File One Hundred and Thirty-Four: RUM
His eyes fluttered open, encouraged by the gentle morning light warming his eyelids up. Immediately, he recognized it as a mistake. A guttural grunt rumbled through his throat, and in a swift movement, he had sought shelter under his pillow. Contented in darkness, the child released a sigh, and stilled.
Until they snapped open once more, an undetermined amount of time later. He had dozed off again. How long had that been for? He shouldn't be lazing around in bed. He should-
All further train of thought derailed, fell into the abyss just like he did. Unmoving from where he was sprawled on the floor, Conan groaned, massaging his head as he wriggled out from the many sheets that he had dragged down with him.
He sent a glance over his shoulder, glaring at the twenty-inch high bed that stood behind him, instead of the seven-inch futon he had been expecting.
I'm not at the agency. Right.
Last night, Bourbon had been to their home, where he had demonstrated his outstanding detective abilities by deducing Okiya Subaru's identity. Fortunately, they had managed to convince him otherwise ─ and had fallen asleep shortly afterwards. Clearly, someone had carried him back to his room. His brother, or his father, he wasn't sure.
Distantly, he was aware of waking up at some point in the night, though. He wasn't sure what it had been; a noise, maybe some movement around the house. But, half-asleep as he was, he had gotten up and changed clothes, evidenced by the pajamas he currently donned. Sleep had come easily enough afterwards, descending upon him as if it had never left.
Raising a hand to his lips and stretching his other arm, a yawn broke through the confines of his being. Now that he was awake, he should as well begin his day, he figured. Rubbing an eye with a hand, and opening the door with the other, Conan exited his room.
Almost blindly, he descended to the level beneath. Since he knew his house layout by heart, it wasn't so hard to find his kitchen. Maybe a mug of coffee would help him perk up a little, or so he hoped.
It wasn't until he had taken a long sip from it that he blinked at space, his brain finally registering that he might have spotted something by the corner of his eye as he passed by the living room. Prompted by curiosity, he dragged his feet to the door, peeking outside from the doorway.
That 'something' took the form of figures ─ multiple, two of them, to be exact. Staring back at him, just as surprised by his presence as he was. He blinked slowly, and eventually, he made out the woman's sympathetic smile ─ Jodie-sensei? What's she doing here? Agent Camel, too?
Yesterday. Right. Of course they're here.
"Good morning, Conan-kun."
It took a moment more than needed for Conan to react, his body starting with a faint jump. "Ah, good morning," he said, then, with a sheepish smile, he added. "Sorry, I just woke up."
Which was kind of obvious just by looking.
"Don't worry about it," spoke Camel, mirroring his partner's expression.
"Even the brightest minds need as much rest as they can get," added Jodie. She fixed him with a long look, nodding to herself. "But just because it was for a greater good, don't you think I'll let you off the hook for lying to my face, alright, Cool Kid?"
Jodie's smile did not correlate with her words, however.
"Sure," Conan said.
What was he agreeing to, he wasn't sure.
Her features underwent a sudden change, however, and her eyes shifted from his form to somewhere behind him. He didn't get to turn before a set of delicate hands settled onto his shoulders, an obvious telltale of who was there with him.
Yukiko was beaming at him, but neither Jodie's nor Camel's attention was precisely on her. Right next to her stood that certain someone who nowadays went under the alias of Okiya Subaru.
"S-Shu?"
"Is that really you, Akai-san?"
"Yeah," smirked Subaru, Akai's confident voice audible to their ears. "This is still my voice, right?"
"But otherwise, you look like a different person…"
Now that he was not in the spotlight any longer, Conan took his chance to move. Easily breaking free from his mother's far too light grasp, he slid past Akai, just as he was showing them ─ bragging, too, most likely ─ that one cool gadget that helped him settle down with his new identity; his choker, an actual voice changer.
To get his point across, he spoke again, using Okiya Subaru's voice this time. As Jodie and Camel gasped in utter disbelief, Conan, from that spot on the couch he had claimed, merely sipped on his mug. Closing his eyes, he allowed the taste of coffee to caress his taste buds.
He knew he would surely miss this when he returned to the agency, so he thought he ought to enjoy it while he could.
"It's thanks to Professor Agasa, who made this voice changer…"
Professor Agasa? That had come up the other day, too. It kind of irked him the possibility of him having known all along and not telling him. Maybe he'd confront, or complain to, him about it later. Definitely later. It's too early for this…
Granted, it was probably not that early. But to him, it was.
"... The disguises of Yukiko-san, wife of home's owner Kudo Yusaku…" He took yet another long gulp, his mug concealing his mother's grin. "... and Edogawa Conan-kun, the boy who came up with this plan."
He made a rather loud choking noise, followed by a string of coughing and the burning sensation on his trachea. Eyes instantly flickered right at him, and only once he got his breathing back to control did he grin sheepishly, setting his coffee aside.
Jodie and Camel were not surprised ─ about what Akai had said, naturally. They were a little altered after almost witnessing a kid choking on his coffee, but not beyond what was considered to be normal, supposed Conan.
Were they told it was me instead of Oniichan? His eyes narrowed slightly. And they believed them?
An eight-year-old faking an FBI agent's death and outsmarting a large criminal syndicate?
Seems legit.
Not understanding why he stared at them so intensely, Camel stepped away, and eyed him warily in return.
On the other hand, Jodie turned to Yukiko. "But what's your relationship with Shu?" she asked.
