Chapter Text
Ran found herself only half-listening to her two companions as they walked out of Teitan High School. Her smile felt a little plastered on, and eventually disappeared entirely as she paused on the sidewalk to a sight that had become all too familiar in the past couple of weeks.
Shinichi sat on a bench hunched over with his forearms on his thighs, staring at the ground blankly. It was the same position Ran had found Shinichi in after every school day since... since he came back — for good.
Ran suddenly found herself wondering how she could ever stay mad at Shinichi. She stood still for longer than she intended just staring at him, trying to gather up the courage to approach him. What do I even say...
Ran belatedly realized that Sonoko and Sera had made themselves scarce in the intervening time of indecision — Shinichi had yet to budge. Before she gave herself time to change her mind, she approached the occupied bench.
Stopping to stand over Shinichi, Ran paused and crossed her arms somewhat uncomfortably. Shinichi's eyes indicated that he registered her presence, but they never rose higher than her knees, instead continuing to study the sidewalk below him.
Failing to come up with anything better, Ran decided to go for a risky icebreaker. "Are you waiting for someone?"
Shinichi's head rose ever so slightly, his eyes pausing their movements in apprehension. Finally, for what seemed like the first time since Ran spotted him, he took a deep breath and let it out.
"Ee... young woman, about my age, bright mind, relatively tall though not quite as tall as me... could definitely beat me up if she ever wanted to, but still kind to a fault... carries the weight of the world on her shoulders..."
Ran felt her breath hitch a little as she took in the impromptu description of her. Over the years, she had had her suspicions of how Shinichi regarded her, but it always took her off guard to hear it out loud.
Desperate to keep things light, Ran took another risk. "Sounds like a handful." Shinichi's only apparent reaction was an eyebrow twitching down, apparently confused by the response; Ran pushed ahead anyway. "I'm looking for someone, too — young man, about my age, brilliant mind, quite tall though not too much taller than me... can be ruthlessly calculating, but still kind to a fault... carries the weight of the world on his shoulders..."
Shinichi looked notably indecisive at the continuing of the improvised trope, which made Ran worry momentarily. Eventually, however, Shinichi tilted his head to a slight angle.
"Sounds like a handful."
"Tell me about it..."
Shinichi dropped his head fully, his sightline now unfocused between his legs. Ran took the opportunity to sit down next to him, then sighed.
"Have you been sitting here after class everyday?"
Shinichi's eyes regained focus and started darting around minutely, which gave Ran pause. "Ie... on the days you had karate club after classes, I'd leave then come back."
"... Where were you going in the meantime?"
Shinichi seemed to pause in bashful apprehension, making Ran wonder if she shouldn't have asked. After a few moments, Shinichi closed his eyes before answering.
"Teitan Elementary."
Ran froze at the answer, stopping to consider the implications. She had nearly forgotten that she wasn't the only one in the whole situation who had experienced a loss of sorts. It made her request of Shinichi to give her some time two weeks ago seem rather needlessly selfish — and made Shinichi's daily vigil since seem all the more touching.
Ran suddenly thought of a response that caused her to have to hold back a laugh. "Recruiting yourself your own... what did Holmes call them? Irregulars?"
Shinichi opened his eyes in surprise, looking for all the world like his brain short-circuited. Then, finally, he began laughing breathily.
Ran responded in kind, letting the moment play out naturally. Sure enough, Shinichi moved over to place his head on Ran's shoulder. After a moment of shock on Ran's part, she responded by leaning her head against Shinichi's, allowing time to pass as they sat together listening to each other's pulses.
Ran had lost track of time by the time Shinichi spoke again. "Thank you."
"... For what?"
"For being patient with me..."
There was a lot behind that back-handed apology — Ran recognized as much. Just looking at Shinichi in the past two weeks made her realize how much guilt he felt over everything in the past year and a half.
Ran closed her eyes and nodded against Shinichi. "Anytime — and thank you."
"... For what?"
"For being patient with me."
"... Always."
Ran found herself blushing slightly at the emotional weight Shinichi managed to place on that one word. In response, she moved her arm to place a hand on his opposite shoulder and started rubbing up and down his forearm.
After another few moments of silence in that position, another thought came to Ran that eventually caused her to chuckle slightly. "Are you having fun catching up on schoolwork?"
Shinichi huffed half-heartedly, causing Ran to let out a giggle. "It hasn't been too bad — tou-san and ka-san managed to convince the school that I was studying in America during the time I was gone, so I haven't been given as much to catch up on as I probably could have been. I suppose it helps that I was able to sneak in some time with your school books while I was —" Shinichi suddenly cut himself off, leading Ran to shift her head to look at him.
The sheepishness on his face caused Ran to start laughing involuntarily, making Shinichi lift his head up in confusion. "I'm sorry, it's just... you know you're not going to explode if you say his name, right?"
In response, Shinichi fully lifted his head up before draping it back on the bench. "I'm glad at least one of us has a sense of humor about it."
"I'm sure you'll get there eventually, Shinichi..."
And I'll be there for you when you do. Ran stopped herself from saying that out loud, thinking it inappropriate for the situation. Shinichi, however, seemed to notice the omission, as he lifted his head enough to look at her, ostensibly deep in thought. Before Ran got uncomfortable with the apparent examination, Shinichi brought himself to sit up straight fully, looking straight ahead as he did so.
"There's this song I heard one time I was in America... I don't remember most of the words, but the end of its chorus has come up in my head recently — I want to catch up with this life before it slips through my hands." Ran let the English flow over her, not even bothering trying to keep up; thankfully, Shinichi turned his head in her direction to translate into Japanese. "'I want to catch up with this life before it slips through my hands'... I don't remember what it meant in the context of the song, but it's something I've been thinking about — I certainly have some catching up to do..."
Shinichi paused to look down minutely, then took one of Ran's hands in his own, causing Ran's heart rate to quicken. "And I don't just mean in terms of school work."
Ran found herself blushing profusely, which wasn't helped by Shinichi making eye contact with her again with a look of determination. Maybe I should have said that thought after all...
"I... I'd love to help in whatever way I can..."
Shinichi smiled slightly at first, then broke into a full-on bright smile — which Ran then watched turn into a somewhat mischievous grin. "I don't suppose you have any dinner plans?"
Ran had almost forgotten how much she had missed Shinichi's smile.
Notes:
Alright, here we go — I've been sitting on this fic for a while now, for reasons I plan on getting into more when I finish publishing this work. For now, suffice it to say when I was writing this, it wasn't with the explicit intention of publishing it. Nonetheless, if someone manages to find something for themselves in reading what I've written for myself, then I will take that as an added bonus.
A note on timeline: I've written this work under the assumption that Shinichi's time as Conan comes to an end at the tail end of his and Ran's final year of high school, because there's absolutely no way everything that happens will be contained within a year by the time all is said and done. (It should be noted, however, since it tends to escape the attention of some Western writers in this fandom, that high school in Japan is only three years rather than four, which means Shinichi are Ran in the Japanese equivalent of his junior year of American high school at the start of the canonical story — but that's not necessarily relevant here.) We therefore won't be seeing Shinichi and Ran in high school for too much longer herein — you have been forewarned.
NEXT KUDO HINT: blanket
Chapter Text
"What is it with you and that restaurant?"
On their walk back to Ran's home, Shinichi hesitated in embarrassment before gathering enough courage to answer her question. "Ano... remember what happened the last time we went there?"
"Kind of hard to forget... you had to run off to solve a murder in the middle of dinner."
"Ee... ma... that wasn't the first time that happened there."
"Oh! Now that you mention it, one of the waitresses told me while you were gone that the same thing happened twenty-something years ago with another man and woman, except after that case was solved the man proposed to the woman."
Shinichi could feel his ears turn red. "Uhn... ano... that man and woman were tou-san and ka-san."
Ran stopped fully in her tracks, forcing Shinichi to turn around and stop himself to face her with some trepidation — a look of shock developed in Ran's eyes. "So... even back then, you were..."
Ran trailed off, leaving Shinichi's heart racing. Before he could finish her thought, however, the pair were interrupted by the sound of a gunshot across the street. After the instinctive flinch from them both, Shinichi began running across the street to the source of the gunshot.
"Shinichi!"
"Are you going to follow me or not?"
Shinichi didn't bother turning around to determine Ran's answer, instead forcing his way into the record store from which the gunshot originated. Once inside, he quickly navigated the stacks until he found the body of a man in his sixties with a single gunshot to the heart having fallen on his back. Despite not really needing the confirmation, the teen detective placed a finger on the body's neck to feel for a pulse.
Shinichi heard Ran gasp near him. Good, she actually followed.
"He's already dead — call the police, Ran."
"U-uhn."
As Ran pulled out her phone, Shinichi stood to survey their surroundings. A gun had been left near the body, with a white thread on the trigger indicating the killer used gloves. Something about the wound bothers me...
Before Shinichi could finish the thought, a noise from upstairs indicated the presence of another person in the building, causing both teens to snap their heads in that direction. Shinichi then ran for the door to the back office area.
"Watch the stairs, Ran!"
Making his way through the staff office and kitchenette, Shinichi exited the back door, then looked up to see a young woman climbing out the upstairs window into the alley below. "Oi!"
The woman's head snapped toward Shinichi at the noise, then jumped down into the alley as far away from him as she could manage, initiating a chase out of the alley. The woman turned onto the main sidewalk and kept running, leaving Shinichi struggling to catch up.
What I'd give to have that belt in my full size now...
The run continued across one street, after which the woman jumped into the driver's seat of a parked car and pulled out her car key. Before she could put the key in its ignition, however, Shinichi grabbed her wrist tight, preventing her from moving her arm.
Shinichi breathed heavily as he stared down the wide-eyed culprit, silently both cursing his somehow being out of shape and expressing gratitude for being in his adult body again.
"Since when do you carry handcuffs on you?"
Shinichi paused his movements momentarily to indicate he heard Ran's question, but ultimately continued restraining the runner with her hands behind the back of a chair without a word. Once he finished, he stood in front of the woman and stared down at her.
"The police are on their way — you don't have to say anything until they get here if you don't want to."
The woman remained still with her unfocused gaze directed at the floor, which Shinichi appeared to take as sufficient response. Ran watched him closely as he took a quick glance at the record on the sample record player next to the chair and muttered something under his breath — did he just say, 'a day early for that'... — then moved back toward the body, presumably to examine it. He stopped to stand over the body with a confused expression rather than kneel down, however, giving Ran pause.
"What's wrong, Shinichi?"
"I... there's something bothering me about the gunshot wound."
"The lack of blood?"
Shinichi looked at Ran briefly in surprise before looking back down and responding. "Ie — that's expected, he was shot straight in the heart so he didn't have the ability to bleed. What's bothering me is the entry wound itself..."
"What about it?"
"Ma... I'll be more confident once the M.E. gets here, but it looks to me like the wound is consistent with a gun using a silencer."
"Silencer? But... we heard the gunshot."
"Ee, that's what bothering me... and there's also the fact that she went upstairs after the shot."
Ran almost automatically asked why, but stopped to consider Shinichi's meaning. "... You mean why she didn't just go out the back exit on the ground floor?"
"Exactly — the extra effort has to mean something. Either she had a reason to go upstairs, or she had a reason not to take the ground floor exit."
"And the ground floor exit was fine for you, so it must be the former, ne?"
Ran received a smile from Shinichi as response, which caused her to blush slightly. Before more could be said, however, the front door to the shop opened.
"Oooh, Kudo-kun! Good to see you again."
"Good to be back, Megure-keibu — I wish it were under better circumstances."
"As if it would have ever been in better circumstances — huh?" Megure noticed the woman restrained to the chair with confusion as the M.E. made for the body to examine it. "Who's the woman here?"
"Ah — Ran, would you mind telling Megure-keibu what happened? I want to ask Tome-san some questions."
"U-uhn."
Ran did as she was told and relayed to Megure the sequence of events they had witnessed and experienced as Takagi went to question the runner. While she talked, she noted Shinichi out of the corner of her eye bending down to talk to the M.E., who sent some questioning looks in return but nonetheless nodded at what he was told. By the time she finished her story, Shinichi had moved on to inspecting the gun left by the body — having taken time to put a pair of gloves on first — and the runner had established herself as a brick wall in Takagi's interrogation.
Before more attempts could be made to pry the woman into talking, a man in his thirties burst into the record store. "Oji-sama!"
The man saw the corpse and made to run to it, but was physically restrained by Megure. "And you might be...?"
"I'm Biniru Yuichi — that man is... was my uncle. I was at a music gala when I heard the news."
"And for how long were you at that gala?"
Another man entered the store tentatively as Yuichi answered. "About an hour and an half — Shiro here can attest to that. Why, when did it happen?"
Megure turned to the new entrant. "Can you confirm what he said?"
"Hmm? Oh, er... uhn, he was there the whole time."
Ran saw Shinichi raise an eyebrow at the response, but before he could voice the reason why Yuichi widened his eyes at the sight of the runner. "You!" Yuichi once again lunged, this time to reach the handcuffed woman, prompting Takagi to physically stop him as he shouted. "You did this! How dare you take him from me!"
Megure placed a hand on his shoulder. "Calm down, Biniru-san. You know this woman?"
"Hai — she's one of my students at the music school I lecture at."
Megure continued questioning about their relationship, but Ran tuned the interrogation out as she noticed Shinichi whispering in Shiro's ear. She watched as Shiro pulled back from the whisper with a confused look, then nod as he responded in a low voice of his own and a tap on his wrist. Ran frowned at that interaction, desperate to determine just what was on Shinichi's mind.
Deciding to take initiative, Ran risked walking over to the M.E. and dropping to her haunches across the body from him. "Ne, Tome-san?"
"Hmm?"
"Not to intrude, but... would you mind telling me what Shinichi was asking you before Biniru-san arrived?"
Tome shot a questioning look her way, but sighed before relenting. "He asked me to double check the lividity of the body."
"... Lividity?"
"Ee — it's another method for determining time of death."
"But... we heard the gunshot. Why would —"
Ran suddenly remembered Shinichi's initial comment on the gunshot wound. Could he be thinking...
Ran stood to talk to Shinichi, only to find he was nowhere to be seen. Where did he go?
I see — so that's how it is.
Shinichi donned a self-satisfied smirk as he handled the blanket he found in the upstairs closet. The small spot of dried blood and electrical cord told him all he needed to know.
Now I just need to prove point number two...
Ignoring the open window for now, Shinichi turned his head to inspect the bedroom further, ending his gaze on a dirty laundry hamper. Feeling lucky, he took a chance at investigating the contents of the hamper — and was rewarded for his initiative.
"Ma... I think it's time we took all this down to the station."
"Chottomatte, Megure-keibu!"
Megure turned his head to find Shinichi descending the stairs, new evidence in tow. "What is it, Kudo-kun?"
"I'm afraid there's more to this case than we've been led to believe."
"'Led to believe'?"
"Hai — first of all, while this woman is definitely involved, she is, in fact, not the murderer."
"Haah? But you heard her shoot then saw her run from the crime scene."
"We heard a gunshot, hai, but it was not the killing shot. Isn't that right, Tome-san?"
The medical examiner startled briefly before nodding at Shinichi's prompting. "Hai — the gunshot wound is consistent with a gun fired with a silencer."
Megure raised an eyebrow. "What was the point of the gunshot you heard, then?"
"To disguise the actual time of death — as was this." Shinichi proffered his exhibit A from upstairs.
Megure was unimpressed. "... A blanket?"
Shinichi held out the cord attached to the blanket. "Not just any blanket, Megure-keibu — an electric blanket! The real killer used this blanket to maintain the corpse's temperature artificially after death, then directed an accomplice to remove the blanket at a later time and fire a gunshot, thus allowing for disguising the time of death via body temperature. Thankfully for us, body temperature is not the only means of determining time of death. Tome-san, do you have a revised time of death?"
Tome-san nodded again. "Ee — based on lividity, I'm placing the time of death somewhere between 4pm and 5pm."
Shinichi nodded back, then turned to the two civilian men in the room. "Shiro-san, when did his music gala begin?"
Shiro stole a glance in Yuichi's direction before answering Shinichi. "It... began at 6pm."
Yuichi let a vein pop out of his forehead. "You're not seriously suggesting—"
"As suggestive as your behavior toward your student here is, I don't actually have to suggest anything — these gloves should be able to tell us the full story." Shinichi pulled out his exhibit B, a pair of white gloves he found in the bedroom's laundry hamper. "These gloves match the color of the thread found on the murder weapon — I believe you'll find gunshot residue on these gloves when you examine them, Tome-san." Tome-san hesitated slightly before taking the gloves from Shinichi to examine them.
Yuichi scoffed in response. "What of it? If the killer wore gloves while firing the gun, it's not like you'd be able to tell who fired the gun."
"Normally, ie — but since we have the gloves themselves, we can pull prints from the insides of the gloves."
Yuichi blanched, then after a few moments of realization, dropped his head in shame. Shinichi nodded toward Megure, who in turn nodded toward Takagi.
Takagi took his cue and pulled out his handcuffs for the culprit. "Biniru Yuichi-san — you're under arrest for the murder of Biniru Yoshihiro."
After a moment of silence as Takagi placed his cuffs on the culprit, Yuichi finally budged. "He was going to sell this place." Shinichi raised his chin in consideration, waiting for the man to continue. "... After all the work I put into this place for him... he was going to sell this place. After everything I did for him, he was just going to hand it over to some random person just for the money? I deserved to inherit this place! Why on earth would he sell it? I deserved to run this shop!"
"That may have been the case, Biniru-san — but you forfeited that right once you killed its owner. Now this place will be in the hands of a 'random person' anyway, as you say."
Shinichi could have sworn he saw a tear roll down the culprit's face as Takagi took him and the runner away. A sudden pat on his back brought him out of his daze, causing him to cough a few times.
"As expected of you, Kudo-kun! Good to see you haven't lost your touch!"
Shinichi let out a nervous chuckle. "Ma — it's not like I ever fell out of practice." Shinichi saw Ran raise an eyebrow out of the corner of his eye.
Megure seemed oblivious. "It's still good to see, nonetheless. So... will you be wanting your name included in the news report?"
Shinichi stopped to consider Megure's question, looking in Ran's direction with an unfocused gaze. Hmm... it's not like I have a reason to hide anymore — but even so...
Shinichi noticed a look of concern creep onto Ran's face, so he took the time to smile in her direction in order to allay her concern before answering Megure. "You're welcome to include my name in official reports, but... I'd rather not hype my name in the news anymore. I never really cared for being viewed as a 'savior' of the police."
Megure and Ran both donned surprised looks at Shinichi's response, but the inspector recovered quickly enough. "Wakarimasu — I'll see to the arrangements. Good to have you back, Kudo-kun!" Megure allowed himself one last avuncular slap on Shinichi's back before following Takagi out.
After taking a moment to recover from the aggressive affection, Shinichi turned again to look at Ran. "Not exactly how I imagined my first day back with you."
Ran blushed slightly. "Ma — it's not like I wasn't expecting it, at this point." Shinichi frowned in concern; by contrast, Ran smiled brightly. "At least we got through dinner this time!"
... This woman — she must know her smile makes me melt.
Notes:
The original idea for this work when I started it was simply to be a post-canon casefic with Shinichi back in adult form, where each chapter would serve as an "episode" much like an actual TV series. Eventually, I finally outlined it down in scope to something that will have an actual arc which we'll see start several chapters from now. If you're looking for there to be an arc, therefore, please be patient.
Also, brownie points to whoever can deduce what 45 was on the record player.
NEXT KUDO HINT: passport
Chapter Text
The upcoming final exams were not why Kudo Shinichi was spending a Friday afternoon studying in the school library.
Well, really, there were two reasons for Shinichi to be in the library. One, he was studying for the much more intensive university entrance exams — the high school final exams couldn't hold a candle to the university entrance exams. Two, he was waiting for Ran to finish with karate club practice — they had arranged to see a movie together after they got out of school for the weekend. Shinichi had decided to take advantage of the extra wait to prepare for the entrance exams.
Shinichi's studies were cut short, however, by a phone call.
Pausing briefly to consider his buzzing phone, he eventually picked it up to answer the call. "Moshi moshi?"
"Kudo-kun — this is Sato-keiji."
"Ah — what can I do for you, Sato-keiji?"
"Ma... I have a murder scene I think you should take a look at. I can text you the address, it's not too far from your school."
"Oh — I... sure, I can come. Are you sure I'm needed?"
"You'll see why I called when you get here, I'm sure."
"Ominous... but okay. I'll be there."
"Great — see you in a few, Kudo-kun."
With that dismissal, Sato hung up on Shinichi, leaving him to sigh in the call's wake. So much for an uninterrupted evening...
Once he received the address from Sato, Shinichi forwarded it to Ran with an explanation before putting away his books and leaving the library.
To his surprise, Shinichi was stopped by the pair of police officers standing outside the police-taped apartment. "This is a police crime scene, kid."
Shinichi silently wondered if these were the only two officers in the force who wouldn't recognize him. "I'm... Kudo Shinichi — Sato-keiji asked for me to come."
"Kudo-kun!" Sato waved from inside the apartment at the officers, yielding them to relent and let Shinichi through.
The assistant inspector led the teen detective into the den of the high-end apartment, bringing them to the meticulously staged corpse laid on a table. "The victim is Kawatani Atsuko-san, 27 years old, psychotherapist."
"Kawatani... why does that name sound familiar?"
"Her father Masato-san owns a decent chunk of the real estate in this area."
"Including this building?"
"I doubt she was behind on payments." Shinichi allowed himself a chuckle before Sato continued. "Two clean shots to the chest, she likely died instantly but the M.E. is still confirming that. Obviously it was after she died that she was staged like... this."
'This', as Shinichi observed while Sato spoke, was being laid flat on her back with rose petals covering everything except for her eyes, which were covered with carefully placed lotus flowers. Shinichi dropped an eyebrow as he looked up and down the modestly prepared body.
"No signs of sexual assault, I take it?"
"That's right."
"And no fingerprints either, I suppose."
"Ie."
After losing himself in thought for a few moments, Shinichi looked up to find Sato staring at him expectantly. "... Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Does this crime scene look familiar to you?"
"Familiar?"
"Uhn."
"Why would —" Shinichi stopped as he realized what she meant. No way...
Sato noticed his recognition. "Hai — just like in the book."
"'Lotuses for eyes with a rose petal robe'..."
"You can see why I wanted to call you in."
"Is she not the first?"
Sato smiled as she pulled out another case file and handed it to Shinichi. "Sakana Kasei-san, 36 years old, found dead yesterday — didn't notice the resemblance until I saw this crime scene."
Shinichi inspected the photos in the case file. "'No Rest for Old Foes'..."
"Indeed."
"You think tou-san has a fan."
"... I think it's worth exploring, at least."
Shinichi nodded minutely to consider the circumstances, then handed the case file back to Sato and pulled out his phone. "Let me see if I can call him." Shinichi didn't wait for Sato to consent before stepping out into the apartment hallway to make the call.
To his surprise, the call actually went through. "It's almost one in the morning here, Shinichi — this better be important."
"I figured you would be awake nonetheless."
"Fair enough — what do you need?"
"There have been a couple of murders in Tokyo recently resembling murder scenes from your books."
"Really?"
"Hai... we were wondering —"
"Could I get some photos?"
"... I beg your pardon?"
"I have a couple of author friends who would be jealous of my having a copycat."
"Focus, tou-san."
"You want to go through my fan mail to see if the murderer ever sent me a letter."
"Correct — would that be possible?"
"The agency responsible for handling my fan mail has its office in Tokyo, they should be able to help you. They close early on Fridays, though, so they may not be able to have it all together until Saturday morning. Is Megure leading the investigation?"
"Ie — Sato-keibu-ho is the lead."
"OK — I'll text her the details for the agency."
"I'll text you her phone number."
"No need, I already have it." Yusaku didn't allow Shinichi to register his surprise before continuing. "Which books were imitated?"
"Eeto... 'No Rest for Old Foes' and 'Vestments of Flora'..."
"... Really?"
"... Ee — why?"
"Hmm... far be it from me to judge my own works, but if you were to ask me I'd consider those two of my lesser works. You're either dealing with a serious super-fan who's read everything of mine, or someone not familiar with me at all trying to frame someone who is and just picking books at random."
"The thought had occurred to me."
"Whichever it is... be careful, Shinichi."
"You say that as if I haven't caught serial murderers before."
"... Remember the last time you confronted serial murderers in your adult form?"
Shinichi darkened his brow in exasperation. "I'm going to hang up now."
"I'll text Sato-keibu-ho the agency's details — happy hunting, Shinichi."
"Good night." Shinichi ended the call and reentered the living room crime scene. "Tou-san is going to text you the details of the agency that handles his fan mail. He says they close early on Fridays so they probably wouldn't have everything ready until Saturday morning."
"Wakarimasu — we can meet at the station tomorrow morning to go through his fan mail together, if you're interested."
"Er... you know what, sure — I'm curious to see how much worse his fan mail is compared with mine."
"Still getting your fair share?"
"I may end up hiring the agency tou-san uses."
"That two year hiatus didn't do anything to tamp down the fervor, eh?"
Shinichi shook his head tersely to end the line of questioning. "Anything else I can help with here? Or may I adjourn until tomorrow morning? I'm supposed to be going to a movie with Ran soon."
"Oh, then don't let me keep you! Give Ran-chan my regards."
Shinichi started walking out the room, raising a hand for a parting wave. "Ja ne, keibu-ho."
"My name is Mouri Ran, my boyfriend is in there —"
"Gomen, you can't go in without proper approval."
"Ran!" Shinichi exited the taped-off apartment and paused to address the guards keeping Ran out. "We're done here, but for the record, she can go wherever I go."
Apparently considering the matter finished, Shinichi waved Ran to follow him down the hall, ostensibly oblivious to the blush on Ran's face. She hastened to follow him, but was interrupted before she could speak first.
"Should still be in time for the movie, ne?"
"Ano... you already solved the case?"
"Ie, we're having to wait for some evidence to come in tomorrow morning, so the case is on break until then. You're welcome to come with me to the station tomorrow if you want?"
"Oh, I... sure. What's the evidence you're waiting for?"
"Ma... 'evidence' is perhaps the wrong word. It appears someone out there is making a point of recreating murder scenes from tou-san's books, so we're asking the agency that handles his fan mail to let us look for potential suspects in their... archives."
"That... that's horrifying! Are you okay?"
"Right now I'm more concerned about what we're eating after the movie. You feel like Italian?"
Ran couldn't find a hint of irony in Shinichi's smile — so she decided to go along with his cheer, however misplaced it may have been.
The following morning
Ran narrowly avoided running into the officer carrying what she hoped was the last oversized container of fan mail. She quietly followed the officer to the room in which the mail was being deposited, where Sato and Shinichi stood waiting for the mail.
Shinichi smiled brightly. "Ran — you made it!"
"... Hai, I did — is this everything?"
After sending a questioning gaze to the officer, who had just enough energy left to nod before slinking back out of the room, Sato clapped her hands together expectantly. "Let's get started!"
Ran looked down at the three containers of fan mail on the table. "One container for each of us?"
"Uhn." Sato and Shinichi sat down at the containers closest to them, prompting Ran to follow suit.
Before Ran opened the container, however, Shinichi interrupted her. "Chottomatte."
Ran looked up to the sight of a pair of sterile gloves being held out to her. Silently cursing herself for not realizing Shinichi and Sato were already wearing gloves, she took the proffered pair and put them on before continuing with opening the container.
The three of them quietly read through fan mail for several minutes — punctuated with the occasional snort or moue of discomfort — before Sato spoke up to the two teenagers as they continued reading. "So... how's school been going for you, Kudo-kun?"
"Oh, er... it's been going well, all things considered. I think I'm ready for the final exams at least."
"You missed over a year of school and you're already prepared for the final exams?"
"Ma, it's not like I was entirely out of the loop..."
Ran noticed Shinichi look at her out of the corner of her eye, to which she smirked softly in response. "My textbooks were being read a second time without my realizing it for a while. I didn't stop it once I did."
Sato giggled minutely. "I wouldn't repeat that to your teachers — the idea of reading a textbook being sufficient to learning their material would probably give them apoplexy."
Shinichi snorted. "I think they would probably make an exception for the two of us." That Shinichi referred to 'the two of us' did not escape Ran's attention, causing her to freeze momentarily.
Sato didn't seem to notice. "So you think you'll be ready for university, then, Kudo-kun?"
"I hope so — I'm still cramming for the entrance exams, those are considerably more involved than high school final exams."
"Is that what you were doing when I called? It sounded like you were in a library."
"It was — you have good ears, keibu-ho."
"What about you, Ran-chan? You ready for university?"
"I'm aiming for university as well, hai."
"What are you planning on majoring in?"
"Ma... I haven't entirely decided yet, but I'll most likely go for a pre-law track." Sato flashed a mischievous smirk in response, whose cause was lost on Ran.
Shinichi, however, rolled his eyes at the action. "I know what you're thinking, Sato-keiji —"
"Ah — gomen! It's just so cute!"
Ran dropped a brow. "What is?"
Shinichi waved a dismissive hand. "Don't worry about it."
Sato ostensibly ignored Ran's consternation. "What about you, Kudo-kun? What's your planned major?"
"I haven't decided yet."
"Really? I would think you'd be a shoe-in for criminology."
"Ma... ee, that's certainly an option, but as a detective already I would probably be 'learning' things I already know if I chose that major. I think it would serve me better to go for a tangentially related major."
"Like human psychology?"
"Perhaps..."
Ran's heart stopped as she read the letter in her hand — and viewed the drawing accompanying the words. "Shinichi..."
Shinichi turned his head with a look of concern. In response, Ran shakily handed the letter to him, which he took and read himself. As he read the letter, the teen detective's chin raised minutely in apprehension.
Finally, he handed the letter to Sato. "He preemptively describes the second murder scene in some detail." Sato quickly viewed the letter herself, then nodded in agreement.
As if on cue, an officer in uniform entered the room — Sato handed the letter to the officer. "Get this letter down to forensics, have them check it for prints."
"Hai! I came here to let you know there's been another murder — at the Hotel Hyde Pride."
"Same MO?"
"I... I was just told to tell you."
"OK, we're on our way."
Ran raised her brow in surprise. "'We'?"
Shinichi stood himself and motioned for Ran to do the same. "Sounds like we have a third copycat murder."
"'Ghosts of Prom Queens Past'..."
Shinichi nodded minutely at a trembling Ran's recitation of the title of the book copied as he stared at a young woman's body floating face down in the hotel pool with a knife in her back. He found himself with the nagging sensation that something was off, and tried to clarify in his mind what was wrong as forensics started pulling the body out of the water.
Before his train of thought could travel any further, another uniformed officer ran into the room. "Sato-san!"
Sato turned from her interview with the hotel proprietor. "Hai?"
"The lab was able to identify the fingerprints on the letter you gave to them."
"We have a name?"
"Saishi Kaikyo-san, thirty-four years old, unemployed — he was a patient of the second victim."
"Being treated for what?"
"Schizophrenia, ma'am."
"What about the first victim?"
"Our second victim's notes indicate that they sometimes met at a coffee shop down the street from her office. We found receipts for that same coffee shop in the home of the first victim."
A forensic held up a receipt found in the purse of the current victim. "Is this the same coffee shop?"
The uniform inspected the receipt, then nodded. "Hai."
Sato nodded herself. "There we have it, there's our connection. Let's go see this Saishi-san."
"Chottomatte!" Everyone turned at Shinichi's exclamation.
Sato appeared understandably annoyed. "What is it, Kudo-kun?"
"Something's not right here."
"We have the fingerprints and connection, what more do we need?"
Shinichi held up three fingers (and did his best to ignore the giggle from Ran over which three fingers). "There are three discrepancies that bother me. For one, the first two crime scenes were bereft of fingerprints — and am I correct in assuming that the knife is clean as well?"
The forensic nodded. "We're not able to lift any prints, hai."
"Now, why would a murderer so meticulous about not leaving behind any prints at his murder scenes be so careless as to send a letter connecting him to one of the murders littered with his prints?"
"The man is schizophrenic, he may not have been lucid when he crafted the letter."
"The man is a die-hard reader of my father's works, even when he's not lucid he'd keep forensics in mind — which brings me to the second discrepancy: the dress is the wrong color."
"The wrong color? What do you mean?"
"The book whose murder is being imitated makes a point of the dress being blue — there's even thematic significance as to why. Our victim's dress — which, by the way, appears to be just as staged as our second victim's… attire — is yellow. Someone as taken by my father's work as Saishi-san wouldn't dare make such a mistake."
"He could be doing that to try to throw us off his trail."
"And have his brand of fandom attributed to someone else? I doubt that — which leads into the third discrepancy: the order of the murders is wrong."
"'Wrong' how?"
"He starts with a murder of opportunity — a man from the coffee shop — then escalates to a murder of passion — his psychiatrist — then goes back to a murder of opportunity. That doesn't seem like the makings of an actual serial killer."
"So what are you saying?"
"I think there has been a sloppy attempt to frame Saishi-san — they wanted to make it look like serial murders, but made the mistake of only killing two people. To the police, when there are two deaths, you look for a connection, not for a serial. So he hastily put together this third murder to try to change that."
"So you don't think we should arrest Saishi-san?"
"I think we should probably send some uniforms to his place to ensure he hasn't played victim to a staged 'suicide'. Beyond that, though, I think we should be investigating who had the means to frame him."
"Where do you suggest we start?"
"If I recall correctly, the second victim had a brother…"
Shinichi coughed lightly at the dustiness of the freight shipping startup office he entered, flanking Sato with Ran as they followed in Kawatani Yuichi, who closed the door behind him before speaking. "Have the police figured out the culprit yet?"
Sato hesitated briefly before answering. "We have a suspect in custody."
"Who?"
"Saishi Kaikyo-san, he was a patient of —"
"Kaikyo?"
"… You knew him?"
"I knew of him — I had been warning Masato that his obsession with those Kudo books was going to get someone hurt. I guess she got on the business end of that hurt."
Sato nodded and pulled out her notebook. "When was the last time you saw your sister?"
Yuichi inhaled and exhaled deeply in thought. "We meet for lunch every Wednesday, that included this past Wednesday."
"And how did she seem then?"
"Ma… she seemed a little distracted, but that's fairly normal for her."
"Distracted by what?"
"I assumed by her clients, I never really asked. Why?"
Shinichi jumped into the conversation. "How did she react to the news that your father was dying?" Sato and Ran both looked at Shinichi like he had grown another head.
Yuichi didn't seem to notice. "She was devastated — we both were. I know he comes across as something of an aloof figure in the news, but he was very supportive of us through our childhood."
"You and she stood to split a sizable inheritance when he died, did you not?"
Yuichi donned a look of incredulity. "Eh? What is this? I thought you had a suspect in custody! Why are you treating me like a suspect?!"
Sato held out a pacifying hand. "I'm sorry about that — hai, we have a suspect in custody, but you know the defense will be asking the same questions we are, and we just want to make sure our bases are covered, for the sake of the jury. If it's not too much trouble..."
Yuichi calmed himself with another deep exhale. "Ie, it's fine. Here, let me get my passport." The man opened a desk drawer and pulled out a passport to hand it to Sato as he kept talking. "I've been out of the country during all three murders — I just got back early this morning. Had some supply line negotiations in Korea that… ma, they could have gone better."
Sato inspected the passport once it was placed in her hands, then nodded minutely before closing it. "Thank you, Kawatani-san — we'll be in touch."
With that self-dismissal, Sato and her two shadows exited the office.
"OK, ma, he was obviously lying, so we should — ahh, itaiitai!"
Sato grabbed and twisted Shinichi's ear as they exited the warehouse. "How did you know their father was dying?"
"It would be considerably easier to answer that question if you let go of my ear." Sato did as asked, leaving Shinichi to rub at his ear as he responded. "Some of the frames in Masato-san's apartment had recent family photos, including their father. His picture hasn't been in the papers for a while, so I noted that in those photos he seemed quite a bit thinner than when the public last saw him. He also seemed to be wearing a toupee and had rather bloodshot eyes. Taken together, those are all common side effects of chemotherapy."
"You think he has cancer — what made you assume the cancer was terminal?"
"I didn't — I used the question to Kawatani-san as a means of determining how severe his case was." Sato looked as though she was about to pull Shinichi's ear again, but she appeared to restrain herself, much to his relief. "As I was saying — he was obviously lying, considering we hadn't even told him the times of death for the other two victims yet he referred to being out of the country 'during all three murders'."
"Even so, that passport backed up his story — and it's not like someone with a business as struggling as his would have the means to forge passport entries."
"Which is why I was about to suggest searching his home for a second passport..."
Sato narrowed her eyes, then turned toward Ran as she pulled out her phone. "He wasn't nearly this assertive as Conan, you know." Ran bit back a laugh and Shinichi rolled his eyes as Sato dialed a number then waited for an answer.
After a couple of rings, she got one. "Hai, this is Sato Miwako-keibu-ho, requesting a search warrant for the apartment of Kawatani Yuichi. We believe he may be involved in the death of his sister, with whom he stood to split the Kawatani inheritance once — say again? … Oh — OK, arigatogozaimasu."
Sato hung up the call with a somewhat confused look on her face — prompting Shinichi to raise an eyebrow. "What was that about?"
"Seems the judge was already expecting us to request that warrant… though for the life of me, I don't know why."
Shinichi dropped his brow in thought, then closed his eyes as he realized what happened — though he didn't dare say it out loud.
Sato directed one of the uniform officers with her to knock — he did as directed. "Kawatani-san — this is the MPD. We have a warrant to search your apartment." No answer came from behind the door, so the officer knocked again. "Kawatani-san?" Still no answer came.
The officer furrowed his brow, then placed an ear against the door — after a moment, he turned to Sato. "I think I hear a shredder running."
Sato pushed the uniform out of the way at that revelation and knocked herself. "Kawatani-san! Open this door now or we will break it down!"
Sato could hear the shredder herself now. After a few seconds, the sound stopped, but the door remained unanswered. Now out of patience, Sato stepped back to kick the door down with one clean kick.
Sato and the two officers rushed into the apartment to find it empty. She ran to the office desk to find the shredder and noticed the slightly open window by the desk. She looked out the window, then cursed under her breath as she pulled out her radio.
"He's going down the fire escape, I'm going after him."
"You don't want to be doing that, Kawatani-san." The sound of Shinichi's voice stopped the fleeing criminal in his tracks, causing him to turn to face Shinichi in the alleyway with a gun pointed straight at the teenager.
Shinichi fought the urge to roll his eyes. "Really? Do you seriously find that necessary?"
"Why not? It's not like you have any intent of letting me go free without it."
"I don't intend to let you go free with it."
"You'd never get it! You're an only child! You don't know what it's like to live in the shadow of a younger sister in your father's eyes! Any time I asked him for money, I always got rejected, but Atsuko — she even got to live in one of his properties! I just couldn't take it anymore!"
"And what did your murders solve, exactly? You won't be able to get your father's money because you murdered to try to obtain it — and you won't be able to get your father's love because you killed the person closest to his heart."
The gun shook in the murderer's hands. "Shut up or I'll shoot!"
"I'd put down that gun if I were you."
"And why would I do that?!"
Shinichi simply looked at his fingernails, which was the cue for Ran to roundhouse-kick the criminal in the back of his head. Yuichi dropped to the ground unconscious as Shinichi pulled out the radio lent to him.
"Suspect subdued in the alley, keibu-ho." Shinichi put away his radio and traded it for his phone, with which he immediately dialed a number and waited for the answer.
"Moshi moshi?"
"Tou-san — I just thought you'll want to know it ended up being option 2. The brother of the second victim was framing a patient of hers who was a fan of yours — but I suppose you know that already, don't you?"
"… I had a hunch."
"'A hunch' — you called the judge ahead of time to make him amenable to our warrant request. That hardly sounds like just a hunch."
"I have my ways, Shinichi — just like you have yours. Congratulations on catching a serial murderer."
"Again, not my first."
"Doesn't make me any less proud."
Shinichi twisted his lip in annoyance. "I'll talk to you later." Shinichi hung up the call, then turned to a confused-looking Ran with a smile. "Our favorite ramen place isn't too far from here — are you up for going to eat there?"
After a moment of surprise, Ran smiled back, much to Shinichi's delight. I can make this work.
Notes:
I feel justified in leaving the murderer's motive as dumb as it is because it's not like the original series is any better about motives.
I ended up making up book titles for Kudo Yuusaku because there are no data on actual book titles for him. It's probably a stretch to have murder books with his name on it considering his primary line of books is about a thief, but my thought process is that he would have whodunnits/howcatchems in his corpus from either before he started the Night Baron series or in between books of that series (or both). Those sorts of one-offs are not unheard of in the realm of mystery writers with an established series, so I feel justified in that thought process.
Chapter Text
Shinichi sneezed again, then immediately shook it off once more — much to Ran's apparent chagrin. "Are you sure you're alright?"
"I'm fine, Ran, really."
"You don't sound fine."
"These entrance exam notes aren't going to study themselves, I'll push through." As soon as Shinichi finished his objection, he sneezed once again, this time considerably harder, causing him to involuntarily groan before wiping the remains with his sleeve.
Ran huffed. "That's it, I'm going to get you some cold medicine."
"Cold medicine will make it harder to study."
"Harder than your sneezing every ten seconds?"
Ran didn't leave any room for argument as she left Shinichi's bedroom to find cold medicine. Shinichi shook his head and returned his focus to the notes on his desk. His head started to pound lightly as he continued reading, but he resolutely ignored the feeling. His study was further punctuated by fits of coughing, as well as some more sneezes.
After a few minutes, Ran poked her head through the doorway. "How is it that neither bathroom has any cold medicine in it?"
"… This house had been vacant for a while, you know."
Ran let out a groan of frustration. "I'm going to go next door to get some cold medicine from hakase."
"Make sure to inspect the contents of whatever package he hands you."
Ran tilted her head at Shinichi's interjection, but didn't respond before leaving. Another wild sneeze finally led Shinichi to admit defeat and transfer himself from his desk to his bed. He sighed as he let the comfort of the bed attempt to drown out the pounding of his head.
That's when the seizures started.
"Hakase?"
"Mmm?"
"Why is there bacon in the refrigerator?"
"… Er…"
"From now on, I'm doing the grocery shopping, you understand?"
Agasa at least had the decency to look abashed as he nodded, making Shiho sigh. She shook her head as she headed back downstairs, only to be interrupted by her phone ringing.
She answered blithely without looking at caller ID. "Moshi moshi?"
"Oi… Haibara…"
Shiho's blood ran cold — she had hoped not to hear the voice of Conan ever again. "… This had better not be a prank of yours, Kudo-kun."
"It's not a prank — I appear to have… relapsed."
"If this ends up being a voice-changer game, I'm going to —"
"Damnit, Shiho, I'm being serious!" Shiho stopped in her tracks, a little taken aback by the shout of Conan's voice; Kudo took her silence as an invitation to continue. "I've been having flu-like symptoms all day, and it just… escalated into this. I've been next door studying for entrance exams with Ran — she's headed to you, by the way, to ask hakase for cold medicine."
"I'll let her know what's happened."
"Wait, Shiho — I… I don't want her to see me like this again."
Shiho stopped to sigh deeply before continuing. "Wakarimasu — I'll come over. Where exactly are you?"
"In the upstairs half-bath."
"I'll be right there." Shiho hung up the call and immediately went back upstairs with a medical bag in tow, just in time to see Ran be let in by Agasa — the young scientist waved for her fellow teenager to follow as she spoke to the elder scientist. "Hakase, I'm going to be making a house call."
"Eh? What for?"
Shiho sent an eloquent look in Agasa's direction which she hoped conveyed what she needed it to. Ignoring the confusion radiating from Ran, she continued out the door and to the sidewalk toward the Kudo residence.
Ran eventually voiced her confusion. "Er… I just came over for some cold medicine."
"You'll understand if I want to see him, nonetheless."
"I don't understand, actually."
Shiho rolled her eyes as they reached the front door of the Kudo residence. "Given his previous condition, I want to be extra careful about any apparent illness of his."
"You make it sound like he should be a hypochondriac."
"I suppose so."
Ran sputtered slightly as they started heading up the stairs. "But surely he doesn't need —"
"I don't know what he 'needs', Mouri-san, that's why I'm going to see him myself."
"I've told you, you can call me Ran."
Shiho stopped at the door to the half-bath. "This shouldn't take longer than a few minutes."
Ignoring Ran's objections, Shiho entered the half-bath and locked the door behind her, silently hoping the teenager now on the other side of the door would forgive her later. She then turned her attention to the ersatz-seven-year-old sitting on top of the toilet lid.
Conan sheepishly smiled back at Shiho. "Long time, no see."
Shiho simply closed her eyes briefly to swallow her frustration before dropping down and pulling a stethoscope from her bag. "You're going to have to learn to be more careful."
"Careful of what?"
Shiho placed the stethoscope end under Conan's shirt. "Careful of outside illnesses — the APTX antidote takes years to actually get rid of the toxin itself. In the meantime, you'll have to maintain an army of antibodies that simply contain the toxin to prevent what you're experiencing now. Any illness, however minor, can distract those antibodies from continuing that job."
"So I should wear a mask for the rest of my life?"
"... Couldn't hurt."
"You'll understand if I'm loathe to do that."
"Hai, I will."
"... Do you even know how to use that thing?"
Shiho ignored the temporary child's quip as she looked at her watch to measure his heart rate. After determining its normality, she returned the stethoscope to its bag and pulled out a light.
Conan raised an eyebrow. "I'm surprised you took the antidote yourself."
"Open your mouth." Conan did as told, allowing Shiho to shine her light in his mouth before continuing. "If my research was correct, then I would have been due to die within two years if I didn't take the antidote — and hakase managed to beat a will to live into me."
"... Did he, now?"
"Don't talk while I'm inspecting your mouth."
Conan sighed, but again did as told, even going as far as to drop the back of his tongue to the best of his ability. After a few more seconds of inspection, Shiho turned off the light and returned it to her bag, then started searching the bag.
"I'd like to reiterate the necessity of staving off illnesses for the sake of the antidote. Always stay hydrated, wash your hands thoroughly, eat regularly, so on and so forth — you're smart enough to know what to do, so actually do it, would you?"
Conan giggled quickly before responding in an exaggeratedly childish voice. "Hai!"
"As for the... 'relapses', as you called them: take these."
Shiho handed Conan a bottle of pills, which Conan inspected blankly. "What are these?"
"Think of them as 'boosters' — you should take one, with water, whenever you feel a 'relapse' coming, or after a relapse occurs if you don't feel it coming soon enough."
Conan nodded. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me until you see it work — I'll leave you to it." Resolutely refusing to look at Conan's reaction, Shiho got up to leave the bathroom.
Ran was starting to wonder just what was going on inside the bathroom in which Shiho locked herself. As Ran started considering forcing the door down, however, the door finally opened and Shiho squeezed herself outside before closing the door again behind her.
"Mouri-san, I —"
"Please, call me 'Ran'."
"... Ran — I know you and Kudo-kun are in each other's company on a regular basis, and will be even more as time goes on, so I'm going to put you in charge of making sure he keeps himself in good health."
"Eh? Why would that —"
"Holmes otaku that he is, he will inevitably disregard his body to push his brain further, which will be more to his detriment than he'll likely appreciate. As such, you'll need to see to it that, above all, he stays properly hydrated, as well as regularly fed, among other things."
"Why would that be more important for him than for me?" Almost as if in response, an unnatural steam started escaping the underside of the bathroom door.
Shiho raised an eyebrow as Ran stared apprehensively at the emissions. "I won't bore you with the details, Mou— Ran. Suffice it to say... things could happen. Do be kind and let him come out on his own accord this time, though."
With that pronouncement, Shiho showed herself out of the house, leaving Ran to her whirring mind as she watched the bathroom door. Not too long after Shiho left, Ran heard a scream of pain from behind the steaming door, much to her horror, and she finally understood what had happened — and why their resident scientist had been so reticent with words.
Ran vowed in that moment never to let it happen ever again.
Notes:
I know there's debate on whether Haibara will end up taking the antidote when the story of Detective Conan comes to a close, and to be honest I wouldn't be surprised if she forewent the antidote myself. The only reason I had her take the antidote as backstory for this work was because the presence of Shiho would make some story beats easier — with this one being the first. The explanation of the antidote's being necessary for her survival simply serves as an in-universe explanation (which may or may not be an idea I took from another fic I read years ago... but that's another story).
NEXT KUDO HINT: ring
Chapter Text
Shiratori hunched over the body slumped against the open stairwell balusters as a couple of uniforms interviewed the man down the hall of the rather cozy apartment building. He turned around to face the door of the victim's apartment to visualize his understanding of the crime, then turned back to the body — only to be startled by another face appearing between the balusters.
"What do we have here, Shiratori-keibu?"
Shiratori briefly rubbed the bridge of his nose and exhaled to calm himself. "What are you doing here, Kudo-kun?"
"I was across the street taking my university entrance exams. I was planning on waiting outside for Ran to finish before I noticed the police tape over here. Mind if I join?" Not having enough energy to decline the offer, Shiratori fished out a pair of gloves from his jacket and proffered them to Shinichi — only to have the teen pull out a pair of his own.
The inspector blinked a couple of times before putting his extra gloves back into his jacket. "The victim is Keikai Kyodai-san — 34 years old, cable repairman. He appears to have walked into his apartment being burgled, at which point the perpetrator shot him straight in the forehead and sent him collapsing against the balusters here. The murderer pilfered everything in the victim's pockets before making himself scarce as a neighbor called the police."
"This would be the neighbor being interviewed now?"
Shiratori whirled around to find Shinichi having entered the apartment as he had spoken, so he stood fully and walked in after the teen. "Hai — he said he heard what sounded like a silencer followed by the sound of the body collapsing like it did."
Shinichi paused his perambulation of the apartment's main room by a chair facing out toward the front door and frowned, as if doubting himself. He bent over to sniff the chair, much to Shiratori's bemusement, then swiped a finger against the seat before inspecting his glove.
Finally, he turned his head toward the front door again. "You're thinking this was a one-man robbery-homicide, then?"
"That's what it looks like."
"Ma... it isn't."
"... What do you mean?"
"I think we're dealing with two separate crimes: one murder, one robbery, perpetrated by different people. The murderer appears to have been sitting in this chair as she pulled the trigger — unless one of the crime scene techs has gotten particularly lazy, which I sincerely doubt."
"'She'?"
"This chair reeks of lotus blossom deodorant — ladies' deodorant. That she was seated indicates she was likely too weak to pull off the robbery as well."
"... Of a wallet and some keys?"
"Of a bureau — note the dust pattern on the floor to the right side of the doorway: it indicates a large chest of drawers resided there previously."
"He's right." Shiratori and Shinichi both turned their heads to see Ran looking up at the pictures on the wall to the left side of the doorway — at the silence she received in return, she smiled and pointed to one of the pictures. "This picture here looks to have been taken here not long ago, you can see the bureau in it." Shiratori went to inspect the picture and confirmed the room indeed previously hosted a large bureau.
Shinichi returned Ran's smile as he did. "Am I that predictable?"
"Police tape across the street from the exam room — uhn, you are."
Shinichi chuckled slightly before returning to thinking out loud, slowly moving to the hallway as he did so. "Such a heavy piece of furniture couldn't have gotten far — one can hardly get it down the stairs on their own, and taking the elevator risks giving the police more time to catch them after already leaving a body behind. That suggests the thief did not leave this floor." Shiratori noted Shinichi's gaze toward the neighbor being interviewed and looked in that direction himself — which revealed said neighbor to be wearing an incongruous look of apprehension.
Shinichi pointed in the direction of another door. "Is that his apartment?"
"Ee — what are..."
Before Shiratori could finish his question, Shinichi walked briskly over to the indicated door, ignoring the neighbor's desperate lurch toward him being stopped by the uniforms. Thankfully for Shinichi, the door remained unlocked, so he simply opened it — to the view of the missing bureau in question.
Shinichi nodded and let out a self-satisfied sigh before turning back to Shiratori. "There, you have your thief. Now we just need to find the murderer."
The following morning
Shinichi walked into Division One and eventually found Shiratori by the coffee machine. "Good morning, Shiratori-keibu — any news on our outstanding murderer?"
Shiratori raised an eyebrow over his cup of coffee. "'Our'?"
Shinichi got the sense the inspector was less impressed with him than his colleagues, but he didn't dare voice any objection. "What did our thief have to say?"
"He claimed to have seen a woman's face disappearing down the stairs as he found the body before taking the bureau. I suspect he's making it up to save himself, but I put him in with a sketch artist just in case."
Shinichi frowned. "You don't seriously think he's the murderer, do you?"
"With the man's bureau in his possession? I have to remain suspicious."
"I thought I made it clear at the crime scene that we're dealing with two separate culprits — and that the murderer is a woman."
"Which our thief most likely overheard, giving him the idea of wasting our sketch artist's time — and you're the only one who could smell anything on that chair..."
Shinichi pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head, not bothering to respond to Shiratori's olfactory shortcomings. "So you're waiting for the sketch artist to finish, I take it?"
"Ee, they're in the interrogation room." Shinichi nodded, then sat down at a table across from Shiratori — the inspector took the teen's silence as an opening. "Where's your better half?"
"Spending the day with her mother."
"Ah, so that's why you're here."
"You're officially the third person today to make that joke."
"I'm surprised it's that few."
"What about your better half — how's Kobayashi-sensei doing?"
Shiratori appeared a little surprised by the question, much to Shinichi's confusion, ostensibly chewing on his wording before responding. "How is she doing with two of her best students having left her class, you mean?" Shinichi closed his eyes and sighed before rolling his head back in frustration — Shiratori took pity. "Gomen, I didn't mean to make you feel guilty — in fact, I think she's noticed how well you've kept in touch with your little friends after everything and appreciates it."
Shinichi relaxed, then let out a breath of amusement through his nose. "Somehow, I doubt their parents feel the same way."
"Ma... the skeptical can be convinced, given time."
Shinichi reopened his eyes and narrowed them at Shiratori, wondering if he was just imagining the double meaning behind the inspector's last offering. Before he could respond, the sound of a jaw-cracking yawn directed both men's attention to the doorway of the break room.
Shiratori flashed a screwy smirk. "Late again, I see..."
Yumi sent a stink-eye toward Shiratori. "Shut up."
Shiratori held up his hands in defense. "Oi, you don't have to tell me why — I am a detective."
"What did I just say?" Shinichi managed to stifle a laugh as Yumi went for the coffee, not daring incurring her wrath by starting conversation.
Thankfully, another officer came in to redirect attention. "Keibu — I've finished the sketch you were waiting for."
Shinichi got up to stand beside Shiratori as the inspector took the sketch from the officer to inspect it. The woman the thief described apparently had unusually light but lidded eyes to complement her dark, rather unruly hair.
"Ne... I think I recognize her."
Both Shinichi and Shiratori turned at the unexpected interjection from Yumi. "You do?"
"Ee... trying to remember where... hmm..." Another sip of coffee evidently kick-started Yumi's memory. "Oh, I remember now! I was called in to help with seeing an overdose victim to an ambulance — she looks like that overdose victim."
Shiratori recovered first. "Do you remember the name?"
Shiratori could feel the waves of consternation coming off of Shinichi as the inspector read the medical chart of the unconscious woman in the hospital bed — a dead ringer for the woman in the sketch. "This is Yasashi Yana-san — 31 years old, unemployed. Seems she took a handful of pills a few days ago and has been in a coma ever since..."
Shiratori paused to witness Shinichi pick up one of the woman's hands and release it over her face. The hand bounced off her face before landing back by her side.
"... What are you doing?"
"It's a test to see if the coma is real."
Shiratori furrowed his brow in concern. "You seriously think someone would fake a coma to commit murder?"
"I don't know what to think anymore."
Shiratori noted Shinichi's blank face as the teen started scrutinizing the space around them before the inspector continued. "Ma — when I showed the thief a picture of Yasashi-san, he said it was her, there wasn't a doubt about it. Given this woman has been in a coma for a few days, however, I think we can say fairly definitively that the thief was lying."
"I wouldn't say that quite yet."
Shiratori rolled his eyes. "What, you find a forged death certificate by her bedside?"
"Ie — a book..."
Shiratori looked up to find Shinichi holding a book open on its first page, prompting him to raise an eyebrow. "What about it?"
"The inscription on this book reads: 'To Yana-chan and Majiwa-chan on your twenty-first birthday.' Your twenty-first birthday — as in, the birthday they share... Yasashi-san has a twin."
As Shinichi semi-triumphantly made his deduction, a doctor came into the room as he finished sanitizing his hands and paused in confusion at the sight of the two detectives. After an apparent inspection of the room's new occupant, Shinichi made a passing comment to the doctor as he determinedly exited the room.
"Her coma is quite real, doctor — please see to her care."
The doctor appeared nonplussed at Shinichi's interjection. Shiratori simply shrugged and followed the teenager out of the room.
Shiratori let out a moue of recognition as Shinichi held the door to their destination for the inspector. "I thought I recognized her name..."
"The fortune of Yasashi Senshi-san is well known to his daughters, that's for sure."
"Why would they want Keikai-san dead, though?"
"We're about to find out, I should think." In the absence of a receptionist, Shinichi simply made for the nearest standing human, a light-haired woman standing at a tall table with a laptop whose dark eyes turned to the teen as he spoke. "Ah, sumimasen — could you point us in the direction of Yasashi Majiwa-san?"
The woman pointed a finger at her chest and smiled. "That would be me."
Shinichi paused to recover from his brain short circuiting. "Er... she should have light eyes and dark hair —"
"Oh, you must be thinking of my sister Yana-chan. We're fraternal twins, not identical. She... she's not well right now, she's in the hospital. Is there something I can do for you?" Shinichi turned sheepishly toward Shiratori, who wore a look of a police inspector not impressed with a rookie.
Shiratori nodded in the direction of the unexpectedly featured-woman. "Ie, we don't need anything else. Sorry for taking your time, we'll be on our way."
Shinichi remained rooted in dissociation until the waves of impatience coming off of Shiratori goaded him into following the inspector out.
"I'm glad we were able to spend some time with each other today."
Ran smiled back to her mother over the restaurant table, having just finished her meal. "Me, too."
"I feel like we rarely ever see each other anymore."
"I know..."
"Especially after Shinichi-kun... came back."
Ran paused, then sighed. So this is what she wants to talk about...
"Oka-san..." Eri held up her hands defensively, then made to take a sip of her nearly depleted drink, very pointedly not saying anything — Ran took the hint. "What is it?"
"Oh, I just... you've been spending quite a bit of time with him, is all."
"And?"
Eri tilted her head, clearly not expecting her daughter to be quite so short with her. "And nothing, Ran — I was just making an observation. I only wish you could have had him join us for dinner.""He's busy working a murder case."
Eri raised her chin sardonically. "Ah — the life of a detective, making himself scarce in the pursuit of cases."
Ran frowned. "He's not like that — in fact, he's been making a point of including me in his investigations so that we're not apart for long. The only reason he didn't include me today is because he knew I was supposed to spend the day with you today."
"And he's too afraid of me to join you, ne?"
Ran gave her mother a blank look in return. "Say what you want to say, oka-san."
Eri narrowed her eyes analytically for a few seconds, then put down her drink. "I just want you to be careful, Ran — detectives have a habit of not being entirely forthcoming, as you should well know. I don't want you to end up like me, if you know what I mean."
Ran closed her eyes to take and release a breath in order to calm herself. Failing to dispel the building anger entirely, she impulsively stood up from the table.
"It's been nice seeing you, oka-san — we'll see each other again."
Ran snatched the check from the table and walked away deliberately, doing her best to ignore the waves of confusion coming from her mother. I — ie, we need to prove her wrong.
"You rang?" At the sound of the teen's voice, Shiratori turned his attention from the dead body to find Shinichi popping his head through the police-taped doorway.
The inspector beckoned the teen into the apartment as he spoke. "The victim is Ori Megumi-san — 31 years old, stage designer. Same MO as for Keikai-san: shooter was seated — even I was able to pick up the perfume this time — as our victim came home. Preliminary analysis also indicates the same gun was used for both crimes."
Shinichi made his way to the offending chair as Shiratori spoke to sniff it himself. "Ee, it's also the same ladies' deodorant as before. I take it the thief is getting his murder charge expunged?"
Shiratori sighed as Shinichi turned his attention to the body. "Hai, he is — he's still getting fined for the theft, but at least he won't have prison time on top of it."
"I suppose that's close enough to an apology... hmm..."
Shiratori managed to quell the anger from Shinichi's interjection enough to note the teen's elevated interest in the body. "What is it?"
"Her eyes..."
"... What about them?"
"I took the liberty of going through Keikai-san's autopsy —"
"How did you get access to the autopsy records?"
Shinichi waved away the question dismissively. "I saw that Keikai-san was suffering from a rare form of corneal dystrophy. I'm looking at Ori-san and I'm seeing a similar clouding of the eyes which suggests the same disease. This kind of corneal dystrophy is incredibly rare — and genetically inherited."
Shiratori tilted his chin up skeptically. "You think the victims are related?"
"Given their similar facial bone structures and matching widow's peaks... I think it's a distinct possibility. If I had to guess, they share the same father. I suggest a DNA analysis might be in order?"
"... You think they may have been murdered because they're related."
"It's the first potential connection that presents itself, keibu, I'd run with it."
Shiratori briefly took offense to how short Shinichi was being with him, but eventually sighed and pulled out his phone to call the lab.
The following morning
Being a little distracted, Ran struggled some to keep up with Shinichi and their police escorts on the way to their confrontation. Shinichi caught her up on the details of the case the previous night, but her mind was in a different place at the time, so she couldn't recall exactly whom they were confronting or why at the moment. Once they arrived at Yasashi Majiwa's office, however, she remembered.
Shiratori made the first move. "A funny thing happened on the way to the DNA analysis lab we use."
The woman of the hour whipped around from her position standing in front of her desk to face the inspector. Ran noted her apprehension at the two uniforms accompanying him — and presumably Shinichi as well — as Shiratori continued.
"We went asking after a couple of people we suspected to be related, and as it turned out, we weren't the first to ask about those two people. A private investigator asked to have the exact same people analyzed, with the purpose of determining if their DNA were a match for relation to a third person. That third person, the PI told us... is your recently passed father."
Majiwa's brow dropped slightly in concern — Shinichi took that as an opening. "How very strange it must be, then, that the two of them ended up murdered."
Majiwa's eyes widened. "Murdered? Keikai-san and Ori-san are dead?!"
"So you do know of them."
"Hai, they... our father told Yana-chan and me about them on his deathbed. He had had them out of wedlock before meeting our mother. I didn't think much of it at the time, but when we told our lawyer about it, he told us that if either of them found out who their father was, legally they could make claim to part of our inheritance from his death. Yana-chan and I were understandably concerned — giving away money to virtual strangers seemed insane! So we... we hired a private investigator to look into the two of them, just so we could get an idea of who they were..."
Majiwa turned her head down to the side as she continued. "Then Yana-chan started spiraling down — she began drinking too much... started seeing a married man... then she tried to commit suicide by pills..." Ran turned to find Shinichi adopting a far-away look on his face, much to her confusion.
Shiratori didn't seem to notice. "And I suppose that PI saw something you didn't like, so you decided to take things into your own hands."
"Eh?! But I —"
"A stroke of genius, I'd say, to dress up like your sister, in an effort to make any witnesses seem unreliable, but unfortunately twins always come in pairs, even if they're not identical."
"I didn't murder them!"
"Can you account for your whereabouts the past two evenings?"
"I... I've been home alone."
"So that's a no..."
Shiratori turned to the two uniforms and tilted his head toward Majiwa. The uniforms took their cue and started the procedure to handcuff and read the woman her rights. Once the procedure was complete and Majiwa was taken out of the room, Ran was bemused to find Shinichi still rooted in place with a not-quite-there look in his eyes.
"... Shinichi?"
"... Hmm?"
Ran couldn't quite tell if Shinichi was listening to her — she decided to risk it. "Listen, Shinichi... I have to take care of some things with otou-san today, but before I do I thought I should tell you... when I had dinner with oka-san yesterday, she expressed... concerns... about you and me. If you get the time... I'd appreciate it if you talked with oka-san at some point."
Shinichi nodded absentmindedly in response. Ran checked her phone and decided not to incur her father's wrath for being late by waiting for Shinichi to unroot himself.
Eri sat down at the small coffee shop table and closed her eyes to take a calming breath, trying to put that morning's frustration at her law practice out of her mind for her lunch break. She took only a sip of her coffee before a voice interrupted.
"Mind if I sit here?"
Eri opened her eyes to find Kudo Shinichi sitting down across from her, much to her surprise. The teen offered a tight smile before sipping on his own coffee. This is new...
"To what do I owe the pleasure, Shinichi-kun?"
"I understand you expressed some concerns with me to your daughter."
Eri raised her chin in apprehension. Should have known she would talk to him about it...
"What about it?"
"... You tell me, Kisaki-san." Shinichi took another sip of his coffee as he looked expectantly at Eri, discomforting her more than she cared to admit.
She took her time formulating her response before speaking again. "I merely relayed to her the dangers of falling in love with a private detective."
Shinichi continued drilling his gaze into Eri's skull for a couple of seconds, then dropped his eyes and pursed his lips as he nodded. He then looked out the window as he took another sip of his coffee, after which he took in and let out a deep breath before turning back to Eri.
"I am truly sorry that the best model for a private detective in your life is Mouri Kogoro." Eri raised her eyebrows, silently wondering if she imagined the bite with which Shinichi blithely spoke. "I don't claim to understand exactly what happened between the two of you, but I suspect a big part of what happened is that Mouri-tantei did not fully appreciate your intellect — that he somehow treated you as lesser than him. I can understand why you'd expect that from me as well. Truth be told, I used to do the same with Ran, not fully respect her intellect — and it nearly cost me, as you'll remember. I've learned my lesson there already — and I am actively working on making it so that we are equals in our... partnership." Shinichi had slowly turned his gaze away over the course of his speech, but he took a terse breath and turned his gaze back to Eri before continuing. "And it won't help either of us if you are not respecting her intellect in return."
