File One Hundred and Six: The Trembling Police Headquarters
And with this… Done. Conan gave his phone one last glimpse before putting it away. They shouldn't bother me any longer…
For the time being.
Followed by that, he leaned back in his seat and looked out the window. Everything appeared so small from up there, enough to be mildly uncomfortable for the young boy, yet not enough to panic about it. Rather than making a scene, the boy glanced away and focused on the other three kids huddled together, pressing against the glass on the opposite side.
Clearly, they were enjoying this a lot more than he was.
"Wow, it's so high!" Ayumi beamed.
"You're right!" Genta loudly agreed. "So cool!"
"This huge wheel is 125 meters tall," informed Mitsuhiko, with a broad smile on his face. "It's the largest in Japan. One turn takes 18 minutes."
"I could make six cups of ramen!"
Ramen cups. Conan rested his cheek against his fists, looking rather bored all of a sudden. Yeah, of course. Forget about seconds, minutes, hours ─ let's just measure time in 'ramen cups'.
For instance… His hand gripped the phone inside his pocket. How many ramen cups will it take until they find a way to bother me again?
His future did not look all that bright.
"A turning diameter of 125 meters, and a period of 18 minutes…" he heard the girl sitting at his side say. "Means we must be moving at 30 centimeters per second."
Conan fought the urge to roll his eyes ─ and lost horribly. "Don't you have anything better to think about?"
"Oh, you mean like why were you so unusually eager to come to an amusement park with all of us?" The other three heads immediately turned their way when they heard it. "Or why you suddenly changed the place from Tropical Land to Haido Shopping Mall."
"... That isn't better."
"If I were to play your deductive games, I would say… You are actively avoiding your mother."
"Eh?!" His friends exclaimed, not expecting such a revelation.
Conan merely avoided her gaze with a grunt.
"You blurted out we were going to Tropical Land when she suggested spending time with her today. Not to say you avoided being alone with her last night, and you just blocked her number."
He sighed, irritatedly ─ even if he wished he could, he couldn't be surprised about her peeking in his phone just now. "You don't have a sense of privacy," he grumbled. "Do you?"
Ai completely ignored his comment. "You did the same with your father's number, which makes it clear you want no contact with any of your parents," she continued regardless. "And the reason you changed the locations on the fly was probably to confuse your mother, since you told her you were in Tropical Land."
Instead of answering, Conan crossed his arms over his chest, sinking further into his seat. "I see." Ai smirked, pleased at the sight. "My deduction was correct."
"Do you want a medal for that?"
Ayumi slowly sat down in front of her, confusion shaping her face. "Why don't you want to talk with your parents?"
He knew this was coming, yet that didn't mean he had exactly been looking forward to it. He frowned at space and said nothing. For a moment there, all the children were sure they wouldn't get an answer right off the bat.
"Because I don't want them to tell me," but he blurted out, regardless. "That they're taking me away from Japan."
And didn't move again, listening closely for their reactions, or rather, the lack thereof. Conan waited patiently for his friends, who had likely forgotten how to get out a coherent sentence ─ even that certain little scientist had miraculously run out of what to say.
"EH?!"
1/6 cups of ramen, noted Conan dully. An average reaction time, obviously.
"You're joking!" Genta was the first to yell at him angrily. "Right, Conan?!"
Conan gave him a plain look. "Do I look like I'm joking?" he asked.
The boy fell silent, so the bespectacled detective believed he had made his point across.
"But why?" Mitsuhiko asked, clearly distressed by the way he moved his hands around. "This is too sudden…"
"I wouldn't say that," Ai interjected calmly. "After such a close call only a few weeks ago, Conan-kun's parents must have finally realized that Japan isn't the safest place for him. That's the most logical outcome."
Conan gave her a long stare, to which she didn't seem to react at all. "You're taking it a little too well," he said. Ai barely batted an eye. "Do you even care-?"
"We're talking about the Organization," she stopped him before he could complete his sentence. "Whether or not I care is not relevant." Cooly, as if she couldn't notice the growing frown on the boy's features, she stood up and headed to the window, giving it a long, contemplative look. "And your feelings shouldn't play a factor in this either, Conan-kun."
In silence the three other kids looked at Haibara, then slowly shifted their attention to the boy who, now back on his feet, glowered at the girl in front of him, mouth opening as if to say anything, just to close uselessly, likely after realizing there was nothing he could say. A huff surfaced from his throat, and he dropped back on his seat to glare at his window instead.
What had seemed like a fun little cruise at the Ferris wheel among friends before turned into a depressing, uncomfortable experience that definitely lasted over six ramen cups to finish. When it did, the small detective wasted no time to head out, walking away without waiting for anyone to follow ─ but they did either way.
"So?" Agasa smiled when he reached him, oblivious to everything. "How was it-?"
But stopped short. The boy hadn't even acknowledged him, brushing right past him, leaving the professor to blink cluelessly and turn to the other children, standing quietly behind him.
"Did… I say something wrong?" he asked them, feeling like he had missed something.
"No," Genta, crossing his arms behind his head, replied, looking at Haibara by the corner of his eye. "At least, you didn't."
"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know that stating which should be obvious was wrong."
"But-"
"Now, guys," Mitsuhiko intervened. "It's not the time to fight-"
"You cannot fight without an opponent," Ai pointed out. "I wonder if Kojima-kun will ever understand that."
"What… does that even mean?"
"Exactly."
Too afraid to admit she hadn't entirely gotten it either, Ayumi kept her mouth shut, allowing her eyes to drift from them to her other friend at the front, and immediately her gaze softened.
He hadn't even graced them with a single glance yet, merely continued to stomp away, kicking a stray pebble in his way to… Where was he going? Ayumi didn't know, and was sure Conan had no clue either.
The boy seemed lost. Conan-kun… And honestly, seeing him like that made Ayumi sad too. She wondered if there was anything she could say, and that it didn't inadvertently make things worse…
She breathed in and rushed ahead, determined to catch up with her friend.
But halted, spotting something with the corner of her eye. "Ah!" she shouted so loudly that even Conan turned to see what was all that fuss about. "Detective Sato!"
Conan blinked, surprised to hear that. Detective Sato? Curiously, he followed the girl's gaze to find that, indeed, the woman was there, equally shocked to meet there, but smiling friendly either way.
