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

Pairing: KaitoxShinichi

Lure

Chapter 49 - A Tale of Curses

"My name is Ichimiya Asami," the lady of the house said. "And this is my husband, Ichimiya Yuu. Yuu's cousin, Rin, is a good friend of your mother's." She nodded to Heiji. "I always envied the closeness he has with his cousins and other relatives. You see, relations on my side of the family have always been a bit…complicated. My uncle, the man who owned this estate, was one of those complications."

Ichimiya Asami sighed as she picked up her cup of tea. "I suppose the story begins with my grandparents on my father's side. They used to have a very lucrative business in the textile industry, but they fell on hard times and found themselves very deeply in debt. They had two children, my father and his older sister. My dad was still in middle school when the trouble started. His sister was in college. They were both forced to drop out of school and help out at home though neither of them had any interest in the family business. Needless to say, no one was very happy.

"They never managed to turn the business around. But just as they were about to lose everything, a man named Iwajima Takuya came to them and asked for my aunt's hand in marriage. Apparently, he had seen her in passing on the street and been captivated by her beauty. He was a very wealthy man, so my grandparents agreed right away without asking my aunt for her opinion."

"That sucks," Heiji commented, eliciting a wry smile from Asami.

"Yes, well, technically it turned out well for my aunt. She wasn't very happy about the arrangement to begin with, but her husband doted on her. From what I heard, she ended up falling for him too. She was happy, but she also never let the rest of the family forget that the only reason they were able to pay off their debts was because of her and her husband. She often made them do debasing things for her and went out of her way to embarrass them in front of her wealthy acquaintances."

Shinichi thought that he could definitely see why relations were tense on Asami's father's side of the family.

"Anyway, fast forward a few years," Asami said. "Now this part of the story is all stuff I found out recently when I was informed about this place, so I can't provide any details. What I know is that, at some point, my aunt and Takuya-san became interested in the occult."

"The occult?" Heiji echoed, looking puzzled. "That's kind of random isn't it?"

"Well, I can see how it might come across that way," Asami said. "But I was told that my aunt was always interested in that sort of thing growing up—fortune telling, charms, and that sort. But then she started getting white hairs and wrinkles, and she and her husband started dabbling in more…questionable practices. They were both terrified of aging."

Shinichi hid a grimace in his cup. Somehow he wasn't surprised.

Heiji echoed his thoughts out loud with a snort. "Figures it'd be something like that. But what's that got to do with you guys?"

"It shouldn't have anything to do with us if you ask me," Yuu grumbled. "Problem is, no one else seems to see it that way."

"Really Yuu, that's not much of an explanation," his wife chided with a fond laugh before returning her attention to the detectives. "To put it simply, both Takuya-san and my aunt passed away suddenly right here in this house. And when I say suddenly, I don't just mean that their passing was unexpected. It was sudden because their bodies were found seated at a table across from one another in a closed off room covered in occult paraphernalia. The man who found them was delivering their weekly grocery order. He saw that the door was open and that the previous weeks' groceries hadn't been brought in. So he went inside to see if anyone needed help and found—that. The forensics people said it looked like some kind of crazy ritual suicide. The police briefly entertained the idea of foul play, but there was nothing to suggest that it wasn't self-inflicted, so they closed the case. They removed the bodies, of course, and a few key items such as the glasses they were drinking from and the like, but they saw no need to take the rest, so it was all still here when we arrived. I've never been superstitious, but I was curious, so I had a college friend who studies occult symbols and stories for his artwork come in to look at it for us. He found it very disturbing. He said it was some kind of cobbled together ritual using bits of different lore aimed at, well, coming back to life, basically—of dying and making the soul come back in some more permanent form."

Heiji whistled. "Sounds like the start of a horror movie."

"My friend thought so too. He advised we get the place exorcised. I'm sorry to say I didn't take him very seriously. I think I made a joke about it."

"But it turned out the joke was on us," her husband said grimly. "It started out with just little things. We called some people in to help us look at what needed to be done to start renovating the place. We weren't actually living here at the time yet. The people we called sent us messages about weird signs they found painted on the doors that weren't there the first time we came to see the property. There were also signs that someone might have broken in. We thought it was just vandalism because there really wasn't anything to steal by then. We'd already sold everything that was originally in the house to one of those treasure hunting people who buy everything at once in old estates to take away and sort through for hidden antiques and things. But we had the gates repaired and the walls checked out since we didn't want more vandalism once the construction had started. Then we got to work on the house."

