File Eighty-Eight: To Return To That Place

"Ah, it is you, young man."

Shinichi bowed slightly at the old monk in front of him. "Thank you again for having me the other day," he said with a bright smile on his face. "I'll be taking my leave soon, so I thought to properly thank you for everything you did for me."

"There's nothing to be grateful for," he replied, serenely descending the stairs to join him. "Or is there something else?"

"Well, there's this thing…" He laughed awkwardly. "I did as you suggested the other time…"

"And it worked out, I presume."

"Yeah. So thank you for that, too." Having said that, he turned around as if to leave. "Well, then…"

As the monk bowed, Shinichi took a step forward, feeling that there wasn't anything else for him to do there. His smile dropped a bit, however, when he felt a chill attacking so suddenly that prompted him to hug himself.

Weird, he thought ─ it wasn't supposed to be cold today. Am I coming down with a cold or something?

After such an agitated week, Shinichi wouldn't be all that surprised if it was the case ─ a frustrated huff escaped at the prospect.

"Ojisan?"

All thought inside his mind froze completely when a small voice called for him, apparently. His head raised sharply at that, and was shocked at the sight that met his eyes. There was a young boy standing there, at the bottom of the stairs he was climbing down.

"I knew I'd meet you here!"

"... S-Satoshi-kun?" The kid merely smiled at his reaction. "What…?"

"I just wanted to catch up with you before you left." His hand latched behind his back. "There was something I really wanted to verify!"

"Which is?"

"You're Kudo Shi-"

A hand violently clasping his mouth suddenly stopped him from articulating another word, but didn't as much as react. "H-How..." Instead of that, he blinked innocent, wide eyes at the teenager panting in front of him, who had rushed down the stairs so quickly that it was almost impressive. "How did you…?"

Now that the hand was gone, the boy was free to speak. "Even if I was to guide you here last night, you seemed to know your way around already," he explained, even as Shinichi's head turned from side to side, eyes darting around frantically. "So I thought you would return here and-"

"No, not that. I mean… that."

"Oh, that you're Kudo-?"

"Keep it down!"

"Ah, so you are undercover!" Even if the detective seemed to be close to an anxiety attack right now, the child remained completely unaware of it. If anything, he appeared brighter than before. "That's what I thought!"

"... You thought, eh?"

"Well, I've actually heard about you in the news before," the kid admitted. "You were always there until you disappeared all of a sudden. Then you appear here, clearly disguised..."

Clearly disguised, huh? Shinichi felt like he wanted to cry, if he was being honest. "But, I could've been, you know..."

"Dead?" He completed it, quicker than Shinichi would've expected. "That was what I originally thought, but..."

"But?"

"Heiji-ojisan called you 'Kudo' the other time, didn't he?"

Now, more than crying, Shinichi felt like murdering. Hattori… He internally huffed, hand pressing against his temples, head hurting at the mere thought of what else would escape his mouth if he wasn't around to defend himself.

"Say, say. Are you really Ku-?"

"Yeah, yeah. Just keep it to yourself!" Shinichi said, more intensely than he would have preferred. Not that Satoshi seemed to mind. "Listen..." Kneeling down to eye level, he managed a smile at the attentive kid in front of him. "You… You're right. There's bad people after me at the moment, so it would be awful if they knew I'm around..." Followed by this, he winked. "Can I count on you to keep that secret?"

The answer was immediate ─ the child flashed him a grin, nodding empathically, to which Shinichi sighed in relief, glad that danger seemed to have been avoided for the time being...

"Were you who named that kid called Conan-kun?" It wouldn't be that easy, he bet. "Since you like Conan Doyle a lot and Heiji-ojisan said-"

"... Keep that secret, too."

"Sure! By the way-"

"And please, stop."

Satoshi's mouth clicked shut, silently watching as the detective went back into his feet, still pressing his temples as if suffering from a severe migraine. Sighing to himself, he took a couple of steps, "It was good talking with you, but I should get..." then paused completely, gaze cast at an empty patch of grass. "... going..." He blinked twice and turned back to the clueless kid. "Did… Did you see a bike here or something?"

"Yeah."

"... And did you see where it went, by any chance?"

Wordlessly, the child pointed somewhere ahead of him. Shinichi stared dumbly at his finger for a second before slowly turning to see what he meant. What… Out of everything he had expected to see, that wasn't included on his list. What the…?

'That' being the same truck the Cats had used last night to steal the Buddha statues.

What in the actual hell?

He did not move, staring at the truck as if it would magically produce answers for the questions his head wasn't able to conjure. That was, until he saw the window on the driver's seat lowering, and a familiar shark grin making an appearance in front of his eyes.

"This truck was stolen from Beika's Department Store a few weeks ago..." The driver tipped his police cap closer to his face, but Shinichi could still see it. "I was on my way to return it back to its owners." As recognition shook him over in waves, he felt his surprise dimming, and his body stiffening up completely. "Such a coincidence, isn't it?"

Unlike him, Shinichi didn't smile ─ if anything, his lips pursed and a deep scowl took over his features while he took into the face that he wanted to see the least right now.

It was noisy.

Cheering and laughter filled the small bar completely, congratulating the couple in the middle for their upcoming wedding. Praising, a healthy dose of teasing, and definitely smiles were thrown to them, which they accepted with equal grins of their own, excited for what seemed to be just the beginning of a love story that would last until the day they gave out their final breath...

But it was noisy, nevertheless.