As he lazily came closer to the group, the child didn't fail to notice she had her phone in her hand. Any other day, he wouldn't have thought much of it, yet the fact that she was holding so tightly caused him to take a second look.
She put it away as soon as she noticed him staring. Weird, he thought, but otherwise let it pass.
"Such a coincidence to meet you here, Detective Sato," commented Agasa, joining the children as well, alongside an impassive Ai.
Ai raised her head and gave her a serious look. "Has a murder happened here?"
Sato stared at her. "Not that I know of…"
"No murders yet, I see."
The woman said nothing, silently looking at her for a couple of seconds, or more. "Anyway," she began, turning away from the girl and to the rest of the children. "How are you guys doing? I haven't seen you since Tanabata."
Tanabata. Conan couldn't help but wince at the memory. What a day, that one…
A day he didn't want to repeat, like ever. Seriously, it gave him the chills just by remembering it.
"How is Superintendent Matsumoto?" questioned Agasa.
"I heard he's okay." Sato crouched down next to the children with a smile. "Thanks to you, guys."
"Ah, no…" Mitsuhiko scratched the back of his head, let out an embarrassed laugh, just like his other two friends. "It was nothing…"
"It doesn't make it right, though." Sato's expression became more severe abruptly. "Listen, next time tell an adult and stay at home. Am I clear?"
Three sets of eyes went to the floor and nodded faintly in understanding. Conan smirked, arms behind his head. I told you, he thought. It's good that there's a responsible adult out there to let them know what's stupid and-
"But I should thank you for it either way."
What?
Sato smiled brightly, so suddenly that it took the boy off guard. "Maybe I should treat you with something."
They lit up instantly. "Really?!"
"Yeah. There's a cake shop around, so why don't we go there?" She flashed a smile to Conan. "And maybe chat a bit. Sounds good?"
As they left, Conan wondered what was with people looking cryptically at him ─ or why he didn't seem to understand them, in any of those instances.
Of course, they had run into a crime before they could even get to the cake shop.
And of course, it had to be a bomb. They had stumbled into Takagi and Shiratori on their way, who were investigating a bomb threat inside, that had apparently turned out to be a hoax at the end ─ apparently, because Shiratori's car exploded out of the blue, just as he had entered.
"The painful memory that you can't forget…" Conan heard a seriously wounded Shiratori whisper to Sato, passing her a piece of paper he had been clutching the entire time. "This is your chance to break free of it."
Her hands gripped it, and in her eyes, Conan saw sheer fury. Anger that trespassed the feelings of those she could have towards somebody that had done this to a coworker ─ no, it was something deeper.
And honestly, Conan feared the repercussion of such foul feelings.
Managing to get closer, the child stole a glance at the letter from over the detective's shoulder.
"I'm a fast-pitching, hard-hitting Major Leaguer.
Now, the extra innings have begun.
The games begin at noon tomorrow and end at 4 PM.
Even if you prepare a good stopper, it won't help you. I'll turn it around in the end.
If you want to end this game, come find me.
When you police bastards climb the bloodstained mound, I'll be waiting in the steel batter's box."
He looked from side to side and confirmed that everyone was too focused on the bloody victim in front of them ─ understandable ─ to tell if a little kid had just taken his phone to snap a photo of that cryptic message.
The ambulance arrived as fast as possible. That said, when Shiratori was taken away, it was already getting dark and, since it was a school night, the boy seriously doubted they would be allowed to pry into the police's business for much longer. And any other day, he would have probably agreed that the sensible thing was just to head back home.
"Conan?" He heard Agasa calling for him. "What are you doing?"
But something stopped him from climbing inside the yellow beetle, like his friends had just done before him. Rooted in his spot, he could not get his eyes away from Sato, whose phone was against her ear, possibly talking with their superiors about what had just occurred.
Her eyes, sharp and focused, narrowed even further. It was scary, observed Conan, more than usual.
"Conan?"
"I'm following her."
Agasa's brain stuttered. "Huh?" was all he managed to let out afterwards.
"Tell Ran-neechan I won't be home for dinner tonight."
"Wha-?"
"And call in sick for me tomorrow, okay?"
"B-But I can't do that!"
Conan didn't seem to hear, or even care, about his words, because he bolted off before the professor could do anything about it. Alarmed, he took a step forward, with all the intention of catching up to him, when he heard the sound of the doors of his own car closing behind him.
Spinning around, he noticed the children were not there anymore. He stood there, frozen for a second, until he finally grasped the situation.
Letting a long, heavy sigh, he pulled out his phone. "I'll be in trouble if anyone finds out," he lamented to himself, skimming through his list of contacts. "First comes Ran-kun…"
"Eh? So this is a memento of your father who died on duty?"
Sato was enraged, with every right to be so ─ according to herself, anyway. That prick she had been struck as a partner had the nerve to take the precious handcuffs her father left behind, and was twirling them on his finger as if they were nothing but a mere toy.
"Hey, give that back!" So she didn't hesitate to show her displeasure, not that he cared much about it. An annoyed huff escaped her, without even willing it to. "Geez, why don't you just tell me I can't move forward unless I can break free of the past?"
Then, all of a sudden, he just stopped, "You don't have to forget," and said, keeping his cocky smirk intact in his face. "You can move on, but if you forget, your old man really will be dead."
"Matsuda-kun…"
Now, years later, the memories remained intact in her mind. Just like he had told him, she had never erased him from her memory. But at what cost, was the real question.
Her eyes were stinging with tears she refused to shed. Even if Matsuda had left her long ago, his smile will forever torment her. His last message would sit on her phone, because she didn't have the courage to delete it, to stare back at her every time she posed her eyes on it.
"I really liked you," had been his last words.
Which she had never been able to reply.
"The painful memory that you can't forget." Even Shiratori could see her pain, no matter how hard she had tried to hide it. "This is your chance to break free of it."
Yes, to break free, I have to catch the bomber. Her hands gripped the driving wheel. And forget about all this.
"Say, will you tell me something?" The silence was abruptly broken by a young, innocent voice whispering. "Do you know who this bomber is?"
Spooked, the detective jumped. From the middle of the darkness, a pair of sharp blue eyes, behind oversized glasses, were staring right at her, through her rear mirror.