This time, Eri had no doubt about the bite in Shinichi's voice, prompting her to furrow her brow, but the teen overrode her ability to respond. "Because that's how you made her feel at your dinner yesterday — she was too polite to say it out loud, but I could sense it. You openly questioned the choices she's making and you made her doubt herself... and she's doubted herself too much already in her life, if you ask me. So if you want to ensure I'm respecting her intelligence, then I have to ask respectfully that you do the same."
This is definitely new...
Eri leaned back in her chair and regarded the now-touchy teen sitting across from her. She thought to revert to her default of dismissing the talk of an impertinent child, but something instinctively told her that would be a bad idea in this case.
Resignedly, she nodded. "Very well — I trust you to know what to do."
"That's good — because the university we're aiming to attend requires a term of on-campus housing for freshmen... and we don't intend to submit ourselves to the mercy of the roommate lottery." Eri raised her eyebrows at the daring nature of Shinichi's remark.
Before she could respond, the teen's phone went off and he answered it. "Keibu-san?" Eri's mind roiled as the other side of the call went on.
After some time, Shinichi nodded at what he heard. "Wakarimashita — thank you for telling me." Shinichi hung up the call, then stood up suddenly. "I have to go now, I have a murderer to catch. I'll keep in touch."
Without waiting for a response from Eri, Shinichi walked away toward the coffee shop exit. Eri watched the teen's back as he drank the remainder of his coffee and tossed the empty cup into the trash while typing something out on his phone.
I hope you know what you're getting into, Ran.
"'For I consider brains far superior to money in every way. You may have noticed that if one has money without brains, he cannot use it to his advantage; but if one has brains without money, they will enable him to live comfortably to the end of his days.'"
"Interesting choice of reading, given the circumstances..." Majiwa whirled around from her reading at her sister's bedside to find Kudo Shinichi leaning against the doorframe, who offered a self-assured smile in return. "I heard you had been released. I figured you would come here afterward."
The teen started walking toward Majiwa slowly, putting her nerves on edge. "Nurse!"
"Rather bold of you to tamper with apartment surveillance to provide an alibi — I will find out how you managed that eventually."
Yana's doctor came in the door after hearing Majiwa's call. "What's going on in here?"
The teen turned briefly to look up and down at the doctor before turning back to Majiwa. "Nothing to worry about — I was just letting this woman know that she's not going to get away with murder. As a matter of fact, I will be seeing to it personally that the third heir is not harmed."
Majiwa could have sworn her pulse stopped. "The... what?"
"Oh, you thought I wouldn't find her? I did — the third bastard heir." The teen rattled off a name and an address as Majiwa's hearing started going dark.
The doctor seemed to notice her discomfort. "Kid, you're going to have to leave."
Kudo shrugged the doctor off. "I will be personally sitting guard to protect the third heir, you won't be getting to her any time soon."
"Are you ready to go, Shinichi?" All three conscious occupants of the room whipped their heads toward the doorway, where the young woman Majiwa saw with Kudo that morning stood smiling expectantly.
The teen detective's mind appeared to skip a beat. "... Go where?"
"You forgot already? Your parents got us tickets to tonight's baseball game for the Koshien qualifiers!"
"Eh? That was tonight?!"
"Come on, we're going to be late!"
"Ch-chottomatte —"
The young woman, still all smiles, started forcefully dragging Kudo out of the room, much to the teen detective's chagrin. Majiwa remained rooted wondering what just happened — the doctor, fiddling with his finger, appeared to be doing the same.
The culprit took in and let out a silent deep breath as she took the back entrance into her target's home. Her intelligence on this target was limited compared with her previous targets, so she was being considerably more careful. As she made her way down the hallway, she could faintly hear a microwave running in the kitchen.
Having mentally located her target past the other end of the hallway, the culprit began searching the hallway for a sitting room. The third door search brought her luck, and she started slowly entering the room toward the empty chair facing the doorway.
"Hands where we can see them, Yasashi-san."
The culprit froze momentarily, then raised her hands and turned around slowly to face the voice. Two plainclothes policemen occupied the doorway, both brandishing their weapons.
The taller one smiled. "Or do you prefer 'Yana-chan'?"
The following morning
Majiwa stood in the observation room watching as her twin sister was being interrogated by Shiratori and Takagi. "I don't understand — she... she was in a coma, she couldn't have..."
Shinichi nodded as she trailed off. "It was a medically induced coma. She faked the suicide attempt, then got herself placed in a coma from which she could be woken at any time to perform each murder — hence why she was seated for each murder, since she was too weak to stand for too long."
"But... who would agree to that? Why would anyone help her with that?"
"The married man you said she was seeing? He was her doctor."
Majiwa whipped her head toward the teen detective. "How did you know that?"
"I didn't — it was just an hypothesis, born from noticing a tan line on the doctor's finger and... having personal experience with a doctor bringing about a temporary state of apparent permanence. I tested that hypothesis yesterday evening and it turned out correct."
Majiwa frowned. "You mean when you burst into Yana-chan's hospital room to accuse me?"
"It was all an act. You'll remember I didn't hand out a name and an address until the doctor had entered the room? The third heir doesn't exist, by the way — I threw out the address of a policewoman. She wasn't even at home last night, she was at her boyfriend's." Shinichi suddenly turned to Ran. "Does the Koshien even have qualifiers?"
Ran shrugged. "I have no idea."
"You certainly were convincing in your role."
Majiwa raised an eyebrow. "Her role?"
Shinichi turned back to Majiwa. "The point of the charade was to convey that I was the sole protection of the third heir, then show that I would be unable to provide that protection last night. As such, the doctor would be compelled to wake your sister that night and inform her of the new heir to murder her that night. The two officers you see in the interrogation room with your sister laid in wait."
Majiwa turned her focus back to her sister behind the observation glass. "But... why? Why would she go to the effort to..."
Shinichi took his cue as Majiwa trailed off again. "I'm afraid it comes down to greed, Yasashi-san. You and your sister were having the two bastard heirs investigated — you with the big-hearted purpose of getting to know them better, her... ma..."
As Shinichi's implication sunk in for Majiwa, the teen detective hesitated and looked toward Ran briefly before sending a distant gaze through the glass. "It makes me wonder why she was still in her coma yesterday."
Majiwa donned a look of concern. "What do you mean?"
"Ma... her job was accomplished, the two bastard heirs were gone. She could have taken the opportunity to wake up miraculously yesterday and feign shock at the news of their deaths. What did she have to gain by staying in her coma? ... Perhaps her work wasn't actually finished?"
Shinichi inspected Majiwa's reaction out of the corner of his eye. When he saw the conclusion hit her, he nodded sadly.
The moment was interrupted by the sound of Ran's phone ringing. Ran fumbled with her phone a little before inspecting the call ID, after which she gave Shinichi a knowing look.
Shinichi understood the signal. "Let an officer know when you're ready to go home, Yasashi-san."
With those parting words, Shinichi and Ran exited the observation room into the hallway, after which Ran answered her call. "Moshi moshi?"
As Ran listened to the other end of the call, Shinichi pulled out his own phone to see two missed texts. The first was from Kisaki Eri — Shinichi hesitated considerably before opening the text.
'Please convey my apologies to Ran for my doubts.'
... Why don't you convey them yourself?
"Ah!" Shinichi looked up to see Ran with a bright, open-mouthed smile, making him curious as to the content of the call. "Arigatogozaimasu!" Ran hung up the call, after which she saw Shinichi's raised eyebrow. "I got in! I passed the entrance exams!"
"Congratulations! Wait... you opted for a call instead of a text?"
"Uhn — why, did you get a text?"
Shinichi looked back at his phone to inspect the second unread text. Sure enough, he had cause to look back at Ran with a large smile.
Notes:
No one ask why Shinichi knows so much about ladies' deodorant.
One of the things that has always irked me about the original series is Ran's parents' apparent lack of trust in Shinichi and their daughter with regard to each other. It is, of course, understandable from a 10,000-foot view, but when you have the opportunity to see how they actually interact with each other in the few times they are able to in the series, you can see how they strictly speaking don't have anything to worry about. I feel justified in saying Shinichi would therefore not feel entirely happy about the situation, so I decided to explore how he would confront each of her parents in that regard. We'll be seeing how it goes with Kogoro much later on — too much later, arguably...
NEXT KUDO HINT: feather
Chapter Text
Ran couldn't remember the last time she had seen Shinichi so happy.
The teen boy was particularly effusive as he accompanied Ran and Sonoko past the ticket usher. "Thank you again for the tickets to this concert, Sonoko!"
"Oh, please, anything for my favorite couple!"
Ran blushed. "Sonoko!"
"Whaaaat? You two will be rooming together at university, won't you?"
Either through blissful ignorance or well-concealed intent to help her — Ran couldn't tell one way or the other — Shinichi abruptly changed the subject back as they entered the house. "Ma, you two are in for a treat! Bikasuru-sama is one of the best chamber conductors out there — absolutely ungodly artfulness and nuance. I've only seen him by video so far, this is my first time seeing him in person!"
"You want to go back stage and meet him?"
The offer from Sonoko appeared to startle Shinichi as much as it did Ran. "You can take us back there?"
"Mochiron — who do you think is paying to have him perform here? I can get you to meet your idol here, no problem!"
"Lead the way!"
Ran smiled warmly at the boyish joy from Shinichi as they followed Sonoko out of the house.
Shinichi had lost count of the number of times he had thanked Sonoko by the time they reached the downstairs portion of backstage. Once there, an assistant stage manager recognized Sonoko.
"Oh, Suzuki-san! I didn't realize you'd be coming backstage."
"Decided it on a whim — Shinichi-kun here is a big fan of the maestro, I wanted to see if we could get them to meet before the concert."
"Mochiron! The maestro should be coming out of his dressing room soon..."
As if on cue, Bikasuru Mamoru came crashing out of his dressing room with an air of impatience. "Is Bane-san here yet?"
The startled ASM gathered her wits. "Er... ie, she hasn't arrived yet."
"What on earth is taking her so long? She's our concertmaster, for crying out loud, we start in five minutes!"
"We sent someone to her apartment to see if she's there, we haven't heard back from them yet."
Bikasuru let out a grunt. "I'll just have to start without her, then — first half is a full symphony, one fewer violin shouldn't make a difference. If she's not here by intermission, though, I'm going to have to pick another Violin 1 for Brandenburg."
"Wakarimasu — er... Suzuki-san brought someone back to meet you before you go on."
Shinichi held out a hand for the conductor. "Kudo Shinichi — big fan of yours, this is my first time seeing you in person."
After a moment's hesitation, the conductor returned the hand with a shake. "Anyone ever tell you your name sounds like that detective kid's?"
Shinichi bit back a laugh. "I am that 'detective kid'."
The conductor ostensibly had the grace to appear uncomfortable at the faux pas. "Oh, er... ma, maybe you could help with finding my concertmaster, Bane Koseina. She was here for the final rehearsal this morning, but she hasn't been back since then... at least to my knowledge, anyway — I spend most of the afternoon before a concert meditating in my dressing room."
"Ah, er... I could help with that, I suppose."
"Knock yourself out. Nice to meet you, I have to get upstairs to start the concert." Without a further word, Bikasuru brushed past everyone present to ascend the stairs to backstage proper.
Shinichi turned his focus to the ASM. "Is he normally that nervous before a concert?"
"Er... not to my knowledge, though I suppose a missing concertmaster doesn't help. Why?"
"It's just... he normally wears a feather lapel on the breast of his tux. He wasn't wearing one just now."
"Is that a problem?"
"I suppose not, was just interested..." Shinichi turned around to find Sonoko and Ran having made themselves scarce at some point, much to his bemusement — he decided not to dwell on it. "Was he correct about Bane-san not being here all afternoon?"
"He was — and he was in his dressing room for the afternoon, as he said."
"Which dressing room is hers?"
The ASM pointed toward the second guest dressing room. "That one right there — you think you might find something there?"
"I don't know, it's just the first logical place to investigate a missing person in this context. It might be worth calling the person you sent to her apartment, if you can." The ASM nodded and pulled out her cell phone. "Ne — Bikasuru-sama said they were doing Brandenburg after intermission. Do you know which one?"
"Brandenburg 3, I believe."
Shinichi hesitated briefly but pushed through the shyness. "Ma... if the concertmaster isn't back by then, I'd be willing to do Violin 1 for him if no one else is available. I have Brandenburg 3 memorized."
"You do?"
"Ee — I'd just need a violin. I don't suppose the music hall has any rental violins available?"
"I can go find one, if you want?"
"That would be wonderful, arigatogozaimasu!"
With a bright smile, the ASM departed out a pair of double doors to elsewhere in the building. After taking a calming breath, Shinichi turned toward the concertmaster's dressing room, only to be interrupted by another set of double doors, this time ushering in someone from outside.
Shinichi stopped in his tracks. "Takagi-keiji?"
"... Kudo-kun? What are you doing here?"
"I'm here for the concert and got a backstage pass. What brings you here?"
"The concertmaster, Bane Koseina-san — she was found dead in her apartment."
Shinichi froze at the news, only breaking after the stage monitor relayed the applause from Bikasuru coming onstage. After a moment watching the monitor to see the conductor bowing minutely then indicate the oboist to tune, he turned back to Takagi to note the folder in his hands.
"Are those the crime scene notes?"
"Hai. I was hoping to talk with a Bikasuru Mamoru-san, but —"
"But he just started the concert. Intermission will be in about..." Shinichi paused to listen to what the monitor had to offer, then nodded once he heard the opening notes of the symphony. "... forty minutes — I can lend a hand in the meantime."
Takagi looked confused. "How do you know how long until intermission without looking at a program?"
"I recognize the symphony they're playing: Symphony No. 6 by Ludwig van Beethoven, also known as the Pastoral Symphony."
Takagi shook his head ruefully and opened the case notes as Shinichi approached to inspect them. "It appears the victim committed suicide by sticking her head in a running oven, but —"
"But that's how the culprit intended to make it look."
"Exactly — it's subtle, but we noted both a small blunt force trauma on her temple and a hint of chloroform on her mouth, so she was likely unconscious by the time her head was placed in the oven."
"Also, the suicide note doesn't match the typewriter."
"Eh?"
Shinichi indicated the photo of the typewritten suicide note. "Tou-san made a point of teaching me the finer points of typewriters when I was younger. The typewriter itself is an Underwood — and a rather well-maintained one, I must say — but the typesetting of the note indicates the use of an IBM Selectric, if I'm not mistaken. That particular model of Underwood should have some spent carbon ribbon inside that will confirm the note wasn't typed on it."
Takagi nodded and pulled out his phone. "I'll let forensics know."
"Do we have a time of death estimate?"
"Somewhere between one to four hours ago, is the latest I heard — M.E. should have something more exact once the body gets to the lab. Ah, looks like they're moving the body now, they just sent me another photo of the area around the oven without the body." Takagi handed Shinichi his phone to look at the photo as he took back his folder. "Too bad about her parrot, though — she kept quite the beautiful white parrot as a pet, you can see one of his feathers on the ground there. Animal Control has him now, but they say it'll be hard finding a new owner for him..."
Shinichi's eyes widened at the sight of the feather. His head snapped back to the stage monitor to find Bikasuru conducting with all the thunderous artistry he expected of him... but with a key element missing.
Shinichi bowed his head to hide his eyes with his hair. "That's not a parrot's feather."
"Eh?"
Shinichi immediately walked down the hall and into Bikasuru's dressing room. Sure enough, he found confirmation of what he feared.
"We'll need a team of forensics backstage."
Ran found herself ruminating during the performance.
Sonoko had dragged her back to the house against her will, insisting that the 'detective otaku' be given 'room to work'. Ran supposed it was her own fault that her friend wasn't aware of her latest adventures with her boyfriend (she had become more comfortable referring to him that way as of late), and as such wasn't aware that she wanted to be there when he solved the case — to at least see the moment of resolution in his face when all the pieces came together in his head.
Even now, watching the conductor Shinichi had been so excited to see live in concert — indeed, even Ran found the inflated expectations placed upon her by him to have been exceeded — she wished she was still backstage with him, even helping him if she could.
That the concertmaster was missing did not appear to be lost on at least some of the audience. After the applause from the conductor arriving on stage, Ran heard someone behind her comment about something being 'unusual' as the conductor indicated the oboist to begin the tuning process. Bikasuru certainly didn't take the time to comment, instead launching the orchestra directly into the prepared symphony without batting an eye toward the empty chair at the front of the violin section.
Ran silently wondered what was preventing Shinichi from making it back to the house.
As intermission began, an energized Bikasuru arrived downstairs from a successful symphony, gleefully firing off thanks and congratulations to each musician he passed. He stopped in his tracks and lost his smile, however, at the sight of Shinichi, Takagi, and two uniformed officers.
"Is there something wrong, officer?"
Shinichi found it hard to look up as Takagi nodded toward the uniforms, who approached Bikasuru as the police detective spoke. "Bikasuru Mamoru-san, you are under arrest for the murder of Bane Koseina-san."
Bikasuru took a sharp step back from the uniform officers. "Eh?! Bane-san is dead?!"
"I'd prefer if you didn't play games with us, Bikasuru-san." Shinichi could feel the conductor's eyes on him at his interjection, but he still didn't dare lift his head. "You saw her this afternoon to chloroform her then stick her head in her oven."
"Are you kidding me? I even told you, I was in my dressing room this afternoon."
"We found your fingerprints all over the window from forcing it open and closing it again."
"So I opened my dressing room window for some air, so what?"
"Ie — your fingerprints were on the outside of the window as well, we can place you outside. It was at least enough to get a search warrant for your hotel room, so it's only a matter of time before we find the Selectric on which you typed the fake suicide note."
"Oh, come on! All your supposed evidence is circumstantial! You can't actually place me —"
His head still dipped, Shinichi interrupted the conductor. "Your feather lapel, Bikasuru-san."
"What about it?! You —" Bikasuru stopped himself as his instinctively raising his hand to his chest revealed the lack of lapel.
Takagi took his cue to bring out the relevant crime scene photo as Bikasuru's energy dissipated altogether. "Hai — your feather lapel was found at the crime scene."
Only then did Shinichi feel brave enough to lift his head to see Bikasuru dip his own. After an awkward pause, Takagi motioned for the uniforms to continue with the cuffing. This time, Bikasuru didn't resist.
"... She was going to tell everyone." Bikasuru paused again waiting for a question — when none came, he continued quietly. "We were having an affair. She threatened to tell everyone if I didn't leave my wife... and I just... I couldn't allow that."
Shinichi sighed at the confession of motive, then shook his head at the thought of another idol of his turning murderer. Without another word, the uniforms escorted the conductor out of the building.
Takagi himself then sighed. "I guess we'll have to cancel the rest of the concert."
Shinichi snapped his head up, energy suddenly finding him. "Ie — there's no need for that."
"Eh? How so?"
As if on cue, the internal double doors heralded the return of the friendly ASM, who ran straight up to Shinichi to hand him the violin she carried. "Here, Kudo-san — sorry for taking so long to find it."
"That's perfectly fine. In fact..." Shinichi paused to tune the violin quickly, then offered a screwy smile to the ASM and Takagi. "I'd say you're right on time."
By the middle of intermission, Ran was starting to worry — Shinichi had yet to return to the house. As the stage transitioned its arrangement from full orchestra to chamber ensemble, Sonoko simply dismissed his absence as getting too tunnel visioned on detective work, but Ran wasn't convinced. Surely it wouldn't take that long...
Her worry compounded as the house lights dimmed, indicating intermission's end and sending everyone in the house back to their seats. Ran complied with the implied directive, but not without whipping her head around looking for Shinichi.
All her concern transitioned to shock as Shinichi walked onto the stage with a violin in his hand. An initially confused audience collectively decided to applaud after a pause, to which Shinichi responded with a timid bow. Once the applause died down, he turned and dipped his head to the harpsichordist, who after a moment of confusion of their own provided the string players on stage with their tuning A. The audience understandably chattered amongst themselves as the players onstage tuned — Shinichi, Ran noted, was already in tune somehow.
Once all strings were in tune, the teen detective turned to address the audience. "Good afternoon — as you may have noticed during the first half of this program, the concertmaster, Bane Koseina-san, was missing from her post. Unfortunately, Bane-san was found dead in her apartment not long before the concert began."
Blood drained from Ran's face, yet confusion remained her primary emotion as Shinichi held up a hand to quiet the rest of the audience. "Additionally, during intermission, your conductor Bikasuru Mamoru-san was arrested for the murder of Bane-san."
Well, that explains a lot...
Ran belatedly wondered if Sonoko noticed what must have looked like a reaction of relief out of her as the rest of the audience once again had to be pacified by Shinichi. "As a result, Bikasuru-san will not be joining us for the second half of this program. Instead, filling in both the role of concertmaster and the role of conductor for Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 by Johann Sebastian Bach will be yours truly — kokosei... ie..."
Shinichi drew himself to full height and donned his trademark smirk. "Daigakusei tantei Kudo Shinichi!"
With that brave announcement, Shinichi placed himself at the end of the semi-circle of string players, then counted the rest of the ensemble in with a few sharp movements of his head.
Much to Ran's amazement, the ensemble, with Shinichi, proceeded to play the concerto impeccably. Ran couldn't remember the last time she saw Shinichi with a violin, yet he was able simultaneously to play and direct his fellow players with apparent ease — and also follow the harpsichordist's lead on the second movement without missing a beat. By the time the third movement had closed, the audience had evidently forgotten previous circumstances and erupted into a full applause.
Ran may or may not have been the one to initiate the standing ovation.
Notes:
Shinichi's penchant for dramatics won't come back to bite him, I'm sure...
Also, can you tell I went to a music school? I ended up not going into a career in music, so I have to flex those muscles somehow.
Chapter Text
Meitantei Kudo Shinichi
Shinichi pulled a face. "Must we?"
Ran resisted the urge to giggle. "You hijacked a chamber concert to announce yourself as daigakusei tantei and you think having a sign on our dorm room door is too much?"
"It just seems... ostentatious, for what it is."
"How else are clients supposed to find you?"
"You know, I will have lectures to keep me busy..."
"Ma, once we have your schedule, we can post it on the door!"
Shinichi blanched. "I... let's just finish unpacking... please."
Ran had meant her last suggestion as a joke, but she could tell Shinichi did not take it as one. Truth be told, she was a little confused at his reaction to her custom signage — but she wasn't about to let it get in the way of settling into their dorm room for the semester. What did get in the way, however, was a knock on the door.
Ran sent a smug smile toward Shinichi. "See? It's already working."
Shinichi groaned as he made to answer the door. On the other side was a clearly tentative young woman who couldn't have been much older than the two occupants of the room.
"Ano... Kudo Shinichi?"
"Hai — can I help you?"
"Are you... are you taking cases?" Ran could tell Shinichi was deliberately avoiding looking back at her, much to her amusement.
After a self-contained sigh, Shinichi stepped aside. "Come on in. We're still unpacking, but we should be able to make some room for you to sit."
As he spoke, Shinichi cleared some boxes out of the way toward his desk and pulled his desk chair out for their guest to use. Ran sat in her own chair, while Shinichi leaned against his desk as the young woman sat hesitantly."How can I help you?"
The potential client took a deep breath and let it out before responding. "My name is Kaneno Kyouka — I'm starting my third year here. I've also been working a part-time job as a bank teller — my father is a manager at the bank, and he insisted that I 'have my own money' by the time I graduate."
Ran saw Shinichi raise a sarcastic eyebrow — their guest didn't seem to notice. "Lately... this is going to sound silly, but lately I've been servicing a... rather strange depositor. This person has been coming once a week just before closing time every Thursday for... two months now. Whoever they are, they make a point of concealing their identity — they wear a muffler up to their nose, dark sunglasses, a hat that hides all their hair, and a large trench-coat that makes it impossible to determine their gender. Also... I suspect they're using a voice changer as well." The mention of a voice changer made Ran raise her brow apprehensively.
Shinichi, however, seemed unaffected. "And what are you wanting me to do about it?"
"I... I'm starting to suspect this depositor is involved in something illicit. I want you to investigate this person to see if they are as shady as they seem — I don't want to be an accomplice to something if I can help it."
"What makes you think this person is involved in something illicit?"
"Well, aside from their disguising themselves, the sums they deposit are... quite large."
"How large?" The sample sum Kaneno recited caused Ran's ears to ring — Shinichi even appeared to take a moment before continuing. "And I don't suppose you have the name on the account to which they are depositing?"
"Eeto... I wrote it down." The young woman pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket and unfurled it to read. "The name on the account is a Mouri Kogoro."
Ran's blood ran cold — her father, involved in something illicit? The thought of her father being paid off gave her considerable cause for concern, causing her to start running through possibilities in her head. Shinichi, however, simply threw his head back and laughed heartily, much to Ran's bemusement.
Their guest seemed similarly startled. "Er... why are you laughing?"
Shinichi recovered. "Ah, gomen, it's just... you're probably among a very select few who don't recognize the name of Mouri Kogoro."
"Is... is he —"
"Mouri Kogoro is a private detective, and hardly someone to be involved in something shady. Your depositor is most likely an eccentric client of his who values their anonymity highly. Given the case has been going for two months already, I'm not inclined to interrupt his work." Ran became nonplussed at the implications of what Shinichi provided.
Their guest appeared to be a little slow to follow herself. "S-so..."
"You don't have anything to worry about this depositor — I'd let them go about their business."
"O-OK — thank you."
"Not a problem at all..."
In so speaking, Shinichi made for the door to hold it open for their guest, who timidly made to exit, only pausing to mutter another thanks to the young detective before leaving fully. Ran returned Shinichi's chair to his desk as the door closed.
"Ma... I guess we'll have to invest in another chair for this room if we want to —" Ran interrupted herself as she turned back to see Shinichi with a far-away look on his face. "Er... is something wrong?"
Shinichi snapped back to Ran and smiled to assure her. "Ah, ie, it's just... talking with her just now reminded me that I have an errand to run I nearly forgot. You don't mind if I step out to do it now, do you?"
"Ah... ie, go ahead."
"Thank you!"
With that verbally thrown bit of gratitude, Shinichi, first checking to ensure he had his key, immediately exited their dorm room, leaving Ran to wonder what just happened.
"Kaneno-san!"
The young woman turned at the sound of Shinichi's voice, clearly surprised to have been followed outside. "Kudo-san?"
Shinichi got within talking distance before responding. "Sorry to run you down, but... I didn't tell you everything upstairs."
"Eh? You mean I —"
"Ie, you still have no reason to worry — but as to why you don't have to worry, I... omitted some details that I want to clarify."
"What sort of details? Why?"
Shinichi took a deep breath to calm himself. "I didn't tell you everything upstairs because my roommate is the daughter of Mouri-tantei, and... there are some things about him I'm not willing to share with her yet." Kaneno donned a look of concern — Shinichi made haste to allay that concern. "The depositor you've been seeing is a, er... representative of mine — I'm the reason he's been getting regular payments."
Kaneno's eyes widened. "Eh? But... upstairs you didn't seem to know —"
"I'll be honest, I didn't expect them to disguise themselves so thoroughly when they went to the bank — or even go physically to the bank at all, for that matter."
"But... why?"
Shinichi hesitated for a moment, then decided it wasn't worth holding back. "The payments are intended as... thanks, for the time I was... under his care." Kaneno understandably gaped, but Shinichi pressed through. "I'm sure you'll understand that I don't want that to be public knowledge — it's not exactly something I'm comfortable talking about in the first place. But if you're going to be a part of what's happening, even if it was unwitting at first... I think you should know about it."
Kaneno recovered enough to nod. "Wakarimasu — I won't say anything about it."
"Arigato — and my apologies for whatever distress I caused."
"No worries — arigatogozaimasu, tantei-san."
With that dismissal, Kaneno continued walking to the parking lot, leaving Shinichi to think on what he just revealed. Much like upstairs, he gave the young woman yet another half-truth: the money was courtesy of him, for sure, but it wasn't by way of thanks — it was by way of apology. Mouri Kogoro was bound to figure out where his mojo came from at some point, and Shinichi wanted to have his guilt on the matter processed by then. If nothing else, whatever he paid would certainly cover whatever medical bill would come about from the side-effects of frequent tranquilization.
Shinichi only hoped he would be able to tell Ran about it one day.
Notes:
I went back and forth in my head on what the public knowledge of the Shinichi/Conan situation would be and eventually ended up on a compromise that will be clarified in a future chapter. Suffice it to say for now, there's not a public consensus, but there's an inkling which is far from being publicly confirmed. As for our mystery depositor... I think it's pretty obvious who it's supposed to be.
NEXT KUDO HINT: receipt
Chapter Text
Somewhat confused by where he was at the moment, the man in a suit exited the dormitory elevator and continued following the word-of-mouth directions he received. Sure enough, he arrived at a door with the signage he sought: Meitantei Kudo Shinichi.
Well, that's certainly... ostentatious.
Deciding to take things seriously, the man knocked on the door. After a wait long enough to make the man think he may have been pranked, the door finally opened to the face of a young man of college age.
"Hai?"
"... Kudo Shinichi?"
"Hai."
"May I come in?"
"... Hai."
The so-far monosyllabic teenager opened the door fully for his guest and made for the back of the room, indicating an upholstered armchair facing away from the back wall sandwiched between two desks and their wheeled chairs. After a moment's hesitation, the man closed the door behind him and made to sit in the upholstered chair.
Kudo sat at one of the desk chairs and closed the open book at his desk before turning to his guest. "How can I help you?"
The man shifted in his chair slightly before sitting up straight to answer. "My name is Tokimeki Shoji — I'm the president of Kenjitsu Security. We build world-class safes and vaults for those who need them."
Kudo adopted a far away look. "Kenjitsu Security... this wouldn't happen to be the same Kenjitsu Security who built the Praetorian vault?"
"The very same — the Praetorian was built to be absolutely impregnable."
"Except it wasn't."
"Ma... ee, I guess you remember the case from six months ago. An elite team of four members were convicted of breaking into our maiden installation of the Praetorian, but we've made improvements to the vault since then."
"So what do you need my help on?"
Shoji took in a deep breath before answering. "The Praetorian was the victim of another break-in last night, making off with a rare collection of uncut diamonds. Whoever did it managed to evade every single redundant security measure we set up for the vault and exit undetected."
"And you want my help finding who did it?"
Shoji leaned forward with intensity. "The team who broke into the vault six months ago gathered incredibly specialized knowledge in order to do what they did. I think that the team had a secret fifth member who wasn't revealed in the initial investigation, and that fifth member pulled off the heist last night. I want you to find that fifth member." Kudo bit back a snort poorly — Shoji furrowed his brow. "What?"
"I'm sorry, it's just... I remember back when I thought I was always the smartest person in the room. Those were the days."
"Eh? What do you mean?"
"Your hypothesis of a fifth member is based on the faulty assumption that intellectual innovation is unrepeatable — one need not be in contact with someone like-minded to come to the same conclusion as them. And there is no record that can't be broken, no security that can't be defeated by a determined person with an inordinate amount of free time."
"Are you suggesting —"
Before Shoji could finish his sentence, Kudo stood up abruptly. "Take me to the vault and I'll show you what I mean."
"Eh?"
"Take me to the Praetorian, and I'll show you the power of a determined person with an inordinate amount of free time."
Shoji had the sense that the teen wouldn't take 'no' for an answer.
Shinichi was less than impressed by the time he and Tokimeki made it downstairs. "I must say, the upstairs display had practically no security — everything there was child's play. I suppose everything is stored down in the vault itself after hours?"
A woman stopped the progression of the two men at the currently unmanned security station. "Tokimeki-san, the police said your consultant couldn't come to the crime scene until they were done."
Shinichi spoke up before Tokimeki could respond. "This would be Nakamori-keibu? I've consulted with him before, he can vouch for me if necessary..." — Shinichi read the name tag on the woman — "... Midori-san."
Without waiting for permission, Shinichi continued past the woman and kept talking as Tokimeki worked to catch up with him. "Lock upstairs shows signs of picking, motion sensor could be defeated with a cardboard box, light sensor is vulnerable to judiciously placed black tape, heat sensor can be thwarted by a number of different techniques..." Shinichi finally arrived at the vault itself, nodding toward the crime scene tech finishing with lifting prints as Tokimeki caught up before taking a moment to admire the vault. "I can see why you take so much pride in the Praetorian, she's lovely."
"It was worth every hour spent in the making."
"I see a two factor lock system, a physical key and an access code entry. I don't believe for a second that key lock could be picked, but the key itself could be copied if an excellent enough locksmith had even a visual reference to it, perhaps through a small camera planted on the opposite wall."
One of the crime scene techs chimed in. "We did find a bug on the fire extinguisher, tech team is still looking at it."
Shinichi nodded before turning toward Tokimeki. "Code is randomly generated?"
"Hai — the random number generator is built into the system itself, and the code changes every two minutes. Only the owner of the vault has a key fob reading the current code, and he's been in Sweden for the past week — the key has been with him the entire time."
"The random number generator could have been attacked to generate a known pattern."
"I had my team of engineers inspect the code generator — it's working perfectly still."
"Perhaps the attack was made to be temporary."
"My engineers found no evidence to indicate the generator was ever attacked like you suggest."
"Hmm..." Shinichi stared at the keypad for a moment going through and discarding other possibilities in his head, then after some time sat down cross-legged in front of the keypad. "I'm going to need some more time on this."
Tokimeki lingered briefly as if getting ready to protest, but nonetheless exited the room shortly afterward, leaving Shinichi to start his attempts at hacking into the keypad.
After explaining her situation, Ran thanked the security woman for letting her through and made her way toward the vault, Shinichi's metal water bottle in hand. At the vault, Shinichi awkwardly sat on his haunches intensely focused on the vault's access keypad, one hand raised over the keypad with his fingers making small movements as if trying to divinate the code. Ran managed to step directly behind him without him even ostensibly registering her presence. After an amused pause, Ran lightly tapped Shinichi's water bottle against the back of his head.
Immediately, Shinichi's hands snapped back behind his head in a panic, one clasping at where the bottle hit and the other slapping the bottle away. The detective made an attempt to stand quickly but instead fell to the ground half on his back due to his unbalanced initial stance. Ran stood in shocked silence as Shinichi hyperventilated for a few seconds.
Finally, as his eyes focused on Ran, Shinichi's breathing slowed and he swallowed dryly. "Promise me you'll never do that again."
"... I... I promise." Stunned by the smallness of Shinichi's voice, Ran wasn't entirely sure what she was promising, but the promise seemed to center Shinichi enough for him to stand after another deliberate breath.
Once standing, Shinichi sent a withering glare toward the keypad. "That vault keypad is an ocean of pure randomness — I've been trying to find a pattern in that thing for... what time is it?"
"It's past eleven o'clock, Shinichi."
"How was your astronomy lab?"
"Never mind that, Shinichi — drink some water, and let's get you back to our dorm."
Shinichi stared at the water bottle for a moment before grabbing it and opening it. After taking a gulp of water, Shinichi paused briefly before proceeding to splash his face directly from the bottle. A few small electrical noises behind him indicated some collateral damage, causing Shinichi to look at the keypad again and blink curiously.
After another empty pause, he turned his head back around and cleared his throat sheepishly. "Serves it right..."
With that mutterance, Shinichi started making his way to the exit, leaving Ran behind briefly to wonder what all had just happened.
The following morning
Nakamori dropped a large folder on the table in a manner that Shinichi supposed was meant to startle him but didn't. "The case files from six months ago — don't know why you're interested, but if it gets you off my back, so be it."
"Arigatogozaimasu!" At Shinichi's thanks, Nakamori simply grunted in response and left the room without another word, leaving the teen to peruse the case file.
As he was about to finish the case write-up, his water bottle slammed down on the table in front of him. "You forgot your water bottle again!"
Shinichi looked up to a frowning Ran. "Ah, gomen! I got too focused on looking at this case file that I forgot."
"You didn't go to sleep until midnight, and you're already at the police station at 8am? You need to get more sleep, Shinichi!"
"What are you, my mother?"
"... If I have to be."
Shinichi paused at that response to consider its undertones, but decided not to honor it with a response of his own, instead setting aside the write-up to the seat across from him. "Have a look, if you want..." Anticipating Ran's next response, Shinichi grabbed his water bottle and immediately took a drink from it, which seemed to placate Ran enough for her to sit down and half-reluctantly look at the case write-up as Shinichi moved on to prison logs.
After a short time, Ran looked back up at Shinichi. "What are we looking for exactly?"
"We're looking for anything in the previous case that could point us in the direction of the solution to the current case."
"You mean the fifth member that vault maker suspects?"
"I doubt it's an actual fifth member, but that's not the only possibility."
"What else could it be?"
"Ma... I was about to say one of them could have told someone after the fact, but prison logs indicate none of the four original perpetrators have received visitors, so that doesn't look likely either."
"What makes you so certain it couldn't be fifth member?"
"The absence of a fifth member from the original case notes would be thoroughly ridiculous. Here, eeto..." Shinichi searched through the folder to find the exhibit he sought and pulled it out to show Ran. "This coffee receipt was used to prove the four heist members were connected to each other — they paid for a coffee order together and had their names on their respective drinks. If there were a fifth member reticent enough to have their name omitted from this receipt, it would have occurred to the other members not to include their names as well. The case summary even notes the credit card on the receipt was that of one of the four, so we can rule out a fifth party paying for the drinks. Hmm?" Shinichi paused to inspect the back of the receipt, which was populated with what appeared to be a bunch of random printed keyboard characters.
Curiosity seemed to get the better of Ran. "What is it?"
"The back of this receipt... there wasn't anything about it in the case notes. Here, take a look." Shinichi excitedly laid down the receipt upside down for Ran to inspect.
Ran dropped an eyebrow as she looked. "It... looks like a bunch of gibberish."
"Exactly — that's what it's meant to look like. It is, in fact, a program written in Malbolge, a programming language designed to look like someone smashed their face against a keyboard. If I had to hazard a guess, this program is how they managed to defeat the vault number pad."
"... You're not going to try to go back to the vault with this, are you?"
"Eh? Ie, ie, I —"
Before Shinichi could finish his defense, another folder was slammed onto the table, this time actually startling Shinichi. "Here, trial records for the case — forgot they were filed separately."
"Trial records? The case went to trial?"
"Only for the ring leader — he demanded a lay judge trial even though the other three confessed willingly."
"That's odd... did he ever say why?"
"Ie — and he died in prison two weeks ago, so there's no asking him now."
"Ma... thank you again, Nakamori-keibu." In response, Nakamori grunted and left the room again, this time leaving Shinichi to peruse the trial notes.
A quick skim through the notes immediately yielded something of interest. "The judges requested to view the receipt three different times." Shinichi looked up to Ran to verify that she found it odd as well, prompting him to don a grin. "One of the judges must have recognized the Malbolge."
The apartment building was found easily enough — what Ran did not expect was for the building to be guarded by a uniform officer, who stopped her and Shinichi from entering. "Sumimasen, this is an active police area. Please stay back."
Shinichi appeared just as confused as Ran. "Ano... we're here to see someone living here, a Masayoshi Kaze-san?"
The officer raised an eyebrow. "Ma... if you're wanting to see Masayoshi-san, you'll have to visit the morgue — he jumped out his window early this morning and didn't survive the fall."
Shinichi froze at the news, but recovered quickly enough. "May I inspect the crime scene?"
The officer scrunched his face. "Eh? Didn't I just tell you this is an active police area? You're not police."
Ran tried but failed to hold back a snort, causing Shinichi to look back at her. Shinichi's gaze, however, simply made her start laughing uncontrollably.
The officer seemed just as taken aback. "What are you laughing about?"
Ran coughed slightly as she tried to talk through her laughter. "I just... I'm sorry, it's just... how is it that there are still police officers who haven't heard of you, Shinichi?"
Shinichi, to her amusement, seemed abashed. "Ran..."
The officer raised his eyebrows. "Wait... Kudo Shinichi? Why didn't you say so? You're welcome to the crime scene."
The officer stepped aside — Ran had to push Shinichi past due to his being frozen in embarrassment.
Shinichi played the piano.
Despite being apparently desperate enough to burgle a vault of uncut diamonds — or perhaps it was simply greed — the former tenant of the apartment was well-off enough to have a grand piano in their apartment. Shinichi decided to try his (gloved) hands at it while he and Ran waited for Megure to arrive at the scene. Ran appeared to be texting someone, but Shinichi didn't pay it any mind, instead taking himself through a Bach prelude that had been on his mind as of late. Soon enough, Megure arrived just as Shinichi reached the coda of the prelude, moving to stand by the piano as Shinichi made a point of finishing the piece.
After cutting off the final chord, Shinichi looked up and smiled. "Thank you for coming, Megure-keibu."
"What is this, Kudo-kun? The uniform downstairs said this was a suicide case."
"On the contrary, keibu, this is a murder case. Here..." — Shinichi indicated a hand toward the window — "... note the scuff marks under the window and on its frame. They indicate a defenestration rather than suicide by jumping. Also note the blood splatter near the bottom of the wall across the room."
Shinichi stood from the piano bench and walked toward the opposite wall to indicate another hand toward the offending red stain. "The color and volume indicate someone getting punched in the nose with some force. I already called Tome-san and he said the victim's nose was intact, so that means this blood splatter is from our murderer. We'll want to have forensics submit this for DNA analysis."
Megure dropped an eyebrow. "I get that this is suspicious, but... why are you even here in the first place, Kudo-kun?"
"The answer to that, Megure-keibu, lies in these vases." Shinichi made another short walk over to the side table near the front door, where he indicated the trio of vases with filler rocks. "Note that one of these vases is partially depleted. The reason for that is that our murderer took some of the contents from this vase. I know that because the murderer left some of what he took behind." With that claim, Shinichi emptied the partially depleted vase onto the table, spread the rocks out with his hands, then plucked out the interloper to show to Megure.
Megure, however, didn't seem to recognize what Shinichi held. "What is that?"
Shinichi raised his brow expectantly. "It's an uncut diamond, Megure-keibu."
Megure's eyes bugged out. "Eh?! You mean —"
"You'll want to let Nakamori-keibu know that one of the perpetrators of the Praetorian vault break-in has been killed, most likely by one of his co-conspirators."
Megure responded by turning toward the front door and shouting for an officer to call forensics in as he exited the apartment. After taking a moment to inspect the diamond in his hand, Shinichi carefully started refilling the vase with its remaining rocks, minus the diamond.
As he did so, Ran approached him. "Shinichi?"
"Hmm?"
"Listen, I... tou-san needs my help with something this afternoon, I probably will be busy until late this evening."
"OK — you likely won't miss much, just a bunch of forensics and DNA analysis. I'll probably be back in our dorm before long. Give occhan my regards."
"... OK."
Shinichi finished refilling the vase without looking up to see Ran leave, his mind slowly revving up back to rapid thought on the matter at hand.
Ran slowly made her way from the elevator to her dorm room in something of a haze. Her time with her father yielded some questions that she needed to ask Shinichi, but she wasn't entirely sure how to broach the subject. As she arrived at her dorm, however, she found herself pausing at the sound coming from behind the door.
... Harpsichord?
Ran tentatively opened the door and walked in to find Shinichi draped longways across the upholstered chair in his pajamas with a strangely satisfied smile on his face. What on earth...
Ran furrowed her brow in confusion. "... What are you doing?"
Shinichi sighed contently. "I'm letting it all sink in — days like these are a testament to the calling of detective work."
"What are you listening to?"
"It's the fugue whose prelude you heard me playing at Masayoshi-san's apartment." Without warning, Shinichi bounced out of the chair and walked toward Ran with an intensity Ran hadn't seen in a while. "Great detective work, Ran, is a lot like writing a fugue — you're able to take multiple, ostensibly disparate musical ideas and put them together into a coherent, lyrical whole. This case, Ran... is quite the double fugue." With that statement, Shinichi walked over to the board hanging over his desk.
Ran raised an eyebrow. "You bought a cork board for this?"
Shinichi ignored the question and indicated the top row of photos. "Meet the members of the original heist team who broke into the Praetorian six months ago. Each member developed specifically specialized skills in order to pull off the heist — much like a fugue in its own right."
Shinichi started indicating individual photos. "This is Hashi Futo-san, the locksmith of the team, responsible for the picking of locks leading up to the vault and for copying the key to the vault itself. Next to him is Akage Aisare-san, the electrical engineer responsible for defeating the various security systems placed in front of the vault. The third team member is Kenkyo Shitchi-san, the inside man, able to gain access to the vault's security by virtue of being related to the vault's owner — while receiving none of the inheritance the vault's owner received. And, last but not least, the late Oka Kato-san — ring-leader and computer scientist, responsible for organizing the heist and for cracking the keypad random number generator. Together, they made short work of the Praetorian six months ago."
Ran found herself enraptured with the energy with which Shinichi explained the case — Shinichi gave no indication of whether or not he noticed. "Now, the team was eventually caught, of course, but Oka-san, for unknown reasons, demanded a lay judge trial, even after his fellow team members had already confessed and testified against him. Given what we know now, I have to wonder if the purpose of that trial was precisely to spread the word of the keys to the Praetorian. Of course, we can't ask the man himself anymore if that's the case — but if it was, it had the intended effect."
Shinichi indicated the last photo on the second row of photos. "Our good friend Masayoshi Kaze-san, a fellow computer scientist and opportunist, recognized the Malbolge on the back of the coffee order and knew what he was looking at. As the trial noted, however, one man alone cannot crack the Praetorian — he needs a team behind him. The question, then, is who was the team behind Masayoshi-san. As such, while you were gone, I took the opportunity to inspect the contacts on Masayoshi-san's phone, and I noted something curious: he had contacts bearing the names of some of his fellow lay judges. Now, tell me, Ran — in the times your parents have served lay judge duty, did they ever even have the inclination to keep in touch with their fellow lay judges after the trial was over?"
Ran involuntarily let out a chuckle. "I don't think so."
"I suspect my parents are the same way... ma, at least tou-san, anyway — wouldn't put it past ka-san to try to make friends in that context, but she'd be an exception proving the rule, I'd say. On further inspecting the names I found, the pieces of this particular fugue came together."
Shinichi repeated his initial routine on the bottom row of photos. "Meet Okami Koyo-san, fellow lay judge and locksmith, who was forced into early retirement a few months before the trial. Also meet Ishi Mamoru-san, fellow lay judge and electrical engineer, on an indefinite disability leave after an unfortunate, but not debilitating, electrical accident a year before the trial. The third fellow lay judge in Masayoshi-san's contacts... was a Yorokonde Shigoto-san. It didn't make sense to me at first — until I inspected marriage records. Yorokonde-san took the surname of his wife when he married — seems he expected to inherit a load by virtue of marrying her that didn't come about. His original family name... was Midori-san."
Ran raised her brow. "Like the security officer at the vault?"
"That security officer is his sister — thus qualifying him as the inside man of the team. Whether Midori Aisare-san was in on it as well or simply taken advantage of is another question, but as of now..." Shinichi swept his hand across the first three bottom row photos. "We have our list of suspects for the murder of Masayoshi Kaze-san here."
"You let the police know?"
"Megure-keibu is summoning all the remaining lay judges from the trial to the MPD in the morning for DNA swabs to compare with the blood sample we found. Until then..." Shinichi paused with a hand raised to listen intently to the coda of the fugue; as the fugue reached its final cadence, he closed his eyes and let out another satisfied sigh. "I've been basking — and now I'm ready for a good night's sleep." With that pronouncement, Shinichi started climbing into his bunk.
Ran remained rooted in place in indecision before speaking up. "Ano... Shinichi?"
"Hai?"
"Listen... remember the bank teller who came to us as we were moving in here asking about the deposits to tou-san's account?"
"From the person in muffler and trench-coat?"
"Ee... ma, I just came back from helping my father with some of his finances, and he expressed outright confusion at the deposits — like he wasn't aware of them."
"... Hontoni?"
"Ee — and I don't think he was acting stupid."
"Ma... it could be someone's still trying to convince him to take a case — or..."
Ran furrowed her brow in concern. "Or what?"
"Never mind — I don't want to say anything until I ask some questions. I still don't think it's anything to worry about, though."
As Shinichi was already on his back in his bunk, Ran couldn't read his facial expressions to figure out what he was thinking. Deciding not to dwell on it, Ran sighed and started preparing for bed.
The following morning
With Ran tagging along, Shinichi approached Megure outside of a conference room in the police station and looked inside the room. "Everyone here, Megure-keibu?"
"Almost — we're missing Okami Koyo-san, one of the three people you said were suspects. I've sent Takagi with some uniforms to her place to find her. Aside from her, and of course Masayoshi-san, the entire panel is here."
Shinichi checked his phone. "Ma... since it's the appointed time, let's not keep them waiting."
Megure nodded, then opened the door before following the two teens inside. The people already in the room looked up at the entrance with a mix of apprehension and exhaustion.
As the door closed, Shinichi took the opportunity to address the crowd. "Good morning, everyone! Before we begin, let me extend my heartfelt thanks for performing your civic duty in serving as lay judges on the trial for Oka Kato-san — because of you, a criminal was rightfully put behind bars. Unfortunately... one of you decided to negate that civic good by becoming a murderer."
Shinichi nodded toward the posted uniforms as the former lay judges digested their horror, prompting the uniforms to start handing out swabs to them as he continued speaking. "In the interest of seeing to another criminal being put behind bars, we ask that you please provide a mouth swab for us to compare with DNA from the crime scene. You're welcome to refuse, of course — but given your previous displays of civic engagement, I'm sure you'll want to do the right thing again." By the time he finished speaking, all the swabs had been handed out and most of their recipients had already started swabbing.
Shinichi turned to look at Ran and twitch his brow in pleasure, then turned back at the remaining hesitant recipient. "Is everything okay, Ishi-san?"
Ishi Mamoru snapped out of his dissociative stare at his swab to send startled looks toward Shinichi and Megure, then proceeded to swab his mouth very quickly and hand the used swab to the waiting uniform. Once all the lay judges finished their swabbing, Megure expressed his own thanks and dismissed them.
Once they had left and the uniforms made away with the swabs for analysis, Megure let out a terse sigh. "We'll have Ishi-san and Yorokonde-san kept under watch until DNA results are back. As for Okami-san..."
As if on cue, Megure's phone started ringing — he pulled out his phone to look at the caller ID. "Ah, that's Takagi-kun... with a video call?" A little wary of the technology, Megure hit the accept button, after which Shinichi craned his head to look at the screen with the inspector.
Takagi waved back over the call. "Megure-keibu — I'm at Okami-san's home. I thought you might want to see it for yourself."
Megure raised an eyebrow as the video feed switched cameras. After some motion, the feed showed a badly bagged corpse under some cardboard beneath a set of porch stairs, prompting Megure to let out a moue of disgust.
Shinichi audibly seethed at the sight. "Oi... she's been dead for longer than Masayoshi-san, it looks like."
"That's what I thought as well." The video feed switched cameras again to show Takagi's face. "I've already sent for a forensics team. I'm still looking for signs of diamonds being stolen as well, I'll let you know when I've found any."
Megure nodded. "Good work, Takagi-kun — I'll be in touch."
"Hai!" Takagi saluted before ending the video call.
Megure sighed again. "Ma, that narrows down the suspect field..."
Shinichi shrugged. "It'll be narrowed further soon enough."
"Keibu!"
Megure and the two teens turned their attention to the uniform in the doorway. "Hmm? What is it?"
"There's been a hit on the DNA sample!"
"Eh? But we just sent the swabs in a few minutes ago."
"The match isn't for any of the swabs, keibu."
Megure raised his brow; Shinichi furrowed his.
"Ichijiku Noburu-san! We have a warrant for your arrest!"
As Megure pounded on the house door, Ran turned to look at Shinichi, who had his arms crossed with a look of total frustration, causing her to stifle a cough of laughter. "You don't seem too happy."
Shinichi exhaled forcefully through his nose. "Ichijiku-san doesn't fit the case, Ran — we're missing something here."
"His DNA was a match for the blood, ne? What did Sherlock Holmes say? 'When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'"
"Nothing's been eliminated yet."
Ran raised a skeptical eyebrow as Megure gave up and directed one of the uniforms next to him to drill the lock. Shinichi continued looking toward the house with disdain, then blithely dropped his arms to follow Megure in after the door was opened, causing Ran to have to catch up with him. Ran stopped herself in the living room, intent on not getting in the way of the police — a qualm Shinichi apparently did not bear. After several seconds of searching, the resident of the house was nowhere to be found. Megure returned to the living room to start wordlessly searching the room, presumably for diamonds.
As Ran silently calculated how to remain unobtrusive, Shinichi walked in quickly with a screwy look on his face. "Not only is Ichijiku-san not at home, he's been out of the country for three weeks."
Megure stood up from his search of a lower cabinet. "Eh?"
"Ichijiku-san has been in Bengal on a MSF mission since early this month — there's no way he's our murderer."
"Then... why was his DNA a match for the crime scene?"
"That is what we shall endeavor to figure out." As Shinichi and Megure spoke, Ran's vision wandered around the room before focusing on the contents of a side table.
Once she recognized what she was looking at, she placed a hand on the table and turned to Shinichi. "Ano... Shinichi?"
Shinichi snapped his head to Ran. "Hai?"
"May I apologize for the 'impossible' quip I made earlier?"
Shinichi raised a confused eyebrow, then finally noticed what Ran's hand indicated. Ran could see the moment things clicked in his head, after which he turned back to Megure.
"We need to talk with Ishi-san again."
Shinichi quietly followed Megure into the interrogation box as the inspector sat down across from a clearly annoyed Ishi Mamoru, who expressed his annoyance. "What's this about? This is bordering on harassment."
Megure adopted an apologetic tone. "Gomen, Ishi-san, but unfortunately your mouth swab got contaminated on the way to the lab. Just to make sure we don't run into the same problem again, we'd appreciate it if you provided us with a blood sample instead."
Ishi narrowed his eyes. "Look — I've done everything I could to cooperate with you guys so far, but this is just... this is a violation of my autonomy."
"And murder isn't?" Ishi turned his attention toward Shinichi, who decided to indulge his storytelling inclination. "We have to confess, Ishi-san... we actually already had a hit on the DNA at the crime scene not long after you left this morning. The thing is, the person whose DNA we matched has been out of the country for nearly a month — there's no way he's our murderer. It left us rather confused, I'm sure you'll imagine... until we found this in his home."
Shinichi pulled out his phone to show a picture to the suspect, who looked blankly at the picture. "Am I supposed to know what that is?"
Shinichi allowed himself a sarcastic smirk as he took his phone back. "That green ribbon signifies its owner is a blood marrow donor. The funny thing about blood marrow donation, a recipient of a marrow transplant... will start producing blood with the DNA of the donor." Shinichi deliberately pocketed his phone before he continued. "You've been on indefinite disability leave from your job, but the accident you suffered wasn't indefinitely debilitating. Is that leave perhaps indefinite... because you were diagnosed with leukemia shortly afterward? You even received a blood marrow transplant."
Ishi donned another insincerely sour look on his face. "I can't believe you'd use my illness against me like that..."
Megure cleared his throat. "Be disgusted with him all you want — we do have a warrant compelling you to provide us a blood sample. We also have detectives on their way to execute a search warrant on your apartment — in particular to look for uncut diamonds." Megure let a drop of sweat run down Ishi's head before continuing. "So the way I see it, you can do one of two things, Ishi-san: either you provide us with a blood sample and submit to the public defender lottery, or... you can confess now and we can see to your getting a reduced sentence if you testify on Yorokonde Shigoto-san's role in the Praetorian heist."
As he watched Ishi's face fall, Shinichi knew right away which choice the murderer would take.
As the two teens exited the dorm elevator and made their way to their room, a thought occurred to Ran. "Ne, Shinichi — did you let Tokimeki-san know about solving the case?"
"I sent him a picture of the Malbolge late yesterday after I figured out the four culprits, I'm sure he has someone to help translate. Oh — looks like someone already has." As they approached their dorm room door, they both noticed a tall, white paper bag with the Kenjitsu logo standing just in front of the door.
Ran picked up the bag as Shinichi unlocked their door. "Oh, wow — this is heavier than I was expecting."
Shinichi opened the door and moved aside for Ran to enter first. "Probably why he left it here instead of waiting, I suppose."
As Shinichi closed the door behind them, Ran pulled the gift out of its back — only to don a nonplussed stare upon realizing what it was. "Er... I suppose he forgot we're too young." Out of the corner of her eye, Shinichi simply stared at the bottle of champagne she was holding.
Ran recovered enough to sigh at the sight in her hands. "Ma... I suppose we could give it to your parents, if they're willing. I'd offer it to tou-san, but lately he —"
So far unaware of the tension building next to her, Ran startled as Shinichi forcefully yanked the bottle from her hands and stomped into the dorm bathroom. After a moment of shock, she followed him into the bathroom to see him ungracefully uncork the bottle then proceed to pour the bottle down the sink. The look of utter disgust on Shinichi's face gave Ran considerable pause — until Shinichi finally spoke up.
"If I have my way, I'll never see another alcohol label for as long as I live."
Having finished draining the bottle, Shinichi brushed past Ran to toss the bottle into their recycle bin, leaving Ran to contemplate on then finally realize just what she had done wrong two days ago at the Praetorian. Ran silently made another vow to prevent such episodes in the future.
Notes:
I've been waffling on which prelude and fugue Shinichi plays and listens to herein — it's between numbers 9 and 17 in Book II of The Well-Tempered Clavier. Whichever fits the length of the scene as spoken, I guess.
In retrospect, I feel like I probably could have done more to explore the mental after-effects of what happens in DC canon, but at the same time those involved have already shown a general unwillingness to explore those effects themselves, so I feel justified in how little time the subject gets in the end — though there will be more added on top later that makes it difficult for them to avoid it, believe me.
NEXT KUDO HINT: wires
Chapter Text
Having arrived back from a restroom trip, Shinichi collapsed back into the airport terminal chair and closed his eyes, hoping to get a few minutes of shut-eye before their flight was scheduled to board.
Ran apparently had other ideas. "Ne, Shinichi?"
"Hmm?"
"Why are we going to Hokkaido?"
"... Eh?"
"Two days ago, all you did was ask if I wanted to go to Hokkaido with you for the weekend. You didn't tell me why you were going there in the first place. You were so insistent, I had to get myself excused from my astronomy lab so I could be on this flight."
"You had finished a two week lab a week early, anyway, ne?"
"You — wait, did you talk to my astronomy lab instructor before inviting me?"
"... Didn't you tell me that yourself?"
"I — ugh, forget it. This is for a case, isn't it?"
"Hai."
"... What's the case?"
Shinichi was silently thankful that he had his eyes closed in the face of Ran's tone of voice. "I don't entirely know yet, actually. I was contacted by someone who's apparently a friend of a friend of a friend in need of an outside private detective with discretion. She insisted that she would cover all travel expenses to have me come hear her case."
"... So money is not an issue for her."
"Indeed."
"And so you took the case out of intrigue for her willingness to throw that money on her problem."
"Correct as always." Ran sighed next to Shinichi, leaving him wondering what she was going to say next.
After a solid minute of silence between them, she finally spoke up again. "Are you tired?"
"... Hmm?"
"You look like you're trying to sleep right now. Are you tired?"
"Not particularly — I just want to make sure at least one of us is awake during the flight."
"Eh? Oi, what makes you so sure I'll fall asleep during the flight?"
"You mean besides past experience?"
"We were flying clear across the Pacific, that hardly counts."
"There was also the flight to Okinawa, you know."
"You were — ah, never mind. I won't fall asleep during the flight, I swear."
"Does that mean I should reserve the right to startle you awake if you do?"
"... Please don't."
Shinichi chuckled at the pout in Ran's voice. "Daijobu — outside of whatever this case is about, I promise there won't be any further surprises."
"Oh! Cool guy!" Shinichi froze as his eyes flew open at the sound of a third voice
Feeling a well of frustration build up, he deliberately made to stand for the interloper. "Don't call me that."
"Oh? Would you prefer I called you 'cool kid' again?"
"I'd prefer you call me by my name."
"Very well, Kudo-kun — fancy seeing you here."
"I'd hardly consider it a coincidence."
"Eh? What do you mean? I'm just here flying back to America."
"This isn't the international terminal, Jodie-san. Why are you here?"
Jodie dropped her clueless act in favor of a knowing smirk. "Nothing gets past you, I suppose — though it is true that I'm here to fly back to America. I just saw you were on the flight manifest for another flight and decided to drop by."
"To what end?"
"Would you believe just to see an old friend?"
"Ie." Shinichi could almost feel Ran's confusion behind him.
Jodie didn't seem to notice. "Your suspicious nature is both a blessing and a curse, Kudo-kun — though I can hardly blame you for holding onto it."
"What do you want, Jodie-san?"
Jodie tilted her head briefly, evidently not expecting Shinichi to be as short with her as he was being. "I've come on behalf of the FBI, Kudo-kun — it hasn't escaped our attention how well you've... adjusted to life after our collaboration. Your handling of the Praetorian conspiracy was especially noticed by my peers."
"What of it?"
"This is all to say, Kudo-kun, that we'd love to be able to call you one of our own — there's an opening in our fast-track program with your name on it if you're interested. You'd get to do much of what you're already doing, but you'd have the full force of the FBI backing you up —"
"Ie."
Jodie startled at the interruption. "Eh?"
"Ie, I don't want to join the FBI."
Jodie tilted her head up at Shinichi's indignation. "And may I ask, why not?"
"Because I've lived in a moral gray area long enough for a lifetime without officially joining an organization known for its moral black spots."
At Shinichi's fiery language, Jodie dropped her brow, then smiled sarcastically. "The FBI hardly has the black spots you suggest it has."
"You're going to look me in the face and tell me COINTELPRO never happened?"
"... That was a long time ago, Shinichi. The FBI is a different organization now."
"So you're intimately familiar with every arm of the FBI's operations?"
"I'm familiar with the ones you'd be a part of, and I assure you, you'd have no problem with the 'morally black', as you put it."
"I'm sure that's what every Pinkerton grunt told themselves until they were recruited to break a strike."
Jodie paused, then smiled sadly. "You sound as if you've already thought this out."
Shinichi crossed his arms. "I have."
"Very well — I'll take my leave of you now, then. Rest assured, however, that this won't be the last time we see each other."
With a blown kiss and a wink, Jodie turned and walked away, leaving Shinichi to take in a deep breath and release it as he dropped his arms. Shinichi turned back around to see the inevitable question on Ran's face, but before she could voice her question the gate attendant announced the beginning of boarding. Shinichi blithely picked up his bag and made for the gate, confident that Ran would take the hint and silently follow suit.
"Ne, Shinichi?"
"Hai?"
"Why am I here?"
Shinichi raised an eyebrow, then turned to look past Ran briefly, presumably to see that their window seat-mate had fallen asleep, before returning to face front again. "What do you mean?"
Ran furrowed her brow in frustration. "You know what I mean, Shinichi. You were called out to Hokkaido, you were called out on a case. Why are you bringing me with you?"
"Why not?"
Ran paused only momentarily before letting out a huff through her nose. "If this were just about our spending more time together, then you wouldn't be acting this deliberately obtuse. You wouldn't even tell me this trip was for a case until I asked directly, and now you're dodging this question as well. What's going on here, Shinichi?" Ran paused long enough to see Shinichi start to open his mouth before interrupting him. "And don't just say your bringing me is just another test of your client's generosity on travel expenses."
"... I wasn't about to say that."
"I don't believe you."
At that flat pronouncement, Shinichi turned to look at Ran in earnest. The stare of concern she received gave her considerable pause and lasted longer than what made her comfortable.
Finally, Shinichi turned his head to stare into his lap. "I had hoped never to hear you say that again."
The sad expression on Shinichi's face caused Ran to drop her guard with a sigh and a pinch of her nose. "Gomen, that was unfair of me."
"It's fine..." After another pause, Shinichi inhaled deeply and leaned back into his seat. "You're right to be suspicious — though to be fair, I was hoping to make a vacation out of this weekend should the case prove sufficiently simple. But you're right about that not being the only motivation to bring you here."
Shinichi deliberately shifted in his seat to face his full body toward Ran with an intensity that left her mum. "It's funny how Jodie-san said I 'hadn't escaped the FBI's attention' — to borrow from that phrase, you haven't escaped my attention either." Ran simply raised her brow in confusion, prompting Shinichi to continue. "The questions you asked about the body during the record store case; your willingness to help with tou-san's mailbag during the copycat case; your observation of the bureau photo and your acting role during the Yasashi case; your observation of the marrow ribbon in the Praetorian case — you've shown the aptitude to make yourself a detective in your own right."
Ran briefly felt as if she couldn't breathe. "So... this trip is... what? A training opportunity?"
"This is my granting you the opportunity of... an apprenticeship, of sorts."
"... An apprenticeship."
"Hai — instead of just following me around on cases, you'll ideally be playing just as active of a role as I am on this and future cases... and even solving some cases on your own, if the opportunity arises."
Ran, embarrassingly enough, was left speechless. "... Er..."
"Consider this case something of a trial period, if you have any hesitations on the matter."
"Ie, I have no hesitations, I just... I wasn't expecting this."
Shinichi's intensity came back in full force. "I'll tell you what I told your mother: I made the mistake once of underestimating your intelligence — I don't intend on making the same mistake again."
This time, Ran's silence came with an involuntary blush.
KUDO SHINICHI
Silently thankful for his name being lesser known in Hokkaido than on the mainland, Shinichi made his way through the Sapporo baggage claim to the person holding a sign with his name on it, Ran following behind. "Are you driving us to Kamoenai?"
"Hai — follow me."
"Domo."
After a tip of a duffer cap, the driver led the two teens outside, insisted on stowing their luggage in the trunk of a black luxury car, then directed the pair into the back seat before stepping around to take the driver's seat. Not a word of conversation was offered as the drive started away from the terminal and out onto the open road. Ran, predictably, fell asleep on Shinichi's shoulder during the car ride, leading him to fight a blush as he took in the views out the window during their two hour drive.
Shinichi only interrupted the silence once early in the ride. "Ne, untenshu-san."
"Hai?"
"Will we be heading straight for Tana-san's home?"
"Ie, we're heading for your hotel in the town proper. Tana-sama will speak with you there." Shinichi raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment on the stilted nature of the driver's response and instead continued admiring the scenery.
