Disclaimer: I don't own DCMK

A Curse Marked Fate

49: Road Signs

Letting out a groan, Shinichi flopped backwards into the soft, cushioned embrace of the armchair he was sitting in. "If I don't take a break from these games, I'm going to lose my next life by proving that it's possible to die of boredom."

Kaito chortled. "All right. I get the point. We can take a break." He swept the cards on the table up into neat stacks and returned them to wherever it was he hid them when they weren't in use. "So what would you like to do instead?"

"I would like to go home," the little detective replied dryly. "But since that's not an option, I'll settle for anything that doesn't involve poker cards in any way, shape or form."

"Well, normally I'd say that was an easy request to grant. But considering our current situation, I am sorry to inform you that that does not leave us with many choices."

Both boys turned in unspoken unison to glance at the wooden sparrow and the dark windows by which it perched. Music and laughter issued forth from its opened beak in a near unending stream punctuated by the occasional comment on someone's attire or some other greeting or inane pleasantry.

"It doesn't sound like much is going on out there," Shinichi murmured, not sure if he was disappointed or relieved.

"Depends on how you look at it," Kaito countered. "Sounds to me like our host is doing quite the job of networking. That lady he just asked to dance is a top fashion designer from Mesmerize."

Shinichi frowned. He recognized that name because Sonoko had talked about it before—gushed about it even. "Mesmerize is that company that does magically enhanced fashions, right?"

Kaito looked surprised for a moment then laughed. "Suzuki-chan, right?"

Shinichi grimaced. "And Mom. How do you know that that's who he's dancing with?"

"The lady has a distinctive voice. We met once at one of the Institute's exhibitions. She's big on environmentalism, and she had some really interesting ideas about the use of live plants in fashion that she wanted some advice on."

"Live plants?" Shinichi repeated, incredulous. "You mean, like, she was growing clothes?"

Kaito shrugged. "Something like that. Though perhaps it would be more accurate to call them clothes that are still growing. I wasn't privy to the details, but I did hear they were planning to reveal the first line of related products sometime next year."

"Well, it certainly sounds interesting," the detective mused then glanced at the sparrow again when the lady designer's voice issued forth from it once more.

"I heard a little rumor down the grapevine," she was saying in a light, teasing tone. "Something about a breakthrough your Foundation's made recently and a big reveal coming soon?"

"Ah, ah, you know I can't discuss our research with outsiders," their host replied, mirroring her tone.

"Oh come now. You know me. I can keep secrets."

Daisuke chuckled. "I'm not doubting you. But you know how it is. Intellectual property has always been the most valuable property there is."

"You're doing that on purpose," the lady said in mock annoyance. "Now I'm all curious. I didn't realize your discovery was of the sort that had already borne fruit."

"All the more for you to look forward to," Daisuke replied. "Since we're talking about the expo, you may be interested to know that I'm handling the raffle. I can reserve some tickets for you, if you're interested."

The woman laughed. "Ooh, I love raffles! Give me a dozen."

"You don't want to know what the prizes are first?"

"Were you going to tell me?"

"Nope. They're part of the surprise."

The designer snorted. "I figured as much. I'll wait to be blown away then. I warn you though, I'm expecting something incredible from you guys with all this hyped up secrecy. And you know I'm on the World Magic Expo Awards Committee this year. If I'm disappointed by what you guys show, I won't be able to give your organization a commendation."

Daisuke laughed. "I have no concerns whatsoever in that regard. Ours will be the most impressive presentation at the expo. You can count on it."

"I will."

The two fell back into more casual bantering about other acquaintances and products and projects that they had heard would be making their own debuts at the upcoming expo. It was interesting, Shinichi thought, and if he were to believe in omens, he might have called the entire conversation portentous. As it was, however, he didn't have much time to contemplate the potential implications of what they'd heard because yet a new voice had emerged from the sparrow.

A new voice he recognized all too well.

"Shizuna-san!" cried none other than Suzuki Sonoko's vibrant tones. "It's great to see you again."

Shinichi shot to his feet and sprinted to the windows, gaze scanning every panel of glass in a vain attempt to find even a sliver of the outside. What they could do if there was one, he had no idea, but surely there was something. Maybe he did believe a little in omens after all because hearing Sonoko's voice certainly felt like one.

Kaito came up behind him, alert and poised for action. "That's Suzuki-chan, isn't it?"