Her heart had almost jumped out of her throat. Sato wondered if the child had noticed it.
"C-Conan-kun!" she breathed out. "How did you get in the car?!"
Conan tilted his head, as if puzzled at the question. "Through the door," he answered, truthfully.
Sato figured she had set the bar too low.
"Answer me," the kid pressed. "This bomber seems to hate the police… And I feel like you know why."
She gave him a long look before turning back to the road.
"Seven years ago, there were two bombers," she began. "The bombs were set in two nearby apartment buildings. The ransom was one billion yen."
It had been a huge demand but, considering that he had threatened to detonate the bombs if the police tried to evacuate anyone, and that, even though they had defused one within the time limit, they weren't as lucky with the other ─ they had no choice but to cave in.
After that, the bomber had stopped the timer. Everything was wonderful then for another thirty minutes until a certain call arrived.
The timer was still running. He had gotten the wrong idea from a recorded TV news report.
Everything had gone downhill from that point on. They had traced his call and spotted him in a phone boot. The bomber had panicked and tried to escape.
He could have escaped prison, but not the claws of death. Ultimately, he had been hit by a truck and passed away on the scene.
"But wait," Conan interrupted her midway, forehead creased in confusion. "I thought you said there were two bombers."
"After that, the timer we thought was stopped began to count down, and then the bomb detonated." The child nodded in understanding. "The other bomber probably thought we police were putting false information on the news to set a trap for his friend, which killed him."
"So he retaliated…"
"Three years ago." She nodded. "And this time again, it seems."
Conan crossed his arms over his chest, humming to himself for a little, until he suddenly leaned forward. Sato glanced at him, noticing that he was sliding to the passenger seat, and turned her attention back to the road ahead. Once positioned, he went to his phone.
From the corner of her eye, she saw tapping on the map app.
"Where were the bombs planted at three years ago?"
"In the big Ferris wheel at Haido Shopping Mall and at Beika Central Hospital."
"I see. That makes it…" A look of satisfaction crossed the boy's face when he found it. "South Haido Station."
The woman appeared surprised to hear it. "If you take the roads they're on, and extend them, that's the place where they meet."
"The 'extra linings'," she mumbled to herself in realization. "The 'stopper' must mean the railroad crossing stoplight, and the 'batter box', a box of steel."
"A train." Conan nodded. "Lastly, by 'climb the bloodstained mound' he's telling us it's on a red-colored train car." Then, chuckled to himself, yet Sato could not tell what was that funny to him. "Should we get a second opinion on this?"
"What do you mean?"
Rather than verbally answering her, he put his phone down and looked for something inside his pocket. Soon thereafter, she found herself staring in confusion at the badge twinkling under the streetlights between his little fingers, and the amused grin the boy was sporting.
"B-But…" And sure enough, Takagi's voice filled her ears. "That's just punning 'extended lines' with 'extra innings'-"
"Slow, aren't you?" The fact that he could physically hear the poor detective's wince almost triggered some sense of pity in Conan's heart. "It's obvious that if there's a station where those roads meet, it should be there."
Conan was not, by any means, shocked to find out that his friends had either snuck or bullied Takagi into letting them in their car ─ the boy didn't find it essential knowing their methods ─ yet, he could not say he had fully expected Ai to be there, too. He could infer, however, she had tagged along to keep everyone in check.
And now that he thought about it, how was the Professor going to explain all of this to their parents?
At that moment, Conan felt infinitely glad he was not an adult yet.
Either way, he supposed it was a good thing she was there, because he wasn't sure how Takagi would figure it out, had he been on his own.
"Oh, no!" exclaimed Takagi, once she had finished speaking. "I've got to tell Sato-san!"
"It's all right, I heard everything," said Sato. "We came to the same conclusion here."
The woman beside him contacted Inspector Megure to have him send a search team, while Takagi reached to the bomb squad. The entire time, Conan waited patiently, leaning against the window, distracting himself with the lights outside to kill some time until things settled down a little.
Hopefully, with this, there will only one bomb remaining, thought the boy, frowning a little. But after that, what are we going to do?
Is the bomber going to give us more clues? I sure hope so.
There was a nagging voice at the back of his head that kept on telling him, however, that this shouldn't have been so easy. That there was something he was overlooking, but he couldn't deduce, for the life of him, what it was ─ and that alone frustrated him beyond belief.
"Are you alright, Conan-kun?" he snapped back to reality when the police detective spoke up. "You look a bit tired."
Of course he was, he all but cried, yet kept it to himself.
"It has been a busy week," he answered instead. "That's all."
"Well, I can imagine," Sato said with a sigh. "It has been a packed one… Especially after Tanabata, if you know what I mean."
Conan stiffened, but managed a non-committal hum, turning his every attention back to the window.
"I'm certain you do." The child took a sharp intake of air, which she took as a cue to continue. "I heard you were at Touto Tower when it happened."
He slowly eased down, gaze slowly sliding away from the window to the woman. "But you weren't reported as a witness."
She could see his initially innocent, round blue eyes narrowing, taking a sharper turn. His shoulders were tense, too ─ an action he had seen in so many of those she had interrogated, those that had something huge to hide.
"Then do you mind doing it now?"
Conan crossed his arms in front of his chest ─ a protective stance. "Do what?"
"Give me your account of the events," she answered easily. "It's okay, you can just tell me what you saw."
He gave her a long, wary look. "I was there just by chance," he said, slowly, as if he were thinking over every single word twice before actually letting them out. "I saw nothing, so that's why they didn't feel the need to ask me anything, I suppose."
"Is that all you have to say?"
The boy kept his lips sealed, stealing a sigh out of the detective. She drove in silence for a solid minute until she spoke again. "I'm sorry to have pressured you," she admitted, after a while. "That entire case is so… strange."
You tell me about it.
"I'll let you off the hook for now," she continued, with a small, friendly smile ─ one which Conan couldn't bring himself to trust fully. "But if you remember anything, please tell me, okay?" Conan nodded, yet it seemed like Sato wasn't finished, judging by the narrowing of her eyes. "It's important that you do… People have died there, yet there isn't a single clue about it."
The boy agreed again, and happily went to focus on the window again, relieved that this was over with. A beat after he did that, however, he felt his every muscle freeze, and the small smile that had drawn in his face falling, dropping to the ground as his eyes opened, ever so slightly.