As everyone in that room celebrated, Conan cast a bored gaze to the window beside him, absently watching the droplets of rain water making their way down the glass. Even to Kogoro, it was obvious that he wasn't all that thrilled to be there.

That barely surprised him ─ after all, the boy hadn't been nearly as enthusiastic as his friends when he told him they were attending his old friend's pre-wedding party.

"What are you guys so excited about?" The little girl with the nasty attitude had said from beside the groaning boy. "You aren't coming along."

"Eh?!" Their whining boomed throughout the entire plane. "But-"

"You children are going straight home once we arrive," said the Professor, looking almost apologetic at the whole thing. "We already stayed in Osaka longer than we expected."

When the three dropped back into their seats, Kogoro found himself breathing out in relief. He wasn't all that eager to take care of four other brats, nor he had been willing to deal with convincing them otherwise because of their stubbornness. So, he was glad that it was taken care of.

"Can't I just stay home?" Conan turned to Ran, who giggled quietly at the almost pleading look he was giving her. "Ran-neechan..."

"I'm sorry, Conan-kun. We can't leave you alone at home."

"Then, Professor?" The boy suddenly perked up. Something akin to hope flashed behind his glasses as he set his gaze on him. "Can I please stay at your home tonight?"

"Sorry." The boy dropped back down with a huff, just as those words had been pronounced. "I'm visiting a friend tonight so I won't be there until late."

Conan stared at him for a full minute before pointing at the girl sitting beside him. "Why is she allowed to stay alone?"

"Maybe it's a matter of maturity." She barely moved a muscle as she said that. "I wouldn't trust you to be left without supervision either."

"Why, you-"

"What's the big deal, brat?" Kogoro crossed his arms, huffing tiredly. "You're coming and that's it. It's not going to kill you."

"Fine…" he finally conceded. "But in return, I... I have a request, Occhan."

Any other day, he would have rolled his eyes and clarified that he didn't make deals with little brats… But then Conan raised his head and their eyes met.

The kid was deadly serious.

"Mouri!" He looked up when he heard his name. "It's been a long time."

The soon-to-be groom and wife were approaching his table, so he pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind and grinned. "Yo, Banba!" He raised a hand to greet them.

"So, this person is that famous detective?"

"Yeah! A bad friend from high school, Mouri Kogoro."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Hatsune." Kogoro nodded in return. "The two beside Mouri-san must be..."

Ran smiled politely. "His daughter, Ran," she said, then turned to glance at the kid, expecting him to say anything. But he remained stubbornly still, now glaring at the window he had been staring at for a while now. "Uh..." So she began, hesitantly. "He is-"

"Conan," was all he blurted out. It seemed to make the couple slightly uncomfortable, but it was a fact that he didn't find all that interesting.

"Excuse this rude little brat." All the reaction Conan had when Kogoro's hand suddenly fell on his head to mess with his hair was a faint grunt. "We're looking after him because of circumstances…"

"Don't worry about it." Hatsune gave the young child a kind smile. "Must be boring to be in a room full of adults, right, boy?"

He didn't bother to answer her. Banba scowled at the treatment he was giving his fiance, but she waved it off.

Conan couldn't be bothered to put on an act. I don't want to be here. That was clear enough at that point. But I guess I should still deal with this...

"I need you to take me somewhere."

Frowning slightly, Conan rested his hand on an open palm ─ he definitely didn't want to go there either. Not that I have a choice. He clutched the glass of orange juice Kogoro had bought for him. That's something that needs to be done.

"I guess… I'm a little scared."

He could relate with his brother's words ─ if he said he couldn't, he would have been a terrible liar since even imagining what tomorrow had to offer them made his stomach clench. Ai-san said the other time that he would last around two years, he recalled that conversation like it had been yesterday. If he took that drug in December, and it's almost June...

The deadline was getting uncomfortably closer now. But it was okay ─ he let out a small smile. It was impossible that his brother would go back on his promise. He had never done that before, why would it be any different now?

Anyway… That means that this mess should end by the end of this year. Without fully meaning to, he felt his gaze straying away from the rain outside to Ran and Kogoro. That's right. He watched them laugh, amused by some part of the conversation they were engaged with that was lost to him.

If everything goes back to normal, I'll probably have to leave the agency and move back home...

Conan wasn't entirely sure how he felt about that.

"I heard that you two fell in love at first sight."

It looked like the conversation hadn't progressed all that much. Of course Ran-neechan would like to know everything. In fact, he wouldn't put it past the romance-lover to be the cause of it ─ he wanted to laugh and cry all the same. This will be a long night.

"Yeah. I felt it was fate the moment I saw her."

"It felt like 'finally this is the one'."

"Moreover, our birth date, blood type and circumstances are the same."

"Sometimes we can understand each other without communicating."

"Creepy."

"Conan-kun!"

"But it is," he argued. "What's so good about having someone knowing your every thought all day, every day?"

Ran stared at him for long enough for him to feel a little uncomfortable, then shrugged. "It's romantic," she said. "Not that you would understand that… Maybe it goes in your blood."

Confused, he continued staring at her, noticing that she was smiling again, her gaze flickering back to the couple. The sight of her eyes twinkling in awe made Conan feel a little bad. If she ends up with him, I fear she will have her dreams shattered…

"Thank you for waiting- Ah!"

Before he could process what had happened, the waiter was bowing at Banba, apologizing profusely as he, in turn, complained loudly that he had gotten cake all over his pants, and had stepped on it, too.

"I'm really sorry! Today is my first time working here..."

"Hope it's not the last..."

"Conan-kun, what's with you today?!"

