idea.
"Is something wrong, kids?"
Conan's head snapped towards the source, only to see the male flight attendant from before, blinking confused eyes at them both. It took the child a moment to recover, and force out a hopefully convincing smile.
"She is a bit scared," he lied, easily. "After everything that just happened, and stuff."
"Is that so?" the young man kneeled down in front of the girl, and let out a reassuring smile. "There's nothing to be afraid of, ojou-chan. Your friend here and I are going to be right next to you," he turned to Conan. "Right, boy?"
He nodded, dumbly.
"See?" the man seemed to ask for her hand. "We will walk with you, come."
Hesitantly, the girl took his hand and slowly raised from her seat. Conan watched, for a second, as the flight attendant stood right next to her before joining her other side. This is actually beneficial, he thought, realizing that Haibara remained mostly hidden as they walked. Could this guy actually...?
Her hold on the man tightened all of sudden, and her breath picked up, Conan observed.
But before he could say anything, he took sight of something. For less than a moment, he saw someone sitting there, in the row that the flight attendant was covering with his body.
It was far too brief to see clearly, but noticed he was dressed in black, from head to toe. By the dark fedora and overcoat alone, he would have mistaken him with Vodka, but the horseshoe mustache let him know it was someone entirely different.
Soon, they passed by him, and only then Haibara seemed able to recover herself.
"There we go," the flight attendant smiled with kindness, letting the girl sit again. "It wasn't so tough, was it?"
Haibara didn't reply, just stared blankly at him.
"Thank you," laughing nervously, Conan decided to speak instead.
"I will leave the rest to you, " the man winked at the young boy. "Take care of that small lady, okay?"
Then he walked away, leaving Conan alone to raise an eyebrow far above from his hairline, watching him go for a moment, before sighing.
"At least you weren't seen," he pointed out, turning to give the girl a concerned look. "Are you okay?"
"Have been worse," she admitted, with a shrug, opening her book once more. "More importantly, have you figured it out? The murderer behind the poisoning."
"No," he frowned, eyes back on the front, watching Kogoro accusing someone with little-to-no proof, as usual. "I don't know how they did it, either..."
"Hey, Genta-kun," Mitsuhiko's voice, coming from behind them, gathered his attention. "How can you eat at a time like this?"
"Because it'd all go to waste otherwise!"
He glanced at them, and his eyes opened at the sight of Genta licking his fingers after shoving a biscuit in his mouth. I see... they kept on widening, gradually, as they stared at the chocolate that covered his entire face after it. So that's how it was!
"Ah!" deciding it was time to act, he pointed at his friend while shouting, loudly. "Genta, your mouth is all dirty!"
He had gathered the attention of everyone, including Kogoro, but pretended not to notice.
"Ah, Conan-kun is right!" exclaimed Mitsuhiko.
"Clean yourself up, Genta-kun," admonished, lightly, Ayumi.
Giving out a shaky nod, he wiped it all away with his hand.
"Now your hand is dirty. It has chocolate all over," Conan raised an eyebrow. "How is that better?"
By the corner of his eye, he noted Kogoro walking a bit closer.
"Well, that can be solved quickly," the big boy proudly proclaimed, before starting to lick his hands.
The older detective was right beside the group, causing the bespectacled child to smirk, fully expecting him to realize the case by that. He didn't expect, however, to be lightly elbowed in the head. "Ow, that hurt!" he complained. "What was all of that about?!"
"Don't be so loud!" he scolded the kid. "I'm trying to think here."
"Good luck with that."
This time, the blow he received wasn't as light as it had been. Holding his sore head, he glared back at the man, who scolded, before walking back to the seat where Juri's body sat, in the front.
Seriously, how clueless can you be, Occhan? sighing tiredly, he pinched the bridge of his nose. Now, what?
He missed, however, the surprised look Eri was giving his way, carefully studying the situation at the kids' seats. Eventually, her stunned expression dimmed, and a soft smirk took hold of her features.
Kogoro noticed her change of attitude, and it confused him. His mouth opened, eyes fixing on her, but she didn't let him finish.
"Dear, you can stop putting on airs," she stated, causing Conan to blink and look at the lawyer. "That's quite enough. Let's hear the truth from you."