People? He stared back at his stunned reflection on the glass. As in… more than one?
He had kept himself away from the news for a long time now, so he supposed it was only logical that there were parts of the case he had never learned about, yet it didn't keep it from being absolutely disconcerted.
If one of them was Irish… Slowly, he turned to face Sato, mouth opened to inquire further. Who was the other one?
But rather than acknowledging him, she just picked up another incoming call.
What she said next pushed that thought to the back of his mind, not to be thought about for a long while. There had been a bomb inside the train alright… A fake one, that was.
That bomber was playing with them ─ and, as much as it pained the kid to admit it, he was good at it. No matter how hard they thought, none had a single lead to follow.
And, like so, as morning arrived, Conan felt as if they had wasted the entire night away.
Sato and Takagi had left all the children on their own in a café to have breakfast to talk about something outside and hadn't returned yet. As to why they trusted them enough to be without proper adult supervision was a mystery to him. Yet, judging by how everyone was slumped on the table, on the verge of passing out after such an exhausting night, Conan had a good idea.
Not that he was any better. He supposed he was probably missing more than a few hours of sleep, since he was now downing his third cup of coffee ─ and had barely reacted at the look of utter incredulity the waiter had given him when he requested it. Had he been in an optimal state, he guessed he would be a little more apprehensive about it all.
But as it was, he lazily sipped on his precious beverage ─ it would have been stupid not to take this chance without Ran around to turn him down and ask for fruit juice instead ─ while he looked over where the two police detectives were discussing… whatever they were discussing.
Sato was acting strange, like she had been doing all night.
That had been the reason, too, that he had decided to accompany her ─ he had this feeling that she could not be left alone, for her own sake. It wasn't until a little ago, when they ran into Yumi, that he understood why it was like that.
A police detective had been killed three years ago, sacrificing his life to help find the other bomb. It was somebody Sato had fallen in love with, so Conan found it understandable that, now that the bomber was back, the woman was willing to do anything to make him suffer.
Understandable, but concerning all the same.
Speaking of strange, she said something back there, remembered Conan suddenly. Something about multiple casualties at Tanabata…
He took another glance at his friends, who were mostly dozing off and definitely not paying attention to him. Ai was still wide awake, though ─ a night owl, that was for sure ─ but didn't seem to be bothered by anything but her breakfast. So he deemed it safe to just turn to his phone to give it a long look.
Conan took a deep breath in and out. Nodding to himself, he opened the browser and typed something on the search bar:
"Casualties of Touto Tower Attack at Tanabata"
"Conan-kun?"
He didn't even get to see the results of his internet search before he had to put it away, spooked at the sudden calling. "Y-Yeah?" As naturally as he could manage, he set his gaze to where Mitsuhiko sat, now awake and awfully hesitant, for some reason that escaped him.
"So, um, I was wondering…" His gaze slid to the side and away. "When are you, uh… leaving?"
It took him a little off guard, Conan had to admit. Oh, that. He didn't answer right away, leaning forward on the table, propping his head with his palm.
"I don't have an exact date since, you know, I just overheard my parents talking about it." He could see, from the corner of his eye, the other three also turning to listen to him. Everyone is wide awake now. Great. "But once they find a way to speak to me about it, well, I'll probably be gone the next day, at the latest."
"But can't you do anything about it?" Genta asked, a little louder than Conan would have preferred, but guessed it was acceptable.
Conan raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"
"I don't know! Maybe you could talk to them?"
"I have nothing else I can say to them." He turned his head away, visually annoyed. Not to his friends, however. "I tried that last time they said that. It won't work again."
Everyone stared in utter bewilderment ─ only then he remembered they didn't know he had been about to leave a while ago, too. It was reasonable with Ai, since she wasn't around at the moment, but now that he thought about that, he hadn't told the others either.
I remember I tried all day long to get the words out of my throat, but never got the courage to say goodbye to them. A smile caressed his lips ─ a faint, bittersweet one. Even now, I don't think I can.
No matter how much time passes, I doubt I will ever be able to say goodbye to them.
Or goodbye to this life, either.
Both boys looked at each other, as if trying to get a word together between the two of them, yet failing badly. Ai had said no word throughout this all, nor had she raised her eyes from where it was stuck in the tea between her hands, as if it was purposely avoiding the blue gaze that had posed on her.
Conan frowned at that, yet said no word.
"There has to be a way!" He jumped violently at that, when he heard a loud noise, and the table shaking due to the impact. "There has to be!"
Slowly, his blinking eyes rose from the hands that still rested on the surface, to the girl that was standing on her seat, leaning over with such an intense glace in her eyes that made Conan flinch back, startled.
"But, Ayumi-chan…" Mitsuhiko tried in a nervous whisper. "There is nothing-"
"There has to be," she hissed at her friend. "Maybe if we speak to Conan-kun's parents…"
"I don't think that would help…"
She plopped back down, sighing almost dejectedly. "I know!" she cried, happily. "If Conan-kun doesn't meet with his parents, maybe…"
"They'll just go to the agency, Ayumi-chan."
Conan raised the cup to his lips, taking a large gulp.
"Not if we hide him…"
And promptly choked.
Startled by his friend's vicious coughs, Mitsuhiko turned his attention away from her and to him, patting him on the back, worriedly. Hand on his chest, Conan wheezed, raising his head to, very vocally, explain what was wrong with, well, everything.
"Then, it's decided!" Genta grinned before he could get a word out. "First, we need a place where he can stay and-"
Conan let out a long, exhausted sigh. "Are you even listening to yourselves?" he said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "That's-"
Ai lowered her cup of tea to the table and, without raising her head, promptly interrupted the spluttering, bewildered young detective. "That is no different from kidnapping him," she said, keeping her tone cold and even. "We might be not old enough to be properly prosecuted for it, but it does not make it any less than a crime. Do you understand that?"
Ayumi's lips pressed together in a thin line. "Yeah…"
"Then you must understand why we need to keep ourselves out of this," she continued. "Conan-kun could have died that night. Shinichi-san, and everyone else, too."
Conan turned his head away.
"And this has done nothing but to prove that Conan-kun will be safer outside this country." Hands gripping her cup, Ai's eyes closed gently. "Once you die, that's it. There are no second chances."