Once at the hotel, Shinichi (after waking Ran) made his way out the back seat, only to have the driver beat him to the trunk. "Ano... we can handle our bags —"
"Ah, ie, Tana-sama insisted I bring your luggage to your room for you."
Shinichi remained frozen and could feel Ran drop half a brow next to him as the driver emptied the trunk of their luggage and started carrying it inside. The driver didn't even wait for either of the teens to get out in front to open the door, instead opting to bump the door open and have the confused pair follow behind.
The driver waited patiently as Shinichi requested their room keys from the front desk, goading Ran into giving it another try. "Really, we can take the bags ourselves —"
"I'm to take the luggage to your room for you, Tana-sama was very clear on that."
Silently meditating on the unflappability of chauffeurs these days, Shinichi thanked the desk attendant for their room keys, then led Ran and the driver to their room for the weekend. After unlocking the door, Shinichi held it open for the driver, who walked straight into the room with no sign of fatigue and dropped the teens' luggage on the two beds in the room. As Ran checked the bathroom, Shinichi made to pull his wallet out of his pocket for a tip — only for the driver to hold up a hand as the door closed behind them.
"No need!" With that directive, the driver pulled off her duffer cap to unfurl her long, unbraided hair, then awkwardly started pulling out shoulder pads from under her jacket.
Shinichi raised an eyebrow at the sight. "I take it you're well known in town, Tana-san?"
"Hai — it was a necessary precaution, I assure you."
Shinichi simply pursed his lips at the ominous statement, only to jump slightly at the gasp from behind him. "Ah! The driver is..."
Shinichi turned to see a confused Ran still recovering from her nap somewhat, so he decided to let her miss go. "Ran, allow me to introduce you to our client, Tana Rina-san. Tana-san, this is Mouri Ran, my... partner."
Tana allowed herself a small smirk at Ran's reaction. "It's good to see my means of disguising myself still works on some people."
Shinichi held out a hand to the desk chair. "I take it there's a reason you wanted to meet us here instead of at your home?"
"Hai — it's about my husband." Tana accepted Shinichi's invitation to the desk chair, prompting the two teens to sit on the bed across from her and wait patiently as she ostensibly considered her words. "My husband, Junichi — he is a part-time advisor to the Japanese government on matters of national security. Jun-chan is the reason there's a physical phone line going out into the middle of the woods, where our house is."
Shinichi raised an eyebrow. "They communicate over physical phone line?"
"I know, it sounds quaint — but it's considered more secure, apparently. He typically calls in for a consultation once a week on Wednesday, when all the servants and I are in town to buy supplies for the week so there are as few people around as possible."
"You have multiple servants?"
"Hai — there's my husband's man, Suchu-san; the maid, Hina-chan; and the chef, Kyo-san. They've all been with us since we moved into the mansion several years ago, Suchu-san for even longer."
"And what's the issue with your husband?"
Tana closed her eyes and took a deep breath before reopening her eyes to continue. "My husband has mysteriously and inexplicably been falling ill at irregular intervals for the past several months. Always without warning, Jun-chan will start sweating profusely and run a massive fever in between supper and bedtime, to the point where he becomes bedridden. Whenever it happens, he isolates himself from me, insisting that he be left alone with Suchu-san and that he sleep in a separate room for the night. The fever always breaks overnight and it's like he was never even sick the following morning. We've had multiple doctors brought in to try to figure out what's going on, but none of them have found anything wrong with him. We even brought in a psychologist to see if it's something psychosomatic, but the guy ended up just spouting Freudian bullshit, so he was of no help."
Tana took a moment to recover from her frustration before continuing. "I know food is not the problem — we both eat the same thing every night, and Kyo-san sees to it that there's nothing different between how my food is prepared and how Jun-chan's food is prepared. It's frustrated me to no end, because I haven't seen any reason or pattern to it all... until recently."
Tana looked down to the side with a look of concern, giving Shinichi some pause. He decided to let the silence lay until Tana continued.
Soon enough, the woman complied. "One night, I was so distressed by it all that I decided to go out for a walk after Jun-chan had taken himself to bed. When I was a sufficient distance away, I turned back to look at the mansion... and I noticed a bright light shining from the old tower over my husband's rooms toward the sea. It started flashing at an irregular rhythm that I couldn't track. That's when it occurred to me: my husband's illnesses always corresponded with nights of clear weather."
"And so you suspect your husband to be selling secrets to the Russians."
At Shinichi's interjection, Tana blanched, causing Ran to jump up and drop to the woman's side to comfort her, much to Shinichi's quiet amusement. The heart in that woman...
Shinichi caught himself long enough to stand himself and navigate to the bathroom to fill a glass of water, which he promptly handed to Tana. The woman accepted the silent offer and seemed to recover sufficiently after a sip.
"I... I feel terrible for suspecting my husband like I am, I just... it feels like I'm betraying him by suspecting him."
Shinichi impulsively crouched down and took a hold of Tana's free hand. "Nonsense, Tana-san — the pursuit of the truth is one of the most human endeavors there is. Don't blame yourself for pursuing the truth."
Tana hardened a gaze toward Shinichi, which he returned in kind. Out of the corner of his eye, Shinichi noticed Ran staring in his direction as well, but he retained his focus on the older woman.
After some time, Tana closed her eyes and nodded with a deep breath. "You're right — I apologize. I've called you in, after all — Hina-chan said one of her friends from the mainland recommended you highly. My request of you, Kudo-san, is to either confirm or assuage my suspicions."
Shinichi nodded. "I understand. I only have one question: would anyone in your household recognize me on sight?"
Tana dropped an eyebrow in confusion at the question. "Er... ie, I don't think so. Why?"
Shinichi stood suddenly. "In that case, you should expect a couple of teenaged tourists to drop by your house unexpectedly late tomorrow morning during their hike through the woods. One of them may need to have their water bottle refilled, after all."
Tana simply stared at Shinichi before finally understanding what he intended, at which point she nodded and stood slowly. Her eyes fell on Shinichi once more as she reapplied her shoulder pads.
"Arigatogozaimasu, Kudo-san — and Mouri-san."
Tana smiled and winked in Ran's direction as she gathered her hair under her duffer cap once more, then exited their room without another word. Ignoring Ran's questioning gaze, Shinichi simply stared toward the hotel room door in thought.
"What are your thoughts on the case so far?"
Ran stopped her process of getting into her hotel bed to look at Shinichi in his own bed, who lay flat staring at the ceiling with an unreadable expression. Not having expected the question, Ran took her time to gather her thoughts on what they heard from Tana.
After some uncomfortable silence, Ran decided to take to an oblique path of discussion. "Did you look up tomorrow's forecast while I was in the bathroom?"
"Hai — in a respite from this area's being cloudy since Tuesday, tomorrow will be a clear day and night."
"So... we might get to catch the act tomorrow night?"
"It's possible. I'd like to gather more data during the day, though, of course."
"More data to see what Tana-san's husband is up to?"
"We don't know for certain her husband is the guilty party, if there is one."
"Eh? How so?"
"We haven't necessarily ruled out any of their servants — though I suppose the maid recommending me theoretically rules her out. If we discount that, however, then we even can't put Tana-san herself beyond suspicion."
"You think a guilty party would hire a detective to try to pin the blame on someone else?"
"Wouldn't be the first time..." Ran let the silence lay for a moment, looking to the side as an uncomfortable line of thought came to mind — Shinichi seemed to notice. "What's the matter?"
Ran startled slightly at Shinichi's interjection, then after a small pause decided not to hide from him. "Ah, ie, it's just... that part Tana-san mentioned about her husband purposefully isolating himself from her whenever he falls ill... it just —"
Shinichi sighed in frustration. "You don't have to finish that sentence."
"Gomen, I just... it's hard not to be reminded of those memories on occasion."
"You're not the only one who has trouble with that."
At Shinichi's flat statement, Ran turned to look at him with concern and hesitated slightly before pushing forward. "Listen, Shinichi... about that night at the Praetorian..."
Shinichi raised his head and returned Ran's gaze at her pause. "What about it?"
"I just... I wanted to apologize —"
"You don't have to apologize for my overreacting to —"
Ran frowned. "Shinichi, really, you think too little of yourself sometimes." Shinichi ostensibly didn't know how to respond to that, leaving Ran room to continue. "Even if you hadn't reacted the way you did, it doesn't excuse what I did. It didn't occur to me in the moment that... that the feeling of metal against the back of your head would... bring up painful memories." Shinichi dropped his head back onto his pillow and returned his gaze toward the ceiling, but otherwise remained silent — Ran dropped her own head. "So... I wanted to apologize for that. I didn't quite realize what I'd done wrong until you poured that champagne down the sink. I never meant to hurt you — just as I'm sure you never meant to hurt me." Shinichi raised an eyebrow in response, giving Ran pause.
After another uncomfortable silence, Shinichi closed his eyes with a small smile. "Sometimes I forget how big of a heart of gold you have."
Ran blushed considerably before taking the invitation to lay herself down as well. Before closing her eyes, however, she looked again toward Shinichi's bed to consider...
... Not a good time, now.
The sun beat down on Ran's face as she followed Shinichi along the hiker's path in the woods. True to his word, his water bottle did end up getting depleted, but thankfully not long before the Tana residence came into view.
Shinichi briefly turned his head toward Ran and allowed her to catch up to his side before addressing her. "Remember: we're meeting everyone for the first time."
"Mochiron." With a terse nod, Shinichi turned back toward the house with an open look of admiration.
Upon spotting an older man sitting in a rocking chair on the porch, Shinichi held up a hand in greeting. "Konichiwa!"
The man, much to Ran's confusion, shot out of his chair and made for the front door. Before either teen could register why, the sound of a large dog barking loudly heralded the arrival of a doberman running out the front door past the frantic man and stopping in front of Shinichi and Ran to bark at them incessantly. Ran apprehensively held still, while Shinichi simply looked amused. Not too long after, the man came from the porch with a large bone in his hand, which he used to tap the barking dog's head to get its attention. The barking stopped immediately, and the dog quickly turned and grabbed the bone out of the man's hand with its jaws before settling down to gnaw on the bone.
The man shook out his hand. "Stupid dog... it's just a couple of young tourists."
Shinichi returned with a bright smile. "Ah, don't be too hard on him, ojisan — I should have known better than to call out like I did. I was simply taken by the architecture of your beautiful home."
The man looked back up from his dog with a look of surprise. "You really like it? I love to hear that, most of what you see is my doing."
"Hontoni? It looks masterfully done, if I may say so myself!" Ran silently questioned Shinichi's choice of ingratiation.
The man of the house seemed oblivious. "I'd be willing to give you a tour of the house, if you want. We'll be taking tea not too long from now as well, if you want to stay for that — we always have room for two more."
"Domo!"
The man led the teens inside, introducing himself as Tana Junichi, and once inside the teens were subjected to the introductions of everyone else in the household — the maid, Ran noticed, managed to hide her excitement well enough not to give anything away. After announcing that his two guests would be joining them for tea later, Tana began directing said guests through a tour of the house. Throughout the tour, Shinichi played the role of the amateur architect to a T, much to Ran's amusement. The house itself, Ran was able to gather, was once a much smaller abode that Tana built onto in the past decade to expand it into the mansion it now was.
Once in the original portion of the house, as they made their way up the stairs Shinichi made a moue of appreciation at the artwork along the wall. "The artwork along this stairwell is quite striking — this is Papua New Guinean, isn't it?"
Tana turned toward Shinichi with his brow raised in surprise. "It is — I'm surprised you recognize it as such. Suchu-kun and I took a trip there several years ago, spent some time with the people of the Sepik River while there. Their artwork is definitely something special."
Silently wondering why Shinichi even pointed out the artwork, Ran followed the two men up the stairs into a small, low-ceilinged wooden room with a window pointing directly toward the sea, a rocking chair positioned opportunistically in front of the window. Ran moved to look out the window and made no effort to hide her amazement at the view.
"Wow!"
Tana smiled. "Great view, isn't it? I like to come up here to admire it whenever the weather doesn't allow for sitting out on the porch." The sound of bumping wood behind them caused Ran and her host to turn around.
Upon the silence, Shinichi poked his head down from his climb into a door through the ceiling. "Ah, gomen, I couldn't help myself, this tower piqued my curiosity the moment I saw it. I just wanted to look inside."
Tana looked a little panicked as Shinichi ascended fully into the tower top. "Ah! It's not safe up there, I haven't cleaned it in a while!" Getting no response, Tana turned toward Ran. "Honestly, I don't even know why that door was unlocked! I had it locked long ago to make sure no one got themselves hurt up there."
Thankfully for Ran's blood pressure, Shinichi dropped back down from the ceiling and dusted himself off. "I can see what you mean about it not being very clean up there, my apologies. Now I'm curious about the annex in the back, I was wondering..."
Ran tuned out the rest of Shinichi's question, taking another look at the door on the ceiling before once again following in the two men's wake. What just happened?
The tea and tea cakes were pleasant enough, and Ran made sure to thank their hosts profusely once the meal was over. Shinichi, however, insisted on delivering their thanks to the chef in person and immediately made for the kitchen without an invitation. The man of the house turned to Ran with a question mark in his brow, to which she responded with a clueless shrug. While waiting for Shinichi, she excused herself to the downstairs bathroom to refill Shinichi's water bottle.
Not long after she finished, Shinichi reappeared from the kitchen with all the joy of a tourist on his face. "Thank you again for the tour and the hospitality, Tana-ojisan!"
"No problem at all, kid — it's always nice to run across another architecture enthusiast!"
Shinichi waved with a bright smile as he escorted himself and Ran from the house. They started walking on the same path back toward the town — Ran saw Shinichi looking up constantly toward the telephone wire during their trek.
Eventually her patience broke. "What was all that about, Shinichi?"
Shinichi looked toward Ran in confusion, then broke into a self-directed grimace. "Gomen, Ran, I forgot you weren't privy to everything I found in the moment. I fear this wasn't the best first case for an apprentice, as serious as it is."
"... Serious?"
"Let me catch you up: during my excursion into the attic, I found these." Shinichi pulled out a small plastic bag and handed it to Ran.
Deciding to ignore the question of why he had a plastic bag in the first place, she inspected the contents of the bag. "... Spent cigarettes?"
"Indeed — and of an imported American variety, as well, though I doubt that's of much importance. From Tana-ojisan's teeth and fingers, I can tell he doesn't smoke. I took the opportunity to see the chef so I could ascertain the same with him as well: he's not a smoker either. Incidentally, you may get a piece of mail with a recipe for those tea cakes from him sometime soon."
"That was your cover for the questions, eh?"
"So what do you think?"
"Eh?"
"Think on it, Ran: a physical wire connects the Tana household to the outside world; the servants are gone from the house the day of the week that wire is used; the stairwell is filled with artwork from the Sepik River; the attic is littered with spent cigarettes, despite the man of the household abstaining."
Ran stopped to think on it, more confused by the inclusion of the artwork in the list than anything. Deciding to focus specifically on that, Ran remembered how Tana had described the artwork's origin — and immediately sent a dubious look toward Shinichi.
"Are you telling me the butler did it?"
Shinichi shrugged. "It does happen sometimes. Ah, here we are!" Shinichi stopped in front of a telephone pole and indicated it for Ran to inspect.
Taking the invitation, Ran took a closer look at the pole. "... Cleats?"
Shinichi began pulling out his cell phone and started attaching a zoom lens. "Most likely — someone has been climbing this telephone pole. Up for giving me a boost?"
"Why can't I get the boost instead?"
"... Because I'm wearing pants." Ran looked down at her skirt and immediately flushed, but Shinichi spoke again before she could raise an objection. "Besides, you have more upper body strength than I do."
Ran's objections died down at that last point. She let out a sigh and immediately dropped down to give Shinichi a boost.
... Don't joke about how he's grown, don't joke about how he's grown...
The sound of a camera shutter going off above her caused Ran to start slowly lowering herself for Shinichi to step off. Shinichi handed his phone to Ran to look at the photo.
"Definite signs of tapping on the wire — now we just need to find..." As Ran looked at the photo to internalize what a tapped wire even looked like, Shinichi started inspecting the bushes near the telephone pole.
Soon enough, he came back from the bushes with a large bone in his hand. "Kyo-san told me that Suchu-san is, among other things, responsible for the dog on market days, including a trip to the butcher's for the dog's meals — he even joked the dog is the reason the butcher stays in business. Suchu-san most likely uses bones to keep the dog docile while he's tapping the wire — remember how the dog immediately calmed down when we first got there after being given a bone?"
"So... what are we going to do?"
"Ma... there are definitely a couple of phone calls we'll want to make when we get back to the hotel. In the meantime — there's an Italian place not far from our hotel, if you're up for a meal more substantial than tea cakes."
The almost carefree smile from Shinichi gave Ran considerable pause, but she decided to go with it for now.
Ran fiddled with her fingernails nervously as Shinichi dialed the hotel phone early that evening, having previously verified again that cell phone reception was lacking. As Shinichi waited through a dial tone, Ran gathered the courage to speak up.
"Ne, Shinichi?"
"Hmm?"
"About earlier... when you made the quip about wearing pants..."
Shinichi blushed. "Ah, gomen, I —"
"Ie, ie, it's okay, it's just... look, Shinichi, I know that in the past, I've —"
Shinichi held up a finger toward Ran to indicate the call connected. "Ah, Tana-san — this is Kudo Shinichi. I was calling to thank you again for the hospitality this morning, and to thank Tana-ojisan again for the tour. I don't suppose I could talk with him, there were a couple of questions I wanted to ask him about the house. ... Oh? ... Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. He did seem a little under the weather by the end of the tour. Please give him my best regards, Tana-san. Arigatogozaimasu!"
After receiving a farewell in return, Shinichi slowly hung up the phone and turned to Ran with a raised eyebrow. "The master of the house has taken ill to bed."
Ran widened her eyes. "You think it's going to happen tonight?"
"It's entirely possible."
"So what are we —" Before Ran could finish the question, Shinichi immediately picked up the phone receiver and started dialing another number, prompting her to drop an eyebrow. "Whom are you calling?"
Shinichi glanced sideways toward Ran. "... Some professional help."
Ran didn't recognize any of the men who accompanied her and Shinichi back into the woods, but Shinichi seemed to trust them well enough. Observing the house from the distance, Ran started to get a little anxious.
"Are we sure it's going to happen tonight, Shinichi?"
"First clear night since Tana-ojisan's latest report — given he's taken ill tonight, it would be decidedly odd if it didn't happen tonight."
Ran calmed herself with a deep breath and redirected her gaze toward the moon, their only light source at the moment. After silently thanking its presence, Ran suddenly thought of something else.
"Ne, Shinichi?"
"Hmm?"
"It just occurred to me... there hasn't been a KID heist since you came back."
Shinichi presented with a mix of confusion and apprehension at Ran's off-kilter conversation starter. After a quick look around toward where other pairs had taken residence for the stake-out, Shinichi scooted closer to Ran.
"Interesting time to bring this up, given how we're surrounded by people who aren't entirely aware of where I've been."
So that explains the apprehension, I guess... "It's weird, though, isn't it? Given how frequent his heists have been in the past... and now that you-know-who is gone —"
"In all likelihood, he's simply hindered by a similar requirement for one term of on-campus housing at his own university."
"... How do you know he's of university age now?"
Before Ran could get an answer out of Shinichi, the tower of the house targeted by the stake-out lit up, beating out a rhythm toward the ocean. Shinichi raised a hand and motioned it toward the house as a signal to the others with them, prompting them to start storming toward the house. Shinichi followed right behind them — Ran trailed more timidly.
Chaos broke out as the dog of the house started barking at the intruders. The men of the raid started running up the stairs, their cover blown. Shinichi stayed behind briefly to take a bone from his jacket and throw it at the dog to shut it up. How long has he been carrying that?
Ran stayed on the ground floor as she heard loud noises emanate from upstairs, intent on not getting in the way of the 'professionals' Shinichi had called in. Sure enough, her position ended up being of use.
"Ran! He's escaping!"
At Shinichi's shout from upstairs, Ran saw Suchu fleeing down the stairs directly toward her. The butler attempted to push her out of the way, but Ran instinctively parried the push with a knock-out blow to his head. As the butler slid down the wall unconscious, Shinichi came down the stairs and let out a breath he had apparently been holding before calling back upstairs.
"Here's your man, gentlemen!" The men came back to the ground floor at Shinichi's behest and started bundling the butler for arrest.
Shinichi beckoned for Ran to follow him as he addressed the men again. "Say hello to Kazami for me — Ran and I have something urgent to attend to now." Ran followed Shinichi up the stairs on his path to the old portion of the house.
Shinichi pointed toward one of the two doors by the stairwell to the attic. "You take Suchu-san's room — we're looking for a bottle or vial of a dark brown liquid. If you find a small spoon as well, take that, too."
With that instruction, Shinichi made his way into the other room, allowing Ran to steal a glance at the ill master of the house bedridden and sweating considerably. Shaking off the sight, Ran directed herself into the room Shinichi indicated and started her search through the room. After turning over the entire bedroom, Ran moved into the attached bathroom and found a candidate for what Shinichi described behind the bathroom mirror — with a small spoon next to it.
Ran took both and started for the bedroom door. "Shinichi? I think I found it!"
In short time, Shinichi emerged from Tana's room and after a quick glance grabbed the bottle from Ran's hand to waft it. Apparently satisfied with the result, Shinichi nodded and took the spoon before beckoning Ran to follow him again, this time toward Tana's bed.
"This is it — now we just need to give it to Tana-ojisan. I'll admit, I'm not entirely sure how much needs to be applied, so we'll try just giving him a little at a time. If you could get Tana-san, she can — ah, never mind, there she is."
The woman of the house appeared in the doorway nervously wringing her hands. "Ano... what's going on?"
"Tana-san — if you could come to the other side of the bed, Tana-ojisan will need some tending to once the antidote takes effect."
"Antidote? But I told you, Jun-chan and I eat the same food every meal. If he were getting poisoned, then I should be poisoned, too."
Shinichi started spooning the liquid into the man's mouth as he spoke. "Hai, you've been eating the same food — and that food has contained the antidote regularly, not the poison. Tana-ojisan mentioned that he and Suchu-san once spent time in the Sepik River Valley — among the specialties of the people there is a long-lasting poison that requires regular applications of an antidote over the victim's lifetime. The antidote itself is harmless for people who don't hold the poison, so Suchu-san has been having it included in your food every day — except for days where he wants to send a message from the tower."
Tana widened her eyes. "So... I'll need to keep applying the antidote to Jun-chan myself every day?"
"Hai — I know someone who might be able to analyze the antidote to have it replicated in larger supplies to help you. In the meantime..." The man of the house started coughing, prompting his wife to rush to the other side of the bed and place a hand on his forehead to find his fever broken.
Shinichi reapplied the cap to the antidote bottle and set it aside as Tana tended to her husband. "I'll leave you to it, Tana-san."
Tana looked up at Shinichi as he stood. "Arigato, tantei-san."
Shinichi simply nodded in response, then beckoned a tired Ran one last time to follow him outside.
Ran conked out immediately upon arriving in their hotel room, leaving Shinichi to work out details with the agent who accompanied them there. He also took the opportunity to fire off a message to a certain research institute on the subject of another poison antidote. After everything he's ended up doing for me and Shiho, I'm going to owe him...
After rearranging Ran's blanket to actually cover her, Shinichi changed into his bed clothes and got into bed, only to have his phone buzz at the arrival of a text message. A little peeved at the timing, the teen detective picked up his phone from the bedside table to read the text — only to drop his brow in confusion.
BLOCKED NUMBER
'On behalf of three grateful nations, I must extend my heartfelt congratulations.'
After a few blinks, Shinichi suddenly realized what was happening — and immediately muted his phone and tossed it back onto the bedside table in frustration, intent on getting at least some sleep under the circumstances.
Notes:
Gee, I wonder who that blocked number is?
I've always felt like Ran could honestly get close to Shinichi's level if she ever applied herself, even with as little as she noticeably applies herself in canon. The catch, of course, is that the field of detective work (or at least how Shinichi presents it) offers little patience for the learning process, as arriving at solutions tends to be a time-sensitive act — much like certain other fields, though that's another can of worms. We'll be getting some remedies for that catch soon, though, don't you worry.
NEXT KUDO HINT: jacket
Chapter 10: A Timeline of Murder
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Ran entered the law office and immediately started looking around the waiting room. She found Shinichi sitting absentmindedly with his left hand underhandedly grasping his right and his left hand fingers tapping out a pattern Ran couldn't determine offhand.
... Is he practicing a violin fingering?
Shaking off the distraction, Ran made her way over to Shinichi and thrust his water bottle into his face. "You forgot your water bottle again!"
Shinichi snapped out of his music practice and immediately rubbed the back of his head with a self-deprecating smile. "Ah, gomen! This request came so suddenly it slipped my mind."
"Mo..." Shinichi grabbed the proffered bottle and immediately took a swig from it, almost sarcastically — Ran shook her head before changing the subject. "So what's the case?"
"I don't know yet — we have a meeting with someone here who will tell us what they need. Kisaki-san apparently referred them to me."
"Ka-san? I didn't think she thought highly enough of you to do that."
"... We worked out our differences a few months ago." Ran got the sense there was more to the story than Shinichi was letting on, but he stood and made for the reception desk before she could press him, leaving her to follow.
Shinichi leaned on the counter to look down at the receptionist. "Ano... I believe we have an appointment for 'Kudo' —"
The receptionist stood immediately, startling the two teens slightly. "Ah, Kudo-san! Follow me, please!"
The receptionist quickly made for the hallway, leaving Shinichi and Ran to rush to catch up with her. After traversing down most of the hallway, the receptionist led the duo into an empty conference room.
Shinichi's curiosity got the better of him as they arrived. "And with whom might we be meeting?"
The receptionist closed the door behind her. "That would be me."
With that announcement, the receptionist silently offered two seats to Shinichi and Ran, which they accepted as she opened the laptop left on the table before looking up to address the teens. "My name is Arai Sunea, I work as an assistant at this firm. My... I, er, asked for a detective... because of my sister Kari. She... she's been missing for six months."
While Ran didn't bother hiding her surprise, Shinichi simply lifted his chin suspiciously. "What about the police?"
"The police are running on the story that she ran away. I... I just can't believe that."
"And why not?"
Arai paused briefly before continuing dejectedly. "Kari has been in... not the greatest marriage with her husband, Niwashi Tanki-san. In fact, she's run away from him before, which is why the police were quick to believe she's done it again — but she came back after a couple of days last time. It's been six months and there's still no sign of her." Shinichi nodded almost absentmindedly, causing Ran to wonder if he didn't believe the woman.
Arai didn't seem to notice. "Tanki-san did actually show the police that he received the following video from Kari." Arai turned the laptop around to start a full-screen video of the woman in question, who sat directly in front of a laptop camera for the recording.
"Tanki..." The woman sighed. "Wow, I'm actually recording this. I, er... I suppose I should start with: gomen'nasai. I just... I can't bring myself to say these things face-to-face with you, because I... I hate to see other people hurt. It's just... it's just that I don't love you anymore, Tanki. It hurts to say it, it really does, and I care about you, but I... I need to think about my own happiness. And I've tried, I really have, to make this work out, to give us the time... but then I saw the news, about the woman who got pushed at the train station the other day, the woman with the flowers..."
Out of the corner of her eye, Ran saw Shinichi pull out his phone and start bringing up a news app. Ran knew better than to call him out on it, however, as the video continued.
"And I just thought, you know, life is too short to... delay one's happiness, to stay with someone who doesn't make you happy. So... I'm going away for a while. I don't know where to, or for how long, I only know that I... just need time. I hope you'll find it in your heart to forgive me one day." With a sad smile, the woman in the video reached forward to close her laptop, thereby stopping the video.
Arai seemed to find her confidence as she closed her own laptop. "I think that video was faked — I think Tanki-san forced Kari to make that video before killing her. Tanki-san never did fully get over the last time she left, as far as I'm concerned. There's also the matter of her trunk."
Arai pushed a file folder across the table with a laminated photo on top of it of an antique trunk. Shinichi merely glanced at it, prompting Ran to pull the folder closer to her to inspect the photo further. Ran quietly suspected Shinichi was no longer paying attention, but knew better than to assume as much — detectives, she found, often had the ability not to appear to be focusing while actually taking everything in still.
Arai was ostensibly unaware of Ran's inner conflict. "That trunk has been in our family for generations. It was willed to me when our father died, but I didn't have room in my apartment, so Kari's been holding on to it for me until I get a larger place. It's been gone since she went missing as well. Tanki-san insists she took it with her, but I think he stuffed her body in that trunk and got rid of the trunk." Arai dipped her head. "I told the police, but they didn't believe me. I've had our firms investigating for months, but they haven't been able to find anything, either. I happened to mention it to Midori-chan at lunch the other day, and she mentioned Kisaki-sensei might know someone who could help, and she forwarded me to you."
Shinichi stood abruptly. "Would you excuse us for a moment, please? Ran?" Shinichi beckoned Ran into the hallway with a terse hand movement before heading out into the hallway himself, leaving Ran to follow after a moment of shock.
Ran closed the door behind them in the hallway. "What was that about?"
"Arai-san couldn't be more wrong about that video, nothing in the woman's face or body language indicated the video was made under duress — if anything, she was a little excited to move on."
"Are you sure? She didn't appear excited to me."
"Ma, she was certainly nervous, but that seemed more like the introvert's brand of performance anxiety to me."
Ran frowned. "I'm not so sure..."
"We have an opportunity here, Ran."
Ran raised an eyebrow at Shinichi's vibrating energy. "We do?"
"Ma, you do, to be more precise."
"Me?"
"It's an excellent first solo case for you, is it not? Any good detective needs to know how to find someone who doesn't want to be found. It's the sort of investigation, in fact, for which you've contributed to the solution before, if you'll remember. Most of the time, of course, we're talking dangerous criminals — Kari-san, on the other hand, is simply a wife tired of her husband. A perfect first solo case for an apprentice detective, wouldn't you say?"
"B-but... what if there's something to what her sister is saying?"
"That's your job to find out."
"... What about you? Oi, you're not just handing this off to me because it came through ka-san, are you?"
"I'm handing this off to you because it suits you, Ran. Besides, I have a case of my own." Shinichi held up his phone to the news story he pulled up while in the room.
Ran squinted in disbelief. "The pushing case."
Shinichi ostensibly ignored Ran's flat tone. "Intriguing case, this one — a man walked up to a woman at a train station and gave her a bouquet of flowers before leaving, only to come back a few moments later to push her in front of the oncoming train, taking great care to angle himself such that no security camera ever sees his face. That degree of care speaks to a premeditation not typical of train pushers. Frankly, I'm a little disappointed I didn't come across this case when it happened."
Ran flinched involuntarily at Shinichi's last interjection, only to widen her eyes as he started heading down the hallway toward the exit. "Ch-chotto, what about Arai-san?"
"Your case, Ran — you brief her!"
Ran sighed in frustration as she watched Shinichi leave the law office, wondering just what he had gotten her into.
After taking some time to read through the file provided by Arai, Ran decided her best course of action was to interview the husband first. With a quick internet search, she found the address of Niwashi's art gallery and its closing time.
She arrived just before closing time to find him leaving the shop. "Niwashi Tanki-san?"
The man in question turned at the voice with a question in his eyebrow. "Hai?"
"I'm Mouri Ran, I... I'm assisting with an investigation into your wife's disappearance. Would you mind if I asked you a few questions?"
Niwashi twitched a smile before reopening the door. "Mochiron — come in." At Niwashi's beckoning, Ran followed him inside and closed the door behind her as he made for the waiting area off to the side.
Niwashi started talking before she arrived across from him. "I thought Kari leaving me was the worst thing that could ever happen to me. I was wrong — the worst part was Sunea-chan thinking I had hurt her."
"Don't you think it's strange Kari-san hasn't tried to contact you or Sunea-san since she left?"
"I suppose... but I don't find that any stranger than her packing up and sending a 'Dear John' video. She's always been a complicated person..."
"Sunea-san mentioned Kari-san left you once before."
"About a year and a half ago, hai — it was only a couple of days, but it was still devastating for me. She actually called me that time, and I begged her to come home, that we could work out whatever was bothering her. I got through to her, I suppose, because she came back."
Ran shifted slightly. "If you don't mind my asking... what were the problems between you?"
Niwashi shrugged. "I didn't think we had any. It was like being clubbed over the head when she left the first time, I thought things were good between us. Obviously, I was wrong."
"And what about the second time?"
"She seemed a little distant as of late... maybe even a little depressed."
"Do you know why?"
"Something to do with that woman who got pushed in front of the train, I think — the one she mentioned in the video."
Ran hesitated briefly before continuing. "Sunea-san also mentioned a trunk that went missing."
Niwashi's composure broke at Ran's last offering. "It didn't go missing, Kari took it! I don't know how many times I have to —" Niwashi paused and allowed himself a deep breath before continuing sheepishly. "Gomen, I just... I wish I could get Sunea-chan to understand I want Kari back, too — not because I think our marriage can be saved, I know that's beyond repair, but because I'm worried about her. I want to let her know that it's okay, that I want her to be happy... even if being happy means being with someone else."
Ran nodded, hiding the multitude of gears turning in her head.
Shinichi pulled his attention from the witness statements as his phone rang on the table — noting the caller ID, he answered the phone immediately. "How goes the case, Ran?"
"I think Arai-san was right, Niwashi-san did kill her sister."
Shinichi paused minutely before leaning back in his chair. "And on what are you basing that claim?"
"I just finished talking with Niwashi-san — the way he answered my questions, it was an almost word-for-word copy of what he told the police six months ago."
"That could simply mean he's had to tell people about it so often he's gotten used to saying what he says."
"The way he said everything made it seem well-rehearsed rather than well-worn to me. The only time he seemed to go 'off-script' was after I mentioned the trunk — he lost his temper and complained about it before recollecting himself and going back to his script."
"Hmm... let's suppose you're right — your investigation has been upgraded from a missing person case to a murder case. Do you need to tag me in?"
"Ie, ie! I think I can handle it, it's just... I don't know, what would you do next in my situation?"
Shinichi brought a hand to his chin in thought. "Ma... if what you say about Niwashi-san's reaction to the mention of the trunk is true, then it's possible the reminder of it may cause his behavior to go 'off-script', as you put it — he could reveal something he didn't intend to reveal. I'd suggest setting up some surveillance of Niwashi-san to observe what he does, until he reveals something relevant or until you're confident he won't."
"O-OK, I — wait! I have astronomy lab tonight! What am I supposed to do about Niwashi-san while I'm there?" As Ran panicked over the phone, Takagi entered the room Shinichi occupied indicating the USB stick in his hand.
Shinichi nodded at the detective before returning to the call. "I'm sure you'll figure something out!" With that encouragement, Shinichi promptly ended the call without a thought for the protests on the other end of the line.
Takagi raised an eyebrow as he set up the USB with the laptop attached to the room's projector. "What was that about?"
"Ah, that was Ran — she's working a case of her own right now."
"Ah, really? That's exciting! What's the case?"
Shinichi turned his attention to the projected video as it started playing. "Just a missing person case..."
Takagi gave Shinichi an ostensibly questioning look which he resolutely ignored. The policeman didn't push the issue, thankfully, and turned his focus to the video as well.
The video showed the scene of the offending train station: a man approached a woman close to the track with a bouquet of flowers, which she accepted with surprise before the man left. Moments later, as the train arrived, the same man came up behind the woman and pushed her in front of the oncoming train before disappearing again. True to the report Shinichi read, the man's face never came into view of the surveillance camera shot.
Shinichi let out a moue of frustration. "Witness reports indicate vague references to a patch on his jacket, but we can't even make that out in the surveillance footage."
Takagi shook his head as he rewound the video. "Only thing we can really gather is his height, I suppose — he wasn't too much taller than the woman who died."
"That hardly narrows down our suspects..." As the video played again, something from the other side of the view caught Shinichi's eye. "Paganini..."
"Eh?"
Shinichi pointed toward the side of the playing video. "The busker to the side there, he's playing Paganini's caprices — number 5."
"How can you tell he's playing... Paga-whatever?"
"The fingering..."
Before Shinichi could go into a deeper explanation, the busker in the video abruptly stopped playing with a look of apprehension, packed up his violin, then quickly left the station. Soon after, the pusher arrived in frame with the flowers.
"... He recognized the pusher."
"What was that?"
"The busker, he recognized the pusher. He saw the pusher coming and immediately left, almost like he was scared to be in his presence."
"Do you think the busker knew what was coming?"
"Not necessarily — but if he recognized the pusher, he may be worth talking to."
"But... how are we supposed to find him? It's not like we have a busker registry..."
Shinichi rewound the video himself to freeze on the frame the busker stopped playing. "Hmm... he looks young enough to be university-age... and I think I might know how to find him."
With that pronouncement, Shinichi abruptly stood and left the room, leaving a confused police detective behind.
Ran tore her gaze away from the lab computer as her phone buzzed on the table next to the keyboard. Upon seeing the sender, she opened the text to read it.
'Your mark has arrived at a climate-controlled storage facility — would that be considered normal?"
Ran remained frozen after reading and re-reading the message. Her inner conflict only increased when the sender followed up with a text providing an address.
...
Deciding to risk getting teased by the lab instructor again, Ran completed the rest of her lab in record time.
"You got here fast..."
Ran closed the passenger side car door behind her. "I didn't know you had a car."
"I don't — I borrowed this car from mama."
"Oh — I didn't know she had a car."
"What, did you think I'd follow him on my motorcycle?"
"Ie, I... honestly don't know what I was expecting you to do."
"I'm surprised you didn't have Sonoko-chan do this tailing for you."
"I... couldn't be certain she'd stay inconspicuous."
"Ha! That's fair."
"Is he still inside?"
"Hai, he is." Ran craned her neck to find a view of the storage facility entrance through the windshield — Sera took the silence as an opening. "So... Shinichi-kun has you playing detective, eh?"
"He's training me to be a detective, I'm not playing."
"Seems to me like he's throwing you into the deep end."
Ran furrowed her brow. "I don't think so."
"Eh? How so?"
"I, er... somewhere along the way, I started to internalize the methods he's used over the past few years. I didn't notice it until he pointed it out recently. Now he's basically giving me the opportunity to prove what I've already learned."
"... Sounds to me like he trusts you a lot."
Ran blushed minutely. "I... I guess he does."
"Is that trust reciprocal?"
Ran started to wonder where the line of conversation was going. "If you're asking if I trust Shinichi, then hai, I do."
"Because he's earned your trust, or because you have to trust him?"
Ran turned to look at Sera in earnest. "... He's earned my trust."
Sera smiled cryptically. "That's good to hear. I don't suppose you two have expressed that trust to each other yet?"
"... What do you mean?"
"You know... have you two partaken in the ultimate act of trust?"
"... What are —" The teasing wiggle of Sera's eyebrows stopped Ran in her tracks, causing her to turn away and blush deeply when she figured out what her fellow teen meant. "M-m-m-ma... ie, but... it's not like I haven't thought about it."
Sera went dot-eyed. "Eh?"
Ran dipped her head. "I've definitely thought about bringing it up, but... I don't know, it just seems like he isn't ready for it yet. I haven't gathered the courage to ask about it, though."
After a pause, Sera leaned back in the driver's seat. "He's not ready, huh? I guess there go my plans of wrecking your marriage."
Ran turned and raised a sarcastic eyebrow at Sera. "Is that your channelling Sonoko?"
"... Sure, let's go with that."
Before Ran could press further, the entrance to the storage facility opened, causing Ran to whip her head back in time to see Niwashi exiting the facility. Ran leaned forward for a better look and saw the man in question carting a familiar object out of the building.
"That's the trunk!"
"Trunk?"
"That trunk went missing when his wife did. It's the reason for the tail — he had been saying she took it with her."
"... Why would he lie about that?"
Ran stayed silent as Niwashi opened the rear of his car and hauled the trunk up into the car. The man then closed the car trunk before turning around and reentering the facility, empty cart in tow.
"... He left his car unlocked." Ran immediately opened the passenger door.
Sera appeared startled as Ran started to exit. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to open the trunk!"
"Eh? But what if —"
"His wife's body may be in that trunk, I need to check!"
"EH?!"
Ran closed the car door on Sera's protests and quietly jogged over to Niwashi's car. Sure enough, the car trunk opened without protest, leaving Ran to stare at all the locking devices on the trunk. Two buckled straps, one simple padlock... eeto...
"What do you think you're doing?"
Ran jumped at the sound of an unfamiliar voice to find herself face to face with a security guard. "I, er — I... this isn't what it looks like!"
"What's going on here?" Ran jumped again at the sound of Niwashi's voice behind her. Just my luck...
The security guard continued to eye her suspiciously. "Is this your car, sir?"
"Hai, it is."
"This young woman was breaking into your car, sir."
Niwashi turned to look at Ran. "... Oi, you're the girl who came to ask me about Kari earlier."
Ran turned back toward the security guard in desperation. "Sir, I'm investigating this man. I have reason to believe he murdered his wife and put her body in that trunk."
Niwashi was unimpressed. "Haaaah? Are you out of your mind?"
Ran remained (outwardly) unperturbed. "There's an easy way to see if I'm right — just ask him to open the trunk."
"I don't have to open a damn thing!"
"His name is Niwashi Tanki-san. You can look it up yourself — there are articles from six months ago about his wife disappearing. This trunk went missing at the same time!"
The security guard seemed momentarily conflicted, then turned to look at Niwashi again. "Would you open the trunk, please, sir?"
Niwashi didn't bother hiding his shock. "Are you kidding me?!"
"If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about. Either open it now..." The sound of arriving sirens permeated the guard's pause. "... or open it for them."
... I'm going to have a hard time explaining this to them.
Niwashi looked daggers toward the guard for a moment before stepping toward the trunk with sarcastically heavy footsteps. He then unbuckled the straps, pulled off the padlock, then swung the trunk lid open and stepped aside. Ran stepped forward and leaned forward to look into the trunk, then paused.
Niwashi twitched a lip in annoyance. "Happy now?"
Ran continued to stare at the empty trunk, unsure of how to respond.
Shinichi knocked on the dorm room door and simply waited patiently for the response. After some time, the door opened tentatively at the behest of its occupant, who wore a blank look.
Shinichi smiled at the young artist. "Good evening, busker-san!" Suddenly, Shinichi found himself stopping the door from closing with his hand. "I'm only here to ask you a few questions, Shinzo-san — in return, I'll see to it that I don't report you to the police for your unfortunate pickpocketing habit."
Shinzo's eyes instinctively inspected Shinichi up and down — as is the wont of a pickpocket — before relenting. "What questions?"
"Six months ago, you were busking at the train station where Heiwa Ikite-san was pushed in front of the oncoming train."
Shinzo immediately raised an eyebrow. "How did you even find me?"
Shinichi shrugged. "It wasn't too hard — a young, university-aged man who knows Paganini... let's just say the student directory does wonders."
Shinzo scrunched his eyebrows skeptically, but didn't comment. "So what do you want to know?"
"As I said, you were at the station — but you left before the pushing happened. And the reason you left, as the surveillance footage shows, was that you recognized the pusher as he entered the station."
"I didn't know he was going to push the woman, if that's what you're implying."
"Ie, chigai — but you did know the man on sight. What can you tell me about him?"
"I don't know his name, if that's what you're asking. I just recognized him because I tried to pick him once and he caught me in the act, threaten to do all sorts of bodily harm to me for it. I thought he had come to the station to follow through on his threats, is all."
"Can you at least describe the man for me?"
Shinzo rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know... there wasn't much to see other than his ragged beard. He wore sunglasses and a hood."
"Other witnesses vaguely reported a single patch on his jacket, but couldn't describe it. Do you remember seeing a patch on his jacket from attempting to pick him?"
Shinzo raised his chin in surprise. "Ee, I do — it was a weird patch, alright. It was a circular patch with a cartoon drawing of a rather rough-looking, red-eyed raccoon's face and had some English printed around it in the circle. I wrote it down at the time because I wanted to see what it meant." Shinzo pulled out his phone and scrolled back in his notes before reciting what he wrote. "Death is coming. Eat trash. Be free."
Shinichi raised an eyebrow. "Provocative..."
"I didn't know it at the time, but hai, it is."
Shinichi nodded. "Anything else you can tell me about him?"
"Gomen, I don't know what else to tell you. His patch and beard were pretty much the only things to leave an impression on me." Shinichi nodded again absentmindedly, only to be interrupted by his phone buzzing in his pocket.
Shinichi looked at Shinzo as he pulled his phone out. "You know, you're much too good at violin not to go for a first chair."
Shinichi ignored Shinzo's look of surprise as he opened the text he received — only to don a nonplussed look of his own.
Ran didn't even react to the door to holding opening, instead continuing to stare into her lap sheepishly. Only when the accompanying footsteps stopped in front of her cell did she look up toward the steps, after which she stood up and headed toward the bars to come face to face with her visitor.
Shinichi looked at Ran expressionlessly for several seconds, making Ran somewhat uncomfortable until he finally inhaled slowly to speak. "This feels backwards, somehow..."
Ran blinked twice, then let out a humorless chuckle at the quip, which Shinichi seemed to take as a good sign if his resulting smirk was any indication. Shinichi looked back down the hallway briefly before turning back toward Ran, this time with his typical friendliness.
"The story Niwashi-san is telling us is that he decided to sell the trunk after his wife disappeared, and that he was holding it in storage until its buyer was able to pick it up. After you talked with him earlier this afternoon, though, he felt guilty about selling it and had the sale cancelled, hence why you saw him removing the trunk from storage."
Ran dropped her gaze and shook her head minutely. "I was so sure she was in that trunk..."
Shinichi donned a sad smile. "It's okay, Ran — you may have been wrong about the trunk, but you're not necessarily wrong about Niwashi-san murdering his wife."
Ran seriously doubted what Shinichi told her, but she didn't feel comfortable pressing the issue, instead looking back up to change the subject. "What about your case, Shinichi? Any luck with the pusher?"
Shinichi tilted his head up, almost as if he knew why she was changing the subject, but didn't comment. "I was able to track down another witness who recognized the pusher from a previous encounter with him. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to describe him beyond having a ragged beard, but he was able to provide a description of the singular patch on his jacket — a cartoon raccoon head circled by what is apparently an American turn of phrase in English."
Ran raised an eyebrow. "You think you'll be able to track a pusher by the patch alone?"
"Stranger things have happened." Ran smiled slightly at the confidence of her counterpart, but the smile didn't last long before remembering her predicament.
As if reading her mind, Shinichi glanced down the hallway and nodded before returning his gaze back to Ran. "Megure-keibu is waiting for us."
An officer arrived to unlock the cell door, much to Ran's confusion. "Eh? But I —"
"I paid for the bail — keibu-san says there's an offer to have your record expunged."
Ran was stunned speechless, but didn't hesitate to follow Shinichi out of the cell.
Shinichi didn't care much for the timidness with which Ran followed him. He was halfway tempted to start shaking her and telling her to snap out of it. He nonetheless remained silent as they made their way toward Division One proper.
Megure stood outside the conference room as Shinichi and Ran approached, ostensibly a little discomfited. "Ah, Ran-kun — I invited Niwashi-san here to talk through what happened. He said he's willing to drop his charges against you if you apologize for breaking into his car and promise not to harass him further."
Shinichi lost his patience. "That's unacceptable, Megure-keibu — Ran has reason to believe Niwashi-san is a murderer. Promising not to 'harass' him further gives him a free pass to avoid further investigation, it will —"
Ran placed a pacifying hand on Shinichi's arm, causing him to stop and turn to look at her — she gave him a sad smile in response. "It's okay, Shinichi. Keibu, I agree to Niwashi-san's terms — I'll apologize to him. Don't bother waiting up for me, Shinichi, I'll be going to Arai-san's apartment afterward to tell her I'm dropping the case."
Ran...
Ran didn't give Shinichi another word before entering the conference room, Megure following behind. Shinichi stood frozen, unable to process what just happened fully. Not again...
"So... did you find the busker?"
So in a daze was Shinichi, it took him a solid five seconds to register Takagi having come up beside him and addressed him.
Shortly after Ran tentatively knocked, Arai opened her apartment door and didn't bother hiding her surprise. "Mouri-san?"
"Arai-san — I know it's late, but there's something I need to tell you about your case... in person." After a moment's hesitation, Arai stepped to the side and offered a hand toward the chair across from her couch, an offer Ran took.
Arai sat on the couch across from her. "Did you have more questions about Kari?"
Ran paused to consider her words carefully. "I... actually came here to apologize. I took the investigation too aggressively this evening, and I'm afraid I won't be able to continue with the case. I know it's..." Having avoided direct eye contact with Arai so far, Ran's wandering eyes found something that managed to stop her words in her tracks, causing her to freeze awkwardly.
Arai seemed to notice Ran's mental pause. "What is it?"
Ran snapped out of her daze toward Arai, then pointed toward the photo frame that caught her attention. "Is that Kari's jacket?"
Arai looked at the framed photo of her sister. "Ie, that's actually Tanki-san's jacket, she just wore it that day because she was a little cold. She called it his 'nihilist coat' — he got it while he was in California for business, said he got it at a 'head shop', whatever that is."
Ran's neurons fired on their own accord. "This is going to sound weird, but... has Niwashi-san ever worn a beard?"
After pinning a photo of the jacket patch between the photos for the two cases, Shinichi stepped back from the cork board to inspect the big picture provided by the board. "Well, aren't these quite the two cases these have turned out to be..."
Ran shifted uncomfortably in her desk chair, but nonetheless let out a moue of agreement. "So much for the 'perfect first solo case'..."
Shinichi either didn't hear the quip or simply ignored it. "Recent evidence tells us that the suspect in the pushing of Heiwa Ikite-san and the suspect in the disappearance of Niwashi Kari-san... are one and the same. The question now is, what's the connection?"
Ran paused feebly before voicing an objection. "I... I could be wrong, Shinichi, Niwashi-san might not have killed his wife, she could —"
With a pinch of the bridge of his nose, Shinichi didn't bother hiding his frustration as he cut Ran off. "Ran, I swear, if I ever find you doubting yourself again, I'm going to write out a list of times you doubted yourself but were right and staple it to your forehead." Ran froze in shock, not entirely sure how to respond — Shinichi took a few breaths to calm himself before elaborating. "There is no room for self-doubt in the work of a detective. Sure, there's no room for absolute certainty, either, but self-doubt can be an equally powerful clouding of the mind. When working a case, one should never discard any ideas until there is explicit evidence to the contrary disproving the idea — any sooner would be a disservice to the calling of detective work."
Shinichi rubbed his forehead again, only to inspect his hand afterward and find it slick with sweat. In something of a miniature panic, Shinichi immediately opened one of his desk drawers and pulled out a pill bottle, then took a pill from the bottle and popped it into his mouth. Ran remained speechless at the sequence, leaving Shinichi an opening to speak as he opened his water bottle.
"I say this as the person who is in no small part responsible for planting those seeds of self-doubt in you."
... Shinichi...
After taking a swig of water, Shinichi closed his water bottle and swallowed heavily, then took his time to recover his breath before speaking in a quieter voice once stable. "If I could do everything over again, I would definitely do that differently. As it stands... I am instead tasking myself with doing everything I can to have those seeds removed. As such..." Shinichi recovered enough to start indicating items on the cork board with his full arms as he continued. "We have reason to believe that Niwashi-san pushed Heiwa Ikite-san. We also have reason believe that Niwashi-san killed his wife. What we need to figure out now... is how and why the two are connected."
Ran finally found the courage to speak again. "Ma... Kari-san said it in her video, didn't she? The pushing prompted her to consider leaving Niwashi-san, which is why he killed her."
"Uhn, but that doesn't explain why Niwashi-san would push Heiwa-san in the first place. If what Arai-san said about Niwashi-san is true, then the man was overly possessive of his wife — why would he simply hand her a reason to leave him on a silver platter?"
"But the video..." Ran stopped herself as another thought suddenly came to mind. 'The woman with the flowers'... the pusher handed Heiwa-san the flowers...
Ran could feel Shinichi's eyes on her, causing her confidence to dip somewhat, but she pushed through nonetheless. "What if it's the other way around?"
Shinichi blinked momentarily, then turned his head toward the cork board. After a moment's thought, Shinichi visibly showed signs of having things click to together in his mind — after which he turned back to Ran with an appreciative smile.
Shinichi followed Megure into the interrogation room, Ran not too far behind him. As he accompanied Megure to stand behind as the inspector sat, however, Ran simply leaned against the wall next to the door after closing it — understandably, given the dark look the existing occupant of the room sent her way.
"What is she doing here? This is bordering on harassment, I could have this department sued!"
Shinichi leapt to her defense. "Good luck suing the police from prison."
"Haaah? Don't tell me you've bought into this nonsense about my killing my wife, too!"
"Ah, ie, we didn't bring you here for your wife's case — ma, not entirely anyway."
As Niwashi sent a look of annoyed confusion toward Shinichi, Megure took his cue and pulled a picture out of a folder for the suspect to inspect. "Do you recognize this woman?"
Niwashi did his due diligence and looked at the picture. "Ie, I — wait, isn't that the woman who got pushed shortly before Kari went missing?"
Shinichi twitched the corner of his lips. "Ma... hai to ie." Niwashi simply narrowed his eyes at Shinichi's deliberate vagueness, prompting the teen to continue. "As it turns out, there was a witness at the scene who recognized our pusher. He was able to describe the unique patch on the pusher's jacket in detail — and we were able to find an exact match." Shinichi placed his phone on the table with Arai's photo of Kari wearing Niwashi's jacket. "That's your jacket, is it not?"
Niwashi glanced at the photo before leaning back apprehensively. "Hai, it was, but I gave it to charity months ago. Besides, I have no good reason to push a random woman in front of a moving train."
"Ma, you did have a reason, but it was far from good." Everyone in the room turned their attention toward Ran at her interjection, Shinichi grinning encouragingly.
Niwashi gritted his teeth. "The way I see it, you should be waiting out in the hallway, brat."
Ran bristled minutely but nonetheless persisted. "When I found that you had to be Heiwa-san's pusher, we were initially confused as to why. Then it occurred to us —" 'Us'? "— the pusher gave Heiwa-san the bouquet of flowers she was holding when she was pushed. It was almost as if the pusher wanted to stage events deliberately such that she had those flowers when she was pushed — like he wanted to duplicate events that had occurred before."
Having picked up his phone as Ran spoke, Shinichi placed it on the table again with a news article open. "Her name was Ishi Megumi-san — a rather tragic case. She was waiting for the train to visit her friend in the hospital when a rowdy group of high schoolers accidentally bumped her over the edge as the train was about to arrive. It understandably made a splash in the media, especially since she was holding a bunch of flowers she had picked from her own garden."
Ran took her cue. "That pushing was a year and a half ago — shortly before the first time Kari-san left you. The video Kari sent you which we saw was, in fact, from a year and a half ago, not six months ago as we were led to believe. You used the video as an alibi for killing your wife six months ago, and gave a woman flowers before pushing her in front of the train to give the video's timing credibility."
Niwashi lost his patience. "Are you kidding me? Where are all these fantastical claims coming from?"
Megure interrupted the irate suspect. "So are you willing to testify to that video's being made six months ago rather than a year and a half ago?"
Niwashi turned toward Megure and pumped his head forcefully. "Hai."
Megure nodded sadly before pulling out another piece of paper. "Ma... we were able to serve a warrant to your email provider. Their archives showed the video in question was sent to you from your wife eighteen months ago, after which it was forwarded to you again six months ago with the sender address spoofed from your own inbox." Niwashi froze and broke out in a cold sweat as Megure continued. "So the way I see it, we're able to convict you for the pushing of Heiwa Ikite-san and for the murder of Niwashi Kari-san, regardless of whether you confess. If you cooperate and tell us where you hid your wife's body, however, I think we can put in a good word at sentencing for you."
Niwashi simply dipped his head dejectedly. Shinichi looked toward Ran with another smile, which she tentatively returned.
As a couple of uniforms led Niwashi away, Megure slapped Shinichi on the back happily. "Great work again, Kudo-kun! Always good to see you're on top of things as ever!"
Shinichi coughed a few times before recovering enough to respond. "Ah, actually, keibu... Ran was the one who had the breakthrough in the case. You should be congratulating her."
Ran blushed in embarrassment as Megure turned her attention to her without even hiding his surprise. "Ah, er... ie, it's —"
Megure didn't let Ran deny Shinichi's redirection. "Oh, Ran-kun! I always wondered when you would join in with the teen detective craze — good to see you can match up with the veterans of the trade!" Ran was too flustered to respond, simply nodding feebly as Shinichi looked at her ostensibly holding back a laugh.
Apparently unaware, Megure walked off to accompany the uniforms, leaving Shinichi to express joking disappointment. "Mo, I was hoping he would give you his pats on the back as well so you could have the full experience."
"Did you have to do that?"
Shinichi didn't bother hiding his confusion. "Do what?"
Ran frowned. "Give me the credit like that — I wasn't... I just..."
Shinichi looked away toward Niwashi being led off. "I like to have credit be given where credit is due." Ran silently suspected Shinichi was letting on more than those words conveyed, but the veteran teen detective turned back with a wide smile before she could verbalize. "So you'll be getting more credit your way soon, I'm sure!"
Initially hesitant, Ran couldn't help but respond to the sight with a smile of her own.
Notes:
Death is coming. Eat trash. Be free. (Source: https://bit.ly/402wXBN)
Also, welcome to the first chapter that passes the Bechtel test! The Detective Conan IP honestly doesn't give much opportunity to allow for that (albeit considerably more room than most anime), so I consider that a big win. Looking back on what I've written for the work as a whole, I probably could have tried harder in that regard, but given that context I'll take what I can get.
NEXT KUDO HINT: bunny
Chapter 11: Kansai-ben Kidnapping Case
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
"Ya, Kudo, over here!"
Shinichi and Ran followed the easy-to-pinpoint voice through the Osaka train station to its source. Hattori and Kazuha wore matching smiles as the two Tokyoites greeted them.
"Hattori!"
"Kudo! It's been a while — last time I saw you, you were abou'... this high." Ran and Kazuha giggled as Shinichi simply let out a dry chuckle at Hattori's low-placed hand and shit-eating grin.
Hattori soon withdrew the hand to beckon them to follow him. "Come on, we're parked out front." The quartet started walking through the train station toward the entrance as Hattori continued conversation. "I hear you're still solvin' cases as thoroughly as ever back in Tokyo, Kudo."
Shinichi shrugged. "As long as they keep coming toward me, I'll keep solving them."
"Ma, you certainly haven't lost a beat in that department. You must be gettin' plenty of sleep!"
Shinichi blinked a couple of times, then let out a sympathy laugh at the quip. Out of the corner of his eye, Ran showed signs of confusion, but he didn't feel comfortable explaining the joke in the moment. Hattori seemed to notice as well, but refrained from commenting, the rest of the walk to the Osakans' motorbikes instead being accompanied by inconsequential talk.
Once at the bike, Hattori lightly grabbed Shinichi's elbow. "Ah, Kazuha, you drive neechan, Kudo'll ride with me."
"Eh? But I thought we were going to have Kudo-kun drive Ran-chan!"
"Ahou! They just spent hours on a train, he's gonna be too stiff to drive a bike."
Kazuha let out a frustrated huff. "Come on, Ran-chan, let's get a head-start on this ahou." As Kazuha handed Ran a helmet, Hattori unceremoniously tossed one to Shinichi as well, who caught it on reflex.
Shinichi decided to risk a verbal jab as he put on the helmet and sat behind Hattori on the bike. "I see you're as smooth with the ladies as ever."
"... Shaddup." After giving Kazuha a head start, Hattori started his bike and made his way back onto the road.
Once on some of the busier streets of Osaka, Hattori spoke up again. "Oi, Kudo... have you not told her yet?"
Shinichi dropped an eyebrow. "Told whom what?"
"... You're really gonna make me spell it out?"
"Evidently, because I don't know what you're talking about."
"Neechan didn't seem to understand the sleeping joke I made."
"... So?"
"Don't play dumb, Kudo, you can't pull it off."
Shinichi furrowed his brow. "I don't have to play dumb, I legitimately have no idea what you're on about."
"You never told her you were tranq'ing her father for his deductions."
Shinichi paused awkwardly. "I... do I need to?"
Hattori turned around with a bewildered look. "You haven't told her?!"
Shinichi was silently thankful they were stopped at the time. "Green light, Hattori."
Hattori turned back and continued their drive. "You seriously haven't told her?"
"I thought she already knew."
"Not if the way she reacted to my sleep quip is any indication."
Shinichi swallowed some consternation over the conversation to consider his next words. "... We're finally in a good place again, Ran and I — I... I don't want to upset the balance we've found quite yet."
"The longer you wait to tell 'er, the more that balance will be upset."
"... Since when are you an expert on that sort of thing?"
Hattori didn't deign that jab with a response, instead stopping at the next red light — only to have something grab his attention. "Eh?" Shinichi looked toward where Hattori had his attention to see a squadron of parked police cars outside an apartment building.
True to form, Hattori turned toward the squadron. "Looks like we'll be taking a detour, Kudo."
Kazuha, much to Shinichi's amusement, had already parked at the scene by the time they arrived. She knows Hattori too well.
"What's goin' on here?"
Ran and Shinichi both flinched at Heiji's loud entrance to the already crowded ground floor apartment. If Chief Hattori was at all surprised, he didn't show it, instead letting out an exasperated sigh and whispering something in Otaki's ear. Ran observed them to be interviewing a European-looking man in his early thirties, while a Japanese woman of similar age sat at a table nearby in shock with tears in her eyes.
Otaki broke off to approach the quartet of teens with a quiet voice. "Hei-chan — what are you doing here?"
"I was taking Kudo and his girlfriend out for some okonomiyaki when I saw the sirens."
Ran blushed slightly at being referred to as Shinichi's girlfriend. Shinichi, to her interest, showed no such reaction himself.
Otaki didn't seem to notice either way. "And you were drawn to the scene, eh? Should have known better than to leave the lights on..."
"What do we got here, Otaki-han?"
Otaki looked back briefly at his boss and at the pair of uniforms tending to the landline phone before turning back to Heiji. "A kidnapping — mother was at work as a nurse and father was busy painting with his earbuds in when their five-year-old daughter sitting in front of the TV was taken by someone who climbed in through the window."
Shinichi raised an eyebrow. "No witnesses?"
"None we've been able to find, so far."
"And I take it no ransom call yet?"
"Ie... though we are setting up monitoring the landline."
"Is the window not normally locked?"
Otaki seemed to pause at the question. "Ma... there are normally bars on the outside of the window, so they probably never thought to worry about locking the windows, but the bars were taken off."
Shinichi raised his other eyebrow. "The bars were removed, and yet the father still didn't hear anything?"
Otaki sighed. "The mother's already given him an earful of that tune, believe me. Listen, you kids are welcome to look around, but... please don't interfere with what the police are doing." Otaki turned toward Heiji. "Your father's orders..."
Heiji nodded minutely with a sneer as Otaki went back to talk with the father, then turned toward Shinichi with a determined smile. "What do you say, Kudo? Want to see which of us can find her first?"
Shinichi frowned. "Barou — a child's life is at stake, this is no time for competition."
"... E-ee, you're right..."
Ran heard Kazuha bite back a laugh, much to her own amusement. The amusement was short-lived, however, as the landline started to ring loudly. Everyone in the room seemed to jump at the sound, most of all the mother. Chief Hattori nodded toward the mother, silently instructing her to answer the phone.
The mother took a moment to steady her phone hand before answering hesitantly. "M-moshi moshi?"
A speaker tapped into the landline relayed the caller's voice-changed words. "We have your daughter. We know you've already contacted the police, so what you do next decides her fate. If you want to see your daughter alive, then you will gather 35 million yen in cash into a blue backpack and drop it off on the northern side of Kawazokoike Pond, alone, within the next four hours. Do not attempt to have the police watch over the backpack after you drop it, or your daughter dies."
Chief Hattori raised a finger. "Make sure she's still alive first."
The mother nodded. "I won't agree to anything until I hear from Yume-chan."
A short silence on the other end of the line yielded a change in voice. "Mamá?"
The mother smiled tearfully. "Yume-chan!"
The voice changer returned. "You have four hours." The mother's smile disappeared immediately as the call hung up.
Chief Hattori rubbed his chin as the mother hung up the landline. "Thirty-five million yen... that's an awfully specific amount."
The mother stared into her lap dejectedly. "It's all we're worth..."
"Do you think you'll be able to put the money together?"
"I... I'd have to talk with my sister, she's the one who handles our finances."
"How soon can she get here?"
"She lives within five minutes of here, I can text her to come now."
"Please do so." As Ran witnessed the exchange, she saw Shinichi raise an eyebrow out of the corner of her eye.
Once the mother pulled out her cellphone to text her sister, Heiji approached him sotto voce. "Oi, Kudo — we heard something odd, did we not?"
"Hai, we did..."
The two detectives turned toward each other and nodded in wordless conversation, then went in separate directions, much to Ran's bemusement. Heiji went down the hall toward the bedrooms, while Shinichi made his way toward the art room — Ran silently followed the latter. Before she could ask what Shinichi was looking for, however, she felt something at her feet.
"Ah — itai!"
Having caught Shinichi's attention, Ran looked down to find a cat attacking her ankles, much to her dismay. Shinichi attempted to help stop the cat, but the cat ended up swatting his hand away with its claws out and a hiss. The father noticed the exchange and immediately jogged over to the scene.
"¡Ari, no! ¡Son amigos, son amigos!" The father hastily picked up the cat, which immediately loosened up in his arms, then sent an apologetic look toward Ran. "Gomen, Ari doesn't like strangers very much."
Shinichi raised an eyebrow. "You named your cat 'Ari'?"
"Sí — er, hai."
"You must be a very grateful person."
The father fought back a screwy grin. "Ee..." With that timid response, the father stepped by the two teens fully into the art room and placed the cat on a perch above the canvas before picked up palette and brushes.
Ran's train of thought was sufficiently derailed. "What was that about him being a grateful person?"
Shinichi turned to Ran with a screwy grin of his own. "It's a linguistic pun. He —"
"Are you kidding me?!" Shinichi's response was interrupted by the mother stomping past them yelling at the father.