"Eh?" Kogoro was annoyed, even if he had no clue what she was talking about.
"Do you seriously do not get it? Sadly I can't say I'm surprised, Great Detective Mouri Kogoro."
Kogoro glared. "Well, If you know how it happened, do it yourself," he scoffed, looking away with a very annoyed look.
"Alright," the woman began to pace through the corridor. "I'll explain the situation."
"Huh? Really?"
Conan still couldn't get over his shock. Well, not that it should be surprising, but slowly, he managed to compose himself. Eri-obasan is much more intelligent than Occhan, by a whole lot...
It should be okay, I guess.
The way she explained it made the child wonder why it was her husband the famous detective and not her ─ arguably, she was a terrific lawyer, so it shouldn't be that shocking. She correctly told everyone that she had gone to the bathroom to clear her ears by pinching her nose.
A female, more often than not, would be embarrassed to do it around someone of the opposite gender. "No matter how much a blockhead you are, you are the opposite gender," she added, with an unnecessary amount of rudeness in her tone.
Therefore, if the poison had been in the foundation applied to both sides of her nose, it would have ended up on her fingers, then in her system after eating those chocolates.
"The culprit responsible for Juri-san's death..." she paused, right beside a particular seat, and glared at the person on it. "... it's you, Sakai Natsuki-san."
She got it perfectly... As expected from her.
At first, the culprit was shocked, but eventually tried to cover it by laughing, loudly. "That's not possible!" she exclaimed. "Still, that was a fairly interesting deduction-!"
"So that was why!" in an attempt to aid her, Conan smiled a bit too sweetly. "That's why you chased Haibara-san and Ayumi-chan away from the foundation when they were looking at it! It would be terrible luck..." his smile turned into a wicked smirk. "... if someone messed with them just the same day that you were going to use it to commit murder, right, miss?"
Her smile had long dropped, instantly jumping into her feet, anger written all over her face as she turned to the lawyer. "Then, if you're so sure, show me your evidence!" she screamed.
Eri closed her eyes. "That's right," she admitted. "If we had examined the thumb and forefinger of Juri-san's right hand and actually found a poison-laced foundation there, it would have served as sufficient evidence, but given that Juri-san licked the poison off, that evidence has vanished, hasn't it?"
The satisfied sneer Natsuki gave should have been considered evidence enough.
Before the lawyer could continue, the young male flight attendant walked closer. "If it were me..." he stated, earning everyone's attention. He paid no mind at the clueless looks everyone was giving the confident smirk he was wearing.
The way Shinjo buried his face in his hands, with an exhausted sigh, went unnoticed by everybody else, however.
"... I would've sent the evidence, the poisoned foundation and the sponge..." his eyes narrowed. "... to my own house, via the mail."
Natsuki gasped, horrified.
"So, if we contact the airport post office and have them investigate the mail parcel, we'll know," he walked right beside the lawyer, hands inside his pockets. "Will you give us your home address, Sakai-san?"
Conan could only stare, eyes wide open, at the suddenly over-confident flight attendant.
Like that, the culprit confessed to the crime. She explained that she had always dreamed of becoming a Hollywood make-up artist, but once one contacted her Juri had interfered, therefore ruining everything.
"She had ruined my pride as a make-up artist," she dropped into her knees, crying inconsolably.
Kogoro moved closer, a deep frown carved into his features. "Your pride as a make-up artist? Don't make me laugh!" he sounded angry. "If that were the case, why would you use your make-up as a weapon?"
Had it been any other time, Conan would have sarcastically pointed out how unusual it was for Kogoro to say something so deep, but he couldn't. There was a feeling, a bad feeling settling on the pit of his stomach, and he couldn't point it out.
"Kudo-kun?" and it must have shown on his face, he figured, if the way the girl beside him whispered, concerned.
Overhearing the conversation, the male flight attendant turned to give the child a curious look.
All of sudden, the boy's head raised as the memories of that day filled his mind. Juri's fingers, the biscuits that were brought to the cockpit...
"... Kudo-kun?"
His eyes widened, upon remembering the two pilots kissing her hand, and his face grew pale the next instant.