"Well, actually…"
"They're my distant relatives." Noticing his mother barely beginning to stammer, Conan took over instead. "Akai-san was looking for an inconspicuous apartment, but it happened to burn down. So I suggested Yukiko-obasan's home since no one's living here, anyway."
Yukiko shot a rather nasty look at him in return. He met that gaze, a defiant eyebrow raised in response.
"Wouldn't your son Kudo Shinichi-kun be shocked to find a stranger living here?" wondered Jodie.
Yeah, wouldn't he? thought Conan sarcastically. Wouldn't I?
He barely even resisted the temptation to roll his eyes. I sure was surprised, and low-key terrified, when I stumbled across him living in my house. His brother had probably been too busy back then to remember to tell him. And yeah. I'm still salty about it, so what?
"I've explained the situation to my son," clarified Yukiko.
More like, he explained the situation to you.
Akai glanced at his wristwatch and paused. "Anyway, Yukiko-san… Are you okay on time?" he asked, gaining a confused look from the woman in question. "Your departing flight should be leaving soon."
Yukiko did the same, and a gasp escaped her. Conan rolled his eyes, not finding this kind of scenario particularly unusual. Let's hope she abides by traffic regulations on her way to the airport, he thought. Last time he had been with her in a car while running out of time, he had woken up struggling to keep himself upright because she had thought it would be a great idea to drive sideways, two out of four wheels suspended in the air.
In a nutshell, he was beyond glad he was staying home this time around. Conan wasn't sure if it counted as a mild case of post-traumatic stress disorder or whatever, but he was certain he didn't want to live through it again.
So, it stood to reason that, when the woman walked up to him and leaned closer to him, he inwardly flinched, sliding away from her ever so marginally.
She clearly noticed all of it, but she smiled anyway.
"See you later, Co-ch-" A gelid gaze that shot from over his glasses cut her short. "Conan-kun."
He nodded slowly in approval. She made it as if she was about to leave, when suddenly, she swiftly pressed her lips to his cheek. He immediately recoiled, a light embarrassed blush coming into sight as he glared back at her, rubbing his wrist against the place his mother kissed as if he could wipe it away from existence somehow.
Yukiko giggled, and in the next heartbeat, she was gone. Conan, from the window above, watched her go, and couldn't help but be a little glad that she was taking a taxi to the airport instead of driving.
I wonder where Dad went, the thought crossed his mind. Maybe he had left home last night, or early morning. Conan had no clue. Speaking of which, did Oniichan leave, too?
There were people with him who didn't necessarily need to know about his survival, or his implication to the Black Organization. As they discussed amongst each other, and Akai explained that James Black had found out by chance about their plan, it fell on Conan that his brother might be hiding out somewhere in the house, waiting for everyone to leave.
Or he could have just gone off to Ekoda. At this point, Conan would have believed that he knew better, but he supposed old habits were hard to break. It could have gone either way.
"I thought he'd come alone," said Akai. Conan focused his attention back to the conversation, noticing that they were talking specifically about Bourbon now. "But just like the kid predicted, he came with his real allies."
Inside his mind, Conan was just about to let out a dry laugh before he halted at the realization that it had been him who had said that, and that it was not yet another of his brother's accomplishments that had been thrust at him for privacy reasons.
Akai's gaze lowered, shadowing his expression from sight. "It looks like his hatred for me is rooted deeper than I thought," he said.
Hatred, Conan repeated internally, now mostly facing away from the window and towards the man, who had fallen silent so suddenly. He was remembered of last night, Furuya's hardening features at what must have been Akai's voice, the gritting of his teeth after hanging up ─ which had barely lasted a second before being replaced by a polite smile and an apology to 'Okiya Subaru' for misunderstanding things.
He had been so glad that the plan had worked out that he had not even thought about it, but now that he had the chance to stand back and reflect on it, 'hatred' could pretty much fit with everything else.
"His hatred for you?" Jodie appeared just as curious as he was. "You mean what you mentioned to Bourbon over the phone?"
Conan stood silently, awaiting a response. Alas, before he could even move his lips, the bell rang. Yet, the boy stubbornly awaited, looking at Akai dead in the eyes as expecting him to ignore the sound just as easily as he did. But the bell persisted, ringing once more, then twice.
At the third ring, the door had already swung open, Conan's glare popping up from behind and fixating on the three elementary school students that, in turn, stared back at him in surprise.
Conan crossed his arms over his chest. "What do you want?" he asked, eyebrows raised.
Ayumi was the first to react. "Conan-kun!"
Followed by Genta's, "What are you doing here?"
The bespectacled boy sent a quick glance over his shoulder, before whispering, "You realize this is my house."
"Why are you still in your pajamas?" Mitsuhiko asked, lowering his voice as per his friend's unspoken wishes.
Ayumi's forehead scrunched up in worry. "It's not healthy to stay in bed for so long…"
"Yeah, yeah." Genta nodded, then paused, and added, "And why are we whispering?"
Conan heaved out a heavy sigh, massaging his temples.
"Whatever," he conceded, turning away from their equally bright grins. "I'll… go get changed and be right back."
And then, he proceeded to hurry away from sight, not even gracing a single glimpse towards the group purely comprising FBI agents who approached the door to check on him. They had not expected a group of children inviting themselves inside, shoes instantly off and laughing as they settled into the living room.
Conan barely even got to see Subaru smiling and activating his voice changer before rushing upstairs.
