File One Hundred and Thirty-Seven: True Colors
As promised, Shinichi did keep an eye out for them until the moment they caught their bus. Smiling lightly, lazily raising his hand as in a substitute for a wave, the three kids watched him disappear, the window frame cutting him off sight as their vehicle sped up.
Genta slumped onto his seat with a heavy sigh, marking the start of a silence that none of the junior team of detectives were brave enough to break. Seconds became minutes, then Mitsuhiko leaned forward a little, smiling at his friend.
"Genta-kun, cheer up!" As poorly developed his attempt had been, Genta could at least appreciate the feeling. "We'll surely meet her again. Right, Ayumi-chan?"
Ayumi remained silent, her shoulders sagging. Mitsuhiko's gaze shifted from her form to the phone in her hands, the sole target of her attention. "She still hasn't answered, has she?"
The lack of an answer was, ironically, an answer on its own. Mitsuhiko turned his face away, his gaze cast on his lap, having not a single clue of what to say.
"We didn't get to enjoy the ride on the Ferris wheel together," he heard her mutter, little fingers clutching her phone. "Not with Oneesan, not with Ai-chan either."
Genta opened his mouth, his fists lifted slightly as if he wished to say something, but his voice ultimately failed him.
Eyelids sliding closed, Mitsuhiko merely sat there as he gave it a serious thought. Suddenly, his head jerked back up, his smile growing as he suggested,
"Why don't we go for a ride on the Ferris wheel?"
For several minutes, they just blinked at him, until abruptly, Ayumi lit up. "We could take pictures to show Oneesan!" exclaimed the girl. "We could even videocall Ai-chan! It'll be as if she was with us!"
"Yeah, if she bothers to pick up," mumbled Genta, rolling his eyes. "But it might be too crowded to get on…"
Mitsuhiko smirked smugly. "No problem about that," he said, pulling out his phone. "Touto Aquarium must have been capitalized by the Suzuki Group!"
"Oh, that's right!"
Once satisfied, after spending a few seconds scrolling through his contacts, he turned the screen for his friends to see ─ only flinching once, looking over his shoulder as if he feared it would be stolen, for the second time today.
But neither of his friends seemed to notice, far too busy staring in awe at Sonoko's smiling face behind the screen.
"Looks like they are out of danger."
Conan couldn't help but smile the moment James' words reached his ears. Hand resting on his chest, he breathed out, relieved that at least something had gone right today ─ and by that, he meant they had successfully avoided Gin punching a bullet on Kir and Bourbon's heads. And that was nice, guessed Conan.
"That's great," Jodie praised him. "Your plan worked."
"Ah, no. It's not a big deal," replied the boy, smiling awkwardly. "It was mostly the Professor's hard work. He's the one who recovered that message, and the number it was sent to."
Professor Agasa had truly done a wonderful job, so he supposed he could forgive him for secretly helping his rival in ridiculing him. Only for now.
"The text stopped in the middle of a sentence," continued Conan. "I just added a note to the end of it, saying that they weren't involved and there's no need to worry."
And after that, it had mostly been up to Akai's shooting skills. Apparently, from what he had overheard from his call with James just earlier, he had somehow helped Furuya escape the place they were holding him together with Hidemi. She didn't have such luck, but had narrowly avoided death thanks to the text sent by the Professor on Conan's behalf.
Nobody is out of danger yet, but at least we have some extra time now.
"The enemy's priority is to recapture the agent," James stated, and truly, Conan couldn't have said it better. "They seem to have headed to Touto Aquarium."
He blinked in response. "Not the police hospital?"
"Yeah. She was taken out to the aquarium by the Public Security Bureau."
His expression barely changed. Why? Conan wondered, raising his eyebrow. Out of all places, the aquarium? A finger raised to cup his chin, stroking it lightly as he pondered over the information as a whole, all over again, and predictably, he found no sense at all It was the PSB, after all ─ there had to be a reason behind their actions, no matter how inexplicable they might appear to him.
"Akai-kun is already on his way over there. We are going to rescue the agents left in the warehouse district and search for the NOC list."
Both Jodie and Camel nodded, fully agreeing to the instructions given by their superior.
Conan frowned lightly. "Then, I-"
"You should get off this case," James interrupted before he could get another word out, his gaze so serious, so sharp that the boy could do nothing but click his mouth shut. "We don't know what is going to happen from here onwards."
There it was, the one thing Conan had been expecting to hear ever since he first contacted the FBI. To be fair, they had taken their time, and he had been allowed to stick around longer than he had bargained for, without Akai to convince them otherwise ─ maybe having to cover for his brother and pretend he had been the mastermind behind all that complicated scheme to keep Akai alive had influenced in their decision to some degree.
It didn't mean he was exactly pleased to leave just yet. Not when there was still a load of things yet to do.
Probably.
Jodie had surely sensed his reticence. "Don't worry," she said. "We, the FBI, will definitely solve this problem."
Thus, he had no choice but to nod his head and step out of the car, not a single word leaving his lips. Just before closing the door, he peeked back inside and found Jodie's reassuring smile again, copied this time by Camel right beside her.
"I will call you when it is settled," James assured him.
It was likely that the man thought that would be enough, and in fact, it should have been enough. He knew that leaving it in the hands of the FBI was the most sensible thing to do. They had proven to be competent, particularly Akai, who was reportedly on his way to handle the situation. Plus, with the involvement of the PSB, and possibly the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, it stood to reason that they had pretty much everything handled.
Surely, any of them should be able to do something.
Stepping backwards, the kid watched as the silver car disappeared from view in a matter of seconds. Should I stay away from this? he wondered, his hand sliding inside his pocket to, again, fiddle with that one item he had been carrying all day long. To play it safe like she warned me to.
His grip clenched lightly.
There was a faint rumbling against his leg, signaling an incoming call. Unlike he had been actively doing all morning, he quickly picked up.
"Your friends just left for home."
It was quick and straight to the point. Conan could appreciate that.
"Oh, nice. Thank you."
"You owe me one."
He could feel the exhaustion seeping through his brother's words, but he was unsure whether to empathize or roll his eyes because, really, how long had he actually put up with them? Half an hour? He clearly had no idea how challenging it actually was to keep up with that one bunch.
"If you have me babysit them one more time, my hair will turn completely white."
"It's not like I haven't spotted one or two gray hairs in your head already…" Conan could feel, too, the silence on the other end. "Hey, at least you wouldn't have to wear a wig to disguise yourself anymore, right?"
