Chapter 10: A Familiar Face

Times for the subway were calculated from some of the wards in the Tokyo Bay area, where Beika and Haido are supposedly located.

Ekoda was about an hour away via subway, Shibuya only thirty minutes. The first part of their journey, Shinichi and Ran were accompanied by Heiji and Kazuha, the Osakans transferring midway, leaving Ran and Shinichi alone, pressed in from all sides by the weekend travelers.

Lacking seats, Ran held on to one of the straps, while Shinichi was so crowded, he was forced to cling to her leg. Normally, that wouldn't be an issue, but Ran knowing who he was made things acutely uncomfortable for the both of them. Needless to say, when they finally arrived at Ekoda Station, they stumbled out a little more breathless than they otherwise would have been.

"M-maybe we should take the bus back?" Shinichi stammered. It would take twice as long, but the cost was about the same. Ran hesitated before shaking her head.

"We just didn't plan ahead—we'll need to figure out the best time to leave." She was right he hadn't planned this out, and as a result, they'd gotten on during one of the busiest times of the day. He was so focused on the possible lead, he hadn't been thinking of anything else.

"Sorry..." She shook her head again, fully aware of what Shinichi was like when he was focusing on something.

"It's okay," she assured him. "So where are we going? Do we need to take a taxi?" Shinichi checked the address from his maps app and shook his head.

"It's only a twenty-minute walk," he said. They were used to walking much farther than that on a regular basis, and though she wouldn't admit it, Ran needed the exercise after being cooped up in the house for so long. With that, Ran followed him out of the station.

As they passed by a park, Shinichi noticed something on a public bench—or rather, someone. Ran noticed him, too, it seemed, because she stopped and stared in curiosity.

There, on the other side of the street, snoring quite loudly, was a high schooler who looked just like Shinichi, except for a shock of wild hair that curled out in different directions.

"Do you think...?" he started to ask, but stopped when he saw the recognition in her eyes. "... Ran?"

"I think that's the boy I saw in Shibuya," she whispered to him just as someone passed them and crossed the street.

"Huh?"

"You know, when I was with Sonoko, and I thought I saw you." She turned to face him. "And you insisted I was mistaken, which makes a lot more sense, now."

Shinichi looked back at the boy on the bench, the vague memory resurfacing. The person who had just passed them had strode up to the sleeper, hands on their hips. It was a girl, whose hair was just as wild as the boy's, but he couldn't see her face.

"BAKAITO!" she bellowed, causing Ran and Shinichi to jump in surprise. The boy jumped so high he actually fell off the bench. He sat up and glared at her, rubbing his ear.

"The hell was that for, Ahoko?!" he screamed back at her.

Shinichi suppressed a shiver. This guy even sounded like him, though the drawl in his voice made him sound a bit more mischievous than Shinichi.

"Are you a baby?" said the girl, arms crossed. "Who said you could sleep in the middle of the day? You were supposed to meet Aoko an hour ago!" Completely unaware they were attracting the attention of passersby, the shouting match continued.

"And whose fault is that?" said the boy, standing up and dusting himself off. "If you hadn't insisted on watching that horror movie last night, and then called me every hour since, I wouldn't have needed a nap today." The girl, Aoko, turned around in an embarrassed pout. She looked eerily similar to Ran, but her voice, at least, was different.

"That's..." Whatever she said was mumbled, so they couldn't hear it from across the street. Shinichi shook his head to clear it, before gesturing to Ran that they should leave. Whoever these look-a-likes were, they were unrelated to Ran's case. There was only one returned missing person reported in Ekoda, and it wasn't one of them.

Besides, he thought dryly as they turned to leave, having multiples of the same people turning up would cause a lot of unwanted attention, which I'm sure whoever's behind this mess wants to avoid.

It was as they were leaving that he felt eyes on him. He glanced back, only to find the boy watching them leave with a curious, slightly puzzled expression on his face. There was a hint of recognition there, before he turned back to the raging girl in front of him, seemingly losing interest. Shinichi turned back around, frowning slightly.

Ah... Maybe he recognized me from the papers, he realized. Since I was at a Kid heist recently.

That must have been it. He must've wondered what the Kid Killer was doing in Ekoda, since it was common knowledge that he was from Beika. He put it out of his mind fairly quickly.

