File One Hundred and Three: Sera's Careless Deduction
When Megure had been told that Sera was another detective, he obviously wasn't pleased. If anything, Conan had noticed him sighing to himself the moment he settled his eyes on Sera, and he could infer that he was growing annoyed by all these detectives that seemed to be popping up from nowhere lately ─ and, honestly? The kid couldn't blame him.
But, even if there was a self-proclaimed detective there with them, not even he could answer why the victim had been in the annex, considering it was supposed to be under renovation, but Takagi solved the mystery right away. Apparently, the deceased Uesumi Teigo was the son of the owner of the hotel, so they just let him use one of the rooms in order to avoid the media ─ it turned out he had been once arrested for being the ringleader of a remittance scam, absolved for insufficient proof. There was a big mess that went on until the week prior, when the media had caught wind of it. Uesumi, annoyed by the interviewers, had broken the sixth floor with a fire extinguisher so, using the renovation as an excuse, the hotel staff was planning to force him to move overseas, or so it was rumored.
A rumor that his victims had also heard, prompting them to come meet him, seeking an apology before he could be out of reach forever, that they never got to hear ─ they had gone out to buy a recording device to share the confession with others, but all they got was a body plummeting down right in front of their eyes, just as they were backing up in Hirukawa's car.
"Inspector," Takagi whispered to the blinking man, who still couldn't make head or tails of what was supposed to be going on. "It might be that someone pulled a string or something that tied Uesumi-san and made it fall."
Megure contemplated the idea in his mind for a moment, before turning back to Hirukawa. "Was there anyone who touched your car or the body after he fell?"
The woman hesitated.
"Don't think so." It was the kid, to Megure's surprise, who replied instead. "As soon as she said she saw a suspicious figure in the room, I immediately went to the roof with Aoko-neechan, this lady and the others." He directed his gaze at the girls' way. "In the meantime, I asked Ran-neechan's group to help the guard watch the car and the body."
Ran nodded. "No one touched anything."
Conan hummed in thought, finger raising to rest on top of his chin without him being completely aware of such an action. This lady… His eyes drifted towards Hirukawa, who shifted uncomfortably on her feet and narrowed.
His gut was telling him that something was wrong, incredibly wrong with that woman, even if he could not pinpoint precisely what it was.
He was brought out of his sea of thoughts when Sera stepped ahead, right beside the little boy, looking almost as pensive and troubled as he was. "But, this is strange…" he finally said. "While I was waiting for the elevator, I'm pretty sure it stopped on the sixth and second floors."
Right after Conan and the others had headed to the roof, he explained then, the elevator had gone nonstop to the top floor, but had taken its time coming back down. That, considering that only one elevator was working, made it even more puzzling.
Someone was still lurking in the annex. Someone that, despite the scene investigators' best efforts, remained completely unidentified.
"And they didn't try the surveillance cameras?" Conan's eyebrow rose. They exist for a reason, you know.
"When Uesumi-san wreaked havoc, he sprayed paint all over the hotel annex and even the surveillance cameras were all sprayed over." Conan mentally sighed dejectedly ─ obviously, as it would be that easy. "They're all blacked out and nothing can be seen."
In short, inside of the annex is… Sera's smirk widened at the notion. A black box.
I see… Conan's eyes narrowed. No one can tell for sure who did that inside of it-
Suddenly, a hand landed on top of his head, brusquely tossing his hair around. "This just got exciting, right, little boy?" Sera said, a shark-like grin stretching from side to side all over his face.
… Exciting. The dry look the boy sent his way actually prompted the teenager to stop completely, and blink owlishly. Of all things you could have said, you chose 'exciting'.
"Please watch what you say!" Megure snarled, clearly angered by Sera's carefree attitude. "A person passed away, you know."
Both he and the little boy lowered their heads in shame. "Sorry…" they mumbled in unison. Seeing that contented Megure, by the looks of it, since he nodded and turned back around to continue with his job.
All the while, Conan's eyebrow twitched. Why am I even dragged into this? He wondered, sending a rather annoyed look to Sera, who, completely unaware of it, merely straightened up and focused back on the murder at hand. I shouldn't be the one apologizing! I know it's a life, not a game!
This guy-!
His glare softened and dropped back to the floor. He was also like that, wasn't he? That other insufferable, snobby detective… He used to be just like that.
Like that time at Tropical Land. We had a fight there, didn't we? A small one ─ but a fight, nevertheless. He had said that the murder he had solver had been 'too easy', and that had seriously infuriated him ─ someone had been killed. A life had been robbed by someone, not to be returned ever again.
I have claimed not to understand why somebody would commit such an atrocity. He glanced at the palm of his hands, a smile that did not reach his eyes, posed itself on his lips. Despite your tactless comments, that was a kind of mentality we both shared. A belief that should always stand, even when the worst came to worst…
But then, why did that… At that time, I…
His hands closed into fists.
Why-?
Conan shook his head rapidly and mentally groaned. Not good. He lightly clapped his own cheeks, forcing his gaze to focus back on the inspector. This is not the time.
Focus on the case. Yeah, do that. Case. Case!
Luckily for him, everyone else was too focused on the case to notice his mind drifting somewhere else. The three suspects were discussing something, and judging by the severe look on their faces, Conan would infer it was important. Maybe they had stumbled into a crucial clue and he had missed it ─ yeah, that had to be-
"A ghost, it's a ghost!"
Conan blinked.
Heiji slowly sank on the chair left beside the bed not that long ago, taking into the eerie silence of the room, only interrupted by the constant beeping that drilled into his head. He absolutely hated it, but the thought that it was proof that he was still alive pushed it all away.
Without it, it was hard to tell, just by looking at him.
"So, you're planning to sleep for much longer, Kudo?"
Yet, Kudo made no response. He just lied there ─ lifelessly pale and unmoving against the pillows.
The western detective let out a long sigh, leaning forward just a little, elbows resting on his knees to support his weight, contemplating the teenager for several minutes. "So you went and did it, huh?" he said. "Even if he hasn't gathered the courage to see you yet, Conan is doing well. A bruise then and there, but mostly okay considering, you know, everything."
Only silence met his words again.
"Ran-chan only twisted her foot, but she seems to be doing okay now ─ she healed in record time. Considering how tough she is, though, are you really surprised?"
Heiji sighed again, wondering why he couldn't keep his mouth shut, even if it was clear that Kudo couldn't hear a word he was uttering.
"But, did you know this?" His tone lowered significantly. "I heard her talking with Kazuha the other day on the phone. She was crying. Inconsolably."
It went without saying that Kazuha never knew the reason behind her friend's sorrow, no matter how many times she had insisted. She had wanted to come, too, in fact, but Ran vehemently told her not to. Midterms were close, she had said, and they could hang out later.
If Kazuha knew he was here, however, without telling her… Heiji shuddered just from imagining it.
"Unlike her, Conan hasn't shed a single tear ─ shocking, I know, right?" He chuckled to himself, humorlessly. "Hey, remember when you said that whenever he's like that, he'd always end up opening up to me? Well, it seems you were off the mark."
A smile lingered, yet lost its strength, leaving behind nothing but a pained grimace. "How do you do it? Sleeping on, even after hearing all this…" Heiji's hands clenched together, and his eyes dropped to the floor, not feeling comfortable seeing Kudo any longer. "Just open your eyes already, you moron."
