Chapter 38: "Catch Up" Isn't a Condiment
Friendly reminder that the movies do not happen in this story. But Shinichi's already turned 17 at some point after getting poisoned, so I personally think he spent a very sad and uneventful birthday pondering his life choices. Also, Gosho once stated that Nakamichi is supposed to be to Shinichi what Sonoko is to Ran, but... well, if he wanted that kind of relationship, he really should have shown it earlier. My personal headcanon is that Shinichi doesn't have many friends outside of Ran and Sonoko, but does have what I refer to as "school friends." I had these when I was in school- I was good friends with them, but only interacted with them during school (I have maybe 2 best friends I talk to regularly nowadays, so it's at least relatable to me).
I also made up an entire building in the Ebisu area simply because I couldn't choose between what was already there. It was easier, okay? Gosho makes up places all the time, so I'm pretty sure I have some dignity left lol.
I didn't feel like posting it here, but if you pop over to ao3, I've put a rant about Bourbon in the end notes if you're interested in reading that. Otherwise, enjoy.
They were close.
According to Haibara, the latest test resembling an EEG gave her a much better understanding of how the brain worked around Ran's sleeping consciousness. She even had a few hypotheses to test—methods she could effectually start ruling out or improving on as needed once she plugged the new data into the simulator.
Shinichi went back to his house, teetering dangerously on hope, despite everything being terribly theoretical. It was still a step in the right direction, still a step closer to getting Ran back.
They were so close.
He went back to the computer room, already feeling his focus slipping from the task he'd set for himself, and sat down. He closed his eyes and breathed as he willed himself to turn the hope into attention. When he was satisfied his thoughts wouldn't hamper his work, he opened his eyes and began the search anew.
He hadn't found anything, yet—since Kid's hidden cameras were still so new, he would need to wait for one of the cars they knew about to surface. Thankfully, once they knew where those cars were going, it would be much easier to parse out the other vehicles they used. Besides knowing how many cars were in play, there may be a way to head off future kidnappings. While he wasn't entirely sure how he could get that to work, he was certain he'd think of something eventually. What was more important now was finding the headquarters.
As he waited for a ping on a known vehicle, he idly flipped through the more pedestrian cars, hoping to spot something suspicious. He did spot a pick pocket, but the man was apprehended almost immediately—an amateur among amateurs. He sighed heavily and continued flipping through mind-numbing monotony.
After a few hours of nothing, he resolved to check on Heiji's progress. Perhaps if they had the nurse's car plates, they could find out if she regularly went anywhere not home or hospital. If he got a hit while he was gone, the alert would be waiting for him.
Mind made up, he went to his room. Heiji was sprawled out on the bed, laptop in front of him, a notebook cast off beside him. He looked bored out of his mind.
The other Shinichi was absent.
"Hattori."
Heiji's head snapped up to attention, reminding him of an overzealous puppy.
"Kudo!" Shinichi never failed to be in awe of Heiji's enthusiasm upon seeing him.
"Why're you so excited? You saw me at lunch—you're in my house."
"That was hours ago!" came the reply, not quite a whine. "An' I didn't wanna bother ya while you were workin'." Shinichi rolled his eyes even as his best friend huffed. "'S not my fault yer good company."
"I don't feel like good company," he admitted despite the warm fondness settling in his chest.
"Good company deserves company when they're feelin' down," Heiji said with a shrug, as if that explained anything. Maybe it did.
"That aside," dismissed Shinichi, uncomfortable with that level of attentiveness from anyone not Ran, "I wanted to know what you've found on your end." Heiji perked up again, reaching for the discarded notebook next to him.
"Yer Miko-neechan typically drives a blue four door sedan."
"Typically?"
"I only have a few days' worth of footage so far, but that's the car she's been drivin' up 'til yesterday. Then she switched out with a beige coupe." He scratched at the back of his head thoughtfully. "Dunno if maybe there was somethin' wrong with her car, or if the coupe is actually what she drives while the sedan was a loaner—that's somethin' that requires more than just a week of footage." Shinichi nodded.
"We can still plug both models into the search function of Kid's program." He headed for the computer and frowned. "Where's…?"