And we'd probably match, he thought to himself, massaging his temples.
"Funny," was Shinichi's dry response.
"I assume you aren't with them anymore."
"No. They just took the bus, like I said before."
"And you didn't ride with them?" No response. Rather than staving it off, the migraine returned with a vengeance. "Let's hope they don't run off somewhere…"
"It's fine, it's fine. They got what they wanted," he replied. His little brother could easily imagine waving a lazy hand off at him. Which did not help. "And no. Curaçao did not feel like stabbing anyone today, so it was a happy ending, I guess."
Conan's finger stopped pressing against the side of his head, hanging awkwardly in the air. "Who?" came out as a mutter, accompanied by a rather dumb blinking that, luckily, his brother was unable to see.
"Oh, right. Curaçao. That's her." All of a sudden, the laid-back tone from before was eradicated, shifted into something far more severe within a few seconds. "She was said to be Rum's confidant."
Conan was speechless for a moment.
"I know nothing further than that, though," Shinichi added.
"Curaçao…" the child mumbled, deep in thought. As if he was tasting the word in his mind to engrave it in his brain for future use. "A liquor made from the peel of an orange."
"Correct. Main types are white Curaçao, orange Curaçao, blue Curaçao, green Curaçao, and red Curaçao…" His voice trailed down into nothing, which pulled Conan out of his pondering to wonder what seemed to be wrong. "Wait."
Conan tilted his head in confusion.
"Ai-chan told me you found something," continued Shinichi, his voice filled with an odd sense of urgency. "A wordbook filled with colored cards."
"Yeah?"
"The colors! Which colors are in there?!"
Clumsily, Conan scrambled to find the object in question, mentally grumbling to himself about why he had decided to store so many things inside his pockets. How had he even managed to make everything fit? Not even Conan could reply to that.
Let's see… My notepad, my badge, my keychain, this thing… Oh, here it is.
"Eh, um… White, red-" He cut himself off in the middle, his eyes snapping open suddenly. "Oh, shit."
"Conan! Where did you learn that word?!"
"Her injury in her fornix."
"Her what?"
"Her injury in her fornix!" Conan exclaimed, overly exasperated ─ yet, no matter how many times he repeated, his brother still failed to see the point. "The doctor who examined her said it was pretty weird, and that she had likely been born with it."
Whether Shinichi had gone silent, or if ever-racing thoughts were masking his words entirely, Conan could not really tell. The incident on the Ferris wheel… The codenames she was muttering… Every memory, every bit of information he had learned in the course of almost two entire days flashed, one after the other, in his mind.
In his hands lay the key. It was hiding somewhere in those five colors he held in front of his eyes.
Where did I see it? This color scheme-
"The light show," he mumbled, surprised at his own sudden realization. "At the Ferris wheel you get a full view of a light show… Guess which colors they are using."
"I see. It would certainly explain the actions of the Organization and the PSB…" replied Shinichi. "The key is in her head. "
Again, the hand raised, if only to press itself to his face. "You've got to be kidding me."
From the gap in between his fingers, blue peeked out, widening ever so slightly when his ears picked on a strange noise he had failed to notice before, reminiscent of an engine. Muffled chatter filled the air, along with the slight rustling of bags and shuffling feet that constantly moved, back and forth ─ it all suggested that Shinichi was not alone, by any means, wherever he may be.
"Oniichan," he resumed after a lengthy pause, his mouth suddenly dry. "Where exactly are you?"
"I'm heading to the aquarium right now," replied Shinichi, not an ounce of hesitation on his part. "The PSB appeared while I was there. I snuck around enough to overhear where they were going to take her."
Conan frowned, his suspicions confirmed. His brother was riding a bus, headed towards the one place he wanted him to avoid the most.
"You understand this situation as much as I do, don't you?" continued the older Kudo. "As it is right now, the NOC list will end up in the hands of the Organization."
Little hands clenched into fists. "You don't have to go," he said, in a feeble murmur.
"Would that stop you from going?"
His head jerked back up, the unexpected response startling him as badly as if someone had suddenly jumped on him. Yet, his brother stayed calm, his voice smooth and even the entire time.
"We could strike a deal."
"A deal?"
"You stay out of this, and I stay out of this," he proposed. "We could hang out together somewhere far away from the aquarium and leave this to Akai-san and the others."
Not a single sound left Conan's lips.
"You choose," said Shinichi.
Even though he knew what his choice would be. Knowing him, there would be only one possible outcome from this conversation.
"Wait for me at the entrance when you get there."
Shinichi smirked. There you go, he thought.
"I know my way in there better than you do."
Sure, because finding a massive double Ferris wheel in the middle of an aquarium would be such a herculean task. But a compromise was a compromise, so he didn't argue.
"I'll meet you there."
"Why do I have to come to the aquarium? With a bunch of kids, too…"
Ran sighed for what it felt like the fifth time during the car ride to Touto Aquarium, feeling the weight of her father's far too palpable irritation. He was not exactly overjoyed with the task he had been entrusted with and had certainly made it known that he had no wish of chaperoning a bunch of brats by grumbling the entire way there.
She would have bothered to remind him to be kind ─ that, believe it or not, it was important for them to get to the Ferris wheel ─ but she knew it would likely fall on deaf ears.
So, when the children hopped off the car and excitedly hurried their way further inside the park, she didn't even think of chastising him much when he leaned back in his seat. Waving a lazy hand off, he told her he would just take a nap in the meantime, to which she only offered a shrug and a smile before going off on her way to catch up with the kids.
Her best friend was running late, and the children eventually grew restless. Ran tried to reassure them that Sonoko would arrive there soon, but she could clearly feel their frustration building, strengthening with every passing second.
But it wasn't like she couldn't understand it. They said they were doing it for Ai-chan, Ran recalled, endeared by the gesture. Though it's unusual for Conan-kun not to be here.
Normally, and despite his permanently irritated and exhausted appearance would imply, the bespectacled boy would willingly hang out with them. Especially when it concerned a matter so important as the one at hand.
But seeing that he would be sleeping at the Professor's tonight, as he had informed her on the phone, it was clear why that could not be. At that time, Ran had not even questioned, aware that he had reasons for staying over that went further from what Conan would be willing to admit.
Hopefully, he will convince her, thought Ran, a faint, hopeful smile on her features. Conan-kun can do it.