He paid no attention to the girl scolding him and, instead, boredly watched the waiter apologizing profusely for all the trouble he had caused. Hatsune took a friendlier approach than her fiance, winking at him while suggesting that he bring a rag for the pants. Instantly, he nodded and rushed back to do as he was told.

"Hey, just because you're handsome, don't look at him like that."

"Oh? Are you jealous?"

"I-It's not like-"

"You haven't changed a bit." Kogoro smirked at that. "That part of you being quick with the ladies, but very possessive."

"Look who's talking. You were always glaring at anyone who approached Eri-chan."

"What are you saying-?!"

"Really?" Ran smiled brightly.

"No wonder she left..."

"... Conan-kun."

This time his mouth clicked shut, not daring to look at her that was, definitely, glaring down at him. He had probably tested his limits enough for today, he reflected while focusing his attention exclusively on his orange juice, sipping quietly and making as little noise as possible.

Her attention was luckily set back on the future wife when she suddenly stood up, claiming that she was going to the nail salon to get bridal nail tips. After promising Banba that there were only women on the staff so that he wouldn't be jealous and a light kiss on the lips, she left, claiming that she would return in two hours.

Once she was gone, Kogoro raised his eyebrow. "She could just put them on right before the wedding," he commented. "She's just going to take them off before going to sleep..."

"I heard you're supposed to put on nail tips for twenty-four hours," clarified Ran, shocking the other two.

Conan shrugged it off right away, sipping on his juice once more. It must be tough being a woman. Before he could continue down that line of thought, the waiter from before came by, rag in hand, hoping to appease his very irritated client. If it was because his clothes were ruined, or plain jealousy, Conan had no clue.

Tanned skin. He studied the man out of boredom. He was wearing glasses, too, and the light was hiding his eyes from plain view. Blonde hair. Could he be a foreigner? The waiter kept on apologizing. Well, he could be half-Japanese, or even dyed his hair.

Eventually, the waiter was gone, and Conan was left with no source of entertainment any longer. Boring, he thought, as Banba went to talk with a group of girls and drink. There wasn't all that much he could do but sit… and wonder how much time he would have to endure until they could go back home.

An hour and a half later, hardly anything had happened. Banba had gotten irrevocably drunk and had seemed to be close to picking up a fight when the waiter called his attention to notify him that his phone had been ringing. It had been a text from his wife, saying that she would be back in half an hour.

It wasn't that what caught his attention, but rather what happened next. Suddenly, Banba had excused himself to the restroom, and while there was absolutely nothing wrong with that, the weird thing was that he took another phone from his pocket. He's talking to someone with a scary face. He followed him with his gaze until he disappeared behind the door, hanging up a few seconds after picking up.

Curiously, he kept on staring at the door until he saw a man with sunglasses ─ why would you use sunglasses at night, indoors, anyway? ─ stepping out from the restroom. Could that person be the caller? he wondered, watching him sit back in his place and call for the waiter.

"Bourbon on the rocks," he requested, just as Banba was getting out.

That was on purpose, he decided when he saw Banba bumping into the unsuspecting waiter, who apologized even if it hadn't been his fault.

"Hey, waiter-san," the man with the sunglasses asked. "Do you remember my order?"

"Yes. Bourbon on the rocks, right?"

"Okay." He raised his hand, signing that it was okay. "It's not wrong."

Now, of all drinks, it had to be bourbon… It was making him uncomfortable, honestly.

"Hey," he gathered Kogoro's attention. "This party is also your high school reunion, right?"

"Yeah. It seems the bride had her own party on a different day."

"Then, is the guy that's wearing sunglasses your classmate?"

The famous detective strained his head to look over his shoulder. "Hmm..." His eyes narrowed, struggling to recall if he had ever seen that face before. "I don't remember. It has been twenty years."

"Forgive me. I forgot you're that old-"

He bit back a cry when, pissed off with his rude attitude, the man had smacked him lightly behind his head, but did not think of apologizing either ─ just glared back at him lightly, before focusing one last time on the weird man with the sunglasses.

Another half an hour passed by so slowly that Conan was wondering why he hadn't thought of bringing a book with him. At this point, Banba had suddenly attacked the waiter, causing him to drop every single thing he was carrying and the future groom to injure his hand. Despite everyone there telling him to get it patched, he paid no mind. Instead, he pulled his phone out.

"I have something to say to Hatsune only."

He had mumbled it softly, but Conan caught it either way. The scary expression from before was back, intensified due to the effects of alcohol even. What could have happened? He watched him talk with the woman over the phone, frowning slightly. Is it really okay for those two to get married?

Before he could continue down that line of thought, all anger from Banba's face was supplanted by a perplexed one. "Goodbye?" he whispered in confusion. "What are you saying? Hey, Hatsune? Hatsune-?!"

A loud sound made the kid jump, head snapping towards the window to realize that, to his horror, there was fire. Outside, in the parking lot, there was a car burning fiercely and, if Banba's shaky declaration could be trusted, it undoubtedly belonged to Hatsune.

"Ran-neechan!" Conan hopped out of his seat. "Call an ambulance and-!"

"You call an ambulance, Conan!" Kogoro pushed him back, and took off running. "Ran, call the fire station!"

Nodding firmly, she gathered her phone and quickly dialed the number. It took a moment more than needed for the child to wake up from his stupor but, once he did, he scrambled to copy her actions, not letting his eyes stray away from the window, not even for a second.