"I guess that means you have two doppelgängers," said Ran thoughtfully.

"...What?"

"That guy, and Okita Soshi—you remember, Hattori-kun mentioned before that his kendo rival looks just like you."

"Now that you mention it, I guess he did say something like that."

"We'll have to keep him from meeting you," she said, a teasing lilt creeping into her voice. "Something bad might happen." Shinichi rolled his eyes, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"Please," he said with a snort. "Enough bad stuff has happened before now—I think meeting my doppelgängers are well overdue." She didn't laugh, but he was pleased to see a small smile grace her lips when he glanced up at her.

Bittersweet nostalgia settled in his gut. He hadn't realized how sorely he'd missed these kinds of interactions with Ran. It almost felt normal. But then he was reminded that neither of them was normal. At the very least, it helped a bit that he wasn't alone.

They walked the rest of the way in companionable silence. It was just as well it was a nice day out—the sun seemed to lift Ran's spirits. The mood didn't last, though, as they rounded the corner to the street their destination was on.

"Did something happen...?" muttered Ran, who'd seen it first. Shinichi blinked and redirected his attention to a house halfway down the street, where an ambulance was waiting. He frowned and checked his map.

"That's... where we need to go..." A sinking feeling gripped him as they got closer. There was a police car behind the ambulance, and a familiar officer standing at the front door.

"Wait here," he told her when they got close. She nodded, and he went up the front steps to the officer who was just putting his notebook back in his pocket.

"Takagi-keiji!" he called out, startling the man.

"Wha—Conan-kun?! What are you doing here?!"

"That's what I wanna ask—did something happen?" He eyed the ambulance warily, hoping his hunch was wrong.

"If you're asking if there's a case, then no," sighed Takagi. "The man who lived here, Ito Daiji, passed away in his sleep last night. Since he lives alone, his neighbor was the one who found him." Shinichi's brows furrowed, despite his best efforts to keep up an innocently curious expression. Thankfully, Takagi didn't seem to notice. "Since I was in the area when the call came in, I was ordered to do a routine check."

"'In his sleep'...? You sure?"

"Well, yeah. He was ninety-four years old, after all. So why are you here, Conan-kun?"

"Oh... Um..." Shinichi dejectedly watched the ambulance drive away. "I'd just wanted to ask him some questions, that's all." Takagi raised a brow.

"Some questions, huh?" he said flatly. "Is this about Ran-kun?"

"No!" Yes... "Just—he was on that list you gave me, remember?"

"Was he?" said the man thoughtfully. "Ah... so this should be for your 'unrelated project,' right? I'm sorry you didn't get to him in time. Would you like a ride home? I'm headed back to Beika very soon." Shinichi forced a smile and shook his head.

"No thanks. I'm here with my cousin today," he said, gesturing in Ran's direction.

"...Cousin...?" Takagi glanced over at Ran for a moment, but because she was wearing a hat, he didn't recognize her from that distance. As it should be. "Well, all right, then. Don't trouble him too much, alright?"

"'Kaaaay!" chirped Shinichi. He bade the man goodbye and made his way back to Ran. He dropped the smile as he got close to her.

"What happened?" she asked quietly, kneeling down so they could whisper to each other. "It wasn't a murder, was it?" Shinichi bit back a dry laugh. It really wasn't normal that that was the very first thing that occurred to them.

"Old age," he said. "At least, that's how it looks, but I'm pretty sure it's right." He heaved a dejected sigh. "Seems like I have to get all of my information second hand, now." Ran stood back up as Shinichi glanced at the teary-eyed woman standing in the doorway of the house next door. "She must be the neighbor who found him..."

He waited for Takagi to drive away before approaching the woman, dragging Ran with him by the wrist. The lady was just turning to go back inside when he called out to her.

"What happened to Ito-san, ma'am? Do you know? He promised to tell me some stories today." He used his most innocuous sounding voice, and felt Ran stiffen slightly beside him.

Right, he thought, somewhat guiltily. The personality shift must be jarring now that she knows the act...

"What? Oh, little boy... Ito-san died—last night, they told me. While he was sleeping, he just... He'd have been ninety-five next week, too..." She stifled a sob.