"It is," Shinichi agreed, though he tilted his head towards the sparrow in search of a confirmation. He got it when the aforementioned Shizuna responded.

"Miss Sonoko, it's a pleasure as always. How is your mother doing? I haven't seen her yet today."

"She's doing well," Sonoko replied. "She should be hear soon. I'm sure she'll want to talk to you when she gets here. She absolutely loves that dress you designed for her last year. I believe she'll want to commission another for this special event she'll be hosting this Halloween."

Shizuna laughed. "That certainly sounds like fun."

"Maybe we should just go out," Shinichi suggested, glancing up at Kaito. "If they're at one of the Suzukis' parties, they can't exactly take us prisoner. Even if they accused us of stealing their data or something, they'd have to go through the proper legal channels."

"That's true," Kaito agreed, considering. Before they could make a final decision, however, the conversation outside resumed.

"Is this your boyfriend?" Sonoko asked. After years of experience, Shinichi could hear the sly grin in her voice, and he found himself rolling his eyes.

"Oh, no, just a good friend," Shizuna said. "I did ask him out, but alas, he turned me down. He has very high standards—which I apparently don't meet."

"Shizuna," their host said in a tone that sounded, to Shinichi's ears, genuinely embarrassed. It was a surprising contrast to the aloof and calculating impression Shinichi had had of him before.

"I know, I know. I was just kidding. You don't have time for dating," Shizuna said. "Oh, but I forget myself. I should introduce you. This handsome workaholic here is Takagawa Daisuke. He's one of their program managers over at the Choice Foundation. Daisuke, this is Suzuki Sonoko, the second daughter of our wonderful hosts."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Daisuke said to Sonoko. "Have you all been satisfied with the venue?"

"We have," Sonoko assured him. "I was a little surprised when Kurata-san suggested this place after learning that the World Expo Committee approached us for help organizing this year's event. We will be using several of our own establishments, naturally, but there will be so many people coming that we're going to need extra venues. So when Kurata-san told us how your Foundation had an incredible new place built using some extremely innovative technologies and designs, we wanted to check it out. So, well, here we are. And I'd say this place is almost a shoe-in for one of the expo locations if you guys are interested."

"Of course," Daisuke said. "We would be honored to have our venue chosen to house part of the festivities. If you'd like, I can show you some of our special features."

"That would be great," Sonoko said enthusiastically. "When did you have in mind?"

"Do you have time now?"

"Sure. Can I bring a friend?"

"Of course."

"We should all go," Shizuna said. "I'd love a tour of this place."

"Damn," Kaito hissed. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but that sounded a lot like he's saying we're still inside a Choice Foundation building."

Shinichi grimaced. "I heard that too. But that's not important."

Kaito blinked. "It's not?"

"Didn't you hear? They're not just in the World Magic Expo, they'll be helping to host!" Agitated, Shinichi began to pace back and forth before the bank of blank windows. "That's a huge deal. People from all over the world will be there—important people from leading companies as well as up and comers. And it's not just key figures from magic-centric industries either. Leaders from all kinds of fields attend the world expo to stay up to date and connected. And there are always a ton of celebrities too."

"Which makes the expo a great time and place for the launch of any major operation," Kaito said slowly, catching on to where his diminutive friend's thoughts were going. "It could be the big plan they've been saying they're almost ready for."

"Yeah." Frowning, Shinichi halted by the sparrow and stared at it, unseeing as his thoughts raced. Unfortunately, those thoughts raced mostly in circles. They simply had too little information to work with.

"Do you know when the World Expo is this year?" he asked, turning to Kaito.

"Sure. Clover Institute always gets an invite. The event should start in, let's see, about two months. It typically lasts for a week, with the highlight being the awards ceremony near the end where the Expo's Awards Committee commends the most outstanding inventions, contributions and magical achievements of the year. Clover Institute got an award last year when we unveiled our time perception manipulation research. I got to give part of the presentation."

"The question is, what exactly are they planning?" Shinichi murmured, hand rising to his chin. "It could be related to that major unveiling he told Shizuna-san about, but they can't control who attends their presentation, so maybe it's something else… Something that uses the venue maybe?"

"What about the raffle?" Kaito suggested. "As long as your targets buy tickets, you could easily tweak it so that they draw the prizes you want to give them. They could be planning to pass out magical spyware."

"That they think no one's going to notice?" Shinichi asked skeptically.