She was abruptly brought out of her internal musings, noticing a man in a suit approaching the reception window, right next to the spot they, as a group, had claimed. He said he wanted to ride the Ferris wheel, which actually took her a little aback. Now, Ran wasn't the one to judge, but the formal clothes he donned, the no-business frown etched on his face, the way he held himself and talked ─ truthfully, it struck her as odd.
From what she could infer from her brief pause, the receptionist had not expected to experience something like this today. Her professionalism shone through, apologizing since all tickets had been sold out.
The man's expression hardly shifted as he flashed some kind of identification at her. "Then, would you tell whoever is in charge here that the Public Security Bureau is asking for your cooperation?"
Ran felt a wave of unease wash over her. Public Security Bureau? she repeated in her head, watching the receptionist apologizing again, much more profusely this time around. Is there something going on?
She chased that thought away the moment it set a foot in her mind realm. Surely, if some kind of trouble of such great magnitude was taking place as they spoke, they would have most likely been already chased outside of this aquarium. Since nothing of the sort had happened, then she was thinking too much about it.
With Sonoko's subsequent arrival, soon there was no time left to ponder over it. A worker from the aquarium that Sonoko seemed to trust guided the kids away, leaving Sonoko and Ran free to hang around until they had to pick them up,
Yet, the feeling of dread did not quite leave. No matter how hard she willed it to disappear.
Conan hopped off his skateboard as a mess of pounding heart and frantic breathing. Head whipping from side to side, eyes darting all over in a frantic search of that one person, possibly drowned amongst the crowd of passersby that, blissfully unaware of what was about to unfold, went about their lives while enjoying them to the fullest.
Where did he go? the boy could not stop wondering. Could it be that he still hasn't arrived?
Highly unlikely ─ he had been on his way already when they talked earlier. No matter how fast this skateboard of his was, it was physically impossible for Conan to show up earlier than him. He must be here, but I can't see him…
Because they had agreed on it. There was absolutely no way he…
His stomach clenched, twisting with the bitter feeling of dread that had, ever so slowly, began to settle in. I can't believe that guy, the thought came, accompanied by an indignant scoff.
The Ferris wheel rose above what his sight could see, bathing in color and light; a beautiful sight to behold. A scowl took hold of his features as he dove forward, shooting like a bullet through the crowd.
Until an external force pulled him to a halt, a tight grasp on the back of his shirt all but dragging him to the ground.
"Where do you think you're going?" he heard. "I thought we had a deal."
He blinked once, maybe twice, at the figure towering over him.
"What's with that face?" asked the teenager, finally releasing the boy to cross his arms over his chest. "Do I look like the kind of guy who would break a promise?"
"Yes." No hesitance. "Yes, you do."
"Oh, do I now?"
The surprise faded. "We don't have time for this," he stated, and promptly turned his head away.
Shinichi only managed a nod before, together, both brothers took off running further inside the aquarium, hoping to make up for the lost time.
That being said, they didn't even make it two steps inside before they had to stop, or rather, before Shinichi, specifically, had to skid to a halt. Noticing the outline of his older brother gone from his peripheral vision, the small detective ceased from running as well, twirling around to see, and maybe complain, about this sudden, unexpected hesitance. That was, of course, until he saw the phone in his grasp, the target of a confused glance of his.
The words that left Shinichi's lips as soon as the phone pressed to his ear made it a little easier for Conan to understand, "What's wrong, Ran?"
Ran-neechan? wondered Conan, eyes widening slightly with surprise. What a bizarre coincidence…
"What is it? Make it quick."
Normally, the child supposed he would have sent Shinichi a pointed look of silent disapproval, yet as per the current situation dictated, he did nothing. Shinichi's impatience was hardly unjustified, and he, Conan, probably would have been in danger of falling under the grounds of hypocrisy, were he to complain about it.
He adjusted his grip on the skateboard just as it began to slip. It's a pain to carry this around, he thought. Just by looking around, he could tell how little of use it would be ─ with this many people around, he doubted he would be able to use it. Especially if I have to sneak into the Ferris wheel… Which, considering everything, was an extremely likely scenario.
He settled with hiding it between some random set of bushes he found around. If he was lucky, it would still be there by the time he finished everything and could go pick it up. Or he could ask Agasa to make another for him ─ he had broken the thing a few times in the past and gotten a replacement right away. Conan failed to see how it would be different now.
There was a sigh coming from Shinichi. "Tell Sonoko I can still hear her," he muttered in between fingers, his hand pressing to his face. "Unfortunately."
Sonoko-neechan is there, too? Conan thought, shoulders sagging. Then that phone call is gonna take forever-
White. There, somewhere in the distance, barely peeking from behind a wall of uniformed men, making their way across the rest of the families roaming around who, surprised at the unusual sight, stepped aside to let them pass.
Shock prevented him from doing anything but gawk. Pressed lips, mismatched eyes cast on her feet ─ that crestfallen gaze that was so natural on her face that was almost upsetting, the emptiness, the ever-present confusion... It was her.
Just like that, she disappeared again; gone amongst the sea of people.
Conan did not stop to think about it, and promptly pushed his way through the crowds, ignoring the startled shout that escaped his brother's lips. Not that it had been a conscious action, more like it did not really filter through. Neither his voice, nor all other noise surrounding him, like that of the joyful chatter of those around him, or the lady from the intercom announcing something that was lost to him.
All he could focus on was on quickening his pace, determined to get to her as soon as possible.
I need to stop them, was the only thought that moved him forward. Before they get in…
He got to the place in question beyond long, and was met with the sight of a ridiculously long line of people. Brazenly, he pushed through, apologizing the entire way while pretending to be a poor little boy who got separated from his little friends ─ and wasn't even a bit ashamed of it.
Upon reaching the front, Conan spotted her again ─ only the tips of her hair were visible as she stepped inside the gondola.
"Wait!" Shinichi yelled, and only then did the boy notice that he had been always there, trailing close behind. "You musn't ride in-"
Hands settling on his shoulder from a startled, and low-key frightened, worker stopped the teenager from diving in. They pushed him lightly backwards, emphasizing that he wasn't allowed to come in, and he scowled in return, opening his mouth to sputter any excuse ─ but really, thought the disguised high school detective, was there anything he could say?
No matter how much of a smooth talker he was ─ which he wasn't ─ there was no way he could talk his way in.
His search for excuses was interrupted midway at the notion of a tiny figure slipping around his legs, easily weaving his way around everyone else's notice with the speed and precision of a bullet.