"Kudo-kun!"
"Stay here, okay? Don't let yourself be seen."
Before she could even ask what was going on, the kid had bolted out of his seat and to the front of the plane, passing by the surprised adults that stared, cluelessly. "The captain and copilot are in danger!" he shouted, hurrying to the cockpit.
He didn't even wait for them to comprehend what was going on, but dimly noticed that two female flight attendants and Kogoro were right there as soon as he opened the door.
As predicted, the two men were groaning, holding their throats and trying to breath, more or less like Juri had done seconds before her death.
All of sudden, the captain collapsed right in front of the control yoke.
Now, Conan might not have an idea of how to fly a plane, but he was pretty sure that suddenly plummeting down into the ground was not the way it worked.
"Hurry, pull him up!" he shouted at Shindo, one of the flight attendants. She complied right away.
So, if pulling it down caused this, it did not take a genius to know that, to prevent their deaths ─ for now ─ he needed to do the opposite.
He slipped right in front of the unconscious man, placed his hands on the yoke, his feet on the dashboard and pulled, with all his strength.
The airplane returned to its normal curse. Now, what? he thought, between breaths. The autopilot had most likely deactivated, so to activate it again...
A hand passed by his head and pushed a button. "Shinjo-san?" he blinked, in surprise.
"Not bad, kid."
Thankfully, there was a doctor abroad, so the pilots were treated right away, even if they had to be moved to the passenger cabin.
Shinjo had needed help from Ban and Narusawa but, despite some inconveniences – such as a minor turbulence that almost knocked Ban off his feet, but managed to catch himself just in time – they succeeded in getting them out.
The good news was that their lives were not in danger, in the downside, now they lacked a captain and a copilot.
Things were bound to get ugly, Conan frowned.
"I'll take over the captain's seat. As for the copilot's seat..."
The frown was replaced by a bewildered expression when Shinjo pointed at him and said:
"Could I get you to take care of that for me?"
Silenced by shock, Conan just stared back at him, blinking twice for good measure before turning around, so he could make sure that, really, was not somebody else standing behind him.
Ignoring the fact that the three kids, Genta, Mitsuhiko and Ayumi, were standing there, looking even more confused than he was, there wasn't anybody there. So, slowly, he turned back around.
Shinjo was still looking at him, smirking as he did so.
... Say what?!
"Your judgment with the control yoke earlier was pretty impressive," he continued. "Can you do it?"
Conan stared at him for a few more minutes before nodding his head, hesitantly, and taking a step forward. A hand in front of his face stopped him from reaching the seat however.
"I will take that seat," looking up Conan found the male flight attendant from before, raising an eyebrow at Shinjo. "I can-"
"I can't let you do that," said Shinjo, his smirk still in place. "You have a job to do, don't you? There are many passengers out there."
"But he's a child."
"Don't worry," Conan smiled brightly at the young man. "I've flown planes lots of times in the arcade center!"
The man's eyebrow rose, as if he magically knew Conan, the child with deplorable gaming skills, had probably been in his school's principal office more times than at an arcade ─ which meant little to nothing.
But still, the kid slipped away and sat in his place. The male flight attendant just stared, before sighing. "You should go back into your seats, kids," he said to the other three children. "You shouldn't be here."
"Fine..." they chorused, sounding terribly envious of their friend.
The flight attendant watched them rush out the cockpit and silently followed them. He watched the two boys go back to their place and the girl sitting next to the strawberry blonde, who merely smiled at her before returning to her book.
He studied her for a moment and frowned slightly. By the corner of his eye he could see that man in black ─ he hadn't made a move, even if his eyes wouldn't leave the seat where Juri's body had been placed.
As absurd as that sounds, the cockpit is the safest place in this entire plane right now.
As much as he hated it, he could do nothing but to wait.
If that guy is with him, it should be alright... Probably.
"You're KID, right?"
Shinjo turned to look at the kid sitting beside him. "What are you talking about?" he questioned.
"Stupid, drop the act already," Conan leaned back into his seat, crossing his arms behind his head. "There's absolutely no person in this world that would let an elementary school student take the copilot's seat. Besides you, of course."
