Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

Pairing: KaitoxShinichi

Chapter Rating: T

Heroes and Villains: Blue Moon Island

[Superpower Verse]

Part 16

"Here it is," Alvita said as she stepped into the cottage kitchen where her two guests were waiting.

Taking the seat across from them, she set a small, black jewelry box down on the table and lifted the lid. Then she turned the box around and slid it forward so that the two Milky Way agents could get a better look at its contents.

Nestled inside the jewelry box's velvet-lined interior was a gold pendant wrought into the graceful shapes of a pair of dolphins. One dolphin was leaping up while the other was diving down, and cradled in the ovular space between them was a large sapphire. The dolphins themselves had tiny diamonds for eyes. It was a beautifully crafted piece that certainly looked like it would be worth a small fortune if it were ever to be put on the market.

Kaito reached out to pick the pendant up but paused to look across the table at Alvita first. "May I?"

"Go ahead," she said. "It's what we're here for after all."

"Right. Thank you." That said, Kaito picked up the pendant. He gently ran his fingers over its surface, checking each of the individual components with his fingertips and studying the way the light refracted in the stone. He was meticulous with his examination. The other two could only watch and wait.

When Kaito lowered the pendant though, Shinichi knew what he was going to say before the words had even left his mouth. He could see the answer in Kaito's eyes.

"This isn't it."

Alvita frowned, clearly confused. "I don't understand. If this isn't that artifact you were talking about then does that mean all the legends of this island have just been real all this time, and no one noticed until now that we're out looking?"

Shinichi considered the suggestion but shook his head. "No. I don't think so. The ghost ship's regular appearances have a definite start, and every other influx of 'true stories', well, we haven't actually tried, but I am going to guess that, if we did try to trace them back, we'd find that they also became common in recent months."

"What's more likely is just that we're wrong about the Pandora shard being with you," Kaito agreed. "We made that assumption because of your book and because you had a connection to the diving students who found the treasure. That's why we guessed you'd have a piece of it. But there must be many other people around here who love these legends and think about and share them a lot. It could even be that the piece is still in the museum and reacting to all the stories that are told there by the tour guides."

"In any case, we do still have some clues to work with," Shinichi agreed. "Though it would really help if you knew where we might be able to find pieces from the dredged up treasure that aren't in the museum. So, like, other people who were given some. All of this just seems too…I don't know, too much to be purely random. There's got to be a driving force behind it all that's keeping it going."

Alvita regarded him with a pensive stare then nodded. "Indeed. Stories are driven forth by those who love them. Those who live for them. Those who dream of them. That is what story is for."

Her words nagged at something in the back of Shinichi's mind, but, try as he might, he couldn't quite grasp it.

Sighing, the author ran a hand through her hair. "Okay. I do know the people who received pieces, but I can't imagine how any of them could be tied to the island legends."

"If you're willing to share the information with us, we'll work on finding out," Kaito replied.

Alvita drew in a deep breath then let it out slowly. "Alright."

Shinichi produced a notebook and waited for the author to start.

Fortunately, it turned out the list wasn't a very long one. Most of the treasure really had just gone straight into the museum. The pieces that had not had generally been small pieces that had just seemed right with the people they'd ended up gifted to by the island council.

The two divers who had found the treasure had a ring each, but, as they'd already learned, neither was local and both had already left the island for home. Neither was likely to have been the source of the island's myths coming out of the woodworks.

The team of professional divers who had helped dredge the sunken treasure up had also each been given a commemorative piece, but, according to the author, they were all very down-to-earth men and women with little time for and less interest in fanciful tales.

"It could be someone in their families though," Kaito said, frowning. "Proximity to the shard would do. Do you know if any of the pieces they were given contained jewels?"

Alvita frowned, trying to remember. "I'm not sure. I believe they were each given a medallion bearing the image of a different mythical beast. Some may have had jewels for eyes."

"Do you think they'd let us see them?" asked Shinichi.

"Oh, that should be easy. They all work for the Blue Moon Ocean Institute. That's the organization that monitors and tends to our local reefs. They make sure the various aquatic habitats around the island stay healthy. As part of their educational program, they have a small exhibit at their headquarters. Last I heard, they collectively agreed to showcase their pieces of the treasure there."

Kaito made a mental note of the information. "We'll definitely check it out then."

Granted, he wasn't terribly thrilled about the idea of visiting an exhibit about the local reefs, considering aquatic life was not his favorite subject, but, if it was for his quest, he would do it.

"Can you think of anyone else who might have a piece of the treasure that contains a jewel?"