He had barely gotten those words out when he heard the door opening. Naturally, he jumped, gaze snapping towards the source of the sound in alarm, only to calm down significantly at the sight of the person making his way inside. "Sorry for troubling you, Hattori-kun," the man said, closing the door behind his back. "There was an important call I had to make. And just as I finished, I received another."
Part of Heiji badly wanted to ask him what those calls were about, but successfully suppressed that urge. After all, the kid had once told him that the man in front of him was capable of everything to escape his editors, even if it meant travelling around the world to lose them. So maybe it had to do with that.
"No worries."
Heiji simply watched Kudo Yusaku smile after that, then focus his every attention back to where his son rested, still making no attempt to wake up. He heard him take a long, exhausted sigh as he sat on the edge of the bed, and only then did Heiji notice the unnatural paleness of Yusaku's face, or the way his body dipped forward, similar to a withering flower.
He found it absolutely understandable ─ he was Kudo's father.
"I never got to thank you," Yusaku said all of a sudden.
Blinking, Heiji stared at the older man. "Uh, didn't I just-?"
Yusaku smirked, only confusing the teen further. "For being there." Of all things, that was certainly one Heiji had definitely not expected. "For both my sons."
That had definitely shocked Heiji into silence, and it wasn't until the man turned his gaze away from his son and directly to him that he reacted ─ with a violent jump. "A-Ah, no, it was nothing… Well, no, I mean-"
Abruptly, the boy hopped into his seat, forcing a nonchalant grin that he hoped would suffice. "I'm going to get something to eat," he said, quickly darting towards the door. "Do you…?"
Yusaku smiled amusedly, looking as if he could see every single thought dancing on his mind ─ now Heiji could somewhat understand why his youngest found this so irritating. "No, I'm fine."
"Oh, I see…" He glanced over his shoulder once more. "I'll get you some coffee, either way."
Not leaving any time for him to reply, the teenager left, leaving Yusaku to sigh and shake his head, even if the smile on his face remained untouched.
On the other side of the door, Heiji stood, for a moment more than strictly necessary, allowing his grin to drop to the floor to get replaced with a tight frown. He gave out a quick glance around, glad that there was nobody around to see him getting out of a supposedly unoccupied room ─ he really should have checked earlier, he chastised himself.
Sliding his hands inside his pockets, the teenager began to walk through the empty halls of the hospital. Wish I could do better than just 'being there', the thought interrupted all others before he could help it. There… really isn't anything I can do, is there?
Not even for the kid. How could he do anything if the boy vehemently refused to open up? It was like the last time, but worse, much worse ─ this time around, not even Heiji could begin to understand what was going through that mind of his. Not even for Kudo.
You promised. He closed his eyes, fists tightening inside his pockets. You promised we three would eat okonomiyaki together, and you dare to do something like this?!
Damn Kudo, if you don't wake up, I swear-!
He was forcefully brought out of his thoughts when, turning around the corner, he felt himself colliding into something else. "Ah, my bad!" Or someone, he confirmed, raising his eyes to meet a blue gaze, completely different from his own. "I wasn't looking where I was going."
The dark-skinned, blonde young man merely laughed goodheartedly. "No, it's okay," he said. "I was distracted, too."
Both of them left it at that, smiling politely at each other before separating ways.
What Heiji never noticed was the smile taking a more vicious turn as soon as he disappeared inside the elevator.
Once upon a time, there was an elderly man, happily married with his wife, and even had a beautiful daughter together. Really, he couldn't ask for more ─ at this point, he had concluded he had lived a long, good life.
Until tragedy struck.
A case of remittance scam had led the wife to the hospital. Desperate to see her okay again, he had loaned an electric wheelchair because of his disabilities and booked a room in the annex, so that he could beg, every single day, for the scammer to apologize to her.
Uesumi never did such a thing, and the wife unfortunately passed away. That same night, the old man committed suicide in the same room he had been staying in. Following his tragic demise, rumors began to emerge ─ stories of people who had claimed to see an electric chair roaming around the annex, searching for the bastard that had robbed him of the light of his life.
Conan could not believe his ears. There were actual people that genuinely believed all that nonsense ─ or that there were actual people, like these three witnesses, that thought it would be of help to solve the case.
Or that was what he thought, until he learned that the old man that died was Hirukawa's father ─ the boy sighed, feeling distinctively irritated over the fact that a cheap, unelaborated horror story was the most solid theory they had.
Horror story or not, Ran and Sonoko had believed every word, and consequently screamed, freaked out of their minds just from imagining it. Really? The boy suppressed another sigh, standing inside that elevator with the inspector, Takagi, Sera and Aoko, who had obviously tagged along again. Those two really bought it…
A quick glance at where the girl stood, pale-faced and trembling in place, stole a dry laugh out of him. Make it three, I guess. It was a wonder, however, why she had decided to come despite her evident fear.
It didn't get better for her when they got to the floor, just to see Chiba standing in front of a wheelchair. When he had found him, he had said, it had been still moving.
Aoko had flinched back, while Conan had merely frowned.
Well, it seemed it was not a simple ghost story anymore.
"Since there was a weird fishing line attached between the wheels, I checked with the hotel," Chiba said. "They said this was the electric wheelchair that the fallen Uesumi-san had been borrowing."
"So, did he have bad legs?"
"No, it seems he was just using it to cruise around the annex…"
Megure couldn't believe his ears. "What an unbelievable guy…"
Conan completely agreed. A guy like that… It really is a wonder he managed to stay alive for so long.
His eyes tore away from the inspector, focusing back on the chair. "It's possible that Uesumi-san was the one behind the aforementioned ghost commotion." As Takagi continued to talk, Conan approached it, curious eyes scanning every inch of it. "If he had planned to scare the three victims who came to visit on the second floor, where the elderly man committed suicide, by manipulating the unoccupied wheelchair with a fishing line…"
Humming to himself, the boy crouched right next to it, blinking owlishly when something caught his attention. "Ah-le-le?" he pipped in, hoping to gather the adults' attention to it. "Isn't this weird?"
When every single person in the room turned to him, Conan instantly regretted his actions. Yeah, well done, he remarked sarcastically inside his mind, unconsciously shrinking under Sera's disturbingly piercing gaze. Very subtle.
"Weird?" It was Aoko the first one to kneel next to him, curiosity seemingly taking the best out of her. "Did you find something, Conan-kun?"
Conan hesitated, "W-Well…" but figured there was no turning back now. "See the marks on the footrests?" Noticing the marks he was pointing at, the girl nodded. "It looks like they've bumped into something."
Aoko's eyes widened slightly. "That's right…"
"Not only that." They both turned to Sera, whose eyes were on the thread he held with a handkerchief in his hand. "This fishing line is extremely long," he stated. "And there are some rubber bands at the tip of this…"
At any rate, Sera had claimed to have seen the elevator stopping on the sixth floor besides the second, so that was where they decided to go next. Could the culprit have used that wheelchair? pondered Conan, rushing ahead to the elevator, and standing on the tip of his feet, so that he could reach the button. But it was facing the opposite side from the parking lot, where the victim fell…
Conan's face scrunched up in confusion. The fishing line was really long ─ too long for it to be just Uesumi moving it around to scare everyone… And there are the marks on the footrests, too…
"You have good eyes, little boy." Conan jumped when Sera suddenly spoke to him. "You noticed the marks on the footrests quickly enough."