By the time Shinichi was able to grasp the situation, and gape and panic accordingly, the doors of the gondola had been closed shut, the miniature detective that used to tag along nowhere in sight.
Fingers, belonging to both hands, carded through his hair as dry laughter shook his entire frame. They remained there, fixated in place, while the detective twirled back around to leave from where he had come from ─ uncaring of the disturbed glances the employees were sending him, just a moment away from calling security on him.
All the while, the gondola continued to rise above the sky. Regardless of the tiny back that pressed against its securely locked doors.
Two sets of gazes had zeroed into his form, a nervous, childish giggle breaking through the silence that had inevitably settled in.
"I… guess you don't know where my friends are, right?" Conan tried.
Nobody answered.
"Hey-! Damn, that-"
"Shinichi?"
"Sorry, I'm in the middle of something. I gotta go!"
"Wait-"
Ran stopped herself, yet for reasons beyond what her childhood friend had shouted onto the phone. Eyes went slightly wider, her body shifted slightly so that she could look over her shoulder, but got to see nothing at all, but children playing around; not a single face she could recognize in sight.
The line had long gone dead without her notice, a woman's voice droning over the intercom somewhere in the distance, its meaning entirely lost to her ─ an announcement she had also heard on the phone, while conversing with that guy who shouldn't, by any means, be here.
"That guy…" Sonoko sighed when she put her phone down. "He probably said he was busy and hung up again, didn't he?"
But Ran didn't answer. Suddenly, the woman he had glimpsed at before came to mind. She had been with the man from the Public Security Bureau, if she wasn't mistaken.
"Geez. Where is he and what is he doing?"
Her face is somewhat familiar, thought Ran. Where did I see her?
"Ran? What's wrong?"
Realization struck suddenly. She's the one in the photo Conan-kun sent Dad!
Then… If Shinichi is here… He sounded frustrated, come to think of it. Any other day, she would have assumed it was aimed towards her, who had called at the wrong time, but now it kind of seemed like it was someone outside from their conversation.
Somehow, Conan fit the most to it all.
Is he here, too? What is he doing?
Or rather, why wouldn't he tell Dad or me about it? She had thought they had gone past it. That he had been growing used to tell her whenever something else happened. What had changed? Why wouldn't he-?
"Wait. He's here, isn't he?"
Ran's gaze flickered towards her. "Eh?"
"Your face says it all!" Sonoko exclaimed, pointing at her friend. "Shinichi-kun is here."
Ran did not answer right away. By that time, Sonoko had cupped her chin with her fingers, not unlike how she had seen Shinichi do in the past ─ or Sonoko herself, whenever she embodied her Deduction Queen Sonoko persona.
"The problem is, who is he with?"
Actually, she had quite a good idea, and the fact was as far from Sonoko's expectations as it was worrying.
"Alright, we're going to go catch his cheating!"
"W-Wait, Sonoko!"
Mouri Kogoro was awakened from his nap by a high-pitched wailing, cutting through the air and piercing his eardrums. His throat rumbled with a tired groan, eyes just barely creaking open as he sat back up, bleary looking out from the window of his car.
The far-too-familiar sound did not take long to register on his sluggish mind as a siren, growing louder with every passing minute, more urgent.
There were police cars rushing right past his vehicle and parking somewhere close ─ realization struck suddenly, wiping the last cobwebs of sleep off from existence. He moved slowly, his wide-eyed gaze fixed on the window from just inches away.
What the hell? he thought, eyebrows sliding close together. What is going on?
The door to one of those cars opened wide, catching his attention right away. Chiba's head popped up from behind, a serious expression plastered over his face as he paused, long enough to glance over at the distance.
Something was going, he could tell. Something big ─ today, of all days, while Ran was still in there.
In a second, the private eye had hopped off his own car and crossed the distance between him and a clueless Detective Chiba.
Having risen a few feet from their original position, the situation hardly changed at all. The two sets of bewildered gazes remained fixated on his form, intensely enough to pierce through his soul ─ and Conan would have been blatantly lying if he said the urge to find a way out of the gondola and their attention wasn't strong enough. Even if it meant jumping off.
Not that it would be his first time, of course.
But while somewhat justified, those weren't what he would call feasible choices. Instead, he opted to grin as widely as he could, giggling at their cluelessness.
And mentally chastised himself because this didn't seem like a good idea any longer.
"L-Little boy," the man stuttered, portraying his best attempt at a friendly smile that not even Genta would fall for. "What are you doing here?"
"I got separated from my friends." He felt infinitely grateful that his brother hadn't gotten to sneak in here as well, or he would be witness to the childish little pout that scrunched his face up. "I thought they were riding the Ferris wheel without me…"
The man clearly wanted to say something, yet failed to come up with anything.
Conan focused on the girl at the back and beamed. "Then I saw Oneesan climbing in!" he exclaimed. "I thought she might be with them."
"You… know each other?"
"Yup."
After a brief moment of rummaging through his pockets, a cute tiny, red dolphin appeared in his hand, holding it up to the man like a proud child showing off his favorite toy ─ which, right now, he probably was. In appearances only, of course.
"See? She got this for me." He giggled. "Isn't it cute?"
"It… Yes. Yes, it is."
If he noticed an odd kind of glimmer in Curaçao's gaze, Conan omitted any kind of comment.
His own eyes widened, arms falling to his sides with a loud, "Oh!" that did not fail to make the man flinch. That, and the notion of the child scooting over, his attention on his gun holder, prompted him to take a step backwards.
"Is that a real one?" continued Conan. "So cool~!"
Granted, he didn't dare to get any closer to it, even though it was safely tucked away and not going to harm anyone ─ like last time, his mind complemented.
"Are you a policeman?" He blinked, giving his best impression of a curious child, before he shifted to a clueless, puzzled one. "Why are you carrying one? Ferris wheels are for giving fun…"
Next, his attention shifted to Curaçao ─ or, most specifically, to the handcuffs that chained her right hand to the window ─ and titled his head.
"Why are you wearing those, Oneesan?" he wondered out loud. "Doesn't it hurt?"
Curaçao failed to answer, her gaze avoiding his, zeroing on that red dolphin that continued to sway gently from between his fingers, now completely forgotten by everyone but herself.
It whirled sharply as the boy twirled on his feet, gasping suddenly. "Don't tell me…" he began, his voice quivering. "You're actually a bad guy?!"