The only other person who fit the criteria that Alvita could think of was the artist who had been hired along with the author herself to not only help design the museum's treasure exhibit but also to provide the related stories and imagery. It was this artist who had done the cover to her book of island legends, she explained. He had gone on the hiking tour to see the ship for himself before painting the picture and been both impressed and inspired by the sight.

He had received a gift of an ornate inkwell which Alvita was fairly sure he was actually using because he was the sort who felt tools were for using and not for merely being looked at especially if they were beautiful (after all, the real waste was not using something that a craftsman had put so much effort into creating). The artist's studio was near the heart of the town and, due to the festival going on, currently open to visitors.

The small handful of other people who had pieces of treasure had each been given one of the beautiful, old gold coins.

With these new leads to follow, Shinichi was raring to go, but the sun was already setting, and Kaito reminded him that they had had a very eventful day already. They'd fought an honest to goodness sea monster after all.

As such, he felt they ought to get dinner and take a break before resuming their investigations the following day. Shinichi might have argued if he didn't already know that it was futile. Kaito had that look in his eyes that said quite clearly that they were going to do what Kaito said one way or the other, and it was up to Shinichi if he would prefer the hard way or the easy way.

On their way back to the inn, however, they happened to pass by the studio being run by the artist who'd painted the ghost ship cover. They saw as they were approaching that it was still open, and there was a small crowd already present. They were gathered around a table where the artist in question was sitting with a stretch of white paper before him, a brush in one hand, an a very ornate inkwell filled with ink on the table next to him.

It was an ink painting demo. And Alvita had been right. The man was using his piece of the treasure just as it had been intended.

The inkwell in question was shaped like a round treasure chest with little, colorful gemstones set into the gold of its sides. The stopper was molded so that, if fitted onto the inkwell, it appeared to be the chest's lid set with an amethyst and encircled by tiny diamonds.

After the demo, Kaito asked the artist if he could take pictures of the inkwell with its lid on and was therefore able to get permission to handle the piece without needing to make a big deal out of it.

"It's not it," he told Shinichi as they were leaving.

"I guess that would have been too much to hope for," Shinichi sighed. "At this rate, we're going to have to find a way to examine the pieces in the museum after all."

"I can still send that notice," Kaito reminded him. "I've already written half of one."

"You have?" Shinichi asked, surprised, then snorted. "Of course you have. Seriously though, that's a last resort."

"Whatever you say, Dear."

"…I like this island. We are not going to make a mess."

"No mess. Promise."

Shinichi supposed that that was the best he was going to get. Silently, he prayed that they would find what they were looking for on the morrow at the Ocean Institute.

They were almost back at the Blue Moon Rose when Kaito suddenly grabbed Shinichi's arm and pulled him into a rather aromatic shop specializing in fragrant soaps, candles, lotions and other such things. Shinichi was rather puzzled until they fetched up in front of a shelf of oils and ointments.

He shot Kaito a flat look. "Why are you looking at massage oils?"

Kaito shot him a grin. "Well~, you're always so tense. I've made it my personal mission to make you relax more."

"Lull me into a false sense of security you mean."

"Same thing."

"That is not the same thing. It's not even remotely similar. You just want another excuse to put your hands on me."

Kaito smirked. "You say that like it's a bad thing. But we both know you like having my hands all over you."

Blushing crimson, Shinichi grumbled something incoherent then stomped off under the pretext of looking around. He was debating whether to buy some of bath salt blends for his mother when his phone rang.

"Hey, this is Marna from the newspaper," said the person on the other end of the line. "I heard that you and Kuroba-san helped to rescue a family of tourists from the actual Crackling Beast earlier today. Is that true?"

"Oh." Shinichi blinked. "Yeah. We were there."

"Do you have time to answer a few questions about it?"

Shinichi glanced around the store. Noting that Kaito was still preoccupied with reading the labels on the wares, he agreed.

Marna listened intently to his account of the encounter at Stardust Beach then asked him a slew of detailed questions. She didn't stop until she had extracted every little thing he could remember and even some things he hadn't realized he remembered from him. When they were done, she whistled.

"I always thought the Crackling Beast was just a myth," she said. "I have to wonder if there are any more of them out there."

"There was some talk about putting together a research team to find out," Shinichi told her. "In the meantime, they're putting the area off limits."

"Makes sense. Right. Thanks for your help. I better go brush up on my Crackling Beast legends so I'll know what advice to give people."

Shinichi bid the journalist farewell then went back into the shop in search of Kaito. To his befuddlement, said magician was still perusing the oils and ointments.

"What's taking you so long?" he asked.

"What? Oh, well, I remembered my fortune," Kaito explained. "So I'm reading the fine print. It's actually surprisingly interesting."

"…You know what? I don't want to know. Could you just hurry up and pick something? I'd like to get some dinner."

-To Be Continued-