"Y-You think so?" Conan laughed nervously, scratching the back of his neck in hopes of convincing him he was just embarrassed. "I'm still learning, though. I hope I can be a great detective like you someday, Sera-san!"
"Well, I'd say you are an incredible detective already…"
"No, no. I still have a long way to go! I'm still a child, after all."
Sera gave him a look. "Yeah, right. A child."
Again, Conan did not understand, yet let it slide when the elevator's doors opened, allowing the group to enter. Even when Sera's attention, fortunately, drifted away from him and to the inspector, who he was currently talking with, Conan's did not. He called me a detective again. His gaze narrowed. The first time he did that was when we first came across the shoes…
But what he couldn't understand was how he knew he was a detective when he had yet to say a word at that moment. The boy hadn't gotten a chance to explain the situation to them, and it had been Sera who had done that ─ then how?
Come to think of it, he also knew my name… Did Ran-neechan or someone else mention it in front of him? Conan could not remember such a thing. Does Sera know me somehow? He shook his head. No way. I've never met him before…
Then why does he keep acting as if, somehow, he does?
Weird guy…
Then there was that strange coldness on the back of his neck, as if there was another pair of eyes staring at him hard enough to pierce through his skin and see every single thought he bore. Considering he could clearly see Takagi, Megure and Sera talking right in front of him, Conan had quite a good idea of whom this sensation came from. But couldn't, for the life of him, explain it.
Now, more than ever, the little detective wished he could just go home.
The elevator doors opened, and Conan had to hide the small smirk of satisfaction when he saw Takagi and Megure stumbling backwards ─ the fact that he hadn't been the only one was quite gratifying to see. An amused chuckle managed to escape, just as he rushed out of the elevator ─ staying inside with those two was something he didn't want to live through any longer.
"Ah, Conan-kun!" Takagi exclaimed, anxiety tinting his tone. "That's dangerous!"
But the boy paid no heed to his warnings and brazenly made his way to the broken window at the end of the corridor. This must be the window Uesumi-san broke using the fire extinguisher, observed Conan, promptly ignoring the panicky sounds Takagi was from behind him as he peeked down ─ he could see the parking lot from there. It's directly above the place where he fell, too.
"Conan-kun!" At some point, he couldn't ignore him any longer. Especially when he had brought his hands under the boy's armpits, lifting him and easily placing him back away. "You can't just do that!"
Takagi seemed close to a heart attack, so maybe he shouldn't have done that. All Conan could do was let out a nervous laugh, quietly apologizing.
"But why isn't it covered?" asked Aoko, walking closer, alongside Sera and Megure. "Someone could actually fall off."
Sera stuck his hands inside his pockets, looking towards the sheets that partly covered the window. "The sticky tape on the sheets is off," he observed. "Maybe it was blown through by the wind?"
The boy thought over it for a moment, before something else caught his eye. As everyone was focused on themselves, he took the opportunity and crouched next to the window to take a closer look, just to realize that, on the border between the wall and the floor, there was a lot of paint. Sticking a finger on it let him know it was entirely dried up.
And these marks… He frowned. Something had been placed atop the paint. Could it be? He looked over his shoulder, just to realize a couple of paint cans just lying there. Hurriedly, he shuffled closer, and almost gasped at the realization that struck him. There's a dent in it caused by collision! Conan glanced at the other. On both of them.
He raised his head, noting with a slight shock that there were also collision marks on the bottom parts of the elevator. An elevator that, coincidentally, also happened to have both front and rear doors.
I see, so that's how it was! It was quite an elaborate trick, but not an impossible one. Surely, there is only one person who could have done it… The culprit is-
"It was that lady named Hirukawa."
Blinking, Conan's head shot up. Then, slowly, turned over until he could see that Sera was smirking, crouching over right next to him.
"If you would let things up per my instructions now and bring Hirukawa-san over here?"
Minutes later, the boy found himself staring at the three suspects, who had been brought to the sixth floor per Sera's request. They were confused, so Megure explained everything.
They were brought into the other elevator, the one that had been out of service. "Because the culprit used the elevator in order to disguise it as a suicide." Not bothering to hide his annoyance, he glanced at Sera. "Or so he says."
Sera appeared flabbergasted, Conan did not fail to notice. "He?! I'm-!"
"You're Sera-kun, right?" Takagi interrupted with a smile.
Such a weird reaction caused Conan to raise an eyebrow, unable to figure what could have caused it. Something… He squinted his eyes, watching the teenager sigh, scratching the back of his head, troubled. Something is off...
Suddenly, Sera turned around, promptly making him jump back, startled over being caught watching, but said nothing else. He merely stood back, holding the detective's inquisitive gaze, until he pouted ─ yeah, pouted. Conan could barely begin to imagine what was wrong, when a hand dropped on his head ─ again.
"What's with that look?" Conan gruntled, hoping to make his displeasure known when Sera roughly ruffled his hair. "You're doubting me?"
"N-No…" Actually, yeah, but not for the reason he believed. "Really ─ I want to see what your deduction is before I can draw any conclusions."
Sera stopped so abruptly that took Conan off guard. "Alright, you'd better watch and learn…" He leaned forward, allowing him to see his happy, toothy grin up from close ─ closer than ever before. "Because the trick I'm going to speak of will put it into practice right here!"
But rather than reacting, Conan stood there, paralyzed on his spot. Sera did not seem to notice that, and stood back up, turning back to talk with the rest of the group ─ hence missing the boy blinking stupidly, then scrubbing his eyes, and blinking once more.
Everything else they might have said was completely missed as the boy's eyes slowly widened, now really observing the detective that stood right in the middle of Aoko and Takagi. Probably it took much longer than he was proud to admit, but eventually something clicked, leaving him to take a step back, jaw all but dropping on the ground.
… I see.
With that thought in mind, Hakuba put back, safely tucked inside his pocket, before raising his head to the front, noting that the traffic lights were still red. Considering that my call with Kudo Yusaku-san lasted… He took a quick look at his clock. … ten minutes and thirty-six seconds, I suppose the light had changed already, then went back to red.
He might have spent more time than he had first intended, but the detective considered it had been worth it.
Kudo-kun is still at the hospital. And that was actually a good thing, as awful as it would sound out loud. Now that I know about his whereabouts, I can focus all my attention on Kuroba-kun instead.
According to Kudo's father, Kuroba wasn't in the same hospital, so Hakuba could safely rule it out, which made it marginally better. He wasn't in any of the hospitals I checked, he pondered over his options, again, as he had been doing ever since Tanabata. Not even the patients admitted without being identified were a match.
Even paying a visit to that bar where Kudo, under the alias of Hirai Arthur, worked part time hadn't sufficed. The bartender ─ Jii Konosuke, assistant and close friend of Kuroba Toichi, Kuroba's father ─ was genuinely worried about the two missing teenagers, Hakuba could tell. He didn't know a thing, and the detective believed him.