He watched Kogoro shaking his head in dismay, once he realized there was no way he could get closer to the flames that, despite the falling rain, only seemed to grow stronger.

Even from outside, Conan was sure, the heart-wrenching wail of a man who had lost the love of his life could definitely still be heard.

All this whole situation was strange, if Conan was being honest.

The only thing they could be certain about was the victim, Kamon Hatsune, burnt to death inside her own car. At first, it was theorized that she could have committed suicide, but even then, it made no sense ─ she had plans for tomorrow. She was going to get married, and there were suitcases for her honeymoon inside her trunk.

"But why would a blessed person commit suicide?" Takagi voiced what he had been wondering all this time.

"I don't know…" Kogoro tried to make sense of the situation. "Maybe she got marriage blues…"

Not that Conan particularly cared about his theories. "Hey, hey, Detective Takagi."

"Hey!" Only then did Kogoro notice the child crouching down next to the car. "Not you again!"

He was lucky that Takagi always paid attention to him, regardless of the older detective's displeasure. "What is it?" He kneeled down next to him, then opened his eyes wide when the kid pointed at something on the ground. "A fake nail? Why is it here?"

"Kamon-san said she would go to the nail salon about two hours ago."

And like so, he walked away, cutting Takagi off before he could even think of a proper response. Perhaps… He frowned, hands sliding inside his pockets while he slowly approached Kogoro and Megure, who were still talking with each other. … we shouldn't conclude this as suicide yet.

If only… His gaze rose to meet the older detective, surveyed him for a couple of seconds, before a heavy sigh escaped from his lips. If only Occhan could see it, for once.

After being examined, the police had discovered that the nail had skin on it, so it was presumed that, while struggling near, Hatsune had clawed into the murderer. It had matched with the DNA found on a hair brush inside the suitcase. It belonged to Banba, apparently, who coincidentally had his hands bandaged after he fell and got cut with the glasses the waiter had been carrying.

"W-What are you saying?" Banba didn't take it all that well. "You're saying I'm the culprit?!"

"No, no, no..." Takagi tried to appease him. "They didn't perfectly match. We would like to use your DNA for more accurate results."

"No way!"

Conan tugged into Takagi's jacket, gathering his attention. "That's exactly what a murderer would say..."

"I'm not!"

"See? That too." He tilted his head innocently. "If you didn't do it, what would you be so reticent about?" It disappeared when the boy frowned, however, eyes narrowed at the suspect in front of him. "Unless you collaborate, that possibility is still valid."

"What possibility?!" Banba shouted, taking a step closer to the kid, who remained impassively calm, and motioned at his hand. "You were here when I did this to myself!"

Conan opened his mouth to speak, "To hide the injury from when she retaliated," then closed it when he heard someone speaking from behind. "You could have injured yourself on purpose when you attacked me."

The person in question stepped into his field of view, which rather than explaining things they only made all the more confusing. Isn't that… Conan blinked owlishly at the blonde man in front of his eyes. Isn't that the waiter?

"Look who's talking..." The one with the sunglasses smirked. "Before that lovely woman became someone else's didn't you kill her, Waiter-san?"

The waiter seemed to be genuinely disconcerted at that accusation, just like Megure, who repeatedly requested an explanation from anyone that would be willing to explain it for him.

"If you're not going to say, I will." Banba was more than willing, actually. "This guy was meeting with Hatsune. He's her lover!"

"What?! I-Is that true?!" Megure's head snapped to the waiter, who merely stared back. "How about it?"

Eventually, the blank expression was replaced by a smirk. "Of course I met her." His hand reached to his face, "It was because she hired me as her private eye," then slowly retired his glasses, revealing blue, sharp eyes that Conan didn't expect to see on that face. "I'm a detective."

Conan was seriously startled by that revelation. D-Detective?!

Amuro Tooru was his name, allegedly. According to him, he had been hired by Hatsune to watch her fiance and determine if he had any lovers. Thus, he had made her choose the wedding party to where he worked, and had dropped cake on Banba's pants to prevent him from getting close to any women.

By some surprising ─ or not ─ turn of events, it was revealed that the guy with the sunglasses was another detective, hired by Banba to investigate who Hatsune's lover was. So, when he had found her meeting with a guy, he had concluded it was the person she was cheating on his client with. Since Amuro had been using a hood and a hat, his face hadn't been seen, but his voice had been heard, so he knew it was him.

"If you asked me..." Kogoro raised an eyebrow at the blonde detective. "I could've quickly figured out that guy is a detective."

"I seriously doubt that."

His words had come out of his mouth before he could process them. Only when everyone's gazes were cast on him did he become aware that he had done that, prompting him to step backwards, slowly sliding behind Takagi's legs, who had been the closest to him and now was blinking rather stupidly at him.

"Conan-kun?" As the rest fell back into their conversation, Takagi turned slightly and whispered to him. "Is there something wrong?"

He clutched into his pants, hoping that the scared kid act would work. "Kogoro-ojisan glared at me."

"A-Ah… Is that so?"

Even if Kogoro had gone back to get his friend to see reason and cooperate, Conan still did not move. I don't like it. Carefully, he poked out his head from behind Takagi's legs.

For a moment, he saw Amuro directing his eyes to him. That gaze that seems to see this through everything... Frowning, he went back to his hiding spot.

I don't like it at all.

"Banba-san," eventually Megure said to the man. "I heard you got a phone call from her before the explosion..."

Again, he confirmed he had heard the words 'goodbye' while crying, and gave the phone to the inspector, showing he had received a text from her at 08:54 PM, which didn't really help his case considering the police had been called around thirty minutes later.