The boy scowled, irritatedly. "That's interesting, coming from you." Ai looked up sharply. "If you were so sure that's the best option, why didn't you accept Witness' Protection when Jodie-sensei offered it to you?"
She said nothing to that, but didn't tear her eyes away from his. Calmly, visually unaffected by it, the girl kept the boy's bitter, if not determined, gaze. And, of course, he did not attempt to break eye contact.
Again, Genta and Mitsuhiko sat awkwardly, unsure how to act.
"I don't want that."
They both looked away from each other and to the other girl.
"I don't want Conan-kun to die… but I don't want him to leave either!" she loudly declared, tears already collecting in her eyes. "I know it's selfish, I know! But… But I can't help it! I want Conan-kun to stay here!"
Gradually, Ai's expression finally shifted. As barely noticeable as it was, her eyes opened just a sliver wider, watching her friend vigorously wiping her tears.
"Because his home is here. With everyone!" Ayumi finished between sobs. "If he was gone… it wouldn't feel right!"
Conan stared, dumbfounded, for a little. "Ayumi-chan…" he whispered, slowly realizing what was going on, until he finally gasped. "Hey, there's no need to cry-"
But halted when he felt glares stabbing right into his face. He didn't need to look to know who they belonged to, however.
"What's wrong with that?" Mitsuhiko scowled at him. "There's nothing wrong with crying."
"I know that, but I meant-"
Genta nodded vehemently. "Just let her cry if she wants to, Conan!"
Of course. A dry laugh escaped Conan's throat. This is something I definitely won't miss.
Followed by that, he promptly pressed his face against the table, groaning all the way.
So, he didn't see Ai giving the girl a long, thoughtful look, before it shifted to the bespectacled boy sitting across from her.
"You're wrong." She could clearly remember his words from that day. "I don't think I'm a good person."
And his broad grin, stretching from side to side in his face, flashed in her mind ─ so bright that it blinded all her other thoughts.
"Because I'm glad... I'm glad you said 'no', Haibara-san."
She uttered no further word after all, merely returned to her tea, even though it had gone too cold to be enjoyable anymore.
"So, what did you think of math?"
"I feel like I'm dying."
Ran giggled lightly at her friend's agony. To be fair, their math test had been, to put it kindly, rough, but probably, that had been her own perception about it. Sera, for example, had been smiling to herself the entire time, displaying no problem solving it despite having been transferred recently.
Maybe it wasn't as much of an increase of difficulty as it was a decrease of her own ability to focus, she realized while gazing longingly at the blue sky outside. Last night, Agasa had called to tell her Conan was sleeping in his house, yet there was a slight undertone of apprehension in the professor's voice that made her wonder if there wasn't more going on in the background.
Glancing down at her desk, Ran absently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
Did he sleep at all? She couldn't stop those thoughts from surfacing once more. Or did those terrifying nightmares keep him up all night again?
I wish I could help him… I wish I knew how.
But he's so stubborn.
She had seen it in her eyes yesterday ─ that intense, inflexible gaze he had given her the other day, but that had failed to mask all those conflicted feelings he contained sealed inside his heart. Ran could clearly see them.
And, unlike the last time he had been acting like that, she could understand them completely.
Yet, she hadn't been able to do anything about them.
"Unlike you," Sonoko spoke up, so suddenly that Ran almost jumped out of her skin. "I don't have a supporter."
She blinked. "A supporter?"
"Don't play dumb. You were looking at Shinichi-kun's seat the whole time during the test." Ran had barely noticed she had been doing such a thing. "… 'Save me, Shinichi! Why can't I integrate this equation?' Just like that."
"That's not like that!" She spun in her seat, flustered over what her friend was implying. "The reason I was looking at his seat-"
Sonoko's teasing grin widened. "Was because?"
"It was… because…"
Her eyes drifted to the seat in question without fully meaning to and, somehow, it wasn't empty at all anymore. She could swear she could see him sitting there, turning over to look at her and smile ─ she really missed that smile, Ran realized, yet would never say out loud.
But then, she would remember it was all in her head. She would feel his warm blood in her hands, and would feel like screaming again ─ shouting, praying and crying all the same so that he wouldn't die there-
She turned back to the front, closing her eyes in a vain attempt to chase that dreadful vision away from her mind.
"What are you getting all flustered about?" Naturally, Sonoko, having no knowledge of what had transpired, got the wrong idea. "Hey, are you turning red? It's bad luck to blush during a test."
"Speaking of red," she interrupted before she could even think of continuing. "There have been a lot of sirens since this morning."
"Yeah, now that you mention it…"
Followed by that, she stood up and approached the window. Not only could she hear the sirens still roaming around the city, but she could spot a few police cars driving back and forth in a frenzy.
She could only hope Conan had absolutely nothing to do about it.
Conan-kun…
Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she returned to her place. Briefly, she stole a glance at the seat Shinichi used to occupy, and her heart squeezed.
What would you do, Shinichi?
"Say, that's red too, come to think of it."
Conan looked up from the code he had been scrutinizing for a while now to look outside Takagi's car window, trying to discern what had his three friends at the backseat so engrossed. It barely took a second for his eyes to fall on that certain building, and for them to open so widely that threatened to bulge out of their sockets.
'When you police bastards climb the bloodstained mound, I'll be waiting in the steel batter's box'…
Red… Climbing… Box of steel.
"You have got to be kidding me," he muttered absently.
And he knew he had every reason to feel like that, considering that freaking Touto Tower was there, in all its glory, framed against the rest of the buildings. The worst part of all was that it made perfect sense ─ it was a noticeable spot, catchy enough to bring the police to it, and, even though the upper floors were under construction, because, reasons, the second observation deck had already been fixed in record time. With summer vacation coming soon, Conan figured they wouldn't lose this chance to have as many tourists as they could.
Well, how did that turn out?
As Takagi nodded and made a turn to the right, clearly heading towards the tower in question, Conan swore to himself he was never getting a foot inside that damned place if he could help it.
In a matter of seconds, the police detective had parked and stepped outside, quickly noticing the crowd of people that had gathered outside, staring in shock at the smoke trail that erupted from the special observatory to the sky above.
Seeing all that, he poked his head inside his car. "I'll go find out what happened," Takagi told the children he was supposed to take back home. "You guys wait in the car, okay?"