When the light changed, Hakuba took no time, and crossed the street. There isn't a trace of a body yet either. He had checked with Nakamori, who was almost as badly interested in this case as he was, and so far there was no news regarding the thief's whereabouts. Meaning, there the chances of survival are still dramatically high.
If he wasn't admitted to any hospital, that leaves only one place where he could be…
His thoughts faded away, however, when he found red ─ yet, not the same red in the traffic lights ─ but a bright, fiery red gazing at him across the street. So he approached it ─ and the enigmatic smirk took no time to make an appearance.
"Hakuba-kun," the girl with the scarlet eyes said, right when he reached her. "I see you're back in Japan."
Hakuba only smiled politely, well aware of the fact that he hadn't placed a foot inside his school ever since they had returned from London. "Something had come up," he simply said. "I didn't expect you to see you here, Akako-san."
"I didn't expect it myself either," she admitted calmly. "But something also came up." She twirled around and began to walk, followed by Hakuba, who listened to her attentively. "In fact, maybe what's bothering us both is the same."
The detective knew it was useless to lie to her at this point. "So far, I've only been able to locate Hirai-kun."
"My, that is rather impressive." Akako nodded, but Hakuba paid no mind. "Even with my magic, I can't locate any of them." Wisely, the detective decided not to inquire any further. "Nakamori-san seems to have taken the job into her own hands, too."
Hakuba wasn't surprised. "What brings you here, Akako-san?" he finally asked.
"The same you're doing." She stopped in her tracks. "The last place there is left to check…" The girl raised her head. "Is this right here, am I wrong?"
He couldn't deny her claims, or he would be denying his own line of thought. That was because, right in front of his eyes, stood Kuroba's residence, the last potential place where his whereabouts would be.
So, he pronounced no word, and walked up to the door, knocking softly. "Kuroba-kun?" he called. "Are you there? It's Hakuba."
Not that he thought he would open even ─ especially ─ if he knew he was there, waiting to be let into his house, but supposed he ought to try either way, no matter how unlikely that chance was. Still, he carefully leaned closer, keeping an ear pressed against the wood, yet, strangely enough, there wasn't a single sound.
Stepping away, he glanced back to Akako, who stood there, waiting with her arms crossed, and solemnly shook his head. Uttering no word, the girl merely frowned yet, instead of turning away to leave, she settled her hand on top of the handle.
A look of utter surprise ─ and horror all the same ─ took over her every feature. Hakuba was about to ask, up until the moment he saw the door creaking open, just a sliver.
She finally stepped aside, allowing the boy to check the lock to his heart's content.
"It was unlocked," she said, still unable to believe it completely.
"No, it is actually worse." Hakuba frowned profusely. "The lock is broken."
Conan thought it would be okay. Sera seemed to be a good detective, so the boy had really thought it would be fine if he left the deduction to him ─ Sera seemed to be eager to do it, and it would save him from an unnecessary spotlight, so he thought it would be just fine.
That was until now ─ the kid fought, in vain, the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose out of pure irritation, but the incoming headache won out. The deduction has worked so well so far… Sera's theory had gone exactly as he had laid out inside his mind ─ a simple trick that involved getting a drunk Uesumi on the wheelchair and strings placed accordingly the elevator, so that he would be led from the second floor to the sixth with no one around, and to the window the victim had once broken. It should be over by now…
Then why? He raised his head again, eyebrow twitching at the sight of a confused Sera, hovering over the mannequin that still sat on the wheelchair, instead of being subjected to a six-floor dive as planned. Why hasn't it been solved yet?!
Sera was so shocked that it hadn't worked. Of course it didn't! Conan mentally cried, glancing at the paint cans carelessly thrown aside on the floor. You missed the most important part.
Question was, however, what was he going to do. Sonoko and Ran were still downstairs, so bringing any of them upstairs and having them solve it was out of the picture… And using Takagi would bring a load of troubles to himself down the road. Maybe Inspector Megure? He knows who I am, after all… He stole a glance at the inspector, but instantly shook that idea out of his mind. Even if he agreed… Having Inspector Megure, who's still as clueless as ever, suddenly figuring everything out, will be definitely suspicious.
And with Sera around, well, he didn't want to risk it.
Unless… He brought his phone from his pocket, but did nothing but gaze down at it ─ with a look that not even Sera, who had been watching the entire time from the corner of his eye, could correctly decipher. The only one who can appear here unannounced, yet convincingly shine on the truth and later be able to explain away their involvement, is none other than… His other hand clenched the bowtie he kept hidden.
Barely anyone knew about his… condition. All those who had inevitably seen him, mostly the police, believed he had been released not long after that incident, and had asked for his name to be kept a secret before leaving again to who-knows-where ─ all thanks to his father, the boy supposed. Therefore, even if he did that, there was nobody that would suspect a thing.
It was the perfect plan.
Except that Conan couldn't get his fingers to move. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't bring himself to pull out the bowtie out of his pocket, or dial Megure's phone number to get over it.
"It's such a shame…" Conan was disturbingly close to actually jumping out of his skin. "If only Hakuba-kun was there, I'm sure he'd have solved it a long time ago."
Cold sweat rolled down his face as he slowly turned around. Aoko's gentle smile met his eyes, yet he couldn't help but feel the hairs on his neck standing on end just by looking at it ─ he had to be overreacting, he tried to convince himself, but his heart wouldn't stop racing.
"I've tried to call him, but he doesn't seem to be answering," she mumbled, scrolling down her own phone. "Let's see… Surely there has to be a detective we can ask to lend us a hand."
Hattori crossed his mind, but the boy immediately shoved it away from his mind. If he was still in the hospital to check on his brother, his phone must be most definitely off. "Maybe Occhan?" It came out as a question. "Kogoro-ojisan, I mean."
He immediately regretted it ─ there was no way he could do better than any of them there. "I already tried that, too," said Aoko, with a nervous chuckle. "But he wasn't answering ─ he might be busy with that case I brought to him."
She trailed down into silence, and Conan could have sworn he had seen a shadow passing by her face, for a brief moment. "Hirai-kun would have been able to help." At her mumbled comment, Conan's gaze drifted away from hers and dropped to the ground. "Kaito, too. He's a magician, so maybe figuring out this trick wouldn't be a problem for him."
Conan failed to answer ─ his throat had gone too dry for him to utter a word.
"Ah, there's Kudo Shinichi, too!" Conan's heart skipped a beat. "Say, didn't Ran-chan say they used to be close friends?" She was grinning brightly, too. "Sonoko-chan was teasing her with him earlier, too…"
Inside his pockets, the boy's hands curled into fists.
"I'll ask Ran-chan if he can call him!" she continued, not quite realizing that the boy in front of him was trembling, so faintly that it was barely noticeable. "Maybe he's close by. If she calls him, maybe he can come back and-"
"... Shinichi-niichan…" Her words froze in her throat at the soft whispering. She blinked at the air, before her eyes slowly lowered towards the small boy, but was unable to meet his eyes ─ the light reflecting on his lenses impeded her from doing so. "Shinichi-niichan isn't coming back."