The mother grabbed the brush in her husband's hand and threw it against the wall, much to his incredulity. "What are you —"
"What are you doing?! Our daughter has been kidnapped, is probably in danger, and you have the gall to just keep on painting?!"
"It's how I relieve stress, you know that."
"Oh? Is that what you were doing when you plopped your daughter in front of the TV unattended this morning? 'Relieving stress'?"
Chief Hattori stepped into the room. "Ma'am, there's no need to yell like that."
Shinichi covertly stepped out of the room as the policeman defused the situation, prompting Ran to follow. They arrived back to Heiji talking with Otaki, who broke the conversation as he saw the two Tokyoites approach. He held up a picture frame for Shinichi to inspect, which Ran inspected as well — the daughter in question was smiling brightly for the camera holding a stuffed bunny tightly in her arms. Out of the corner of her eye, Ran saw Shinichi and Heiji engage in another wordless conversation, which ended in Heiji pulling Otaki aside.
Shinichi did the same with Ran. "Hattori and I are going to have Otaki-keibu take us to pursue a potential lead."
"Do you want me to come?"
Shinichi hesitated briefly. "I need for you to stay here and keep an eye on the mother, if that's okay with you."
"Er... hai, that's okay with me. But why —"
Heiji interrupted before she could finish the question. "Ready to go, Kudo?"
After a glance toward Heiji, Shinichi looked at Ran in earnest, who responded with a nod. Shinichi gave a nod of his own, then turned to leave with Heiji and Otaki, but not before handing the photo frame to her first. Ran stood silently wondering why it was so important to watch the mother until the mother's sister arrived for financial consultation.
When the sister confirmed the couple's net worth to be close to 35 million yen, she suddenly realized what Shinichi meant.
"Ran just texted me confirming the amount."
"Ah, you told her what's going on?"
"Ie, I just hinted at it — she figured it out herself."
"Oh, she's figuring things out herself now? That means she'll eventually be able to figure out —"
"You can stop that sentence right there."
Otaki cleared his throat from the driver's seat. "Ne, Hei-chan... why are you having me drive you and Kudo-kun to the address you gave me?"
Shinichi held up three fingers. "There are three oddities we noticed."
"When are you going to start holding up three fingers like a normal person?"
"... Really, Hattori? I get teased enough by Ran on that for the both of you."
"She's clearly not teasing you enough, if you ask me..."
Otaki cleared his throat again. "What three oddities?"
Hattori pointedly held up an index finger. "Oddity number one: the stuffed bunny."
"What about the stuffed bunny?"
"The kid has a boatload of stuffed animals in her room, but almost all the pictures of the kid in the house have her pictured with a stuffed bunny, as if it were her prized possession. That bunny is nowhere to be found in their apartment right now — which means the kidnapper took the bunny with the kid."
"That could just mean the kid had the bunny on her when she was kidnapped, ne?"
"That's certainly a possibility — but taken with oddity number two, there's another possibility."
"What's that?"
Shinichi wiggled his hand with his thumb and index finger extended. "Oddity number two: the cat."
"... The cat?"
"The father established — as did the cat — that the cat doesn't care for strangers and is liable to attack anyone he doesn't know. Despite that, there are no signs of the cat attacking the kidnapper as they took the daughter."
"So... the kidnapper is someone the family knows?"
"Not only that, the kidnapper is someone familiar enough with the family to be friendly with the cat — and know to bring the stuffed bunny with them when taking the daughter."
Otaki stopped in front of the address he was given and braked the car. "So we're just visiting the addresses of friends of the family to look for the kid?"
Shinichi opened his door and started stepping out. "Ie — only the one address."
"Eh? Why only the one?"
Hattori exited the door Shinichi opened as Otaki exited his. "Oddity number three: the finances."
Otaki raised an eyebrow. "You mean the amount the kidnapper demanded?"
"Not just that — when oyaji commented on how odd the amount was, the mother specifically commented that it was 'all they're worth'."
"How does that point to specifically this address?"
"Because..." Otaki and Heiji turned toward the sound of Shinichi's voice to find him having scaled the side of the house all the way to the backyard, staring in the direction of said backyard.
Without turning, he beckoned them to follow, which they did as he finished his thought. "She's not the one in the family who handles their finances."
Since when did you become such a child whisperer, Kudo?
Heiji followed behind Kudo, who managed to hold on the kid such that she was sitting on his hip, as Otaki led them back into her parents' apartment. Once inside, the father turned toward the entering party and immediately elatedly sped toward them.
"Ah, Yume, ¡mi sueña! ¡Venga a papá!" Kudo handed the kid to her father, who immediately joyfully swung her around in the air before hugging onto her tightly. "Te extrañé..."
After a few beats, the father finally seemed to realize how quiet the rest of the room was, and didn't bother hiding his confusion. "What... what's with all the frowns? We should be celebrating! Our daughter is back!" After another moment of silence, the father turned toward his wife. "¿Q-querida?" The mother simply dropped her gaze into her lap, much to the father's apparent bewilderment.
Finally, Ran ostensibly decided to help the situation with a step toward the child. "That's a cute bunny! What's its name?"
Still on her father's hip, the child nervously returned Ran's gaze. "Conejita-chan..."
"That's a cute name! Could you introduce me to her friends?" Ran looked up at the father. "May I?"
"S-sí..."
The father handed his daughter over to Ran, who took the kid to her bedroom, talking with her under her breath the entire time. Apparently taking the hint, Kazuha followed after them herself.
The father looked around at those remaining in the room. "What's going on?" Another silence ensued, only to be interrupted by a phone's text chime.
Otaki pulled his phone out to read the text, then looked back up at Chief Hattori. "That was the bank — she's being held at our instruction."
At the chief's nod, the father grew increasingly agitated. "Who's being held? What is this?"
Not bothering to answer the father's questions, Hattori pulled out his handcuffs. "Candela Shuka-san, you're under arrest for conspiracy to commit kidnapping." Keeping her gaze down, the wife stood silently and placed her hands behind her back for the chief.
The father didn't bother hiding his chagrin. "What are you talking about? What's this about conspiracy?"
Kudo decided to take pity on the father. "Your wife conspired with her sister to have Yume-chan kidnapped — her sister is currently being held at the bank for her role. She was the one who came through the window and took her — we found your daughter at her house. Your daughter was having a tea party with her bunny, so she probably didn't even realize it was a kidnapping."
"But... why are you saying Shuka-chan is involved? Why would she even do that?"
The wife let a lip twitch in disgust as she was handcuffed. "Isn't it obvious?" The stunned silence gave her invitation to continue. "I got sick of how little you were contributing to her parenting. You would just drop her in front of the television and work on your little paintings without so much as an eye watching over her, all the while I toiled ten hours a day earning all the money needed to support our daughter and your lazy ass."
"Querida..."
"I wanted to get a divorce — I wanted to get away from your damn paintings and neglectful parenting. I was planning on using this kidnapping as grounds to take Yume-chan in the divorce during custody hearings. The ransom was a pretense to have there be no money to split in the divorce, so I'd get everything and you'd get nothing."
The father looked to be on the verge of tears. "... How did you come to hate me so much?"
The mother returned with a dead gaze. "You made it easy."
With that pronouncement, Hattori and Otaki led the mother out of the apartment in handcuffs, and the father dropped onto the couch and started to weep in earnest. Not entirely sure what to do with himself, Heiji caught Kudo in the corner of his eye going toward the daughter's bedroom and decided to follow him, stopping to lean on the doorframe opposite Kudo on arrival.
Ran and Kazuha, ostensibly unaware of the male presence in the doorway, continued conversing with the daughter introducing them to her stuffed animals. Heiji turned to look back at Kudo — behind the smile on Kudo's face, Heiji could tell his fellow detective had a thousand things running through his head.
You better know what you're doin', Kudo...
Notes:
Can you tell I'm a nut for linguistics?
This chapter ended up being a mixed bag for Ran in terms of the arc for her started in the past couple of chapters — on the one hand, she has to stand by and witness the hive-mind that occurs when two established detectives get on the same wavelength. On the other hand, she is quick to pick up on what they're thinking, which she should definitely take as a positive. (It's better than what we got from Otaki-keibu, after all... poor Otaki-keibu.)
NEXT KUDO HINT: sunlight
Chapter 12: Metropolitan Police Detective Love Story 10
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
"Word of advice — next time you're redecorating to cover blood spatters, make sure to get the help of someone who isn't colorblind."
Feeling proud of his dismissal of the culprit, Takagi directed the uniform with him to lead the culprit away from the interrogation room back to holding. After straightening his tie, he walked over to the break room to pour himself a cup of coffee, then went back out into the hallway to go back to his desk. On the sight of an unattended backpack sitting in a waiting chair in the hallway, however, he stopped.
Somewhat frozen in indecision, after a few beats Takagi turned to the civilian waiting several chairs over. "Is this your backpack?" The civilian responded with a terse shake of his head. "Did you see who left it?" Another shake of the head from the civilian prompted Takagi to start looking around and raise his voice. "Anyone leave their backpack here?"
Silence responded to Takagi's open question, leaving him apprehensive as to what to do with the bag. As if reading his thoughts, the bag immediately started leaking a white smoke.
Takagi's coffee came to grief as he instinctively brought a hand to his nose and mouth against the smoke. With his free hand, he quickly shooed the civilian away (who thankfully took the hint) then grabbed the bag and ran back toward the interrogation room. After throwing the bag into the room, he closed the door before doffing his suit jacket and stuffing it into the crack below the door. Once making the seal airtight, he immediately tossed himself into the observation room and locked the door behind him.
After taking a moment to catch his breath, Takagi looked through the one-way mirror into the interrogation room. The bag, which somehow managed to land on the table, was freely billowing smoke and also partially exposing some menacing-looking wiring.
Takagi groaned at the sight. You have to be kidding me...
"Ano... Takagi-san?"
Takagi jumped slightly at the voice on the other side of the door. "Don't come in!"
"What's going on?"
"Go find Megure-keibu — tell him to lock down the floor. There's been a possible bio-attack."
"Flash cards?"
Ran looked up at Shinichi's bored entrance into the dorm lounge before returning her focus to her cards. "Hai — I'm studying for an exam I have this afternoon."
Shinichi meandered over and sat at the table across from Ran. "You know... a recent study found that studying things you already know is actually bad for your memory."
Ran looked up again, this time with a skeptical eyebrow. "Hontoni?"
"Ee — something to do with making it more likely you'll second-guess yourself..."
Ran donned a nonplussed look at the explanation, much to Shinichi's initial bemusement. After tilting his head to express that confusion, Shinichi belatedly realized his conversation starter has some relevance to previous events, causing him to look away in embarrassment.
Fortunately for Shinichi, Ran found herself distracted by the time on the lounge television. "Ah! My exam is in fifteen minutes! I should go now!"
With that exclamation, Ran stood up hastily and gathered her things before exiting the room without fanfare, leaving Shinichi to slouch in his seat in boredom, having no more lectures for the rest of the day.
... What do I do now?
"We are receiving word from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department that they have locked down a floor of their main headquarters after a suspected bio-attack on Division One." The voice of the reporter on the television pulled Shinichi's attention from his boredom. "The TMPD has refused requests for further comment, but the NIID has released a statement indicating that they will be sending a decontamination and analysis team to the police headquarters as soon as possible."
Before Shinichi could act himself, his phone buzzed at an incoming call, which he immediately answered after seeing its caller ID. "How can I help, keibu-ho?"
"... I take it you've seen the news."
"Hai, I have."
"Listen, Kudo-kun — this caught us at a bad time, every detective on the team is on the floor right now, so we don't have anyone out in the field to investigate from the outside."
"I'll do what I can, just say the word."
A brief pause permeated the call before Sato continued. "A few months ago there was what I think was a similar bio-attack on the Kanagawa prefectural police headquarters. A drug cartel the police have been chasing for a few years claimed responsibility for that attack, and it checked out. I'd like for you to see if you can rule out that same drug cartel being responsible for this attack."
Shinichi raised his chin in apprehension. "You... want me to investigate a drug cartel."
"Ee."
Shinichi took his time to consider his words carefully. "... Does Megure-keibu know you're asking this of me?" The silence at the other end of the line at the question told Shinichi everything he needed to know, prompting him to sigh minutely before asking his next blunt question. "Takagi took a direct hit, didn't he?" Silence responded once more, with which Shinichi sympathized in kind.
He slowly inhaled to respond, but Sato beat him to the punch. "Please..."
Shinichi paused briefly, then exhaled. "I'll see what I can do. Text me what you can about the cartel."
"How are you doing, Takagi?"
Takagi coughed away from the receiver before responding over the phone. "I'm doing well, keibu."
Megure raised an eyebrow at the speakerphone. "No symptoms yet?"
"None that I can tell..."
"How does the bomb look?"
"The smoke has stopped billowing out of the bag at this point... it's starting to thin out."
"Keibu!" Megure looked up at the doorway to find a young uniform escorting in a man in a hazmat suit.
Megure held out a hand for the man. "You must be from the NIID team."
The man shook Megure's hand. "Hai — my team will be working on decontamination right away. The bomb is in an interrogation room, you said?"
"That is correct — you'll see a suit jacket plugging the gap under the door."
"And the detective who took the hit is where?"
"He's self-quarantining in the adjacent observation room."
The man nodded. "OK — we'll need to determine what the contaminant is before we're able to help him, unfortunately, but we'll work as quickly as we can."
"When you're done decontaminating the bomb itself, I'd appreciate it if the cell phone that triggered the bomb were provided to us for our own analysis."
"I... don't know how quickly we'll be able to do that. Determining the contaminant is also a prerequisite to considering the phone fully decontaminated."
"Ma... at the least, send us screenshots of the call log and any photos on the phone itself. That will work as a start for now."
"Wakarimashita — is everyone on the floor accounted for?"
Megure turned to the accompanying uniform, who nodded before responding. "Hai — I checked with security and verified that no one has left the floor since the bomb went off."
"No one has left the floor?"
The uniform startled slightly at the sound of Takagi's voice over the phone. "H-hai, that is correct."
"... Hmm..."
Megure raised an eyebrow. "What is it, Takagi?"
"I can't be certain, but... the phone on the bomb looks to be a deactivated burner. I don't think it's able to receive calls from outside the building."
Megure paled. "And if no one has left the floor since the bomb went off... that means the bomber is still on the floor!"
"Oi, you!"
"... Me?"
"Bathroom is for paying customers only. You'll have to order something before you can use it."
"Oh, er... do you serve iced coffee?"
"... Ee, we do."
"I'll take one iced coffee, then."
"Coming right up..."
"I'll just use the bathroom while I wait."
"Go right ahead."
With the interruption from the bartender taken care of, after making it to the bathroom — having surreptitiously dropped a listening device behind the booth adjoining the opening to the bathroom area on the way — Shinichi let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding, silently thankful for the light disguise and voice changer he decided to equip on himself before making the trek. First verifying he was alone in the bathroom, he made his way into one of the stalls and closed the door behind himself before pulling out the earbuds associated with the listening device and putting them in his ears, in time to hear the head of the table in the middle of a sentence.
"... and Tsukikage is off-limits, you hear me, New Blood?"
"H-hai, wakarimashita."
The sound of footsteps heralded the arrival of a new entrant to the conversation. "Sorry I'm late, boss — I heard some news on the blotter that might interest you. Seems there's been a suspected bio-attack on the Tokyo MPD headquarters."
"You're kidding me."
"I'm afraid not, sir."
"Great, now we're all going to have to go underground for a week again."
'New Blood' re-entered the conversation. "Eh? But we didn't do it, did we?"
"Like that would stop the police from accusing us anyway..."
"Why, though? They don't have any reason to pin it on us."
"Don't worry, they'll 'find' one. I'm serious here, no sticking our necks out for the next week — if some full-of-himself cop comes crashing in here with a handcuffs fetish, I want there to be as little collateral damage as possible."
"H-hai..."
"I was having such a good day until you two decided to open your mouths..."
Deciding he had heard enough, Shinichi put away his earbuds, then flushed the toilet and made to wash his hands to keep his cover. Once done, he made his way out, dropped what he hoped was enough yen to cover the coffee on the bar counter, then exited the bar without another word, coffee in hand. As he walked away, he decided not to risk it and tossed the coffee in the first garbage bin he found before pulling out his phone.
Sato jumped slightly as her cell phone started to buzz before pulling it out to answer. "This is Sato."
"... Am I on speaker?"
"... Ie, you're not."
"Your drug cartel is not responsible for the bombing — in fact, they are quite paranoid about being erroneously blamed for it."
Sato repressed a sigh as she put Kudo on speakerphone. "I have Kudo-kun on the phone, Megure-keibu."
Megure turned from staring at the computer screen toward the phone. "Oh, Kudo-kun! I take it you've seen the news?"
"Hai, I have — anything I can do to help, keibu?"
Silently thankful for the teen's subterfuge, Sato set her phone down on the table. "I think we should have the photos forwarded to Kudo-kun, he may be able to find something we can't."
"What photos are these?"
Megure started formulating the email as he responded. "The phone which set off the bomb contained photos from inside the police station. Their, er... timestamps have been stripped from their metadata — at least I think that's what the IT team said, I don't know what that means exactly."
"You're wanting to figure out when they were taken."
"Ee — though I don't know how that's going to happen..."
"Photos are coming in now..."
Megure straightened up to address the room. "In the meantime — we've determined the bomber is still on the floor with us. Let's start questioning the civilians on the floor."
"... I'd advise against that, keibu."
Everyone stopped in their tracks, including Megure. "Eh?"
"If you start questioning the civilians there, they're going to figure out that the bomber is still on the floor, which is bound to cause panic. Given these people are potentially bio-attack victims, any additional panic could exacerbate the issue — trust me, I know a thing or two about stress affecting one's health..."
Megure cleared his throat awkwardly. "In that case... let's see how much we can get from performing background checks on the civilians on the floor."
"In the meantime — I think I know how to determine when the photos were taken."
Megure raised his brow in incredulity. "Eh? How?"
"I'll call you back when I have something." Kudo unceremoniously hung up the call, causing Megure to sigh as Sato retrieved her phone.
Before either of them could comment, some noise from out in the hallway interrupted their trains of thought. "Someone help that man!"
Sato and Megure immediately rushed out into the hallway to see one of the civilians — the civilian who sat near the bag, Sato noted — having a seizure in his seat before falling to the floor. Two NIID workers came over and carried the man away to have him quarantined, much to the shock of the other civilians present.
Megure sighed in frustration next to Sato. "I hope Kudo-kun is able to follow through quickly."
Sato looked beyond the scene to the hermetic sealing of the interrogation room. I certainly hope so, too...
Ran let herself back into their dorm room and locked the door behind her before turning around and freezing at the unusual sight taking up floor space. "... Shinichi?"
Shinichi looked up from his tending to a lamp. "Ah, Ran, you're here! Just in time!"
Ran tentatively stepped forward. "Just in time for what? Are you... is that a scale model of Division One?"
"Ee — all to scale, down to the height off the floor, since that may be relevant."
Ran was at a loss for words. "... Why?"
Shinichi pulled out his phone. "Division One was targeted by a suspected bio-attack this afternoon. The cell phone used to activate the bomb contained reconnaissance photos of Division One that have been stripped of their timestamps, so we don't know when they were taken. That's where you come in!"
"Me?"
"Hai — as the one of the two of us taking astronomy lectures this term, you should be able to determine the date of the photos."
"But how —"
Shinichi held out his phone to Ran to look at a photo. "One of the photos in the batch includes a clock on the wall reading 5:23pm. I have recreated the lighting of the sun in the photo with this scale model using this lamp. Your job is to take this setup and determine which day of the year the sun would be in this position over Division One at 5:23pm."
"But... I have another exam in an hour!"
"And I'm sure once you're done, you'll still have 55 minutes to prepare for it."
At a loss for words, Ran stepped forward and took a closer look at the scale model, then back at the phone in her hand to verify that Shinichi indeed had recreated the photo down to the photon. Deciding not to interrogate him on how he managed to do that, Ran instead racked her brain to determine how she was supposed to determine the date of the photo using her astronomy knowledge in this setting.
Ran more felt than saw Shinichi raise an eyebrow at her apparent hesitation, which somehow helped her mind cut through the noise and figure out what to do. Once the method was clear to her, she opened her desk drawer and pulled out a protractor.
"How are you doing?"
"I'm doing fine, really."
"Are you sure?"
"Ee, I am."
"Good, good..."
Sato leaned her head against the observation room door, somewhat intimidated by the hermetic sealing of the interrogation room as she soaked in the presence of the man across the door from her. The slow speed with which the NIID did their job did nothing to calm her nerves, making her seek out some consolation.
Takagi seemed to read her mind through the door. "Should I be asking the same question of you?"
Sato sighed dejectedly. "I... I'm holding up."
"Investigation not going well?"
Sato dropped her head along with her voice. "It's... going — we've been sifting through background material on all the civilians on the floor to see if anything stands out, but we haven't found anything yet. The NIID's glacial pace isn't helping any..."
"Ee, ma... not every country can have a CDC like America's."
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"You'll be the first person to know otherwise."
"... I appreciate that."
"Seriously, though, I —"
Before Takagi could finish his sentence, Sato's phone started to buzz, prompting her to pull it out and inspect the caller ID before immediately putting the call on speaker. "Kudo-kun — you have me and Takagi on speaker."
"Ran and I have a date on the photos for you."
"How?"
"... How much time do you have?"
"That's fair."
"The photos are from the evening of 15 March — you should be able to review visitor logs from that day to narrow down the list of suspects."
"Wakarimashita — I'll get on it."
Takagi cleared his throat. "Ano... did he say 15 March?"
"... I did. Why?"
"That was the evening of the annual police union meeting, wasn't it?"
Sato felt blood drain from her face. "It was."
After a heavy silence, Kudo cleared his own throat. "Er... is there special significance to that?"
Takagi audibly shifted closer to the door. "During union meetings, the MPD is closed off to civilian visitors."
"... Which means —"
Sato cut off Kudo's response as she started walking away from the door. "— which means someone in the police is involved."
"Sounds like you'll have yet more background checks to go through..."
Sato made it into the detectives' main area. "Megure-keibu!"
Megure raised his head from his position amongst the detectives sifting through civilian records. "What is it, Sato-kun?"
"We have reason to believe a police officer is involved in the bio-attack!"
"Eh? How so?"
"Kudo-kun was able to determine the date of the photos, and it was the evening of the union meeting."
Blood drained from Megure's face before the man donned a look of righteous anger. "One of our own... this is getting serious."
"Hai, we should —"
Megure got up from his seat and made for the nearest computer. "On it..."
After several keystrokes, Megure adopted a blank look, much to Sato's confusion. After several more keystrokes, Megure then frowned.
After yet more keystrokes, Megure finally expressed frustration. "I... it's not working."
Sato pushed Megure aside. "Let me see."
At the same computer, Sato attempted to log into the police records system, only to have the program kick back a system error. Another login attempt yielded the same error, leading Sato to raise her voice to the room at large.
"Anyone able to log into the records system?"
Immediately, several keyboards started singing simultaneously, shortly before all their users brought their head up and shook them for Sato. With a groan of frustration, Sato stomped out into the hallway and made for the IT area of the floor, only to stop dead at the sight coming from the open server closet.
Empty server racks stared back at her.
Now quite bewildered, Sato strode over to the makeshift command area for the NIID team, grabbing the attention of the man in charge. "What happened to the servers?"
"... Eh?"
"The servers — our server bank has been emptied. Did your team remove them for decontamination?"
"... I..."
Another NIID member spoke up from their analysis desk. "Ee, you ordered that, didn't you?"
The team lead turned toward the analyst in shock. "What are you talking about?"
"The guy in the hazmat suit who took the servers, he said you ordered them taken to HQ for decontamination."
"Why on earth would I do that?! We haven't even determined the contaminant yet!"
Sato's mind turned a gear. "Wait a minute — you still haven't determined the contaminant?"
The NIID lead turned back to Sato. "Ie, we haven't."
"Is it possible that there's actually no contaminant?"
"... Ma, it's possible, but we haven't ruled absolutely everything out yet —"
Before he could finish, Sato turned and rushed back into the hallway toward the observation room. Not caring who was watching at that point, she threw the door open then threw herself into a hug with a bewildered Takagi.
The hug held for several seconds before Takagi cleared his throat. "Ano... Sato-san —"
"The bomb was a fake."
"Eh?"
"It was just plain white smoke — it was a cover to raid our server bank."
"Eh?!"
Sato found herself still holding onto Takagi tightly, almost as if for dear life. She heard what sounded like an NIID worker behind them about to lodge a protest when another sound from down the hallway caught their attention. Sato then immediately remembered herself and broke the hug to follow the sound, Takagi hesitantly following behind.
Another civilian exhibited symptoms of a seizure in their chair, but Sato was having none of it — pushing the NIID worker aside, she grabbed the civilian by the collar. "You can drop the act. Takagi, you go get the other civilian currently under NIID care."
"Eh? Why?"
"Because these two civilians are going to give up their heist-masters."
After closing the garage door behind him, a man in a hazmat suit emerged from his car and immediately went inside. After some time, the man sans hazmat suit came back into the garage and opened the trunk of his car. The man paused to inspect the racks of servers filling the back end.
Shinichi decided he had seen enough. "I suppose that's one way to have some debts paid off."
The man whirled around in shock at Shinichi's voice coming from the corner of the garage. "Eh?! Who are —"
Shinichi stood and started walking toward the loan shark. "It should be of interest to you that one Kizoku Yuga-junsa-bucho has turned in his badge after the two civilians he directed to fake symptoms of a bio-attack gave him up under interrogation. He did himself, however, give up the name of the loan shark who put his three debtors up to the task of stealing confidential police records in exchange for forgiving their accumulating debts — understandable that he took the deal, given his recent divorce and excessive force citations."
A drop of sweat ran down the man's cheek as Shinichi continued. "I'm sure you might be able to get yourself a reduced sentence if you give up your potential buyers. In the meantime..." Shinichi hit the button on the wall to reopen the garage door. "Take him away, Yumi-keibu."
"With pleasure!"
"Word of advice — don't mess with the detectives of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police."
The man didn't bother responding to Shinichi's closer as he dipped his head, prompting Yumi to put her cuffs on him and lead him to her squad car. Meanwhile, Shinichi went inside to find the car keys to drive the servers back to the MPD. After finding the keys in the kitchen, however, his phone buzzed, leading him to pull it out of his pocket to read its screen — then frown.
Sato steamed as she watched the repo man being led from the elevator down the hallway toward holding. As the culprit passed her, her steam overflowed tearfully and she moved to take a swing at the man.
A strong pair of hands held her back. "Sato-san!"
"Let me at him! He... he..."
Takagi pulled Sato around to face him. "Ie, Sato-san — you know better than that! If you stoop to assaulting a culprit, then you're no better than they are, regardless of their crime."
Sato felt the tears flowing as she dipped her head. "But... but he was... he tried to take you away..."
Takagi didn't let Sato finish her sentence. "I'm still here, aren't I?"
Sato looked up at Takagi, who smiled warmly back, and held his stare for a time before making her decision.
After arriving on the floor for Division One, Shinichi held open the elevator doors before following Chiba with his own load. "Thank you again for helping me get these servers back up, Chiba-keiji."
"It's no trouble at all, really! Ara..."
At Chiba's physical pause, Shinichi looked toward him questioningly before looking toward where Chiba was staring. Chiba's focus, Shinichi found, was on Sato and Takagi engaging in a rather deep kiss, oblivious of any company around them. Shinichi took a glance to the side down the connecting hallway and found a few male officers making their way toward the scene — yielding Shinichi to make a daring decision.
"Ne, Chiba-keiji?"
Chiba's focus remained on the kiss for the moment. "Ee?"
"Suppose we need to rearrange how we're carting these servers... and the act of rearranging may block the hallway impassably for a time..."
Chiba finally tore his focus away to see what Shinichi was seeing, then seemed to fight against a smile at what Shinichi implied. "Hai — I suppose people will have to just take another path."
And so the teen detective and police detective dutifully blocked off the hallway to the throng of men who somehow possessed a sixth sense for their favorite female colleague, while said colleague blissfully continued her kiss with her own favorite colleague.
Notes:
I knew I put Ran in an astronomy class for a reason! Certainly Shinichi seemed to have that fact in the back of his mind.
Also, I apparently casually decided that Shinichi knows how to drive? Another one of those things he picked up in Hawaii, I guess...
NEXT KUDO HINT: ham
Chapter 13: The Lark
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
With a term of on-campus housing now behind him and Ran, Shinichi eagerly went about packing his possessions in their dorm room in preparation for moving out the next day. On the sound of the door unlocking and opening, Shinichi looked to see his roommate enter.
"Ah, Ran, you're here! I'm going to need help with the cork board, I was hoping you could —" Shinichi stopped himself short at the sight of Ran's facial expression. "What's wrong?"
Ran looked to be holding back tears. "Ano... you know the sandwich shop across the street from campus everyone likes?"
"Ee..."
"It was robbed last night."
Shinichi held back his shock. "Was anyone hurt?"
"Ie, no one was there."
"It was burgled, then."
"Huh?"
"You said it was robbed, but if no one was there, then it was a burglary, not a robbery."
"... OK."
Shinichi lost the thread of how to respond. "I... are the... are you okay?"
Ran frowned in response to Shinichi's hesitancy. "I just... aren't we going to do something?"
"... Do something? The police are already there, ie?"
"Shouldn't we go in and investigate?"
Shinichi adopted a blank look. "You want to investigate?"
Ran nodded determinedly. "Uhn."
"You want to investigate... a burglary." Ran nodded again, leaving Shinichi to wallow in confusion.
After reviewing how determined Ran looked, Shinichi sighed and shrugged as he returned his focus back to packing. "If that's what you want to do, nothing's stopping you."
Out of the corner of his eye, Shinichi saw Ran don a look of righteous anger before making her way back out of their dorm. After a few more items packed, Shinichi paused and reconsidered what just happened.
Ran arrived at the sandwich shop to police tape blocking off most of the indoor area. She debated jumping the police tape when one of the uniform officers approached the tape to stop her.
"Hold on — this is an active crime scene."
"Ano... I'm Mouri Ran, I'm a... er..."
"Civilians are not allowed past the police tape."
"But I..." What exactly were you thinking you'd say, Ran?
The inspector on site noticed the stilted exchange and started walking over. "What's going on here?"
The uniform turned to the inspector and pointed a thumb toward Ran. "This girl is trying to get into the crime scene."
"Eh? What for?"
Ran swallowed her embarrassment to the best of her ability. "As I was saying, I'm Mouri Ran, I'm a friend of the owner and I'm —"
"Are you trying to become a suspect?"
"... Ie."
"Then I'd suggest you leave this to the police."
"But I —"
The inspector turned to the uniform shaking his head ruefully. "I swear, it's like everyone thinks they can be a teen detective these days..."
"Oh, come now, Momose-keibu, let her into the scene!" Everyone turned their heads toward the new voice coming into the shop — Ran did her best to supplant her mortification.
Momose seemed just as shocked. "K-Kudo-kun!"
"I can vouch for Ran, keibu-san, she will treat the crime scene with the respect due to it. I'll take responsibility for anything that goes wrong."
"Oh, she's with you, Kudo-kun? Why didn't you say so?! Come on in!"
Momose immediately lifted the tape up to allow in Ran, who after sending an inscrutable look toward Shinichi accepted the implicit invitation. She made her way to the cash registers, which were still open to show them empty, and noticed some residue on the floor leaving a trail to behind the counter. She bent down to get a closer look and noted the substance to be some sort of mud, but couldn't place much more than that. As she pulled out her phone to help, a hand in her peripheral vision caught her attention.
Shinichi silently held out a magnifier phone attachment for Ran, which she took without a word and attached to her phone. Upon inspecting the mud with the magnifier, she revised her appraisal as potential residue from a construction site.
Ran decided to voice her thoughts out loud. "It looks to me like the burglar tracked some mud from some construction into here, don't you think?"
Ran held out her phone to Shinichi, who ignored it in favor of dropping down into a push-up position and bringing his eye as close to the mud as possible. After a few seconds of silent inspection, he promptly stood back up and silently backed up with an affirming nod.
... Fine, be that way.
Ran set aside her frustration. "There isn't any construction nearby, so this is most likely an indication of the area from which the burglar came." After another dutiful nod from her mute companion, Ran stood and looked toward the table area to see the owner sitting on her own wringing her hands.
She decided to make her way to the table and sat across from the owner — the woman looked up in surprise. "Mouri-chan..."
"I'm... I'm sorry to disturb you, but do you mind if I ask you a couple of questions?"
"I... I don't mind, I guess."
"Can you think of any reason why the burglar would have struck last night rather than any other night?"
The owner tilted her head curiously at Ran before gaining a far-away look. "Ee — today is the day we would normally take most of the cash in the registers to the bank for the month."
"And who would know about that?"
"Any of my employees would know about that. You... you don't think —"
"It's a possibility we'll need to rule out. Can you provide us with the addresses of your employees?"
"U-uhn."
Ran smiled as the owner pulled out her phone. "I promise you, we'll do everything we can to help."
The owner looked over Ran's shoulder briefly — presumably at Shinichi — before returning her gaze to Ran. "I know you will."
Ran nodded as the owner turned her focus to her phone. "One last question: did the burglar take anything other than the register money?"
"Ma... he also took our recent shipment of hams."
"... Hams?"
"Ee — two legs of the ham we use for our ham sandwiches."
"... OK — thank you again."
"It's no problem — I just emailed you the addresses of my employees and their shifts."
"Arigatogozaimasu."
Ran stood and made her way back to Shinichi, who had his phone up. Ran pulled out her own phone as she saw Shinichi was inspecting a map of construction sites in the surrounding area and pulled up the email from the owner. Shinichi and Ran both looked at the addresses and cross-checked them with the construction map.
Ran quickly narrowed down the possibilities. "Should we let the police know?"
Shinichi pursed his lips in thought. "Hmm... we could... or we could investigate ourselves."
Ran looked at Shinichi's seemingly practiced look of indifference, unable to determine what exactly his plan was.
After a leisurely lunch, Ran and Shinichi headed to the home of their suspect, now confident that he was on his shift at the sandwich shop and away from home. Once they arrived at the front door, Ran noticed Shinichi frowning at his phone.
"What's wrong?"
Shinichi snapped his head up to look at Ran, then shook his head and pocketed his phone as he looked at the house in front of them. "Don't worry about it. Why don't you look around the outside of the house while I find a way inside?"
Ran hesitated briefly, but nonetheless nodded at Shinichi's suggestion before directing a critical eye on the outdoor section of the property. The house itself was surrounded with a humble yet well-maintained bed of flowers, which she inspected to find any signs of recent disturbances. After finding no such disturbances in the front yard or either side of the house, Ran found herself in the backyard also finding no disturbances in the line of flowers along the back of the house. She then turned to look at the rest of the backyard to see yet more flowers lining the fence surrounding the area, causing her to suppress a sigh. Before she could begin inspecting those flowers, however, her nose rather than her eye drew her toward the shed occupying the backyard.
As Ran approached the shed, the smell grew stronger, making her more confident as to the shed's contents. "Shinichi!"
After a few seconds, Shinichi came out the back door of the house. "What did you find?"
"I think the hams are in this shed."
Shinichi arrived next to Ran and let his own nose go to work before nodding. "Certainly does smell like it..."
Ran looked at the padlock guarding the shed. "I don't suppose we could find the key to the padlock inside?"
Shinichi pursed his lips with a slow inhale then shrugged. "We could..."
Ran narrowed her eyes at Shinichi, who returned with a professorial gaze in her direction, much to her initial confusion. After a moment of silently questioning his sanity, she finally realized what he was looking for.
Is he really just testing how much I remember of his rambling about Holmes?
Ran sighed and took a stance. "Stand back."
Shinichi silently complied, leaving Ran room to break the lock open with a well-placed kick. She then opened the shed enough to peek in and confirm the presence of the hams the sandwich shop owner reported stolen.
Shinichi was looking beyond the fence as he pulled out his phone when Ran closed the shed again. "There's a small hill over there that should serve as a good vantage point."
Ran directed her gaze to where Shinichi was looking before nodding. "I'll meet you there."
"Where are you going?"
Ran started heading for the back door. "To the kitchen."
From his seat in the grass on the vantage point, Shinichi watched Ran arrive back from the house with a raised eyebrow. Once she sat down, she held out two pieces of bread and some slices of cheese to him.
After a moment of confusion, Shinichi realized what was going on and laughed as he took the offering. "And some people say I can be overly dramatic..."
Ran flashed a screwy smile as she sat down next to Shinichi with her own bread and cheese. They sat silently eating their impromptu late afternoon snack as they kept an eye on the thief's house from a distance, waiting for its occupant's shift to end.
Once they had finished the food allocated to them, Shinichi decided to break the silence as he took a swig of water. "I had a thought recently."
"What's that?"
"I think you should get yourself a water bottle as well — that way, we both have something to nag each other about."
"'Nag'? Really, Shinichi? I'm not the one with the medical condition demanding I stay hydrated."
"Our both being human demands we stay hydrated, it's hardly different for you than for me. Besides, you could have a medical condition of your own, for all you know."
"I would think I would know."
"Not necessarily — you could have Gilbert's Syndrome."
"... Gilbert's Syndrome?"
"Ee — it's a liver condition which by itself is harmless, but poses a threat when combined with other problems. A person with GS, for example, is more likely to experience jaundice when they get dehydrated."
"I don't think I have Gilbert's Syndrome, Shinichi."
"You never know... given your habit in the past of passing out from head colds, it could be the case —"
"That was once!"
"Twice, Ran — remember the Chinese restaurant?"
"You were — ah, damnit..."
Shinichi regarded Ran curiously at her slip for a moment before snapping his focus back to the sight of their quarry arriving home. Not even a minute later, Ran's trickery proved fruitful as the man burst out of his back door and ran to the shed to find the lock broken. Even more in a panic, he immediately made for the line of flowers behind the shed and dug wildly with his hands before pulling out a box overflowing with cash. The man sighed and hugged the box calmly before the burst of a police siren startled him.
"Kikai-san! This is the police!"
Kikai didn't bother listening to the rest of the megaphone announcement before immediately jumping the back fence and running. On the sight, Shinichi immediately stood and ran toward when Kikai was escaping, which the thief noticed, causing him to change course immediately. The change in course, however, yielded Shinichi to slow his pursuit.
And as expected, the thief ran directly into the line of fire of a well placed knock-out blow from Ran.
Shinichi beckoned the police officers with a raised arm as he approached Ran and the unconscious thief. The officers soon arrived to cuff the thief and carry him back to their squad car, leaving the two teens to watch the proceedings from afar.
Shinichi let out a contented sigh. "I must say, I enjoyed this low-stakes lark more than I expected."
Ran smiled sarcastically. "... Did you?"
Shinichi deliberately ignored the sarcasm and returned with a warm smile of his own. "Ee — remind me to participate in more of these, they're a nice palate cleanser from all the murder cases."
Ran tilted her head slightly, as if just realizing Shinichi was serious, but then returned with a warm smile of her own, leaving Shinichi to have to pretend he wasn't melting in its presence.
Notes:
All those cases involving murder and assault and kidnapping and grand larceny... how about something more low stakes as a palette cleanser, eh? And hey, it's a perfect opportunity for a viva voce exam, too!
Also, don't worry about what's on Shinichi's phone, I'm sure it won't become relevant...
Chapter 14: Conflict of Interests
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
BLOCKED NUMBER
'Inside the home of your murderer is a physical ledger — please relay photos of the ledger before you leave.'
Shinichi stifled a sigh of frustration from his seat in Megure's car, silently thankful that Ran had other obligations to attend to during this case. As Megure drove the two of them to confront the murderer for their case, the teen detective felt his patience break at the texted request and, failing to regain his patience, quickly texted the blocked number back.
'Only if you tell me the reason for all these recent impromptu requests.'
Shinichi dropped his phone in his lap and finally let out that sigh. Their plan for confrontation thankfully involved Shinichi inconspicuously searching the home as Megure interrogated the murderer, so the teen detective had the cover to perform the requested relay — but given certain previous vocal objections of his, the requests started to rub him the wrong way.
His phone buzzed to herald the response.
BLOCKED NUMBER
'Meet me in Haido Park after you finish with your confrontation.'
Shinichi pocketed his phone without a word, silently wondering how Megure managed to remain oblivious to the exchange.
"So you're really going..."
Ran sighed as she tossed in one last shirt into her suitcase and paused to center herself before responding. "Hai, tou-san, I am."
Her father remained conspicuously silent as she zipped up her suitcase, causing her to look at the man leaning against her bedroom doorway once she finished. An open bottle of beer dangled between two fingers in one hand while the other resided in his pants pocket, both accompanied by a strangely sad look on his face.
Ran sighed again as her patience broke. "Listen, tou-san... I really don't know what he did to earn your vehement dislike, but I —"
Kogoro straightened up slightly. "'What he did'? Are you just going to discount the nearly two years he spent —"
"If anyone ought to be angry at him about that, it should be me — I was the one who brought him in, after all. But I've forgiven him, tou-san — is that something you're just constitutionally incapable of doing?"
Kogoro gave Ran an odd look before slouching back against the doorframe again. "He's hiding something..."
"Knowing him, that's probably your fault."
"I don't mean from me, I mean... oh, forget it, you wouldn't listen to me, anyway."
"Just like you won't listen to him?"
Kogoro let out a sigh of his own. "I just... I don't trust him, is all."
"Well, that's too bad, because I trust him, tou-san — and he trusts me... which is more than you can say, apparently."
Kogoro bristled. "Oi, I never said I don't trust you —"
"You may as well have — you're still here trying to persuade me not to move in with him! And don't tell me it's because you can't live without me, because you and I both know there was a period between when ka-san left and when I got old enough to cook for the two of us where you got by just fine." Kogoro remained silent, inviting Ran to continue. "Shinichi... he makes me feel appreciated, tou-san, he treats me like an equal... and he and I love each other dearly, as awkward as he may be about saying it out loud. So I'd appreciate it if you took a cue from ka-san and learned not to question everything I do with my life."
Kogoro stared down Ran at her last verbal bite for an uncomfortably long period, leaving her to wonder just what was going on in his head. Finally, the man stood up straight and turned around searchingly before tossing his beer bottle cleanly into the nearest trash can, then started walking toward Ran deliberately.
Before Ran could process what was happening, she found herself enveloped in a tight embrace with her father, which lasted longer than she felt comfortable. Once the hug broke, Kogoro patted her shoulder, an unreadable expression still on his face.
"... I'll be here for you whenever you need me."
With that cryptic pronouncement, Kogoro turned and left the room, leaving Ran alone to wonder what just happened.
Shinichi found his target, predictably enough, in the darkest corner of Haido Park, befitting the man's profession. He paused in his path to the man to fire off the pictures he took by text, then waited for the man to pull out his buzzing phone before approaching him.
After glancing at the photos in the text, Akai looked up at the approaching detective. "I was starting to wonder if you were going to come."
"I'm here now, aren't I? So, lay it on me: what do a murderer of a company president, an opportunistic loan shark, and a ham burglar of all things have in common that require you to request I perform inconspicuous reconnaissance on their finances for you?"
Akai nodded tersely as he put his phone away. "Just to be clear, I would never have requested any of that of you if you hadn't been visiting their homes in the first place. It was just a coincidence that they were persons of interest before you came along."
"Persons of interest in what, exactly?"
"... You were never that good of a conversationalist, you know — always wanting to get straight to the point."
"It comes with getting yanked around too often to give a shit about idle conversation."
Akai raised his chin appraisingly at Shinichi. "You can hardly blame me for what went down with —"
"I don't care about that anymore, just tell me what the hell is going on now."
Akai paused in consideration before nodding. "The FBI is currently looking into a deeply entrenched international drug cartel that has made its presence increasingly known in Japan in particular."
Shinichi raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Sounds familiar."
Akai cracked a sarcastic smile. "We do have reason to believe some stragglers from before may have become attached to the new operation, hai. The three people you've contacted are people we believe to be low-level money movers in the cartel, which is why I requested you relay the ledgers found in their homes."
Shinichi narrowed his eyes. "Hold on — the murderer and loan shark, I understand, but how would such a supposedly evasive drug cartel employ someone stupid enough to steal a sandwich shop's ham and leave a path directly to himself?"
"It should be of interest to you that the ham thief in question died in custody earlier tonight."
Shinichi froze. "... Haah?"
"The cartel set up the thief to cut off a loose end. They had reason to believe the thief was withholding some of the money flowing through him to keep it himself, so they ordered him to burgle the sandwich shop because they knew he'd make a hash of it."
"And this cartel has someone in the police to finish off that loose end, is that what you're saying?"
"It's another avenue in the investigation we're exploring, hai." Akai paused, ostensibly to size up Shinichi before continuing. "You know... I heard from Jodie that you weren't interested at the time she spoke with you, but I think I can speak for the entirety of the FBI if we had you —"
"Save your breath, I'm going to decline still anyway."
"You'd be helping with seeing to justice being served in this and other cases."
"If the past month is any indication, I'll be able to do that for you without officially joining anyway, ne?" Akai tilted his chin up again but remained silent, inviting Shinichi to continue. "Listen, I really don't want to join the FBI, I made that much clear with Jodie-sensei — apparently she didn't relay the entirety of the conversation to you, so I'd recommend you ask her to repeat what I said then. That shouldn't preclude me, however, from aiding in individual investigations as I see fit in an unofficial role."
"In a consulting role, you mean?"
"Hai."
Akai donned a screwy smile. "Like Holmes?"
Shinichi tilted his head dispassionately at the unintentional parallel, but then nodded nonetheless. "Ee."
Akai closed his eyes and nodded. "Very well — but don't expect that to be the last offer you receive."
"Right, because the FBI are nothing if not persistent..."
"Just be on the lookout, Kudo-kun — this cartel we're after has a way of making itself known where you least expect it. You'll let us know if you come across anything, I'm sure." Akai turned to start walking away. "In the meantime — take care, konsarutanto tantei-san."
Shinichi watched Akai walk away, then let out a tense sigh as he began to question his life choices.
Notes:
I lied, it was relevant.
I purposefully left things vague as to how the conflict with the Black Organization concluded in this timeline primarily because I've seen way too many works in the DMCK fandom intended to be canon-complaint end up being invalidated by canon written after the fan-work started (looking at you, WPBIO), so I wanted to future-proof this work to the best of my ability in that regard. There are, of course, still a few assumptions made, but the nitty-gritty is left unanswered in a way that makes that nitty-gritty essentially irrelevant. Whether the work benefits from that decision, I'll leave to the reader to decide.
NEXT KUDO HINT: ribbon
Chapter 15: The Gunma Request
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Home.
Over the past month, Ran had gotten more and more used to calling the Kudo manor home. Sure, she was still sleeping in the guest room, but everything else about her stay here indicated residence rather than visitation. As such, she arrived home — as it clearly was — carrying a load of groceries, the way to the kitchen being as well worn as ever for her. As she put away the groceries, however, she was quite confident the lively fiddle music coming from the library was definitely out of place.
Once she finished with her task, she made her way to the library and let herself in as the fiddle continued. Now in the library, she spotted what appeared to be a man dressed in the attire of an American cowboy finishing out one last fiddle tune on a long double stop.
The man flashed a crooked smile toward Ran as the double stop broke. "Howdy, miss! What can I do fer ya?"
Ran remained nonplussed for a while before regaining her composure. "There better be a good story behind this, Shinichi."
The man's smile remained painted on for a while as he regarded Ran before looking to the side with a sigh. The man then reached into his pocket to pull out his phone, then pressed a button the screen before speaking in Shinichi's voice.
"Would that the story were a good one..."
With that cryptic pronouncement, Shinichi grabbed a stack of newspapers and handed them to Ran on his way out the library, leaving Ran to turn her focus to the headlines highlighted on each newspaper.
AMERICAN SENATOR'S DAUGHTER KIDNAPPED ON GUNMA CAMPING TRIP
AMERICAN SENATOR RECEIVES RANSOM NOTE FOR KIDNAPPED DAUGHTER
IS TIME RUNNING OUT FOR AMERICAN SENATOR'S DAUGHTER?
Ran sat down and skimmed through the details of the highlighted articles and felt her heart sink progressively lower with each sentence she read. On registering another presence returning to the room, she looked up from the papers.
"You've been called out to Gunma?"
Shinichi dropped a bag on the floor next to where Ran had sat with clear frustration. "Hai, I have — seems the senator's wife heard about me and insisted I take the case, because clearly I'm the only one capable of finding a kidnapped five-year-old..."
"... This isn't just a case of the Yamamura Blues, is it?"
Shinichi snorted humorlessly. "I wish it were — these cases never end well, Ran, this request is the last plea of a desperate mother who has run out of options and so sees it fit to bring a veritable miracle worker onto the case..."
Shinichi stopped to sigh in frustration, leaving Ran with an opening. "Were you going to go without me?" Shinichi's eyes remained closed, thus betraying no reaction to Ran's question.
After a long pause in which Ran wondered if he'd ever respond, Shinichi finally dropped to his haunches in front of Ran's seat. "Ran... I trust I don't need to tell you how potentially dangerous this case is. The reason I'm in this getup at all is because I fear for the child's life should I get recognized. One misstep, and the child dies — that's it. The only reason the case has lasted as long as it has is because the kidnappers oh-so-generously granted her parents more time to gather the money they demanded — seems American political fundraising isn't what it used to be. If you come, Ran, you'll have a character you'll need to stick to — as far as I'm concerned, you're just as recognizable at this point." If Shinichi noticed Ran's blush at the implication, he showed no signs of doing so as he blithely continued. "Any moment out of character from either of us reduces the child's chance of surviving. I understand you want to be involved in everything in which I am involved, Ran, but if you don't feel comfortable with the responsibility of this case, I'll also understand if you want to stay behind."
Ran paused minutely but nonetheless held steadfast. "I want to come."
Shinichi burned a gaze into her skull. "Do you?"
Ran lifted her chin haughtily. "I do."
Shinichi's gaze remained on her for a few more seconds before he broke it and nodded. "Good." With that simple response, Shinichi picked up the bag he dropped and placed it in Ran's lap. "Your disguise materials — remember when Sonoko had that obsession with tarot back in middle school?"
"... Ee — what about it?"
"How much of it do you think you could ape?"
The following day
A train arrived at a relatively crowded train station in Gunma. The opening of the train doors heralded, among other people, a lithe, spry American man in his middle years walking briskly out of the doors. Following behind him, though not as quickly, was a teenaged girl, presumably his daughter, lugging several bags and suitcases with her, quite unhappily. After several feet of walking, the father realized he wasn't being followed and immediately turned around to face the girl.
"What, are you waitin' for an invitation? Come on!"
"Seriously, dad! Couldn't you have taken one or two of these bags?"
"I built you to be stronger than that, girl, let's go!"
"But, dad! If you could just take one of the —"
The father stepped dangerously close to the girl. "Are you questionin' my authority, girl?!"
"No, dad! I'm just askin' for help here, I can't —"
The slap given by the father reverberated across the train station, causing quite a few heads in the station to turn. The girl stumbled back at the slap, causing most of the bags to come to grief, and would have fallen to the ground herself if not for a few young men behind her keeping her upright — much to her apparent embarrassment.
The father was not amused. "What are you, doing an impression of your mother, fallin' into strangers' arms?"
"It ain't their fault, dad, they were just tryin' to help!"
"I'll show you 'help', you ungrateful slut!"
Before the father could take another swing at his daughter, a couple of on-duty police officers held him back. "That's enough out of you, sir."
The father struggled against the officers' grips. "Don't speak that gibberish to me, you dirty Japs!" "We're going to have to take you to the station, sir."
As one of the officers took the father away, the other approached the daughter hesitantly. "Ah — we are taking in... your... father... to police station. We will need to take you in as well for... q-question. You understand?"
The daughter nodded hesitantly, then looked relieved with the officer taking some bags for her before following him out of the station. Unbeknownst to the officer, the daughter hid a slight smile.
"Ano... sumimasen..." The police secretary understandably startled at the sound of perfect Japanese coming from the ostensibly American girl waiting in the lobby, but the disguised Ran pushed through nonetheless. "I was hoping I would be able to speak with Muno-keishi in his office."
The secretary stammered momentarily. "I... I don't think that... that you —"
"I need to speak with him about Ana Simpson."
At the name of the American senator's daughter, the secretary simply stared at Ran for a while before tentatively getting up and entering the superintendent's office, closing the door behind her. Ran sat back down and waited patiently, silently preparing herself for what was about to happen next.
Sure enough, the superintendent himself burst out of the office cursing up a storm. "What in the hell is going on here? We have American gypsies invading our train stations, and now one of them wants to involve herself in a classified police investigation? What kind of world have we —"
As the superintendent ranted, Ran stood up and moved in front of the man before leaning forward to cut him off with a whisper in his ear: "Kudo Shinichi."
The superintendent reeled back as if Ran had insulted his mother, then quickly appraised the young woman in front of her with a sweep of his eyes. "Er..."
Ran rolled her eyes. "I would appreciate it if we talked about this inside."
"Er... hai, mochiron. Come on in..."
Ran let herself into the policeman's office ahead of the man himself, deciding that asserting her confidence would be more important than any other impression left on the clearly testosterone-heavy man. The man in question closed the door behind them and made to stand over her as she sat across from his desk, much to her annoyance. If you insist...
Muno thankfully didn't seem to notice the annoyance. "You better start talking, and start talking fast."
Ran straightened herself up in the chair. "Ma, I suppose I should start with telling you that the man who came in as my 'father' is actually Kudo Shinichi himself. That ruckus at the train station was an act he and I pulled to get here."
Muno's face drained of color. "Kudo Shinichi in the lock-up..." Muno turned toward the side door to his office. "Gunso!"
A rather nervous-looking uniform opened the door to look in. "Hai, keishi-dono?"
"Get me the American man we arrested at the train station and have him brought into my office immediately!"
"... The gypsy man, sir?"
"Hai! Get him in here!"
"... Hai..."
Muno turned back to Ran as the side door closed. "So, what, you're his assistant or something?"
Ran bit her tongue before responding. "We'll get into introductions once Shinichi gets here."
Muno narrowed his eyes at Ran before snorting and making to sit at his desk, starching his back as he sat to continue his attempts at asserting physical dominance. Soon enough, the side door opened back up to herald the arrival of the fake American accompanied by an understandably confused uniform.
The disguised Shinichi kept up his angry act. "The hell did you tell them, girl?"
Muno waved away the uniform. "That will be all, gunso."
The uniform dismissed himself without another word, leaving Shinichi to verify the door closing behind him before immediately moving in front of Ran and inspecting her face. Ran startled briefly but otherwise held still until Shinichi finally reached into his pocket and sighed with his normal voice.
"I hadn't actually meant to hit you there, I apologize for that."
"It... it's okay, it didn't hurt too badly."
Shinichi nodded before turning back to the superintendent. "Apologies for the subterfuge, keishi, I saw it fit for the safety of the child if I weren't spotted entering the station as myself. Likewise, not only is this young woman here not my daughter, she is also similarly not American. Underneath that disguise is my partner, Mouri Ran — and any word from her should be considered with equal weight as any word from me, wakarimasu ka?"
As Ran silently thanked her disguise for hiding her blush, Muno looked at Shinichi in shock before nodding tentatively. "Wakarimasu."
"Good — now, let's see what the Gunma police have done so far." Shinichi approached the officer's desk as Muno pulled out a folder from a locked drawer, prompting Ran to leave her seat and stand next to him.
Once the folder was laid on the desk, Muno cleared his throat. "This is everything we have so far — photos of the crime scene, interviews with the parents. The parents are in another back room if you want to talk with them some more, by the way. They testified to having heard nothing that night and to having no known enemies who would do something like this. Obviously they were wrong... but they —" As she and Shinichi inspected the crime scene photos, Ran felt as though the crime scene analysis was particularly cursory, with very little detail given even to the state of the tent.
Shinichi seemed to feel the same way, going as far as to interrupt the superintendent. "This is everything on the case?"
"... Hai, it is."
"Are you kidding me?"
Muno seemed just as surprised at Ran at Shinichi's rising anger. "Kudo-kun, this —"
"I was given to understand I was called in by the mother as a last resort, and now you're showing me their first resort hasn't even been exhausted yet? There isn't even a proper analysis of the crime scene!"
"Kudo-kun, I assure you —"
"Whichever keibu you put in charge of this investigation should at least be put on indefinite administrative leave, if not fired, for performing such a hack job!"
"... I'm not comfortable doing that."
"Then when this is over, I am calling Hakuba-keisatsu-cho and telling him to order you to do so! Ran and I will basically be doing this keibu's job for him at this point!" Muno remained rather indignantly silent, leaving Shinichi time to center himself after his outburst before returning his gaze to the officer. "How many people have you told about my coming onto the case?"
"Only my secretary knows."
"Let's keep it that way." Shinichi turned to Ran. "For the safety of the child, I don't think I should be seen talking with the parents, even in this disguise. But —"
Muno interrupted the teen. "Oi, you're not suggesting someone in the police is involved, are you?"
"I don't know what to think at this point, Muno-keishi — given how paltry the police work on this case has been so far, I don't want to rule it out. That said, Ran, if you want to talk with the parents, then you can go out the side door and make it seem like a happenstance meeting. I can speak with the keishi about our arrangements while you do so."
Still a little shaken by Shinichi's previous anger, Ran took a moment of her own to center herself before turning to Muno. "How is their Japanese?"
"The mother is fluent, she can translate for the senator."
Ran nodded resolutely before exiting the side door, careful to have her character look a little lost. She noted what looked like a waiting room and made her way inside to see the American couple alone. Checking to ensure no policemen had followed her in, she tentatively sat down across from them.
"Ano... Simpson-san?"
The mother tearily looked up and donned a look of perturbation. "Hai?"
"Gomen, this — my name is Mouri Ran, I'm assisting Kudo Shinichi in the investigation into your daughter's kidnapping. He couldn't see you himself because he doesn't want to be seen talking with you for the sake of Ana's safety, so he asked for me to talk with you."
The mother quickly appraised the young woman in front of her before nodding hesitantly. "W-wakarimashita."
"If it's alright, I'd like to ask you a few questions. Can you translate for your husband?"
"Hai."
Ran started out by asking the same questions that had already supposedly been asked of them according to the police file, just to verify their answers. The translation process proved a little clunky, but in the end none of their answers had changed since the file had been written. Once satisfied with their answers, Ran decided to risk one last question.
"One more thing — and you don't have to answer this if you don't want to, but... how do you suppose your daughter is holding up?"
To Ran's amusement, the mother laughed mirthlessly. "Probably better than her mother, if I had to guess — she's always been a strong-willed young girl..."
The mother trailed off as she started squeezing her husband's hand, leaving Ran an opening to console. "I can assure you, Shinichi and I will be doing everything we can to bring your daughter home."
She felt confident saying that much, despite not being completely clear on how Shinichi was planning to continue.
Once Shinichi was done with Muno, he and Ran were escorted to what looked to her like a rather disreputable rent dealer, where Shinichi (in character) negotiated the rental of an overly modest RV — berating her to load up their bags in the vehicle all the while. From there, Shinichi started driving them out into the countryside of Gunma, and Ran used the small kitchenette to cook them a quick supper — a markedly Western-style one, given Shinichi's choice of ingredients when packing. Eventually they ran out of daylight, and so Shinichi parked the RV off to the side of the road and the two of them prepared for bed.
Ran found herself laying in her cot staring at the ceiling of the RV, not quite able to get to sleep. She eventually started to feel exhaustion take her over when the sound of Shinichi stumbling out of his own cot caught her attention. She watched through the dark as he started digging through one of their bags haphazardly.
"... Shinichi?"
Shinichi didn't immediately respond, instead finally pulling out a pill bottle from the searched bag then quickly opening the bottle and popping a pill into his mouth before speaking shakily. "Don't let me keep you up."
"D-did you just have another... episode?"
Shinichi grabbed his water bottle and took a massive swig before taking several calming breaths to stabilize. "... Ee."
"Are you... do you want to talk about it?"
Ran wasn't sure what compelled her to say that out loud, but the question lay out there nonetheless. Shinichi, to his credit, appeared to ignore the question, instead climbing back onto his cot and lying on his back. Ran took the hint and laid back down on her own cot, though sleep did not come as easily as she hoped.
Eventually, however, Shinichi broke the silence. "Every time it starts to happen, I smell the grass at Tropical Land again..." The smallness of Shinichi's voice nearly moved Ran to tears, but she dutifully remained silent as Shinichi continued. "I smell the blood in the grass, I hear... I hear his voice... and it isn't very easy to have to wash down another pill when that happens."
Ran's guilt for tapping Shinichi's bottle against his head months ago came back in full force, though she knew better than to bring that up again. If there were a way to make him forget...
"I — you want to cuddle?"
Ran again found herself speaking before thinking, much to her dismay. The room remained silent for a solid ten seconds, leaving Ran to hope quixotically that Shinichi hadn't heard her. Before Ran could take back the offer, however, she felt another weight arrive on her cot.
Ran did her best to hide her shock as Shinichi lay down next to Ran, silently wondering if the cot would handle both their weights. Eventually, without a word Shinichi had full-on attached himself to Ran, curling up against her side with his head buried in the crook of her neck. It took a considerable effort on Ran's part to calm her heart rate down to normal, but soon enough she was able to close her eyes with a contented sigh. The effort to calm her heart came to grief, however, as Shinichi quietly planted a kiss on her neck where his head lay, but nothing more beyond that.
A part of Ran screamed at her to beg Shinichi to take her right then and there, but she knew it wasn't the time.
The following morning
Ran woke to Shinichi already having changed into his disguise and driving the RV to their destination. It took more willpower than Ran dared to admit to leave behind what happened the previous night, but she dutifully rose to don her own disguise.
Their travels stopped with Shinichi parking along the edge of the forest, followed by the two of them walking through the deserted forest. Eventually, they arrived at what appeared to be an abandoned tent.
Ran raised an eyebrow. "Where are the police?"
"Muno-keishi arranged for a half-hour break for those guarding the scene so we can take a look."
Before Ran could express her skepticism, Shinichi — with gloved hands — zipped open the tent and dropped to his haunches to look inside. After a sweep of his eyes through the interior, he quickly stood back up and started slowly circumnavigating the exterior of the tent, prompting Ran to drop down and look inside herself. The two sleeping bags, one large and one small, were understandably disturbed along the tent floor, with the smaller bag quite obviously the victim of a thoroughly frantic searching. Tossed to the other side of the tent, Ran noticed, was a well-worn stuffed doll of a pig-tailed girl about half the size of her forearm.
Ran's inspection was interrupted by the sight of a pinky breaching the tent wall near one of its seams, followed by the sound of its owner's voice. "Therein lies the rub..."
"Hole in the tent wall?"
"Small enough to go unnoticed, but big enough to accommodate a tube delivering sleeping gas."
"You think the Simpsons were gassed?"
"The parents did report feeling quite groggy when they woke to their daughter missing. Really makes me wonder what the fuck the Gunma police have been doing all this time..."
Ran sighed at Shinichi's frustration flaring again. "What's the saying? 'Never attribute to malice what can be attributed to incompetence'?"
"Incompetence can only take one so far, Ran."
Ran shook her head as Shinichi withdrew his pinky, then had a thought occur to her. "Ne, Shinichi? Do you think anyone would mind if I took this doll with us? If we end up finding her, I think it would help to have it with us to prove to her we're friendly."
"Sure, why not — it's not like the Gunma police will notice."
Ran noted Shinichi's voice being further away than she expected, causing her to stand up reflexively to see him starting a trek into the denser portion of the forest. She quickly dropped back down to grab the doll before rising again to follow Shinichi. By the time Ran caught up, Shinichi had already stopped with a stare down at an informal path in the forest.
Ran followed his sightline to see what he was looking at, only to be surprised by what she saw. "Horse tracks?"
"Ee — looks like whoever took her used a horse to get away from the scene. With the right shoes, a horse can be effectively silent during a trek through the dark, or at least more so than any car can be."
"... Surely these tracks won't lead us right to her?"
"They'll lead us somewhere, at least..."
With that pronouncement, Shinichi started to track the horse footprints along the path, Ran following close behind. After about ten minutes, they stopped at a disturbance in the so-far immaculate trail. Shinichi analyzed the disturbance intensely, going as far as to verbalize his analysis as he walked along the path of the story told in the dirt.
"It looks like Ana woke up around here and attempted to escape through the woods. The man driving the horse jumped off and followed her into the brush, eventually catching up to her..." Shinichi stopped to bend down and pick up a long blonde hair left on the ground, which he presented to Ran with a terse breath. "Believe it or not, this is a good sign for us."
Ran frowned. "How so?"
"It means the kidnappers want the child alive — they could just as easily have killed her then and here when she attempted her escape, but they didn't. They had to drag her by her hair, but they purposefully didn't draw any blood from her."
Ran didn't know how to respond, instead opting for a centering breath and a nod. The two teens then returned to the trail of horse tracks, which guided them for another ten minutes before coming to a fork in the path. Shinichi immediately took to analyzing the ground at the fork.
"It looks like two cars were waiting for the horse here — scratch that, one car and one truck. The horse was transported on the truck along the left path, if the deeper tire tracks are any indication, while the other car took the right path. Hard to say whether the child was put in the car or if the car was a diversion..." Shinichi paused briefly before letting out a sigh and turning around. "Let's go back to the RV, we'll need to look at a map to see what each path leads to."
A flash of color out of the corner of her eye caught Ran's attention. "Wait..."
Shinichi turned back around. "What is it?"
Ran followed the flash of color down a small distance along the right path, then stopped to pick up what appeared to be a child's hair ribbon. "We may not need to look at the map at all."
And with their path chosen, so began the travelling father-daughter show.
The pair of American gypsies drove their RV into every small town and village along the backroad of the Gunma prefecture — the father providing impromptu fiddle concerts, the daughter reading tarot cards and palms to divine the fortunes of women and children who had none. Each stop's performances, to the villagers' obliviousness, were subtly accompanied by surreptitious questioning about how often 'strange people' passed through their fine village. The conversations often went slowly due to the dearth of English speakers in those villages, but the itinerant performers were never deterred.