"I haven't seen either of you since lunch," supplied Heiji.
So I'm the last one to see him, he mused. It's been a few hours since then…
He shrugged it off—if the other Shinichi still didn't show up by dinner, he'd look for him then. Otherwise, he needed to get back to work. Heiji gave him a half-hearted smile, unsaid opinions hanging in the air, but ultimately dropped the subject, opting instead to give the tiny teen his notes. Shinichi thanked him quietly, and turned to the computer.
It didn't take long at all to get the evidence they needed—the blue sedan did appear to be Miko's main vehicle. Sifting through all the saved footage, he noted that she disappeared in Ebisu roughly once a week, which put her very high on his suspect list. He just needed to catch her on the new cameras to see if she just shops once a week or if there was actually something more sinister going on. While her actions were incredibly suspicious, she might still be innocent in all of this. It would mean the loss of a massive lead, but he wished she was innocent—there were far too many reasons for him to not trust people already.
"Time to cross reference this…" he muttered. He opted to stay in his room for this, since he was already there. If the clone came back before he was done, he'd move his work back to the computer room, but for now… Well, the company wasn't unappreciated.
Heiji hung over the back of Shinichi's chair, watching the screen with interest. There wasn't much else the taller boy could do, so Shinichi didn't bother objecting to it.
Pulling up the saved footage for the new cameras could sadly only reveal one trip Miko made, but it was still much more than they'd had before. She was driving the blue sedan.
He tracked the car all the way to the Garden Center, past the Yebisu View Tower, and into a large parking complex. There were no cameras planted in the building, so he waited to see whether she would come out as a pedestrian or not.
An hour after the blue sedan went into the garage with no signs of a pedestrian Miko, the beige coupe they'd tagged came out.
"What building is that?" asked Heiji.
"It's a parking garage, mostly used by visitors that don't want to pay the premiums of parking in the buildings attached to the businesses around the area," said Shinichi as he tracked the coupe out of Ebisu back to an apartment complex in Haido he'd need to check for the blue sedan at. "The rates are cheaper there, so the people can spend the whole day shopping if they want." He marked the location with the coupe, ultimately deciding this was probably where she lived before going back a few days in the footage to confirm it with the other car.
"So, definitely not a rental agency," laughed Heiji. "Do ya think that's our place?"
"I think we need to keep an eye on it—it's definitely suspicious, but I need to see more than just Miko-san coming and going."
"Great, more waitin'," moaned Heiji as he slid off the chair back and onto the floor.
"You don't have to be here," Shinichi pointed out once again. "In fact, isn't today Sunday? Shouldn't you be on your way home by now?" Heiji waved his hand dismissively.
"So maybe I'm extendin' my long weekend fer a day or two more—Kazuha's even been takin' notes fer me, even though I keep tellin' her not ta bother with it." He hummed thoughtfully. "I can't stay the whole week, though—got some tests comin' up on Friday."
"Lucky you."
"Speakin' of tests, how the hell're you even passin' school right now?"
"I'm not," was the deceptively easy reply that did nothing to ease the vice grip that suddenly grabbed his heart. "I'll need to take the remedial tests to graduate—honestly, my hope is to have everything taken care of by then, but… Well, it's looking more and more like I'll have to try and convince Haibara to give me an antidote to be able to pull it off."
It was something he couldn't bring himself to think too deeply on, lest he lose himself to even more despair. He had more than enough on his plate without that sort of distraction.
"At the very least, I do email in my homework. I didn't, originally—not until that first prototype antidote allowed me to go back for a day and I was able to tell my teachers I'm away on a case." Not until that first inkling of hope for a cure, a whispered promise at returning to a normal life.
It had been short-lived, but damned if it wasn't the best twenty-four hours he'd had in what felt like a lifetime.
"And they let you get away with that, huh?" To his credit, Heiji didn't ask what Shinichi's parents thought—he'd met Yukiko, whose attitude said more than enough about both her and Yusaku's stance on things.
"To be fair, I did have a reputation—that's what brought you to Tokyo in the first place, remember? Other than that, my previous test scores say more than enough for my ability to keep up, on top of being labeled a know-it-all pretty solidly by my classmates. I've been known to correct teachers, at times."