Moments later he was slipping back into the hallway, wearing a fresh set with clothes, ready ─ but not quite all much, actually ─ to face whatever was awaiting him downstairs. It was almost amazing, and disturbing all the same time, that he could clearly hear his friends' excited chatter coming from downstairs ─ both incredibly loud and unlikely to stop in the foreseen future. I'll have to deal with them sooner or later, he thought, grieving the peaceful afternoon he had hoped to enjoy today. Let's go for later.
Thus, the boy opted to walk down the corridor, further away from the stairs that led to the living room, where his friends were presumably hanging out. In silence, he slipped inside that certain room and quietly closed the door behind his back.
A figure spun to face him in a spooked jump. Wearing the same clothes as the day before, his hair was in disarray. A complete mess ─ more than it was usual, to say the least.
"Good to see that at least you stayed back to…" he trailed down into silence, eyeing him for a while. "What are you doing?"
From where he sat over his own bed, Shinichi forced a laugh, absently placing a hand over the earphones Conan had caught sight of earlier. "Dad and I forgot to put this one away last night…"
Conan crossed his arms like an unamused parent. "So you decided it would be nice to spy on other people?"
"It's Akai-san, so it's valid."
"How is that valid?"
"He's legally dead, so who cares?"
"You are, too."
"Not legally." Conan gave him a look, but he turned back to his earphone. "We put a few microphones in the kitchen just in case. That's where they are all hanging out."
He paused, for what Conan assumed to be to pay attention to whatever occurred on the other side, then snorted.
"The Professor is a cheater."
Prompted by curiosity, Conan shuffled closer. "What's with him?"
"He pulled out a trick for your friends, that's why they came looking for Okiya-san." That much wasn't surprising by itself, yet it stopped Conan from sighing and shaking his head. "He's testing his partners now."
"And how are they doing?"
"Not so well."
Honestly, the child could not help but feel a tinge of compassion for those two ─ it had to be the second time in only a few days they were tested like that, and that they failed horrendously. First it had been Bourbon, in an attempt to humiliate them out of pure contempt, and now Akai was doing the same. Whether it had a teasing feature or something else altogether, Conan wasn't sure, but he considered that it hardly changed anything.
Finally, the boy sat beside his brother. "So, what's that trick about?" he asked, sounding incredibly disinterested despite his words.
"You could just ask your friends downstairs."
"I'd prefer to get the entire story in a maximum of five minutes, rather than fifteen as a minimum."
"Four cups. Three filled with vinegar, a skull drawn with a pen on the underside of each coaster. He serves tea on the last one and turns away for the kids to shuffle them."
"Let me guess. He took one and gulped it all."
"While smiling and all. Your friends checked its coaster and saw it was blank. The rest tasted disgusting, too."
Conan crossed his arms behind his head and promptly leaned back onto the mattress, humming as he did. "So he used one of those erasable pens, huh?" he muttered.
Shinichi snorted. "He's the only person I know who would gulp down a cup of vinegar and pretend it's good to impress a bunch of children."
The child scoffed. "What a lousy cheater."
"Hm? I sense some animosity here."
He incorporated so quickly that his brother barely even kept himself from jumping back.
"Of course you do!" Conan snapped, his eyes flashing angrily back at him, even though he had the feeling it wasn't directed to him this time around. It didn't make it any less intimidating, however. "As it turns out that he fabricated that fancy voice changer to help you out and he didn't even tell me a thing about it!"
Shinichi blinked. Far from noticing it, Conan turned his head away, muttering, "I swear, next time I see him…"
"What are you talking about?" wondered the older Kudo. "I got it through Jii-san."
His little brother gave him the plainest look ever. "Do we even have grandparents?"
"Ah, no. That's just how he's called." His expression hardly shifted, so he added, "You know, Kuroba's assistant."
He hoped he wouldn't get into trouble revealing that bit, but whatever. It wasn't like Conan was specially interested in actually capturing and imprisoning any of them, so he couldn't see any actual harm in doing so.
"He has a professor friend who develops all those fancy gadgets for KID," Shinichi said. "Some of them. I assume he customizes them to some degree by himself to fit to all his whims, so it isn't that obvious why they are for, but at-"
"Wait." Palms extended in between both of them, Conan shook his head frantically. "Wait, wait, wait. Didn't Bourbon mention he knew the choker had been developed by Professor Agasa?"
Conan's eyes were wide and surprised, expanding beyond what should be deemed reasonable. Soon, Shinichi's adopted that condition, too.
"He… kind of did, didn't he?"
"So… this 'professor friend' who has been collaborating with KID for so long…"
For a beat, it was silent. Both brothers just looked at each other, not moving a single muscle of their bodies.
Until a frown took hold of the younger's features as he hopped off the bed, making a beeline for the door.
"Come back here," said Shinichi, the epitome of calmness in comparison.
Conan did as told, stomping all the way back to his brother. "I can't believe it!" he all but shouted, fingers carding through his own hair. "So you're saying that all this time that lousy thief has been making fun of me using those stupid gadgets the professor fabricated? He has been helping him all along?!"
"To be fair, it goes both ways."
This time, the glare was definitely aimed at him.
"Hey, give him a break," Shinichi tried. "Does the professor look like the kind who would make a background check on all of his clients?"
His shoulders had dropped slightly as he breathed out, eyes sliding close.
But then he spun on his heels and made it to the door again.
"Come on-"
In his older brother's face had blossomed a focused frown, that sharp glint on his eyes had risen to the surface, too ─ the kind that made Conan's stomach clench and his muscles tense up. Immediately he went back to him, all but stealing from him one earphone he had been using, and plugged it into his ear with no sign of complaint from Shinichi.
Together, they heard Akai saying, "This morning, I received a message from Kir, Mizunashi Rena."