"Well, what do you think they'd want to pass out?"

Shinichi sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He was developing a headache. "I don't know. If this plan is why they set fire to the Institute then it has to be something really momentous that uses magic. Spyware is only dangerous if it gets access to sensitive information. It's its own kind of gamble that just doesn't seem worth what they're going through. Not unless they have a specific goal."

"Which they might."

"Yeah," the detective conceded. "But it doesn't feel like the right answer. Do you think those Entwined Fates amulets would work if passed out as prizes?"

Kaito narrowed his eyes, face going stony. "That did cross my mind, and I can't say it's impossible, but it doesn't strike me as likely. Haibara-san told us that curse amulets are single-use, which means you're using one spell to create a pseudo bond between two specific people. One spell means one casting, so both parties would have to be present."

"And I guess I can't imagine they have dozens of people with crushes on industry bigwigs lined up for the chance to use a love spell," Shinichi muttered under his breath, grimacing. "Or at least I hope they don't."

"I wouldn't count that out as part of their plan yet though if I were you," Kaito replied, tone dry. "After what we heard about Miss Sharon and Dad, it sounds to me like they really do have a list of people they're planning to ensnare by the heartstrings. Besides, from what we've seen, I don't think being romantically interested is necessary for the magic they're using. It looked like Kurata-san was actually projecting her thoughts and feelings into Matsuhara to make him agree with her. You could play that sort of influence off as a close friendship just as easily as you can play it off as romance. What it's really about is control."

He turned away from the windows, hands in his pockets and expression set into a grim mask. "I seriously need to get back and warn Dad. I know the location's not ideal, but I'm thinking we might want to make a break for it the moment our host steps out of the building or at least near an exit. Then we run like hell and hope no one sees enough of us to identify us. Then we can join back up with Haibara-san and see what she has to say about all this."

"We could do that," Shinichi said slowly, gazing searchingly into the carved, wooden eyes of the sparrow as though wishing it could give him the answers to all the myriads of questions bouncing around inside his head. "Or we could wait."

"What?" Kaito jerked around to stare at him in mixed incredulity and concern. "This might be our only chance to hop out of here, and you want to wait?"

"It's not that I want to," Shinichi said, still not looking at Kaito. "It's just that, well, it kind of seems like Daisuke-san has forgotten that he has our book in his pocket. And he appears to be high enough in the hierarchy to be involved in the plan—whatever it is. If we stick with him, we might hear more. Learn what they're actually up to and who's in on it."

"Which would be great if we had a way to get that information out to someone who might care," Kaito countered. "Without that, there's no point in taking the risk."

Shinichi bit his lip. Kaito had a good point, but he couldn't help but feel that they couldn't pass up on this opportunity to gather more intelligence. They'd likely never get another chance like this one. His gaze wandered to the 'door' as he struggled with his indecision.

"Can we get a message out to Sonoko?" he asked. "I mean, what happens if we throw something out the door?"

The Sky Mage looked pensive. "Well, the door just sends anything that crosses the threshold to a clear space within a certain range. So yes, we could throw a message outside. The problem is that we can't control where it lands."

"So we can't make sure it's Sonoko who picks it up." Shinichi sighed. "I guess that doesn't help, does it?"

"Actually," Kaito said slowly. "If you can think of something she regularly carries with her that she might conceivably drop, I could disguise the message to look like it with an illusion."

"So when she sees it, she'll pick it up thinking that it's hers!" Shinichi exclaimed, perking up. "That would work. Let me think… Maybe her cell phone? She and Ran both got stickers for their phones recently that have their names on them."

Kaito snapped his fingers. "Perfect. Better hurry though. This will work only so long as she's nearby."

"Right." Shinichi fumbled for his notebook and pen and flipped quickly to a blank page.

"Hold it," Kaito said sharply, catching the back of Shinichi's collar as the boy tried to run past him to the table. "You're absolutely sure you want to do this?"

Shinichi stilled. The part of him that was always looking for answers wanted to say yes, he was sure, but was he? After all, it wasn't only himself that he was risking because he knew Kaito would never leave without him. He owed it to his friend to make the best decision that he could. But what was the best decision?

Was there even such a thing as a best decision? How was he supposed to know?

TBC

A.N: I'll be leaving for the holidays soon. Updates will resume when I get back. Until then, I wish you all a safe and peaceful holiday. :)