"What-"
Conan did not give him the time to formulate a proper response. Screaming, he backed away, slipping in between the walls and the perplexed young woman. Ever so slightly, he peeked around her, clutching the hem of her shirt.
Curaçao could only stare confusingly.
And the man muttered incoherently, a hand left hanging in the air, forgotten, as if it hadn't been his to begin with.
"Stay away!"
If the way he was gripping onto her, unwittingly, caused her to turn back to the front ─ as an accidental consequence of a seemingly scared little boy shuffling to hide further behind her ─ it was nobody's business but his own.
I need to get Curaçao's attention away from the outside. Out of everyone's sight, what once were a pair of innocent, frightened blue eyes had morphed into something sharper, narrowing with every thought that crossed his mind. If she takes a glimpse of the light show and remembers everything… It's game over…
"Wah~! I'm scared, Oneesan!"
His grip on the hem of her shirt tightened. Yet, this time around, he wasn't acting.
… for everyone involved.
Soon, he would realize all his efforts were for naught, as lively colors filtered through the darkness, gathering her attention enough for her head to turn, wide eyes peering over to the beautiful light show behind the glass, unaware of what that innocent action would entail.
Just like Pandora, she had opened the box.
And the screams did not take long to ensue.
To be fair, he should have seen it coming. Despite having known him for eight years, which was basically his entire life, and had been given concrete proof at least once per week, Shinichi figured he should have taken better measures to prevent this from happening.
Later he would consider getting a leash for his little brother, but for now, everything he could think of was on climbing the stairs as fast as he could, skipping one, maybe two, steps with each stride. Eventually he got to the end of it, panting lightly as he looked around, searching for any passage that would allow him to go on his way. And as quickly as possible, since he was definitely not allowed in here ─ proved by the 'staff only' sign he had blatantly ignored a little earlier.
If he lifted his head, he could see a few gondolas from the Ferris wheel, teasingly glimpsing through. Just a little more, he assured himself, breaking into yet another sprint.
It wasn't until he was probably halfway there that, from the corner of his eye, the young sleuth took notice of something ─ something that shouldn't, by any means, be there. Cables, he observed, never letting his pace slow, not even a little. Several of them were there, in fact, stretching from side to side in his sight. What are they for?
His eyes followed them, hoping to figure out where they led to. He did not like what he found.
Nevermind helping him out of here… Conan's gonna blow up into pieces if things keep going like this!
The dark night sky was alight with fireworks, exploding in bright bursts of color and sound, painting a breathtaking scenery that, unfortunately, none of them were capable of appreciating. They, of course, being the two figures that stood facing each other several meters off the ground, balancing themselves on the metal structure of a massive Ferris wheel.
Just like the cap he had been using, Furuya promptly removed the technician's disguise he had been using earlier, causing it to be taken away by the powerful gust of wind hitting his face. Left wearing a simple white shirt, Furuya smirked and faced his life-sworn enemy.
Akai hadn't intended to start a fight, but as the blonde man lunged at him, he understood he truly had no other choice. His fists flew through the air, leaving him no other choice but to engage, dancing around each other, each strike unable to make contact with each other.
All the while, the explosions of the fireworks remained, muting their panting, their curses, every noise from their heated fight they had just fallen into.
Finally, Akai managed to knock him down, but Furuya was relentless. Moved by nothing but rage, he held onto the rails before he could fall over, flipped on the air and, like so, he was ready once again to continue the battle.
Perhaps he was moved by something beyond anger, the man later realized. Just like the FBI, the PSB needed Curaçao, so it was a given that he wouldn't give up on her so easily.
They traded blows back and forth, then they both stood back ─ Furuya was panting, exhausted from what Akai could infer. As he wiped the sweat off his face, he raised his head to lock eyes with him ─ his glare, full of hatred, barely ever lost its strength. And truly, Akai did not expect it to.
Inside his chest pocket, Akai's phone vibrated with a call. Furuya would not let that small of an opening go to waste, so, as soon as Akai's eyes shifted away from his form, he charged towards him. Together, they both fell over, inevitably crashing onto the 'staff only' area behind the Ferris wheel.
The sound, unbeknownst to any of them, made a certain teenage detective's head jerk upwards, the frown that had decorated his face dispelling, the curses that were about to left his mouth at the lack of response from the phone pressed to his ear dying down before they could even meet the world.
A few meters away from him, just at the other end of the stairs in front of him, he saw a pair of figures rising to their feet. He watched the blonde man twirl around in search of his opponent, and the other landing a powerful kick out of the blue. Slowly, the boy raised his head a little further.
At the realization of where they had fallen from, his eyebrow twitched. It did not take a detective to understand what they were doing until now.
I should be glad that Akai-san is here, he thought, watching them fight. But, really…
He heaved a heavy sigh. And I thought Conan's friends were bad enough. Shaking his head, he slid his fingers through his artificial locks of hair, and grasped firmly.
A scream broke past Furuya's throat, his fist raised above his shoulder to land one solid blow, aiming at his opponent's jaw. Yet it never made contact. Or rather, it did not make contact with the intended target.
Eyes opening slightly, Furuya discerned fingers wrapping his own fist, and an arm, shaky with the effort to resist the blow, that connected to a person he did not expect to see around, but was familiar enough not to be called a stranger.
In front of him stood Kudo Shinichi himself, a frown carved into his features as he lowered Furuya's extended arm. Once he made sure he wasn't about to attack the man behind him ─ or, in an unlikely turn of events, attack him from interfering with his little tantrum ─ the detective closed his eyes, and exhaled deeply, taking a moment to compose himself.
Before opening them again and settling him with a glare that gave Furuya the impression that he wanted to try some boxing this time, and he had found the perfect punching bag ─ in fact, Furuya would not doubt he wished to do so. With all his soul.
"What in the world possessed you two grown men to start a fight under the fireworks and on top of a freaking Ferris wheel?!"
Luckily, he had just fallen into a rant instead. His head whipped towards Akai and, judging by the faint flinch that ensued, the PSB agent could guess that Shinichi's expression had hardly shifted at all.
"Where, should I remind you, there's already a fight with a certain criminal syndicate that will decide the fate of an imminent information war-"
"You could just tell us to quit fighting," Akai said.
Shinichi paused, glared some more, and added, "Quit it."
"There you go."
Exasperated, the young detective grumbled something under his breath.
"You called just now, didn't you?" Akai said, snapping him out of it. "What's wrong?"