Last time she had passed a message through, it had been to warn them about Bourbon. Conan felt himself shiver, deciding he truly did not want to know what she had to say this time around.
However, he stood still, listening attentively.
"Her message contained only three letters. It's the name of a liquor you're very familiar with."
He paused. In the newfound silence, Conan could almost hear his own heart pounding against his ribcage.
"R-U-M," Akai said, and suddenly, the rushing of blood through his ears became so unbelievably loud he barely heard what came next, "Rum."
In perfect synchrony, the two brothers began to turn. Blue and blue connected, wide as the ocean, shocked by thunder from the skies above.
Their lips moved harmonically, too, letting out a breathless, "What the-?"
"I told you. There's no way Akai's alive."
In the dusk of Bourbon's carefully detailed report of the recent events, Vermouth hadn't been able to keep herself from bursting in laughter, absolutely amused by how ridiculous everything sounded in perspective.
On the other hand, Bourbon did not even appear affected, not even bothered in the slightest. He just continued to drive, his hands as firm on the wheel as the smile on his face.
"It seems I didn't have to worry," he told her.
"You'd better not do this kind of thing again."
"I won't. But if something comes up, I'd appreciate your help." Her smile eradicated, the hand that had been cradling her head lowering, she gave him a long look. "After all, I'm one of a few people who knows your secret." A frown slowly settled onto her features, probably prompted by the realization of the meaning behind his words. "I'm sure the members of the Organization would be shocked to learn you're the boss'-"
Even in such a perilous line of duty like his, Bourbon had never been in this kind of situation about two times in less than twenty-four hours, or at least he couldn't recall it. Vermouth was not the kind to joke around, however, which made the possibility of her carrying a fake gun closer to zero.
"Keep talking, and I'll blow your brains all over the windshield."
Her warning sounded genuinely intimidating, too.
Yet, contrary to what logic would dictate, he had heard worse. The cold edge that was so unusual in that voice, the dangerous glint of sharp detective eyes ─ they all won out, even when they shouldn't. Maybe because the sight had been so unnatural in a face like his that it was almost disturbing.
And surprisingly entertaining at the same time.
"That's not a good idea," he said, unsettlingly calm. "It won't be easy to clean up."
"It won't be a problem. This isn't my car."
"I didn't mean my brains. Didn't I tell you? If I die, your secret will be leaked to the Organization."
The gun left immediately, followed by a sigh. "Oh, that's right," she mumbled, going back to stare out in the window, annoyance tinting her tone.
"Don't worry," Bourbon assured her. "Your secret is safe with me."
She gave him a dubious glance. "Didn't the FBI suspect you after you picked a fight with them?"
"Without any proof, there's nothing they can do with me." A smirk sparkled into life. "It's within my expectations."
Not everything had been like that, though. There had been one thing ─ a miscalculation, that had almost broken through the mask he had spent years building. All in the form of blue wide eyes, a tiny hand shielding his lips from unwanted eyes, not unlike that of a playful little child entrusting an adult with a harmless secret.
"You're an enemy, right? Of the bad guys."
The same smirk grew exponentially.
"Don't be like that," he told his partner, who still appeared unwilling to speak a word to him. "Even if it makes you uncomfortable, I believe we should try to get along."
That gathered her attention, or rather, a narrowed gaze of perilous nature.
A white Mazda drove by, blending in with the rest of a busy, yet unassuming Beika Town.
"Since we're forever connected through the sin we both committed."
Conan wasn't sure when he had left the room, but absently, he figured he had. Otherwise, he couldn't have explained why he was there, out in the hallway, his feet moving on their own accord, slowly taking him to the stairway of his house.
His tightly pressed lips, that refused to allow a single noise out, were a clear contrast to the chaotic rambling his mind had been reduced to. Thoughts overlapped each other, sprawling all across his brain with no coherent order, turning the gears in his brain in so many directions that it had physically begun to hurt.
All because of those three few letters ─ RUM.
The boss' right hand, like his brother had explained once in the past. The same member that…
A white eye obliterated everything else in his mind, sending a violent tremor down his spine.
"So a little fighter, huh?" That voice clouded everything else. A blurry, long-haired figure made Conan shudder. His small ─ smaller than he had believed it to be ─ hand rose to his shoulder, clenching lightly around that one old scar beneath his clothes. "You're a rather promising one, little boy."
Warmth dripped from between his fingers. In the distance, a distorted calling of his name echoed through, begging for him to react. The overwhelming darkness…
And that gentle, childish tune that made his blood freeze solid.
"But if it's cloudy and I find you crying… Then I shall snip your head off."
"Finally! What took you so long, Conan?!"
Jerking back to reality, Conan looked up to realize he was back in his living room, his three friends visually expecting an answer from him. It took him longer than he would have wanted to admit, but eventually, he heaved out a heavy sigh.
"I was just busy having an existential crisis, so sorry about that."
They didn't look any more enlightened than before, more on the contrary. Frankly, Conan did not find within himself the will to explain, so he brushed all those puzzled gazes off, plopping down into the free space next to Ayumi on the couch.
Behind the television screen, a masked hero rose above his enemies and readied his sword. Leave to his friends to invade his house to watch Kamen Yaiba on his TV, of course.
From the corner of his eye, he noticed all of them exchanging hesitant glances.
"Just keep on doing whatever you were doing," said Conan, not even moving a little bit. "You're free to pretend I'm not here."
If they kept on gawking at him like he was some sort of freak for much longer, he wouldn't answer to his own actions.