Without waiting for an answer, the detective closed the door and immediately rushed up to the crowd, hoping to collect as much information as possible. Conan sat still on the seat he shared with Ai, but didn't miss the look she sent towards him, as if expecting him to do anything else.
As things were, the boy didn't feel in the mood to engage in a conversation with her.
Yet, eventually, he took a deep breath and moved to the driver's seat, which now was free for him to kneel on it and poke his head out of the window.
He had to admit, the sight of the Touto Tower made him feel uncomfortably small and helpless. Without fully meaning to, his fingers gripped the door tightly enough for his knuckles to go white. So much happened here… He bit his lip.
I was hoping I wouldn't have to return here.
"You don't have to return," he heard Ai say from behind, clearly sensing his discomfort. "We know the bomb is here, so maybe you should leave it to the police."
Conan frowned, but said nothing in return.
From the crowd, however, he saw Takagi emerging, hurrying towards them. That, and the troubled expression he was sporting, told the kid that things were going as smoothly as he would have hoped.
"Listen guys," Takagi said to them once he reached Conan's window. "I'll go to the Tower for a bit. Be good and wait here inside the car, alright?"
Hesitantly, the three children in the back nodded, leaving him free to sprint back to the scene of the crime. Conan poked his head out once more, watching him disappear inside the building, but, once more, didn't move right away.
His heart was pounding, and his hands were sweating. Conan reasoned that, even if he were to go back inside, it would bode no good for anyone…
But…
"Ai-san," he whispered, successfully gathering her attention. "Take care of everyone here, please."
His request surprised her a little, judging by her puzzled expression, but rather than remarking it, the bespectacled boy promptly opened the door and hopped out. All his friends gasped in surprise, so he paused, turning to look at all of them.
"I'm going to check it out for a second," he managed a hopefully reassuring smile. "You guys guard the car and don't let anyone suspicious near, okay?"
"But-" Mitsuhiko tried.
"We can't let the bomber getting to a police car again." His grin widened. "It'll be okay ─ even without me, you still are the Detective Boys, right?"
The three exchanged a doubtful glance. Conan said nothing about it, just closed the door, and spun on his feet, ready to run to the building like Takagi had done before him.
"Conan-kun." But stopped in his tracks. He looked over his shoulder to see Ai poking her head out. "Make sure you return in one piece."
There was something in her gaze that made Conan stop and look again. Not that he deciphered what exactly that was, yet it made him smile, broadly and brightly.
"Sure!"
Conan took off running right after that, squeezing his way through the expectant crowd to get inside. Maybe, he would reason later, that was a good thing, since he didn't get to see the tower clearly before entering ─ if he did, well, he wasn't all that certain that he would be capable of going through it.
His lower stature also allowed to sneak in with nobody being the wiser. All he had to do was to hide himself from the staff's view by walking next to the long line of evacuating people who, too concerned about the bomb from moments ago repeating, did not notice a little boy rushing the opposite way.
Takagi's figure came into sight right away, standing close to the elevators on the back. There were a pair of staff members there, Conan observed, holding onto what seemed to be ─ the kid craned his neck to see ─ a… chair?
A woman was standing on that chair, arms stretched forward and in between a small gap. If he were to guess, he would say the bomb in the Special Observatory had made the elevator stop near the Main Observation Deck.
"Akemi!" Conan froze on his spot. "What are you doing, Akemi?"
It took him a whole second for him to realize that the woman in the chair was saying that, desperately reaching for something inside the elevator ─ presumably his daughter? Judging by the terrifying expression on her face, Conan would say that was the case.
Of all names… He let out the breath he had no idea he had been holding. It had to be that one.
"Akemi-chan!" the poor woman continued, yet it seemed absolutely fruitless. "Hurry on out!"
"Only the girl was on it," he heard a staff member informing Takagi, who remained completely oblivious to Conan's presence behind him. "But even though her mother is calling, she's scared and won't come out."
Takagi observed the situation with a frown on his face. "At that level, an adult won't fit."
Conan pondered over his words, and slowly, his gaze went back to the woman. He took into her desperation ─ the tears collecting in her eyes, her arm stretching as far as she could, doing everything she could to bring her dear girl back into her protective hold…
No matter how hard she tried, or how loud she cried, she couldn't do anything.
Yet maybe, just maybe, he could.
The gap was small, but Conan realized he could fit. But even if I managed to crawl inside, he wondered. What would I do?
Is there something I can really do? What if-
"Akemi!" The distressed mother's calls stopped his thoughts short. "Look, over here, Akemi!"
And frowned profusely, taking a step forward.
"Then give me a lift." Startled, Takagi spun around. Conan noted how his eyes widened excessively, but didn't care enough to make a comment about it. "I'll fit, right?"
Clearly, the police detective hesitated ─ which Conan found comprehensible, since he was considering sending a child to rescue another ─ but eventually gave in, probably seeing that there were no other choices available.
Before long, the little detective found himself being raised in the air. His eyes met for the first time with the small girl, who was definitely younger than he was, huddled over the back of the elevator, hugging into a teddy bear that was probably much larger than her.
Conan observed her quietly, knowing well that any sudden movements would only make things worse. Now, he knew what he shouldn't do, but what about what he should do? The kid frankly had no clue.
Slowly, he rested his hands on the elevator's floor. Akemi clutched her bear closer to her, pressing her back further against the furthest wall.
She's scared. That was something anyone would see. What should I do?
You have been scared before. He was scared, his mind supplied, but he waved it away because it was definitely not important. Several times, when you were her age ─ she's like, three, four? You have been that old before.
What was I scared about when I was this young, anyway? Before the Organization…
His mind traveled back to those early years, tiptoeing his way through the dark and scary hallways of his house. Even now, he could remember the tears he had bravely tried to hold back in order to keep moving forward.
Night was a terrifying thing…
Especially when you had nightmares. Nightmares that, understandably, were nothing like he suffered now, but enough to scare a young boy like he used to be. And at those times, what would you do?
Closing his eyes, he could see himself opening a door. His mouth would open, but Conan didn't hear himself saying anything, as he stood there, holding the doorway tightly.
But he did see a warm, comforting smile chasing the shadows away.
Conan opened his eyes and did his best to replicate the smile of his memories.