And it hurt saying it out loud ─ it really, really did. Conan did not utter another word, facing away from her, not raising his head just yet, hoping that she couldn't see his face right now. I was too confident, he reflected, eyes clenched shut, wishing he could wipe that smile away from his mind, once and forever. I thought that you'd come back. That without a doubt, you'd fulfill that promise you once made, and everything would turn back to the way it was…
But you aren't invincible ─ you're just human. There's so much you can do…
No matter how hard you try, how much you struggle and keep pushing yourself forward… Eventually…
The smile turned weaker and his vision turned red. I was naïve. Conan allowed a rueful smile to take over his own features ─ even now, he could still feel his large hand pressing against his cheek.
Wasn't I, Oniichan?
Another set of hands ─ smaller, more delicate and distinctively feminine ─ gently settled themselves on his shoulders. "Even if you say so…" Aoko's voice reached his ears from behind, much softer than before. "We still have another detective here, don't we?"
Definitely not expecting that, Conan twisted his head around. Aoko winked.
"Can I be of any help?"
The boy stared back at her, confused at first, but then nodded, a determined frown taking over his features. Taking a deep breath, he turned around fully, and motioned the girl to come closer ─ an action that definitely wasn't overlooked by a certain detective, watching everything develop from the corner of his eye.
Kudo Shinichi isn't coming back. He finally looked away from the boy, whispering something in the girl's ear. I wonder how you're so sure about that… A smirk tipped his lips upwards. Conan-kun, is it?
But said nothing about it ─ the detective just waited, already anticipating what was going to happen soon.
"The paint cans."
Surprised by the voice that had come from seemingly nowhere, Megure tore his eyes away from the wheelchair to spin around, and subsequently froze at the sight that met him ─ or, more specifically, the smirk that first caught his attention, that had become ridiculously more frequent lately.
"The culprit used the two paint cans near the window…" This time around, it belonged to that high school girl, crouching right next to the object in question. "... in order to toss the victim out."
She rose slowly, keeping her head down the entire time. "If we were to assume that was the case, it makes everything clear ─ Uesumi-san was murdered." Her hair whipped around as her gaze, glimmering with something akin to excitement, fell right on Hirukawa, who unconsciously took a step back upon witnessing the smirk turning into a broad grin. "And you..." A hand went to rest on her waist, and the other shot ahead to point directly at her. "Hirukawa-san, you are the culprit!"
Long after the words had been uttered, the shocked silence prevailed, but rather than being any worried about that, it only made Aoko's grin even wider, pleased beyond understanding to see the culprit's face growing paler as the realization that she knew sank in her mind. Takagi simply stared, stunned at the revelation, but otherwise patiently waiting for her to explain herself.
Meanwhile, Megure sighed ─ louder than he had hoped to, but didn't mind all that much. What's this? He groaned, hand tipping his hat downwards, mentally wondering why, of all jobs out there, he had to choose this one. Another high school detective… Of course.
He sent a glance towards where the other detective stood, but was ignored. Oh, I see, thought Sera, smiling amusedly to himself. So that's what you have under your sleeve…
And, smirking at an empty hallway, he turned back around so that he could pay attention to the rest of the deduction.
That was close, thought Conan, hand over his chest as he let out the air he had been holding in. That detective named Sera… He pressed his back against the wall, unwilling to move from his spot behind the boxes, even if it rendered him unable to take another peek and see what was going on there. … sure is sharp.
One look downwards at the bowtie he was clutching had him laughing dryly to himself. I haven't gotten to say a word yet, he thought, with a slight shake of his head. Aoko-neechan is having a lot of fun, isn't she?
A bit too much fun…
"And then? How exactly were the paint cans used?"
"That's easy to answer!" chirped the girl. "You see, uh…"
After taking a long sigh, Conan brought his bowtie close to his mouth, "There is a huge stain from spilled taint beneath the window, see?" and continued for her, thus saving her from messing up. "And there are some marks indicating something had been put there, too. So, if you put the paint cans on their side and align them with those marks…"
Conan's ears caught a sound, which he attributed to them doing as he was told. "Like I said…" Not long thereafter, he heard Aoko's voice again. "They match up perfectly!"
"So, if we were to hold those cans in place-"
"-like this!" Conan held back a sigh ─ now if she would stop interrupting him… "You, the detective over there! Put your feet on the other one. Hurry!"
"Y-Yes!" Takagi stuttered, presumably rushing to do as he was told.
"And now, if you'd please pull the wheelchair away from the window and set it in motion once more!"
Sera immediately agreed, grabbing the wheelchair and pulling it away ─ a tad too much, Conan decided, curling into himself and as far from sight as possible when he saw the detective too close for his comfort. "Will it work if I start from around here?!" Sera cried next.
Conan swore Sera was doing it on purpose, but had no way to prove it. "Yeah!" Aoko confirmed ─ luckily, considering he would most likely be heard, thus discovered, if he did it himself. "Please start it up, Sera-san!"
The boy didn't have to watch to know what happened next, since the startled gasps told him he had deduced it correctly. Beyond a doubt, the footrests had hit the paint cans glued against the wall by paint, tilting the wheelchair forward. Then, the armrests had most likely hit the wall, sending the victim flying due to recoil, and straight to his death.
A quick glance towards the corridor confirmed Sera had moved, probably to approach the window to witness the mannequin falling down, just like Uesumi, most likely, had.
So, he continued. "The culprit, having confirmed the victim's fall with her own eyes, made an excuse to go up to the roof by mentioning a suspicious figure," he explained. "And brought the elevator down from the sixth floor to the first one."
He heard Megure indicate to Chiba, who was still downstairs, to call the elevator, through the phone, watching the wheelchair moving back through the hallway and return to the elevator, before explaining the rest ─ the rubbed bands wrapped around the elevator mirror snapped, thus leaving it thread-free, allowing her to sneak back inside with any of the others suspecting a thing. All she had to do was make a reason to leave last in order to push the sixth and second floors buttons before leaving.
"Well, in order for a woman to put a grown man in a wheelchair, she had to have held her body tightly against her. Therefore, you might find fibers from the clothes the victim was wearing on the ones the culprit has on…" Conan concluded. "Of course, if you testified that the man whom you saw as a remittance scam ringleader and you, the surviving family member of his victim, had hugged in joy after reconciling, that'd be a different story."
Next thing Conan's ears picked up was a low, yet also cold, laugh. "If I had to commit that sort of nausea-inducing perjury, I'd rather just confess to everything…" Hirukawa hissed, genuinely disgusted. "That I was the one who put that man in the wheelchair… and wheeled him straight to hell!"
There she goes. Sighing, he put his bowtie down, deciding it would no longer needed, and silently sneaked out of the hiding spot, just in time to see the culprit, while keeping her head down, confessing that, yes, she had killed him, but she hadn't been the one who came up with the trick.
Uesumi had shown her once ─ an unoccupied wheelchair coming out of an empty elevator. Seeing her horrified expression, he had burst out laughing, and told her it was his plan to drive the media and the hotel annex's guests ─ he had dubbed it Operation Old Geezer's Ghost.
Tears were beginning to collect in Hirukawa's eyes. "That's why I had him sit in that wheelchair!" she said, gritting her teeth in anger. "In order to make that man understand how my father had kept begging for his apologies even while riding in a wheelchair… That heartrending feeling of his…"
"Ah, we were so lucky~!" Sonoko let out a squeal of delight, taking a bite of what Conan guessed to be her third slice of cake already. "I thought we wouldn't be having any of these."