Ayumi forced a smile. "We were talking about Ai-chan's birthday!" That wasn't what he would call 'pretend he wasn't there', but he figured it was marginally better than all the staring. "Since it's only three days away…"
That had gotten Conan to look at her. Is it? He had been aware it was close, but not that much.
"I went out shopping with my mom yesterday." A face splitting grin spread like firecrackers, she extended her arms all over for better emphasis, adding, "I got her the greatest, cutest present ever!"
Despite her visible joy, Conan felt himself freeze.
"I picked something out for her this morning, too…" Followed by an embarrassed little chuckle, Mitsuhiko scratched the back of his head. "I wonder if she will like it…"
"She'll surely like mine better!" exclaimed Genta. Still grinning, he leaned forward so that he could get a glimpse of the boy on the other end of the couch. "Not even Conan can beat me this time around!"
His flinch had been too sudden to be concealed. Everyone had seen it.
Surely, it hadn't escaped their attention, either, the way he swiftly redirected his gaze towards the TV screen, as if he physically couldn't look over in their direction.
"Conan-kun," began Mitsuhiko, the flustering eradicated by this point. "What did you get her?"
He chose silence. From the deadpan looks he received, it was pretty clear they were neither amused nor surprised.
Quickly, they turned back to each other, as if nothing had happened at all. "We haven't decided on anything yet, have we?" continued Mitsuhiko. "What are we going to do?"
"I know!" exclaimed Genta suddenly. "How about that sushi restaurant close to Conan's home? I heard it's great!"
Conan opened his mouth to speak.
"That's what you would want for a birthday party, Genta-kun!" Mitsuhiko interjected, prompting the bespectacled boy's lips to click shut. "I don't think that Haibara-san-"
"So what do you suggest?" questioned Genta, raising an eyebrow, causing him to wince, caught off guard.
Conan leaned slightly forward, letting a small, "How about-?"
"We could go camping!" Mitsuhiko suddenly added, muffling his friend's voice without realizing it. "Didn't she say she'd love to watch the fireflies?"
Frowning lightly, Conan tried, "She actually said-"
"She actually said that she didn't want fireflies!" At Ayumi's interjection, Conan could only watch her, quietly still, as she moved her arms around. "Ai-chan wanted sharks! Sharks, guys!" An abrupt stop followed, and slowly, she turned to face the boy beside her, smiling apologetically. "Sorry, Conan-kun. Were you just saying something?"
In response, he sighed. Half-lidded eyes fell upon all of his friends, before finally stopping on the girl's form.
"You're all taking her way too seriously," said Conan, waving a hand. "It's likely she said that because it would be hard for us to get."
Ayumi straightened up, her cheeks puffing out as she looked back at him, who barely even reacted to it all. Thus, neither of them noticed that Mitsuhiko's attention had drifted away from them, drifting over the television.
"That's why I'm saying," Conan continued. "Maybe we should focus on something else. There's no way we can magically produce living sharks in only three days-"
"Sharks..."
To their further puzzlement, Mitsuhiko wasn't even looking at any of them, let alone paying attention to their short-lived argument. The television was the only thing he seemed to care about, mesmerizing him into ignoring everything about it to the point of being almost disturbing.
Soon Conan understood why. Showing off its intimidating set of jaws, a shark, of all things, lunged at the camera, swimming away from sight the next moment. The camera zoomed away, panning over the other few terrifying specimens of sharks for everyone, currently sitting there and away from harm, to admire.
"Touto Aquarium", he could read, flashing over the incredibly vast marine wildlife available to gawk at. "Reopening on August 17th."
A collective gasp echoed ─ so loudly that, Conan was sure, even Akai and the others had heard from the kitchen. Three gazes connected with each other, a determined nod shared amongst all of them.
"Guys," Conan tried. Surprisingly, this time, they did listen. "That's the day before her birthday."
"So what?" Ayumi said, smiling proudly. "We can start celebrating it the day before!"
"We can arrange something in the Professor's house afterwards," added Mitsuhiko.
"Oh, oh! Let's have a feast!" exclaimed Genta, all but jumping from where he sat.
Conan watched them, a drop of sweat rolling down his forehead. Aren't we going a little overboard? he wondered. Everyone was smiling, happily chatting amongst each other, renewed with excitement about things going in the right direction, for once. Eventually, Conan let his shoulders drop, shaking his head lightly.
He didn't quite realize his expression was no different from theirs.
All the while, Shinichi continued to look out the window, attentive like a hawk, paying special attention to those massive gates that led to his residence. No movement had been perceived so far, and honestly, the detective couldn't be more glad about that. At least, that meant that Conan was still safe at home, and not out in the world doing whatever risky, barely thought-out stunt that could endanger his well being.
Especially after learning about Rum. Even now, Shinichi's skin crawled at the mere thought, and it had been like that ever since ─ his many, many racing thoughts of nefarious nature had clouded everything for who-knows-how-long, but by the time he had managed to snap out of it, Conan had already been gone. It worried him how quietly the boy had slipped outside, especially since he had not gotten to see for himself how he had reacted to the news.
Tiredly, the teenager rubbed his temples. At this moment, he fervently wished that he had bugged the living room instead of the kitchen to check if his brother had met with his friends. To make sure he was alright, in every sense of the word.
And he knew it was stalkerish at best, but he was too concerned to care.
His attention was brought to the outside of his house again, where three cheerful elementary students laughed amongst each other as they stepped onto the street. Noting the clear lack of their fourth bespectacled member, Shinichi hesitated. But before he could decide whether to crawl out from his hiding place to look for the boy or remain in hiding until Jodie and Camel finally left, the door to his room creaked open.