He had the impression that the teachers at least were relieved to get a reprieve from his cocky attitude. Quite a few of his classmates, too, if he was being honest. There were a few that missed him, as was evidenced by his brief return to class, but they weren't especially close and weren't too upset by his leaving again for a 'case.' 'School friends' his mom had called them once, a long time ago. Close at school but nowhere else, with no pressure to be acquainted outside of the mandatory hours.
He vaguely wondered what those interactions might look like in the future, now that he's been so thoroughly humbled.
Heiji snorted out a laugh. "Correctin' the teachers, huh? Why doesn't that surprise me?" Shinichi just rolled his eyes. It wasn't his fault they were wrong sometimes. He was just making sure his classmates had the correct information for testing.
Okay, it was really for Ran to have accurate notes—the rest of the class just benefited by virtue of being there.
Unfortunately, all this talk about the normal life he no longer had access to was making his mood take a nosedive.
He was sixteen when he'd been poisoned.
He was seventeen, now, and had been for quite some time. He'd been stuck as Conan on his birthday, no hope of a cure in sight, hiding in a bathroom while fielding a phone call from a very distressed Ran who didn't understand why he couldn't come home.
His entire tenure as a seventeen-year-old he'd been stuck as Conan, with a very few brief reprieves.
Heiji must have noticed his souring mood because he quickly changed the subject.
"So, have ya found anythin' in your footage search?"
"Not yet—the Ebisu cameras are even newer than the hospital garage camera, so there's even less to work with," he explained gloomily.
"Which means even more waitin'," concluded Heiji with a big sigh. "Feels like that's all we've been doin', recently."
"To be fair, when stuff is actually happening, everything seems to go wrong."
"Hmm… We'll just hafta make sure nothin' else goes wrong, then."
How are you so upbeat? wondered Shinichi.
His stomach growled unexpectedly, and he groaned.
"Guess it's suppertime."
"I'm not hungry." His stomach loudly disagreed, the traitor.
"Ya sure about that?" His tone was lightly teasing, thankfully, rather than accusing or demanding. Shinichi sighed heavily.
"Fine," he grumbled as he pushed the chair back and hopped down. Heiji just grinned at him from his place on the floor before getting up himself.
"It's only three times a day," he laughed. "It doesn't take up too much time."
It's not the time I'm complaining about, though, thought Shinichi.
XxX
The other Shinichi was already in the kitchen by the time Shinichi and Heiji got there. He was eating what appeared to be hiyashi chuka—unseasoned, just like the cold tofu Shinichi had come to expect. There were two more bowls sitting on the island counter; a small one without seasoning, and one twice as big as Not-Shinichi's which was fully seasoned. Subaru was nowhere to be found.
Heiji's face lit up at the extra-large portion and he didn't hesitate to dig in, seating himself more as an afterthought than anything. Shinichi was just glad the food remained light enough for his stomach not to rebel.
"So where've you been?" asked Heiji once he'd downed half his bowl.
"I needed a break," said Not-Shinichi blandly, idly gesturing to the back of his head. Shinichi nodded, but Heiji looked incredulous.
"A break? You?"
"Thinking too hard irritates the skull fracture," he said flatly. Heiji blinked a few times as he processed the response.
"You're pretty much screwed, huh?"
Not-Shinichi sighed as he leaned forward and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Seems like it," he said, not even bothering to put up a token protest, which clued Shinichi into the exhaustion he kept tucked away under the deadpan reply.
"It sounds like an early turn-in wouldn't be a bad idea," came Subaru's voice from the doorway, signaling the man's entry. Shinichi turned to look at the man, watching as he made his way to the sink. Heiji scoffed.
"Have you met any of us?" he asked, tone mostly teasing. Subaru just smiled.
"It's merely a suggestion," he said serenely. "I'm well aware I can't make anyone do anything they don't want to." Heiji watched Subaru with narrowed eyes as he polished off his bowl.
"As long as you know, then," he murmured before excusing himself out of the room. Subaru smiled pleasantly as he eyed the two Shinichis that were listlessly pushing their food around with their chopsticks.