Everything, Shinichi wanted to say, yet settled with, "Bombs."
He appeared taken off guard. "What do you-?"
"What do you mean, Shinichi-kun?" Furuya stepped forward, his features hardening just as Shinichi turned back around to face him. "Is that really true?"
The teenager nodded slowly, his features mirroring his. "If they fail to retake Curaçao, they are going to blow up the whole Ferris wheel with bombs," he said. "That's definitely what they are thinking."
He went silent for a bit, seemingly letting the facts sink. "Where are they?"
"There are several bombs planted between the axle and the wheel. Remotely controlled," explained Shinichi, looking over his shoulder, frowning all the while. "All those electrical cables lead to a fire hydrant. I managed to peek inside and I believe I saw a detonator, but I didn't want to risk opening it."
"I understand. Show me where it is."
To say that Shinichi wasn't pleased with the development of events was more than an understatement at this point, yet did not complain either. No matter how much he disliked this guy, no matter how little he trusted him, and how strong his desire to walk away on him and find another way without his help, Shinichi swallowed it all up. There was so much at risk, so much that he could lose if this went wrong.
So, if the situation required him to stand there, arms crossed over his chest a safe distance away from Furuya, currently crouching in front of the fire hydrant he had guided him to earlier, he definitely would do it. It wasn't the time to break into a fighting session under the fireworks like a certain pair of idiots he knew.
Finally, Furuya retired a small device, which, after a better inspection, turned out to be a detonator.
"With this, everything will be okay," Furuya informed, smiling lightly. "You made the right decision by not opening it. It was a trap, after all."
Internally, Shinichi sighed in relief. "I see," he said, in the plainest, coldest tone he could manage.
Which earned him one long, indecipherable look from the man in question that he ignored completely. He turned his head away, letting his sight rest somewhere in the distance, as if his companion had not talked at all.
Where's Akai-san? he wondered, making it a point not to react to the gaze drilling into his form that had yet to leave. He should be back by now.
Not that he particularly enjoyed the FBI agent's company, at all, but after everything that had happened, he had more or less grown used to his presence, forced by necessity rather than anything else. But this guy…
Furuya observed him for a few moments longer, before returning to the detonator in his hands, studying it curiously.
"Have you been training?"
The sudden question had him, in spite of his own wishes, turn his head, frowning in utter confusion. Whatever was the sight that Furuya was able to catch by his peripheral vision, or a memory playing out in his mind, Shinichi had no clue, but a smirk quirked the blonde man's lips either way.
"You blocked my punch," he said, audibly amused. "That's something you never managed to do in the past."
Shinichi shrugged. "Well, panic is a strong motivator."
Just as Furuya turned to look at him, Shinichi averted his gaze.
"Conan snuck in the gondola with Curaçao."
Furuya looked as if he wanted to be surprised but failed despite his best efforts.
Fortunately ─ or not ─ he was saved from having to think of an answer by a figure landing right next to the both of them, and predictably enough, Furuya was unable to conceal the scowl in his face at the sight of the man he despised the most ─ not that he had even tried.
Unlike him, Shinichi walked up to Akai, seemingly relieved to find another soul to talk with ─ that wasn't his own person. That much, he could tell.
"They're C-4. They are planted quite well," Akai informed upon his return. "If everything explodes at the same time, the axle will not be able to bear the load and will lead to a chain collapse."
Just as the teenage detective scowled, biting back a nasty curse at the prospect, Furuya promptly opened up the fire hydrant. "Looks like there's no time just to worry over things." Inside, he easily found the vivid glow of numbers on a LCD display in a strange, suspicious device. "Is this it?"
Seemingly forgetting about his own disgust for the man beside him, Shinichi crouched close to see for himself, his frown deepening instantly. "You can disarm it, right?" he spoke to him, of his own accord, for the first time in a while. "Like that friend of yours you mentioned taught you."
He nodded, beginning to pull out the hose to give him more room to work. "He taught me well, so I'll be fine," he muttered, smiling to himself. "Leave it to me."
Just as he was about to begin, his attention was grasped away by a bag, sliding towards where they crouched next to the bomb. Surprised, both detectives looked up to see Akai, who briefly explained what they could pretty much have guessed by themselves. Inside the bag were tools that Furuya could use to dismantle the bomb.
"The fact that there are bombs here means that they will definitely use this Ferris wheel to take action," Akai continued. "And the only route they can retake Curaçao without incurring damage from the bombs is-"
"From the sky!" escaped Shinichi's lips, a weird mixture between an exclamation and a gasp.
He nodded, confirming the suspicions Shinichi truly did not want to be confirmed. With one last promise of going back to buy some time, the man secured his grip on his rifle and, in the next moment, he had vanished from sight.
Furuya, predictably, grumbled something under his breath. Shinichi ignored him in favor of crouching over the bag that the FBI member had left for him, plucking out the object in question.
He thought he might have been thanked for his actions, namely passing the kit to Furuta, but Shinichi couldn't be sure. His forehead scrunched up as he pondered over what had just been said. A hand rose to his chin, humming to himself from a moment, before his eyes snapped open again.
"Hey!" By the time Furuya managed to let it out, Shinichi was already running. "What's the matter?!"
"Take care of the bomb, Furuya-san!"
And thus, the high school detective disappeared as well, leaving one Furuya Rei groaning at the realization that he had been left all alone.
It hadn't even been the first time that Conan stood back, reflected on the past events, and had come to the conclusion that, maybe, he hadn't acted in the best way there could be. That there was so much room for improvement for his actions and realized that, if a similar situation arose, perhaps it would be beneficial to take a moment to breathe, and plan everything better.
In other words, this hadn't been a good idea.
'This', naturally, meaning his sudden urge to sneak inside a Ferris wheel gondola, leaving him alone and defenseless with a dangerous member of the organization he despised so much. Granted, he wasn't actually alone, since that PSB agent was technically there, but seeing how he now laid sprawled onto the ground after being taken out so easily, Conan might as well have been alone and defenseless.
Sighing, he made up his mind. He was not letting his friends know about this ─ not after scolding him for the exact same thing. If I survive this, that is.
To be fair, he had been so sure that his presence could twist fate, even a little. That he could prevent her from regaining her memories and stop everything from taking a turn for the worse. But of course, it was preposterous to think it would matter. He clearly had overestimated himself.