Conan stood at the doorway, his head leaned forward.
Shinichi felt his muscles tensing up, but waited patiently for his younger brother to speak on his own.
Yet, the boy turned his head away. Shyly.
"I… need your help."
Clearly, that wasn't what he had been expecting.
It was a bit later that Ran heard a firm knock against the door. Not the agency, but their actual living section, and that confused her beyond anything else.
Opening it revealed a tiny figure waiting behind, eyeing the floor intently as if it was the most intriguing mystery in the world. Fingers twiddling, ears that adopted a reddish hue out of the blue ─ Ran tilted her head lightly, suddenly interested by the sight that had welcomed her so unexpectedly.
Shinichi's, or rather his alter ego Hirai Arthur's, grin popped up in her line of vision. His laugh was forced and slightly awkward, he was scratching his cheek as an obvious nervous gesture. Of course, it wasn't as bad as the flustering little mess that accompanied him, but it was peculiar, regardless.
"Hey, Ran," Shinichi began.
"Hey?" It came out as a question from her lips. "What's… wrong with you two?"
Conan flushed harder, his head snapping up. Little hands clung to the hem of his brother's shirt, desperate whispers brimming from his mouth, from which only random words like 'forget it', or 'leave it alone' reached her ears.
"Could you help us out?" ignoring his little brother's pleadings, he asked her. "I think this is well beyond my league."
"Sure, I don't mind. But why?"
"Ah, her birthday is coming up, you know."
"Is it? And you didn't tell me because…?"
Silence.
"Shinichi."
To say that Ran wasn't pleased might as well have been the understatement of the century, or at least, it seemed to be that way for Shinichi. Her darkening glare, the slight shift of her head and the smile ─ all of it had sent a chill down his spine, and at that very same moment, he infinitely regretted ever going to her seeking help.
Even Conan, who had been rejecting any human interaction of any kind on his way here, had looked over him and his ghostly pale complexion, and had the nerve to chuckle.
"Conan-kun."
Contrary to what one might have thought, Ran had also glared at him. The boy had flinched, hesitantly making eye contact with the aforementioned girl, and saw her body bending forward slightly, her hands firm on her waist.
Eventually, she had settled with a sigh. "I'll go get ready, so wait for me," she had conceded, opening the door just a little wider. "I want to get her something, too."
Quietly, both brothers had nodded, and obediently went in. Not for long as she, in a matter of minutes, had walked out of her room, no apparent change visible for Shinichi. Her anger had diminished, a gentle smile taking its place as she turned to Conan, and only Conan, and said, "Shall we go?"
Of course, she couldn't stay annoyed with Conan for long.
Of course, it was the exact opposite for him.
The two teenagers barely exchanged a word for the rest of their journey. Not that it had been long, and soon, all three were stepping out from the bus they had ridden and heading inside the intended building.
Curiously, Conan looked around. Beika Mall had barely changed since the last time he visited in July. The same crowd of people and chitchat in the background, the same smiles in each store, and lots and lots of shopping bags. Only the crimes were absent, the police were missing and the need to shoot a soccer ball to a suspect's face was not there, so it was different.
And he sure hoped it stayed that way.
Slowly, the two high schoolers began to slip into a friendly conversation, the girl's irritation seemingly having faded over time. What they were talking about, however, the kid couldn't be sure.
His reflection stared back at him as he walked past, merchandise of every kind awaiting behind glass for a customer to take them home. Adorable plushies, thick books, ridiculously expensive game consoles… Everything he could possibly think of was there. With a vast selection of things, he certainly was bound to find something, right?
Soon, his sight was covered by lots of mannequins, all posing and wearing the fanciest dresses possibly available in that place. Ran stopped to contemplate everything, then turned to the little boy.
"Wanna come in and take a look?" she offered.
She wasn't bothered when he shook his head and went quiet again. Just a sigh, and a compassionate smile of sorts.
"I won't take long, then," she said, mostly to Shinichi this time.
Who rolled his eyes. "Have fun," he muttered.
"You're paying, by the way."
"Wha-?"
And promptly disappeared without a trace, blending with the other customers inside the store. The two brothers were then left there, staring at each other cluelessly, for quite a while.
By the time Shinichi had started to grumble under his breath, Conan had already spun on his heels in search of somewhere to sit and wait for her. I would be annoyed, too, he thought. If I couldn't clearly see the outline of her wallet in her jeans' pocket.
It was obvious she had been joking ─ and surely, it should have been obvious to his older brother as well. He had been there, too, to witness Ran's perpetual declining of Sonoko's money several times when offered, so naturally, her charging him was unnatural, at best.
Well, it isn't like he's planning on using his, either, thought Conan, plopping onto a random bench, the tips of Ran's hair partly visible as she moved back and forth inside the store. Just like that time when he stood Ran-neechan up.
Certainly, the boy wasn't about to forget that night when everything had gone downhill. The night when he confronted his older brother about his secret identity, which led to their nastiest fight to date. He clearly remembered being handed their father's sparkly, golden credit card to pay for Ran's dinner and a couple of unplanned extras.
He could not imagine it going any differently in this instance. It isn't like he earns a lot at Blue Parrot. Now, he was just guessing ─ but seeing that he had been staying in Beika for quite a while, and that this wasn't the first time, it was a miracle he even got paid at all.
Sighing tiredly, his brother sat at his side. They both stayed silent, as if unsure how they were supposed to proceed at all.
