Holmes and Watson 3 - or 'In a world of Frequent Murders, I have to be the quick-witted one for my own ass' sake' (Detective Conan, SI)
Summer is an odd time in Japan for highschoolers.
Not only it was around the time when the school year started, but it was also the time where a few holidays tended to come up. Especially the one I intended to enjoy by literally staying at home, read Jojo manga, and eat chips until I become a fat but happy bastard.
Now, this plan was ambitious and most cunning. I had to omit the truth to Masumi, saying that I would have to leave with the rest of my family as 'we' were going to Okinawa. And by 'we' I mean my parents and my sister. I wasn't going since I hated the place, and I absolutely loved staying at home alone.
Maybe it was the fact I was an asocial introvert kind of guy. Or maybe it was because I just didn't like Okinawa.
Still, the end result was the same: Masumi had been blissfully unaware that I had been enjoying my own 'home alone' experience minus the traps n' robbers element. I had the entire house for myself, and I managed to avoid 'detection' by putting on a wig and calling myself 'Weird Uncle Al'.
Considering her genuine lack of awareness for good music, my disguise was perfect. I was supposed to enjoy a long month of peaceful housesitting.
I have underestimated the gutsy nature of my primary friend and her unique capacity to smell bullshit off of me.
It was around a week into the plan that it all fell apart. I was alerted by the doorbell ringing. I had been told by my mother that they were thinking of sending me some souvenirs, but I thought they would have taken the good step of sending me a message or something before that happened.
I put on my masterful disguise at the possibility it may be a ploy. After all, Masumi would have made a call or sent a message once in a while through the week and... she didn't. So, I knew she could be testing the waters. And it was just as I opened the door to greet the one on the other side that I was greeted by a smiling Masumi.
"I knew it!"
...
"W-Who may you be, young girl? Perhaps a friend of my good nephew, little Jo-GAH!"
I couldn't finish my Oscar-tier performance that she suddenly pulled at my wig and kind of pulled at my hair too.
"I knew it that you lied to me! You have been at home for a week! And alone!" Masumi half-angrily snapped, her smile not dying and that worried me a fuck lot.
"I didn't lie. I told you half-a-truth. My family went to Okinawa. I just never said that I was staying-"
"Because you knew I was going to 'nag' at you, right?" The tomboy's smile was now vicious. "But it's alright, I forgive you."
...What?
"After all... remind me, when was the last time you helped me with a case?"
I blinked, then frowned. "A... A month ago?"
"And I suppose you would accept, as punishment, helping me with a mystery~."
...
"Do tell."
"Just get ready for a camping trip," Masumi beamed at my 'enthusiasm'. "We will catch up with the others as soon as you are ready."
Ugh, what kind of episode is this one?
There's just so many cases of camping, that I don't even know if this is a canon or a non-canon one. I only knew that I had to get myself ready for another crime and... see what was up with Masumi. After all, her request sounded less about having fun and more about looking into something that was bigger than the regular case.
Nonetheless, I invited her in the living room, got my stuff ready, sent a message to my parents that my 'good friend Masumi had convinced me to go on a bit of a journey for about two weeks', and then I got back to her. As expected, I found the tomboy browsing over the various items in the room when I came back.
"Masumi, stop ogling at my family pictures."
That snapped her out of her frustrating habit, and then smiled as she strolled up to me and... showed me a picture she took on her phone about my family.
"You have a sister! How come you never brought her up?"
"Because she doesn't like the attention? Plus, she thinks that all girls I am friend with are potential girlfriends of mine, so there's that too."
Surprisingly enough, I saw Masumi blush a tiny bit at that last bit, but I admit that it was an embarrassment-induced thing. It wouldn't be the first time I brought this up to someone inquiring this, and people of the female kind reacted like this.
Now, back to the unplanned camping trip, I asked my insufferable tomboy of a friend how we were going there since we had no car. A bus? A taxi cab?
Nope, Masumi has a bike. Like, a motorbike. Not even one of those of quality design or even a 'scooter'. It was a legit fast bike that looked so sleek and so 'simplistic' in its own design that I was already feeling my legs wobble as I contemplated that trip.
"Masumi, you are my friend. Let's take a bus-"
"It would take too long! We can't waste time anymore!" She pressed strongly and coerced me to that infernal ride.
I have nothing against people that use motorbikes. It's their decision, and I expected to be respected to this extent too since I loved cars. They were more stable, and you could sleep in them if you needed to catch some rest out of home and within a safe place.