"You know about me," said Subaru after Heiji had been gone for more than a minute. The comment was aimed at the clone, but Shinichi found himself stalling his chopsticks just in front of his mouth at the implications. Not-Shinichi glanced his way before focusing on the disguised FBI agent.
"I don't know who you are, if you're worried about that," began the other Shinichi slowly. "But I'm ninety-eight percent certain I know the situation."
"Oh? And what would that be?" Subaru asked, clearly entertained by the whole thing, even if Shinichi couldn't find any humor in the situation at all.
"That you're an undercover FBI agent who faked your death."
Shinichi really shouldn't have been surprised.
"And your reasoning?" asked Subaru as he collected Heiji's discarded bowl to take to the sink.
"When I first came over here from the hospital, I noticed a bunch of hidden cameras set up in the entrance and living room. When I asked about it, I was told it was to help with an FBI agent's cover, but that wasn't elaborated on."
Oops. So much had happened since then, Shinichi had completely forgotten he'd said he would explain it later. "Sorry," he mumbled. Not-Shinichi waved him off in favor of continuing his line of reasoning.
"Where my memories stop, I haven't met any FBI agents. I asked Hattori about it. He didn't know anything about the cameras, but he did reveal he knew about the existence of four agents that Sh… that Shinichi had dealings with, and that one of them had died." Shinichi didn't miss the way he stumbled over his name. It left a sour taste in his mouth.
"You," he continued, pointing at Subaru, "have no purpose being here that I can see, unless Sh-Shinichi has a reason. I've been told the FBI is here for the Black Organization, and that Shinichi hasn't been forthcoming in recent information to Hattori—which means a life is being kept secret. In that case, the only way for the cameras and your presence to make sense is if you were the FBI agent that needed helping."
Subaru applauded the deduction, that serene smile never leaving his face.
"Very well done," he said before reaching up to turn off his voice changer. "I had wondered when you would come to me about it, but hadn't realized you were working with such limited information." The clone startled a bit at the undisguised voice. "Then again, I really shouldn't be surprised since you share a mind with the orchestrator of my death and subsequent birth, as it were."
Shinichi rolled his eyes at the dramatic phrasing as he put his chopsticks down. His clone sent an appraising glance his way, but wasn't at all surprised at Subaru's words, which meant he'd also deduced Shinichi's involvement in the plot.
Again, Shinichi shouldn't really be surprised. He was the one to come up with that plan, so it only made sense another him could figure it out.
He shoved down the panicked discomfort that it hadn't taken much for Amuro to figure it out, either.
The other Shinichi silently studied Subaru's back as the man washed Heiji's dishes.
"… Can you tell me about it?"
"Not without outing a few more covers," came the easy reply. Not-Shinichi looked disappointed, but not that surprised.
"Right," he sighed as he continued to pick at his food. "is there anything else I should expect to not know about?" His tone was resigned, but with the slumped shoulders and pointed glare into his food, Shinichi could see the pout for what it was.
Shinichi hated not knowing things. Even worse, he hated knowing that sometimes others withheld information from him. Heiji was the same, and for all he had to keep from the other detective, he made sure to throw as much information his way as was safely doable. Unlike Heiji, Shinichi could often accept limited to no information. Sort of. If it was unimportant enough.
This was not one of those times, and Shinichi could already see his clone valiantly attempting to ignore the mystery. It would eat at him until he got wind of something else, which wasn't at all helpful in resting that injury.
There was something that needed to be addressed, though, so…
"We should probably warn you about Amuro," he decided. Rather than a tidbit or a redirection, this was an actual problem that needed to be taken care of in some capacity. Subaru nodded thoughtfully, likely seeing the potential issue.
"Amuro?"
"Amuro Tohru," said Subaru absently as he reached up to turn his voice changer back on. "Hm, yes, I see the problem." Shinichi saw the gears turning in his mind, wondering what to divulge. He also saw the exact moment the man decided "screw it," knowing full well what kind of deductions Shinichi was capable of, and elected to catch the clone up to speed, if not completely divulge everything. The other Shinichi must have noticed it, too, and perked up considerably.
"He's working undercover as a Black Organization agent called Bourbon."
"… More FBI?"