"Were you really close to him?" A nod.

"He practically raised most of the people in the neighborhood," she said in a wavering voice. "He was the nicest man—he never raised his voice, and was quick to dispel arguments. It... I always felt he'd be around forever..." She wiped at her eyes. "So, when he wasn't on the porch this morning..."

"You knew something was wrong just from that?"

"Sh—Conan-kun!" hissed Ran. Thankfully, the partial name slip just sounded like part of the scolding. The woman took no offense, however.

"Oh, yes," she said as if everyone would have known. "For as long as I've lived here, he sat on his porch at 8:30 A.M. The only other time he didn't was when he was kidnapped a few years ago." This was the part of the conversation he was anticipating.

"He was kidnapped? You mean like with bad guys and ransom and stuff?" he asked, making his eyes look as big as he could get away with without looking creepy. He inwardly cringed: that might've been too much.

"Oh, well... not exactly," she said with an amused smile. "Since there was no demand for a ransom, and no one actually saw him get taken." Shinichi frowned.

"No ransom? Then how do you know he was kidnapped?"

"Because two weeks later he was returned to his front door in the middle of the night, bound and gagged." Shinichi and Ran exchanged a glance.

"Huh... I guess they realized he lived alone," chirped Shinichi in what he hoped was a naïve tone. "He must've been really scared."

"No, he wasn't scared. In fact, when I asked him about it, he said he couldn't remember any of it." She seemed to remember something, looking thoughtfully to the side. "Perhaps he dreamed about it? He did mention having weird recurring dreams since then, but he never told me what they were." More tears spilled out. "And now he never will."

Sensing the conversation would go no further, Ran placed her hands on Shinichi's shoulders.

"Conan-kun, it's time to go," she said in a tone that brooked no argument. She looked up at the woman who'd started sobbing again. "We're terribly sorry for your loss, ma'am. I'm sorry we took up your time." The woman shook her head, indicating she hadn't minded, but was unable to express anything into words through the tears. She went back inside as Ran led Shinichi back to the street. She sighed.

"I guess he's unrelated," she said in a disheartened tone.

"What makes you say that?" asked Shinichi as they started walking back the way they came.

"Well, if he was that well known by everyone, someone definitely would have noticed if he started acting differently, right? Isn't it safe to assume he was taken by different people? Even if the disappearance and return was similar to mine, I mean." Shinichi smiled. It was a reasonable assumption.

"You're right," he said genially. "It's a good deduction, but we also don't have the full story. Unfortunately, with Ito-san's death, we won't get all the facts, either. The most suspicious thing so far is that not only was he missing for two weeks, his return was nearly identical to yours, if his neighbor was telling the truth." Ran frowned up at the sky.

"So where do we go from here?" she asked, glancing back, probably at the house.

"I should probably ask if he had a scar like yours on his chest," mused Shinichi as he took out his phone and pulled up his contacts list. "It's not likely something his neighbors would know about, so I'll just send Takagi-keiji a message. I doubt this will pan out, though, since he did appear to be the same person."

When he was satisfied with the inquiry, he hit 'send,' and slipped the phone back into his pocket. He glanced back up at Ran, who was nervously tugging at the brim of her cap, as if she was afraid her face was showing too much.

"If you keep acting like that, it'll draw more attention," he said in a bored voice. Ran grimaced, dropping her hand from the hat and shoved it into her pocket like she was afraid it would come back up to mess with the brim against her will. She didn't stop glancing around, though. Shinichi suppressed a dry chuckle.

That's not much better, you know, he thought before clearing his throat.

"Should we have lunch before we go back? It's already past one..." He trailed off at the odd look she gave him before he realized he'd slipped into his more childish speech. He grimaced. "Sorry," he murmured. Thankfully, she opted not to comment on it, responding instead to his suggestion.

"Something light would be okay- I still don't have much of an appetite."

Shinichi hummed thoughtfully as he pulled his phone back out to search for nearby restaurants.

The restaurant they ended up going to was a simple, cheap sushi place. It was fairly crowded, and the only spots open were two booths near the window. Ideally, Shinichi would've chosen somewhere near the back so he could keep an eye on the whole place, but beggars couldn't be choosers.