"Calling it 'luck' is a bit…" Ran let out a nervous laugh.
Conan couldn't agree more. In fact, the only reason they were allowed to enjoy the hotel's cake buffet was because Aoko ─ Conan actually, but he was more than happy to leave that merit to her ─ had solved a murder they had stumbled upon in the first place. Well, that's what they say, but… He turned his head to give a dull stare to the other tables around them ─ and was not surprised to see that most of them were empty. That murder case cost them most of their clientele…
He could understand that ─ knowing that somebody just plunged to their death nearby would take anybody's appetite away… Conan glanced down at his chocolate pudding, sighing before pushing it away.
"I still can't understand it…" He turned to Aoko, who was humming to herself, deep in thought. "The culprit said back then he wanted to make the victim 'understand' how her father felt…" Her head tilted to her side, appearing troubled about it. "But when he died, Uesumi-san was unconscious… How could he understand like that?"
That's actually a good point.
"You're still thinking about that?" Sonoko raised an eyebrow. "It's solved already, so leave it alone…"
"I heard you helped Conan-kun with it," added Ran with a smile. Conan immediately looked away, hoping to avoid attention towards him.
"Yeah, it was so fun!" Aoko exclaimed with a bright smile, and turned to the boy ─ he promptly ignored her. "And Conan-kun is much more intelligent than I thought. He solved it himself, even when Sera-san couldn't."
"So Sera was a detective, huh?" Ran pondered over it, momentarily. "Come to think of it, he said 'We'll see each other soon' before we left… I wonder what he meant."
"Maybe he's just interested in you, Ran?" commented Sonoko, prompting the girl to stare at her, not quite expecting it. "Ah, I'm so jealous! Such a mysterious, not to say handsome boy… Why don't you just ditch Shinichi-kun and go for him?"
"What?! Wait, Sonoko, you have it all wrong-!"
"For starters," interjected Conan, with a bored tone. "It's not 'him', but rather 'her'."
Confused blinking was all the response he received. "I noticed it when I saw her standing close to Detective Takagi and Aoko-neechan," he continued, smirking as he did so. "Her body's proportions resembled Aoko-neechan's more, so I instantly figured out she's a girl."
Well, not 'instantly'. He was still a little tickled off because he hadn't noticed earlier ─ he probably had been too distracted lately.
"You definitely need a new set of glasses, brat," said Sonoko with a snort. "To say that Sera-san is a girl-"
"But she is." Conan didn't even blink. "We can bet on it, if you want."
"Heh, are you sure?"
"Absolutely." He turned to the other two girls. "You two wanna bet, too?"
They shook their heads right away, causing Conan to shrug and stare back at Sonoko, who was sporting a rather cocky smirk on her face. This is like stealing, he thought, cradling his head with his hand. Should I feel bad for her?
Sorry, I genuinely can't, Sonoko-neechan. He would have told her she shouldn't take it personally ─ but it is.
"Conan-kun, you barely touched your plate," commented Ran, bringing all attention away from themselves to her. "You didn't like it?"
Conan was about to tell her that, no, it was delicious ─ he just wasn't hungry, that was all. "Maybe we can get you something else you like." But Aoko was already standing up and waiting for him to do the same. "Shall we go, Conan-kun?"
Ran's grateful smile, together with the knowledge that he really didn't have any say on the matter, had him sighing, and hopping off his seat. He followed the girl then, towards the section where all delicious-looking desserts were displayed for them to see.
Not that it affected the boy anyhow, rather than making him drop his gaze in shame. He felt bad for Ran ─ that poor girl was going her best to cheer him on, even though she most likely knew it was fruitless. What should I do? thought the boy, wordlessly approaching the section, still deeply immersed in his own thoughts. I don't want to hurt her more than she already is…
But he couldn't just slap a grin on his face and pretend everything was fine ─ she would see right through it, and it would make her even more sad. I just can't. He frowned, attempting to hide from the outside word his newfound internal conflict. Because… Because he-
When he raised his head again, all thought evaporated completely from his mind, leaving nothing behind but a knot, settling itself on Conan's throat, firm and absolutely unwilling to move away. So, he did nothing more than press his lips together and gaze at that certain dessert innocently standing in front of his eyes.
"Even in England you still want cheesecake..." Conan could still hear his voice, even weeks after that.
The exasperated sigh, tainted by that fondness of his that had made it so hard for Conan to believe it, was there, too, and it made his eyes scrunch shut, willing it to get away from his head because, no, he didn't want to deal with that now ─ which, inadvertently, only made things worse, much, much worse.
That was because, that way, he could see the lively twinkling of his eyes as he held the cake away from his little brother's reach.
Now, rather than that cake… He settled a dull gaze on the palm of his hand. What I wish I could reach, more than anything…
His older brother's laughter echoed in his ears. Conan's hand curled up into a fist.
"Say, Conan-kun," Aoko crouched down right next to him. Her gaze fell on him ─ despite everything, the boy could not help but privately awe at how similar to Ran's it was. "You aren't okay, are you?" Conan said nothing at all, but the girl took it as a cue to continue. "I might be wrong, but I think I know what this is about?"
That took Conan by surprise. "You do?"
"It's about Hirai-kun, isn't it?" she said next, her warm, if searching, eyes making direct contact with his. "You said before that he wasn't coming back."
He let out a weak chuckle. "I did, didn't I?" he said, in a mumble, sticking his hands inside his pockets ─ in a poor attempt to hide how badly they were shaking now. "It's true, though. That possibility is higher than anything else." His head dropped slightly forward. "At this point, believing that everything is going back to normal… is stupid."
"I don't think it's stupid," Aoko said, rather seriously. Conan looked back at her, "Besides, even if there's a slim possibility…" just in time to see a big smile crossing through her face. "There is still a chance it might happen, right?"
Conan stared back, as if thinking about it, before sighing. "It's easier said than done-"
"Besides, Hirai-kun is strong," she continued, nodding to show her strong conviction. "I don't know exactly what he went through, or what he's doing right now, but I know that much. He will make it."
The boy fell silent again, a chance she took advantage of. "I'm sure that, out of everyone, you're the one who knows him the best," she said. "You trust him, don't you?"
This time, the boy didn't need any time to respond ─ a weak nod was all Aoko needed to smile and stand back up. Conan said nothing all the while, but their gazes remained posed on each other, until all of a sudden something seemed to click in the boy's mind ─ his eyes widened as a proof of that, and the girl giggled lightly.
"Aoko-neechan?"
"What is it?"
"You… Do you-?"
I never said a word about Hirai Arthur, but rather Kudo Shinichi… Then how did she-?!
"I had been suspecting it for a while, but you confirmed it for me just now," she replied nonchalantly, turning back to the cakes, more specifically to the cheesecake. "You liked this one, don't you, Conan-kun?"
"No- Well, yeah, no. What?"
She smiled again, which Conan found a little irritating this time ─ he couldn't grasp, for the life of him, what was that funny. "Ever since I first met you, I had this feeling I had seen you before," she said, causing the little boy to blink. "I couldn't pinpoint where it was."