A familiar laugh ran through his ears. "You got me there," KID's voice, which sounded a lot like Kudo Shinichi's, resounded in the room. "As expected from you."
"I kind of suspected you ever since Shinjo-san, who was supposed to be sick, suddenly appeared," Conan shrugged. "It had to be either you, or that new flight attendant. But seeing the scandalized look on his face when you suggested it, I could tell."
KID's smirk only widened.
"Anyway, when is your plan on taking possession of the Jewel of Destiny?"
"I'm not after it anymore," the magician replied, confusing the detective for a moment. "You should know about it as well, a real star sapphire is cold when you touch it with your lips."
Humming in response, Conan understood what that meant. Previously, KID had kissed Juri's lips, most likely to ascertain that it was, indeed, fake. So there was no need to steal it.
"What are you going to do?" the thief asked, in a teasing tone. "Are you going to arrest me, Tantei-kun?"
"Of course, after this giant metal bird has returned to its nest," his sharp gaze was shot at him. "And after you answer some questions."
"Oh?"
"Like who is that man in black your assistant is keeping watch on."
Hadn't he been actively looking for any kind of suspicious behavior, he would have missed the way his body tensed, for less than a second. The next moment, he was back to normal, looking at the child as if he had absolutely no idea of what he was talking about.
Before he could press any further, however, they received a call from the tower, telling them that the Hakodate Tower would take over. Conan guessed that he could try this later, that it could wait.
But once he got the chance, he wouldn't let him off the hook so easily.
"We'll get right to it. Do you see the M.C.P? That's the Mode Control Panel."
"Yes," KID replied, making use of Shinjo's voice. "I see it."
"Then please press the APP button on that panel. This will enable the plane to lower itself onto the runway automatically."
KID's eyes travelled around the panel, searching for the button in question. "Ah, is that one?" Conan pointed at it, noticing the 'APP' label on it. "It's pressed!" he informed, with a cherry tone.
It was almost comical the way the person in the tower panicked when he realized that there was a child in the cockpit ─ completely understandable, however. He calmed down, somewhat, when the kid assured him he would not touch any buttons before ending the call for now.
"Now we can relax for the moment," Conan stated.
"Can you handle operating the flaps and the landing gear?"
"Well, I guess..." he said, hesitantly, suddenly intimidated by the many controls in front of him. "The gear level is this one... The flap level must be... this, right?"
"Exactly," KID nodded, with a grin. "If you already know that much, this will be easier... I'm not sure I want to know how, but..."
"I read a lot of this last year."
"What kind of kid reads about planes in his free time?"
"I was bored, okay?" he huffed. "I was practically banned from any mystery books, so..."
He did not appreciate the way the thief laughed, loudly. "You were grounded?! Guess a child will always be a child," Conan's eyebrow twitched in response. "Did you misbehave?"
"I... kind of grabbed a bomb, stole a bike and took it to a nearby river."
"You what?"
"You chose a kid to assist you in landing a plane. That's worse."
"Oh, no, it's not," KID chuckled, causing the boy to blink at him, confusedly. "If you have the level of judgment to fall off a building and chase me on a paraglider across the city without panicking, I think you're much more capable than any adult here," his eyes went back to the front window. "Even if you had never read a word about airplanes before, the same could be said about everyone else. I'd rather have a level-headed, young child than a full-grown panicking adult here."
The child seemed to think over those words for a moment, before shrugging, convinced with his argument, and turning to look outside. The rain that had been pouring over them had gotten stronger now, causing the boy to frown slightly, hoping against hope that this time he would be lucky enough not to have any problems with that.
Of course, it wouldn't be this way. Once they were getting close to the Hakodate Airport and were about to land, a loud noise rang through, and a bright light momentarily blinded them ─ it didn't take a genius to know they had been struck by thunder.
When the light died down, both thief and detective were horrified to find themselves in the middle of darkness. "This is Flight 856!" Conan was quick to shout. "We've just been struck by lightning and all the displays have turned off!"
"Calm down. Turn the white knob next to the glare shield."
KID did as he was told, and instantly the lights were back again. There was no time to be glad about it, however, since the auto-pilot was not engaged.