At one particular village, the RV parked just outside the local pub, yielding Ran to wonder something out loud. "Shinichi... you haven't been drinking have you?"
Shinichi turned to Ran before exiting the RV. "Ie... why?"
"I just... how have you been questioning people in pubs without partaking?"
"I've been telling people that the only drink I'll take is that of the blood of the Lord."
Ran involuntarily recoiled. "A-and they believe you?"
Shinichi shrugged. "Christians from America are known to say some crazy shit." Apparently considering the matter resolved, Shinichi bounced out of the RV and sauntered straight into the pub, leaving Ran to stand on the sidewalk (if it could be called that) looking at his wake.
Before she could think too deeply about the sanity of her 'father', a voice down to the side interrupted her. "You are... American, yes?"
Ran snapped her head in the direction of the voice to the sight of a gaggle of tween-aged kids wearing a mixture of curiosity and apprehension in their expressions. "Er... yes, I am. What of it?"
"We heard from... village down the road about... travelling foreigners."
"That big of a news item, eh? You must not get many visitors through here."
"Not many who stop to visit, no."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Most foreigners... drive right through, don't stop."
"And how often does that happen?"
"Few days ago, we saw... ano... how you say... rimujin?"
"Wha— rim... you mean 'limousine'?"
"Yes, rimujin."
"No, it's 'limousine', not rimu... whatever."
"It passed through without stopping, didn't even have... headlights on."
"It was dark at the time?"
"It was... before sunrise."
"And I thought dad was nuts for renting an RV..."
The child with the English vocabulary snickered at the quip, then turned to his companions to explain the joke. Ran looked to the sky to see daylight running thin on them.
Before she could ponder on whether they'd be staying the night in this village, the pub door opened loudly. "Of course! My fiddle knows no bounds of play-space!" The disguised Shinichi threw himself into the RV, presumably to go grab his fiddle.
Ran followed more gingerly behind and approach Shinichi as he tuned. "Ano... Shinichi... one of the kids said something about seeing a limousine drive through the village early morning a few days ago —"
Shinichi cut off Ran loudly in his disguised voice. "What? You're tired already? Alright, girl, you go ahead and hit the hay for the night, I can entertain these fine folks on my own if need be." Shinichi leaned forward quickly to whisper in Ran's ear. "Keep alert, Ran — the men I spoke to told me about a mansion about a half mile out that's seen some unusual activity recently. Make a show of going to bed, but as soon as you're able, get into your reconnaissance attire and stake out the mansion. I'll provide distraction." Shinichi switched back to his stentorian American voice. "There you go, girl, nighty night."
The lights inside the RV switched off, and the fiddle music started almost immediately after Shinichi disembarked from the RV, leaving Ran in the dark to change into her camouflage blacks on Shinichi's instructions. On a whim, Ran decided to stuff the child's doll into her belt, as something of a good luck charm. As the fiddle music continued dutifully, she quietly sneaked out the back entrance of the RV and started her way down the road toward the target of her reconnaissance.
The mansion looked decidedly out of place compared with the rest of the village, leaving Ran little doubt as to its being her destination. She snuck around the back and peeked over the fence to verify the backyard was empty before crouch-walking in through the gap in the fence to behind a sufficiently wide tree. From there, she estimated what sounded like three goons playing cards in the kitchen downstairs — the light from the windows was too bright to verify the exact number. Stealing a glance at the upper floor's set of windows, she decided to risk climbing the tree to get a better vantage point.
Each sound Ran made climbing the tree felt like a firecracker in the dark to her, leading her to hide briefly on her perch to ensure none of the goons downstairs came outside to look. After a solid thirty seconds of nothing, she then shuffled along a sturdy branch to get a better look of the upstairs windows. Her breath caught when she clearly saw a five-year-old American girl asleep in a bed too large for the child's size.
A lot of things happened at once for Ran in that moment: she noticed the ledge outside the window was wide enough to handle human feet; she noticed the branch on which she resided was long enough to allow for stepping onto said ledge; and, most curiously, she noticed the sound of fiddle music and singing growing from down the street. Shinichi's distraction has arrived, I guess...
The rush of initiative came immediately, and Ran found it hard to suppress entirely. As the sound of music grew closer and closer, she automatically used the sound to cover her jumping from the branch onto the ledge outside the upstairs windows. Silently thankful that the window locked from the outside, she quickly undid the locking latch and opened the window before climbing in. The child remained asleep the entire time, in stark contrast to Ran's adrenaline coursing through her veins.
The contrast prompted Ran to start desperately whisper-shouting the child's name. "Ana! ... Ana!"
The child finally woke slowly, then sat upright at the sight of Ran half-crouched next to her bed. "A-ano..."
From that response, Ran assumed the child spoke Japanese. "My name is Mouri Ran, your parents sent me here to rescue you. The person responsible for the music you're hearing outside is with us, he's serving as the distraction. I can carry you out through the window when you're ready."
"... I can't."
Ran's heart skipped a beat. "Why not?"
In response, the child threw the covers off of her to reveal a chain tying her ankle to one of the bed's legs. Guess that's what she got for trying to escape in the woods...
Ran allowed herself a calming breath. "OK... I should be able to take care of the chain." She started to move to address the chain, then stopped herself upon remembering the doll. "Here, take this while I work the chain." The child took the doll from Ran and hugged it for dear life as Ran assessed the bed leg donning the far end of the chain.
Finding no better way to address the situation, she decided to risk the music covering her sufficiently. "Brace yourself."
With that warning to the child, Ran grabbed the bedpost above the offending leg with both hands, then with a studied snap of her leg kicked at the bed leg, causing it to detach from the bed and therefore release one end of the chain. Knowing she was on a timer, she immediately grabbed the child into a bridal carry and gathered the chain still attached to the child's ankle into the child's lap, then as quickly as she could made her way back out the window, re-locking the window once she was outside. She then made her way back along the tree branch followed by another branch facing the opposite direction before dropping down and running back out the gap in the fence. She then dropped down to sit against the back of the fence and immediately cut noise as she heard the back door to the mansion fly open.
Ran held her breath and held a hand over Ana's mouth as she listened intently to the goon ostensibly searching the backyard, silently hopeful that she didn't leave enough of a trace for her path along the tree to be noticeable. The music had reached directly outside the mansion at that point, leading Ran to nearly miss the callout the goon gave to his colleagues.
"The window's still locked!"
With that pronouncement, the man went back inside and closed the door behind him, prompting Ran to let out a sigh of relief before gathering the energy to dash away from the mansion. She spotted Shinichi still giving his all to his fiddle tunes for an ever-expanding crowd and made sure he surreptitiously spotted her before venturing into the woods across the street. Once she was a sufficient distance into the woods, she sat down against a tree with the child in her lap and felt the adrenaline that so far carried her deplete itself all at once.
After a hasty call to the PSB, Shinichi parked the RV closer by then snuck his way into the woods he saw Ran enter. His brief sight of her during his fiddle concert gave him a little pause, but soon enough he was able to confirm what he saw then.
Shinichi arrived to Ran sitting against a tree, fast asleep yet still clinging onto the also asleep five-year-old child of interest as if for dear life. Deciding to take a cue from the sight, Shinichi allowed himself a few calming breaths before dropping to his haunches in front of the sleeping pair. He noticed the gathering of a chain attached to the child's ankle and made a mental note to have that removed after she woke — he didn't dare risk waking her in that moment — before fully sitting down in the woods, waiting for backup to arrive and drinking in the view in front of him.
Thankfully for everyone involved, Ran woke up before Ana, making the trip back to the RV more manageable.
On the road back to the city, Shinichi filled in Ran on what the PSB were able to discover about the kidnappers' mansion, which was disturbingly little. The kidnappers had been hired through several intermediaries, each one more opaque than the last, making the mastermind of the operation impossible to ascertain. The only contact the kidnappers had with any higher-up was through typewritten notes and voice-changed phone calls. The PSB planned to hold the kidnappers for as long as possible, but had little confidence they'd be able to gather much more.
Eventually, with disguises (and chains) discarded, Ran and Shinichi entered the Gunma police station to facilitate the tearful reunion of Ana Simpson with her parents. Shinichi did most of the talking with the parents, much to Ran's relief — leaving her the bandwidth to notice Ana wander off to the side nervously as the discussion went on.
On a whim, Ran decided to approach the child on her own as the child dissociatively played with her doll. "Everything all right?"
The child looked up sheepishly before dropping her gaze. "I'm... I'm okay."
"You know... it's okay to talk about your feelings, even if they're uncomfortable for you."
"I don't know... I don't want to make my parents sad..."
Ran had to think a little on the child's concern before responding. "Your parents are good people, Ana, they wouldn't mind a little sadness. If anything, they'd be happy that you opened up to them."
"I just... I don't know whom to trust anymore..."
At that pronouncement, Ran definitely felt a sadness wash over her, but she brushed it aside to the best of her ability. "I... I think I know the feeling. You've seen first-hand how evil people can be, and now you find it hard to know if any particular stranger can be trusted not to do anything evil to you — or if someone you know and trust won't suddenly betray that trust." The child stared at Ran with an open-mouthed gape as the teen continued. "I haven't been in the same situation, but I've been a close witness to someone who has... and I can tell you that it does eventually get better — slowly, too slowly perhaps, but it does." The child continued staring at Ran, then eventually dropped her head and nodded solemnly, leaving Ran to wonder if she said the right thing.
She decided to change tack to lighten things up, indicating the child's doll as she spoke again. "If anything, your little friend there is available if you ever need to vent. I don't think we've been properly introduced, by the way — what's her name?"
The child blushed and looked away abashedly, much to Ran's confusion, before dipping her head sheepishly. "Her name... was Mary."
"... 'Was'?"
"I changed her name just now."
Ran's heart skipped a beat. "What's her name now?"
"... Her name now is Ran."
A lump caught in Ran's throat, and as she felt the tears come, she made a mental note to ask Shinichi how he dealt with excessive praise.
Notes:
Alternate chapter title: Let Shinichi Say "Fuck"
Having a voice-changer be controlled by a phone app is admittedly a little self-indulgent, but hey, I'd say it's a natural progression at some point. If anything, Shinichi's penchant for dramatics would demand it — that bowtie can only follow him so far into adulthood.
NEXT KUDO HINT: typewriter
Chapter 16: Dietary Restrictions
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
"You need to eat more."
"So I've been told..."
"And you need to cut back on red meat."
"Are doctors paid to say that?"
"Very funny — I'm glad to see you've at least heeded my guidance on staying hydrated."
"Hai, it's quite fun needing to pee every half hour."
"And you haven't had any... 'relapses' since the first one?"
"I've had a few attacks since then, but they never went as far as relapses thanks to the boosters."
"Those attacks should become less frequent once you start eating more. Let me have your arm, I need to give you a shot."
"A shot? For what?"
"It's a SARS booster shot."
"... Haaah?! How could you possibly know what strains there will be next season months before the rest of the world?"
"It would take too long to explain."
"What, are you part of some sort of secret cabal responsible for the release of strains each year?"
"Of course not."
"Because, you know, given your history, it's not beyond the realm of —"
"You know I could just kill you and make up a reason you died, right?"
"Ran would see through it within minutes."
"Just hold out your damn arm."
"OK..." Shinichi held out his arm for Shiho, then decided to change the conversation as she administered the shot. "So... how is your job treating you?"
"It's treating me well — although I suppose I should tell you that you gave Saguru quite the scare when you requested the synthesizing of another antidote."
Shinichi groaned. "I made it clear in the email that it wasn't for me!"
"Hai, once he reached that far in the missive he calmed down."
"How else was I supposed to front-load that message?"
"I really don't know, he's just jumpy about that sort of thing, I guess."
"Ma, as long as the antidote made it to Hokkaido, then I suppose it's fine..." Shinichi trailed off as he reviewed the conversation in his head, then turned to Shiho with a screwy smile. "Did you just refer to him as 'Saguru'?"
Shiho paused minutely, then blushed slightly as she discarded the spent needle, much to Shinichi's amusement. Before he could tease her further, however, his phone started buzzing.
"Saved by the bell..." Shinichi inspected the caller ID before answering the call. "How can I be of service, Megure-keibu?"
"Kudo-kun — do you remember Hirata Kazuaki?"
Kudo breathed in deeply as she searched his memory, then exhaled as his search succeeded. "Secretary to the late mayor of Tsukikage, convicted of drug trafficking."
"That's the one — he's asking to see you."
"... Me?"
"Ma, to be more precise, he's asking to see the 'detective who exposed him'. I suspect he probably means Mouri-kun, but I figured... you know..."
Shinichi closed his eyes and nodded. "That's fair — I can be there in twenty minutes."
"I'll let the warden know."
Shinichi ended the call and pocketed his phone as he turned to Shiho. "Are we done?"
"Hai, we are." Shinichi pumped his head with a nod before quickly making for the door, but was stopped by Shiho's voice again. "Kudo-kun?"
Shinichi turned back. "Hai?" On reflex, Shinichi narrowly caught his water bottle before it hit his face, then looked down sheepishly at it. "Right..."
The prison guard escorted Shinichi into an isolated visiting room, leaving the teen to wonder why the isolation was considered necessary. His pondering was cut short as the prisoner already in the room noticed the new presence — and immediately dropped his brow in apprehension.
"Wh-what are you doing here?"
"... I understand you sent for me."
"I sent for Mouri-tantei."
"From what I heard, you sent for 'the detective who exposed you' — and, ma... Mouri-occhan wasn't the one who saw the coins."
Hirata remained frozen for a couple of seconds before widening his eyes in shock, then dropping his head dissociatively. "I... I had heard the rumors — I didn't expect them to be true."
Shinichi moved to sit across from Hirata. "Ee, ma... my parents have done a good job making them seem like only rumors to the public."
Hirata nodded minutely as silence fell over the proceedings, the silence long enough to allow Shinichi to lean back in his chair and regard the prisoner. The older man, while still clearly larger than the teen, still possessed an unassuming presence that was only compounded by the prison jumpsuit and his prematurely greying hair. The man's tired eyes and sagging shoulders gave the impression of something weighing on his mind — which was quickly confirmed as the man finally started speaking.
"I've had a lot of time to think in here... it's about all I can do." Hirata paused again before lifting a finger to point in a seemingly random direction. "The prison library here isn't all that well-stocked, but... it still has the occasional gem in its rotation, if you know how to find it. I recently found there... a Japanese translation of a work originally written in English, by a man named Charles Dickens." Hirata dropped his finger and turned to look at Shinichi fully. "Have you read 'A Christmas Carol'?"
"... I've heard of it."
Hirata nodded absentmindedly as he returned his gaze to the table. "There's this... character in the work, who's a dead man now roaming the Earth as a ghost, and this ghost... carries with him a load of big chains that weight down... his spirit, if you'll forgive the turn of phrase. He explains them as 'the chains he built in life... link by link, and yard by yard' — he says this as warning to a man who still lives, who he says has chains of his own that he can't see yet because he's still alive. These chains, you see... they are built upon by the misdeeds and inaction committed by the living, in this metaphor. It... it's made me think about the chains I've built in my own life... and what I could do to shake off as many of them as I can..."
Hirata looked back up and straightened up before leaning over the table to drop his voice, prompting Shinichi to lean forward expectantly himself as the prisoner continued. "The drug trafficking you and Mouri-san exposed on Tsukikage... it was only the tip of the iceberg. There's a lot bigger operation behind what you found that didn't suffer from those deaths and my imprisonment... and I think you deserve to know about it."
Before Shinichi could demand the prisoner to elaborate, the sound of glass breaking high and to the side of them heralded the arrival of a bullet driving through one side of Hirata's skull and out the other, causing Shinichi to drop under the table on reflex with a curse. As the smell of blood started to harass his nose, he smacked the panic button on the underside of the table and allowed himself a limited peek up at the window cracked by a bullet hole before a prison guard flung the door open and smashed the lockdown button upon seeing the sight in the room. Alarm bells rang throughout the facility while Shinichi forced himself a drink from his water bottle, hoping to stave off the hyperventilation he felt coming.
Ran exited the elevator into Division One to find Shinichi sitting on a chair in the hallway bent over with his wrists pressed against his temples, quite clearly staving off a panic attack. Instinctively, she rushed to his side and dropped to her knees in front of him before grabbing him into an awkward hug. After a moment of shock, Shinichi dropped his hands to his sides and rested his head on Ran's shoulder, but remained silent as the hug continued.
Talk to me, Shinichi...
As if reading her mind, Shinichi eventually complied. "Somehow, it's different when the bullet takes the life right in front of you..."
Ran bit back a wave of tears at the flat admission, determined to keep strong for the young man in her arms. "I... is there anything I can do for you?"
Shinichi remained silent for a few seconds before taking and letting out a deep breath. "I should be fine if you just let me smell your hair for a few more minutes."
Ran let out a mirthless laugh but nonetheless held the hug as Shinichi dug his head into her neck, yielding her to fight back a blush as she felt him inhaling through his nose. The position held long enough for her to lose track of the time — and long enough for most of the tension to leave her charge's body.
"Ano... I can come back later..."
Ran startled slightly at the sound of Takagi's voice but otherwise held still expectantly. To her surprise, Shinichi detached his head from her neck and started straightening up in his chair. As Ran withdrew her hug, Shinichi surreptitiously brought a hand up to grab one of Ran's receding hands and gave it a small squeeze as he arrived at an upright position.
The teen detective let out another calming exhale before addressing Takagi. "It's fine — what do you have?"
Takagi hesitated minutely before reading from the report in his hand. "Ma... we found the shell casing from the sniper bullet a couple hundred meters away from the prison interrogation room, but there were no fingerprints found on the casing, and the sniper left nothing else behind aside from the casing. The area from which he shot also has no security camera coverage, so we have no way to identify the sniper, unfortunately."
Shinichi closed his eyes in frustration. "Just our luck..."
"Can you tell us what Hirata-san wanted to talk with you about?"
Shinichi reopened his eyes and allowed himself another deep breath and squeeze of Ran's hand. "Eeto... it started out as just a remorse monologue... but then he started to tell me that the drug smuggling we exposed on Tsukikage during the Moonlight Sonata case was just a small portion of a much larger operation. He was about to tell me more about it when the sniper bullet took him."
Ran felt Shinichi's hand flinch slightly in her grasp, prompting her to give a squeeze of her own, which seemed to calm him sufficiently. Shinichi's gaze then turned to hers, and as they locked eyes Shinichi donned a small smile, which Ran returned after a pause.
Takagi seemed oblivious to the interaction. "You don't suppose this 'larger operation' is why a sniper took his life, do you?"
Shinichi raised an eyebrow sarcastically. "It would be decidedly odd if the two were not connected."
"But where do we even begin investigating something like that?"
Shinichi adopted a far-away look at the question, then after a couple of beats donned a determined look which made Ran's heart rise. "I know where we can start — and so does Sato-keiji."
Shinichi stifled the last bit of apprehension he held as he followed Sato into the bar, making their way straight toward the booth adjoining the opening to the bathroom area. Those occupying the booth registered the new presence at varying times, ending with the clear head of the table, who leaned back with a mocking smile.
"Ara, ara, if it isn't my favorite lady cop — who are you here to handcuff today? If it's me, I should tell you my safe word is 'jackfruit'."
Sato visibly bit back a sneer. "Cut the garbage — no one's getting arrested today, I'm just here to ask questions."
The drug boss donned a mockingly appreciative face. "Ma, that's a refreshing change of pace. What's the questioning for, then? Must be serious if you've dragged in two civilians as your backup."
Reflexively, Shinichi turned his head to look toward Sato's other flank at Ran, who donned a rather practiced blank look. Evidently feeling his gaze, she then turned to look at him and simply nodded, causing him to fight back the urge to smile.
Sato remained oblivious of the exchange. "We have a witness who is willing to testify to the fact that you ordered subordinates to stay away from Tsukikage Island. We want to ask you about that."
The drug boss lifted his chin appraisingly for a few moments, then appeared to have a mental breakthrough before he lifted a finger in Shinichi's direction. "I remember you now." The finger started to wag as a smile grew on the man's face. "You're that weird guy who ordered an iced coffee just to use our bathroom — almost didn't recognize you without that disguise. Wonderful bit of subterfuge that was, I guess." The man's smile turned in the direction of Sato. "I have to hand it to you, lady cop, I didn't think you could be that creative with civilian resources."
"Are you willing to talk Tsukikage or not?"
The drug boss pursed his lips in thought before leaning back. "I'll tell you what: I'll talk to you about Tsukikage... but we'll need something in exchange." Sato remained silent, leaving the man to elaborate after a pause. "A friend of ours is in a jail in Kanagawa — seems the cops there saw it fit to accuse him of bio-bombing one of their precincts. He didn't do it, of course, but that didn't seem to stop them from accusing him." The man leaned forward on the table. "See to it that he's released from custody, and we'll talk Tsukikage."
"No deal."
"Deal."
Sato snapped her head toward Shinichi at his interjection. "Kudo-kun, you can't —"
"You really think keeping a low-level drug runner in jail is worth letting a murderer go free?"
Sato silently kept her gaze drilled into an unrelenting Shinichi, allowing the drug boss to contribute to the exchange. "He's a smart kid, you should listen to him."
After Shinichi remained resolute under the focus of Sato's stare, the policewoman broke her gaze and appeared to swallow her pride. "OK, deal — now tell us about why Tsukikage is 'off-limits' to you."
The drug boss leaned back again and swept his gaze across his gathering of colleagues before hedging. "Hypothetically..." — out of the corner of his eye, Shinichi saw Sato roll her eyes — "... a drug ring on the mainland, upon hearing about the death of the mayor of Tsukikage who was known to be involved in a drug operation of his own, would see it fit to see if they could fill in the void left by his operation's being broken apart. Such a drug ring would be smart to try, you'd have to agree. Now... suppose a drug ring did such a thing, but received some major pushback when they did so. They probably lost some lives trying. Hypothetically, this ring would do well to try to find out the exact nature of the pushback — in fact, they probably did. But the ring likely couldn't get close enough to do so without losing more lives, for reasons they almost certainly were unable to determine. In the face of that, I think you'd agree a drug ring like that would want to cut their losses and see to it they don't lose any more."
Sato appeared to bite back some choice words before responding. "And would this drug ring have found a connection to the mainland in this pushback force?"
The drug boss shrugged. "If such a connection existed, I doubt the ring would have found it."
Out of the corner of his other eye, Shinichi noted one of the younger occupants of the booth turn to look directly at him. He returned his gaze, at which point the drug underling surreptitiously tilted his head toward the back area. Shinichi minutely nodded in response before returning his focus to the drug boss.
The drug boss appeared blissfully unaware of the exchange, opting for another shrug. "I wish I could be of more help, keiji-hime."
This time, Sato didn't bother hiding her sneer before turning around sharply. "Come on, you two, we're leaving."
Once the trio were outside, Ran let out a sigh. "I don't think I like him very much."
Sato let out a dry chuckle. "I don't blame you, they're a slimy bunch. That wasn't of much help..."
"I wouldn't call it a total loss yet."
Shinichi started for the back entrance to the bar, leaving the two women to catch up as he knocked a finger against the back door. The door cracked open immediately to herald a scrap of paper, which Shinichi took immediately before the door closed again.
Ran recovered first. "What was that?"
Shinichi read the note as he responded. "One of the younger members there caught my attention — they seemed not to care for their boss's dodging the question about a mainland connection and silently directed me to the back. Looks like they may be looking to score some points with their operation, though..."
Sato's patience broke. "What is it?"
Shinichi handed the note to Sato. "It's an address on Tsukikage — perhaps we ought to take a look."
Sato hung up the phone as Tsukikage started to come into view from their boat. "OK, get this: the address is for a private port of entry to the island. The ownership of the port is listed under a shell corporation, which itself is listed as a subsidiary of another shell corporation, which itself is owned by another shell corporation... Takagi hasn't been able to find a legitimate name attached to the port yet."
Ran nodded apprehensively. "Sounds like someone's trying to hide something, for sure..."
Shinichi turned his gaze away from the island toward Sato. "Should we just change our course to the port of entry directly?"
"The port is not too far from where we're already landing, and I think we'll want to keep our distance at landing to be safe."
"... That's fair..."
Shinichi's gaze returned toward the island, willing himself to swallow the painful memories associated to where he was about to land. He barely registered Ran coming up beside him and rubbing his back gently as the police boat docked on the island. Eventually, he tore his gaze away to allow himself to follow Sato off the boat toward their quarry.
As the trio approached the area surrounding the private port of entry, Sato held up an arm to stop the two teens. "Hold on... I don't like the look of this. Stay here and let me do a sweep of the port first." Only too happy to comply, Shinichi nodded and stood back with Ran as Sato approached the warehouse attached to the dock with her flashlight and pistol drawn.
As the policewoman began to inspect through the windows of the warehouse, Ran broke the silence. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"... Talk about what?"
"I can tell you're not entirely comfortable being here."
Shinichi dropped his gaze toward the ground. "You can hardly blame me..."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
Shinichi remained silent for a moment before relenting with a sigh. "'Arigato, chisana tantei'..."
"Eh?"
"That's... the code that was playing as the community center burned down around Asoh Seiji."
Ran's eyes widened. "I... what was she — he — thanking you for?"
Shinichi felt the rest of the day catch up to him at the question, causing him to pinch at his temples. "I... don't really know, to be honest..."
Before Ran could respond, Sato called out as she walked away from the warehouse. "Ne! No one's in there, looks like there are some papers we should —" Before Sato could finish her sentence, an explosion ripped through the warehouse behind her, throwing her forward onto the ground.
Shinichi didn't hesitate to run forward. "Keibu-ho!"
Shinichi barely registered Ran calling his name as he ran toward Sato, approaching her closely enough to determine she was unconscious but not bleeding. The heat of the flames from the warehouse proved overwhelming, however, causing Shinichi's approach to slow considerably as the memories came back in full force.
The flames forcefully outshining the streetlights... the smell of human flesh taking the brunt of the heat from the flames... the shouts of certain people urging others away from the flames...
Shinichi didn't hear Ran call his name again as he collapsed next to Sato and passed out, his mind unhelpfully playing an atonal mess of piano.
This feeling... is much too familiar...
Shinichi came to in stages, eventually arriving into consciousness enough to register being in a hospital bed. He let out a small groan as he tried to lift his head off the pillow.
A small gasp came from his bedside. "Shinichi! You're awake!"
At the sound of Ran's voice, Shinichi threw his eyes open, then directed his gaze toward the saline IV in his arm. "Did... did I..."
Ran thankfully took the hint in Shinichi's sheepishness. "Ie, you didn't."
Shinichi let out a sigh of relief before looking toward Ran to see his water bottle in her lap. He silently beckoned for the bottle with his other arm, then after Ran complied took a swig from the bottle without issue. His mind took a while to catch up with the situation he was in before realizing with a start the other beds in his room were empty.
"Where's Sato?!"
"She's in another room, she —"
Shinichi didn't wait for Ran to finish, instead ripping the IV out of his arm and dashing out of his bed into the hallway, ignoring Ran's calls for him behind him. His rush to find Sato immediately came to a stop as he saw Sato in the middle of a similar rush to find him, the two of them as a result staring at each other awkwardly in the hallway. Shinichi heard Ran behind him poorly bite back a snort at the sight.
Takagi came up from behind Sato with a laugh in his face. "Really, Sato-san! Don't scare me like that, the doctors are still checking if you have a concussion!"
"I'm fine, Takagi! I just —"
"Needed to see if he's alright, I know — and there he is! His concern is more justified than yours, you know..."
Before Sato could retort again, a nurse approached the two officers. "Ano... Sato-san, you need to come back to your bed." The nurse gently reached out a hand for Sato's shoulder which Sato violently shrugged off, but she nonetheless turned to go back with the nurse.
Takagi watched her walk away before turning back toward Shinichi and Ran, raising an eyebrow. "Your arm is bleeding."
"It's seen worse — what's the news from Division One?"
Takagi cast a nervous glance behind him before sighing. "The investigation has been officially closed."
"Haaah?! Why is it closed?!"
"Officially... a known contract sniper was found dead by suicide, and his gun matched the bullets used to kill Hirata-san."
"But that doesn't answer who contracted the sniper! And what about the warehouse fire?"
"Officially, the warehouse fire is being chalked up to a poorly timed gas leak."
"That's ridiculous — the explosion was clearly sound activated!"
"Be that as it may... my hands are tied." As he spoke, Takagi surreptitiously reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a bag of what appeared to be paper debris, then locked eyes with Shinichi as he handed the bag to him. "I'm sorry I cannot do more."
Reading what Takagi was asking with his eyes, Shinichi nodded furtively before the policeman walked away, silently wondering how far he was about to dig.
As Shinichi emptied the bag of debris onto his library desk, Ran shuffled on her feet. "Ne... why do you suppose the police closed the case so quickly?"
Shinichi sighed as he swept an eye over the mess on the desk. "Whoever is behind all of this probably has a mole high up in the police helping cover up their involvement."
"But... there aren't that many people above Megure-keibu in the TMPD! Shouldn't we warn keisatsu-cho-chokan about the possibility?"
Shinichi indicated the desk with a sweep of his arm. "Let's sift through what we have from the warehouse explosion first to see if we can narrow the suspect list down to one."
With that pronouncement, Shinichi began shuffling pieces of paper around in an attempt to match pieces together. After a brief hesitancy, Ran followed suit. The process dragged on for quite some time — interspersed with moments of Shinichi pausing to take a swig from his water bottle — before Shinichi paused in earnest at a group of pieces.
Ran looked up from her own work. "What is it?"
"It's part of a typewritten letter... there's something bugging me about it..."
After a couple of beats ostensibly reviewing his mental catalog, Shinichi opened one of the desk drawers and pulled out a stack of newspapers familiar to Ran. Shinichi sifted through the stack then pulled out a page and placed it next to the partial letter — then stood back with his back starched.
"This letter was written on the same typewriter as the ransom note for Ana Simpson."
Ran blanched. "I... how can you tell?"
Shinichi held out two fingers toward the exhibits. "Both letters have the same deformity in the Romanji lowercase 'a' indicating the typewriter key has a slight defect. There's also a similar slant in the lowercase 'l' in both."
"So whoever had Hirata-san shot is also behind the Simpson kidnapping?"
"It would appear so... makes me wonder if money was all they were after from the senator..."
"Can you tell who sent the letter?"
"I haven't found all of the letter yet, but I'll keep looking." The two resumed sifting through the debris to find pieces of evidence to reassemble (or reassemble further).
Several minutes later, Ran found herself inspecting another partial assembly. "Shinichi... I think I have something. It's a number with what looks like a barcode..."
Shinichi looked over toward Ran, then perked up at what she had. "It's a bank routing number."
"Should we have Takagi-keiji run the number?"
Shinichi looked up at Ran with a startle, then looked away apprehensively. "I... don't know if we want Takagi on record having looked the number up. We don't know who might be watching."
Ran frowned. "Then how are we supposed to put a name to this?"
"... There may be a way..."
Shinichi opened another desk drawer and pulled out a check — much to Ran's confusion. "... Why do you have a check?"
"Tana-san sent me a check after we had left Hokkaido — I haven't cashed it, though, didn't seem worth it."
"Why are you pulling it out now, though?"
Shinichi carefully took the routing number partial from Ran and placed it on top of the routing number on the check, then took out his phone. "My banking app allows for cashing checks by taking pictures of the check. One of the things it does during the process is to provide the name on the account of the routing number on the check as part of the verification process. I don't know if this will work, but... if we can get it to take a picture of the routing number —"
"Then we could have the name behind that routing number!"
Shinichi nodded absentmindedly as he hovered his camera over the check. Eventually his phone complied, and he inspected his phone afterward — only to freeze at the name on the screen.
Ran felt discomforted by the pause. "What is it?"
"... The mole isn't in the police." Shinichi dropped the phone on the desk and pinched his eyes. "It's above the police."
Ran leaned forward to read Shinichi's phone. "... Warabi Yokubo?" After a moment to recall the name, Ran gasped. "I... isn't he —"
"A Councillor on the National Diet? Ee, he is."
"That's... but that would mean —"
Before Ran could finish her thought, Shinichi pointedly picked up his phone again, swept his check back into its drawer, then took pictures of the routing number and the typewritten letters before furiously texting away. After a solid half-minute to finish, he put his phone away then proceeded to wipe all the paper debris back into the bag from which it originated.
Ran didn't bother hiding her confusion. "Er... what are you doing?"
"I've alerted the proper authorities about what we found and am handing it off to them."
Huh? "I... you mean we aren't going to —"
Shinichi sealed the bag and threw it in the same drawer as the Simpson papers before pointedly letting out a deep breath. "The sooner we hand over the investigation the better. If this really goes as high as it seems... then I'd rather leave it to the professionals before I get in too deep... again."
Left speechless, Ran simply stared at Shinichi with a mixture of admiration for his maturity and worry over his ability to leave a case unsolved. Before she could verbalize anything, however, Shinichi walked out of the library, leaving her alone with her thoughts on how far he had come — and how much further he had to go.
Notes:
And the shit-mopping duties commence! (Or do they?)
Also, before I get any comments on the subject: I am a vegetarian, you do not need to convince me of the evils of red meat. Even so, it still seems like a hyper-fixation for some doctors...
Chapter 17: Interlude
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Ran arrived in the kitchen in time to hear the toaster go off, after which Shinichi pulled out a couple of pieces of toast and made to sit down with his cup of coffee and a newspaper. Ran stood nonplussed in the doorway for a moment before deciding to take initiative.
"Is that all you're having?"
Shinichi looked up briefly to register Ran's presence before looking back down at the newspaper. "Ee."
"You should be having a proper breakfast, Shinichi!"
"I'm not going out anytime today, why bother eating as if I will?"
"Shiho tells me you need to eat more, full stop — you are having a proper breakfast this morning."
With that pronouncement, Ran fully entered the kitchen and began to cook a proper meal for the two of them. Not too long later, Ran placed a full plate of food in front of Shinichi, who tore his focus away from the newspaper long enough to mutter a thanks before picking up a fork.
The two ate in silence for a while before Ran couldn't stand the silence anymore. "So... what plans do you have for today, if you're not going out?"
Shinichi shrugged minutely. "Not much — tou-san sent me a draft of his next book to read, so I'll probably be spending most of the day reading."
"Ma... if there's anything you want to do together today... just let me know."
If Shinichi picked up on any of the undertones in Ran's offering, he showed no indications, instead nodding absentmindedly, much to Ran's silent consternation. Is it too early to need a cold shower?
Unable to sit still due to the unexpected excess of energy, Shinichi found himself in the mansion's gym whacking at a punching bag, having changed into sweatpants and an undershirt beforehand. His hands started to burn a little at the exercise, but he kept pushing through the pain, intent on draining himself.
"You're doing it wrong."
Shinichi froze mid-punch and turned toward Ran's voice in the doorway. Ran, herself also having changed into sweatpants and undershirt at some point, started walking into the room and beckoned Shinichi toward the sparring mat.
Shinichi remained frozen in place, simply raising an eyebrow. "Doing what wrong?"
"Your punching stance — you're leaving a lot of power on the table and vulnerabilities open."
Shinichi reluctantly started sauntering onto the sparring mat. "What does it matter? I was just —"
"It matters a great deal, Shinichi. Here, let me show you — take a swing at me."
"... I beg your pardon?"
"Take a swing at me."
Aside from a hand beckoning the invitation to attack which immediately dropped afterward, nothing about Ran's stance changed from what Shinichi could only see as a standard standing pose. Still unsure what the point of the exercise was, Shinichi shrugged then dropped into a stance before taking an exploratory swing at Ran.
A few seconds later, Shinichi found himself being dropped roughly onto his back, the events leading up to it having not registered with his consciousness. He came to to find Ran on top of him with one fist paused at his chin, another first pulled back, a screwy grin on her face, and... her body on her knees straddling his flat form.
Shinichi fought back a full-body blush with a throat-clearing as he extricated himself from the position. "I'll keep that in mind, thanks..."
His nerves a little on edge, Shinichi immediately made his way back to the punching bag and resumed his exercise on the equipment, pointedly keeping his back to Ran, who thankfully didn't say another word.
"How much longer until you're comfortable with the idea of us having sex?"
Shinichi involuntarily did a spit take of toothpaste suds into the sink and coughed a few times before looking up sheepishly toward Ran leaning against the bathroom doorway. "I... I, er... I, er, di— I, I didn't... I didn't think you'd be ready."
Ran raised an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't I be ready?"
To Ran's bemusement, Shinichi was unable to maintain eye contact with her. "Ma... y-you know... you know how I, er... how I've already seen you naked?"
"I've seen you naked, too."
"... Not as myself, you haven't."
"... Oh."
Shinichi's apparent obliviousness-turned-embarrassment throughout the day finally made sense to Ran, giving her pause as Shinichi hung his head limply over the sink. Determined to work through the block, Ran brought herself out of her lean and started sauntering toward Shinichi.
"Ma... it's true that if I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have done what I did. But... that's in the past — there's nothing we can do about that. As for your supposed 'one-sided' issue..." Ran flicked at the elastic of Shinichi's pajama bottoms. "There's only one way to fix that."
Ran immediately turned around and started sauntering out of the bathroom, but stopped in the doorway at the sound of Shinichi's voice. "Matsu." Ran turned around before Shinichi put words to his deer-in-the-headlights look. "I... I don't have any condoms."
After a brief shocked pause, Ran simply smiled at Shinichi's concern. "I'm already wearing one."
With that announcement, Ran turned back around and left the bathroom. As she made her way down the hallway toward Shinichi's bedroom, she could have sworn she heard the toothbrush she left behind brushing faster.
Notes:
If you're looking for smut, you've come to the wrong author.
NEXT KUDO HINT: prologue
Chapter 18: Most Miraculous Organ
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Shinichi knocked on the door frame and let himself into the open dressing room. "I came by to wish you good luck."
"Arigato —"
"Not that you'll need the luck, of course, given how thoroughly you prepared for the role."
Ran tilted her head and flash a screwy grin at Shinichi via the mirror, but didn't respond verbally, instead stopping the motions of her makeup brush as the backstage intercom came to life. "Two minutes to curtain — Claudius to stage right, please, Claudius to stage right."
Shinichi made his way into the chair nearest to Ran. "Here's hoping all those preparations were worth it, ne?"
"I assure you, they were. Ara?"
Shinichi raised an eyebrow at Ran's perking up at the mirror. "What is it?"
"The call for Claudius — I just saw the understudy for the role walk by in full costume."
Shinichi raised his other eyebrow before standing back up and moving over to look down the hallway. Recognizing from rehearsals that the man was indeed the understudy, he decided to go the opposite direction and approach the director, who sat in front of a CCTV screen.
"Ano, sumimasen — I noticed Warashi-san responded to the call for Claudius. What happened to Meisiko-san?"
The director looked up at Shinichi then shrugged her shoulders. "Who knows? Hiru-kun wasn't here at call time and hasn't shown up since, I had to make a call."
"... OK."
The intercom came to life again. "One minute to curtain — places, please."
Deciding not to let the actor's absence distract him, Shinichi shook his head and made his way to the best view backstage to watch.
"At last, a little shaking of mine arm / And thrice his head thus waving up and down, / He raised a sigh so piteous and profound / As it did seem to shatter all his bulk / And end his being."
Her command of English has improved greatly over the past several months...
Shinichi smiled as Ran's line continued while he watched from the wings of the stage. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a familiar motion in the house, which he soon recognized as being the Detective Boys in attendance for the play. Good to know I'm not the only one supporting her...
"She's really something, isn't she?"
Shinichi startled slightly at the voice next to him before registering it as the voice of the company's Hamlet, whose name escaped Shinichi in the moment. "Ee, she really is."
"You're Kudo, right?"
"Hai, I am."
The actor leaned toward Shinichi nervously. "Listen, about the play-within-a-play scene — I just want to state for the record that the staging was the director's idea, not mine, so... bear that in mind."
"... What are you talking about?"
"... She didn't tell you?"
Shinichi dropped an eyebrow. "Who didn't tell me what?"
The actor remained sheepishly nonplussed for a moment before laughing the awkwardness off. "I'm sure it's nothing! Oh, I forgot my book!"
Thus saying, the actor quickly made himself scarce to navigate to the prop room, leaving Shinichi to stare at his wake as Ran and the company's Polonius exited the stage by him. Shinichi soon followed Ran to her dressing room at a sauntering pace, arriving as she brushed the enforced bed-head out of her hair.
A little suspicious of recent events, he leaned against the doorframe with a lightly raised eyebrow. "Ne, Ran — your Hamlet seemed to think it necessary to apologize to me regarding the staging of the play-within-a-play scene. Do you know what that's about?"
A slight pause in the brushing of her hair betrayed Ran, but she held steadfast. "Ie, I don't."
Shinichi pursed his lips in doubt. "Are you sure?"
Ran finished brushing and stood to face Shinichi with a screwy smile. "You worry over nothing, my dear friend."
Shinichi's brain short-circuited briefly before he narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "... There's a reason you said that in English."
"Perhaps — now, if you'll excuse me, I need to change my costume, so please close the door."
Shinichi allowed himself a little longer to think on the exchange before deciding not to test Ran's patience, closing the door with him on the other side. The sound of Claudius speaking onstage over the intercom reminded him of something to distract him, leading him to go approach the director again.
"Ne, has anyone heard from Meisiko-san yet?"
The director shrugged again. "Ie, he's not answering his phone or anything. Warashi-san is doing well in his absence, though, so I'm not worrying about it too much."
"I could go to his apartment to see if he's there, if you want?"
"... Knock yourself out." The director's indifference notwithstanding, Shinichi took the self-applied invitation to heart and started making for the backstage exit — only to be interrupted by the door opening from the outside.
At the sight of whom the door heralded, Shinichi let out a loud groan. "You have to be kidding me."
Chiba became nonplussed. "Kudo-kun?"
"Meisiko-san is dead, isn't he?"
"... How did you know?"
"He didn't show up at call time, so his understudy has been taking his place onstage."
"... Ma... ee, Meisiko Hiru-san is dead — a neighbor in his apartment building saw someone suspicious leaving his apartment and called it in, we found the body as a result. He died from cyanide poisoning, delivered via a glass of water — there were two glasses by the sink, only one of them tested positive."
"He let the killer in and the killer poisoned the water poured for him."
"Ee — we're still waiting for fingerprint tests from the water glasses, and the neighbor never clearly saw the suspicious person's face, so I came here to ask questions of his cast-mates."
As Chiba talked, an idea occurred to Shinichi that he found difficult to disabuse himself of — and which he decided to ask on. "Ne... do you think you can act like you're here just to support Ran rather than as a police officer?"
"... Ee, I could — why?"
"I have a suspect for the murder, and I think I know of a way to reveal him. You'll have to make sure not to tip him off beforehand, though."
"Reveal him, how?"
Shinichi allowed himself a smile. "By taking a cue from Holmes and setting a fire, of sorts."
As if on cue, the intercom delivered a heavy-handed button to Shinichi's plans. "For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak / With most miraculous organ."
"I can't understand a word they're saying, but I'm liking the play so far!"
"Ee — their stage presence is definitely captivating, you could say."
"I especially like how beautiful Ran-neechan looks!"
"Well, is this quite the trio gathered here..."
The Detective Boys startled briefly at the new voice before donning wide smiles. "Shinichi-niichan!"
As Ayumi ran forward and threw her arms around a crouched Shinichi's neck, Mitsuhiko sauntered up. "We were just talking about how well Ran-neesan is doing with the play."
"Ma, you're welcome to come backstage and tell her yourself."
"Hontoni?!"
"Mochiron! In fact — while you're there, you can help me solve a murder."
The Detective Boys were officially intrigued.
Rushed slightly by the knocking on her dressing room door, Ran put the finishing touches on her appearance for her next scene before getting up and making to answer the door. Once she opened the door, she was met with a barrage of high voices.
"Ran-neechan!"
Ran startled and looked down to see the Detective Boys at her feet. "Oh! I didn't know you guys were here!"
Shinichi jogged up behind the kids. "I saw they were in the house earlier and invited them backstage."
Ran raised a skeptical eyebrow. "All just to see me?"
Shinichi let out a nervous laugh, but was interrupted by the stage manager over the backstage intercom before he could respond in full. "Places, please, for the top of act three: Claudius, Gertrude, Polonius, Ophelia, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern to the stage, Hamlet to stage left, please — Claudius, Gertrude, Polonius, Ophelia, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern to the stage, Hamlet to stage left."
Shinichi looked behind him briefly before facing Ran again. "No time to explain, just... be prepared for something to happen during the play-within-a-play. You should probably relay that to your Hamlet as well."
"Why?"
"You've been called."
Shinichi turned around and appeared to make for one of the other dressing rooms, leaving Ran to stare at his wake before giving up and making her way to the stage — the Detective Boys trailing behind her, uncharacteristically silent.
"Suit the action to the word, the word to the action, with this special observance, that you o'erstep not the modesty of nature."
As Hamlet spoke on stage, Shinichi noted the rest of the scene's cast gathering stage right and therefore quietly directed the Detective Boys to stage left. "Over here! Now — you see this line of tape on the floor?"
"Uhn!"
"Do not go past that line of tape — if you do, you'll be seen by people in the house. Our goal is only to be seen by those onstage, wakarimasu ka?"
"Wakarimashita!"
"OK — let's go over our roles..."
As the quartet reviewed their material for the evening, the scene played out onstage. Eventually, Shinichi found himself distracted by Ran's entrance as Ophelia into the scene.
Soon enough, Hamlet approached the now-seated Ophelia. "Lady, shall I lie in your lap?"
"No, my lord."
Hamlet dropped to sit on the ground in front of Ophelia. "I mean, my head upon your lap?"
"Ay, my lord."
"Do you think I meant country matters?"
"I think nothing, my lord."
Hamlet donned a screwy smile. "That's a fair thought to lie between maids' legs."
"What is, my lord?"
"Nothing!" In so saying, Hamlet from a seated position immediately leaned his head back directly into Ran's crotch, shimmying his head slightly in a move that was clearly being played (successfully) for laughs.
Shinichi felt an eyebrow twitch involuntarily. 'I worry over nothing' — I see what you did there...
Shinichi forced himself to snap out of it and redirected his attention back to the Detective Boys. "You all know your cue?"
"Uhn!"
Shinichi nodded tersely in response and left the proceedings to prepare for an even bigger role.
Uncertainty over Shinichi's scheming led Ran to don an even more stoic façade than directed of her for the play-within-a-play scene — which was just as well, giving Hamlet's staging. As the scene continued, Ran's thoughts simply whirred even more on what could possibly be happening soon.
"Thoughts black, hand apt, drugs fit, and time agreeing, / Confederate season, else no creature seeing..."
As the play's murderer began his line, Ran registered the presence of the Detective Boys to the side offstage. In tandem with the play-murderer's actions, Ayumi enthusiastically walked arm-in-arm with a crowned Mitsuhiko into the full-view of everyone onstage — without being visible to the house, Ran noted. The action was followed by Ayumi exiting the scene and Genta entering with two glasses and handing one of the glasses to Mitsuhiko with a disingenuous smile. The two boys then faked drinking from their glasses, after which Mitsuhiko started pretending to choke violently on its contents to the evident pleasure of Genta, who followed up with taking the crown from the former's head.
The sound of Claudius standing violently behind her caught Ran's attention, having come a few seconds early and therefore interrupting Hamlet's ongoing line. As Hamlet trailed off the remainder of his line, everyone on stage simply stared at the king for a few seconds before Ran's thoughts came in order.
Oh... wow, alright then...
"The King rises."
Hamlet thankfully took his Ophelia's cue. "What, frighted with false fire?"
The ruckus from the royal box continued. "How fares my lord?"
"Give o'er the play."
Claudius violently swept his arms wide and high. "Give me some light! Away!"
In so saying, Claudius stomped offstage as Polonius called for lights before everyone onstage save for Hamlet and Horatio exited behind the king — Ran decidedly curious of what was to come next for their king.
Warashi burst into his dressing room and immediately threw open the door to the cabinet in which he stashed his jacket. In a panic, he tore open the zipper to one of its front pockets, then in a mixture of relief and confusion pulled out the vial of cyanide he kept on his person.
"Thus hath we caught the conscience of the king."
Warashi spun around in place to face the voice, only to be confronted by someone in an exact replica of his costume, save for the wearer being somewhat skinnier. What the...
Before Warashi could voice his confusion, a stocky man flashed a badge behind the imposter. "We were able to lift your prints from your dressing room chair — they came up as a match for the prints on the poisoned glass of water used to kill Meisiko Hiru-san."
The costumed interloper plucked the poison vial from Warashi's hand. "I trust you're not about to use this again?"
Warashi's shoulders deflated as the police officer pulled out his cuffs and approached him. "Warashi Jogi-san, you're under arrest for the murder of Meisiko Hiru-san."
As the officer cuffed the actor, the backstage intercom came to life again. "Claudius to stage left, please, Claudius to stage left."
"That's my cue!"
The officer turned to the interloper. "Eh? What do you mean?"
"The understudy has no understudy himself."
The interloper left to answer the call, leaving the officer and actor staring in confusion at his wake.
"I like him not, nor stands it safe with us / To let his madness range. Therefore prepare you."
The sound of the next scene beginning over the backstage speakers confused Ran as she changed between costumes. The voice she heard, to her understanding, was that of Shinichi's suspect for a murder, if her interpretation of the Detective Boys' act was correct. Once she finished with her costume change, she decided to risk a look at the stage from one of the backstage wings, to which she arrived as Polonius exited the stage, leaving Claudius alone for his soliloquy.
Ran stared incredulously at the sight — the costume was overdone to change the wearer's apparent build, but she could tell the man wearing the costume was Shinichi. The teen detective also went as far as to don a voice changer to maintain the continuity further. Ran briefly looked back toward the dressing rooms to see Chiba escorting away the previous possessor of the role of Claudius before turning back her attention to the one on-stage.
Shinichi punctuated his silence with a sorrowful pinch between his eyes before beginning the soliloquy. "O, my offense is rank, it smells to heaven; / It hath the primal eldest curse upon 't..."
Ran remained frozen on the sidelines as the soliloquy continued, wondrous of Shinichi's ability to fill a role so wholeheartedly on such short notice.
Notes:
Another piece of self-indulgent language porn — and also another showcase of Shinichi's penchant for dramatics. At least this time he didn't go for a kiss...
NEXT KUDO HINT: belt
Chapter 19: Rags to Riches to Dust
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The same evening
Shinichi did his best not to appear to be chafing at the setting of the afterparty as he stood next to Ran receiving verbal accolades from everyone who passed her. Eventually, the arrival of another familiar face prompted Shinichi to relax a little.
"You were amazing, Ran!"
"Thank you, Sonoko!"
"I have to say, I'm surprised that bit of staging during the play made it past Shinichi-kun here."
Shinichi closed his eyes briefly as Ran giggled before donning a soft smile. "The Hamlet told me about it before it happened and didn't find any enjoyment in it, so I let it pass."
Sonoko flashed a doubtful grin. "Suuuure, you did — ah, ne! There's someone I want you two to meet!" Sonoko briefly inserted herself back into the crowd before coming back with a young woman a few years older than her. "Okuri-chan, this is Mouri Ran and Kudo Shinichi-kun. Ran, Shinichi-kun — this is Uinanto Okuri-chan."
Shinichi raised an eyebrow. "Uinanto... any relation to the inventor Uinanto Kuraido?"
Okuri nodded tentatively. "He's my father."
Shinichi's other eyebrow raised as he held out his hand. "It's an honor to meet you." Shinichi turned his head to address Ran as he shook hands with Okuri. "Uinanto Kuraido is an old friend of hakase's — they used to have something of a friendly rivalry out of university before Uinanto-san managed to hit it big with one of his inventions. Something to do with magnets generating electricity at scale..." Shinichi turned back to Okuri. "How is your father these days? I'm sure hakase would love to see him."
Okuri dipped her head slightly. "That's... actually what I wanted to talk to you about. He's been missing for three months."
Shinichi dropped an eyebrow. "... And why haven't the police known about it in that time?"
"Ma... he does this thing every once in a while where he goes off to some secret location to work on whatever special project he's pursuing without anyone seeing or knowing. He did the same thing three months ago... but he promised me he'd be back by now — and he's not one to forget a promise to me."
Shinichi began searching his memory. "Have you tried talking to his lawyer? What was his name again..."
"Soshi-san?"
"Soshi Hikaru-san, that's right — have you tried seeing if he knows where to find your father?"
"I... I can try calling him, I suppose. Excuse me..."
Okuri took her leave of the gathering as she pulled out her phone, leaving Sonoko to bring a hand to her mouth as if to whisper. "She's getting married in two weeks — she has enough stress on her plate without her father's not being here as well."
Ran let out a moue of sympathy. "I can imagine..."
"I'd better go make sure she's doing alright."
With that, Sonoko left the two of them to their silent quasi-reverie. Before long, Shinichi sensed Ran holding up an eyebrow in his direction — to which he responded with a raised eyebrow of his own.
Ran rolled her eyes. "Are you going to make me ask how you knew about his lawyer?"
Shinichi tilted his head up in understanding. "Tou-san helped Uinanto-san with a spot of trouble once before I was born, something about another inventor claiming Uinanto-san stole his work. Most of the time, tou-san interacted with Uinanto-san through Soshi-san — tou-san described him as something of a shrewd person..."
"Your memory can be quite something sometimes, you know?"
Shinichi let the compliment bounce off of him as his focus shifted back to Ran fully. "Sonoko was right, by the way — you were amazing in your role."
Ran donned an unreadable smile. "Thank you..."
"I'd say your performance calls for celebration, don't you?"
"I still have two performances left, you know."
"... Ma, ee, but you have rest days in between —"
"Doesn't matter."
Shinichi huffed in frustration.
Two days later
"Kudo Shinichi?"
Shinichi jumped at the voice as he exited the bathroom, but turned to it nonetheless. "Hai?"
"I'm Soshi Hikaru — I was hoping to talk with you in private?"
Anything to delay returning to the afterparty... "Uhn — nice to finally meet you, Soshi-san."
"I was wondering if you've heard from Doko-san recently."
"... Doko-san?"
"Mimi — she took the surname of her new husband after divorcing Kuraido."
"I was unaware Kuraido-sensei ever divorced."
"So Doko-san hasn't approached you?"
"Okuri-san is the only person to approach me about Kuraido-sensei. Do you not know where he is, either?"
"I'm afraid not — he left three months ago for another one of his secret projects, locked up his usual workshop completely. He wouldn't even tell me where he was going for it, just left instructions to send money through his secretary Okami-san if he requested it."
"And Okami-san is as reticent as Kuraido-sensei himself, I take it?"
"... She and I weren't on very good terms to begin with."
The conversation was interrupted by Soshi's phone buzzing, which he pulled out of his pocket to view the caller ID. "Oh — that's my secretary, I'd better take this." Soshi answered the call. "Moshi moshi? ... Hai? ... Really? ... OK — I'll be there." Soshi hung up the call and turned back toward Shinichi. "Kuraido is in town — he's asked to meet me at Haido Park. I suppose that's one fewer thing to worry about now."
"I'm glad to hear it."
"Sorry to bother you about it, Kudo-kun."
"No worries — let Kuraido-sensei know Agasa Hiroshi sends his regards when you see him."
Soshi paused minutely at the name drop before replying with a tentative smile. "I'll do that."
As Soshi walked away, Shinichi let out a relaxing breath as he prepared himself for returning to the afterparty. Eventually, he reentered the large room, and to his muted relief found Ran and Okuri already talking with each other. That's one fewer trip to make...
Shinichi approached the two women. "Okuri-san — I was just talking with Soshi-san."
Okuri didn't bother hiding her surprise. "You were? What did he say?"
"He got a call from his secretary as we spoke — seems Kuraido-sensei arranged to meet with him at Haido Park this evening. Your father is alive and well."
Okuri let out a sigh of relief. "That's good to hear."
"What's that?!" The trio jumped at the sound of the interloping voice, whose owner approached the group. "You know when Kuraido-kun is?"
Shinichi deliberately released the tension in his shoulders. "Doko Mimi-san, I presume?"
"You said he's alive and well! Do you know where he is? I have to see him!"
Shinichi held up a placating hand. "I don't know where exactly he is, just that he called his lawyer to meet with him this evening."
Mimi let out a frustrated huff then promptly turned around and stomped away, leaving Okuri to sigh in her wake. "Sorry about ka-san — even before my engagement, she's been a little high-strung."
Ran let out another moue of sympathy. "I can see why you're so keen on your father's return..."
Okuri nodded tentatively. "I'd better go make sure ka-san isn't verbally assaulting someone else."
With that dismissal, Okuri took her leave of the conversation, prompting Shinichi to turn to Ran. "Fantastic performance once again, Ran —"
"Ie."
"... What do you mean, 'ie'?"
"I know what you're about to ask, the answer is still ie."
Shinichi once again huffed in frustration.
Two nights later
"How did I ever agree to this?"
"Your place is closer to campus than Sonoko's."
"That still doesn't explain why I agreed."
"The crew needed the afterparty off-campus so they could strike the set without interference, your place was the logical choice."
"... That better have been the only reason."
Ran shot a sarcastic smile toward an uncharacteristically twitchy Shinichi before inspecting the crowd in the Kudo manor. "Hmm... I don't see Okuri-chan here like the last two times. I wonder where she is?"
"She's probably not here for the same reason I don't want anyone else here."
"Really, Shinichi, you could learn to be a bit more patient."
"I'd be more patient if my time weren't being deliberately wasted."
"You worry over —"
"Nothing, hai, hai, no need to hit me over the head with that damn pun again."
Before Ran could tease further, Shinichi's phone started buzzing in his pocket — and went resolutely ignored. "... Shinichi?"
"Hai?"
"Your phone is ringing."
"Hai, it is."
"... Aren't you going to answer it?"
"Ie."
"Why not?"
The phone stopped buzzing. "If it's important they'll leave a message."
After a short silence between the two teens, the phone started buzzing again. "If it's really important, then they'd try calling you multiple times, ie?"
"It can wait until morning."
"How can you be sure of that without answering?"
"Because they haven't left a message."
The phone fell silent again, but only a few seconds passed before Ran's phone buzzed twice in her pocket. As Shinichi continued to bounce his leg impatiently, Ran pulled her phone out to look at the text she received.
"It's Shiratori-keibu..." Ran opened the text to read its contents. "He's asking why you're not answering your phone."
"I'll answer that in the morning."
Ran huffed, but then paused as more texts came in. "Shinichi... Uinanto-san's secretary has been found dead in her apartment."
The last text was accompanied by a photo of the crime scene, so Ran turned her phone to show the photo to Shinichi. Shinichi glanced at the photo momentarily before looking away with a twitch of his head.
Ran couldn't hold back her confusion. "Aren't you going to take the case?"
"I will in the morning."
"But Shiratori-keibu is asking for you now!"
"It can wait until the morning, I'm sure they'll have the crime scene well-documented."
Ran huffed again. "I'm going to call Shiratori-keibu back myself."
Thus saying, Ran followed through on her threat and dialed Shiratori's number. As she put the phone to her ear, however, she discovered Shinichi having made himself scarce in the meantime, much to her consternation.
"What are you doing here?"
Shinichi snapped his head sheepishly in Shiho's direction as she emerged from Agasa's basement. "I... er..."
Shiho arched an eyebrow. "Are you hiding from someone?"
Shinichi rolled back his head. "I'm hiding out from the afterparty."
"... Afterparty?"
"Ran's production of Hamlet had its closing night tonight, and the afterparty is at my place."
"Why is the afterparty at your place?"
"I've been asking myself that all night."
"Ma... surely you're able to bear it as long as you're next to M— Ran, ie?"
"I'm fairly certain she's the reason why the afterparty is at my place."
"... And why is that?"
Shinichi brought his head back upright. "She's been withholding sex from me."
Shiho went dot-eyed. "Eh?"
"We started having sex over the break — on her instigation, I should note. Then when she landed the role of Ophelia, she insisted that we had to pause on sex for the duration of the production because it would help her maintain the virginal image of her character. She basically went full-on 'method' on me... which, now that I say that out loud, I have to wonder if ka-san is involved in her scheme."
Shiho remained a little red-faced but seemed to recover well enough. "You do realize how crazy that sounds, ne?"
"My relative sense of crazy is completely wrecked at this point in my life."
"Ma... you know you won't be able to hide here forever. She'll know to come looking for you here." A knock on the front door punctuated Shiho's assertion. "Case in point..."
Shinichi rolled his eyes and got up to answer the door, only to be surprised by the front step's occupant. "Okuri-san!"
Okuri kept her head down, presumably attempting to hide tears she had wiped away. "May I come in?"
"... Mochiron..."
Okuri stepped inside after Shinichi opened the door fully for her, then paused at the sight of Shiho before turning back to Shinichi. "I need to talk to you... in private."
Shinichi briefly paused blankly at the request, then turned to Shiho — who seemed to take the hint. "I'll make myself scarce."
With that pronouncement, Shiho retreated back downstairs, leaving Shinichi momentarily staring in her wake in thought. Eventually, he snapped out of his reverie and turned back to Okuri — who had pulled out a gun and pointed it at Shinichi in the meantime.
After a moment frozen in apprehension, Shinichi took in and let out a deep breath as he slowly put his hands in his pockets. "Are you here to confess?"
"I am — I killed Okami Sora. I hated her for what she did to ka-san and her marriage... so I shot her."
"How many times?"
"... Once or twice..."
"Where?"
"In her bedroom —"
"Where on her body?"
Okuri pointed to her chest with her free hand. "Right here, in the chest..."
"How did her body fall?"
"She... fell over on her back."
"Did she scream as she fell?"
"Hai, she did."
Shinichi took in and let out another breath. "Whom are you protecting?"
Okuri donned a crumbling look of concern. "I'm not protecting anyone, I did it."
"Okami-san was shot four times in the back and fell on her face, she couldn't have screamed because she would have died instantly." Shinichi held out a hand palm-up. "Now give me the gun."
Okuri simply stared at his hand. "And why would I do that now?"
"Because you and I both know that gun is a toy."
Okuri stood her ground for a little longer before her resolve broke and she quietly placed the gun in Shinichi's hand. Shinichi moved to place the gun on the counter next to him, but was stopped when Okuri suddenly enveloped him in a bone-crushing hug and started crying into his shoulder, leaving his hands awkwardly hanging out as he froze in indecision.
As if on cue, the front door opened again, this time heralding Ran's arrival. Ran raised an eyebrow at the sight — Shinichi responded by beckoning her closer with his free hand. Ran responded by walking up to Shinichi's other hand and taking the toy gun for herself.
Okuri startled at the sound and immediately broke the hug before allowing herself a calming breath. "Oh, Mouri-chan!"
"I should warn you, hugging Shinichi can be habit forming."
... Read the room, woman. "Ran, Okuri-san came here to confess to Okami Sora-san's murder."
"And she attempted to confess with a toy gun, why?"
"I'm waiting for her to explain that herself."
Okuri wiped tears from her eyes unsuccessfully. "Please, you have to understand, tou-san is innocent!"
Shinichi and Ran exchanged a look before Shinichi responded. "And what makes you think Kuraido-sensei is a suspect?"
"Ka-san was the one who found the body and called the police, she told me not to say anything to anyone."
"What makes her think Kuraido-sensei is a suspect, then?"
"I don't know, she wouldn't say... you have to help him!"
"Okuri-san, I —"
Before Shinichi could finish his thought, the front door swung open again to welcome in Doko Mimi, who beelined straight for her daughter. "What are you doing here? What did you tell them?"
"I didn't —"
Mimi interrupted her daughter with a slap across her face, to which Ran responded by pulling Okuri away from her. "Oi!"
Shinichi held out a pacifying hand toward Mimi, silently grateful that Ran had made the toy gun scarce before her entrance. "She didn't say anything to us, Doko-san."
Mimi donned a wide-eyed look before shaking her head quickly and plastering on a smile. "Ah! Gomen'nasai, I just get carried away sometimes! Come, Okuri, let's head home."
As Mimi grabbed Okuri's wrist, Ran held out a hand of her own. "Okuri-chan, you're welcome to stay with us for the night if you want."
Shinichi felt his eyebrow twitch. She is not —
Much to Shinichi's relief, Mimi shut down the invitation. "Nonsense, she already has a home! Come on, Okuri."
After mother pulled daughter out of the house and closed the door behind them, Shinichi let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. "Did you have to invite Okuri-san in for the night like that?"
Ran furrowed her brow in concern. "I didn't like how her mother was treating her, I wanted to offer her an alternative."
"I'm having enough trouble with all the people who are already in my house."
Ran donned a screwy smile. "The host, he doth protest too much, methinks."
"You and I both know this afterparty can't end soon enough."
"Daijoubu, Shinichi — an hour from now, we'll have the place to ourselves again."
As Ran turned to leave, Shinichi grabbed her wrist to stop her and forced her to face him again. "Ran, if this afterparty lasts longer than the hour you just promised me, I swear to you, I will come back over here, march downstairs, and make a woman out of Shiho."
Ran recoiled her head automatically — before biting back a laugh. "Mo, Shinichi... if you wanted her to join in, all you had to do was ask." Shinichi let out an impatient growl, which only seemed to goad Ran's teasing. "If we're going to talk about people joining in, though, then we should probably talk to Sera-chan first, because I think she still wants to get into both of our pants."
"I'm being serious, Ran."
"Parties are no time for seriousness, Shinichi."
"All the more reason to end this one."
"One hour, Shinichi — I have no intention of breaking that promise." Ran pulled her arm from Shinichi's grip and started walking away, then stopped suddenly and turned back. "Oh! You got a call on your landline while you were gone. The voice on the other end indicated he had information on Okami Sora, but he got cut off before he could say anything more."
Shinichi air-backhanded the information away. "Not tonight, damnit..."
A little over an hour later, Shinichi forcefully closed the bedroom door behind them. "I thought they'd never leave."
Shinichi didn't give Ran time to respond, instead forcefully planting a kiss on her lips, causing Ran to buckle her knees involuntarily. The pair fell onto the bed as a result, prompting Shinichi to begin exploring the skin around Ran's neck — much to her obvious pleasure.