Yet, it did not take long to be broken, "Is this okay?" by Conan, as per usual. Giving the strong impression of a child bored out of his mind, the boy pressed a closed fist to his cheek. "Shouldn't I be hurrying into hiding, just like you?"
Though Shinichi could tell it wasn't the case.
"Rum is dead," he replied, without hesitation. "That's the only thing we can be sure of."
He received a side look at that. "And how do you know that?"
Of course, Shinichi hadn't been able to answer, a frown serving as the closest thing he would ever get.
"Sorry, I'm the one who should be sure about it," Conan added immediately afterwards. A grimace showed on his face, and if his brother noticed his body had momentarily shaken as a chill ran down his spine, he showed no sign of it. "Since the boss told Vermouth to execute him right in front of me."
Shinichi nodded at him. Resting his elbows on his legs, he leaned forward.
"Even if he escaped somehow," he said. "It's hard to think he'd keep his position in the Organization."
Conan looked over at him, eyes wide in search of answers. Answers he knew wouldn't get as easily as he would prefer.
"Do you think it's someone else?"
"It's not impossible. That might explain why there are so many conflicting accounts of his appearance among the Organization."
"Just like Ai told me once," recalled Conan. The furrowing of his eyebrow became more prominent, however. "The thing is, she learnt it from her sister. Way before he died."
After a moment of caressing his chin and humming, his older brother mumbled, "Could she have gotten it confused?"
"Like I could ask her. It… would be cruel to tell her about it at this point in time, would it?"
His gaze dropped, the hand lowered to rest limply over his lap, to be stared at. "Or would it be even crueler not to?" came his words, as a whisper. "Which is the correct answer?"
Fervently, Shinichi wished he knew what were the right words to say. But after his internal search returned no results, he had been forced to simply sigh and place a hand over his little brother's head, ruffling his dark locks playfully.
The fact that Conan did not even think of complaining was worrying by itself.
"Now, now, it's no use to worry about that," putting on the brightest smile he could muster, Shinichi tried. "All you should be focusing on is getting a good present to impress your crush."
Eyes sliding shut, he breathed out. "Yeah, you're right…"
They snapped back open right afterwards, head gradually turning until they caught sight of the widening teasing grin that met his eyes.
Had he been told to pinpoint the exact moment when realization dawned on his little brother, Shinichi could have succeeded with little to no trouble. First came a faint pinkish dust on his cheeks, spreading like liquid fire all over his face until vivid red had taken its spot, making it look as if the boy was about to incinerate from inside. Soon there was his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water, unable to get out a single sound.
Shinichi waited for it to happen, even if he knew it wouldn't.
From behind his glasses, a glower had found its way to his brother. In return, Shinichi did not keep himself from laughing his heart out.
Just in time, too, Ran finally surfaced from the depths of that store, a shopping bag in one hand, a phone she held to her ear in the other. Maybe it was Sonoko? The smile that brightened her face up was firm proof of his theory. She halted her pace, probably to cut the call to an end. The smile lingered on, even as she retired the device from its previous spot and glanced over at the screen.
A smiley sea cucumber phone strap dangled in the air, back and forth. It was that old Namako-Otoko strap his brother had once bought for her, remembered Conan, that Ran seemed to adore.
For some reason, he could not stop looking at it.
"Finally," Shinichi said, rolling his eyes ─ even though she hadn't been there for long. Conan assumed it was mostly by habit than anything else. "What did you get her?"
She stared at him dead in the eyes before turning her head away. Before his brother could even think of complaining at her clearly biased behavior, she was gently holding Conan's hand.
Startled back to reality, Conan yelped, and allowed himself to be taken away.
And said nothing at all, his eyes skimming through the many, many front windows of each and every shop in sight. All the while, Ran occasionally paused to point something for him, only to receive a shake of his head in response.
Her patience was a blessing, Shinichi mused. Not even the slightest twitch of an eye, or a grimace. Nothing.
All she could do was smile compassionately at the little boy's focused frown and pressed lips.
At some point, however, Ran's steps did halt in place. Shinichi saw her lowering to her knees to face the boy, a warm gaze meeting his surprised, yet troubled, young ones.
"I understand you're worried," he heard her say. "But you know, I don't think Ai-chan will mind all that much." A bright, beautiful smile found its way to her lips, her finger tenderly brushing his dark locks away. "She will be happy just knowing you put all this thought into getting something for her."
Stubbornly, he looked away. "I beg to differ."
Again, his reflection stared back, yet this time, it gradually faded away from his sight. What was once a tight, frustrated frown vanished, round eyes going just a slightly wider ─ glimmering, as if they could see after being blind for so long.
Tiny fingers made contact with the cold glass, his mouth opened just a little.
Both teenagers sighed, then exchanged wordless, relieved smiles.
An entire day had flown by already when the gentle chime of the door reached his ears, announcing the arrival of the first client of the day. He reacted to the sound, raising his gaze from the table he was cleaning up.
His business smile froze on his face.
The morning sun fell gently from the window, bouncing back on thick lenses.
Furuya waited, perfectly still and silent. Slowly, the young boy lifted his head, and a smile drew itself on his features.
"Liar," he said.
Thus, the waiter did the same.
"You're one to talk," was his reply.
Azusa was nowhere in sight, likely having yet not arrived for whatever reason, or was out buying groceries they would need throughout their working day. Whichever the case, it worked perfectly for Conan.
"It's refreshing to see someone who knows how to walk inside a café without breaking his way inside," commented Furuya, as he calmly returned to the table he cleaned so diligently.