Yet, dwelling on it would not change things either. The only adult capable of helping him had been knocked out. The handcuff that had done so little to stop her was now in his wrist, doing a much better job in restraining him, unyielding no matter how hard he tugged at it ─ he didn't know what he had been thinking, of course it didn't.
My only chance is the key she plucked from that agent's coat. Conan lifted his head to narrow his eyes into her form. The one she shoved in her pocket earlier.
She clearly noticed the way she was being scrutinized.
For Conan, it did not mean a thing. But it looked like it did for her.
"Have you always known?" she asked, her voice both firm and cold ─ a stunning contrast to what it had been like just minutes earlier. "About my true colors."
"Curaçao. Rum's closest confidant," answered the boy, not an ounce of hesitation. "I only learned about it recently."
"But you suspected me."
"Can't deny it."
In the lull of their far too brief conversation, the woman slid her hands inside the same pocket Conan had been having his eyes on for so long, but instead of the object he desired, she took out a phone. She had stolen that one from the man on the floor too, Conan recalled.
For a beat, she waited. The receiver of her call did not take long to pick up, or so he assumed, since she soon smirked, pronouncing, "Long time no see, Vermouth."
Conan had no idea why he kept being surprised over the most obvious turn of events, yet he did. A gasp escaped him, but it did nothing to change the situation. If anything, the woman remained rigid, unmoved by her surroundings, fully focused on the conversation she was having.
"Yeah, I was wondering when you are going to get me," continued Curaçao. "It seems there are tons of Public Security Bureau officers out there."
The silence was palpable, and so was her surprise. Before Conan could even speculate about what had caused such a violent reaction, a small smirk crossed her face, as she replied,
"The email? Of course I sent it."
Conan jumped on his seat, his head snapped towards her so quickly that it was in actual risk of falling off. If they were talking about a mail she had supposedly sent recently, then it had to be the one Agasa had typed out for him to save the neck of the pair of NOCs that had been ─ rightfully ─ accused of treason.
Curaçao had not been the one behind it.
Then why…?
The woman did not even turn to look at him, but that did not stop him from gawking. Eyes, fixed in a wide gaze, remained on her form even as she ended her call, and calmly settled down in the furthest seat from him in silence. Waiting for something he did not know yet.
Just before all lights suddenly died down and darkness swallowed everything, Conan took one glimpse of it. Her pursed lips, her gaze cast on the tip of her shoes, or the way her whole body deflated with a sigh she wasn't entirely conscious of.
Such a sight was what made Conan's breath hitch into a halt, a wave of déjà vu striking violently. He calmed down, letting the air trapped in his lungs rush back to the outside world, and relaxed his shoulders.
"Oneesan." At his calling, Curaçao looked up sharply. Conan smiled lightly, pointing out at a seemingly random spot on the floor. "Would you mind passing that back to me? I think I dropped it earlier."
Which was not a lie at all, not in the slightest. With the help of the dim moonlight entering from the windows, the woman spotted something right where the boy had indicated it to be. Red, grinning back at her, was that dolphin keychain he had gotten yesterday.
As she leaned over to pick it up, she noticed something shifting against her leg from the inside of her pocket. Somehow, it felt heavy, heavier than ever before.
Conan's little grin lit up the room, sparking into life from the moment he cradled his once lost possession in his hands. A strange, foreign kind of feeling blossomed within herself, urging her to imitate his actions, but ultimately, her features remained tense, unchanged despite everything.
The boy gently gazed down at his keychain. "You wanna ask, right?" he said. "Why would I care about a trivial thing like this, even in a situation like this?"
She didn't answer, so he did it for her, "It's because you got it for me."
Curaçao tilted her head, confused. "I didn't…"
"Well, technically it was Ai," Conan conceded, carelessly waving a hand off. "But you gave up your chance so that I could get one, so it's basically the same thing."
Out of words, the woman kept her lips tightly closed, staring back at him as if she had said the most unbelievable, mind blowing fact there was. Which, in fact, for Conan anyway, it was the simplest thing there could possibly be.
Whether it had been a conscious action or not, the child did not know, but he saw it anyway. Slender fingers sliding inside her pocket, her hand opening up to reveal a white tiny dolphin resting over it, nearly identical to the one the boy currently held.
For a moment or so, her gaze lost itself on her precious object and, Conan could swear, something changed dramatically. Something flickered back to life in her eyes, and all of a sudden, he couldn't see Curaçao, but rather that one young woman that they had found alone in the park. The same one his friends had gotten attached to.
No, that's not right…
They weren't the only ones.
"You can paint it any color you like." At this point, Conan noted he wasn't making an effort to keep on smiling, warmly so. "It doesn't have to be black."`
From what it seemed like to him, his words had been long heard before they could be understood, a moment he could pinpoint exactly when her mouth, once agape with shock, finally closed. Once again, her gaze lowered to her special token from that one day, contemplating it for quite a while.
Her fingers curled around it, clutching it to her chest, and sucked in a deep breath. In a blink of an eye she had raised back to her feet, and despite the current chain of events, Conan had to admit he had winced when he saw her gaze narrowing in his form, rapidly waking straight towards him. He stilled somehow when she gently held his hand, raising it to insert the key in the keyhole.
Handcuffs clinked as they fell, hanging from the rail where they had been affixed to. Now freed, Conan rubbed his wrist, looking up at the woman in both interest and bewilderment, seeming as if he wanted to speak, ask several questions that probably lacked an answer.
Yet, before he could even stutter something out, he felt her hands sliding under his armpits, easily picking him up. Next thing he knew, he was clutched to her chest, his fingers grasping like dear life to her shirt as a sudden gust of air slapped his cheeks, forcing him to close his eyes tightly.
What in the world is she?! he cried hysterically, within the safety of his own mind. Did… Did she just jump out of the gondola by the emergency exit on the roof?!
Creaking one eye open, he glanced up at her, took on her focused features as she ran across the metal structure of the Ferris wheel ─ or so he assumed, he had no intention of looking downwards.
"I see," he murmured. Curaçao glanced back at him. "So these are your true colors."
She wasn't sure of how to respond, but smiled down at him, regardless. Curaçao then focused back on her task, so Conan shifted in her hold, finally gathering enough courage to glance from over her shoulder at the gondola that they had left behind.
"What's going to happen to that agent?" Conan wondered, frowning to himself. "They were on their way to get you, right?"
"They will realize I'm not there," she answered. "Then they will focus all their attempts to get me, or eliminate me. He will be safe."
"Then why didn't you leave me there?"