Conan was definitely confused now. He couldn't, for the life of him, remember seeing her before that time at Ekoda.
"But the other night, I was in my bed wondering what could have happened to Kaito and even considered it had something to do with how his father mysteriously died, and I remembered something." She grinned, leaning forward and playfully bopping him in the nose. "How a certain little boy came up to Kaito and asked him to teach him a magic trick."
Conan took a second longer than normal to react. "What?" He pointed at himself. "Me?"
"I suppose you were too young back then." She laughed. "Kudo-kun was there, too, and introduced you to us as his little brother. After recalling it, everything made so much sense."
"But… I could have been anyone else," he said, slower due to the shock. "And I was supposed to be dead."
"You could. But if your brother had been involved in something dangerous enough to make him disappear for almost two years, like I was suspecting… I supposed there was a slim possibility of that death being fake." She shifted uncomfortably, but grabbed a dish anyway and went to gather a slice of the cheesecake. "Even if there was this big chance that I was led to a dead end… it was all I had, you know?"
After that, smiling all the while, she crouched next to him again and handed him the dish. The boy stared at him for a beat, before raising his eyes back to the girl, and let something akin to a chuckle and a sigh all the same.
"You could've been an amazing detective if you tried, Aoko-neechan."
"You think so?" Aoko laughed ─ Conan could infer she didn't expect to hear that today. "Thanks, I guess."
She stood up, yet didn't exactly make her way back to their table as the boy would have expected. Instead, she stayed there, hands clutched against each other behind her back while her eyes lingered on the rest of the desserts ─ even though, Conan could tell, she wasn't really looking at any of them.
"It wouldn't be so bad, thinking about it." she said then. Conan simply looked up at her, yet didn't emit any word. "If I was a detective, I'd get any answers I want myself, right?"
"I… suppose so."
"Conan-kun. Could you answer this for me, instead?"
Following those words, and without waiting for any response, the girl turned around. Her lips, where once a blinding grin had posed, were pressed into a thin line, and her eyes were sparkling, but not in excitement as before, but with a strong, unwavering determination.
"Kaito is actually Kaito KID, isn't he?"
Out of everything, that was probably the thing the small detective expected to hear the least. Never in his life would he have thought of a situation remotely similar, yet there he was now, gaping at his rival's childhood friend, who stood there, firm as a rock, expecting an answer regarding the thief's identity. Eventually, however, he forced his features to soften, and his mouth to close.
"This isn't something I can answer," he said, and she saw it ─ the boy's confident smirk brightening his entire face. "You should ask Kaito-niichan directly."
And for a moment, Aoko said nothing, just stared at her through wide eyes, until the words finally seemed to sink in. "You're right!" she exclaimed, then, with her broad grin back in place, nodded energetically. "And if it really turns out to be him…" She held a fist up, and declared, loud and clear. "I'll show him!"
Conan's lip twitched upwards. This is so wrong… I'm actually feeling bad for him…
So, settling with a dry chuckle, he spun around and undertook his way back to their table. "One more thing, Conan-kun…" she whispered, walking right beside him.
He really was getting tired of this ─ it was beginning to feel less than a normal conversation and more akin to an interrogation. "What now?"
"You were at the tower that night, weren't you?" He nodded, averting her gaze as she did so. "I see, that's why Mouri-san..." Aoko didn't need to explain what happened, he knew that well already. "Well, if that Bakaito did get shot because he was protecting a certain little detective, I might be able to forgive him for worrying everyone!" She continued, noticeably brighter than before. "Just for that, though."
This time, Conan didn't understand. "What does that mean?"
She let out a vigorous bout of laughter. "You should ask Kaito directly."
"Eh?! No fair!"
No matter how much he insisted after that, Aoko kept her lips sealed shut until she reached her seat, and only opened it again to chat some more with the other girls. Knowing well when he was defeated, Conan finally conceded surrender and climbed back to his seat ─ unknowingly keeping a very noticeable pout all over his face.
Once there, he let out a deep sigh and grasped his fork, closing his eyes momentarily. He breathed once, then twice, before he finally decided to open them, and set them onto the cheesecake sitting in front of him.
"Guess it's not too bad…"
"Then order one for yourself."
His gaze softened dramatically, prompted by the memories of his brother, stealing a bite out of his precious dessert ─ memories that would be engraved in his mind, to be treasured forever, and that Conan was sure he would absolutely never forget.
We made quite a scene back then, didn't we? Conan barely noticed the chuckle that escaped him, recalling perfectly how they both had fought over cake ─ momentarily forgetting everything but themselves, playing as if they were both innocent children again, who had nothing to worry about. It was so embarrassing…
Slowly, he gathered a small portion of the cake with his fork and carried it to his mouth.
Yet… His older brother's laughter echoed in his ears. At the same time…
A timid smile caressed the little boy's lips ─ it was delicious.
Had he raised his head to see, he would have seen that Ran and Sonoko had turned to look at each other once more, sharing a bright smile out of relief, before falling back into their conversation, pretending they hadn't seen a thing.
Taking one last glance at the scene, Aoko smiled warmly, and went back to her phone, typing a quick text before returning to her own cake.
This case had turned out to be much more complicated than Kogoro had thought it to be. Not that he was expecting it to be easy ─ Aoko had done her best to tell him everything she knew about her missing friends, but she didn't even have the littlest hunch of where they could be, or where he should start looking. Without that, Kogoro had really no other choice but to check in nearby hospitals hoping they had just been involved in an accident, yet nothing so far.
Tomorrow, he would go to Ekoda, he had decided. He was the Great Detective Mouri Kogoro ─ there was absolutely nothing in this world that would stop him from solving this case…
Except from a text he had been staring at since he had received it fifteen minutes ago.
"Mouri-san, I'm so sorry to have bothered you.
I went overboard and panicked a little, but I've cleared up my mind. Finally, I think I know what I should do next, and this is not it.
So, please, I'll ask you to drop this case. Thank you very much for your help!
And once more, I'm sorry for wasting your time!
─ Nakamori Aoko."
Now, twenty minutes had passed since he first opened it, but it made as much sense as it did the first time. She wants me to stop looking for her friends? Kogoro's eyebrows rose. Just like that?
Part of him wanted to sigh in relief over having freed himself from such a troublesome case, yet it was so sudden that he couldn't even do anything but wonder what in the world had just happened.
"I'm back."
The boyish voice, alongside with the door to his office opening, was enough incentive for the man to finally react, and put the phone away to see the small form making his way inside. What he didn't understand, however, was that he simply closed the door behind him, not waiting for anyone else to get in.
"Where's Ran?" he asked, genuinely confused.
"With Sonoko-neechan at the library," he said nonchalantly, dropping onto the couch. "Midterms are nearing close and Ran-neechan has been missing a lot of classes. Sonoko-neechan still doesn't understand a lot of stuff, so they're going to study together until late."
"Yet, they had the time to go to a cake buffet despite that."
Conan did not have any answers to give him, so he kept his mouth shut, reaching from over the table a newspaper somebody, presumably Kogoro, had forgotten there. Of course, there Touto Tower was there, in the first page, but he quickly skimmed right past it, since he already knew what that article was about ─ Kaito KID, his mysterious heist coming out from nowhere and the bullet that had supposedly shot him.