Ran joined in, claiming that she had been the one calling. She had gotten stalled by calling the firetruck first. "But when the ambulance and firetruck arrived, the car was burning so much they couldn't do anything."

"But, isn't it weird?" When the attention was directed at him, including Amuro, the boy tried to shrink away from sight. "C-Car seats are made of difficult to burn materials..." he explained, in a significantly lower volume. "Why did it burn so much?"

"Oh! That's because of the spray cans, paper and cardboards," replied Takagi. Despite that, Conan could see from the corner of his eye that Amuro was still looking at him. "It burned more because of those."

As it turned out, the couple had been supposed to decorate the car after the party, which was once again proved true by a text saying that she had gotten all the materials. This, together with the mail he had gotten that she would return in thirty minutes, didn't make Banba look all that innocent in the police's eyes ─ with the knowledge that there were flammable materials inside the car and when she was arriving, the thought of him pushing her inside before setting it on fire didn't seem all that implausible anymore.

Of course, there was that nail Conan had found before, too.

"Judging from the situation, that skin was from when she resisted. It must have gotten there when she scratched the culprit," Megure calmly stated, unlike the suspect, who looked like he was going to have a heart attack right then and there. "That skin's DNA and your DNA from the hair brush almost matched."

"B-But it wasn't a perfect match, right?! Hey! Say something, Mouri!"

Mouri said nothing ─ even he could see what that implicated.

"By 'almost' means that the skin's DNA was contaminated by the rain and mud, so a perfect data couldn't be attained." It was Amuro who explained it to him. "Ruling out blood relatives, the genome can't be an approximate match. Taking that into consideration..." His lips curved into a very arrogant smirk ─ an expression Conan had grown more than used to see over the years. "That DNA must be the same person. It would be natural to think that way."

"W-What did you say, you bastard?!"

Conan could only gape, amazed, when he saw what happened next ─ one moment, Banba had raised his fist and the other, he was groaning on the ground, having failed to even touch the blonde detective. Was it just luck? He blinked, watching Amuro stand back, as if shocked about what had just happened, pleading to Kogoro to hold him down. No, he dodged it.

Even Ran seemed to be bewildered about the whole thing, too ─ wide eyed, she remained in place, staring at the innocent-looking waiter.

It made him wonder… What else was about this guy that he was hiding from plain view?

His line of thought was suddenly interrupted when his eyes went back to Banba, or more precisely, the sole of his shoes. This was from there… They widened slightly as he took into this additional fact. Then how did he…?

This whole thing was getting ridiculously confusing, and stole a frustrated groan out of him. How am I supposed to figure this out… He cast a discreet glance to the blonde detective who, fortunately, was too focused on the suspect to notice it. … without attracting any attention to myself?

He had absolutely no idea, but first things came first. Swiftly, he grabbed his phone and snapped a photo before stepping back, as if nothing had happened.

Why? watching the suspect follow an officer to get his DNA checked, he couldn't help the thought. Why doesn't he tell anyone about it?

Unless he actually didn't… No, that doesn't make sense.

That thought was proven especially true when Takagi came up to Megure to inform him that the only pathway that led to the parking lot was locked because of the rain, and that the other way was probably the bathroom window, yet that wasn't possible either. There was a big poodle below so, had the culprit used it, he would have left footprints everywhere.

By the tired sigh Megure let out afterwards, Conan could safely guess the poor inspector wasn't doing any better than him. "So?" Visually exhausted, he turned to Amuro and the guy with the sunglasses. "You detectives, got any ideas?"

"Not sure..." The one Banba had hired spoke first. "He was frank when he learned that she was meeting somebody. But recently, he was more concerned about her getting phone calls." He glanced at his fellow sleuth. "Well, I guess it was him she was communicating with."

"I only contacted her through texting. I just met her once, the one you saw," Amuro clarified, then pondered over it for a few more seconds. "But there was one thing I told her that made her gloomy..."

"Made her gloomy?"

"Yes. I'm a detective, so I investigated Banba-san's past," he told him, adapting a rather severe expression suddenly. "He was saved from the same hotel fire as Hatsune-san. Both of their parents are missing and were raised in the same church."

Conan did his best effort not to let the shock show on his face. What?!

He wasn't sure if he had succeeded, though.

"Woah, it's raining a lot! And here I thought we were going to have a little drizzle..."

A non-committal hum was all the response he had before his companion had fallen quiet all over again, leaving to the rain to fill the uncomfortable silence that had followed them since they had started their journey this morning.

"Then again, I could've never imagined I'd be driving a truck from Osaka to Tokyo, rather than taking a plane like any other rational person would..." The driver gave him a pointed look. "Well, not that it's worse than doing it on a motorcycle."

Again, he didn't respond.

"You know fuel it's not free, right? I expect you to pay by tomorrow, Meitantei. Interests included… Maybe I should add a tab for borrowing without permission, too."

There was a groan. "... Whatever."

"Oh! It's good to know you haven't lost your voice." Scowling, Shinichi turned his gaze to the window next to him, head propped by his hand. "Doesn't it get boring to be silent all the time?"

No word escaped Shinichi, but his hand curled into a fist.

"A lot happened yesterday." The driver noticed the teenager closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, but paid no mind. "There's no way there isn't anything to talk about-"

"Oh, I know what to talk about."

"Cool! What is it about?"

"... You have no idea, do you, Kuroba?"

Kuroba felt momentarily out of words, giving him an odd look before returning his attention to the traffic ahead.