It took her a little longer to answer; her hold on him tightening a little. "I'm not sure," she said.
He was just about to turn to inquire further, but was silenced by a figure barely even noticeably moving in the shadows. Blinking, he watched it climb onto the gondola they had just been in, making it even more confusing for the little boy. Rapidly, his hand raised to his glasses, hoping that they would help him get a better look if he zoomed in.
And promptly gasped at the sight that awaited him. Pulling himself up, a focused frown etched onto his features, Conan saw the person he currently wanted to see the least. He saw Kudo Shinichi, his older brother, himself ─ unmasked, his actual face plain for everyone in this world to see.
His heart skipped a beat, but at the next one, he found that the teenager had disappeared, diving inside the gondola he had just abandoned.
"Let me off!" he shouted, badly startling her. He clenched her shirt again, desperate this time. "Please, I need to go back…"
"I can't-"
"Please!" He was begging. The notion made her stop in her tracks. "There's… There's someone important back there!"
Her steps halted, carefully thinking through what little she knew of the situation, and nodded to herself. "Let's go, then."
"No!" Again, she halted, surprised at the outburst. "You need to run away."
A brief period of silence ensued, followed by the faintest "I'll catch up later," she had ever heard. "Please, Oneesan. I'm begging you."
It took her a moment, long enough for the boy to convince himself that it was no good. That her mind would not be changed, and that he would have to find a way back to him on his own, after she finally released him. But then, he felt himself being lowered, her hands firm on his sides as he steadied himself.
Making it a point not to look underneath him, he lifted his head back to her. Even though he was fully conscious of what would await him if he tried, or the sweat currently collecting on his brow just by imagining it.
She settled him with a long, analyzing stare, which he held valiantly. Finally, she broke into a smile ─ warmer, much more sincere of what it had been like after regaining her memories.
"I'd love to ride a Ferris wheel with you, too."
Conan blinked stupidly, but then nodded. "We kind of already did, didn't we?" he said, a grin stretching from side to side. It made her giggle, and suddenly, he was reminded of those times she had laughed like that, amused by his friends' antics.
If there had been doubts in his mind, they were gone for good now. The woman in front of him, the true Curaçao, was this one. Had always been, only that it hadn't been until now that she had surfaced.
He'd love to know more about her, he realized, carefully turning away from her. He heard her heels clanking against metal, fading as the distance between themselves grew ─ but he wasn't worried.
I will definitely find more about her. Her true self. Pausing long enough to draw in a deep, calming breath ─ that did little to serve his purpose ─ the boy dived in forward. Once everything is dealt with!
Desperation was a strong feeling, capable of driving the most frightened of minds to achieve what once seemed impossible. Propelling his body forward, clouding the notion of a terrifying height that would have paralyzed him otherwise ─ all in order to get to that gondola, to keep that one important person safe.
There was a strange noise, muffling everything else, prompting him to look upwards instead, and being equally horrified at the realization that struck him. There was a helicopter, hovering over his head and the entire Ferris wheel, with one obvious intention.
They had been intending to take Curaçao ─ by getting the whole gondola.
Just as it began to lower in altitude, closer to their objective, Conan quickened his pace. Not even thinking of the dangers of slipping and falling, he jumped down. Crouching over, he peeked inside.
Identical blue eyes flickered upwards from where their owner crouched over the fallen PSB agent, brightening the moment they met the little boy's. Not that it lasted over a single second, relief overridden by horror, probably after he noticed the helicopter hovering right over them.
Conan bared him no thought, landing easily right next to Shinichi. He straightened back up instantly, his head snapping upwards, eyes flashing in a way that actually had the high school detective wincing.
"What's with you?" Conan shot at him, looking the furthest from pleased right now. "Doing such unnecessary things!"
"Excuse me?" Shinichi's eyebrow rose. "Weren't you the one who snuck in here without even thinking of the consequences?"
"Says the supposedly deceased high school detective who is carelessly showing his face around!"
The teenager blinked, then opened his eyes wide, as if just reminded of it. "Ah, this is just…"
"You idiot! If anyone were to see you, what would you do-?"
His words were silenced by a squeak, suddenly bubbling up from his throat at the feeling of the world tilting, a dull pain spreading over his backside after losing his balance. Groaning, he looked back up from where he sat, back pressed against the wall, and was witness to how the blood drained from his older brother's face.
Hey, hey… he thought, similarly horrified. Aren't they…
A single glance at the outside world from the window confirmed his suspicions ─ the gondola they were in was moving upwards. The helicopter had seized the gondola, and was taking it with them, being none the wiser that their target was not there anymore.
This can't be happening… Are… Are they really taking us with them?!
This couldn't be any good. In fact, this was probably the worst-case scenario ever, especially with him there. Kudo Shinichi, the traitor Singani who had been supposedly eliminated ─ they were capturing him, even if it was just an unfortunate coincidence.
There has to be a way… A way out of here! Only that he couldn't think of one. There… There has to-
Certainly, there was. Not in the way any of them would have imagined, or would have willingly chosen at that. Suddenly, the gondola shook violently, the grip they once had on the object loosening.
And just like that, it let go.
"Conan!"
He heard his name being called, but honestly, it had been hard to pick up over his own frightened scream he hadn't been able to keep from crawling out from the depths of his throat.
Feet moving as in slow motion, shoes barely touching the floor while taking their owner forward. Conan's took him one step backwards, away, until they halted, frozen in space, frozen in time.
Why?
Their gazes connected again, opening with a deep-rooted desperation they both shared. Shinichi kept on running, wishing nothing but to get to his little brother as soon as possible. Conan remained there, paralyzed, desiring to keep his older brother as far away as possible.
It was supposed to be different this time…
So why?
His brother's hand, desperately reaching towards him, was the last thing Conan saw before his surroundings went pitch black.
Why is this happening?
Amidst the darkness, he saw the glimpse of a vivid red tower, and then he knew no more.
A/N:
CherryGirl 21-6: Well, it's hard to tell, since I haven't gotten to watch it yet, but I'll consider it after then. Hope you can watch it soon, in case you haven't already!
F.C. Meyer: I know nothing about Japanese, so I haven't got a clue. I rewatched the movie as I was writing this, and it looks like there could be something, but I'm not sure either. Also, thanks for letting me know about that typo!
BT: Glad you got to watch it, and thank you for not spoiling it xD I hope I'd get to watch it, too, but I get the feeling I won't get the chance until late this year…