"Hello, Akemi-chan," he finally said, gently. "Oniichan is coming now, just a sec, okay?"
And this time, when he moved, Akemi didn't even try to retreat again. Conan took it as a cue to finally climb up, yet knew better than to rush it.
Gently, he reminded himself, rooted in his spot a meter away from her.
"That's a cute bear, Akemi-chan," he tried instead. "What's its name?"
Akemi hesitated, gave her bear a look, before turning back to him. "... C-Chamcha," she uttered timidly.
"Oh? That's a cute name." Conan's smile widened. "Is it a boy?"
She nodded.
"Oniichan would like to go over and say 'hi' to Chamcha…" He wondered if he was going too fast. "Is that okay?" Apparently not, because the girl nodded again. "Okay. I'm coming over now."
So he isn't coming today either.
Yusaku sighed deeply, barely resisting the urge to massage his temples, setting his gaze once more on the little numbers at the corner of that TV on the wall, that indicated that his youngest should have gotten out of school hours ago.
An unusual behavior, for sure, for somebody that had taken into entering that hospital room as soon as he possibly could. Yesterday had been the exception because he had gone to Tropical Land with his friends ─ supposedly, because he hadn't been there when his wife had gone there.
Both parents had tried to get in contact with him, to talk in private, but the boy clearly had other plans, going as far as blocking their numbers in his phone.
Yukiko was borderline desperate at this point, and Yusaku could not blame her ─ she had tried going to Mouri's agency last night, but Ran had told her he was with Agasa. Only to find that, when she visited the Professor's home next, it was empty. Then she would call the old man, yet all the response she ever got was that the kid had no wishes to talk to her.
It had driven her mad. All her husband had been able to do was try to smooth her ruffled feathers, but to no success.
Gently, Yusaku leaned forward and observed his eldest for a beat. Nobody was there to see him place a hand atop his head, with all the care of the world.
How did we end up like this?
"According to the information we just received…" Yusaku's attention was brought to the television again. "A policeman has boarded the elevator to rescue the girl who's been struck there."
He hadn't paid attention to it until now, realized the man. A bombing case? He could see smoke coming from Touto Tower's special observatory, so he guessed it safe to assume that. It was a curious thing, and disturbing all the same, how it was the same place that had been attacked just a few weeks earlier.
"What?!" the reporter spluttered, admittedly too shocked to keep her calm persona, even on live television. "The one who went in was a child?!" Yusaku froze. "N-No way!"
It took him a whole second for his body to remember how to breathe again. Slowly, he rose from his seat, gaze still focused on the screen as the camera tried to cover the scene from as many angles it could take.
He was aware that the police were a bit slower doing his job that he would have preferred, he couldn't imagine them endangering the lives of two young children like that ─ they wouldn't risk it unless there was a considerable chance it turned out alright.
A child that the police would trust with something of that magnitude…
Yusaku frowned profusely.
The door opened, yet the novelist paid little attention.
"Excuse me…" came the timid calling from the doctor, making his way inside. "I hope I'm not interrupting, but I came to check on Kudo-kun's condition-"
A side look fixed into his being shocked the doctor into silence.
"Please keep watch of my son," Yusaku said, getting to the door in two long strides. "Don't let anyone inside until I come back."
"N-Nobody?"
Yusaku paused at the doorway to look at him. "Except for my wife."
"A-Ah, okay…" the doctor mumbled, hesitantly, and pondered over it for a whole second, in which Yusaku waited impatiently. "Ah! What about that guy?" He received a confused look in return. "That young man that visited before! Dark skin, kansai-ben and, uh, baseball hat?"
"Hattori Heiji. He's allowed, but I don't believe he's going to come."
"I see… What about, uh, the little kid-?"
The door slammed in the poor doctor's face before he could finish his sentence.
Honestly, Conan had absolutely no idea how he had managed to get to that point, but he did it ─ or at least, he was closer than he ever thought he would be. The little girl, who had been so scared that she couldn't even move a finger, was giggling about something she had said. Conan was sitting right beside her, Chamcha over his lap, and his every attention on Akemi, who wouldn't stop talking now.
"And then," she continued to chat excitedly. "Mom bought me Chamcha for my birthday!"
"Really? That's so thoughtful of her," commented the boy, to which she nodded. "Well, Mom is waiting outside. Do you want to go?"
She nodded eagerly, and Conan nearly sighed. He really had no idea what he would've done if she said she didn't.
As it was now, the boy smiled. He stood up first, offering a hand to the little girl. Happily, she took it and, together, made their way back to the entrance. He encouraged her to go first, and couldn't even come close to describing the relief that overwhelmed him at the sight of Takagi holding her into his arms, passing it to the woman behind him.
Watching mother and daughter weeping as they hugged, Conan couldn't help the grin that escaped him.
It went surprisingly well, he reflected, not noticing that the smile had dimmed a little. But kept it upright, when the girl turned back to him, to get back the teddy bear the boy was still holding onto. But I guess I owe it all to you, Oniichan.
So you better wake up soon so I can make it up to you, you… you sleeping dimwit.
"You too, Conan-kun."
He blinked owlishly at the detective facing him, before laughing awkwardly ─ after going through all that trouble to take the girl out, he had forgotten he was supposed to get out, too. Thus, he prepared himself to crawl out into Takagi's expectant arms.
But he wasn't surprised about what came next. An absurdly loud noise crossed his ears and, before his mind could even recognize it as an explosion, he felt the floor leaving him. Biting back a cry, the boy tried to keep himself from flying away, but ended up becoming an almost impossible feat with his small stature.
"Conan-kun!"
Takagi's shout registered the same moment he realized what was going on.
The elevator was falling.
When it finally stopped, Conan gathered enough courage to open the eyes he certainly remembered closing. Great, he thought sarcastically as they traveled back and forth, taking into every detail of his surroundings. I'm stuck.
He halted, however, distinguishing a certain figure slumped over on the floor. I stand corrected. His gaze dulled immediately. We're stuck.
Detective Takagi sat on the floor, eyes settling on the boy staring at him. "Are you alright, Conan-kun?"
"Yeah…" Conan voiced, slowly. "Are you?"
Takagi gave him a confused look.
"I mean mentally," continued the boy, easily ignoring the flinching shaking the older man's entire frame. "You must be quite… not good in the head to jump inside an elevator as it was falling."