The sound of the front gaze buzzing heralded Ran's eyes flying open. "Shinichi... the gate —"
Shinichi blithely kept peppering at Ran's neck. "I don't care."
"Someone is at the gate."
"They can wait."
The gate buzzed again. "Doesn't seem like they can..."
"They can come back in the morning."
"I don't think they're going to leave, Shinichi."
"They will if we don't answer."
As the gate buzzed yet again, Ran used a hand to push up Shinichi's torso. "Shinichi."
Shinichi dropped his head and sighed dramatically before pushing himself upright. "Fine — but by the time I get back, there better be considerably fewer garments on your person."
Shinichi impatiently rushed his way back downstairs to the gate callback to respond to the buzzing. "Hai?"
"Kudo Shinichi?"
"Hai."
"I need to talk to you."
"Can it wait until the morning?"
"Ie, it can't wait."
"... Are you sure?"
"Hai, I'm sure."
Shinichi sighed again. "Come on in."
Shinichi buzzed the gate open and made his way to the front door to pull out a pair of guest slippers. The teen then opened the front door to let in a rather rough-looking, heavy-set man, who nervously regarded the slippers before putting them on.
Shinichi held up a finger to the man. "I'll be right back, I need to get myself a glass of ice water."
So saying, Shinichi turned his back on the man and made his way into the kitchen. Once there, he pulled a glass from the cabinet, retrieved some ice from the refrigerator, then poured some water in from the tap. Shinichi took a sip from the glass as he turned back around — only to stop at the sight of being held at gunpoint.
The man maintained a darkly blank look as he blocked the entrance to the kitchen. "Now, you're going to listen to what I have to say."
Shinichi remained frozen for a few seconds before sighing once again. "I was going to listen to you anyway, so you can put the gun away."
The man didn't seem to care about Shinichi's sarcasm. "My name is Gado Ritchi, though I suppose you knew that already."
"Ie, I didn't."
"You don't have to play dumb with me, I know who you are — and I'm here to tell you, I didn't kill Okami Sora."
"OK, you didn't kill Okami Sora."
"I — haah?"
Shinichi pumped his head once, thinly veiling his impatience. "You didn't kill Okami Sora."
Gado sagged his gunpoint ever so slightly. "I... I didn't expect you to believe me that quickly."
"Why would I think you killed her?"
"A friend of mine, Kuma Sunitchi, said you could be trusted, so I —"
"I'm sorry, what was his name again?"
"Kuma Sunitchi."
"... Are you making that up?"
"Ch-chigai! He and I used to team with Sora-chan, you see? She would skim money off of Uinanto-san's coffers and we'd split the proceeds for... other activities, if you understand me."
"Wakarimasu..."
"But I didn't kill her, you hear me?"
"If you didn't kill her, why are you telling me and not the police?"
"Oh, sure, that would be smart, a guy with a record like mine walking into the police station, handing myself over to them."
"If you didn't kill her, you don't have to worry about their arresting you."
"What makes you so sure of that?"
"Ma, granted, I'm less sure now that I remember you're pointing a gun at me, but I assure you I'm a forgiving soul in that regard, especially since I just want to get back upstairs already."
"What are you —"
Before Gado could finish his thought, the sound of a bullhorn outside startled the two men. "Gado Ritchi! This is the police!"
Gado whipped his head back toward Shinichi and slowly raised his gun again. "Why, you two-timing —"
Gado was cut off by a swift strike to the back of his head, knocking him out. As the man fell onto the ground, Ran stepped over the body into the kitchen and proceeded to swipe the gun away with her foot.
Unperturbed, Shinichi closed his eyes in frustration. "You didn't hold up your end of the deal."
Ran turned to raise an eyebrow at Shinichi. "Really? You don't think you'd rather I saved your life?"
"Look at his gun, the safety is on."
Ran narrowed her eyes at Shinichi, but wasn't given time to look at the gun before Shiratori stepped into the doorway. "Thank you again, Ran-chan."
"No problem at all, Shiratori-keibu."
Shinichi's leg began to bounce again. "What are you even doing here?"
Shiratori picked up the gun then started to pick up Gado as he spoke. "We heard this block was starting to become a meeting place for members of the Uinanto family, so I decided to keep a watch on your place should the old man himself come around. Instead, this guy showed up, so I made a call." Shiratori applied handcuffs behind Gado's back then leaned his unconscious body on a chair before turning to Shinichi in earnest. "Do you know what he was here for?"
"He came here to tell me he didn't kill Okami Sora-san."
"... And you believe him?"
"I do."
"Why?"
Shinichi closed his eyes again in frustration. "Can this wait until morning?"
"I'd like to be able to review what happened while it's still fresh in your mind, if you don't —" Shiratori stopped himself as Ran came to Shinichi's side and took his hand, at which point the inspector cleared his throat awkwardly. "U-uhn, it can wait until morning."
Without further fanfare, Shiratori gathered up a now-groaning Gado and led him out of the house. Now fresh out of patience, Shinichi suddenly gathered the strength to hoist Ran into a bridal carry, much to her surprise, and marched his way toward the evening's destination.
The following morning
Ran slowly woke to the sound of her phone buzzing on the bedside table. She blinked a few times contentedly before reaching out to grab the phone to answer it.
"Moshi moshi?"
"He still isn't answering his phone."
Ran looked down at the head asleep on her bare chest. "He's still asleep."
"... It's eight in the morning."
"It was a late night for us."
Shiratori sighed over the phone. "Whatever the case... will one or the other of you be able to come to the station this morning? We still need to talk about what happened last night."
"I'll wake him up."
"Arigato."
Ran ended the call and returned her phone to the bedside table before starting to shake Shinichi lightly. "Shinichi? ... Shinichi?"
After a few shakes, Shinichi stirred slightly, only to dig his head further into Ran's chest. "Mmmmm..."
"We need to get up."
"Why can't we just stay here?"
The front gate buzzed as if in response. "Ma, there's someone at the gate, for one."
Shinichi groaned dramatically before finally sitting up and letting out a sigh. After a few seconds, Shinichi shook his head quickly before getting up and making for the bedroom door.
Ran raised an eyebrow. "Shinichi?"
"Uhn?"
"You'll want to put some clothes on."
"... Right."
Shinichi hastily pulled a bathrobe from the closet and threw it on before exiting the bedroom. Ran followed suit at a more leisurely pace, taking time to ensure her bathrobe was properly secure before making her way out. As she descended the stairs, she saw Shinichi letting in Soshi Hikaru.
Soshi looked up at Ran's entrance. "I didn't mean to wake you..."
"You didn't, don't worry about it."
Soshi nodded before turning back toward Shinichi. "I trust you've heard about Okami Sora's murder?"
"In more ways than one — what about it?"
"Ma... I received an email from Kuraido this morning. He told me to ask you to look into her murder and prove his innocence."
Shinichi raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure he didn't ask for tou-san?"
"He asked specifically for you. Are you willing to take the case?"
"Ma, we're kind of already in it..."
Soshi raised an eyebrow, but didn't get the chance to respond before his phone rang, prompting him to answer it. "Moshi moshi? ... Hai. ... Eh?! Where?! ... I'll be there right away." Soshi hung up with a pale face. "Kuraido just tried to commit suicide. They asked me to come identify him. Ma... I suppose that's an admission of guilt, ne? And I had such high hopes for this case..." Shinichi raised another eyebrow, but didn't comment as Soshi shook his head. "Ma, I won't take any more of your time."
Soshi took his leave of the two teens and left the Kudo mansion without further fanfare, leaving Ran racking her brain. "I... that took a turn."
"It certainly did."
"I guess there isn't much of a murder case left, is there?"
"Oh, I'd say the case is just getting started."
"... Eh?"
"I don't think Kuraido-sensei did it."
"What makes you so sure of that?"
"Asking for me to prove his innocence before attempting suicide? That doesn't make sense."
"Ma... Shiratori has asked for us to go to the station this morning, you could relay your suspicions to him then."
"You'll have to go without me, I have economics lecture this morning."
"Oh, I — OK."
"You'll be fine without me?"
"M-mochiron."
Shinichi pumped his head before making his way back upstairs, leaving Ran to dwell on how casually Shinichi seemed to trust her.
Shiratori looked up at Ran's arrival to Division One with a raised eyebrow. "No Kudo-kun?"
"He has a lecture to attend, he asked me to come in his absence. Did Uinanto-san really commit suicide?"
Shiratori sighed as he pulled out his notebook and pen. "Ie, that call turned out to be a fake, just a dummy that looked like the old man. You'll be able to describe what happened last night without Kudo-kun?"
"Ee." Ran waited until Shiratori clicked his pen open before continuing. "Gado-san was buzzing the front gate incessantly. Shinichi went downstairs to tell him to come back in the morning but was told it was urgent, so he let him in. Shinichi went to the kitchen to get a glass of water when Gado-san confronted him with a gun to tell him he didn't kill Okami-san."
"Why did he find it necessary to tell that to Kudo-kun?"
"Apparently he didn't trust the police to believe him."
"If he had an alibi then that wouldn't be a problem."
"He said someone named Kuma Sunitchi had told him Shinichi could be trusted. Do you know that name?"
Shiratori raised his brow in surprise. "I do — he's a police informant in the gang Gado runs with, been good for us for a while now."
"Gado-san said something about being involved in a scheme with Kuma-san and Okami-san to skim money off of Uinanto-san."
Shiratori frowned. "That's the first time I'm hearing about that... sounds like we need to pay Kuma-kun a visit."
A few seconds after being knocked, the apartment door opened to the sight of a short man who appeared slightly shocked at the sight of a police inspector entering the apartment without invitation. Ran followed closely behind Shiratori, feeling the man's eyes on her but resolutely ignoring them.
After a moment of indecision, the man closed the door behind them. "T-to what do I owe the p-pleasure, Shiratori-keibu?"
Shiratori sat down at the dining table taking up most of the floor space in the small apartment. "We wanted to ask you about Okami-san, Kuma-kun."
"I didn't lay a finger on her, I swear!"
Shiratori tilted his head at the sudden indignation. "Who said anything about your touching her?"
After a shocked pause, Kuma let out a nervous laugh. "No one did, ie, no one said anything, heh heh..."
Shiratori briefly looked at his fingernails before fixing a gaze on Kuma again. "A friend of yours is in our custody now, a Gado Ritchi-san."
"He didn't do it, I swear!"
"Oh, we know he didn't do it — ballistics on his gun didn't match the bullets used to kill Okami-san. He did, however, pull his gun on a friend of ours in order to protest his innocence, so he will have to answer for that. What concerns me right now, though, is that Gado told him you had given his name to our friend."
"I d-didn't mean anything by it —"
"By what?"
"I... I just didn't want Ritchi-kun to take the fall."
"Take the fall for whom?" Kuma remained frozen before running a hand through his thin hair, prompting Shiratori to press again. "Should I be asking where you were yesterday evening?"
"I... I don't remember..."
Shiratori understandably raised his brow. "You don't remember where you were yesterday evening?"
"Who remembers anything anymore, you know?"
"... I don't know, actually."
"I..." Kuma paused again, then snapped his fingers as if remembering something. "Ne... I remember where I was. Here, let me grab something so I can show you where I was!"
With that offering, Kuma walked briskly into his bedroom — closing the door behind him, much to Ran's confusion. She decided not to let that bother her, however, as she pulled out her phone.
Shiratori noticed the motion. "What are you doing?"
Ran didn't look up as she responded. "I'm texting Shinichi about what we found."
"What we found? We're still waiting for him to retrieve his alibi."
"Oh, I don't think he did it."
"... You don't."
"I think he knows who did it, but he didn't do it himself."
"What makes you so certain of that?"
"During the afterparty last night, someone called Shinichi's landline. Shinichi was... occupied, so I answered it myself. The voice on the other end indicated he had information about Okami-san."
"What does that have to do with Kuma-kun?"
"Kuma-san's voice matched what I heard last night."
A look of shock grew on Shiratori's face before the inspector stood abruptly and started knocking on the bedroom door. "Kuma-kun? It really shouldn't take this long to retrieve an alibi."
After a few seconds of silence, Shiratori lost his patience and opened the bedroom door, only to pull out his radio after viewing inside. "This is Shiratori Ninzaburou-keibu requesting backup on pursuing a person of interest. Subject is a man, five foot five, in his late thirties — he escaped down the fire escape of his apartment..."
Shiratori's voice trailed off as he vigorously exited the apartment, leaving Ran behind to finish her text to Shinichi calmly before pocketing her phone and walking out the apartment. This isn't going to end well.
"Kudo-kun?"
Shinichi turned at the sound of his name as he exited the lecture hall. "Okuri-san?"
"Ano... I don't mean to intrude..."
"Ie, ie, it's fine. If you're here for an update on the Okami case, you'll have to talk with Ran — she's been running point while I've been in lecture. She texted me earlier indicating a person of interest is on the lam."
"Actually... I came here to apologize about last night."
"Oh! You don't have to apologize for last night — at least your gun was a fake."
"... What do you mean —"
"If anything, it should be your mother apologizing for last night."
Okuri involuntarily winced. "Ah, gomen... she's rather touchy about tou-san — she still relies on him for much of her money. It annoys Hakobu-san to no end as well."
"Hakobu-san?"
"Doko Hakobu, her new husband — I still haven't gotten used to calling him my stepdad..."
"Actually, if it's not too much trouble... if you'll allow me to walk you home, I'd like to talk with your mother and her husband."
Okuri hesitated briefly before answering, much to Shinichi's bemusement. "Er... you can talk with ka-san if you want, but Hakobu-san isn't home at the moment."
"Is he at work?"
"He doesn't have a job. He... we don't know where he is."
Shinichi's mind skipped a beat. "You don't know where he is?"
"He's been missing since a couple of days ago."
"... Now I'll have to insist that I follow you home."
Ran simply stood observing the body, maintaining a stoic façade while she internally screamed in frustration. Out of the corner of her eye, she noted a crime scene tech approaching Shiratori to relay something to him, to which the inspector responded with a nod before walking back over to Ran.
"You said you think he knew who did it — I'd say chances of that are pretty good. Preliminary ballistics indicate Kuma-kun was killed with the same gun as Okami-san."
Ran nodded absentmindedly. "I suppose the killer took his phone?"
"And his wallet — killer probably wanted to make it look like a robbery gone wrong."
"Any chances of getting his phone records? He probably called the killer after ditching us and came here at the killer's request."
Shiratori pulled out his phone. "Shouldn't be too much trouble — here's hoping it wasn't a burner he called."
Ran pulled out her own phone. "Knowing our luck so far, it probably was."
"Are you calling Kudo-kun?"
"Ee — he should be out of lecture by now."
After placing the call, Ran waited for the call to connect to a familiar voice. "Moshi moshi?"
"We found Kuma Sunitchi — he's been killed by the same person, if ballistics are any indication."
"... Could you put me on speaker, please?"
Ran did as requested. "You have me and Shiratori-keibu."
"It should be of interest to you that Doko Hakobu-san has been missing since early Monday."
Shiratori mirrored Ran's raised eyebrow. "Where are you getting this?"
"Okuri-san told me — I'm at the Doko residence now. I've been trying to get Mimi-san to tell me her husband's whereabouts, but she's been reticent so far. Perhaps a new body dropping during his absence will motivate you, Mimi-san?"
"I'm telling you, he didn't do this!"
"You'll understand if I'd be more convinced of that if he were here, ne?"
"I don't care how convinced you are, I know he didn't do it?"
"And how could you possibly know that?"
"Because... because I know who did do it!"
"Oka-san!"
"And I can prove it!"
Shinichi kept his face neutral as he followed Mimi's frantic gait into her bedroom, his phone still on speaker in his hand. Once in the bedroom, he saw Mimi opening a wall safe previously hidden behind a picture frame, after which she pulled something out and marched over to Shinichi to show him.
Okuri gasped next to Shinichi. "Ie!"
"Oh, hai! I found it in Sora's hand when I found the body and took it because I knew what it meant!"
Shinichi pulled out a handkerchief with his free hand. "And what is this, exactly?"
"It's a metal chain bracelet he put together to commemorate his first invention. He'd never part with it on purpose!"
Making an effort to ignore the crying beside him, Shinichi plucked the bracelet from Mimi's hand with his handkerchief. "Did you catch all that?"
"Ee — sounds like we should be putting out a warrant for the arrest of Uinanto Kuraido."
Shinichi nodded absentmindedly at Shiratori's response, but inwardly debated what the evidence actually meant.
Agasa shook his head ruefully as he served out the dinner plates. "I can't believe it... Kuraido-kun, a wanted man."
Ran let out a moue of sympathy. "You must have really admired the man."
"I did — I still do! He's the star inventor I've always wanted to be. Even after everything he went through, he never stopped doing what he loved."
"Everything he went through? You mean with the other inventor claiming Uinanto-san stole his work?"
Agasa raised his brow. "Shinichi told you about him? Baranoro Hatsumo was his name — he and Baranoro-san were fierce rivals early on, ee, but even before that... he's half American, did you know that?" Ran and Shinichi both shook their heads. "His mother lived in Oregon, if I remember correctly. He actually enlisted in the American army when he was younger, got deployed to Bosnia back in the 90's. He ended up getting hit by shrapnel during a botched bombing attempt — he's walked with a slight limp ever since. That never stopped his energy on the floor of his workshop, though. I still find it hard to believe he's going to end up behind bars for murder..."
"I wouldn't worry about that, hakase."
Agasa perked up at Shinichi's interjection. "Eh? Why not?"
Ran beat Shinichi to the response. "We don't think Uinanto-san did it."
"How so?"
"His bracelet was quite obviously planted at the scene of the murder. Someone is trying very hard to frame him."
Shinichi nodded minutely. "It would certainly help if he were here to contribute to our case, but we're reasonably confident we'll be able to clear his name eventually."
Agasa dropped an eyebrow. "Are you going to try to find him, then?"
"It won't be easy, considering how thoroughly he's disappeared... although, now that I say that..." Ran raised an eyebrow at the pause, but couldn't get in a word before Shinichi turned to her with screwy grin. "Up for an adventure?"
... Huh?
"When did you learn how to pick locks?"
"... It was part of The Plan."
Ran heard the verbal capitalization well enough to know not to ask further questions, leaving Shinichi to continue his work. Soon enough, the teen detective was able to open the door to the Uinanto workshop — after which he indicated with his hand to have Ran go in before him.
Once the two of them were inside, Shinichi closed the door behind them. "We're looking for anything that could indicate where Uinanto-san is now."
"I'm... not sure I'm comfortable with this."
"... Why not?"
"Couldn't we just have the police search this place instead?"
Shinichi took in a breath of consideration before starting with searching the workshop as he spoke, inviting Ran with a hand to join him. "As private detectives, we sometimes have to make a calculation whose outcome may not be appealing to the average citizen. In this case, waiting for the police to get a warrant risks the culprit's catching wind of it and destroying any evidence that may reside here ahead of time. You'll recall, you made a similar decision with the Niwashi case —"
"But I was wrong with that decision!"
"Ee, sometimes our instincts can be wrong, but that doesn't invalidate our need to heed them."
"But... how can we be certain our instincts won't be fueled by bad intentions?"
"As if you'd ever have anything but good intentions..."
Ran paused to consider whether to be flattered, but was interrupted by Shinichi freezing in place, ostensibly considering his prior footsteps. Eventually, he tapped the floor with one of his feet, a raised eyebrow punctuating the action. He then looked around and found a spare metal pole, which he grabbed and started using to poke at the cement floor.
"The floor here sounds hollower than elsewhere..." After several stabs at the floor, Shinichi let out a small groan of frustration and held out the pole to Ran sheepishly. "Could you..."
Ran rolled her eyes before grabbing the pole. "We really need to work on your upper body strength."
Complying with the unspoken question, Ran began chipping away at the cement floor with the pole. Eventually, the chipping resulted in a hole in the floor — causing both teens to hold back a gag at the smell the underside released. Shinichi recovered first and took the pole back to sweep it outward from the hole to make it larger.
Soon enough, Shinichi stood back from the hole. "This body has been here for a few months, at least."
Ran nodded timidly. "It's all skeleton at this point — I'm surprised the clothes aren't more rotted than they are."
"The clothes certainly are disturbingly well preserved..."
Ran looked at the initials on the belt around the oversized pants the skeleton wore. "'B. H.'? ... Ne, Shinichi, what was the name of that rival inventor again?"
"... Baranoro Hatsumo."
"Could it be him?"
Shinichi's eyes swept the body. "Potentially — one way to find out."
Ran pulled out her phone. "On it..."
As Ran dialed Shiratori, she saw Shinichi out of the corner of her eye drop to his haunches and look underneath one of the pants legs cautiously before pulling out his own phone, ostensibly looking something up. What is he...
The following morning
Ran again slowly woke to the sound of her phone buzzing on the bedside table. She blinked a few times tiredly before reaching out to grab the phone to answer it.
"Moshi moshi?"
"... Is he still asleep again?"
Ran looked down at the head asleep on her chest. "He is."
"OK... ma, when he wakes, please tell him we found Doko-san and he's currently at TMPD headquarters."
"You found him?"
"Ee — he hasn't been talking so far, so if either or both of you are willing to try changing that you're welcome to it."
"OK — I'll let him know."
"Arigato."
Ran ended the call and returned her phone to the bedside table before starting to shake Shinichi lightly. "Shinichi? ... Shinichi?"
After a few shakes, Shinichi stirred slightly, only to dig his head further into Ran's chest. "Mmmmm..."
"Doko-san is at the police station now."
Shinichi froze for a few seconds, then suddenly threw himself out of bed and hurried his way out of the bedroom, leaving Ran to yank the covers back onto her in shock. He better remember to put some clothes on...
"I'm telling you, Hakobu-kun didn't do it! He's innocent!"
"And I must again protest Kuraido's innocence as well."
On the sight of Mimi and Soshi independently berating a rather annoyed Shiratori, Shinichi slowed his steps as he approached the inspector. "I see news spreads fast..."
Shiratori looked visibly relieved at Shinichi and Ran's arrival. "Took you long enough — Doko-san still isn't talking, and I have these two talking my ears off."
"Where is he now?"
"He's in an interrogation room."
Shinichi felt a buzz in his pocket, prompting him to pull out his phone to inspect the received text message. Upon reading the text, a smile grew on his face, which he directed toward Ran briefly before turning his attention back to Shiratori.
"Let's put everyone in a conference room."
Ran followed closely behind Shinichi as he entered the populated conference room. In addition to Mimi, Soshi, and a seated Doko, Shiratori managed to round up Gado and Okuri into the room as well, the latter of which looked considerably distressed. As Ran went over to attempt to comfort her, out of the corner of her eye she saw Shinichi go to the head of the table opposite Shiratori and survey the room.
Eventually, Shinichi appeared to hedge his bets. "I saw Kuraido-sensei last night."
Everyone turned their heads incredulously toward Shinichi at the claim — except for one person. "So did I!"
Shinichi slowly turned his own head toward the claimant. "You saw him last night, Doko-san?"
Mimi shifted uncomfortably before responding. "I did! He snuck into my bedroom last night to ask how Okuri-chan was doing before leaving again."
The seated Doko raised a serious eyebrow at the claim, but Shiratori appeared more interested. "What was he wearing?"
"Ano... brown shoes, brown pants, and a white shirt with a green jacket."
Doko leaned back far enough in his seat for Ran to see the man wearing an outfit essentially identical to the one Mimi described. Is she...
Shinichi apparently noticed as well. "Ma, that's a wonderful story, Doko-san, but I'm afraid I really did see Kuraido-sensei last night."
Shiratori dutifully kept his patience in check. "Where did you see him?"
"The body we found last night, Shiratori — that was Kuraido-sensei's body. The M.E. just texted me to confirm."
Okuri bit back a sob. "Kudo-kun!"
Shinichi leveled a sympathetic gaze toward the young woman. "I'm afraid your father has been dead for three months, Okuri-san — I'm sorry you had to hear it this way."
Shiratori scrunched his brow. "But the belt —"
"The belt was a lazy attempt at getting us to misidentify the body. Whoever buried him was banking on the idea that all skeletons look alike. In this case, however, that is not true — prominently present in one of the leg bones was a piece of shrapnel from when Kuraido-sensei fought in Bosnia."
"How do we know Baranoro-san doesn't have a similar injury?"
"We don't — but I can assure you Baranoro-san is alive and well."
"How could you possibly know that?"
"Because he's in this room with us now."
At the pronouncement from Shinichi, both Doko and Gado perked up nervously and looked at each other, while everyone else in the room raised a skeptical eyebrow — Shiratori included. "Oi, oi, Kudo-kun..."
"It's fascinating, what one can glean from the absence of evidence. One could have, for example, seen how the absence of my name from the public record coincided with the birth of another name in the public record and put two and two together, though that thankfully never happened." Ran shot a bewildered look toward Shinichi at the interjection, but the teen detective continued as if nothing happened. "In this case, public record on Baranoro Hatsumo completely disappeared about eight years ago —"
Okuri gasped. "Eight years ago? That's when..."
Shinichi nodded. "Ee — around that time, the name Doko Hakobu appeared in public record on a marriage certificate, with no record on the name before then."
Doko shot up out of his chair but was pulled down quickly by Shiratori, leaving him to squirm in his chair. "You — you're right, I'm Baranoro Hatsumo. I wanted to destroy the man's life for stealing my invention! But I didn't kill him, I swear!"
"Oh, I know you didn't."
"I — wait, you do?"
"Ee — otherwise, it wouldn't have made sense for you to kill Okami-san three months later. We know now Kuraido-sensei could not have killed Okami-san, on account of being dead himself. The M.E. also confirmed to me that the gun used to kill Kuraido-sensei was the same gun to kill Okami-san as well."
Shiratori frowned again. "Why is the M.E. texting you before me?"
Shinichi waved away the question. "Whoever killed Kuraido-sensei went to great lengths to make it seem like he was still alive, indicating they had more utility in his being considered alive than his being considered dead. That charade continued for three months, during which time Okami-san dutifully fulfilled her role as a go-between for getting money to Kuraido-sensei, clearly not aware that he was dead. It stands to reason, therefore, that whoever killed Kuraido-sensei did so for that money, as there was no other way to determine where to find his money. Either Okami-san finally caught wind of the scheme three months later or the murderer discovered Okami-san's own scheme of skimming money from Kuraido-sensei, so the murderer killed her to remedy their situation. Kuma-san presumably witnessed our murderer and blackmailed the killer to keep his silence, but ended up getting killed as well after falling under police questioning and demanding more money to stay silent." Shinichi turned toward Mimi again. "So, Doko-san — who killed Kuraido-sensei?"
Mimi looked rightfully bewildered. "Wh-why should I know?"
"Because the killer told you to tell that story about having seen Kuraido-sensei last night, which we all know is false."
"I wasn't told to say that, I did see —"
"Doko-san, you're the only person in the room who knows for certain who the murderer is. If you're holding back on the promise of money, then you really have no reason to do so — since your second marriage is technically illegitimate, you still stand to inherit under Kuraido-sensei's will. Why hold back for a small sum when you could have the entire estate?"
Before Mimi could recover from the shock of Shinichi's pressing interrogation, Soshi grabbed the woman from behind and held a knife to her throat. "OK — no one has to get hurt here. Let me walk away from this, and I won't —"
A well-place strike from behind allowed Ran to incapacitate Soshi before he could finish his threat, prompting both the knife and the man to drop unceremoniously to the ground. In the accompanying rush of action to arrest the man, Ran saw Okuri rush over to Shinichi and hug him to cry on his shoulder again. Shinichi met Ran's eyes and tilted his head toward the door, after which the three of them exited the room as Shiratori pulled up a cuffed Soshi to read him his rights.
Once in the hallway, Okuri wiped away her tears. "I can't believe it... he's really gone... and Soshi-san..."
Out of the corner of her eye, Ran saw Shinichi pull out his phone and navigate to his contacts, after which the teen detective turned fully toward Okuri. "I'm going to give you the number to an old friend of your father's — I'm sure if you asked, he would be more than willing to accompany you down the aisle next week in your father's place."
Okuri looked up fully and donned the ghost of a smile. "Arigato, Kudo-kun — that... that's very kind of you..."
"It's the least I can do, given the circumstances."
Okuri lifted herself onto the tips of her toes, but then stopped herself to look at Ran. "I'd like to kiss him on the cheek — may I?"
Taking a moment to recover from the question, Ran let out a chuckle. "You may — though I should warn you, it's also a hard habit to break."
Ostensibly ignorant of the eyebrow Shinichi sent Ran at the quip, Okuri let out a giggle before planting a kiss on Shinichi's cheek. "Again, arigatogozaimasu, tantei-san!"
Shinichi simply nodded dumbly as Okuri walked away, then after a few seconds raised a hand tentatively toward his cheek. "Is there..."
Ran pumped her head in a nod. "There is." Shinichi pulled a handkerchief out of his back pocket, but Ran held out a hand to stop him. "There are other ways to fix that."
Shinichi returned with a determined raised eyebrow.
Notes:
Alternate chapter title: Help, I Suck at Coming Up with Fake Japanese Names
Also, yeah, this chapter is quite a bit longer than previous chapters. There are a couple of chapters later that are almost as long, but this chapter is indeed the longest chapter in the work. Nonetheless, there are some things to wrap up and some things to start herein, hence the length.
NEXT KUDO HINT: fridge
Chapter 20: And Then There Were Many
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Shinichi collapsed onto the sitting room couch with a load groan. "I'm bored..."
Ran entered the room fully at the interjection. "You're bored?"
"Ee — I finished all my work for my classes, so I have nothing to do now."
Ran nodded tentatively, then cautiously sat down next to Shinichi and started inching closer to him. "Ma... if you're bored... there's always something we could do..."
As Ran's body finally made contact with Shinichi's, the latter's head perked up. "You're right." Without warning, Shinichi suddenly stood vigorously and walked briskly out of the room, leaving Ran frozen in confusion.
She eventually came back to Earth and followed Shinichi to find him swapping his slippers for his shoes. "... What are you doing?"
"I'm going to go ask Megure for some cold cases."
Shoes now on feet, Shinichi immediately opened the front door and walked out without any further fanfare, apparently unaware of Ran's shock. I'm not going to have the time for a cold shower...
Megure looked up from the folder he was holding at Shinichi's interest. "Kudo-kun! What are you doing here?"
Shinichi pumped his head in a nod in greeting. "I've found myself with some free time and was wondering if there were any cold cases you might be able to send my way."
Megure raised an eyebrow as Ran came in behind Shinichi, ostensibly out of breath. "Ma... I don't know about cold cases, but you're welcome to help with the case we're working right now. Here, take a look." Megure handed Shinichi the folder he was holding to allow the teen to read through it as he continued. "The victim's name is Tada Seito-san, 32 years old, stage actor — and a struggling one, at that, if the state of his website is any indication. He was found dead in room 421 of the Doitsu Hotel. The crime scene makes the sequence of events clear: our victim let the killer in then went to grab a bottle of water from the room mini-fridge before being shot once in the chest, after which the victim stumbled and fell to the ground, grabbing and taking one of the room's chairs with him in the process. No prints or hairs or anything were left behind by the killer, though."
Shinichi let out a moue of frustration. "This killing was calculated..."
Megure nodded. "Indeed — we talked to Tada-san's girlfriend, Hoka Amai, a fellow actor in a local troupe. She didn't take the news of Tada-san's death well at all. She claimed not to know of any enemies Tada-san may have had, but she did say Tada-san told her about a woman confronting him a few days ago at a café. We asked the staff at the café about it and they indicated it turned into a shouting match. We're having the woman in question brought in this morning — you're welcome to watch from observation, if you want."
Shinichi nodded as he continued reading. "Mochiron..."
Ran watched Shinichi look through the case notes as they waited in the observation room where a woman sat waiting. As she saw his eyes scan over the pages, she silently wondered if he was actually making an effort to ignore her. Is... is he...
Before Ran could finish her thought, the door to the interrogation room opened, heralding the arrival of Megure into the room, who closed the door behind him before making his way to sit opposite the waiting woman. "Mira Megumi-san?"
"Hai."
"Thank you for coming here today."
"Is this about Tada Seito-san?"
"Hai, it is."
"Good, because I did it." Shinichi lifted his head from his notes in surprise, mirroring Ran's own surprise.
Megure appeared to be just as shocked. "D-did what?"
"I killed Tada Seito-san."
A blanket of shocked silence covered the two rooms for a few seconds before Megure cleared his throat. "Just so we're clear — you're confessing to the murder of Tada Seito-san."
The woman nodded plaintively. "Hai, I am."
Megure's mind appeared to skip a beat before he cleared his throat again. "Let's... start from the beginning. Tell us what happened."
"I went to his hotel room —"
"Which hotel room was that?"
"Room 421, at the Doitsu." Megure raised his chin in apprehension as the woman continued. "I went into his hotel room —"
"Did you force yourself in?"
"Ie, I knocked and he let me in himself. He said that he had been waiting for me, then he turned around to grab a water bottle from the mini-fridge — that's when I pulled out my gun. Then when he turned around, I... I shot him."
"How many times?"
"Once, in the chest — he stumbled slightly and grabbed onto one of the chairs in the room before falling over and taking the chair with it."
Ran dropped an eyebrow in apprehension. The level of detail she's providing...
Megure maintained an unperturbed front. "Why did you kill Tada-san?"
The woman donned an even more serious look. "I'm an alcoholic — he was responsible for my drinking."
"How was he responsible for your drinking?"
"... I... I'm not sure." Out of the corner of her eye, Ran saw Shinichi scrunch up his face in confusion.
Megure seemed just as disturbed. "You're not sure?"
"Ie..."
"Witnesses reported your confronting the victim at a café a few days ago."
"I wanted to warn him that I was going to hurt him."
"How did you know the victim in the first place?"
"... I don't know."
"But then... how do you know he was responsible for your drinking?"
The woman brought a hand to her forehead as if she had a headache. "I'm not sure about that either... gomen'nasai, the last couple of weeks have been a bit hazy for me..."
Shinichi appeared to be on the verge of a migraine himself, Ran wasn't surprised to see. After another moment frozen in shock, Megure quietly excused himself and left the interrogation room, prompting Shinichi and Ran to exit the observation room after him.
Shinichi waited until Megure closed the door behind him before speaking. "Is it possible her confusion is contagious?"
Megure huffed. "I wouldn't put it past her..."
"She's able to describe the crime to a T, yet she can't provide a solid motivation?"
Megure scratched his head. "This is definitely a first for me..."
From down the hallway, Takagi approached the trio. "We... have a problem."
Megure looked toward the detective. "Only one?"
Takagi appeared taken aback but didn't say as much. "Er... Mira-san has an alibi."
"She does?!"
"Ee — she was having dinner with her 12-step sponsor during the entire time of death window. Security cameras and wait staff at the restaurant were able to confirm it."
Ran's eyebrows collapsed as she risked a response. "Then... how does she have such a detailed knowledge of the crime scene?" No one clearly had an answer.
Megure shook his head before addressing Takagi again. "Send for a police psychiatrist, Takagi-kun — we need to have Mira-san assessed."
"Hai!"
As Takagi left, Shinichi spoke up. "Keibu, if you don't mind... I'd like a moment with Mira-san before the psychiatrist gets here."
Megure waved a tired arm toward the interrogation room. "You're welcome to it."
Shinichi closed the door behind him before approaching the table and sitting opposite Mira, who appeared to be intensely interested in her lap. He leaned back in his chair and fixed an eye on the woman, who was ostensibly unperturbed by the focus on her.
After a few seconds of consideration, Shinichi took in a deep breath. "You do realize providing a false confession carries a penalty of its own, right?"
Mira's gaze lifted from her lap to the table in front of her. "I'm... not providing a false confession. I killed Tada Seito-san."
"You have an alibi, Mira-san."
"Ie, I don't."
"Hai, you do — you were dining out at the time of Tada-san's murder. We have the surveillance footage to prove it."
"Then the footage was timestamped incorrectly."
"The wait staff also confirmed your presence."
"Then the wait staff is lying to you."
Shinichi regarded the woman curiously for another few moments before leaning forward. "Whom are you covering for?"
Mira finally lifted her gaze from the table to meet Shinichi's eyes. "I'm not covering for anyone — I killed Tada Seito-san."
The conviction in Mira's eyes gaze Shinichi considerable pause. He continued to hold her gaze to see if anything would change in her demeanor. Nothing had changed, however, by the time a knock came on the door.
Takagi poked his head into the room. "Kudo-kun — he's here."
Shinichi allowed himself a few more seconds drilling his eyes into Mira's skull before standing and leaving the room. As he passed the psychiatrist, he nodded and muttered a 'good luck' to the man before approaching Megure and Ran exiting the observation room.
"That woman is utterly obstinate."
Megure shook his head. "I hope the psychiatrist is able to pull more out of her, otherwise our case is dead in the water."
"Megure-keibu!"
The trio turned at the sound of the new voice to the sight of a uniform with a civilian accompanying him. "What is it?"
"This man said he needed to see you, keibu-dono."
"And you are?"
The man nodded. "My name is Karewa Hidari."
"How can I help you?"
"I'm here to confess."
"... Confess to what?"
"I killed Tada Seito-san."
Shinichi felt his jaw drop involuntarily, then looked over to see Ran wearing a look of shock of her own. What is going on...
Ran felt a headache coming on as she saw Shinichi ostensibly attempting to rub away one of his own from their position in the observation room for the second interrogation room. The entry of Megure into interrogation allowed her to note the sweating man already in the room was just as large if not larger than the inspector, and not in muscle.
Megure slapped his file against the table across from the man but did not down. "What are you two on about?"
Karawa looked up in confusion. "Haah?"
"Are you and Mira-san colluding to let the real murderer get away?"
"Who's Mira-san? We're not colluding, and I'm the real murderer!"
"Mira-san is claiming the exact same thing."
"Then she's wrong, because I killed Tada Seito-san."
Megure pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fine — where did you kill him?"
"In his room at the Doitsu hotel."
"Which room is that?"
The man paused, then brought a hand to his forehead, though whether in nervousness or in thought Ran couldn't tell. She saw Shinichi tilt his head in doubt as Megure appeared to have the same doubt and picked up his folder.
Before the inspector could exit the room, however, Karawa finally spoke up. "Room 421."
Megure froze — as did Shinichi — before finally sitting down across from the claimant. "And how did it happen?"
"I was in his room —"
"Hold up — were you hiding in his closet? Did you kick the door down?"
"Ie, I knocked on his door and he let me in, said he had been waiting for me. He turned to get some water from the mini-fridge, then when he turned back around I shot him — once in the chest. He stumbled a little before falling backward, grabbing and taking a chair with him." Shinichi, Ran wasn't surprised to see, brought both hands to his temples in what looked close to despair.
Megure himself remained frozen for a few moments before recovering. "Why did you kill Tada-san?"
Karawa didn't hesitate. "Because I have anger issues, you know — I just... I saw him and I was... I was just so filled with rage!"
"How did you know the victim?"
"I... I don't know."
Shinichi hands shot out minutely from his temples in muted frustration. "What the hell..."
Megure himself held up a hand palm up. "If you don't know, then how could he have filled you with rage?"
"I don't know that either... I'm sorry, I just... things have been hazy for the past two weeks..."
Shinichi seemed to straighten up at the last offering, and Ran understood why. There's a common link we may be able to work with...
Megure stood and made for the interrogation room exit, prompting Ran and Shinichi to make for the observation room exit. As the three of them arrived in the hallway, the door to the first observation room opened as well to herald the return of the police psychiatrist.
Megure quickly approached the psychiatrist. "Please tell me you have something."
The psychiatrist tilted his head in a sideways shrug. "Not much, I'm afraid — my examination of her found her to be mentally competent, though somewhat disoriented. By all accounts, she appears to be telling the truth — or, at least, she thinks she is."
Shinichi raised an eyebrow. "And the disorientation — what can you say about that?"
"Could be any of a number of things... could be a traumatic event causing retrograde amnesia, could be an underlying medical condition, could be —"
"Drugs?"
The psychiatrist leaned back slightly at the interruption. "Hai, it could be an adverse reaction to drugs. Why?"
Ran beat Shinichi to the response. "We just had a second person confess to the same crime and profess to the same period of confusion — we're hoping that's not just a coincidence."
The psychiatrist nodded. "Ma, I am having a blood sample taken from Mira-san sent for further analysis, so we should be able to find out one way or another."
Megure held out a hand for the psychiatrist. "Thank you again for your help."
The psychiatrist shook the inspector's hand and nodded toward the two teens before taking his leave of the trio. Before another word could be spoken, Megure's phone started buzzing. The inspector pulled out his phone to inspect the caller ID.
"Ah — it's Takagi-kun." Megure hit the accept button. "You have me, Kudo-kun, and Ran-kun."
"Megure-keibu — Chiba and I have been searching Mira-san's home and Karewa-san's apartment, respectively. We didn't find any links between the two, but we both found some things in common."
"And what are those?"
"The two of them both have paper calendars whose entries for the past two weeks have been ripped out. We checked their computers and everything from the past two weeks has been deleted as well."
Shinichi let out a moue of thought. "That potentially indicates intent to confuse the two of them."
"There's more — we both canvassed the neighborhoods and both received reports of a white van appearing to surveil Mira-san and Karewa-san. Chiba said one of Karewa-san's neighbors took a picture, he should be sending you a copy in a few minutes."
"Good work, Takagi-kun! Keep us apprised of anything further."
"Hai!"
Megure ended the call and pocketed his phone. "Finally, an honest lead..."
"Megure-keibu!"
Megure turned at the sound of the uniform calling for him. "Hmm?"
"We got another one."
"Another what?"
The short man next to the uniform held up a nervous hand. "My name is Sukaitsuri Toride."
"And you're here because..."
"I'm here to confess to the murder of Tada Seito-san."
Ran bit back a laugh as Shinichi and Megure simultaneously pinched their eyes.
This time, Shinichi decided to follow Megure into the interrogation room, though he opted to lean against the wall next to the door rather than follow Megure to the table. The man at the table, Sukaitsuri, appeared to startle at the entrance of the two, but nonetheless kept his back relatively starched at the inspector approached him.
Megure slapped a large printed photo onto the table. "Have you seen this man before?"
Clearly confused, Sukaitsuri leaned forward slightly to look at the photo of a bald man looking out the driver side window of a white van. "I... he looks familiar, I guess —"
"Where and when did you see him?"
"I — why are you asking me about this guy? I killed a man!"
"Ee, ee, room 421, he let you in, he grabbed you a water bottle, you shot him, he fell taking a chair with him."
Sukaitsuri understandably reared back in surprise. "How did you —"
"So do you remember where and when you saw this man?"
"I... I don't know, the last two weeks have been kind of a blur for me — but what does it matter? I'm a murderer!" Megure huffed in frustration before picking up the photo and stomping away toward the exit, leaving Sukaitsuri considerably perturbed. "D-does anyone here care that I killed someone?!"
Shinichi followed Megure out and gingerly closed the door behind them, catching Ran exiting the observation room out of the corner of his eye. From the other two interrogation rooms, Takagi and Chiba exited from their own interrogations shaking their heads toward Megure, prompting another groan from the inspector.
"How are we supposed to make a case when multiple people are confessing?"
At something of a loss himself, Shinichi grabbed onto one last hope. "Let's try putting them all in the same room and comparing stories."
"OK, everyone — the three of you, please go step-by-step through the crime committed. Any little thing may be important, so don't spare us any details." On Megure's instruction, the three confessors looked at each other nervously before nodding tentatively. "Mira-san, why don't you start?"
"Ano... OK — I knocked on the door to 421 three times. It was maybe... two seconds after that when Tada-san opened the door."
Karewa and Sukaitsuri both nodded. "I can confirm that."
"Ee, so can I."
Mira appeared slightly annoyed by the interruption but continued nonetheless. "He smiled at me, flirtatiously, when he said he had been waiting for me —"
Sukaitsuri raised a hand. "Er... it definitely wasn't flirtatious for me."
Karewa nodded in response. "Ee, he was very business-like with his greeting."
Shinichi filed away the disagreement in his head as Mira brushed aside the second interruption. "He then offered to get me a water bottle and walked over to the mini-fridge. I remember very specifically that there five water bottles in the fridge."
"Ie, there were six."
Mira turned toward Karewa in annoyance. "There were five."
Sukaitsuri raised a hand again. "Er... are you not counting the bottle Tada-san pulled out?"
"Ie, I am counting that bottle."
"Then he is right, there were six bottles, not five."
"Look, I am telling you, there were five!"
"Ma, there were actually six, so —"
The rest of the room's occupants variously rubbed their foreheads or pinched their eyes in frustration as Megure gathered them away from the ongoing argument. "How are we supposed to get anything useful out of them if they can't even agree on the contents of the fridge?"
Shinichi had a sudden realization. "Actually, keibu... that may be all the information we need."
"Eh?"
"May I see the crime scene photos again?"
"U-uhn."
Megure handed Shinichi the file, who immediately opened it to one of the photos included to confirm his suspicions before handing it back to Megure. "Take a look at the mini-fridge."
Megure looked at the photo, then donned a flash of understanding on his face. "The fridge door opens toward the room entrance, not away."
"Ee — there's no way the killer would be able to know how many bottles were in the fridge. None of our three confessors committed the crime."
"But then how do they know all the other details of the crime scene?"
"I don't entirely know that yet... but what I do know is that the Doitsu Hotel chain prides itself on all of its hotels being identical in layout regardless of the location — in fact, they would probably be horrified to hear about the differences in mini-fridges. Somehow, these three may have had an experience in a room 421 in another Doitsu that left such a strong impression that they experienced the mental break they're having now."
"Ne, Shinichi?"
Shinichi turned at the sound of Ran's voice. "Hai?"
"Sukaitsuri is drawing something on his hand..." Ran stepped forward tentatively. "Ano, Sukaitsuri-san — what is that you're drawing on your hand?"
Sukaitsuri startled at the question before dropping his gaze in abashment at his hands. "I-it's just some symbol that's been stuck in my head, I don't even know what it is."
Ran turned back toward Shinichi and Megure. "I remember seeing the same symbol on Mira-san's written confession — I thought she had just been doodling, but maybe..."
Megure flipped through his file to the two written confessions and inspected them. "The same symbol is present on Karewa-san's confession as well." Shinichi held out his phone and took a picture of the symbol, then ran the resulting picture through an image search.
Once the search returned results, Shinichi let out a relieved sigh for having hit gold. "The symbol is the logo for a rather shady-looking self-help organization — Maindoatama, it calls itself. Their website indicates they provide 'alternative' solutions to problems such as anger issues, assertiveness issues, alcoholism —"
"Just like Karewa-san, Sukaitsuri-san, and Mira-san!"
Shinichi nodded toward Ran. "Ee — our confessors here likely engaged this organization's services, which, if my read on them is correct, probably included engaging in the use of a room 421 in a Doitsu. It might be worth canvassing other Doitsu hotels in the prefecture to see if that's the case."
Ran appeared to perk up. "And if this organization is as shady as you infer... then they likely have some way to wipe two weeks' worth of memory from someone if something goes wrong."
"Exactly — fortunately for everyone involved, their website lists an address."
Megure's phone buzzed as he and the two teens exited the elevator into the Maindoatama lobby, prompting him to answer the phone immediately on speaker. "You have the three of us, Takagi-kun."
"The psychiatrist came back and told us that Mira-san had an unusually high level of Propranolol in her blood stream."
"Propranolol?"
Shinichi raised his chin in understanding. "It's a blood pressure medication, but in larger doses it's known to alter or destroy memories."
"So that supports the theory our confessors had two weeks' worth of memory deliberately wiped."
"Another thing, Megure-keibu: our canvassing of Doitsu hotels paid off. We found that a month ago, the entire fourth floor of the Hachioji Doitsu was reserved for a special event in Maindoatama's name. Security footage shows the head of the organization talking with our victim at the front desk during that time."
"That should definitely be enough to get a warrant, if we can't get the man to talk today. Good work, Takagi-kun! We'll let you know how it goes."
With that promise, Megure ended the call and started marching down the hall, both he and the teens ignoring the receptionist attempting to stop him. They eventually arrived at the door with the leader's name engraved prominently.
Megure knocked twice before opening the door without an invitation and letting the trio in. "Tagayasu Eiko-san — we have some questions for you." The man in question, much to Shinichi's interest, appeared to be ready for the interruption, already having folded his hands on top of his desk in ostensible expectation.
The man stood with the slickest of insincere smiles and swept his hand across the three chairs in front of his desk. "Welcome to Maindoatama. I will forgive you your social faux pas as I'm sure it's something we can work to correct as part of your time with —"
"We're not here to enroll, Tagayasu-san — we're here on a police investigation."
"I assure you, keibu-dono, I have nothing that will help you with your investigation."
"Don't be so sure." Megure placed the photo of the man in a white van down on the desk. "Do you recognize this man?"
"That man has not been employed by Maindoatama for quite some time, keibu-dono."
"So you do know him?"
"Only insofar as I used to employ him — but I assure you, I know nothing about what he's been doing since he left us."
Megure laid down three more photos. "So you have no knowledge of the man appearing to stalk three of your former clients?"
"The people in those photos have never been a part of Maindoatama."
Megure raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You just happen to know that off the top of your head, do you?"
"I make a point of knowing every person who goes through our program, keibu-dono."
"Ma, I'll make sure to put that in our warrant request for our murder investigation."
Tagayasu's smile dropped instantly. "Wait, what? Murder? Who was murdered?"
"Tada Seito-san was murdered, Tagayasu-san — don't pretend you don't know who he is, we already have security footage of the two of you talking."
"Tada-kun was murdered?"
"And this 'former employee' of yours is our prime suspect."
"Wait, wait, hold on — we don't have any reason to kill Tada-kun!"
"Then would you mind telling us about your relationship with him?"
In response, Tagayasu opened his laptop then unleashed a flurry of keystrokes before turning the laptop around for his guests to view the video he pulled up.
A hand knocked three times on the door to room 421 and pulled back. A couple of seconds later, the door opened to a man — Tada Seito — greeting the knocker with a smile. "I've been waiting for you — here, let me grab you a water." The man turned and walked to the mini-fridge and bent down to pick out a water bottle. As he stood, the knocking hand pointed a pistol at the man and shot once. The man responded by grabbing his chest with his free hand, stumbling, then dropping the water bottle and grasping at the chair head next to him before falling backward taking the chair with him, playing dead.
Tagayasu closed his laptop as the video ended. "We shot that video for our image therapy program — we shot two versions, actually, one for men and one for women. The viewer would use that video to project their problems onto Tada-kun and literally shoot the problems dead. In order for it to work, though, we had to put the viewer in a chemically suggestive state, which unfortunately proved disastrous — they internalized the experience as if they had actually killed Tada-kun."
"Hence the Propranolol?"
"That was after they had threatened to sue, hai — we brought them in for one last session and... corrected the problem. We were just trying to help them!"
"And this former employee of yours, what was his role in the matter?"
"He only talked with Tada-kun to remind him of his confidentiality agreement, which Tada-kun observed to the letter."
"And yet Tada-san was killed in a manner which replicated that video almost exactly."
Tagayasu's eyes bulged. "I — ie, ie, that can't be. Someone must be targeting us, someone who knew about the video."
"We'll need a list of names aware of that video."
Tagayasu turned the laptop back around toward him and started typing again. "I'm afraid it's quite a long list, keibu-dono — we're being sued for a separate incident a few years ago and that video was part of the discovery process. I'll email you all the names involved with the video itself and all the names involved in that discovery."
Megure's phone buzzed in response, to which he pulled the phone out and found he had received the email in question. Apparently not deciding to question how the man knew his email address, he opened one of the attachments and started scrolling through it.
Shinichi reached out to stop the scrolling partway through. "I see a familiar name there."
Ran remained rooted in the observation room as she watched Megure and Shinichi enter interrogation to sit across from the woman already occupying the room. As the two men sat, the woman turned her focus from the window to the men in question, but kept silent in apparent anticipation.
Soon enough, Megure allowed himself an entrance. "You held back on us in our first interview, Hoka-san."
Hoka raised an eyebrow. "I did?"
"Ee — you didn't tell us about your brother." Hoka remained silent, prompting the inspector to continue. "Your brother was one of the victims of a sauna accident while on a... 'trip' for Maindoatama. You're listed as one of the plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit against the group."
"I am — what of it?"
"You must have felt betrayed when you found out your boyfriend was involved with Maindoatama." Hoka turned her head at Shinichi's interjection, but still gave the teen room to continue. "As part of discovery for the lawsuit, you became aware of the video Tada-san shot for Maindoatama — the organization responsible for your brother's death."
"He's an actor for whom money is money, what does it matter?"
"Oh, it matters a great deal to you, I'm sure — to have him associate with people with your brother's blood on their hands... I know the feeling of someone for whom you care deeply turning out to be acting in direct conflict with your morals." Ran allowed herself a small gasp, thankful for the glass between them as Shinichi continued. "The difference for you, I suppose... was that you were handed the means of murdering him on a silver platter — a means that would only further point fingers at your brother's killers."
Hoka remained stoic. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Megure leaned back. "Deny all you want — security footage at the Beika Doitsu places you in the building last night, so we know you weren't home alone last night like you said. If it's any consolation, we can promise you Maindoatama will be going down for what they've been doing if we have anything to say about it, regardless of whether or not you confess. If you don't confess, though... then you'll risk putting three more of their victims behind bars instead — your stunt in recreating the video goaded them into confessing in your place, and their grasp of the details of the crime scene are bound to convince a jury."
Hoka finally appeared to break at the mention of the confessors, her eyes widening briefly before closing with tears starting to fall. "I... I tried to ask him about it, but he stonewalled me. I just... I just... I couldn't stand those murderers going free, and for him not even to acknowledge what he did for them... I couldn't let it stand."
Ran wiped a few tears of her own before exiting the observation room as Hoka was given a notepad. She closed the door gingerly behind her and allowed herself a deep breath.
"Is it true?"
Ran startled at the sound of a voice close by, only to turn toward the trio of confessors with a question on their face. "I... haah?"
"Did someone else commit Tada-san's murder and try to frame us?"
Ran allowed herself a calming exhale. "Ee — none of you killed Tada-san, you were the victims of the killer recreating a video you all saw of his being shot." The trio all showed signs of relief at Ran's response, though she noticed Sukaitsuri's relief appeared to be mixed with some disappointment.
Mira apparently noticed as well. "What's wrong, Sukaitsuri-san?"
Sukaitsuri startled at being addressed, then dropped his head with a blush. "I... it's just... I know it's crazy, but I... I never got to confess like you two did."
Mira allowed herself a stunned chuckle before smiling widely. "Ma, if the police won't listen, I'm willing to hear out your confession."
Karawa placed a hand on Sukaitsuri's shoulder. "I'm all ears as well. Come on, drinks — er, dinner is on me!"
Sukaitsuri smiled as the trio started walking toward the elevators. "OK — so, I... I knocked on the door to 421, right? Then Tada-san answered and..."
Ran faded the conversation out of her mind as the interrogation room door opened to Hoka being led away by a uniform, followed by Megure and Shinichi ostensibly deep in conversation. The conversation went on for a while, leading Ran to split her focus between the two men and the trio of former confessors entering the elevator going down.
Eventually, Shinichi shook Megure's hand before making his way back to Ran, inviting her with a hand to follow him out. "I may just have to email tou-san about this case, I have a feeling he'd want to incorporate the premise into a book."
Ran allowed herself a snort. "Three people brainwashed into confessing to a crime they didn't commit — certainly sounds like fiction material."
Shinichi called for an elevator. "As does much of my life..."
Ran looked at Shinichi with concern at that mumbled utterance, but decided against pressing him on it. "What were you and Megure-keibu talking about there?"
"Oh — he said he was going to see to having cold cases organized so that I could take my pick whenever I had the inclination."
Ran stared at Shinichi with a blank face. "So you were serious about that."
Shinichi quickly entered the elevator as it arrived and called for the ground floor. "Ee — if nothing else, they could provide you with some exercises in deduction as well."
"Exercises... right..."
As the elevator doors closed, Ran glanced at her watch absentmindedly. Only three o'clock — and Karawa-san was already talking about dinner...
"Ne, Ran?"
"Hmm?"
Before she could register what was happening, Ran found herself on the receiving end of an ambush kiss — a very deep kiss which caused her to lose track of time and her knees to buckle slightly. How does he...
Shinichi broke the kiss as the elevator doors dinged open. "Don't think I didn't notice earlier."
With that pronouncement, Shinichi briskly walked out of the elevator, leaving Ran to take a moment to recover before racing to catch back up with him, knowing exactly how the time before dinner would be spent.
Notes:
Alternate chapter title: Revenge of the Blue-Balled
Also, I totally chose that room number randomly — definitely didn't intend it as a reference to anything, no sir...
Chapter 21: Doctor's Notes
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Shinichi was starting to get sick of P vs. Q graphs.
While definitely far from difficult for him, the economics exam was proving infinitely tedious for Shinichi. With nothing but the sound of other pencils hard at work in the lecture hall to accompany his thoughts, he continued drawing out one more graph to solve the next question on the exam.
Then he was interrupted by an all-too familiar spasm.
Geh... of all the times...
Now preemptively panicking, Shinichi reached into his backpack on the ground and fished around until he pulled out his bottle of booster pills. Before he could open the bottle to pop out a pill, however, the exam proctor suddenly swiped the bottle from his hand and marched back toward the front of the lecture hall.
Officially in panicked shock, Shinichi stumbled out of his chair and made his way toward the proctor. "I... I need —"
"Your drugs can wait until you finish your exam."
Shinichi resisted the urge to grab at his chest. "But... I n-need that to finish my exam in the first place."
"Ee, I've heard that one before..."
"I'm s-serious! I have a condition —"
"Do you have a doctor's note for this?"
"... Ma, ie, but you —"
"Then sit back down and you'll get this back when you finish your exam."
Before Shinichi could bite back with some choice words, another debilitating spasm hit, prompting him to fight against keeling over. On impulse, Shinichi swiped the pill bottle back out of the proctor's hand and started stumbling his way up the stairs out of the lecture hall. He vaguely heard some shouting as he did so, but couldn't make out any words over the sounds of his heart beating erratically and his ears ringing.
Once outside the lecture hall, Shinichi collapsed onto the nearest bench in the hallway and managed to pop a pill into his mouth before any further trouble struck. At that point, however, he realized his other hand was empty. Shit...
Before Shinichi could consider his next action, his water bottle appeared directly in front of his face. Stealing a glance at the face of the person who brought it, he quickly grabbed the bottle and took a swig from it before leaning back against the wall and taking a few calming breaths.
"Arigato..."
Sera returned the thanks with her trademark snaggletoothed grin. "It's no problem!"
Shinichi allowed himself another swig of water and a few more breaths before noticing Sera hovering still. "Has Mary been having the same problem?"
"Ee, she has — if you see Shiho-kun, let her know mama sends her thanks."
... 'Shiho-kun'? "... I will."
Sera nodded, then stole a glance toward the lecture hall before turning back toward Shinichi. "I gave the proctor a chewing-out while you were stumbling out — he's agreed to let you come back in and finish the exam."
Shinichi took a deep breath and let it out. "I think a need a few moments to recover first."
"OK."
Without an invitation, Sera sat down next to Shinichi on the bench, much to his bemusement. He decided not to think on it as he closed his eyes and breathed a few more times to calm himself further.
Eventually, Sera broke the silence. "Ne — you want to hear about the case I ran into in London over the break?"
Shinichi opened his eyes but didn't move any further. "Is this your way of trying to distract me?"
"Perhaps."
"... You know what, sure — what happened?"
"I was helping mama pack up to leave her latest hotel room when we heard a scream down the hall. When I ran to the scream, I found it was from one of the housekeepers, who just found a dead man in the bed of the room she was about to clean. The man had been laid flat after being shot once in the chest — his head had been shaved clean, his left hand had been cut clean off at the wrist postmortem, and a broken watch had been staged stuck on the time 20:09."
"That's awfully specific..."
"Ee, ma... when Scotland Yard arrived, they mentioned it was the second murder of its kind. Another man had been found the same way, but in that case both hands had been cut off instead of just the left, and the watch in that case had read 20:08."
"A minute off..."
"Exactly — and in both cases, anything to identify the bodies had been taken away, so we were dealing with two John Does. Then two became three the following day — again, only the left hand and the watch on 20:09."
Shinichi put things together in his head. "So you began your search for a left-handed bass guitarist."
Sera nodded. "As the next victim, hai — we were able to find him just as the murderer was about to come kill him and arrested the guy. You put that together fast!"
"The cutting off of hands was to hide the telltale calluses of guitarists, or of a drummer in the case of the first victim. That combined with the shaved heads and the staged broken watches indicate the targets were members of a Beatles cover-band. I take it the murderer had a fourth broken watch staged to 20:10 when he was arrested?"
"Correct as always — seems the murderer in question was the band's equivalent of Pete Best, if you can believe that."
"Should have just moved on to movie soundtracking instead..."
Sera allowed herself a chuckle at the quip, then suddenly changed her demeanor as she stared sadly into her lap. "Listen, Shinichi... I wanted to thank you... and also apologize —"
Shinichi cut her off. "You don't have to apologize for anything."
"I do. I was a jerk about —"
"Mary was the jerk about it, you were just following her lead."
"I'd like to apologize on her behalf, then."
"I don't blame her for what happened."
"That doesn't mean what she did was right."
"All things considered, I don't think she was in the wrong."
"Nevertheless... the way we treated you could have been better."
"Everything about the process could have been better — nothing we can do about that."
"Except make amends where we can."
"You and I have nothing to worry about with each other, as far as I'm concerned."
Sera held an unreadable expression on her face for a few moments before relenting. "OK..."
Shinichi nodded minutely, then felt stable enough to stand and make for the lecture hall door, but stopped as he noted Sera following him. "Oh, by the way..."
"Hmm?"
Shinichi hesitated to offer what he was about to say, but decided to push through nonetheless. "That girl two rows in front of you whom you keep staring at during lectures? I'm pretty sure she has a crush on you, too."
Sera blanched before blushing profusely. "I... but... how can you even tell she's into girls?"
Shinichi again hesitated to answer, but again decided it wouldn't be worth holding back. "... Her fingernails."
With that answer, Shinichi resolutely ignored Sera's brain short-circuiting and re-entered the lecture hall, intent on finishing off the tedium of the economics exam.
Notes:
When I was first planning this fic, I had actually intended to have even more case-focused chapters but eventually pruned down the list to what is now in the final product. The case Sera describes herein is from a chapter idea I ended up cutting — I couldn't figure out how to write the case itself, hence why the chapter was cut, but the existence of the case itself was actually necessary to establish, hence its repurposing here. Brownie points to whoever can determine why that was necessary — you have nine chapters to figure it out.
NEXT KUDO HINT: camera
Chapter 22: Asking for It
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Shinichi closed the apartment door after he and Ran exited into the hallway. "So... what do you think of your first fully private client case?"
Ran wiggled her head in thought as they started walking toward the elevators. "It was a refreshing change of pace from all the murder cases, at the least."
Shinichi allowed himself a chuckle. "That it is..."
"It's too bad about his brother, though."
"Ee — gambling addictions do have a tendency to get out of control."
"Makes me wonder if there's something more we could do..."
"We brought the problem to our client's attention — he'll know best what to do for his brother. Hmm?"
As they arrived at the elevators, Shinichi found himself distracted by a small, white feather on the ground of the apartment building hallway. Crouching down to pick the feather up, Shinichi caught what appeared to be a scattered trail of feathers out of the corner of his eye, coming down the hallway perpendicular to the hallway they just traversed. At the end of that hallway, he noticed a slightly ajar apartment door — with a few feathers still floating out of the doorway into the hall.
Beckoning Ran to follow silently with one hand, Shinichi pulled his phone out and dialed for the police dispatcher as he started slowly making his way toward the ajar door. Once at the door, Shinichi waited a few moments to verify no sound from inside the apartment aside from the breeze through an open window before very carefully pushing the door open further.
The call finally connected as Shinichi and Ran started inspecting the scene in the unoccupied apartment. "Police dispatch, what is your emergency?"
"This is Kudo Shinichi — I'm at the Beika Condo apartment complex, apartment 534. This apartment appears to be the victim of a recent violent burglary or robbery, I can't tell which yet. The door was left ajar and a window left open, so feathers from the pillows they tore open are blowing into the hallway. Please advise Nakamori-keibu of Division Two, I believe this may be related to a case he is currently working."
Shinichi felt more than saw Ran raise an eyebrow in his direction at the last offering to dispatch, but she didn't comment, instead continuing to take pictures with her phone. Shinichi pulled out and put a glove onto his free hand, then paused at the odd misalignment of a painting on the wall.
Somewhat trepidatiously, Shinichi approached the painting, then with his gloved hand touched the frame of the painting to find it hiding a wall safe behind it, which it slowly swung open to reveal. The safe itself remained unlocked, Shinichi could tell, so he instinctively opened the safe door.
Shinichi automatically stepped back and let out something between a sigh and a suppressed gag at the contents of the safe. Behind him, he could hear Ran gag herself then run for the bathroom.
"Some officers from Division Two are on their way, sir."
Shinichi brought the phone back to his ear. "Please be advised... Division One should be notified as well — this is also the scene of a murder."
The victim's arm flopped ungracefully out of its folded-up position, revealing quite clearly how its ring finger had been cut clean off.
Nakamori shook his head at the sight. "Just when I thought my week couldn't get any worse..."
Megure let out a moue of sympathy. "I'm sorry you had to see this, Nakamori-kun."
"I knew this robber gang was vicious, but... this is something else."
"Ma... we haven't ruled out the possibility of a copycat yet."
"I think we can rule that out, Megure-keibu."
Both inspectors turned at the teenaged voice. "Oh? How so, Kudo-kun?"
"There are a number of details about each previous crime scene that are not available to the general public which have been replicated here. A copycat isn't liable to do that by accident."
Nakamori narrowed his eyes. "How would you know what hasn't been revealed to the public?"