That was where Conan chose to sit today, elbows digging on the surface that was now sparkling clean, positioning his chin in between both hands, and smiled. Furuya did not seem to mind him.
"I've come a long way," said Conan. "And I'm sure he will learn to behave, too, so don't worry." Furuya glanced over at him, slightly surprised. "Him, your friendly client from the other night."
It took a moment, but eventually, the man reacted with a snort. "Should I ask how you know that?"
"It's confidential."
Though, being honest, there wasn't more to it than a simple, logical analysis of the events following that certain night. Something had awoken him then and, while that by itself didn't say much, combined with other factors, was a fact of utmost importance.
Such as why his brother was wearing the same clothes as the last time he had seen him, even when he had brought a bag with his belongings from Ekoda ─ not to say it was his house. Surely, there was a change of clothes or two lying around, right? All of that, alongside the messy appearance, not unlike that of someone who hadn't slept well at night, had been enough to raise his suspicion.
So, right after his friends had left, he decided to fetch the definite proof. In his father's desk, or rather, a drawer. He knew for a fact he was keeping a fake gun there, whether to play some pranks on him or intimidation in case of a criminal attracted by their hereditary murder magnetism, he wasn't sure, but it wasn't important. What was strange was the position ─ he had seen it before, could see it engraved in his memories too. It was slightly off, as if someone had taken it, then placed it back in place.
Bringing him back to his odd awakening at night. It had probably been his older brother leaving the house. His steps moving around the house, or the noise of the door closing, must have roused him.
Come to think of it, even when there were no nightmares involved, I used to wake randomly at night when I lived with Oniichan, Conan recalled. Probably, it was just him leaving home to attend some business with the Organization.
Every single thought remained in his head, however. Sealed by an innocent little smile of his.
"Sorry, but I really can't tell you that. Or he would be mad at me."
In fact, he would be mad just by learning he was having a casual chat with Bourbon right now, about him, of all things. Yet Conan reckoned that, after seeing them both together at the hospital on that occasion, added to the recent events involving Okiya Subari, there was no way he could deny that there was a relation between them both. Even if not fully blooded brothers, they were supposed to be distant relatives who lived together for a while, after all. He would be either incredibly stupid or optimist to the point of delusion on his part to believe that Bourbon had failed to figure it out…
Wait, he did figure it out, he thought. He said so the other night.
"Don't take it personally. He just has some serious trust issues." Abruptly, the naivety disappeared, sharpened, and morphed into something widely different. "Do you happen to know anything about it?"
Furuya's expression did not shift. Neither did his voice attempt to come out.
"Let me rephrase that," Conan pressed, yet his tone remained calm and even. "Did you do anything to fuel those strong trust issues of his?"
A beat later, a smirk had taken hold of Furuya's features ─ arrogant, almost malicious.
"It's likely," he said.
And to be honest, he had expected a wide variety of reactions coming from the boy. From explosive anger, to the quietest of sighs that spoke of a strong resignation. Whatever it was, dull indifference was none of them. Conan, just, stared, unblinking.
"Just remember this, Conan." The boy had once been warned. "Whatever you do, never believe that man's words."
Finally, a reaction, unexpected, like literally everything about him. Childish laughter resounded briefly before Conan had to bring a hand to his mouth to cover it up, muttering apologies back at him.
"Indeed, you're full of lies." When Furuya clearly stated that he wasn't following, by his expression alone, the boy clarified, "I saw him recently. He was in a single piece."
Because a person who would betray someone else's trust and sell him out to a dangerous organization was someone who would do anything to save his own skin, even eliminating potential threats to himself. If you asked Conan, a person with knowledge of his true intentions within said organization was definitely one. Someone who, besides everything else, also happened to hate his guts was a bigger one.
Failing to deal with him at the hospital might have been a fluke. An even bigger oversight at the Bell Tree Express, yeah, maybe. But Shinichi meeting him alone at Poirot at night? No way he could have returned home safely afterwards.
Putting it all like that, he didn't sound like that kind of person to Conan.
"Not to say, you have always known he was alive and did nothing about it."
"Oh, have I?"
"Then why would you bother sending a text message to his phone telling him that Sherry was about to die?" he said. "You sent another to him once afterwards, right? When me and my friends were about to die in a burning cabin. Since you were listening to it through Mitsuhiko's bugged phone, you tried to warn him to help us out."
Satisfied at the lack of response, Conan smirked.
"Even if you don't tell me, I'll find it out. The truth behind this so-called 'betrayal'."
Knowing that he had gotten his point across, Conan promptly hopped off the chair, beaming all the way to the exit.
"Interesting," he heard the man say. Conan waited at the doorway, glancing towards him from over his shoulder, and saw an amused smirk. "You sound strangely confident about this, Conan-kun."
"You could say I have plenty of experience in this area." Chuckling to himself as if he had just thought of an excellent joke, the boy added, "About good-hearted idiots who pretend to be the bad guys, but fail horrendously."
Thus, the boy left, disappearing just as quickly as he had shown up. Furuya remained there, staring in place as he let those words sink in. They eventually did, embedding in his brain by a bark of laughter that bubbled up unexpectedly.
"That boy is something else. Honestly."
A/N:
CherryGirl 21-6:
Yeah! To be honest, I kind of expected a new ending focusing on Ai (since it's her year) but Jodie was not something I expected, nor something I knew I needed! I loved it to bits
Speaking of loving it… The scene with the glasses 3 It's so nice to see it again… And everything else. Sounds like it's going to be a great move, I can't wait