"Why don't we talk about…" This time, Kudo did look at him. He wasn't pleased. "... what you did to Ran?"

"Ran? Ah, you mean that girl?" There was something about the way Kuroba smirked that fueled Shinichi's irritation. "What about her?"

"Don't play dumb." Shinichi's voice rose higher. "I heard Conan over the phone. You… You-!"

"-kissed her?"

Opening his mouth, the detective struggled to say something, but nothing would get out. This didn't seem to bother Kuroba, even a little, judging by the way he shrugged and, adding nothing else, moved the truck until he had parked on the sidewalk.

Once then, their eyes met. Kuroba was sneering.

"So what if I did?"

"Eh? The place where the umbrella was found?" Conan nodded at the forensic investigator. "Why are you asking that?"

"Kogoro-ojisan," he simply said, as if it explained everything.

He really didn't have the time to deal with this ─ Conan sighed, impatiently, when the man pondered over it for more than a second. Moments ago he had overheard that there was a fake nail missing, besides the one he had found moments ago, so he had just slipped out of the restaurant with no one noticing. Of course, it was a matter of time until Ran noted he was missing and went out to look for him.

Besides the obligatory scolding he was going to get, that wouldn't be much of a problem. Attracting the attention of that strange detective certainly would.

"So?" Conan crossed his arms on top of his chest. "Are you going to tell me or not?"

"I-It was in between these two cars," he finally stuttered, motioning to the spot in question. "Like this… Hey! What are you doing?!"

It had been windy by the time of her death, he had heard before, so if the fake nail had landed inside the umbrella and flew with it, it should be there. Found it! From his spot crouched next to the other car, Conan felt sigh, almost relieved to see that there was a fake nail with a bit of blood on the tip. In a place like that, it shouldn't have gotten dirty.

"H-Hey, kid..."

"There's a fake nail under the car."

"What?!"

Just as the investigator crouched right next to him, the boy stood up without uttering another word to let him do his job. This will probably clear things up on who stole her life, he thought, slowly approaching the window of the restaurant. Frowning, he set his gaze on the Banba, who was angrily talking to someone and decided that, this time around, he didn't wish for his deduction to be correct.

Because otherwise… A tragic truth that he hadn't wanted to know would be unveiled.

"Ah! The brat!"

He was confused when he heard Kogoro's voice, of all people, but didn't turn around to face him. Instead, he remained in place while hurried steps got closer to his position. "Where did you go?!" Kogoro stopped right next to him, and didn't sound exactly pleased. "Ran was looking everywhere for-"

"You need to hurry," he interrupted the man, leaving him to blink in response. "Evidence might disappear if you don't."

It looked as if Kogoro wanted to ask something, but was too confused to get a word out. Such confusion only grew more prominent when he heard, out of the blue, his phone beeping with a new message, but scrambled to get it, naturally ─ not that it made things any clearer.

"Though the possibility of him faking it somehow still exists… A great detective like you should be able to easily determine it."

He stared at his phone for a few seconds before his gaze rose to meet with a confident smirk. "Conan," he breathed out, watching the kid turn fully around, hands innocently latched behind his back while waiting for him to speak. "What is this?"

On the screen was the message he had received ─ a photo of Banba on the floor, with Conan's name as the sender. There was no more text, not a hint. Nothing else.

"One day, my brother will come back home." His hands dropped to his sides, allowing Kogoro to see the phone he was carrying in one of them. "And then, I will return to my old life. Just like everything was before this." Calmly, he put the device in place, eyes gently closing. "When that happens… what will you do?"

"What will... I do?"

"I won't be around to help you forever." Eyes snapping open, he gazed at the older detective, who stood back in shock. "Do you want to go back to the third-rate detective that gets a case per month you once were?" They narrowed slightly. "Do you, Great Detective, Mouri Kogoro?"

Not another word was said after that. Calmly, the child passed by the astonished detective and promptly walked away, leaving him to stand there, frozen in time, while letting it all sink into his head.

"So what if I did?"

Shinichi couldn't believe it. "... What?"

"She's rather pretty, isn't she?" He shrugged, looking away from the expression of pure indignation the detective beside him had plastered all over his face. "I wasn't planning on doing that, but I'm certainly not regretting it."

Gradually, the confusion started to vanish, features hardening at the realization that it had happened. Taking a deep breath, he turned fully to the magician who, grinning widely, closed his eyes as if recalling the events that occurred that other night.

"You should have seen her ─ she really believed I was you… I had a lot of fun! Shall I do it again some-?"

Pain. Sharp, spiking pain striking like lightning from his nose and spreading over his face ─ that was the first thing Kaito registered. Before he could even utter a word, or move a muscle, he felt hands gripping his shirt tightly, which caused him, in turn, to scramble for a way out.

The fall hadn't been nearly as graceful as he would have preferred, nor was it proper for the phantom thief and great magician like he was ─ his hand had managed to grasp the door handle, causing both of them to crash into the damp pavement, quite clumsily.

"I can't believe that you… you..."

His back naturally ached from being thrown from a truck, and the pouring rain was soaking him to the bone, so that he suddenly felt cold all over, apart from the warm, thin line that tracked down his nose. "What?" Despite it all, he felt his grin growing. "I'm a magician, Kudo. I deceive people."

Kudo faltered for less than a second, but his grip on his shirt never did. Kaito just watched the conflicting emotions flashing behind his eyes, as if it was a movie for him to witness, paying no regard whatsoever to the many cars that went out of their way to avoid them, honking loud enough to leave any of them deaf.