Kudo waved the question away nonchalantly. "For starters, the pattern with which they sliced our victim's pillows is matched exactly — X's made on the center of each pillow, as if they're imitating a treasure map. Public record of course notes pillows' being slashed, but not that particular detail. I believe you'll find when you have the pillows analyzed that they were slashed with the same pocket knife as the previous robberies — I noticed grooves along the cuts that appeared to match. Also, both the front door and the jewelry box appear to be victims of bump keys rather than lock-picking, just like with previous scenes."
Nakamori gave up on getting an answer to his question, instead opting for a sigh. "I guess these guys are on your plate now, Megure-kun."
Megure nodded tersely. "Our victim was killed within an hour of Kudo-kun's call, according to Tome-san — one shot straight to the heart, so she didn't have the opportunity to bleed out. The cutting off of her finger and the, er... rearrangement of her body were both done post-mortem. Finger was cut off with a bolt cutter, if you can believe that. Whether she was here when the robbers came or if she walked in on them is another question."
Kudo raised a finger. "I called the gym she frequents and the desk attendant noted that she usually goes there each night but was absent tonight, so it's most likely the former."
"Which means the gang might have been expecting her to be out, given their timing — someone she knows might be involved."
Nakamori shook his head again before offering the file folder he held toward Megure. "Here are my files on the previous robberies, for what it's worth."
Megure nodded absentmindedly as he opened the case files. "By the way, Kudo-kun — where's your better half?"
"She sent herself home after nearly barfing at the sight of the body."
"I don't blame her..."
"Actually, keibu... do you mind if I take the case files home with me tonight? There are a few things I'd like to go over with her."
Megure raised his head and along with it his eyebrow, but nonetheless acquiesced. "Mochiron, Kudo-kun."
As Kudo took the case file from Megure, Nakamori narrowed his eyes again, somehow doubting Kudo's story but not having enough evidence to voice his objection.
Shinichi waited until the door he knocked opened before greeting the house's occupant. "Hello, kiddo."
If Kaito was perturbed by the English pun, he did not let his poker face slip to show it, instead opting simply to stare at Shinichi. The detective looked beyond the sometime-thief into the house to verify that no one else was present before breaking the silence.
"May I come in?"
Kaito raised his chin in apprehension, then let the corner of his mouth twitch. "Can I stop you?"
"Perhaps not." Taking the implied invitation, Shinichi stepped inside past Kaito and immediately made for the sitting room, ignoring the ostensible consternation of his unwilling host.
Once the detective sat, Kaito finally sauntered into the room with his trademark plastered grin. "So... to what do I owe the dubious pleasure of your presence?"
Shinichi placed the police file on the sitting room table. "You've had more than your fair share of imitators, have you not?"
Kaito visibly paused mentally at the statement before sitting across from Shinichi. "Let's suppose I have."
Shinichi stopped himself from rolling his eyes. "OK, then — if that's the case, then it stands to reason you would keep an ear to the ground of the general thieving community to parry any would-be imitators, does it not?"
Kaito stared at Shinichi calculatingly for a moment before tilting his head in humored incredulity. "Are you here for my take on Nakamori's latest case?"
Shinichi flashed a condescending smile. "Let's suppose I am."
"In that case, I doubt I'd be able to help you point to anyone in particular — whoever it is, theirs is an ungentlemanly business." Kaito appeared to have a moment of indecision before leaning forward. "Can I take a look?"
Shinichi tilted his own head before nodding. "Feel free."
Kaito opened up the case file then picked out the insurance photos of the items stolen from each crime and spread them out to inspect them. "Hmm... these are quite the expensive wares — very expensive. I suspect you're looking for quite the discerning eye behind these thefts. If your victims were in the habit of wearing these pieces regularly, your thief probably thought that they were simply asking for it."
Shinichi felt something click in his head. "Ee — but the victims wouldn't wear them regularly, they'd only wear them for special occasions." Shinichi suddenly leaned forward and returned everything into the police file folder. "I might be able to work with that idea — thank you for the insight."
As Shinichi gathered the file, Kaito leaned back and flashed another grin. "Ne, isn't Mouri-chan's birthday not too far off? You might want to take some gift ideas from that file there."
Shinichi thought back to Ran's needing to go home early after seeing the body before shaking his head. "I think we'll pass."
"... 'We'? So things have gotten that serious between you two, have they?"
"I suppose they have."
"Even after you told her about what you did to her father?" Something in Shinichi's silent reaction must have tipped Kaito off, because the teen thief suddenly dropped his smile. "You haven't told her?" Again apparently sensing a reaction from the detective, Kaito let out a startled chuckle. "Oh, man, talk about asking for it."
"You're one to talk."
"Eh?"
"You still haven't told Nakamori-chan anything, have you? So you're hardly in a position to comment on my state of affairs."
Kaito visibly held back a sneer. "Not all of us have our affairs as sorted out as you do."
Shinichi paused briefly before donning a small smile. "Ma... for what it's worth, I do have some experience in dispelling shadows." Shinichi abruptly started exiting the room. "Take from that what you will."
Kaito didn't budge as Shinichi left the Kuroba home without another word, leaving the detective to ponder further on whether the thief would ever seek out the help he clearly needed.
The following morning
Ran woke to the sound of music downstairs.
Verifying that she was indeed alone in bed first, she got out of bed and made her way downstairs closer to the source of the music. Once she made it to the sitting room, she found Shinichi awake and draped contentedly along the couch, one raised hand lazily conducting along with the fugue playing over the speakers.
"... Have you been basking all night?"
Shinichi raised his head to look at Ran before springing to his feet and holding out his hands as if presenting himself, a self-assured smile accompanying the gesture. "You should know, you're sleeping with a genius."
"Not last night, I didn't..."
"You're looking at the man who singlehandedly found the connection between the victims of our robber-turned-murderer gang." Shinichi started rifling through the police file on the coffee table as he continued talking. "You see, Nakamori-keibu and his team only saw it fit to inspect the previous three victims' financials to verify the purchase and insurance of the stolen wares, but they didn't go as far as to search for usage of those wares."
"Usage?"
"Ee — the wares stolen were quite expensive, so expensive that any person self-indulgent enough to purchase such wares would be storing them in a safe or bank vault on a regular basis. The wares would only actually be used for special occasions — special occasions... such as fancy charity events."
Ran raised her chin in understanding. "You looked through the victims' non-profit donations."
"Precisely — the victims donated regularly to a number of non-profit organizations across Japan, and more than a few outside of Japan as well, but only one organization could have called all three previous victims their patrons: Tokyo Ballet."
"So... you're thinking someone connected to Tokyo Ballet could be involved with the gang."
"I'm waiting for Megure-keibu to call me back to confirm our latest victim had a similar connection. In the meantime... hai, I've been basking."
In so saying, Shinichi turned back around and closed his eyes to listen to the music, prompting Ran to express her concern. "Did you get any sleep last night?"
Instead of responding, Shinichi shushed Ran quietly as the fugue reached its coda, leaving Ran to watch as the detective involuntarily lulled his head with the shape of the music. Eventually, the piece reached its final cadence, which Shinichi coupled with a head shake in time with the treble trill.
Upon the final chord, Shinichi's phone buzzed. "Right on cue..." Shinichi pulled out his phone and answered the call with speakerphone. "You have the both of us."
"You were right, Kudo-kun — our latest victim was a donor to the Tokyo Ballet. Takagi and I are planning to go meet with the donation coordinator this morning to talk about it, you're welcome to join us."
"Ran will be with you presently."
Ran looked back at Shinichi in shock as he hung up the call. "Me?"
"I have economics lecture this morning, so you'll have to go in my stead."
"Tell me you'll at least have a proper breakfast before going to class."
"I'll at least have a proper breakfast before going to class."
"... Why don't I believe you?"
"Because you're a detective, of course."
Shinichi exited the room with energy before Ran could offer a response to the underhanded compliment.
Ran accompanied Megure and Takagi into the large dinner hall, slightly disoriented by the size of the room, as the two policemen directed themselves toward a woman setting up place cards on one of the tables. The woman eventually registered the trio coming toward her and looked up at them as they came close to arriving.
"Can I help you?"
Megure took the lead. "Onkei Midori-san?"
"Hai?"
"We're from the Tokyo MPD. We're investigating the murder of Hosoi Yuri-san."
Onkei gasped. "Yuri-chan is dead?"
Takagi took over. "When was the last time you saw her?"
"I... suppose I saw her at our fundraiser last month. She's been a regular at our fundraisers."
"We have reason to believe her death is connected with three other robberies — all those victims were patrons of your organization. We'd like to have access to your donor roll so we can see who might be next."
"Then you'll have to come back with a warrant."
Ran and the two policemen exchanged looks before Megure cleared his throat. "Come again?"
"Many of our donors are a matter of public record, of course, but others value their anonymity, and short of a court order I'm legally obligated to protect them."
Ran felt her frustration flow over. "I'm sorry, but your donors may be in danger, one of them may even be a murderer, and you won't do anything about it without a court telling you to?"
If Onkei felt perturbed by a teenager grilling her, she didn't show it, instead simply shrugging. "My hands are tied, detectives."
Megure and Takagi exchanged another look before the inspector nodded. "Thank you for your time."
With that self-dismissal, the trio made their way out of the building, pausing on the sidewalk long enough for Ran to text Shinichi on recent events as she spoke. "It shouldn't be too hard to get a warrant for their donor roll, should it?"
Megure nodded. "Ie, it shouldn't — though we can't guarantee it will be granted until tomorrow."
Takagi pulled out his phone. "In the meantime, we could begin with doing background checks on the Ballet's employees and public donors."
Ran's phone buzzed to herald the arrival of Shinichi's response to her text. She opened and read the text, only to find herself staring nonplussed at its contents.
Megure raised an eyebrow. "Was that Kudo-kun? What did he say?"
Ran blinked a couple of times before responding. "He asked me if I have a black tie attire ready."
That evening
Great... background checks haven't found anything.
Shinichi shook his head at Megure's latest text as he put his phone back in his pocket, then adjusted his bowtie to the best of his ability. After picking a rogue piece of lint off of his pants, he verified the state of the rest of his tuxedo before putting on his dress shoes from his position at the front door.
"Ready to go?"
Shinichi turned at the sound of Ran's voice, only to stop dead at the sight of the woman ostensibly gliding down the stairs in easily the most striking pitch-black dress he had ever seen on her. Its wearer apparently having decided to eschew her usual modesty, the dress came together at a single point on top of her left shoulder and slanted diagonally down to the right precisely as low as public decency allowed, keeping her right shoulder and a significant percentage of her right breast exposed. As if that wasn't enough, the dress also sported an open slit down the left leg starting not even an inch below her hip.
On any other woman, Shinichi would be analyzing how the dress was able to stay together in its current shape. Instead, Shinichi felt his brain short circuit — he was almost afraid to see how the dress looked from the back.
Shinichi realized with a start he had been asked a question. "I — I, er... l-let me g-grab a drink of ice water first."
Ran found herself a little overwhelmed again by the lavish space they had entered, but managed to put on a reasonably solid front at she and Shinichi made their way onto the floor. "What exactly are we supposed to be doing here?"
"We're to keep an eye on the guests and staff present here and report anything suspicious to Megure."
"Why doesn't he have Sato-keiji and Takagi-keiji attend the party instead?"
"Because we don't want to give away our reason for being here."
"... Then what's our cover?"
"Kudo-san!" The sound of Onkei's voice startled Ran briefly as the woman in question approached the two teens. "I'm so glad you're here! I wanted to thank you personally for the generous contribution you made earlier today."
Shinichi nodded in acknowledgement. "It was well worth it, I'm sure. I don't believe we've been introduced?"
"Ah, gomen! This is my boyfriend, Komon Kenkyo-kun." The man had so far managed to escape Ran's attention, so lugubrious was his shadowing of Onkei, and he responded to being introduced only with an absentminded nod before Onkei checked her watch in anticipation. "I wish we could talk more, but the live auction is about to start. I just wanted to say: I hope you'll forgive me." Leaving no room for being demanded an explanation, Onkei rushed herself toward the stage and her boyfriend made himself scarce, abandoning two considerably confused teens.
Ran looked toward Shinichi to see him completely nonplussed by the interaction. "... What did she mean by that?"
"I have no clue... can't let it distract us, though." With that pronouncement, Shinichi shook off the confusion and continued looking around the room with practiced nonchalance, prompting Ran to start doing the same.
Eventually, Onkei reached the stage and tapped the mic a few times to verify it worked. "Thank you, everyone, for coming to our auction to benefit Tokyo Ballet! The silent auction continues, but we now come to the fun part of the night: the live auction!" Onkei waited for the applause and cheers to die down before continuing. "And tonight, we have a last-minute special treat for you — to introduce and auction off our first item, I'd like to invite our surprise special guest to the stage: renowned actress Kudo Yukiko!"
Both teens froze at the sound of the name, Shinichi going as far as to snap his head toward the stage in apprehension. Ran turned herself to find none other than Kudo Yukiko walking onto stage to massive applause, one hand holding a book and the other waving to the crowd.
"I didn't know your mom was in town."
Shinichi remained frozen for moment, then reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "She's not."
"... What do you —" Ran stopped herself as she realized what Shinichi was saying. "You mean —"
"Hai, that's Kaitou KID."
"But... how does he know to come here disguised as Yukiko-san?"
"... It's a long story."
Ran leaned slightly away from Shinichi in suspicion, but wasn't given the time to interrogate him further before the Yukiko on stage finally spoke. "Thank you, Onkei-san! I know this is a surprise, but, ma, it wouldn't be my style to announce myself ahead of time, would it?" The audience collectively laughed at the quip before she continued. "You know, there was a time when I was young when I wanted to be a ballet dancer — it's true! If not for my 'girls' coming in so quickly, that might have come to be!" Another laugh waved through the audience before 'Yukiko' held up the book. "But, supporting the Tokyo Ballet is the next best thing for me, and to do that I have here for live auction a signed first-edition copy of my husband's latest book — currently in limited print, so you won't find many stores selling this yet!"
"How much should I bet that signature is forged?"
Ran snapped her head toward Shinichi at his muttering to himself briefly, but otherwise kept her focus on the extemporizing KID. "And to add to that, whoever wins this book will also win with it a dinner for two with hometown hero, and my son, Kudo Shinichi! Can we have the spotlight moved to him, please?" The spotlight arrived to highlight the look of horror etched on the subject's face, Ran not far behind. "Oh, no need to give me that face, Shin-chan!"
The remarkably soprano titter from that quip caused Ran to flinch slightly, but KID didn't seem to care. "Alright, you know what to do, girls! I'm starting the bidding at ten thousand yen! Do I have ten thousand? Ah, hai, the woman in the back there enters the first bid! I have ten thousand, do I have eleven thousand?"
"Bid."
"Hmm?"
"Bid on the book."
Ran recoiled slightly from Shinichi. "Eh?! But I —"
"I'll pay whatever you bid myself."
"I have eleven thousand, do I have twelve?" After a moment of shocked indecision, Ran threw up her hand, which 'Yukiko' noted. "I see twelve — oh, come now, Ran-chan, you mustn't hog him all for yourself!" The soprano titter returned, to which Shinichi appeared to bristle, but the ersatz auctioneer blithely ignored that. "I have twelve now, do I — I see thirteen to the side here, do I have — I see fourteen on the other side. Wow, a true bidding war! Do I have — fifteen is bid... now, now, Ran-chan, you do know it's nice to share!"
Putting in an effort to ignore the recurring soprano titters, Ran looked to the side to find one of her competing bidders — only to find herself distracted by someone else. "Shinichi..."
Shinichi didn't pull his gaze away from drilling into KID. "Ee?"
"Onkei-san's boyfriend... he's taking pictures of the crowd."
Shinichi finally broke his stare to look in the direction Ran was looking, then nodded after seeing what she saw. "Keep bidding." With that directive, Shinichi pulled out his phone and positioned it behind Ran's back to take a picture of the man in question before firing off a text with the picture.
"I have eighteen now, do I have nineteen thousand? Eighteen thousand once, eighteen thousand twice — ah, and Ran-chan returns to the fray with nineteen thousand! You never know when to quit, do you? I have nineteen now, will anyone go — twenty thousand I have now, from our particularly friendly bidder on the left here! Gee, you must love mystery novels!" The laughter from the crowd managed to mask sufficiently the sound of Shinichi's phone buzzing from everyone else.
After reading the text he received, Shinichi nodded tersely then put his phone back away. "Megure said Onkei-san's boyfriend matches the description of a known fraudster for whom there's an outstanding warrant. We may be getting some company shortly."
"O-OK."
"I have twenty-two thousand now — now I have twenty-three thousand! Twenty-four thousand, I can hardly keep up! Anyone for twenty-five? Twenty-four once, twenty-four — ah, I was wondering where you had gone, Ran-chan!"
Out of the corner of her eye, Ran saw the boyfriend abruptly stop taking pictures and stash his phone away before appearing to start running away. Ran looked behind her to find Sato and Takagi having entered the venue, who both noted the motion and started chasing after the man in question. The man's path eventually turned into a collision course with her and Shinichi.
Some people never learn...
"I have twenty-seven now, do I have twenty-eight? Twenty-seven once, twenty-seven twice —" Ran threw her hand up, then quickly snapped her elbow back as the fraudster passed behind her, knocking the man to the ground. "Twenty-eight from our dear Ran-chan — I can tell you all from experience, you don't want to get on her bad side! That's twenty-eight, do I have twenty-nine? Twenty-eight thousand once, twenty-eight thousand twice... SOLD, for twenty-eight thousand!" The applause from the crowd managed to cover the chaos of Takagi cuffing the near-unconscious fraudster and pulling him upright to walk him out.
Ran let out a sigh of relief, then turned to Shinichi to find him staring intently at her. "What is it?"
Shinichi snapped out of his daze with a start. "I... I just... how did your dress stay on as you did that?"
Ran smirked. "We'll have that dinner to discuss it."
Shinichi read the text he received as he closed the front door behind him. "Megure texted: Komon-san confessed to casing for the robber gang, he's rolling on all of its members as we speak."
Ran let out a contented sigh as she took off her shoes. "That's a relief."
"Now that that's over with —" Ran held up a hand to stop Shinichi in his tracks, then proceeded to pull on his nose with considerable force.
After a moment of shock, Shinichi rubbed his nose in understanding. "That's fair."
"I just needed to make sure."
"Ma, now that you're sure... I don't think I can wait until that dinner to figure out that dress."
Ran smirked and turned away to start ascending the staircase. "Too bad I'm about to take it off, then."
You don't need to tell me twice...
Notes:
Alternate chapter title: Shinichi Throws Some Money Around
This time, I imagine Shinichi's basking is accompanied by the Triple Fugue in E-flat major — the one people insist on calling St. Anne even though the fugue predates that tune by quite a bit.
Also, for those who have been put off by the lack of Kuroba Kaito in this fic so far: we'll be seeing him again, don't worry.
NEXT KUDO HINT: breaker
Chapter 23: Twin Murder Case
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
"Shinichi?"
"Hmm?"
"It's not that I haven't enjoyed the scenery so far, I just have to ask... why are we driving to Osaka rather than taking the train like we usually do?"
Shinichi paused to focus on the road for a sharp turn before responding. "Ma... this is a test, of sorts."
"... A test."
"Ee — they say a long car ride is a good test to see if a relationship will last."
"You think our relationship needs testing?"
"Every relationship needs testing — it's how you ensure for certain that it's worth it."
"Did you hear this from your parents?"
"Ee — why?"
"I take it your father was the driver in their case?"
Shinichi paused minutely before chuckling. "I suppose so."
"So how is a long car ride supposed to be a relationship test?"
"It's a way of seeing if the two in the relationship can still stand each other after being stuck in a car with each other for hours."
"... How romantic..."
"You and I have been living with each other for a while now, but this car is no mansion."
"So you wanted to confirm that neither of us go stir-crazy."
"I already know we won't, but it's always nice to have confirmation anyway, hai."
"As long as we get to where we're going, I don't see its being a problem." Almost as if on cue, the car beeped at its occupants loudly, followed by the engine whirring extra fast as the drive continued. "... What's going on?"
Shinichi appeared just as bewildered. "I don't know..."
"The check engine light is on."
"I can see that."
"Should we pull over?"
Without another word, Shinichi pulled into the sliver of driveway provided in front of the gate to a longer driveway and stopped with the car left on. "Can you grab the owner's manual?"
"U-uhn..."
Ran opened the glove compartment and pulled out the owner's manual to hand it to Shinichi, who started flipping through the pages frantically as the engine continued to whir unnaturally loudly. Ran let out a small sigh and let her gaze wander outside the car, only to be confronted with the sight of an older man jogging down the road.
The man's path eventually directed itself toward their car, giving Ran some pause before the man eventually arrived. "You kids need any help with something?"
Shinichi looked up sheepishly. "We appear to be having some car trouble."
"Oh? Here, I'll let you in and I can take a look."
"Oh, you don't have to —"
"Nonsense! You're in my driveway anyway, and I daresay I know things about cars that the manual you're holding doesn't say. Here..."
In so saying, the man jogged over to the gatehouse and entered a code which caused the gate to start opening. Once the gate opened sufficiently, the man silently beckoned the teens in with a hand before jogging his way along the driveway to the mansion, leaving Shinichi to drive in slowly in his wake. The man ended up beating them to the end of the driveway, prompting him to do some stretches as he waited for the car to arrive.
Once Shinichi had stopped and pop the car hood button inside, the man bounced over to look. "What seems to be the trouble?"
"We're not sure... the car beeped at us suddenly while we were driving and the check engine light came on, then the engine started sounding like it was working overtime."
"Hmm... sounds to me like you have a dying hybrid battery."
"Oh... that's... not good..."
"Ie, it isn't — I know a good mechanic down the road from here in town who should be able to help you, but he's closed for the day. You're welcome to stay overnight and I can call in a tow in the morning."
"Oh, I... we wouldn't want to impose."
"Nonsense! Both my sons are away, so you can stay in their room for the night, it's no trouble at all!"
Shinichi hesitated slightly before turning the car off. "OK — arigatogozaimasu."
"No trouble at all, really..."
As Shinichi and Ran exited the car — the former closing the hood once he did so — the man popped the trunk open and started pulling the bags out, prompting Ran to run up to him. "Ano... we can take our own bags."
"Oh, nonsense, I can take your bags! It'll be a good warmup for my evening weights session."
The man headed toward the mansion without allowing Ran a word in response, leaving her frozen in shock before Shinichi closed the trunk to startle her back to reality. "He's... quite spry for a man his age."
"Indeed..."
The man somehow managed to open the front doors on his own before either Ran or Shinichi could offer to open them for him. "Honey! We have guests for the night!"
As the man energetically started up the stairs with luggage in tow, a younger woman arrived in the lobby from a side room with a delighted gasp. "Oh! What's the occasion?"
"They had some car trouble on the road, they need a place to stay until the mechanic's opens in the morning."
The woman turned to the teens with a genuine smile. "Welcome to our humble abode! Can I offer you something to eat?"
Shinichi recovered first from all the sights. "Oh, er... we stopped to eat back in Kaisei before we got here, so we're fine."
"Ma, if there's anything you need, just let me know!"
"Does your, er... husband usually go for a jog that late in the evening?"
"Oh, he's only my fiancé, not my husband — but hai, that's part of his routine."
"He mentioned a weights session, is that part of his... routine as well?"
The hostess flashed a salacious grin. "His exercise routine is quite thorough, I can assure you. Here, let me at least grab you some lemonade!"
With that, the hostess quickly made herself scarce, leaving Ran to look at a rather nonplussed Shinichi with a grin. "I daresay you could learn a thing or two from our host's exercise routine."
Shinichi turned back to Ran with his face screwed up. "I exercise!"
"I don't count."
Shinichi simply huffed in response.
Later that night
Shinichi locked his phone then started digging through his backpack for its charger. "I just emailed the rental agency to let them know the mechanic we'll be taking the car to in the morning and that we'd be taking a train from there."
"Oh? What happened to using the car ride as a relationship test?"
Having found the charger, Shinichi stood back up and made for the bedside table. "I think surviving a car breakdown and having to spend the night in a stranger's home is a sufficient alternative."
"This house certainly is quite large... even larger than yours, I think."
"Ee..."
As Shinichi plugged his phone in and placed it on the bedside table, he noticed under the light of the full moon illuminating the dark bedroom that some sweat had built up on his hands, which prompted him to feel his forehead with the back of his hand. Suddenly in a panic as a result of the test, he took long steps back over to his bags and frantically fished for his bottle of booster pills. Once in his hand, he stumbled back over to the bedside table while he opened the pill bottle then after pulling a pill out grabbed his water bottle off the table. He managed to sit down on the edge of the bed without mishap before popping the pill then washing it down as usual. The pill decided to take its time to work, however, leaving him to have to force off hyperventilation in the meantime.
A strong pair of arms hugged Shinichi from behind, preluding the arrival of Ran's chin on his shoulder. Shinichi smiled weakly at the gesture, unable to express his appreciation any more than that as he made an effort to calm his breathing. Out of the corner of his consciousness he heard his phone buzz twice on the nightstand, but he opted to wait out his recovery from the attack, taking in the smell of Ran's hair next to him. Eventually, his breathing and temperature evened out enough for him to venture bringing up a hand and gently running it through the back of Ran's hair.
Ran hummed contentedly at the gesture. "When we get back, I'm going to ask Shiho to see if those booster pills could be made into liquid digestibles instead."
Shinichi chuckled weakly. "Good thought..."
Now back in his right mind, Shinichi reached for his phone to check for the text he received during the episode, only to find none waiting for him. He briefly stared at his phone in confusion, but eventually put the phone down without thinking on it further, instead opting to prepare for bed — but not before planting a deserved kiss on the side of Ran's head.
Shinichi woke up to the sensation of Ran running a hand up and down his upper arm. Shinichi cracked open an eye to confirm that he had indeed fallen asleep with his head resting on her chest. In response, he shifted just enough to allow for digging his head further into her chest.
Ran let out a voiceless chuckle. "Always good to see you get a good night's sleep."
"Mmm... it always helps to have a comfortable headrest."
Ran let out a small giggle. "Any way I can help, I will." Ran shifted slightly under Shinichi's head, presumably to look out the window. "We should probably be getting up soon."
"Couldn't we just stay like this for... I don't know, another nine hours?"
"You don't want to impose too much on our hosts, do you?"
"The mechanic's won't even open for another couple of hours anyway, ie?"
"Ma, ee — but we will need to eat breakfast before then."
"... What was that again about not wanting to impose too much on our hosts?"
"You're eating breakfast, you know that's non-negotiable. Even if it weren't, I suspect our hostess would have prepared one for us anyway."
"Is our hostess even awake yet herself?"
A bloodcurdling scream from downstairs answered the question for Shinichi, prompting him to jump out of bed and yank his phone out of its charger before immediately running out of the bedroom, Ran not far behind. Once downstairs, he followed the sound of involuntary whimpering to the exercise room, where he and Ran nearly ran into the hostess frozen in shock. Shinichi looked beyond her to find her fiancé on the exercise bike, slumped dead against the handlebars, rocking in motion with the bike's auto-pedaling.
Shinichi rushed forward toward the body. "Get her out of here, Ran!"
Ran took the message and escorted the disturbed fiancée out of the room as Shinichi unlocked his phone to call emergency services. As he waited for the call to connect, he inspected the body the best he could without touching it, intent on preserving the scene as much as possible.
The moisture on his head... and the marks on his hands...
"Kanagawa emergency services, how can I help you?"
Shinichi raised the phone to his ear upon hearing the call connect. "Hai — I'm calling to report a murder."
Yokomizo Jugo carefully turned the exercise bike off with a gloved hand. "The victim's name is Kizoku Gake-san, seventy-four years old, retired. Cause of death appears to be cardiac arrest — but you're saying it's a murder, Kudo-kun."
"I am."
"And what makes you so sure this isn't just a case of his body's catching up to the fact that he was about to marry someone forty years younger than he is?"
"A couple of things —"
"Aniki?"
Jugo whipped his head around at the sound of the voice from the doorway. "S-Sango?"
Sango blinked twice. "What are you doing here?"
"... I was called here. What are you doing here?"
"... I was called here, too."
As the brothers stared at each other, Ran squeezed into the room behind Sango. "Our hostess has taken to bed, she..." Ran trailed off as she saw the two brothers wallowing in confusion.
Shinichi took pity. "Ne, Ran... when you took the fiancée out of the room, did you call the police as well?"
"Ee, I — what do you mean, 'as well'?"
Shinichi groaned. "This mansion must reside on the prefectural border — I called the police from the Kanagawa side of the mansion, you called the police from the Shizuoka side of the mansion."
Ran looked between the two inspectors briefly before letting out a resigned sigh. "Ma... I spoke to our hostess before she went to bed. She went to bed last night before her fiancé had finished his weights session. His usual schedule is to take a bath after his weights session then follow her to bed, but she said he would sometimes do another round of the exercise bike after his bath before going to bed."
Jugo came back to Earth. "And that would be a perfect scenario in which to have a heart attack."
Shinichi shook his head. "It would, but this wasn't a heart attack — here, take a look." Shinichi, his hands now gloved, took one of the victim's hands and showed it to the inspectors. "Note the bruises on his palm — he clenched his fists so tightly that his fingers left bruises. That sort of bruise pattern typically indicates death by electrocution."
Sango scratched his head. "So... the bike electrocuted him?"
"The bike has no exposed wiring, so I doubt it — more than likely, he was electrocuted while taking his bath."
"What makes you say that?"
"Notice the residual dampness of his hair and head — he didn't bother drying himself properly before going biking, likely because he was already dead."
Jugo dropped an eyebrow. "That could just be dried sweat from the biking."
"The moisture on his person does not have the proper salinity to be sweat."
"... How did you evaluate —"
"I checked the bathroom upstairs before you got here and found scorch marks around one of the wall outlets, which indicates the murderer plugged something in and dropped it into the bathtub while our victim was bathing. That should rule out the fiancé as the murderer, incidentally — she doesn't have the strength to carry him down the stairs and stage him on the bike like this."
Jugo sighed. "Ma, since the body is in Kanagawa, I'll take jurisdiction —"
"Not so fast — the body may be in Kanagawa, but the scene of the murder itself is on the Shizuoka side of the mansion."
Sango blinked. "So... I should take jurisdiction?"
Shinichi turned back to Ran. "I don't suppose our hostess told you where our victim's sons are?"
"Ee, she..." Ran involuntarily let out a small giggle.
"What is it?"
"Ah, gomen, it's just... apparently his two sons are twins as well."
Jugo and Sango simultaneously went dot-eyed. "Eh?"
"More than that: one of them is in Kaisei, the other is in Gotemba... one in each prefecture."
Shinichi let out a short sigh, intent on not focusing on the coincidence. "Then I propose a division of labor: you and Jugo-keibu will talk to the son in Kaisei, while Sango-keibu and I talk to the son in Gotemba."
To Ran's surprise, Jugo decided to strike up a conversation as they exited his car. "Out of curiosity, what were you two doing at the Kizoku mansion in the first place?"
"We were driving to Osaka when our car broke down near there."
"Why were you driving instead of taking a train?"
"It's a long story..."
Jugo held the door to the bank open for Ran. "What's in Osaka?"
"We're just meeting up with a couple of friends of ours."
"Ah — that explains why Kogoro-kun isn't with you, I suppose."
"Ee..."
"Just as well..." Before Ran could consider whether she should feel offended by the interjection, Jugo arrived by the manager of the bank. "Kizoku Hokubu-san?"
The man in question turned from his conversation with a teller. "Hai?"
"I'm Yokomizo Jugo-keibu from the Kanagawa police, and this is Mouri Ran-san. We're here —"
Hokubu beckoned them to the side away from the tellers. "Is this about my father?"
"Ee — how do you know about that?"
"His fiancée called me to let me know earlier this morning. Terrible way to go..."
Ran took the chance to interject. "We have reason to believe he was murdered, Kizoku-san."
Hokubu turned his head and fixed a hard gaze at Ran, which lasted uncomfortably long for her before he turned back to Jugo. "What is she doing here, exactly?"
Jugo didn't miss a beat. "She's assisting us with this investigation, and you'd do well not to insult her intelligence."
"You're making it sound like I'm a suspect."
"Can you account for your whereabouts last night?"
"I live alone in my apartment here in town, so ie, I can't. If I had known I would be accused of murder, I would have invited someone over."
Ran raised her chin in the wake of the man's consternation. "You stand to inherit a sizable portion of your father's estate upon his death, do you not?"
Hokubu kept his gaze on Jugo for a few seconds before turning to Ran. "First of all, as you can see from the fact that I own this bank branch, I am independently wealthy, so I have no need for my father's riches. If you're looking for someone actually needing that money, then you needn't look any further than my flighty excuse for a brother. He puts up a good front, but he's about as deep in debt as one can be while still being able to keep appearances."
Jugo held up a hand to interrupt. "We're already talking to him."
"Second of all, even if I did need the money, it would be for naught — my father recently wrote a new will that leaves everything to his fiancée. My brother and I won't be seeing a single yen."
"We're going to need to see that will."
"Mochiron." Hokubu beckoned over a secretary. "Please escort these two down to the will vault."
As the secretary silently invited Ran and Jugo to follow, Ran spotted a television playing a cooking show — and stopped upon seeing the host. "Is that —"
Hokubu sighed. "Hai, my brother and I are twins — I assure you, that's where the similarities between us stop."
Ran nodded absentmindedly, then froze again in shock at the next person to come on screen.
"Ah! I thought the name sounded familiar!"
Shinichi raised an eyebrow in Sango's direction as they entered the stage wing. "What do you mean?"
"Kizoku Senryo! He's a famous TV cook in Shizuoka! I've watched all his shows! I'm surprised you've never heard of him."
"Does he even broadcast outside of Shizuoka?"
"I... don't know."
Shinichi simply shook his head as they came within hearing distance of the studio stage. "Thank you! Now, for my next demonstration, I will need a volunteer from the audience." The man in the front of the camera made a show of looking through all the hands that shot up before landing his eyes on the occupied stage wing — and widening them as a result. "Ara, ara, I do believe I've found the perfect guest for the occasion!"
Uh oh...
"Come on down, young man! If you are who I think you are, then is this the segment for you!"
Somewhat in shock, Shinichi found himself being pushed forward by an enthusiastic Sango, then subsequently bombarded by a few gasps and a renewed round of applause. Senryo walked out of frame and all but dragged Shinichi the rest of the way to the counter separating the two of them from the camera, all smiles the entire way.
Once back in frame, Senryo placed a hand on Shinichi's shoulder and turned back toward the camera. "I have with me now a young man who has been making quite the splash in Japan over the past few years, none other than teen detective Kudo Shinichi! Now, Kudo-kun, how often do you cook for yourself?"
"Er... never..."
Senryo let out a giggle. "Living entirely on take-out, are we?"
"Usually my girlfriend cooks for me..."
"You hear that, ladies? He's taken!" Shinichi found himself holding back a peculiar sense of PTSD at the responding soprano titters in the audience — Senryo seemed none the wiser. "In that case, I have what should be a simple job for you: do you know how to separate egg yolks from egg whites?"
"I... know how it's done, but I've never done it before."
"Ma, today's your lucky day! Here!" Senryo reached under the counter and pulled out a small batch of eggs. "The recipe we're working calls for five eggs — I'll help you with the first egg. First, you want to crack the egg..." — Senryo cracked an egg against the counter — "... then you want to separate the shell into two halves with the yolk in one half..." — Senryo did as commentated — "... and then, over a bowl, you want to start gently shuffling the yolk back and forth between the two halves." Senryo began the motion of shuffling the yolk. "The act of doing so naturally lets some egg white fall into the bowl below while the yolk remains in the egg shell, and we repeat until all the egg white is in the bowl."
Once proffered the egg shell halves, Shinichi took them and tentatively started the requested motion. "Seems simple enough..."
"That's the spirit! While my friend here is working on his five eggs, I've already started melting two tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. The foam has now subsided, so I am ready to start whisking in two tablespoons of whole wheat flour." Senryo started pouring in and hand-whisking the aforementioned flour. "Your parents live in America, do they not, Kudo-kun?"
Shinichi managed to keep his focus on the eggs as he responded. "Ee, they do..."
"You should feel right at home with this recipe, then — it's an American recipe for an egg soufflé."
"Can't say my parents have ever had anything like that..."
"Then you should keep this recipe in mind next time you visit them, then!" Senryo let the audience laughter die away before continuing. "It's a healthy recipe, too — and vegetarian, for those out there who are interested! Not vegan, of course, on account of the eggs, but, really, 'vegan' is just a synonym for 'starving'."
Shinichi suspected Senryo hit on an inside joke with the audience given the audience's raucous response to the quip, but didn't deign to comment, instead continuing on with separating yolks from whites. Ran and Shiho did say to cut back on red meat...
"You'll see now that my whisked mixture has begun to brown. At this point we want to turn the heat down to low and slowly — repeat, slowly — add in one cup of milk. We want to keep whisking as we do that, it's important that we don't allow any lumps to form. OK — now that we've added all the milk, we can turn the heat back up to medium, and now we need to keep whisking until the mixture begins to thicken. How are the eggs going over there?"
"I... just finished my first egg."
"Excellent! You're in no rush, I assure you, the thickening process takes a while to start." Senryo waited for Shinichi to crack the second egg and start the separation process before speaking again. "You see, folks, he's a natural!" The host allowed the audience another bout of laughter. "So, Kudo-kun, what brings you by our fine establishment here?"
Shinichi kept the separation motion up. "Ma... I was actually on my way to Osaka —"
"Ah, Osaka, the self-proclaimed food capital of Japan!"
"Ee, so I've been told many times..."
Senryo allowed himself a sensible chuckle alongside the audience. "Hai, they are quite proud of their self-assigned status — and for good reason! Those of you who regularly watch the show know that we regularly feature recipes from the Kansai region. If you're interested in any of them, you can head on over to our website at the URL showing on your screen right now and peruse our back-catalog of shows and recipes — and the site now sports a search function! Looks like you're catching on with the separation process, Kudo-kun!"
Shinichi set aside the second egg's shell and picked up a third egg with a nod. "Ee..."
"So you're on your way to Osaka, eh? And you decided to stop by here?"
"Ma... I ran into a case on the way."
"Ahhhh, does that mean you're here to interrogate someone?"
"... You could say that."
"I trust you're not aiming to interrogate me live on the air, are you?"
Shinichi found himself mentally folding at the giggles from the audience. "Er... I wasn't, ie."
"Ma, this segment won't be much longer, I promise you — and we only have one segment after that following a commercial break. Once that's over I'm all yours for questioning, my friend."
Shinichi tentatively nodded as he finished the third egg and moved on to the fourth. "Thank you."
"And may I just say, it is a pleasure to have you with us for this — and I'm sure this girlfriend of yours will be served all the better by having you as a helpful addition to her kitchen routine!" The audience laughed at the interjection, which only seemed to embolden Senryo. "I must say, I envy the woman who has a man quite that dextrous with separating out egg yolks!"
The audience simply roared with laughter as Shinichi, now feeling under duress, finished off the fourth egg and started on the fifth. Must you?
Senryo's laughter was the last to die down. "Ah, you're making good time, Kudo-kun! Now, when you're doing this at home, folks, the thickening process I mentioned usually takes about five minutes to begin. In the interest of time, I cheated a little and brought the heat up higher so that it begins sooner — I wouldn't recommend doing that at home. Now that it has begun to thicken, we want to remove the pan from the heat, then add in some salt and pepper for taste. I see that the egg yolks are ready now!"
Shinichi set aside the final egg's shell. "Ee..."
"Perfect! Now, Kudo-kun, if you would, please take the egg whites and place them in that mixer over there." Shinichi did as directed. "We want to mix the whites on high speed until we see soft peaks form." Shinichi nodded and did as asked as Senryo pulled the bowl of yolks toward him. "While he's doing that, we want to whisk in the egg yolks into our milk and flour mixture, very quickly! It's important that the mixture be off the heat before doing that, as we don't want the yolks to cook at this point. Ah, you see, there are those peaks now!"
Shinichi allowed himself a blank glance at the mixer's contents. "I'll take your word for it..."
Senryo allowed himself another laugh. "Now here comes the fun part!" Senryo turned off the mixer and pulled it toward himself. "We now want to pour our yolked mixture into the fluffed egg whites, then with a rubber spatula we want to carefully fold the two together. It's important we don't crush all the air out of the egg whites as we do this, else we will lose the fluffy quality of the final product. Once folded, we then want to scoop the mixture into a greased nine-inch round baking dish." Senryo did as commentated. "And now, we place the dish into our oven preheated to 200˚C and bake it for about 25 minutes. There, was that so hard?"
Shinichi allowed himself a light chuckle. "Ie, it wasn't."
"Of course it wasn't! Now, I already had a soufflé baking ahead of time so we're not all waiting 25 minutes to see the final result." Senryo traded the unprepared dish for a prepared dish in the oven. "It's important that you serve the result right away, else the soufflé will 'fall' on you!" Senryo pulled out two spoons. "Bon appetit, Kudo-kun?"
"S-sure..."
Shinichi took the proffered spoon from Senryo, and the two men sampled the completed soufflé, the latter watching the former intently for his reaction. Eventually, Shinichi involuntarily let out a moue of pleasure — much to the cook's evident delight — and automatically made for a second serving.
Senryo laughed along with the audience at the response. "I see we've made him uncharacteristically at a loss for words, folks! I encourage you to try this recipe at home to get the same result from your spouse! We'll be right back after a short commercial break!"
Shinichi startled slightly at the sound of the show's jingle blasting through the studio speakers, but nonetheless found himself a little tunnel-visioned with the soufflé. This is what I get for not having breakfast, I suppose...
The manager of the will vault greeted Ran and Jugo at the door to the vault office as they arrived. "Ah, you must be the police! Kizoku-san told us you were coming."
Jugo nodded. "Ee — we'd like to take a look at the will for his father, Kizoku Gake-san."
"Very well — right this way..." The will vault manager led the pair to a large vault door, which she opened after entering in a code into the keypad she kept hidden from the two.
Ran briefly looked back at the rest of the office as the vault door opened. "Ano... couldn't you just pull it up on a computer?"
"Estate planning documents are legally required to be on physical mediums — the only thing we track digitally is where those physical documents are stored."
"OK..."
Now inside the vault, the manager walked through the stacks until eventually arriving where she apparently knew to go. She then took a box from the shelf and opened it to shuffle through its papers. Eventually, she let an eyebrow drop as her shuffling became more frantic.
Jugo raised an eyebrow of his own. "Is there a problem?"
"It's... not where it's supposed to be."
"You mean the will has gone missing?"
"It's in this office somewhere, it has to be — it's just not filed in its usual place." In so saying, the vault manager closed the box and returned it to the shelf before stepping out of the vault and into the will office at large to start searching through its desks.
Jugo seemed unimpressed. "It can't be a coincidence that our victim's will has gone missing."
Ran scratched her cheek in thought. "Hokubu-san probably has free access to the vault like she does, so he could have taken the will."
"He could have... but why burgle the will if it means we wouldn't be able to verify his claim about a new will?"
"Perhaps because there is no new will?"
"Why lie about that when covering for the lie would just point the finger back at you anyway?"
"Maybe we could ask her about the will once she's done searching?"
"However long that takes..."
Ran sighed and pulled out her phone. "I'll text Shinichi to let him know what we've found."
Senryo walked right past Shinichi and Sango as he exited through the stage wing. "We'll need to make this quick, I have a schedule to keep. What do you want to know about my father?"
Left with no other choice, Sango started walking after Senryo, Shinichi following not far behind. "You should know the M.E. was able to confirm the cause of death: it was definitely electrocution."
Senryo did little more than raise an eyebrow as he kept walking down the backstage hallway. "Electrocution? You mean that exercise bike of his had loose wires?"
"He was actually electrocuted elsewhere then staged on the bike."
Shinichi decided to jump in. "We talked to one of your assistants — she indicated you recently purchased a shipment of toasters stored here on the set. We checked and one of the toasters is missing."
At that implied accusation, Senryo finally stopped in his tracks and turned toward Shinichi and Sango with a look of incredulity before shouting over his shoulder. "Hosa-kan!" Senryo returned his gaze toward Shinichi. "You're about as subtle as a train wreck, you know that, right?"
"Can you account for your whereabouts last night?"
"Ie, I can't, I live alone — and thank you for making me regret that."
Sango stepped in. "It's not hard to put together, Kizoku-san. With the missing toaster and the fact that your father's will has gone missing, we have —"
Senryo let out a bark of laughter. "Did my brother put you up to this?"
"... Er..."
"This is just like him, you know? I bet he told you all about how 'flighty' I am, about how I'm somehow barely breaking even financially despite my show's flourishing. Ma, you should know his banking scheme is not exactly in the black itself — he managed to sign quite a few idiots to variable-rate loans who have, predictably enough, been unable to pay them back. An injection of father's cash would go quite a ways for him — if he tells you he's 'independently wealthy', he's kidding both you and himself."
At that moment, a young woman appeared at Senryo's elbow. "You called for me?"
"I understand one of our toasters has gone missing — find it and return it."
"Hai!"
"See these two men out first before you do."
"Wakarimashita."
"Gentlemen, I'm about to be late for a trip to Korea — do keep me apprised of the actual investigation." With that pronouncement, Senryo immediately made himself scarce, leaving Sango and Shinichi to look at each other unsatisfactorily.
"Your father's will has gone missing."
Hokubu turned around at the sound of Jugo's voice, ostensibly startled by his and Ran's sudden presence. "Come again?"
"Your father's will has gone missing."
Hokubu stared at nothing in particular for a beat, then started briskly walking away from them toward the will vault — only to be stopped by Ran grabbing his wrist. "Don't bother, we already talked with your will vault manager."
Hokubu fixed a hard look at Ran. "If it's all the same to you, I need an official report from her if a will has gone missing."
Jugo gently removed Ran's hand from Hokubu. "She'll give it once she's finished searching every inch of the vault office. In the meantime, she did tell us that the automated vault entry logs have an unaccounted-for opening two nights ago. We hardly think it's a coincidence, I'm sure you'll understand."
"Did my brother set you up for this?"
"... Eh?"
"He told you some wild story about my bank's going under, didn't he? Just like him to deflect suspicion like that — he probably impersonated me to get into the vault two nights ago, for all I know, knowing I'd tell you all about the new will. That man is going to be the death of me..."
"If it's all the same to you, we'd still like to —"
"Am I under arrest?"
"... Ie, you're not."
"Then if it's all the same to you, we're done here. I need to go prepare for my trip for Hokkaido tomorrow — I trust you're able to see yourselves out."
With that dismissal, Hokubu turned and stomped away into his office — leaving Ran to roll her eyes. "When I was younger, there was a time I wanted a brother. If I had known it would be like this..."
"Tell me about it."
Ran sent a screwy eyebrow toward Jugo, who didn't acknowledge it as he made his way to the exit, leaving her to catch up. Once outside and at the car, she felt her phone buzz in her pocket, prompting her to pull it out and inspect the caller ID.
Ran beckoned Jugo over toward her as she answered the call. "You have me and Jugo-keibu."
"Any luck on your side?"
"He accused his brother of framing him before we could get him to answer any questions."
"... Funny, that's exactly what happened with us."
Jugo let out a breath through his nose. "If this weren't a murder case, I'd feel some sympathy for this guy."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Jugo didn't so much as flinch at the sound of his brother's voice. "Anyway... we'll need to figure out next steps."
Ran looked back toward the bank. "It'll have to be soon — Hokubu-san said he's travelling to Hokkaido tomorrow."
"Senyro-san said he's taking a trip to Korea as well — sounds like we don't have much time on either front."
"Ee... maybe if we —"
"Matsu... time..."
Ran raised an eyebrow. "What is it, Shinichi?"
After another pregnant pause, the teen detective responded quickly. "We should all meet again at the mansion."
The call immediately went dead after the instruction, leaving Ran to feel Jugo's questioning gaze on her.
Jugo raised an eyebrow as Sango approached where he and Ran stood waiting in the mansion basement. "Do you know what this is about?"
Sango shrugged. "He just told me to wait down here and that he'd be back."
"That kid certainly has a flair for the dramatic..."
You don't know the half of it...
After a small awkward wait, Ran felt her phone buzz and answered it. "Moshi moshi?"
"On my mark, I want you to pull the master breaker then close the breaker box. Are you ready?"
After a split second of shock, Ran looked toward the breaker box and opened it before locating the master breaker. "Ready!"
Jugo appeared disturbed by the development. "What are you —"
"Shh!"
"... Mark!"
Ran pulled the master breaker, leaving her and the two police detectives in the dark. "Now what?"
"I'll be with you presently."
The call ended, prompting Sango to express his own confusion. "What is he doing?"
"He said he'll be here in a moment."
"Any particular reason we have to be in the dark while we wait?"
"I'm sure he'll explain when he gets here."
"Mo... aniki, you weren't kidding about his flair for the dramatic."
Ran raised a sarcastic eyebrow. "Have you met his mother?"
Another awkward wait later, Shinichi showed up in the basement to make his brisk way to the breaker box, then opened the breaker box and pulled the master breaker again before stopping a timer on his phone. "Forty-five seconds — that's how long it takes to get from the bathroom to the breaker box, and that's if I jog most the way here."
Jugo dropped an eyebrow. "What does that timing have to do with anything?"
"Last night, when Ran and I were preparing for bed, after we had turned off the lights for the night I plugged my phone in to charge. Not even thirty seconds later, we heard my phone double-buzz again while we were... distracted by something else. I had assumed at the time it was for a text message, but when I checked my phone there was no text waiting for me."
Sango raised his brow. "You're thinking that's when the power outage from the toaster drop was — and your phone buzzing again was responding to being 'plugged in' again!"
"Ee — and given how little time there was between the double buzzes, there's no way the murderer was able to get downstairs and jigger the breaker in time to match what we observed. He could have ran, but then Ran would have — er, Ran and I would surely have heard it at the time."
Jugo raised his chin. "You're thinking there was an accomplice."
"Ee — which leads me to wonder if the point of the twins' pointing their fingers at each other wasn't so much to deflect suspicion from one to the other... but rather to deflect suspicion from the both of them."
Sango nodded. "You think the twins were in it together."
"Correct — one twin performed the murder, the other twin jiggered the breaker after the resulting outage."
Jugo shook his head. "That's a great theory, but we don't have any hard proof to support it."
Another thought came to Ran which elicited an involuntary gasp. "Maybe we do!"
Hokubu entered the gatehouse without even attempting to hide his impatience. "What is this all about? You're coming dangerously close to making me late for my business trip."
Senryo pumped a nod, having evidently lost his own patience while being forced to wait for his brother. "Hai, I'm about to be late for my own trip. What's with the subterfuge?"
Shinichi sent a look toward Ran and waited for her nod from the gatehouse computer before turning back toward the twins. "It should be of interest to you that we've determined your father's murder was executed by two perpetrators."
Hokubu raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Is that so? And why have you invited us to the gatehouse to tell us that instead of continuing with searching for those perpetrators?"
"What's to say we can't do both?"
Senryo pinched the bridge of his nose. "I understand this is all fun and games for you, but a man is dead. Can you —"
Ran finally piped up from where she sat. "Not many mansions have a gatehouse like this one, you know that? When Shinichi and I ended up here, it struck us as rather inefficient that there was no external keypad to allow for a car's driver to enter in the keycode — your father instead went into this gatehouse to enter the code to let us in. We didn't think much of it at the time, but then it occurred to us later... that maybe there's an automated component to this gatehouse we didn't witness."
Ran stood and adjusted the computer monitor to face the twins. "A number of cars are paired up with this gatehouse such that when one of these cars approaches the gatehouse, the gate opens automatically without having to enter in any code. That includes the cars the two of you drove here, as we witnessed a few moments ago. You'll note that the gatehouse has therefore logged your entries this evening into his historical records — just like it did last night as well."
Shinichi observed the twins' reactions closely as Ran spoke. Upon the revelation that their entrance was logged last night, both twins froze tensely, then looked at each other with veiled anger, then dropped their heads defeatedly.
Eventually, Hokubu snapped his head back up. "It was Senryo's idea."
"... Oi!"
"He said he would get off my back for money if I helped him with staging our father's death."
"I wouldn't have asked if I knew you'd botch the handling of his will!"
"I wouldn't have followed through if I knew you wouldn't hide the murder weapon more effectively."
"And if you hadn't turned the lights back on too soon, maybe you'd —"
Jugo and Sango interrupted by entering the gatehouse. "I think we've heard enough."
"You're under arrest for the murder of Kizoku Gake-san."
Soon enough, Jugo and Sango had split the arrests of Hokubu and Senryo respectively. Shinichi turned to look at Ran with a smile as she returned the computer monitor to its previous state, proud of her role in exposing the murderers.
Eventually, Ran ostensibly felt Shinichi's gaze on her and turned with an eyebrow. "Shinichi?"
"Hai?"
"You're letting our ride get away, are you not?"
Shinichi realized with a start what she meant, then immediately bolted out of the gatehouse to go ask Sango for a ride to the train station.
Notes:
I totally made up the car trouble issue here — definitely isn't informed by personal experience, no sir...
I fear my lack of experience with the country of Japan may betray itself here: it's at least true in the United States that estate planning documents are legally required to be on physical mediums, but I have no idea if the same is true in Japan. There's damn good reasoning for its being the case in the U.S., though — for reasons I can't really go into without doxxing myself — so I certainly hope it is the case in Japan as well.
Also, friendly reminder that I am a vegetarian — if you are a vegan, we are not the same, I assure you.
Chapter 24: Couples' Retreat
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
"Look at that, Kudo — we managed to make it here without running into a crime scene!"
"... Really, Hattori? You're going to tempt fate by saying that out loud?"
"Ee, Heiji, shame on you — especially considering where we are."
"Besides... I think that has more to do with our having Kazuha-chan drive us here rather than Hattori-kun."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence..." Heiji resolutely ignored the snickers of the other three teens as they arrived at the reception desk. "Appointment for four under Hattori?"
The young woman at the desk shot up from her seat. "Ah, hai! We've been expecting you! Please, follow me."
The woman walked out from behind the desk and beckoned the quartet to follow her into the back room, who did as instructed. Once inside, the woman moved past the four massage tables and pulled out four rolled-up towels from a shelf.
The woman started handing out the towels to the teen as she spoke again. "Here are your towels. Men's changing room is on the right, women's changing room is on the left."
Kudo blenched first. "Er... do we have to divide by —"
"I will go gather your masseuses now. Just say the word when everyone is ready on the tables with towels placed and they will come in to start your session!"
Providing no room for further questions, the woman exited out the back, leaving Heiji and Kudo to look at each other awkwardly for a moment as Ran and Kazuha went to the women's changing room without missing a beat. Eventually, the two young men shook their heads and went into the men's changing room.
Once inside, Kudo briskly went off to one side of the room. "I stay on this side, you stay on that side."
"You took the words right out of my mouth." Heiji made for the other side of the room and turned his back to Kudo as he started disrobing. "So... have you told her yet?"
"Told whom what?"
Heiji felt an eyebrow twitch. "Oh, come on, Kudo, you shouldn't be evading that question."
"Your habit of being unspecific with your language is going to get you in trouble one day."
"I'm being serious, Kudo —"
"In fact, I'm pretty sure it already has..."
"Damnit, Kudo! Why haven't you told her yet?"
"You really want to talk about this now?"
"You said last time you and nee-chan had only just got into a good place. Are you going to say the same now?"
"Hai, we're having quite a bit of sex now, if that's what you're asking."
"I... that..." Heiji suddenly felt very aware of the amount of clothes on the floor. "I gotta be honest, I didn't expect you to be that open about it."
"Why, because you haven't done it with Kazuha yet?"
Heiji blanched. "I... how..."
"Your body language practically screams as much, Hattori."
"But... how am I supposed to know if she's ready for it?"
"Whose idea was this couples' massage session, again?"
"... It was Kazuha's." Heiji could practically hear the weight of Shinichi's responding silence. "Why?"
"She's really going to have to hit you over the head for it, won't she?"
"What do you mean?"
"You're literally about to spend upwards of half an hour with her in a situation where both of you are naked and it was her idea. I don't know how much more I'm supposed to spell it out."
"But you and nee-chan will be there, too."
"And that's her get-out-of-jail-free card in the event you were too dense to realize what she was going for."
"I — stop changing the subject!"
"I can recommend a good brand of condoms, if you haven't bought any yet."
"Kudo!"
"You're going to shout in a massage parlor?"
Having heard Kudo's voice shift, Heiji found the courage to turn around and grab his wrist before they exited the changing room in their towels. "Mark my words, Kudo: your having kept it from nee-chan that her father's sleep-talking habit was your doing is going to come back to bite you — and knowing you, it will come at the most inconvenient time possible."
Kudo took in and let out a deep breath. "We're here for a couples' massage session with our girlfriends, Hattori — let's try to keep everything civil, ne?"
Kudo left the changing room without waiting for an answer, leaving Hattori to curse under his breath before following him out. No more words passed between them as they placed themselves face-down on two of the massage tables, and the silence remained even as Ran and Kazuha returned to take the tables next to them, only to be broken briefly by Kazuha calling out that they were ready. The masseuses doubled the population of the room but did nothing to alleviate the quiet, the massages instead continuing the silence.
Heiji found himself wanting for a body to drop to do something about the tension in the room.
A thought suddenly occurred to Ran as the train doors closed on them. "Oh! I meant to ask earlier — what did Hattori-kun yell at you for?"
Shinichi turned to Ran with a blank look. "Hmm?"
"When we were in our changing rooms, Kazuha-chan and I heard Hattori-kun shout your name."
After a moment of ostensible confusion, Shinichi looked away with a muted chuckle. "Hattori didn't take it well when I told him the subtext he missed from Kazuha's suggesting the couple's retreat."
Ran gasped then let out a giggle. "He's not that good with signals, is he?"
"As competitive as he is with me about our relationships, you'd think he'd be better at picking things up like that."
"To be fair... I had to hit you over the head with it as well." Shinichi simply let out a chuckle but didn't respond, leaving Ran to inspect his faraway look. "Shinichi?"
Shinichi didn't even turn. "Hmm?"
"Are you okay?"
Shinichi lightly snapped his head over. "What do you mean?"
"I don't know, you just seemed... distant there."
Shinichi's eyes shifted to the side briefly before he shrugged. "I guess... I'm just not used to coming down here without running into a case."
Ran smiled involuntarily. "We'll just have to make a habit of that, then."
Shinichi laughed breathily. "Ee..."
Ran chuckled alongside Shinichi as she rested her head against his shoulder, leaving her to take in how his heartbeat began to outpace the sound of the train tracks at the gesture.
Notes:
Again, if you're looking for smut, you've come to the wrong author.
NEXT KUDO HINT: baseball cards
Chapter 25: Metropolitan Police Detective Love Story 11
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The elevator heralded Takagi's arrival at Division One, two cups of coffee in hand though not entirely sure why he hadn't been able to hand off the second cup yet. For the first time in a while, Takagi drove into the parking deck to find Sato's car's already being parked there and empty, a contrast to their usually arriving near-simultaneously — hence Takagi's habit of bringing coffee for the both of them. Now, walking down the hallway of Division One, he trepidatiously looked around for the coffee's destination.
Eventually, she found him instead. "Takagi-kun!"
Takagi startled slightly at the sound of Sato's voice. "S-Sato-san?"
Sato beckoned over a couple of uniforms behind her before addressing Takagi again. "We got a big break on the bombing case, we just got granted a warrant for our suspect's place and are on our way out."
"Eh? When did that happen?"
"The break was late last night, the warrant came in this morning."
"I take one day off and you break the case wide open without me?"
Sato smirked. "There's a reason I'm your senior."
"H-hai, okusama..."
"Sato-san!"
Sato and Takagi stopped at the voice of the uniform. "Hai?"
The uniform indicated the casually-dressed man next to him. "We found this man trying to visit the apartment."
Sato turned to the guest. "What is your relationship with Mizo-san?"
The man blinked. "I... don't have one — I just found the baseball cards he was selling online and he invited me to his apartment to take a look at them."
"OK — we may ask you more questions later, but you're free to go for now."
"So... the cards..."
Sato ignored the implied question and walked quickly into the apartment building, leaving Takagi to rush to catch up to her as she made her way up the stairwell. Once upstairs, they were silently greeted by the SWAT unit outside the suspect's apartment, who were awaiting their orders.
Sato was only too happy to provide them. "Knock it down."
The SWAT unit was only too happy to follow the orders — they knocked the door down and rushed in to clear the apartment, leaving Sato to walk in casually in their wake. Takagi trepidatiously followed her in as various clear calls came through to indicate the apartment was unoccupied. As the SWAT officers stood down, he watched from a distance as Sato inspected the kitchenette, then dropped his gaze toward the island in front of the kitchenette.
Takagi raised an eyebrow at what he saw present on the island. "Looks like that man wasn't lying about the baseball cards."
"Ee — we have the baseball cards, but no Mizo-san."
Sato's radio came to life. "Sato-san?"
Sato plucked the radio off her waist. "Chiba-kun?"
"We just caught Mizo-san in the alley exiting the building. He appeared to arm something as we ordered him to his knees."
Sato stiffened. "Copy." Sato returned the radio to its clip and raised her voice. "Everyone clear the apartment and get everyone else out of the building! We need to call in the bomb squad!"
As she spoke, she walked around the island to start making for the door. Once on the other side, however, she froze suddenly, and very conspicuously didn't move a muscle.
Takagi furrowed his brow. "S-Sato-san?"
Sato sent a shockingly haunted face in Takagi's direction. "Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
Sato dropped her gaze. "I... I think I just stepped on a pressure plate."
Shinichi heard Ran bite back a snort as they exited the train. "What is it?"
Ran looked up from her phone with a screwy smile. "Kazuha-chan just texted me to thank you."
Shinichi involuntarily snorted himself, unable to hold back a smile as well. "I take it that means Hattori finally went for it?"
"The competition is alive and well, it appears!"
"Ma, he has some catching up to do... ara?" Shinichi's eye caught sight of one of the television monitors at the train station playing the news.
Ran dropped her smile."What is it?"
In lieu of response, Shinichi pulled out his phone, only to have it buzz in his hand before he could dial, prompting him to answer. "Is it Sato-keiji?"
After a small pause, Megure sighed on the other end of the line. "You saw it on the news?"
"'Policewoman trapped on live bomb, evacuations underway' — in what way is she trapped?"
"She stepped on a pressure trigger while trying to exit the apartment. Bomb squad indicates any change in pressure on the plate at all could trigger the bomb to detonate, so she's stuck standing as still as humanly possible in that apartment."
"What's the status on disarming?"
"The man who set the bomb armed it with a remote — bomb squad indicates the bomb could be disarmed by entering a disarm code into that remote. The man in question is uncooperative, however, so bomb squad is looking into alternatives at the moment."
Shinichi beckoned Ran to follow him. "We'll be there as soon as possible to help with the suspect. In the meantime... is Takagi-keiji there?"
"... Ma..."
"Ie."
"Takagi-kun..."
"I'm staying."
"Really, Takagi-kun..."
"Someone has to stay with you."
"Megure-keibu is going to need you."
"He can call me when he needs me."
"Seriously, Takagi-kun —"
"In the meantime, I'm going to help you keep your mind off the situation."
"... That's a nice sentiment, but as soon as I forget why I'm here, we'll die."
"OK, I chose the wrong words there. Let's just say I'm putting myself in charge of morale."
"This is —"
"Because eventually the bomb will be defused and you'll be stepping off, and I want to make sure that transition is as emotionally painless as possible for you."
"... I appreciate it, Takagi-kun... but if this bomb goes off, you and I will both die instead of just me."
"The bomb isn't going to go off."
"You don't know that."
"Sure, I do."
"How?"
"Past experience!"
"... Past experience."
"The closer I am to a bomb, the less likely it is to go off!"
"You're really going to talk to me about —"
"You know what, ee, that was in bad taste, I apologize. That doesn't make me any less confident that you'll be off this bomb in no time, though."
"I wish I shared your confidence..."
"Your wish is my command!"
Sato couldn't decide whether to groan or to smile.
"Where are we on the bomber?"
Megure looked up at Shinichi and Ran's entrance into Division One. "He demanded a lawyer before we could get in a single question — someone from the public defenders' office is talking with him now in holding."
"What do we know about him?"
"The bomber's name is Mizo Yukansei-san, 44 years old — he used to date our latest victim's sister before being jailed for bombing a neighbor's house eight years ago. He was released two months ago on a technicality and supposedly holds a vendetta against police for his 'wrongful imprisonment'."
Ran let out a moue of discomfort. "So there's not much of a chance he'll willingly give the code to save a policewoman."
Megure leaned his head as an affirmative. "We'll have to see what the lawyer can do, but I'm not holding out much hope — the lawyer seems rather fresh."
"Is that the lawyer coming now?"
Megure turned to look in the direction of Shinichi's gaze at the question to see the aforementioned lawyer nervously walking down the hall toward them. "Ee, it is."
"He looks younger than I do..."
"And that's really saying something."
Shinichi shot an unreadable look in Ran's direction at her interjection but otherwise didn't respond, leaving Megure room to speak up as the lawyer arrived. "What do you have?"
The lawyer nervously shifted his notepad to read it before clearing his throat. "He's willing to give you guys the defuse code, but only if you provide him full amnesty for any crimes supposedly committed by him and a ride to the airport after release."
Megure's eyes bulged in their sockets. "Are you kidding me?!"
"Those were his demands for —"
"In what possible universe could you even remotely consider that a good deal to bring to us?!"
The lawyer held up a shakily pacifying hand. "I know, I told him you weren't likely to take it, but he insisted I try anyway. I left him with pen and paper to come up with alternate demands in the meantime —"
"You gave him a pen?!"
The lawyer jumped at Shinichi's interrogatory. "Er... ee, how else could he —"
Shinichi didn't let the lawyer finish before pushing him out of the way and racing down the hallway toward holding. Ran followed at an equally frantic, if slightly confused, pace, while Megure stayed behind to bark orders at a nearby officer.
Once in holding, Shinichi saw that his worst fears were indeed realized, forcing an expletive out of him.
"A search of his accounts found he was recently diagnosed with stage four liver cancer."
Takagi sighed. "So this was meant as his last hurrah, I suppose."