The detective stared back at him for a whole second, until he finally understood what he meant. "What are you talking about? You were there, Conan-kun," he said, standing back up. "I couldn't leave you on your own here."
"That's… nice, I suppose." The kid turned his attention away from him to his surroundings. "Well, since we're stuck, maybe we should call for help… As soon as we make sure there are no bombs inside."
Takagi paled at the notion. "Bombs?"
"Yeah, you know, those exploding little things our criminal adores?" Conan's gaze fell on the ceiling, and there it stayed. "He did it last time, right? Attracting a poor, clueless detective to sacrifice himself from the better good…"
"Wha-?"
"Don't stay gaping like a fool there and help me." With a dead-serious look, Conan stretched his arms to him. "Rise me up. I need to check the roof."
"A-Ah, right." Anxiously, he crouched to pick the child up.
"And call Detective Sato in the meantime. She might know what to do."
"Yes!"
"Um, Detective Takagi?"
"What's wrong, Conan-kun?"
"This thing over here…"
"Yes?"
"Looks a lot like a mercury lever."
"Mercury lever?" Takagi blinked owlishly. "Conan-kun, what's a mercury lever?"
He remained completely unaware of the terrified gasp the woman gave from the other side of the phone, eyes wide open yet failing to see anything but that Ferris wheel, the same that had been stuck in her mind for three entire years.
"A mercury… lever?" she whispered.
It was happening all over again ─ Sato brought a hand to her face, doing her best to take the situation as professionally as possible. She knew she should remain calm, and patiently wait for the bomb disposal team to arrive so they could evaluate the situation, then, together, they might come into a brilliant plan to take Takagi and Conan out.
Even though she knew all that, she still could not see the Touto Tower, but instead…
"A mercury lever?" Her thoughts were halted by that question. "You're talking to the little boy and the detective stuck in the elevator, aren't you?"
It wasn't a child's voice, so it obviously hadn't been the group of kids still inside Takagi's car. She immediately turned around to meet a face of an older man, and a sharp look behind glasses ─ that, come to think of it, kind of reminded her of the young boy currently trapped with the bomb.
Sato's phone slid away from her ear in surprise. "You…" she muttered, not failing to realize how the children were staring now, gasping loudly to make their shock shown. "You are…"
"I heard there was an incident here, and since I was nearby, I thought I could be of some help."
Sato noticed that there was a thin sheet of sweat coating the man's forehead, as if he had been running until recently, yet chose not to emit any kind of comment.
"Would you tell me more about this?"
Takagi didn't notice Conan sighing either.
"In short," the boy began. "You move, and boom."
"B-Boom? Hey, does that mean-?"
"How slow are you? Yes, there is a bomb on the roof of the elevator, Detective Takagi."
"A-Are you sure?"
Conan inched closer, being as careful as possible not to shake it, and observed the object up from close. "Well, it looks like one," he responded. "The countdown in the LCD display is kind of a give-away… Oh, look. There's a listening device. Hi there, Bomber-san."
He said nothing else, allowing the police detective to have a moment to process all this, and himself to think about what he could do next.
"Since the emergency clamps kicked in and the wires snapped, I'd guess we're halfway down the tower from the Main Observation Deck," he had heard Takagi say to Sato over the phone, and he could agree on that.
Under normal circumstances, he reckoned the best they could do was to wait on the roof for the rescue team, but that wasn't the case.
There was a bomb with a freaking mercury lever in front of him waiting to explode in his face if he as much breathed the wrong way. Meaning, if the rescue team got down, they would cause a vibration and get them killed. If they lowered a rope and had them climb down, that would cause utter silence, which the bomber hearing their every word wouldn't like. Either way, a devastating explosion would happen.
No matter what they did, it was game over for them.
What do we do? Time continued to pass, evidenced by the descending numbers right in front of his nose. How do we get the bomb disposal team here without setting it off?
How?!
"Huh? Who-" Takagi sounded absolutely confused. "Eh? S-Speaker? Sure…"
Conan heard him fumbling with his phone for another entire minute. A silence followed, in which the kid supposed the detective had succeeded in doing whatever he was doing, but there was nothing else. The kid waited, then scowled, just letting his face press against the surface he was leaning against, groaning all the way.
"A no-win situation, huh?" he mumbled, more to himself than to anyone else.
"No." Conan's eyes snapped open at that voice. "There is something you can do."
Slowly, Conan lifted himself into a sitting position, and there he stayed, still in place. That person just now had not been Takagi, that was for sure, yet he would easily recognize it anywhere, no matter the circumstances.
"We'll get the bomb disposal team to lower some bomb handling tools from above." That deep voice he had grown used to hearing. That outstanding confidence he emanated everywhere he was, that would lead the child to believe there was nothing he could get wrong ─ that he could do anything he ever proposed to himself with.
Anything… Except what's most important.
Conan turned around and peered down. Takagi was holding the phone, appearing just as shocked ─ or even more ─ to hear this man talking instead of his female partner.
"So that you can defuse the bomb," he finally said. Conan stiffened at the notion. "Think you can do it, Conan-kun?"
The boy stayed quiet for a whole second, gaze drifting back to the bomb, and shuddered. "I have never defused a bomb before."
It was a lie, he would realize later one, since he had done it before ─ more than once. But that time, it had been an easy kind of bomb, and had Hattori telling him exactly what to do. This one… was intimidating.
"You won't be doing it alone," replied the man on the phone. "We'll be with you. Every step of the way."
Funny for you to say that.
Conan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Well, it's not like I have another choice," he said with a soft shake of his head. "I'll do it, I guess."
The man on the other side of the phone seemed to smirk and remained silent. Ignoring completely Takagi's clueless gaze on him, Conan turned back to the bomb, and crawled closer, observing as the bright numbers on the LCD display continued to descend, showing him that time was still ticking away.
I hope you know what you're doing, Dad.
A/N:
Yeah, I went back to a much older case, and yeah, I know it was supposed to be in January rather than July, but I thought it would fit nicely here. Hope you don't mind!
F.C. Meyer: Fixed it, thank you! And, as a matter of fact, I hadn't noticed there was a new trailer until I read this review. I have a bit of a soft spot for those two, so I got really excited… I just hope they don't mess that up xD
BT: Because it is, lol!