Things seemed like they were going well, until the waitress got a glimpse of Ran's face. She started flirting heavily after that, leaving a very red-faced, embarrassed Ran, and a very disgruntled and somewhat confused Shinichi. When she finally left, Ran leaned forward against the table, burying her face in her arms.

"I want to disappear," said Ran, voice muffled through her arms. Shinichi looked sourly at the waitress's back before speaking.

"You'd think she could take a hint," he said as he rested his chin in his hand, elbow propped up on the table. "That's some of the most aggressive flirting I've ever seen." He sighed as the bell on the door signaled a new customer. "Well, you can either ignore it, or tell her off." Ran peeked up at him from under the brim of her hat.

"I've met girls like that before," she groaned. "They won't back down just from that." As if on cue, the waitress came back with their platter and flirted a bit more, much to Ran's chagrin. Thankfully, whoever it was that had just come in cleared their throat.

"Excuse me, miss?" came a familiar voice that had Ran and Shinichi both raising their heads. "My friend and I are ready to order; if you're not too busy, that is." It was the couple they'd seen fighting earlier.

The waitress, having been interrupted, irritably looked over at the booth behind them, before her face lit up at the sight of the speaker.

"Sure thing, handsome! What'll you have?"

Ran and Shinichi exchanged glances as she switched targets. She didn't even seem to care that this new prospect already had a girl with him. Even more surprising, the boy started flirting back with just as much force, causing the surprised waitress visible discomfort.

"Hm? Something wrong?" he asked with a predatory grin. "Oh, right- we'll have the number fifteen, thanks." The waitress left, face beet red, and the restaurant was finally quiet.

"… Aoko can't believe Kaito did that…" said Aoko in a surprisingly resigned voice. The boy, Kaito, flashed a sharp grin at her.

"I flirt with everyone, you know that!" he defended. "It's not my fault she can't take what she dishes out. Besides, I can't resist an open invitation to tease." Aoko frowned at him.

"Anyway, what kind of person comes to a sushi restaurant and doesn't even order any sushi?"

"Obviously, the Kaito kind. Plus, this place has the best shoguyaki in town. It's hardly my fault if no one realizes it because they're too busy ordering… fish." He shuddered.

Shinichi was only half paying attention to the conversation behind him as he loaded his plate up with sushi. When Ran didn't take any, he looked up only to find her glancing around again. He frowned.

"Hey… You've been doing that since earlier," he whispered. "What's wrong?" Ran leaned forward and spoke in a low voice, holding a hand up to help project her words to him.

"I'm not sure when it started, but I feel like someone's watching me."

Immediately alert, Shinichi sat up straighter and glanced out the window they were sitting next to. He didn't see anyone suspicious from his vantage point, but he couldn't turn around without looking suspicious himself.

"Don't look around," he said authoritatively. "Act natural and load up your plate. I'll be right back."

"Where are you going?" she asked, voice trembling at the thought of being left alone.

"Just to the toilet," he said loudly in his Conan voice. She blinked in surprise and sat back, nervously eyeing the food in front of her. Shinichi slid out of his seat and headed to the restrooms in the back of the restaurant, finding—to his delight—a small alcove he could tuck himself into. He did just that and peered around the wall, surveying the entire floor with ease.

There was nothing out of the ordinary that he could see here, either. He prided his ability to sense eyes on him, which he hadn't felt, but if the target was Ran, it would make sense he didn't feel anything. His frown deepened. He didn't think she was being paranoid—even before her disappearance, she'd been pretty sensitive with stuff like that…

When he came back to the booth, Ran raised a brow in silent question, to which he answered with a small head shake. She bit her lip.

"I believe you," he assured her. "I just don't see the responsible party. When we're done here, we'll go back home and hopefully they'll stop." Of course, it wasn't a guarantee, but unless the gaze she was feeling was malicious, there was a very low chance of anyone taking the hour-long train ride just to follow her.

True to his word, when they finished eating, they left straight for the subway station. It was blessedly less crowded than before, and Ran seemed to relax more as they got farther from Ekoda. Shinichi had been right; whoever the mystery watcher was, they opted not to follow them home. It was just as well—if he wasn't dealing with potential stalkers, he could put all his focus on hopefully breaking this case wide open.