"Abort the landing! Full thrust and pull up on the control yoke!"
So they did, the plane went up and then Conan retracted the wheels. It continued to climb, but the wind started to blow it off course, so that KID had to turn right, then bring up the nose of the airplane in order to avoid hitting the tower.
The plane shook violently, which was telltale enough that they had hit something. Apparently, they had lost an engine.
KID could not help but look to the ground. The flames were vicious, eating everything in sight in a macabre, wild dance, and gritted his teeth. It was a disturbing sight to see, for sure.
By the corner of his eye, he noticed the young boy turning to do the same thing. "Don't look!" the magician stopped him, right away.
Conan jumped at the urgency in his voice, his head snapping to look back at him. The sight of the unusual seriousness decorating his face made him comply, albeit hesitantly.
Luckily, the contact with the control tower remained, and they were told that there were no injuries at the tower. Conan sighed in relief after hearing that.
They were assured that three engines were enough to make a landing, and that it would be okay as long as they stayed balanced through it all.
But as it was now, they could only wait until the landing track was clear again. That will take a while, sighed Conan, imagining the chaos that was probably taking place at the tower.
"Conan-kun! "Ayumi, Mitsuhiko and Genta burst through the door. "One of the engines-!"
"-fell off. Yeah, we know," Conan replied before their panic would escalate further. "We can make the landing, as long as we have enough-"
Or maybe not, Conan realized with a shudder. Hearing that abrupt halt, KID turned to see the display and gasped. "We're almost out of fuel?" he was confused.
"You said we're out of fuel?!" Ran's voice came from behind.
Sure enough, the girl had entered the cockpit, a startled Agasa and a panicking Sonoko trailing behind. Haibara was also there, calm despite the place they were at, as she observed the situation, standing close to a worried Shindo. Conan barely paid attention to all of them, in favour of scanning each and every single spot on the mode control panel, until he found out what was going on.
"The cross-feed valve is open?!"
He let KID to explain what that was to his friends, instead focusing on closing it before they lost even more fuel. Soon they realized that Ban must have pushed it by accident when he came by to carry the pilots out.
"There should be maps over there," he focused on his friends. "Someone bring them over!"
Ayumi was the first one to react, turning around and going to search for one. "Map, map, map..." she chanted, a bit of worry tinting her voice.
"Here you are."
Blinking, the girl looked up to see the young, male flight attendant standing right behind her, a kind smile in place and a book on his hands. Beaming, she practically tore it away from his grasp and handed it to Conan.
By the time the kid was flipping through the pages, desperately looking for a place to land at, the flight attendant was standing beside Ran and the group, a focused frown trained in his features as he watched the boy.
That action went unnoticed by most.
Except for Ran, who momentarily turned to him and stared.
There was something, something the girl couldn't put her finger on. The way he looked at Conan... it was different, in some strange way. It was somewhat familiar, somehow.
"Hey, Conan-kun!" all of sudden, Ayumi's voice rang through. "I know a place."
Some way or another, the destination ended up being Muroran. "Sakimori Pier!" he exclaimed, a tint of hope audible in his tone when he saw it. "We're just short of 60 meters, but if we let one side of the wings hover over the ocean-"
"Impossible," Haibara crossed her arms in front of her chest. "This plane should need more than 2000 meters of stopping distance. The integrity of the ground surface is also a problem..."
"We don't have much fuel, and there aren't many passengers," he reasoned. "The lighter we are, the shorter the stopping distance. Depending on the wind direction, it may be even shorter."
"Ah!" Mitsuhiko perked up. "According to the weather report I saw at Haneda Airport, they said strong winds from the west will blow throughout the flight!"
Conan smiled, widely after hearing that, realizing that the pier stretched east to west. "As long as we head into the west wind and land from the east, we may just be able to-!"
"It's impossible," KID's voice interrupted him. "When we collided with the control tower earlier, I took a strong blow to my left arm. I've been mostly controlling the plane using only my right hand ever since. If we're going to land manually, I'll need to hold on to the control yoke tightly with both hands."
