SailorStar9: With Chapter 27 uploaded, this is Chapter 28 of this fic. (Sighs) Guys and girls, is it too hard for you to leave a review, instead of just putting this fic up on your favorited list and story alerts?
Pairings: Furuya Rei (Amuro Tooru)/Mizuno Ami
Disclaimers: I own absolutely nothing, except this plot and pairing.
Chapter 28: Taiko Meijin's Match of Love, Part One
"It's nearly time." Conan noted, the Detective Boys were riding Professor Agasa's Beetle.
"Nearly time?" Mitsuhiko echoed.
"Taiko Meijin, Haneda Shukichi's Meijin title match." Conan answered. "Apparently, the only title he's missing is Meijin."
"He has a Sextuplet Crown?" Professor Agasa mused.
"Yeah." Conan nodded. "Once he regains the Meijin title today, he'll have a Septuple Crown. He'll be the second person to achieve the feat."
"Then, the seven Yumi-san mentioned..." Mitsuhiko stated.
"Yeah, probably." Conan replied.
"Since he'll have all seven, she'll know what's inside the envelop." Mitsuhiko was excited.
"I wonder what's inside." Ayumi gushed.
"Probably a marriage registration form." Haibara suggested.
"Is Yumi-san getting married?" Mitsuhiko exclaimed.
"But we don't know that yet, right?" Fumio pointed out.
"Hello?" Conan took the call when his cellphone rang. "Sera-no-nee-chan?" he exclaimed. "What's going on?"
"I just moved to a new hotel." Sera informed. "I was wondering if you wanted to come hang out. I'm at Hotel Hyde Pride. It's pretty near the detective agency."
"I can't." Conan answered. "I'm in a car right now. We're just visiting power spots together."
"Taiko Meijin?" Conan blinked, seeing the panting shogi master at the Meiji Jingu jinja grounds.
"You..." Haneda recognized the youngsters.
"What's wrong?" Conan inquired. "Isn't your Meijin match today?"
"Actually, I..." Haneda started. "I just need a change in pace."
"Isn't the match being held at a hotel in Yamanashi?" Professor Agasa wondered.
"Yes." Haneda answered. "So I took two hours so I could come here to pray."
"It's Taiko Meijin." Conan played the gushing fanboy. "Can I have your autograph? See?" he grinned. "Even if anyone's watching, it'll just look like we're fans. There's no way you'd come here on the day of your match, so people will think you're a lookalike."
"You're right." Haneda concurred.
"Then, could you just tell us why you really came here while pretending to give me your autograph? Conan handed the detective notebook over.
"No way!" Ayumi exclaimed.
"Yumi-san was kidnapped?" Mitsuhiko echoed.
"Did you find anything at the well?" Conan asked.
"Actually, I don't know where it is." Haneda admitted. "Wait, you know where it is?"
"Well, there's only one well in this shrine." Fumio stated. "In fact, we were just there. And apparently, visiting it gives you good luck."
"This shrine's best well-known well is Kiyomasa's Well, dug by Kiyomasa Kato." Conan went into historical professor mode.
"Kiyomasa served Hideyoshi." Ayumi added.
"He was a valorous warrior." Mitsuhiko remarked. "He's also known for building Kumamoto Castle."
"A TV star who using a photo of the well as her screen-saver suddenly became popular and now it's known as a power spot for good luck." Haibara stated.
"But doesn't Taiko refer to Hideyoshi Toyotomi?" Mitsuhiko wondered.
"I don't get it, though." Professor Agasa mused. "How do you know this text indicates this shrine? One of the seven shrines is attacked by thieves. The sanctuary is emptied on the second day. The priest's daughter hiding in the well is kidnapped as well."
"The seven refer to the seven major shogi titles." Fumio explained, his vast knowledge of the various chess variants coming into play. "Meijin, Ryuo, Kio, Osho, Oza, Kisei, and Oi." he listed with his fingers. "Since the sender called himself the Headless Shogi Player and instructed him to decipher his game record. Originally, shogi was not about capturing your opponent's King, but stealing his treasure. Assuming the empty sanctuary means the king or treasure has disappeared, of the seven titles, the two that do not contain the character 'king' are Meijin and Kisei. Taking into account that it took two days for the treasure to disappear, then it has to be one of the matches played across two days; the Meijin match, Ryuo match, Oi match, or Osho match. Narrowing down to the only title match without 'king' in it's name, it's the Meijin match. In other words, a shrine whose name contains 'Meijin', or 'Meiji Jingu'."
"Isn't that the reason why you left your title match to come here, Taiko Meijin?" Conan asked, leading the group to the well.
"Since the priest's daughter hiding in the well was kidnapped, I thought I could find a clue about Yumi-san's abduction around the shrine's well." Haneda reasoned.
"The culprit said he'd wait until your time ran out." Professor Agasa read from the card. "How long is that?"
"About three hours and fifty minutes." Haneda looked at his watch.
"So, our time limit is 3 pm." Haibara concluded.
"Then, there's no time to waste." Conan declared. "Let's go back to Kiyomasa's Well."
This is an incense chariot piece. Conan picked out the shogi piece from the water.
"Is that the clue the culprit left behind?" Professor Agasa wondered.
"It says 'second game' on the bottom of the piece." Conan looked at the chess piece's bottom.
"There's a weird diagram on the back of the piece." Mitsuhiko pointed out.
"Doesn't it look like a face?" Genta looked closer. "Like this." he placed a finger to his lips, indicating silence.
"First, we need to decipher the meaning of the numbers inside the circle." Haibara cut in.
"Seven and three..." Conan mused. "Even if seven's the seven titles, what's the three?"
"The only thing that comes to mind is the third-level professional league." Haneda inputted.
"It's Detective Satou." Conan received a call.
"Hello, Conan-kun?" Satou voiced over the line. "This is Satou. Do you know where Yumi is? She missed work for two days in a row, she hasn't been home, and she's not answering her phone. You don't know where she is, do you?"
"Yeah, we know." Conan replied. "We're looking for her right now. Yumi-san got really drunk a couple nights ago and took a taxi to a strange town. She lost her phone and wallet, so she called us from a pay phone with the change in her pocket. But she ran out of money and the call ended. I know Yumi-san will find some way to contract us. You should get a patrol car ready when she does."
"So, we just have to decipher the code." Haibara noted.
"Does the incense chariot mean anything else?" Mitsuhiko pressed.
"Apparently, it's supposed to help with easier births." Haneda stated. "It's what they call red-light district workers."
"And" Haibara asked. "Why were red-light district workers called incense chariots?"
"It's probably because it's also called the lance." Fumio answered.
"But why are they called that?" Ayumi was puzzled.
"That's because the piece moves in a straight line any amount of spaces." Fumio replied.
Wait. Conan was struck by inspiration. Wasn't Kiyomasa Kato...
Then, this seven and three... Haneda came to the same conclusion. I see..
So that's what it means. Conan gave the shogi player a knowing grin.
"It looks like you've figured it out." Haibara noted. "You do plan on telling the rest of us, don't you?"
"Professor, bring the car around." Conan instructed. "We'll tell you once we get there."
SailorStar9: Any OOC-ness is regretted, by the way. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Read and review.