The fact that Masumi was quite the 'bold rider' turned my first ride in years into another reason to avoid those. I almost kissed the sidewalk as we arrived to our destination: a small camping destination just outside of town. And we surprisingly found Conan and Professor Agasa Hiroshi getting stocked up with supplies for their week-long camping experience.
After Masumi pretty much pulled a 'camp-crash' by literally tagging us along with the old man and the kids, a 'case' started to come along. Most of the kids were missing, and we found the police investigating a half-baked attempt to bury a woman's body. A recently-turned body at that. She still bleed a lot due to the huge gash on her back caused by an ax.
While everyone was mystified by the event, I pretty much asked a very smart thing.
"Shouldn't we be looking for the kids if there's a killer on the loose?"
Masumi decided to stick around with most of the people there, but I actually tagged along with an officer to look for the kids. It was during the search I remembered what episode this one was all about. And we were lucky enough to find the distant cabin in the woods where the kids had holed themselves in to try and escape the killer only to be closed in and almost turned into ashes as the guy tried to burn them alive.
The case itself was simple. The bags inside the cabin, the tool of the murder, the blood, the ownership of the cabin itself- it had been the woman's boyfriend. There was also something about the woman's last gesture mimicking the kanji for Rabbit or something, which was fitting since the man's last name was 'Usagi'.
The motivation? The guy was claustrophobic, his girlfriend invited him out for camping which, by all means, should have been a relaxing exercise and, for some twisted rotten brain reason, decided to get the most 'barricaded' cabin she could find.
I think someone never told the woman that bird-brained therapy can be bad. Then again, I refused to believe that the guy was anywhere justified with a 'panic attack' in slamming his girlfriend down, take a hit at her with an ax on her back, bury her in a sleeping bag under a thin layer of dirt and then trying to burn kids alive.
That's some William Afton shit. And I was immensely glad that it wasn't something more convoluted as it really wasn't what I wanted to be up to for a fucking week of camping.
Oh no, while Masumi was busy trying to get a 'glimpse' on Haibara's real identity, I was more than happy to take a chair out of the tent I was sharing with the tomboy and read Jojo. I wasn't going to deny myself the pleasure of reading in the open, to keep my mind soothed at the idea I would be back home soon and...
"Whatcha reading?"
I do regret having to be nearby kids. Well, one of them definitely was not missing on the fact I was trying to get some solo action of the 'I want to read in peace' kind'.
"A manga."
Yoshida Ayumi was a rather inquisitive girl. Once the rival of Haibara Ai 'for Conan's heart', now she was just being a friend to him and... well, a detective-in-the-making like Masumi. The difference being that Ayumi actually had a longer list of solved crimes when compared to Masumi.
It is quite ironic I am actually cheering on a child just out of spite towards the tomboy.
"What about, John-niisan?"
"I don't recall giving you my name, little one," I mumbled, eyes still aimed at my lovely Jojo book. "And my mom told me to not talk with strangers."
Little Ayumi pouted. "I-I am not a stranger. I am Ayumi!"
"Nice to meet ya, Ayumi-chan. Now, was that difficult?"
...
Oh, silent treatment. I may have struck 'too hard'.
"Sorry, sorry, Ayumi-chan. But can you forgive me for teasing you a little bit?"
"...Maybe. Can I read too?"
I rolled my eyes. "You don't even know what is it about?"
"...And?"
Okay, the kid has some guts. I guess that, after roughly six hundred episodes, she had seen enough stuff to be a bit able to handle fictional blood and scary situation. And... turns out I was correct. I didn't have all Jojo books on me, but I did give her a bit of a summarized plot of the previous parts.
I was finishing reading Part 3, and I was glad I didn't get to the point where the author decided to kill a lot of main characters for 'dramatic effect', so Ayumi was squeaking over the fact a tiny dog was actually part of the team made by muscular guys.
A few hours later, I found myself in a situation. Ayumi had sat on my lap through the reading session, and she had fallen asleep against my chest. The issue was not about moving her back to the others as Professor Agasa was quite cordial to help me set her by her sleepbag...
The issue was Masumi using this situation to outright grill me for being such a 'big brother' right up she went to sleep herself for the night. Which was deeply ironic considering she was trying to find out what happened to her big bro.
Nonetheless, the camping week had just started and... I forgot a 'Mystery Train' situation was going to follow shortly after.
AN
I have been binge-watching Sherlock with the rest of my family for about a week or two now. So, this one got brought up and, while there has been not much of a big mystery case, next time will see John go serious mode as poor Masumi is caught in a bit of a bind.