Silence took over once more, as the realization that they were most likely not going to make it. Damn it, cursed the boy, while glaring at the map on his lap as if it was the cause of their imminent death. Is there... Is there really nothing we can do?!
His fists clenched, doing his best to block out the noise of his friends ─ Ayumi was beginning to sob, and the boys were beginning to panic. Are we really going to die here?
... There are things I still have to do, closing his eyes, he tried to get his mind to search for a solution, but he couldn't. Not when his mind would drift away from focus, playing over and over again those times he laughed with his friends, Ran, everyone...
Is this over, for real?
Finally, Shinichi's smile popped on his mind, and he gritted his teeth.
The flight attendant studied him for a few more minutes, frowning deeper, before taking a deep breath. "Alright," clapping his hands, he gathered the attention from everyone in the room. "Enough panicking, everyone. Time to make some rearrangements."
They all blinked, especially when he walked closer to the young boy and plucked out the book from his lap. "Let's see..." his eyes roamed across the room, before they fell on a certain person. "You," Ran jumped, startled, when the young man pointed at him. "You're taking the kid's place."
"Eh... But..." either way, he passed her the map, and she was forced to take it.
"Hey!" the little boy shouted, annoyed. "You can't just-! Hey!"
The reason his complaint was interrupted suddenly was that he was suddenly raised several feet on the air by the hood of his shirt. "Let me go!" he shouted, already tickled off, as he tried to get away from the flight attendant's grasp, yet no avail. It only seemed to amuse him, if anything.
"You take him," he passed the boy to a startled Agasa, who clumsily held him from the back of his shirt as well, as if he was just a puppy, before turning to Shindo. "Please, transfer everyone on the second floor downstairs."
"Hey-!"
The next moment, it was silent.
A hand on top of his head had, inexplicably, made the child pause and calm down. Shocked into quietness, his bright, wide blue eyes blinked owlishly as they fell into the young man's face, who was gazing back at him with an oddly warm, tender look.
A warm and tender look that he could have sworn he knew like the back of his hand.
"It will be okay, don't worry about it," there was a sweet smile that caused the kid, for reasons nobody would be able to understand, to let his arms drop at his sides, giving up fighting. "Just make sure..."
Then, he learned forward, hand shielding his mouth as he whispered:
"... to protect that little princess, okay?"
Shock was written all over the young boy's face, staring at the flight attendant grin, before turning around.
"I'll take over," he said to KID who just nodded, before letting him take his place.
The smirk adorning KID's face as he exchanged looks with the young man was the last thing Conan saw before Agasa took him out the room. Once out, he let him free to walk with the group ─ minus Sonoko, who wanted to stay with Ran ─ as they began to head downstairs.
Only then, his mind caught with what that guy had said. His eyebrow twitched, annoyed. What's wrong with him, always saying that weird stuff? he glanced at Haibara, who didn't seem to notice. Calling her a princess and all that...
Giving another glance over his shoulder, he let out a long sigh. There was one, one single thing he was absolutely sure of.
His luck must definitely be rotten, for all of this to be happening in a single flight.
A/N:
CherryGirl 6-21: I'm not completely sure. I'm kind of tempted to cover some movies related to the Organization (and maybe another one related to KID) but I don't want to drag this story even further if it's not strictly related to this plot... And about the burning tower, it's the Nishitamashi Twin Towers from movie 5. In this story, it was shown on TV. Even if I never said KID saw him, explicitly, until now, Shinichi was watching it, so...
ajjr12: Thanks for the suggestion! Though, I still have something in mind for that.
Gamergail: Thank you for pointing that out! I actually wrote most of it in my phone, and for some reason it autocorrected that word as 'poodle', for reasons I'll never be able to comprehend, so yeah that was a bit embarrassing XD
Also, I don't think I properly explained this, but actually Shinichi is around 9 to 10 years older than Conan (exactly 9 years and 6 months, considering their birthdays in May and November, if I'm not doing my math wrong) in this story. That makes Shinichi around 17, soon-to-be 18. And since third-grader students in high school are aged between 17 and 18, I thought it made sense if they are still in school. Sorry for the confusion I generated, and sorry if you preferred me answering via DM but I wanted to clarify this since I forgot to do it before.