"PSB," said Subaru. "The problem comes from the fact that he'll do almost anything to secure his position in the organization and move up their ranks."
Not-Shinichi frowned as they gave a brief overview of how the officer in question was willing to expose that Subaru's identity was still alive, which in turn would have guaranteed not only his death, but the death of the undercover CIA agent who helped him pull it off.
At the mention of CIA involvement, the clone sent a flat look to Shinichi that screamed, "really?" Shinichi could only shrug, since it wasn't like he went out of his way to have the most complicated, life altering case possible just land in his lap. He'd evidently given up any semblance of normalcy the night he followed Vodka.
"Ideally, you won't meet him at all," Subaru said, tone deceptively light. "But if you do happen to run into him, please keep in mind what he's willing to do. Since he's one of the organization's top information gatherers, he likely already knows Kudo Shinichi is meant to be dead. He wouldn't be below revealing that status as incorrect in an attempt to take Gin down a peg, similarly to how he cornered Miyano Shiho not too long ago. He doesn't know you two have shrunk, and it's best you keep it that way."
"He cornered Haibara and still doesn't know about the shrinking?" asked Not-Shinichi incredulously.
"He cornered Kaitou Kid disguised as Miyano Shiho," snapped Shinichi. "We were on a train, and I uncovered Kid as he was scoping out a potential… target." He paused, before reluctantly muttering, "and I almost got him killed…" He still held a lot of guilt over that, even though he wouldn't have asked for the help if he wasn't certain Kid would escape.
Likely sensing the landmine of a subject, the other Shinichi decided to drop that part of the conversation.
"It sounds suspiciously like I can't even leave the house," he said, latching onto the more important topic.
"When that wound heals a bit more, you can wear a hat," said Subaru apologetically. "Ran-san usually did, though it was for an unrelated reason."
Shinichi made a mental note to warn Ran about Amuro as well, and could have slapped himself for forgetting. It was easy to forget what the man was willing to do for his perception of the greater good, since otherwise his demeanor was usually quite pleasant.
At the mention of Ran, Shinichi noticed a subtle shift in the other him. His jaw clenched as his shoulders set back. A resolved glint in his eyes made his thoughts difficult to parse out. He wasn't at all sure what to make of it.
That… for once, he didn't know what his clone was thinking. Should he be scared? Relieved?
… Should it be normal to feel so apathetic about it, or was he subconsciously putting off any emotions he had on the matter?
…
He would explore that later. There were much more pressing things presently than his own muddled mess of feelings.
"A hat, got it," muttered Not-Shinichi solemnly before excusing himself from the table. "Thanks for telling me." He quickly left the room, leaving the other two to, in Shinichi's case, finish eating. Subaru apparently ate beforehand, since there was no evidence of another plate. Shinichi quietly pushed his food around, trying to ignore the prickling gaze the man regarded him with.
"You're not treating him fairly," came the unexpectedly gentle voice. Shinichi paused his movements, not looking up from the long since unappealing food. "I know you're having a hard time right now, but so is he," he continued. "Just something to think about."
Shinichi gave a curt nod before slipping off of his chair, Subarus' words coiling unpleasantly in his gut.
Logically, he knew that. He knew taking his frustrations out on the other him—blaming him for something he couldn't control—was unfair. Ignoring him altogether wasn't feasible, and didn't really make him feel better anyway. Distancing himself from the other him didn't feel good, either, but if he let himself think too long about it, about Ran's dormancy, he might break. He just wasn't…
He wasn't ready to face him properly. He knew that wasn't fair, but he just.. wasn't ready.
He trudged back upstairs and looked down the hall. The clone's door was closed. He shuffled past it and into his own room to find Heiji browsing the cams on his computer. That was fine—he didn't feel much like continuing anyway, his thoughts swirling around relentlessly in his head.
"What kept ya?" asked Heiji absently as he clicked through the footage. Shinichi debated how many more philosophical problems he could stomach before settling on an answer.
"I was 'playing catch up'," he said, using an English phrase he'd often heard his dad use when they were in Hawaii. Heiji frowned.
"Ketchup? Didja have omurice or somehtin'?"
Shinichi blinked a few times, mood forgotten in his shock.
"… What?"
"What?"