"You tricked her." His hand was shaking. "Why? Why would you do that?" When he didn't get an answer, he brought him closer. "Why?!" he yelled, significantly louder than before. "Answer me, Kuroba!"

"Why?" None of this appeared to scare Kuroba. "Because it's fun, of course."

"You… You bastard!" Having said that, Kudo brought his fist back. But before he could do anything, something else occurred. It threw him back, made him blink like a complete idiot, unable to puzzle together what was happening.

Kuroba had, for no apparent reason, burst out laughing.

"What...?" He frowned in confusion, internally wondering if there was something wrong with the guy he had just seconds away from punching, again. "What's so funny?"

"You." Certainly that explained nothing. "Can't you feel it?"

The detective was starting to feel like hitting him again. "See what?"

Kuroba's smirk was almost threatening to split his face in half before Kudo could. "This anger… All this rage cursing flowing through your veins. All this disturbingly strong desire to break my nose ─ if it isn't broken anyway..." He sat up slowly, hand coming to rest on his shoulder. "... You can feel it, can't you?"

Kudo couldn't get what he could possibly be hinting at.

"Can't you?"

"... Y-Yeah." he replied, slowly. "Yeah, of course I can."

"You can… because you're alive." Shinichi's eyes widened slightly in surprise. "You are alive, Kudo, alive."

Shinichi scoffed at that. "Of course I'm alive. What in the world-?"

"If you are alive, then live." Despite the blood that was slowly making its way down his face, Kaito still flashed one of his distinctive grins. "Profess your love to that girl. Stay true to that promise you made to Conan-kun… And above that..." His other hand went to his shoulder, shaking the detective just enough to make his next point across, "Don't act like you're already dead! Live Kudo."

Those words hung in the air, even minutes after they had been uttered. The rain did not cease, not even once, just continued splattering both teenagers that merely stayed there, still as if time itself had frozen solid.

Slowly they began to sink in Shinichi's mind and, once they did, he breathed out. "You know I can't do that," he finally said, with a snort that sounded more like a choked cough. "If I do all that and I don't return-"

"Then make sure you return."

"You idiot. It's not that easy." In return, Kaito chuckled, an action that went interrupted by a grimace. "Hey, hey… Are you alright?"

"At least it's not broken… I think." Hissing lightly, he gingerly touched his nose. "Damn, Meitantei. Even your karate-master of a girlfriend has a bit more compassion than you..."

"Ran hit you?"

Kaito gave him a pointed look. "More than once," he finally admitted, keeping it short and simple ─ he wasn't all that eager to explain what the first time was for. "This time around she punched me for trying to kiss her…" At the memory, the thief flinched. "Could have gone much worse if Tantei-kun didn't miss..."

"Wait, trying, you say?" Shinichi stared back in shock. "So you didn't…?"

"Didn't I tell you before? I deceive people."

It took him a while to understand but, when he did, he wanted to hit him again and laugh all at the same time. I see.

Kuroba was a magician ─ to him, fooling with the perceptions of people was a mere child's play. Conan and Sonoko had probably been tricked into thinking they had seen something that hadn't happened, rendering Shinichi to make assumptions as well as he could.

With so little, vague information, there was no wonder he had gotten the wrong impression.

"So to deceive me, you had to deceive everyone else, right?"

"Nearly everyone. Your girlfriend didn't fall from it ─ she pulled away at the last second."

"So, if she hadn't realized…?"

Kaito stared at Shinichi for a moment. "Of course I would've backed off."

"Ah! You hesitated!"

"N-No!" Shinichi looked as if he was about to punch him again. "Wait, wait, wait! Time out, time out!" He pointed somewhere else. "Look!"

There were cars already stopping next to them, probably to check if everything was in order. "You're lucky." Giving him a swift last glare, Shinichi jumped back onto his feet. "We need to leave before they think of calling the police..." he said, quickly helping Kuroba up. "I'm driving."

"Where did you learn how to-?"

Kudo smirked, taking his place in the driver's seat. "Hawaii."

Blood still flowing from Kaito's nose, he raised his hands and rushed to the other side.

"Of course. It's always Hawaii."

"Is it really okay to leave, Banba?"

Barely holding back a sigh of relief, Conan allowed himself to lean back onto his seat, hand against his chest in relief. He had been so worried this wouldn't work out when Megure came up to them and stated that the hair on the hairbrush had proved to be Banba's but then, just as the suspect was about to step out into the heavy rain outside, Kogoro had risen from his chair.

The extremely unusual seriousness of his expression didn't fail to surprise and put Conan at ease all the same.

"I have no choice," replied Banba. "I have to convince them I'm innocent."

"I see..." He lowered his head. "Then you're not the culprit."

Everyone looked at him, unable to understand his line of thought. "Hey, Mouri-kun!" Megure was the first to try to reason with him. "Even if he chooses to go to the station voluntarily, that doesn't make him not the culprit."

"Please remember the situation when Hatsune-san's car exploded." Hands inside his pockets, the detective strolled to the center of the room. "The back door leading to the parking lot was locked because it was raining. Under the restroom window was a huge puddle and the culprit's footprints weren't there. So the only option is the front door." Under the eyes of the surprised witnesses all around him, the detective smirked. "If he, the center of the party, left through the front someone would see and remember, right?"

A short, condescending snort made that confidence crumble into pieces. "Not that nobody saw." Amuro approached him, calm and focussed all the same. "But nobody noticed, is what I would deduce."