The media was going crazy over it. Some were blaming the police, theorizing that somebody must have fired without permission, and others were being as far as claiming that this was nothing, that it was a large-scale performance, and that KID would make a glorious return next heist…
But now, weeks after the fact and with no sign of the thief whatsoever, those who still believed were becoming scarce.
He has to be okay. He closed the newspaper and set it back on the table. That guy is too resourceful and stubborn to let himself be killed just like that.
Just like him. Without a doubt, he will… Surely…
"Hey, brat." Conan looked up, questioningly, when the man suddenly spoke to him. "Have you got any plans for today?"
"I… don't think so?"
"Then, come with me." He was even more confused when the man suddenly stood up. "I have to investigate that case at the hospital, and I'm not leaving you alone to wreak havoc in my house."
The boy didn't move, however, just gave him a long, suspicious look. "Aoko-neechan already dropped her case."
Kogoro couldn't hide his surprise. "She told you about it?"
"Not exactly."
In fact, he had simply guessed. Now, she didn't know the true extent of, well, everything, but at least she was somewhat aware of the constant danger both Kaito and Shinichi were involved in, and that their disappearance wasn't, so to say, an ordinary missing person case. Somebody actively looking for them, she might have concluded, might inadvertently put it in even more danger, so Conan figured she had decided to play it safe.
"I know what you're trying to do," stated Conan, leaning back into the couch, hands still inside his pockets and gaze staring, boredly, up ahead. "Ran must have told you I'm still reluctant to visit my brother."
Kogoro visually tensed, and that was all Conan needed to know. "Give it up, please," the boy said next, in a very feeble mutter. "I just… I just can't."
A long, thick silence followed his words, but the boy didn't even try to break them. Just breathed out, closing his eyes gently as if praying, to no god in particular, that the man in front of him wouldn't open his mouth again. Even if he couldn't see, however, he could still hear, meaning that he was aware that the man had risen from his seat, and kind of expected to hear the door next, allowing him to indulge in his so desire solace in peace.
But he never heard of such a thing.
Instead, he heard his steps stopping right in front of him. Curious, he opened them again, just to realize that, instead of leaving, Kogoro had just sat on the couch in front of him, crossing his arms as he would whenever he listened to a client of his.
A position he was currently occupying.
"I won't say a word," Kogoro said, deadly serious. "So feel free to speak your mind, brat."
Conan shifted uncomfortably. "I already did," he said, looking away with a huff. "I just can't go and see him."
"Why is that?"
"What are you playing at?" He sunk even deeper against the sofa, as if he was trying really hard to be swallowed by it. "You know what happened."
"And that is?"
Conan's head snapped back at him, flashing him a rather irritated glare. "Oh, I don't know," he hissed next. "Maybe that I almost shot somebody?" He shoved his hands out of his pockets, putting them right in front of him. "With these! I almost… I almost killed somebody! And if KID hadn't been there to stop me…"
Despite the clear agitation shaking Conan's entire self, Kogoro remained impassive. "What would have happened?" he asked.
"What do you think?"
"I don't know, that's what I'm asking you, brat."
Conan's gaze dropped, averting Kogoro's once more, opening his mouth, yet failing to make out a sound. A cold, metallic feeling caressed his fingers which, even though he consciously knew it was not real, it did not fail to make him shiver.
Kogoro let out a long, tired sigh, and leaned forward, clasping his own two hands together. Conan felt his gaze on him, long enough to piece his very soul apart, until he opened his mouth.
"There was a lot of blood on you when I found you. Right on your side, spreading all over your back," Kogoro recounted. "But it wasn't yours."
Conan nodded slowly, unable to see where that was going.
"Your brother fell on top of you, and his wound was on his backside." Conan suppressed another shiver at the memory. "Meaning, the blood wasn't his."
"It wasn't."
"The only one who was injured enough to bleed so profusely is Irish," Kogoro continued. "The member who was ultimately sniped by his own organization, as you told me."
The boy was feeling impatient now. "What of it?"
"For you to be drenched by so much blood, and in such a way, you might have been trying to drag him back to safety." When Conan's eyes widened slightly in surprise, Kogoro knew he had hit the nail in the head. "It means that, after he was shot, you still wanted to save him, instead of remaining in hiding, waiting for them to go away."
"Of course I did!" Conan crossed his arms in front of his chest. "It's only natural."
"You think it's natural to risk so much to save somebody, seconds after trying to kill him?"
The boy raised his head sharply, clearly having not thought of that before.
"I understand that you might have been angry ─ that you might have wanted to pull that trigger after what he took away from you. But there's a big difference between wanting, and actually doing it." The man gave the shocked young boy in front of him a pointed look before finally rising from his seat. "And I have reason to believe that, even without the help of that thief, you still wouldn't have gone through it."
Conan kept his eyes trained on the detective's form, observing every movement, even if all the man did was walk up to his desk to grab a cigarette lying there.
"You're no murderer, kid," he said, fishing out a lighter from his pocket. "I'm not repeating myself, so you better not forget that, you hear?"
He did his best to utter a word in response, but the little boy didn't even manage to do that. Therefore, he simply nodded, slowly, while still keeping his eyes on him ─ an awestruck gaze that Kogoro promptly averted, turning back an attempt to light up his cigarette, only to fail horrendously.
Fortunately, the door suddenly opened, gathering the boy's unwanted attention to it. A head popped in, and a big grin flashed in front of Kogoro's eyes, waving at him from his spot in the doorway. "Ah, the kid is here too." The Kansai-accented tone didn't last long to reach his ears. "Didn't see ya there."
"Hattori…" Conan's eyebrow raised, standing up from the seat with a rather annoyed look. "What are you implying?"
Heiji was more than ready to answer, "Just in time," but was interrupted by the older man who suddenly approached the boy, who gave out a surprised yelp when he felt himself being pushed, out of the blue, towards the door. "Take this boy out of my office."
"Hey, I just got here…"
"Don't blame me, blame the runt." Conan looked ready to argue, yet Kogoro didn't let him. "He wants to go visit his brother."
The boy froze in the middle of his complaining, staring at the older man as if he had suddenly gone crazy. But then, he let his hands drop and his entire body relaxed ─ a look of understanding crossed his eyes, and he finally smiled.
"Unbelievable…" Conan breathed out, crossing his arms behind his head. "Even Occhan can have a kind heart sometimes."
"Don't get the wrong idea." Kogoro snorted. "Ran's getting worried because of all that moping."
"Ah, yeah?"
A mischievous smirk drew itself in his features, causing Kogoro to simply roll his eyes and give him a last, rough push out of his office, before slamming the door close behind him. But rather than actually pondering over it, the boy chuckled, amused at his actions, and began to rush down the stairs.
Hattori, seeing all that, couldn't help the bark of laughter that escaped him before wordlessly following the little detective outside.
A/N:
CherryGirl 21-6: I'll see what I can do about it ;)
Neyane: Thanks for letting me know about it!
F.C. Meyer: Well, I have to admit I have mixed feelings about her, too. I mean, I really like Sera's character, but yeah, she has been rather annoying lately. Which is a shame, because I've always thought she was cool since she first appeared.