"Things kept getting damaged or broken though, and we continued to find odd markings on the doors and walls," Asami explained. "At some point, someone mentioned how a lot of the damage and markings looked like claw marks and old blood, and, well, people started to get a bit nervous. It didn't help that some of them had found out about the circumstances around my aunt and uncle's deaths and started spreading the story around. But we finished the working on the main areas of the house."

"At that point Asami and I moved in because we were sure it was someone on the workforce trying to play a bad joke on us. We figured they'd stop if we were here to oversee the work. And we hoped that our presence would also make the more nervous workers more comfortable. We wanted to show them that there was nothing to be afraid of."

"Weren't you worried that the culprit might get violent?" Shinichi asked, curious. Even if the couple wasn't superstitious, it seemed a bit like asking for trouble to have marched into the heart of the trouble area before they had any idea what was really going on.

Yuu looked mildly ashamed. "We probably should have. But you have to understand, at the time, everything that had happened just seemed like someone with an awful taste in practical jokes was out to make our lives more difficult. I suppose it helped put us at ease some that the vandalism didn't encroach much on the main areas of the house that we were working on. That, and we weren't planning on having any of the workmen here overnight. During the day, we planned to stick together or for Asami to stay near our chef. He's a longtime friend, and he's got a black belt in judo."

"So the vandalism was focused in certain areas?" Shinichi checked.

Asami nodded. "Yes. The basement and the west wing. There were instances when it occurred in other places as well, but those have been considerably less frequent. We assumed it was because the basement and west wing were where there's been the least activity from us and the workmen, so it was easier for the culprit to do things without being caught."

"So what made you guys change your mind about this whole thing being serious?" asked Heiji.

"I suppose the first incident was when the workmen we had looking over the basement levels reported hearing strange noises," said Asami. "They swore they heard something scratching at the other sides of the walls. One even claimed to hear growling as though there was a giant dog just out of sight. We searched the basement together, but naturally we didn't find any animals. We did, however, find scratch marks—gigantic ones bigger than anything a natural animal could have made. What's more, the marks seemed fresh."

"I have the pictures here." Yuu slid his phone across the table to the two detectives. It was open to a series of photos displaying scratched up walls just as Asami had described.

Shinichi was immediately reminded of the marred sign they had seen on their way to the house.

"Not long after the noises started, one of the workmen said he saw a monster," Yuu continued while the boys scrolled through the photos. "He came running out of the basement screaming about it. He claimed he saw a huge, shadowy, wolf-like monstrosity with glowing eyes and massive teeth. Then he quit and left. He was only the first of several."

Heiji passed the phone back to its owner. "Did they all report seeing the monster?"

The couple had to think about this for a moment before Asami answered.

"I don't think so," she said. "Though they all referenced it, so it's difficult to say. Most of them weren't terribly coherent about their experiences, all considered. But I do remember that a few people left because they encountered accidents that they attributed to what they ended up calling the Curse of the Beasts."

"Dramatic bunch," Yuu grunted. "We don't know who started it, but there ended up being this whole story going around about how it had to be the spirits of Takuya and his wife returned in the guise of monsters to chase off all of us invaders in their territory. By that point, we had people leaving by the droves."

"So here we are," Asami concluded then laughed a little helplessly. "I have to admit, it's enough to make me wish we'd accepted the offer when someone asked to buy this place instead of deciding to move in ourselves. But Yuu here insists that he's not going to be run off by pranksters."

"It's the principle of the thing," her husband huffed. "I'm not letting whatever bastard is behind all this get away with everything they've done. I'm certainly not going to just give them what they obviously want by abandoning this place."

Asami shot her husband a fondly exasperated look before turning her attention back to the boys. "Anyway, that's the story. The thing is, we're out of ideas on how to proceed. That's why we need your help."

"We'll find the culprit for ya," Heiji promised. "First though, can we get a look around the property?"

"Of course." Yuu stood up, and his wife followed suit. "I assume you'll want to look at the places where the incidents occurred?"

"Actually, could we get a tour of the entire building?" asked Shinichi. "It would help to get a feel for the layout of the premises."

"Ah, right. That makes sense. We'll start with the outside then while we still have a little light to see by," Yuu decided. "Then we'll work our way in to the afflicted areas. Then we can discuss anything we find over dinner."

Heiji nodded. "Sounds like a plan. Just lead the way."

That said, they headed out of the house with Yuu and Heiji in the lead and Shinichi and Asami trailing a little behind.

-To Be Continued-