Kogoro stood straighter than before. "What do you mean?"

Gladly, the blonde detective explained his point. According to him, Banba had disguised himself in the restroom and changed into a knit hoodie and long windbreaker he had prepared from the beginning, then had ambushed Hatsune in disguise, got her into the car then ran back to the store, after lighting the car. After purposely bumping into the waiter in order to hide the injury from the resistance, he faked the call and made everyone think she was going to commit suicide.

"Finally, you looked outside to make everyone see a burning car," he finished, smirking to the bewildered, and remarkably furious, murder suspect. "A story of how a lady commits suicide in front of his loving partner is complete. The spray can that exploded at that time was lucky, huh?"

"If that was the case..." Kogoro butted in, though noticeably less confident than before. "... the police should have found clothes in the restroom!"

"He must have cut it up and flushed it down the toilet." At his quick response, the older detective blanched. "A knit hoodie is easy. A light nylon windbreaker could be cut up into small pieces."

"W-Well…" Kogoro backed off. "Uh…"

"Ah-le? But that's so weird!"

Through his startled flinching, Kogoro spun around, and froze in place after seeing the boy, still sitting on their table, leg twisted awkwardly to stare at the sole of his own shoe so intensely that it almost felt real. "No matter how I look at it..." The kid was good, Kogoro would give him that ─ if he didn't know any better, he would have said he sounded genuinely frustrated. "How are you supposed to cut up a shoe?"

"You don't need to change shoes." Amuro gave the boy a patient smile. "As long as he keeps walking, it's impossible to differentiate." Conan pretended to awe, amazed at the deduction, before nodding energetically. "Besides..."

The waiter motioned to the suspect's feet so, taking advantage that he was out of his sight, the kid met eyes with the older detective, and slowly nodded. A smirk drew itself on his features, watching as surprise slowly melted away, leaving space for a focused frown to take place.

"... the sneakers he is wearing are sold anywhere."

"Then Banba. Take it off and show them the bottom of your sneaker."

Although he was completely clueless as to how it would be of any help, he did as he was told and realized there was cream all over the sole. "I think that's the chocolate cake," stated Ran, clarifying the situation for Takagi and Megure. "Banba-san stepped on a cake that was on the floor before Hatsune-san left for the nail salon."

"Ah! I see!" Takagi gasped. "If he walked outside during the incident, this cream would be washed off." Meaning he had never left the restaurant.

"Yes. Actually, when I first saw it, I thought it was a plan of Banba."

Liar. Conan raised an eyebrow. I thought that, he remarked in his head, digging holes in the back of Kogoro's head, who ignored him completely. Seeing that he wasn't going to get a reaction out of it, he resigned himself to lean over the table, waiting for the deduction to end.

He had to admit he was surprised at how smoothly it went after that. More than that, the fact that Banba hadn't said anything was solid proof about his innocence, and not even Amuro could deny it anymore. Not that he accepted all that willingly, considering that it was still the DNA on the fake nail that almost matched ─ almost, that was it.

"You didn't think it was hers?"

Conan could only lower his head, quietly listening as the truth was presented for everyone to gape at. The tragic truth behind what could have been a happy love story ─ a story of two people whose paths met by coincidence and fell in love, unaware of the powerful bond that drew them together since they were born.

"Those two are twins."

That single sentence was enough to silence Banba into shock, eyes wide as he listened to the detectives' words, yet unable to properly process them.

Kogoro proceeded to explain the rest in a way Conan hadn't believed could have come out from his mouth. Opposite sex identical twins were rare but, considering that Hatsune was shorter than average, which could have been caused by turner syndrome, made it all the more possible.

Amuro, finally understanding what was going on, closed his eyes and put the rest together. Hatsune and Banba had been saved at the same hotel fire, raised at the same church with no identification. Without their parents alive to tell them otherwise, nobody knew they were twins.

By the time Kogoro started explaining what had really happened, Banba's eyes were slowly watering. Right when she got out of the car, she had gotten a call from her contractor, telling her she could not get married. "After hearing the results, she clawed her face in despair while crying," he narrated somberly. "One of the fake nails fell in the umbrella and is being investigated right now. After the results, it will be clear."

As if he had planned it, Megure got a call and confirmed that, true to his words, the DNA had matched with Banba's, except the gender chromosome. It had also matched with her body, confirming that the skin on the fake nail was from none other than Hatsune.

With the tragic truth being brought into the light, so were Banba's tears. They flowed endlessly while he, like his fiance ─ sister, his only family ─ before him, he clawed into his face while falling onto his knees. Conan stood up, hand stretched with the intention to do something.

But then it dropped. Sighing to himself, the kid turned around and, instead, moved closer to the window, where the rain poured restlessly all over the parking lot where Hatsune had decided to end this all with fire. Fire. Privately, he reflected on how ironic that was.

Perhaps, it wasn't all that ironic, after all. Perhaps, she might have wanted to return to the way it was. To the fire that led them to this sorrowful path.

He rested his hand on top of the cold glass, listening as Banba's screams pierced through his very soul. To return, huh? Closing his eyes, Conan took a deep breath. Though I don't want to, maybe I should return, too…

Return to the place where it all began.

A/N:

CherryGirl 21-6: In fact, I hadn't seen it until I read this. I really thought that they were sticking to the one that appeared in the remastered episodes, but I'm glad to be wrong! It was truly amazing :)

F. C. Meyer: All I can say is that I plan to cover up to The Scarlet School Trip, then completely diverge from there… Besides that, I'm keeping my mouth shut xD