Sato furrowed her brow. "What the hell was the lawyer thinking giving him a pen?"
"Believe me, I've already given him more than an earful on that. He'll have that death on his conscience for the rest of his life, at the least."
"He'll have more than that on his conscience if we never get the disarm code."
"We're doing everything we can to determine the code."
Takagi turned his head at the sound of someone knocking on the door. "In the meantime, the bomb squad captain is here."
"We'll get out of your way." The call hung up, much to Takagi's confusion, but he decided not to dwell on it.
The bomb squad captain tentatively entered the apartment and approached Takagi and Sato. "Here's the situation: we've been able to isolate the location of the bomb in the ceiling of the apartment below us. The problem is, we can't get our eyes on it without drilling a hole into the ceiling and inserting a wire camera snake for a visual. There's a small chance the act of drilling a hole could trigger the bomb to go off, so I wanted to make sure you were okay with —"
"Do it."
Both the bomb squad captain and Takagi snapped their focus toward Sato at the interjection. "O-OK... arigatogozaimasu."
The bomb squad captain walked away and pulled out his phone as he exited the apartment, leaving an oppressive silence behind. Takagi noted how Sato's head remained dipped with her gaze on the floor below her, not a hint of emotion showing.
Eventually, Sato closed her eyes. "Takagi... there's something I need you to do."
"... I don't like the sound of finality in that request."
"Takagi..."
"You know I'd do anything for you, but I draw the line at leaving you behind."
"Please, Takagi —"
"Besides, I'm in charge of morale here! It seems I still have my work cut out for me, but I'm not giving up."
"Takagi!"
Takagi startled slightly at the shout, but held his ground. "What is it?"
"I... I'd like to call my mother. Would you mind stepping out into the hallway?"
"... What makes you think I wouldn't want to be here while you —"
"Takagi."
"... Right... OK. I'll be right out in the hallway."
Somewhat reluctantly, Takagi left Sato's side and went out into the hallway, pausing just out the door to watch Sato very carefully pull her phone out of her pocket. Letting out a sigh, he slowly sauntered down the hall the minimum distance he figured wouldn't be in eavesdropping range — only to be interrupted by the sight of the bomb squad captain coming back up the stairs.
The bomb squad captain appeared just as surprised. "What are you doing out here?"
"She wanted some privacy to call her mother."
"OK... OK..."
Takagi furrowed his brow. "What is it?"
"We have a problem."
"What's the problem?"
The captain took a deep breath and let it out before responding. "We have eyes on the bomb now. Unfortunately, there are a number of metal plates blocking the usual means of defusing a bomb like this, so we'll be having to take extra care to get into it."
"So... it'll be longer than we thought."
"Ma... that's not the bad news."
"... What's the bad news?"
The captain's eyes quickly snapped toward the offending apartment before focusing on Takagi again. "There's a timer on the bomb."
Takagi's heart skipped a beat. "E-eh?"
"In addition to the trigger on the pressure plate, there's also a timer on the bomb. It's scheduled to go off in half an hour."
The ringing in Takagi's ears delayed his response for quite some time. "OK... OK... thank you for telling me."
"We're doing everything we can."
"I know you are..."
Rather in a daze, Takagi walked back down the hallway toward the bomber's apartment. He looked into the apartment to find Sato hanging up her call and placing her phone on the kitchen island. She kept her gaze on her phone as Takagi slowly entered the apartment.
Eventually Sato looked up at Takagi's approach, then frowned. "Is something wrong?"
Takagi's heart once again skipped a beat. "Er... I talked to the bomb squad captain in the hallway."
"What did he say?"
Takagi paused briefly before gathering his courage again. "He said there are some metal plates in the way of their ability to defuse the bomb, so it will be a little slow-going for them." Takagi forced what he hoped looked like a genuine smile onto his face. "So you're stuck with me for a little longer than you bargained."
Sato narrowed her eyes. "There's more."
"E-eh?"
"There's more you're not telling me."
"What makes you say that?"
"Takagi."
Takagi's ability to lie collapsed under Sato's gaze, prompting him to drop his own. "There's a timer on the bomb."
Sato remained frozen at the admission. "H-how much time?"
Takagi suddenly found it hard to look at Sato. "It's under thirty minutes now."
An uncomfortable silence permeated the room as the realization of the situation washed over Sato. Takagi directed his gaze toward the bomb's remote on the island next to them dissociatively, rueing its existence.
"Listen, Takagi —"
"I'm not leaving you."
"Takagi... the department can afford to lose one detective, it can't afford to lose two."
"The department can't afford to lose you, Sato-san."
"Takagi —"
"If I thought it would work, I would offer to transfer my weight for yours on the plate."
"Takagi —"
"Like Indiana Jones, only without the large bolder —"
"Takagi!"
"This isn't negotiable for me — I need to do for you what you could never do for me."
Sato remained silent, leaving Takagi room to let his gaze wander — only to pause on the sight of the baseball cards. Wait a minute...
Takagi immediately pulled out his phone and dialed the station.
"Where are we on the card collector?"
Megure exchanged a look with Shinichi and Ran before answering Takagi. "His name is Oshieru Musuko-san — 34 years old, clerk at the Elementary and Secondary Education Bureau. Other than his answering our culprit's advertisement for baseball cards, we haven't been able to find any discernible link between the two of them — the man himself was just as baffled."
Shinichi seized on Takagi's tone at the question. "Why do you ask?"
"Ma... I'm concerned about the placement of the pressure plate."
"What about it?"
"It's placed right where someone would stand to look at the baseball cards... almost as if the card collector were the intended victim rather than the police who just happened to step on it on our way out."
Megure frowned. "But the collector had nothing to do with the bomber..."
"Ne..." Everyone turned toward Ran. "You said the bomber used to date the sister of the first bombing victim?"
"Hai, I did."
"Does she have a kid?"
"... Why would —"
Shinichi put it together first. "Ah! You're thinking maybe that's why he killed the sister and tried to kill the education bureau clerk!"
"Ee — maybe he's looking for the kid his ex is hiding from him and tried to blackmail our clerk into divulging where he goes to school."
Megure nodded. "The woman in question did go into hiding not long after the bomber got out of prison — even we've had a hard time of finding her."
"The kid's name could even be the disarm code!"
"We'll get you the kid's name as soon as possible!"
"Takagi —"
"I'm not leaving."
"You're running out of time."
"We're running out of time."
"I've resigned myself to my fate, Takagi, not yours."
"Your fate isn't sealed yet."
"How much time do we have left again?"
"... We just went under forty seconds."
"Then you'll understand if I'm skeptical of any hope being left."
"I don't understand, actually."
"Why?"
"Because in just a moment, everything will be made right."
"How?"
"We got it!"
Takagi thanked everything available Sato didn't startle at the sound of Megure's voice on speakerphone. "Tell us!"
"The mother and son have been living under assumed identities, but the kid's original name is Mitsuichi Koji."
"... Mitsuichi Koji?"
"Ee."
Takagi turned to Sato with a smile. "See?" In so saying, Takagi quixotically picked up the bomb's remote and punched in what he sincerely believed would be the disarm code.
3-1-5-2...
A moment of silence hung over the proceedings after the code was entered, interrupted only by a metallic click under Sato's feet. Sato looked down below her in shock, then, after glancing over and seeing the timer on Takagi's phone hit zero, tentatively stepped forward toward Takagi. After nothing happened as a result of the perusal, she quickly flung her arms around him and hugged onto him tight.
After a moment of shock of his own, Takagi hugged Sato back. "She's off!"
A chorus of cheers permeated through the speakerphone, but its two recipients were firmly in their own world.
The EMT started rolling up his blood pressure cuff to put it away. "Your blood pressure is... actually quite low, Sato-san."
"I'm pretty sure I had something to do with that!"
"Takagi-kun..."
"And you mocked me my positivity."
"You might want to measure again, I think it just spiked."
The EMT simply shook his head with a chuckle before disappearing deeper into the EMT van, leaving Takagi alone with Sato. "I don't think he's going to measure again."
Sato let out a dry chuckle of her own. "Ie, he's not." Sato paused before ostensibly gathering herself again. "Ne, Takagi-kun?"
"Hai?"
"... Arigato."
"For what?"
"You know what."
"I do know what, I just want to hear you say it out loud."
Sato scrunched up her nose in response, but nonetheless couldn't hold back a smile at the quip. At that moment, Takagi felt a sudden rush of courage to lean in toward Sato. To her credit, Sato seemed ready for the action.
A sudden car honk from behind his back caused Takagi to jump up and turn around before following through. Out the driver side window of the offending car, Chiba waved at the two of them with a wide smile as Megure stepped out of the passenger side of the car and started walking toward them.
I owe you one, Chiba...
Megure seemed oblivious to Takagi's nervousness. "Good to see the two of you in one piece."
Takagi let out a nervous bark of laughter. "Hai..."
Sato allowed herself a reserved smirk. "It's good to be in one piece."
"And Takagi-kun — good work as always."
Takagi nodded. "The extra motivation always helps."
Megure nodded absentmindedly in response but showed no indication of leaving, prompting Takagi and Sato to look at each other awkwardly. Does he actually know, or...
"Megure-keibu!" Everyone turned at the teenaged voice to find Kudo standing by one of the back doors of the car. "The bomb squad captain is looking for you, he says he's wanting to debrief with you."
"Oh... ma... I suppose I'll have to leave it there, you two."
Takagi and Sato nodded all too eagerly as Megure walked away. Once the inspector had walked past the car, Kudo gave the two detectives a thumbs-up, directing Takagi to turn back and finish the job.
No need to tell me twice...
Notes:
Friendly reminder that you don't mess with the detectives of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police.
NEXT KUDO HINT: checkpoint
Chapter 26: Blackout Robbery Case
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Shinichi finished putting the last of the groceries into Agasa's refrigerator. "That's the last of it — you should be all stocked up for the weekend."
Agasa smiled nervously. "Arigatogozaimasu."
Ran emerged from the bathroom having stocked it up as well. "Are you sure you'll be okay on your own?"
"Ee — the only trouble was getting all the supplies, I should be able to handle myself from here."
Shinichi let out a sigh. "Of all the weekends for Shiho to take that vacation into the mountains..."
Ran raised an eyebrow. "I'd say she deserves it, don't you?"
"Oh, mochiron, it's just the timing — holing up in a cabin when a big snowstorm is forecasted to blast through here..."
"I'd say that's the best time to be in a cabin like that, wouldn't you?"
Shinichi suppressed a grin as he pulled out his phone. "... No comment."
Ran allowed herself a giggle before turning to Agasa again. "We'll be right next door if you need anything — we're about to go hunker down ourselves."
"Not yet, we aren't." Ran turned back to Shinichi, who held up his phone. "Megure-keibu texted — we're needed downtown."
"Now?"
"I'm willing to bet it's urgent considering he texted me, hai."
"As we're talking about timing..."
"We should have a few hours before the worst of it starts."
"You expect to solve the case in a couple of hours?"
"... I really have no way of knowing how quickly we can solve it until we're there."
Ran sighed resignedly. "Let's go."
Megure held open the security turnstile for Shinichi and Ran. "Sorry about calling you out here like this — we're a little short-staffed due to the impending storm, so we can take all the help we can get."
"No worries, Megure-keibu — what do we have here?"
Megure indicated the body behind the security desk. "The victim's name is Hanji Yari-san — 47 years old, security guard. The morning cleaning crew found him this morning, he'd been dead for about three hours — thief was long gone at that point."
Shinichi looked at the area of the security desk. "I take it security footage was deleted?"
"Ee."
"I didn't see any signs of forced entry on the way in. That and the blood trail on the ground indicate Hanji-san let the murderer in before being shot and dragged back to his station."
"Except he wasn't dead yet." Shinichi and Megure turned toward the sound of Ran's voice — Ran indicated the bullet in the support column next to her. "Hanji-san was able to fire off a shot before the murderer finished him off. Given the height of the bullet, it looks like it probably went through our murderer's abdomen."
Shinichi let out a small moue as he approached the bullet hole. "A through-and-through like that, there's no way she's not in a hospital."
Megure nodded. "I'll put out the word... wait, 'she'?"
Shinichi pulled out a hair from the bullet hole. "The shot left behind a hair from our murderer — a synthetic one, at that: our murderer wore a wig, presumably as part of her act to be let inside."
Megure pulled out an evidence bag for the hair. "We'll have it analyzed for anything more than that."
"You said 'thief' earlier — our murderer stole something?"
"Ee." Everyone turned toward the voice of Nakamori, who approached with a brochure in his hand. "The latest in smartwatch technology, purportedly — it isn't supposed to come out until tomorrow morning, but this store's supply of them is out in the world early. Never understood smartwatches, I have enough trouble with my mechanical watch..."
"How many are we talking about?"
"Store manager said they had 600 on-hand, including the floor models."
"Hmm... our murderer probably had a couple of people to help her carry out the wares, then, especially considering her abdominal wound." Shinichi waited for Megure to finish writing down his suggestion before piping up again. "Listen, er... are you sure you need my help with this one?"
Megure looked up in surprise. "Why do you say that?"
"Ma... you find the smartwatches, you find your thieves, who can lead you to the murderer. Seems a bit much for needing civilian help, ie?" As soon as Shinichi finished his question, the power shut down in the building, leaving nothing but the natural light from the windows illuminating the proceedings.
"Megure-keibu!" Megure turned to the uniform who ran in to greet them. "Power is out throughout the whole city — we're still trying to figure out why."
As Megure let out a sigh, Shinichi perked up. "I retract my previous objection, now I'll have the chance to try solving a murder in the Stone Age."
Shinichi resolutely ignored the skeptical eyebrow from Ran.
Megure quieted everyone standing in the Division One area with a pacifying hand motion. "OK, I think we have everyone from Division One and Division Two here. We are currently running this building on a backup generator, so that means essential functions only for electricity from here on out."
Nakamori nodded then indicated the woman standing between the two inspectors. "This is Takaiki Kairi-san from the Disaster Management Bureau — she is going to help us out with seeing Tokyo through this storm. Everyone from Divisions One and Two will be split up between manning road closures and executing rapid response — assignments are being handed out as we speak."
Takaiki nodded herself. "We have a couple of hours before the brunt of the storm reaches Tokyo, so every second counts. The word I'm hearing from those already in the storm tells me the power is not coming back anytime soon, so..."
Ran tuned out the woman's words as a motion next to her distracted her. "... Shinichi."
"Hmm?"
"I'm pretty sure charging your phone doesn't count as an essential function."
"I'm using it to solve a murder, I'd call that essential."
"What happened to relishing in solving a murder in the Stone Age?"
"Cell service isn't out yet — which is a good thing, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to see this."
Ran turned toward Shinichi as he held out his phone, then raised her brow at the photo he presented. "Is that..."
"A picture of one of the smartwatches that's not supposed to be released until tomorrow? Hai, it is."
"And this person is bragging about it on Instagram?"
"Looks like our thieves wanted to get the inventory off their hands as quickly as possible."
"As braggadocious as this guy is being, I doubt he'd tell us where he got it."
"No need — the photo still has its geolocation data."
Shinichi and Ran arrived at the offending park to a line stretching out with a few dozen people. At the end of the line was a homeless man sitting on a bench next to a pile of boxes resting on the ground. Shinichi sent a look of muted surprise toward Ran before approaching the man, who was in the middle of a sale.
"Ie, it's the real thing, I swear! And it's yours for ten thousand yen."
"Sumimasen!" Shinichi jumped up onto the bench next to the man and waved his arms. "I'm here on behalf of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department — this man is furnishing a supply of stolen wares! Please disperse so that we may question this man!" Slowly but surely, the line of potential buyers dispersed, some of them grumbling under their breaths as they did so, eventually leaving Shinichi room to sit down next to the homeless man and fix him with a stare. "Those are some fancy timepieces you have there... participated in any high robbery recently?"
"Haah? Ie, I found these. Nothing wrong with selling them..."
"You found them — where did you find them?"
"There's a bakery a few streets from here — owner there gives me some of her older goods, treats me well. I was sleeping in the alley behind it when I heard this big 'bang', right? Like something large being thrown into the dumpster. So I got up and looked inside, and there were all these smartwatches! I figure, why not make something out of it?"
"Did you see who left them?"
"Couple of tall guys were running away — it was dark and I only saw them from behind..."
Shinichi nodded slowly, then looked toward a distinctly uncomfortable-looking Ran before turning back and reaching into his pocket. "Listen... the people in this neighborhood, they'll pay way more than ten thousand yen for one of these if you let them." Shinichi pulled out his wallet and extracted the largest bill he could find, then handed to the man. "Get yourself a proper hotel room for the night — it's going to get nasty soon."
Not bothering to let the man reject the help, Shinichi promptly got up and walked away, leaving a confused Ran to catch up. "You... you're just going to leave the watches with him?"
"Why not? It's not like our thieves cared about them."
"But why dump what they stole so quickly?"
"The watches must have been a cover for something else — we need to go back to the crime scene."
"As the storm approaches, all civilians are advised to shelter at home until the storm ends..."
Ran turned back to Shinichi from the battery radio left on at the security desk. "You hear that, Shinichi? We should be going home."
"That order was for civilians — we are not civilians, we are detectives."
"... I'm sure that distinction will be received well in court."
"Here, come take a look at this." Ran let out a sigh and complied with Shinichi's beckoning, after which Shinichi handed his magnifying glass to Ran. "What do you see?"
Deciding not to ask when Shinichi got his hands on a magnifying glass, Ran used the glass and immediately saw what he saw. "This lock has been picked."
Shinichi nodded as he put a hand into one of his jacket pockets. "Ee — this lock takes us to the upper floors of this building, our thieves must have been interested in something upstairs."
"'Us'?"
Shinichi pulled out his lockpick set. "Let's go see where they went."
Ran let out another sigh as Shinichi started picking the lock himself. "And what exactly are you planning to do once we find out?"
"I really have no way of knowing until we find out."
"You don't think calling for some backup will be worth it?"
"We can't be certain any backup is available."
"Shinichi."
"This is also one of those times I talked about before, ne?"
"... One of those 'calculations', eh?"
Shinichi opened the successfully unlocked door. "Made from the best of intentions, I'm sure you'll agree."
Ostensibly considering the topic finished, Shinichi entered the now-unlocked stairwell and started making his way up, leaving Ran to follow behind after another sigh. With each floor, Shinichi looked at the door for exiting the stairwell then rejected it within seconds and moved on to the next floor.
Eventually, Shinichi found what he was looking for on the ninth floor. "Here we are — fresh signs of lockpicking from our thieves. They must have stolen something from this floor."
Ran arrived behind Shinichi as he began picking the lock. "Perfect — now you can call Megure-keibu and let him know to have someone check this floor."
"The police are tied down with the storm."
"It should be the other way around!"
"I don't necessarily disagree with that, Ran, it's just not the situation we're in."
Shinichi again physically finished the conversation with the opening of another lockpicked door, making his way into the lobby to a locked-off office space. Not even waiting for Ran to catch up, he dropped to his haunches to inspect the lock to the glass doors, then evidently satisfied with what he saw prepped his lockpick tools again.
Ran read the sign on the doors. "An architecture firm?"
"This would appear to be our thieves' actual target, ee."
"But what —"
Before Ran could finish her sentence, a man suddenly appeared behind the glass door brandishing a screwdriver. "I've already called the police! Leave now and we can forget this happened!"
Shinichi seemed unperturbed. "We work with the police, ojisan, no need to get them involved."
"How can I know you're telling me the truth?"
"We don't have time for this — your firm was the target of a robbery last night, we need to come in and see what they stole."
"I don't believe you!"
Ran put a hand on Shinichi's shoulder. "Seriously, Shinichi, let's just call Megure-keibu and —"
"Wait — Kudo Shinichi?"
Shinichi briefly closed his eyes in frustration. "Hai."
"Why didn't you say so?! Here, let me open the doors for you." The man pocketed his screwdriver then badged open the door and held it for the two teens to enter. "Listen, I... I'm only squatting here because... you know, I figured if there's not going to be any power, then... I might as well be at work getting something done rather than stuck at home doing nothing, you know?"
Shinichi started for the nearest filing cabinets. "I understand."
"Just... don't tell my boss I was here, OK? This company... doesn't take too kindly to squatting."
Ran made for the nearest window to look outside. "We won't tell anyone."
"Anyway... I didn't see anything missing when I came in, so I don't know why you're saying we were targets of a robbery last night. All our computers are still here, peripherals..."
"You're missing some blueprints."
"Eh?!"
Shinichi beckoned the squatter over to him. "A section of blueprints is missing from this cabinet — would you be able to list out what blueprints were between these two filing markers?"
The squatter pulled out a pocket flashlight to look at the markers and empty space between them. "Er... our cataloging system is fully electronic, so that's down at the moment."
Shinichi sighed in frustration. "Figures..."
The squatter snapped his fingers. "We do have plumbing and electrical schematics in another cabinet, though — they're organized identically to the blueprints. We can see if the thieves stole those as well."
"Take us to them."
One hour later
"Shinichi?"
"Hmm?"
"The storm is starting to get bad at this point."
"... Your point?"
"Maybe we should be going home."
"These schematics aren't allowed to leave the building."
"Oh, so now you're interested in the rules?"
"You're the one who suggested —"
"I didn't suggest anything, I simply said we should go home."
"These thieves aren't going to catch themselves."
"Which is why we have a police department."
"The police are otherwise occupied."
"The police are able to multitask."
"No one is able to multitask, people just tell themselves they can."
"The police are more than one person."
"Tell that to the storm to which they've been assigned."
"It's been an hour and you haven't found anything."
"On the contrary, I just found the thieves' target."
"I... you did?" Shinichi shuffled a schematic toward Ran, who looked at the title of the sheet. "The National Printing Bureau?"
"Ee — this particular facility is a depository for older currency destined for shredding. Intercept the currency before it's shredded, and you have yourself quite the score."
"Now will you notify the police?"
Shinichi pulled out his phone, then let out a moue of frustration. "My phone is out of charge — can I use yours?"
"I left my phone at home."
"You — why?"
"I didn't think we would be away this long."
"You didn't — you know what, never mind." Shinichi turned his head toward the cubicles. "Squatter-san?"
The squatter popped his head up from his cubicle. "Hai?"
"Does your phone still have its charge?"
The squatter looked back down to check before answering. "Hai."
"May we borrow it? We need to contact the police."
Without a moment's hesitation, the squatter immediately popped out of his cubicle and rushed toward Shinichi, phone proffered by an outstretched hand. With a small nod of thanks, Shinichi took the phone and dialed the MPD, then waited patiently through the dial tone.
Eventually, the call connected. "Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, how may I help you?"
"I need to speak with either Megure-keibu in Division One or Nakamori-keibu in Division Two, whichever will answer first."
"Gomen'nasai, neither inspector is in the office at the moment. Can I take a message?"
Shinichi held back a sigh of frustration. "Ee — tell them Kudo Shinichi called to say: National Printing Bureau currency depository in Hinohara is going to be robbed, in connection with security guard murder. Read it back, please."
"To Megure-keibu and Nakamori-keibu, from Kudo Shinichi: National Printing Bureau currency depository in Hinohara to be robbed in connection with security guard murder."
"Arigatogozaimasu." Shinichi hung up the call and handed the phone back to the squatter, then pumped a nod. "OK."
With that self-assurance, Shinichi immediately turned around and made for the office exit, leaving a confused Ran in his wake. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to find a snowplow."
"... Come again?"
The hospital nurse donned a screwy smile. "Ah, Takagi-kun — good to see you here as a visitor rather than as a patient."
Takagi visibly cringed. "Very funny — listen, I've managed to find a break on my snow patrol schedule, so I'm giving the hospitals another try."
"Ee — I double checked our records and we haven't had any gunshot victims in since last night."
"I know — now I'm just wanting to look for abdominal wounds of any sort. I figure maybe our criminal managed to disguise the gunshot with something else."
The nurse tilted her head in thought. "Hmm... could you hide a gunshot with a fall down the stairs?"
"... I think I'll give that one the benefit of the doubt."
"Actually..." The nurse bent over to type into the workstation. "We had a stabbing victim come in early this morning — she was stabbed in the abdomen and back. She's discharging herself as we speak, against doctor's orders — name is Naosu Kyoki."
"Where is she?"
The nurse pointed down one of the hallways. "Down that way on the right, room 24."
Takagi nodded toward the nurse and made his way down the directed hallway. Once at the indicated room, he knocked on the door lightly.
The response came after a brief pause. "I'm decent!"
Takagi tentatively opened the door and let himself in. "Naosu Kyoki-san?"
A raven-haired woman holding her side with one hand and the bed with the other winced once before answering. "Hai."
"My name is Takagi, I'm with the Tokyo MPD."
"Does this mean you caught him?"
"... Hmm?"
The woman finally looked up at Takagi. "The bastard who mugged me — did you catch him?"
"Ah... ie, not yet. Leaving the hospital so soon?"
"No insurance — I'm not a native of Japan, so I'm not covered."
"May I take a look at your chart?"
"... Sure."
Takagi sauntered over to the foot of the bed and picked up the chart to read it. "Hmm... double laceration — that must have hurt."
"... Hai, it did."
"Can you tell me what happened?"
The woman paused in confusion before dropping her gaze. "OK... I was walking down the street when... a guy in a mask came out of the alley wielding a knife, demanding my wallet. When I refused to produce it, he... stabbed me in the stomach and demanded it again, so I tried pulling it out. Apparently he didn't like how slowly I pulled it, so he stabbed me again in the back..."
Takagi tuned out the woman as she spoke as he continued looking at the chart. Eventually, he put the chart back and looked over at the woman's pile of winter wear, where he noted the scarf on top. On a closer look, he found a hair on the scarf — a blonde hair.
Takagi pulled up the hair to look at it closer. "Changed your hair color recently?"
"Er... I let my friend borrow my scarf recently, she's a blonde — must be from her."
Takagi looked toward the opposite end of the room and found a desk lamp there — he walked over to the lamp and held the hair under the lit bulb. Eventually, the action yielded the result he expected.
Takagi turned back around and held up the split hair for the woman. "This friend of yours commit a robbery-homicide recently?"
The woman froze. "What do you mean?"
"This hair is from a blonde wig — it melted under the light of the desk lamp, which normal hairs don't do. This hair matches a false hair we found at the scene of a murder of a security guard, who managed to shoot our killer through her abdomen before dying." Takagi stepped forward. "Did it hurt when you had your crew stab you twice in order to disguise the gunshot wounds?"
The woman clearly didn't know what to say. "I... I don't know what you're talking about."
Takagi pulled out his handcuffs. "Since you're insisting on leaving against doctor's orders, I'll have to insist that you do so under police custody."
"Man, I can't believe I'm getting to drive the Kudo Shinichi! And to the scene of a case, no less!"
Shinichi fought with himself not to cringe at the effusiveness of their snowplow driver. "Ee, ma..."
Ran mercifully inserted herself into the conversation from between the two. "So, Shinichi... what are we doing?"
"What do you mean?"
"Did I stutter?"
Shinichi frowned. "We're going to the currency depository in Hinohara."
"And then what?"
"Ma, if we get there before the thieves, then we'll warn those there of what's coming."
"And if the thieves are already there?"
Shinichi shifted sheepishly. "Ma... I can have a loud voice..."
"Shinichi!"
"If your concern is that I'll ask you to stay behind while I go in alone, you needn't worry about that."
"... I know you won't do that again, don't be ridiculous."
"Your confidence is overwhelming."
"They might have guns, Shinichi — you expect the two of us to be able to take them on our own?" Ran saw Shinichi snap his head up as if realizing something. "What is it?"
"I just realized... the place Hakuba is staying for the weekend is not far from the depository."
"What are you getting at?"
Shinichi leaned forward to address the driver past Ran. "This radio can make phone calls?"
"Hai."
"May we?"
"Anything for you, Kudo-sama!"
Shinichi paused slightly at the address before dialing the radio. "Safety in numbers, right?"
Ran raised an eyebrow. "I won't ask why you have his phone number memorized."
Shinichi didn't deign the interjection with a response, instead leaning back into his seat with the receiver in his hand to wait for the call to connect. Eventually, the call connected directly to voicemail.
"You have reached the phone of Hakuba Saguru. I'm under strict doctor's orders not to take any phone calls this weekend, so please leave a message and I will get back to you on Monday."
"At the tone, please leave —"
Shinichi returned the receiver to its holder with an unreadable expression frozen on his face. After another pause, he then suddenly burst out giggling uncontrollably.
Ran, previous argument forgotten, couldn't help but join him.
Takagi regarded the silent woman in the interrogation room as he applied GSR sampling strips to her hands. "You're lucky the power is out — that means it will take longer for the gunshot residue tests to come back, since they'll have to be done manually rather than the usual faster way. That gives you more time to make things easier for yourself."
The woman remained silent as Takagi finished taking the samples, prompting him to sit down across from her. "The sooner you confess to the killing of Hanji Yari-san, and the sooner you give up your accomplices in the stealing of the smartwatches, the more likely you'll be able to cut a deal for yourself. Otherwise... you'll have to deal with our hospitality for quite a while."
The woman smugly regarded Takagi. "You know what, why don't you take your hospitality and shove it up your —"
The woman was interrupted by the sound of the interrogation room door opening, heralding the arrival of Megure, who raised a curious eyebrow as he walked in. "Am I interrupting something?"
Takagi shook his head. "Nothing important, yet."
Megure nodded before sitting down next to Takagi and fixing a stare at the woman. "Now... why don't you tell us about the Hinohara depository?"
The woman simply lifted her chin unreadably at the question.
The repository supervisor walked briskly ahead of Shinichi and Ran. "I don't know what to tell you — there's no way to get onto the processing floor without the proper clearance. The entire facility is automated, Kudo-san — automated vehicles load in pallets of bank notes, automated lines process the bank notes, automated machines store the results." The man approached a computer terminal. "It's all controlled remotely from this control room. There's no way... er..."
Ran noticed the hesitation. "Is something wrong?"
"Ie, everything's accounted for... I just didn't know we were processing a load today. Machines ran through about 200 million yen..."
Shinichi raised an eyebrow. "An unscheduled shred of 200 million yen on auxiliary power?"
The supervisor shrugged. "It is weird, for sure, but nothing's missing — all the bank notes are accounted for."
"Can we see where the shredded currency is stored?" The man turned a hard gaze toward Shinichi, who rolled his eyes in response. "You really think we're here to steal confetti?"
After a moment of consternation, the supervisor relented with a sigh and badged them onto the facility floor. He then guided them to and badged them into the shredded currency storage.
The supervisor pulled out his phone to determine where to look. "Let's see... this morning's load is... over here." The man put one hand on the bale as he continued reading from his phone, oblivious of Shinichi inspecting its contents. "The process went through the 200 million yen in about two and a half hours — that's about the average rate for this facility. And it's all right here..."
"Something was shredded here, but it wasn't bank notes."
"Eh?"
Shinichi pulled out a piece of confetti from the bale. "This is regular paper stock with regular ink printing — real Japanese currency is printed on mitsumata with intaglio printing. Fake currency was shredded this morning."
"That... that's impossible."
Ran joined in to pile on. "Not if someone has the blueprints to your facility — which our thieves did have, as it turns out. They knew exactly what to do."
Shinichi pumped a nod. "Indeed — and if these bales had gone to destruction like usual, no one would even know a crime was committed. If they hadn't killed a man, I'd be tempted to let them get away with it."
"So we're not here to prevent a robbery anymore."
"Ie — we're on the hunt for our thieves before they disappear with 200 million yen."
Ran managed to find what she was looking for despite the cold. "Here, Shinichi!"
Shinichi pulled himself away from his own inspection and jogged over to where Ran stood. "Hmm... ee, this is it — our thieves got in by picking open this maintenance door."
"I'm surprised their lockpicks aren't worn to nubs."
Shinichi turned back around to look at the ground, where a set of tire tracks made themselves immediately obvious. Ran tentatively walked over to look at them herself, only to startle at Shinichi dropping down into a push-up stance to look at the tracks more closely.
After a few moments of inspection, Shinichi stood back up just as quickly. "Looks like they've commandeered a decommissioned ambulance for their work — let's get back to the snowplow and radio the MPD again, they haven't been gone for too long."
Ran simply stared after Shinichi as he started briskly walking away, eventually voicing her frustration. "Shinichi."
Shinichi stopped and turned around. "Hai?"
"I get why you said they left recently since the tracks are still mostly intact, but what makes you think they're in an ambulance?"
Shinichi blinked twice before returning to Ran's side, pointing at the tracks as he spoke. "The pattern of the tracks indicate the front wheels are closer to each other than the back wheels, which is a wheel configuration typically seen in ambulances and some moving trucks. Given the state of emergency in Tokyo, which do you think is less likely to be stopped by police?"
Ran nodded. "OK, I get it now."
Shinichi pumped a nod of his own. "Come on, we have some thieves to catch."
Megure walked back into interrogation with a piece of paper in his hand. "We have a name for you now — the emergency satellite communications we have set up with other law enforcement agencies were able to put a real name to the alias you gave at the hospital." Megure frowned at the piece of paper as he sat. "Not that I'll be able to pronounce it, since it's in German..."
Takagi leaned forward to read the sheet. "'Verehrt'?"
"That's about as close as we're going to get, I'm afraid. You're a known larcenist back in Europe, Verehrt-san — outstanding warrants in France, Spain, Portugal..."
Takagi noted another bullet point on the sheet. "Your husband is listed as a co-conspirator on the jobs for which you're wanted as well."
Megure nodded. "I understand not wanting to give up your husband, but think about it: he abandoned you to continue with the robbery even after you got shot. Is that the act of a loving husband?"
"Tell us where we can find him, and we can find you some leniency in sentencing."
The room remained silent for a solid half a minute before Verehrt lifted her chin haughtily. "You'll never find him."
Before the two detectives could scrutinize the native accent of their culprit, the door opened to a young uniform officer. "I'm sorry to interrupt, Megure-keibu — I have Kudo-kun on the radio for you. He says the depository has already been robbed?"
As Megure stared at the uniform, Takagi turned back toward Verehrt to see a smile creeping onto her face.
"How did you even get to Hinohara?"
"By snowplow." Shinichi shifted in his seat on said snowplow. "What have our friends at Interpol been saying about our murderer?"
Megure let out a sigh over the radio. "Ma... seems she had four plane tickets booked under one of her aliases for Saint Lucia the day after tomorrow."
"We don't have an extradition treaty with Saint Lucia, do we?"
"Interpol's definitely happy we caught her before that was a concern. If we don't manage to nail her here, one of her outstanding warrants is in Germany, and we do have an extradition treaty with them."
Of course we do. "If they were planning to fly commercial, then they were almost certainly looking to offload their cash somewhere — no way they're getting 200 million yen onto a plane. I don't suppose Verehrt-san had a phone on her."
"Takagi?"
"Ee — she didn't have any contacts saved, but her call history included one local number, one Dokusha Tenka-san."
Ran snapped her gaze toward the radio. "Did you say Dokusha Tenka-san?"
"Ee... you recognize the name?"
"He's a director of a horse racetrack on the southern end of Tokyo."
Shinichi nodded sagely. "Would be a perfect place to trade in some old banknotes."
Megure hummed in agreement. "We'll get some eyes on his home and work."
"Ara, ara, look what we have here..."
Miike perked up at Yumi's interjection to spot the ambulance casually pulling up alongside the sidewalk of their target's home. The ambulance's two occupants, donning the usual EMT uniforms, disembarked just as casually, making no haste as they carried EMT bags toward the front door.
Yumi placed one hand on their squad car door and the other on her holster. "Remember, Miike: they could be armed."
"H-hai..."
With that assent, the two women exited their squad car and made for the EMTs — Yumi made the first explicit move. "Tokyo MPD, don't move!"
The EMTs stopped and turned their heads before raising their hands in shock, their bags coming to grief in the process. "W-what is this?!"
Yumi kept her hand on her holster as Miike made to inspect the bags. "State your business here."
"W-we got a non-emergency call to this address! Why would —"
"So you're telling me you don't have 200 million yen in the back of your ambulance?"
"Haah? Ch-chigai!"
Miike looked up from inspecting the bags to shake her head in the wake of the medical equipment they contained, giving Yumi pause. The inspector then made for the ambulance and opened the back to look inside — only to freeze at its contents.
As Miike arrived at her side, Yumi cleared her throat awkwardly. "You want to call Megure-keibu, or shall I?"
The empty ambulance rear offered them no answer.
With the power at the police station fully back on, Shinichi could ruminate over the storm map in full color. "These thieves have been two steps ahead of us the entire time — they even knew to fake an ambulance call to Dokusha-san's home."
Ran furrowed her brow next to him. "That is weird..."
Megure walked into the map room with a sigh. "I think we have a sighting: we just got a report of an ambulance speeding past the scene of a two-car accident at the western end of Suginami at around 14:10 — would be strange if they weren't our guys."
"Indeed..." Shinichi pilfered a pencil and marked the offending spot on the map. "Where would they go from there, though? There's no way out of Tokyo for them without hitting a checkpoint or closure from the storm setup. It's not like they can will those checkpoints away."
After a moment of consideration, Ran snapped her head up. "Ne, keibu-san... do we have a dispatch log for the storm checkpoints?"
"We do." Megure walked over to the map room computer and logged in before pulling up the dispatch log. "What are you thinking?"
Ran made her own way over to the computer and started scrolling through them before stopping at a particular entry. "Shinichi, make note of these." Shinichi prepped his pencil before Ran started speaking again. "At 14:25, a stretch of Itsukaichi-kaido Avenue in Suginami was reopened after its officers were reassigned to Inokashira-Dori Street." Shinichi noted the opening on the map. "At 14:37, officers manning a portion of Ome-kaido Avenue in Nakano were directed to investigate reports of a fire which turned out to be false." Shinichi noted the diversion on the map. "At 14:53, the checkpoint at Meiji-dori and Syokuan-dori was deemed redundant and shut down."
The procedure continued for several more log entries before Shinichi straightened back up from his lean over the map. "You think our thieves have someone on the inside."
Ran nodded. "It would also explain how they knew to fake the ambulance call, since that plan's working would have been contingent on our knowing to look there in the first place."
Megure hummed. "It could also explain why our murderer is being so reticent — perhaps she feels she's holding on to a powerful bargaining chip."
Shinichi's mind started whirling. "Or... she's waiting for their person on the inside to rescue her." Shinichi couldn't help the screwy smile that grew on his face. "We'll just have to help them along, won't we?"
Takagi closed the interrogation room door behind him before sitting at the table across from the murderer. "Your luck has run out, I'm afraid — now that our power is back, the GSR results have come back to ruin you. You're going away for the murder of Hanji Yari-san, and you'll be going away for life." Takagi was interrupted by the lights flickering, to which he responded by looking up briefly. "Er... guess the power isn't as stable as we thought... where was I? Right! Your only hope at this point to reduce your sentence is to name your —"
The growing sound of shouting from outside forced Takagi to stop talking, eventually culminating in Megure poking his head in with a harried look. "Someone got stabbed in holding, we need all hands on it!"
"Eh? But what about her?"
"The door locks from the outside, she's not going anywhere. Come on!"
"H-hai!"
Takagi briskly followed Megure out the interrogation room, the latter closing the door behind them before audibly running down the hall. In response, Verehrt simply drummed her fingers on the table nonchalantly before leaning back in her chair with an air of patience.
Shinichi pursed his lips from his position in observation before turning to Ran. "Takagi once told me in confidence that he was a theatre kid in high school — much like yourself."
Ran nodded appreciatively. "Hmm... I'll have to remember that next time the TMPD has a Talent Night."
Shinichi's brain skipped a beat. "I — but why wouldn't I be your partner for that?"
"Someone needs to provide you with competition."
Before Shinichi could determine whether Ran was being serious, their radio came to life with Megure's voice. "Anything there yet?"
"Ie, nothing yet — the fake riot sounds wonderful from here, by the way."
Soon enough, the door to interrogation opened to herald the arrival of Takaiki Kairi, who threw a jacket at Verehrt. "Don't say anything — just follow me."
Verehrt wordlessly followed Takaiki out of interrogation, prompting Shinichi to return to his radio. "Our collaborators have reunited."
"Copy that — you're in position, Takagi?"
"Hai, I am."
"They have to leave the floor before we can charge them with escape, remember that."
"Mochiron — leaving my radio on now."
Shinichi nodded and waited until the sound of the stairwell door opening came through the radio, followed by the sound of a pair of footsteps. "You didn't tell them anything, did you?"
"Tell us what?"
Shinichi pumped a nod at Takagi's voice and turned his radio off. "Thus have we caught the conscience of the queen."
Shinichi read the text he received as he closed his front door behind him and Ran. "Megure texted — Takaiki is rolling on their partners as we speak."
Ran doffed her coat. "And the ambulance?"
"Right where she said it would be: they had a ship at the docks aiming to leave for Panama tomorrow morning."
"All's well that ends well..."
Ran's interjection was punctuated by an involuntary shiver, prompting Shinichi to move over to the HVAC console and reset it from the power outage. "Gomen — it will take a while for the heating to warm back up."
"That's okay — there are other ways of warming up."
Shinichi turned his head and raised an eyebrow.
Notes:
Alternate chapter title: Shinichi Throws Some Money Around Again
Okay, okay, I know — that off-screen ship is kinda out of left field. I honestly think it would make sense for her, though, if Haibara actually decided to take the antidote — though I suspect Hakuba would have to be similarly hit over the head as well, if it ever came to pass.
Also, yes, of course Ran would recognize the name of a horse racetrack director. Why wouldn't she?
Chapter 27: Bag of Wisdom
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
"Your pulse and blood pressure are normal, for a change."
"No need to sound so surprised..."
"It's good to see you're taking your diet and exercise more seriously."
"Speaking of exercise — how did last weekend go for you?"
"Give me your arm, I need a blood sample."
"Wow, way to avoid the question."
"I'd like to remind you I'm holding a sharp needle."
"Is that an indictment on the weekend?"
"It's an indictment on your asking about it."
"Then I guess I have to remind you that Ran wouldn't let you get away with whatever mutilation you're thinking about in that regard."
"Shut up and give me your arm."
"Neither would Hakuba, now that I think about it... though I suppose if you —"
"Give me your arm."
"OK..." Shinichi held out his arm ostentatiously and waited for Shiho to start the blood draw before speaking again. "No kidding, though, Shiho — you seem happier than last I saw you."
"Whose check-up is this again?"
"You don't have to say anything about why, I just want to let you know I'm happy for you."
Shiho let her eyes flick briefly up to Shinichi's before returning her focus to the blood draw. "I appreciate it."
"Just as I know you're secretly happy for my continued health."
"Whatever you say..."
"Though if you want that to continue, you should ideally leave some blood behind in my body."
Shiho allowed herself a sarcastic brow-raise as she finished the blood draw and handed Shinichi a cotton ball. "Hold up your arm with this on it."
Shinichi did as asked, then found himself freezing at the vibrations of his phone in his pocket. "Er... Shiho..."
"Fifteen more seconds."
"But my phone —"
"— can wait." Shinichi impatiently tapped his foot for the remainder of the wait as Shiho gathered her gauze and plaster. "OK — you can bring it down now."
Shinichi abruptly brought his arm down and pulled his phone out with his other hand while Shiho plastered and wrapped the wound, answering the call as quickly as he could. "Moshi moshi?"
"Kudo-kun — I almost thought you wouldn't answer."
"My hands were busy — how can I be of service, Megure-keibu?"
"How soon can you come into the station?"
"Er... it will be a few minutes before I can leave where I am now, but I can go straight there afterward. What's the occasion?"
"Someone from another division has an arrestee who's refusing to speak to them. This person is saying he'll only speak to you."
"Me?"
"Ee — and before you ask, no one would tell me who this person is."
"That's... unusual, is it not?"
"It is — I'm hoping you'll be able to report back to me afterward?"
"M-mochiron — I'll be there soon."
"An officer will be downstairs waiting to guide you to the correct place."
"Thank you."
Shinichi trepidatiously let himself into the interrogation room to which he was directed and moved to sit across from the man at the interrogation table. Once seated, he simply leaned back in his chair and waited for the man to respond to his presence.
Eventually, Mouri Kogoro lifted his head heavily, then narrowed his eyes once he identified the person across from him. The former policeman remained silent, however, leaving Shinichi time to take in the sight across from him. The older man showed quite obvious yellowing of his skin, giving the teen the impression of liver problems — Shinichi had to hold back a sigh at that observation. The bags under Kogoro's eyes also indicated frequent insomnia, making the man's apparent lethargy in looking up at him seem more reasonable.
Shinichi took in and let out a deep breath. "Refusing to talk to the police is not a good look for someone simply arrested for starting a bar fight."
Kogoro raised a suspicious eyebrow. "Since when do you care about good looks?"
Shinichi didn't know how to respond to that veiled accusation, instead opting to change the subject. "I see you haven't been following Araide-sensei's advice on cutting back on drinking."
Kogoro narrowed his eyes again. "You think I look like this from drinking?"
"... What else could it be?"
Kogoro leaned back in his chair with his eyes still narrowed at Shinichi. "You really think I wouldn't notice?" Shinichi remained silent, leaving the older man room to continue. "I always figured your leaving just represented my losing my good luck charm or something, but once you took Ran away from me I —"
"I'm sorry, I 'took' Ran away from you?"
"Hai, you did."
Shinichi bristled. "She was hardly yours to begin with."
"... What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"You're going to sit here and tell me you were a model parent to your daughter? That you were there for her any more than I was? Because that would be a particularly delusional claim."
"You can't possibly —"
"Ever since Kisaki-san left you, I was the one looking after Ran the most. Where she lived during all that time hardly mattered."
"And you think that justifies what you did?"
"What I did?"
"You were stringing us along all that time —"
"I was hardly in a position not to."
"I don't know what took me so long to realize it... Araide-sensei came to do a house call on me when he noticed the tenderness on the back of my neck." Shinichi closed his eyes in frustration as Kogoro blithely continued. "He took a sample, of course, just to make sure it wasn't some sort of cancer. It came back negative for that... but he did find trace amounts of a tranquilizer."
"And you told him it was from the Final Push, ie?"
"Mochiron — but I knew what it actually meant, as much as I didn't want Araide-sensei to know it."
"And that combined with your drinking has —"
Kogoro suddenly leaned forward and slammed the table. "Forget the damn drinking!" Kogoro calmed down enough to pull his hands back, but no more. "All that Nemuri no Kogoro business... that was your doing!"
"What, would you rather I had let all those murderers go free?"
"I would have gotten there eventually!"
"Not in a short enough time, you wouldn't have."
Kogoro paused before narrowing his eyes again. "I would have rather you just have told me and Ran from the beginning."
Shinichi looked down in thought before sighing. "Ee, so would I..."
"Call me a bad father all you want — I would have done everything I could to help you. As much as it annoys me how much Ran likes you, that doesn't change the fact that I would do anything to make her happy, even if that means aiding you in doing so."
"... I appreciate it."
"Do you?"
Shinichi looked up at Kogoro's accusatory tone to stare right into his bloodshot eyes. "Why did you start that bar fight?"
Kogoro's upper lip twitched in annoyance before the former policeman leaned back again and looked away. "I'm done talking."
It was now Shinichi's turn to be annoyed, but he gracefully didn't show it as he slowly stood and made over to the interrogation room door to knock. Soon after, the door opened, allowing him to exit under the watchful raised eyebrow of the division's inspector.
Once the door behind him closed, Shinichi allowed himself a few seconds before responding to the implied question. "Let him dry out in holding overnight, I'll post bail for him in the morning."
The inspector simply nodded and silently beckoned over one of the uniforms down the hall. As the uniform came over and went into the interrogation room, however, Shinichi's focus snapped to the observation room door's opening — which prefaced the exit of Ran into the hallway.
Both teens simply stood staring at each other — Shinichi in shock, Ran in dismay, neither saying anything for the longest time. Eventually, Ran just turned and walked away briskly, leaving Shinichi to stare at her wake, still attempting to process what just happened.
She dawdled as long as she could, but eventually Ran found herself walking back into the Kudo mansion, anxious about the conversation to follow. Her thoughts on the matter were interrupted, however, by the sound of music coming from the sitting room. Unlike the past instances of baroque music, though, the music playing now had a decidedly twentieth-century sound to it — and also had a curiously analog playback quality that piqued her interest.
Ran trepidatiously walked into the sitting room, only to stop not far from the doorway at the sight in the room. Shinichi lay on the couch like with previous listening sessions, only this time his hands lay still on his stomach and his gaze rather dispassionately remained focused on the ceiling. The source of the music, much to Ran's consternation, resided within the many cabinets in the room rather than out in the open.
Her previous anxiety momentarily forgotten, Ran couldn't hold in the question for long. "What are you listening to?"
Shinichi raised his head minutely to look at Ran, then dropped his head back. "It's Frank Sinatra."
"... Why?"
"Remember the murder case in the record store we had last year?"
"Ee, I remember..."
"The bank finally put the record store up for sale recently. Guess who bought it?"
Ran felt her heart skip a beat. "You bought a record store?"
"Ie, it was tou-san — and he sent over a complimentary record player and some samples to celebrate the occasion."
A small click heralded the arrival of the next track on the playing LP. "Saturday night is the loneliest night of the weeeeeeeek..."
Ran felt something in her own mind click. "Ne... was that the song on the record player during that case?"
Shinichi donned the ghost of a smile. "It was — I didn't think you heard me then."
"'A day early for that' — the case happened on a Friday."
"I think the record store owner was dancing to the tune before he was shot."
Ran nodded feebly, then let silence fall between the two of them as the music continued. "Until I hear you at the door / Until you're in my arms once more / Saturday night is the loneliest night of the week."
Eventually, Shinichi stirred. "Listen, Ran, I —"
"Stop." Ran help up a hand to punctuate her command, which Shinichi obeyed. "I... I just..."
Shinichi raised an eyebrow. "You just what?"
Ran felt herself hesitate again, but nonetheless gathered the courage to finish. "I just... I just need some time."
"... OK."
Over her years of knowing Shinichi, Ran could tell when he was attempting to hide his emotions. The simply offered disyllable provided a thin cover over a disappointed sadness, making Ran briefly reconsider her decision. She knew better than to change her mind, though, so she simply nodded quietly in response.
After another brief silence, Ran stirred again. "I'll... move my stuff into the guest bedroom."
Shinichi sat up abruptly. "Ie, I'll move my stuff there."
"I'm not going to kick you out of your own bedroom, Shinichi."
"... Then at least take the master bedroom instead of the guest bedroom — you could use it."
Ran had to make an effort to bite back a wave of tears before responding. "OK."
Ran walked out of the room and started making her way upstairs, knowing more than anything that Shinichi would give her the time she requested just like last time, but not being entirely certain of what effect it would have on either of them.
Notes:
So... yeah — had to break things eventually, didn't I? Admittedly, the point of division that finally gets realized here has been a little farfetched, but frankly I wouldn't be surprised if he was a little embarrassed to include that detail in his confession and would just go with it if Ran didn't work it out herself. That last conditional, however, I definitely would not expect, but... well, I had to have something, I guess. This fic idea is four years old, I hasten to say.
NEXT KUDO HINT: thumbprint
Chapter 28: View from the Doghouse
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
"Did you know?"
Sera looked up from her phone, double-checking her coffee didn't spill from the impact of two hands hitting the table before answering. "Did I know what?"
"Did you know about Shinichi and tou-san?"
"... What about them?"
"You know what I mean!"
"Honest to goodness, I don't."
"Shinichi was the reason behind the 'sleeping detective' act!"
Sera blinked once, then blinked twice. "I... you didn't know that already?"
At that innocent question, Ran threw her hands up in disgust. "Was I the only one left out of this?!"
"Shhh!" Sera frantically pulled Ran into the seat next to her with a stage-whisper. "Keep your voice down!"
"Why should I?!"
"Ma, if you found me here, then you know why I frequent this watering hole."
Ran calmed down enough to look Sera in the eye. "You're waiting for a client?"
"Hai, I am — in fact, I think that's her coming in now."
A woman who did not appear too much older than the two teens approached the table and stood tentatively across from Sera. "Ano... are you Sera Masumi-san?"
Sera stood and indicated the chair across from her. "Hai — you must be Tsuburashi Keiko-san. Please sit."
Tsuburashi sat down where indicated, then shifted her eyes toward Ran. "Is... is she..."
Sera sat after her client. "This is Mouri Ran — she's a fellow detective, she'll be with me on this case. How can we help you?"
Tsuburashi thankfully did not see the look Ran shot Sera as she nodded. "I, er... I need your help finding my ex-husband."
"Your ex-husband is missing?"
"Ma... I don't know for sure, but... he called me last night to say he wanted to meet, but he didn't show. I went to his apartment this morning but I got no response — that's when I called for you."
"Are you and your ex-husband still close, then?"
Tsuburashi dropped her eyes. "Ma... that was the first time he's called me in nearly a year, actually. I figured it had to be serious."
"Have you tried his workplace?"
"Last I heard, he was still unemployed — he got fired from his last job and hasn't looked for a new job since."
"Why was he fired?"
"Nothing nefarious, just... he wasn't taking our divorce well."
"Is there anywhere else you know him to frequent?"
"I... really don't know. Even when we were married, he was rather opaque about his life outside our marriage."
Sera allowed herself a sigh before trying another tack. "Ma... would you mind if we searched his apartment? We might be able to find clues there as to where he could have gone."
"U-uhn — let me text you his address. I'll let his super know you're coming, too."
Sera leaned over toward Ran and whispered as her client focused on her phone. "Up for a case to take your mind off things?"
Sera observed Ran carefully as she remained silent for a while before nodding minutely. This is going to take a while...
Shinichi walked.
He couldn't tell anyone for how long he had been walking. He couldn't even tell anyone why he'd left his house to walk in the first place, or whether or not he had breakfast before doing so. He simply walked down the sidewalk, leaving it up for debate if he was entirely conscious during the process.
The sound of a friendly dog's bark brought Shinichi back to Earth, prompting him to look in the direction of the sound. A rather well-groomed golden retriever sat happily panting in his direction, unable to do much more due to being tied to a pole. After a moment of indecision, Shinichi decided to approach the dog and started petting it, to which the dog seemed giddily receptive.
"Konichiwa..."
Shinichi continued petting the dog dissociatively, unaware of how much time passed around him, or of what or who passed around him. The dog, to its credit, didn't seem to mind how out of it Shinichi was, instead opting to continue its attempts to cheer the human up, however unsuccessful the efforts may have been. Eventually, Shinichi took in and let out a deep breath for the first time in recent memory.
"You know the dog's owner?"
Shinichi startled at the voice and stared wide-eyed in its direction. "Shiratori-keibu?"
"Animal control has already been called for this dog. Do you know the dog's owner?"
"... Ie, I don't. I... what are you doing here?"
Shiratori raised an eyebrow then pointed a thumb toward the building beside of them. "Crime scene — is that not why you're here?"
Shinichi snapped out of his wide-eyed stare to notice finally the squad car parked behind Shiratori, then turned his head in the direction of the pointed thumb to find police tape blocking off the entrance to an art gallery. The teen briefly began to ruminate just how out of it he had been that morning.
The inspector beside him seemed to have a similar thought. "Er... are you okay?"
Shinichi gave his head a shake to come back to reality again before walking toward the police tape. "I will be."
Shinichi heard Shiratori sigh behind him as the two of them entered the crime scene. The first thing Shinichi saw was a young man in rather Bohemian clothing being interviewed by a couple of uniforms. The second thing he saw, as he turned around to look at the wall separating off the stairwell inside from the gallery proper, was a body slumped against said wall with two bullet holes in his chest, currently being tended to by a crime scene tech.
Shiratori stopped beside a now stationary Shinichi. "The victim's name is Bikuta Finchi-san — 42 years old, owner of this art gallery. His assistant, Nagaiki Shoyu-san, found him when he came to open the gallery this morning."
One of the uniforms interviewing said assistant excused himself to approach the inspector. "One of the neighbors recalls hearing what sounded like a car backfiring at around 10:30pm last night, so that's probably our time of death, keibu. The assistant was in a night class at the art school at that time. He also says nothing is missing from the walls."
Shiratori nodded, then turned his attention toward the assistant. "Do you know of anyone who would want to harm Bikuta-san?"
Nagaiki bit back a chuckle sadly. "Plenty of people — just ask any artist whose art he rejected for this gallery."
"... Can you get a list of names?"
"Mochiron."
"Keibu?"
Shiratori turned toward the crime scene tech. "Hai?"
"I've searched everywhere, keibu, but... we found five shell casings, but only four bullets — two in our victim, two in the wall behind him."
"... A bullet is missing?"
"Hai."
"Perhaps a witness to the shooting?" Shiratori turned toward the uniform next to him. "Might be worth canvassing nearby hospitals for gunshot victims."
"Will do, keibu."
Shiratori turned back toward the crime scene tech. "Do we have the victim's cell phone?" The crime scene tech wordlessly handed Shiratori a cell phone, which the inspector immediately opened to inspect the call log. "Hmm... he received and answered a call from an international number before he died."
"That's a Bahraini number."
Shiratori had almost forgotten Shinichi was there. "How do you —"
"The number starts with the international calling code for the country of Bahrain."
"How could you possibly know the international calling code for Bahrain?"
"Our victim has a recent voicemail as well."
Knowing he wasn't going to get an answer to his question, Shiratori let out a heavy sigh before pressing play on the voicemail. "Bikuta, you rat — you're not going to get away with it and you know it. If you go through with this, then you're a dead man. You hear me? A dead man!"
Shiratori raised an eyebrow and turned to the assistant again as the voicemail forcefully ended. "Do you recognize the voice?"
"Ee... that's Koitena Shiro-san, his old assistant."
"Do you know what he's talking about?"
"... Ie, can't say that I do."
Shiratori locked the phone with a nod and turned back to the uniform next to him. "Let's have this Koitena-san brought into the station, shall we?"
The super made himself scarce after opening the apartment door, leaving Ran to follow Sera into said apartment. While Sera immediately made for the absent man's desk, the first thing to catch Ran's eye was the overflowing bookshelf occupying the entire left wall of the main room. She absentmindedly gravitated toward said bookshelf to look over its contents.
Sera noticed the action. "Quite the book collection he has, eh?"
"No kidding..."
"Not quite as big as Shinichi-kun's collection, of course."
Ran felt her eyes drop at the interjection. "Ee..."
"Oh, that reminds me! Next time you see Shinichi-kun, relay my thanks to him for me."
"... Thanks? For what?"
"He gave me the courage to ask out my now-girlfriend."
"You could just thank him — wait, haah?"
"And she is a keeper, let me tell you — she said the hottest thing to me the other day, she said she doesn't like the '69', you know what she said why?"
"You don't have to —"
"She said, and I quote, 'I like to look a woman in the eyes while she's sitting on my face.'"
Ran felt blood draining from her face. "Why are you —"
"What about you and Shinichi-kun, who's usually on top?"
"Can we focus on searching this apartment, please?"
"Who says we can't do both?"
"Sera."
After a pause, Sera seemed to take the hint in Ran's tone with an open-handed shrug. "Alright, I'll stop." Sera then held up the fruits of her desk search. "Wallet and phone are still here, so wherever he went he wasn't expecting to be gone for long."
Ran nodded absentmindedly as her attention was caught by an unframed painting leaning against the wall on top of a small cabinet perpendicular to the bookshelf. The painting depicted a sunny day along a walking path to what appeared to be a wine vineyard, the color palette servicing to make the painting toned rather brightly while still looking realistic. Ran tangentially noted out of curiosity to take an art course next semester at the observation.
Sera abruptly arrived at Ran's side. "Nothing here to indicate directly where the man went — however, there are quite a few dog toys along with food and water bowls, but no dog."
Ran tore her focus away from the painting. "He went somewhere with his dog, then."
"Most likely — there's a dog park not too far from here that might provide us some insight."
"Bikuta, you rat — you're not going to get away with it and you know it. If you go through with this, then you're a dead man. You hear me? A dead man!"
Shiratori stopped the playback of the voicemail. "Quite the choice of words you had there, Koitena-san."
Koitena shrugged from his leaned back position in the interrogation room chair. "He had just fired me and I was pissed — what do you want from me?"
"Ma, we're understandably concerned considering Bikuta-san is dead now."
Koitena's nonchalant attitude immediately broke. "Wait... he's dead?"
"Ee — he was killed last night."
Koitena shot up and quickly pulled out his wallet. "I... I wasn't even in Tokyo last night! My train just got in this morning! Here's my ticket to prove it!"
As Shiratori inspected the proffered ticket, Shinichi raised an eyebrow. "What did you think we brought you in for?"
"... Eh?"
"You seemed rather defensive for someone who didn't know this was a murder investigation."
After a few moments frozen in shocked indecision, Koitena eventually dropped his head into his hand. "I thought this was about the forgeries."
Shiratori looked up to exchange a look with Shinichi before returning his focus to the former assistant. "Forgeries?"
"Bikuta-san and I were involved in a forgery racket — I painted forgeries for him and he sold them."
"Did the people he was selling them to know they were forgeries?"
"I don't know — all I did was make the forgeries, Bikuta-san took care of everything else."
"Anyone in particular he was selling forgeries to you can remember?"
Koitena dropped an eyebrow. "There was this one guy from the Bahraini consulate... I never did learn his name."
Shiratori resolutely ignored the grin he received from Shinichi. "Do you think you'd be able to describe him to a sketch artist?"
"I, er... I could sketch him myself, if that's okay?"
Shiratori nodded. "I'll get you a pad and a pencil."
With that pronouncement, Shiratori got up and exited the interrogation room, Shinichi following behind. Once outside, he flagged down one of the uniforms outside to gather the requested materials.
Shinichi watched the uniform walk away. "Looks like we'll have a face to our Bahraini suspect in no time."
Shiratori sighed. "Don't get your hopes up — even if we get a name to the face, it will take a while for the Bahraini embassy to respond to a request for interview. The joys of international bureaucracy..."
"Shiratori-san?"
Shiratori turned at the new voice. "Hai, Chiba-kun?"
Chiba dropped his gaze in hesitation, looking vaguely like he had just seen a ghost. "I, er... I was canvassing the area around the shooting when I ran into a man just... wandering around like he was lost. He didn't have his wallet on him, and... he couldn't remember his own name."
Shinichi raised his brow. "He's amnesiac?"
Chiba nodded. "It would appear so, ee."
"And there's nothing on his person to identify him."
"Not only that, but... ma..." Chiba looked down again before bringing up his occupied hand. "Let's just say it's a good thing he's a fan of Russian literature."
Shinichi and Shiratori simply stared as Chiba held up the Dostoevsky paperback with a bullet lodged in its back.
Shiratori led Shinichi into the interview room in which the amnesiac was being assessed. "Fingerprints aren't in our system, so unfortunately we're still no closer to putting a name to you."
The amnesiac offered a sad smile. "I suppose it's good enough for now knowing I'm not a known criminal..."
Shiratori paused briefly before sitting down next to the psychiatrist, Shinichi sitting across from him. "What are we looking at?"
The psychiatrist pursed his lips in consideration before responding. "There are three types of memory: there's semantic memory, which is general knowledge — his appears to be intact; there's procedural memory, often called muscle memory — that he's able to walk around without any trouble indicates that is also intact; our problem here is episodic memory, which is memory of experiences he's had over his life — that all appears to be gone."
The amnesiac shifted in his seat. "What are the chances of its coming back?"
"Ma... amnesia is a tricky condition, it's hard to say. It could all come back, none of it could come back... something in between could happen."
"So I shouldn't be placing bets, then... if that's even a thing I would do."
Shiratori kept his patience in check. "I suppose the trauma of getting shot at is our cause here?"
The psychiatrist bobbed his head. "That combined with the bump on the back of his head — it's a combination of both physical and psychological trauma that make the more deep-seated cases."
"Any chance we could jog his memory by bringing him back to the scene of the crime?"
"Hard to say... every case is different."
The amnesiac shifted in his seat again. "Gomen'nasai — I must be the lead of the century for you guys and there's nothing I can do to help you."
A thought occurred to Shinichi, prompting him to turn to the psychiatrist. "You said his muscle memory is intact?"
"Hai, it is."
Shinichi grabbed a piece of paper and a pen on the table and slid them over to the amnesiac. "Sign at the bottom, please."
The amnesiac automatically picked up the pen and started writing at the bottom of the paper, then froze in shock. "OK, how did I do that?"
Shiratori leaned forward to peer at the paper. "Looks like an actual signature..."
The psychiatrist nodded appreciatively. "Good thought — we sign our name so often it can become procedural memory."
The amnesiac leaned back, still in shock. "So I can't remember my name, but I can still sign it?"
The psychiatrist shrugged. "Mysteries of the brain..."
Shinichi pulled the piece of paper over to him to read it. "It's... mostly illegible, but it looks like it starts with 'ko' and 'yo'."
Shiratori turned toward the amnesiac. "You don't mind if we call you Koyo until we know more?"
The amnesiac shrugged. "It's not like I can offer anything better."
A knock on the door interrupted the proceedings as a uniform poked his head in. "Shiratori-keibu?"
"Hai?"
"There's someone here to see you — someone from the Bahraini embassy?"
Shiratori and Shinichi both sat up. "Someone from the Bahraini embassy just came here voluntarily?"
"He's in the other interview room."
Shinichi leaned back. "We'll need to make this interview count, then."
Ran arrived back at the entrance of the dog park at the same time as Sera. "Any luck on your side?"
"I found one woman who said our guy is a regular here, but she said he wasn't here during his usual time last night."
"So our client's ex's dog is missing just like he is."
"Here's hoping they're still together somewhere..."
"Without his phone or wallet? I wouldn't count on it."
"Hmm... and I didn't see any surveillance cameras anywhere on our way here."
"Maybe we should check with animal control to see if they found a missing dog around here?"
"Definitely worth a try."
Shinichi dawdled outside the interview room long enough to see Chiba set up their amnesiac in the hallway surreptitiously in the line of sight of said room's occupant. The amnesiac seemed to respond to a Chiba enquiry with a small shake of his head, but stayed where he was told nonetheless. Shinichi gave his own head shake before following Shiratori into the room.
Shiratori sat down across from the Bahraini attaché. "Our apologies for the delay, Harun-san — we didn't quite expect you to come here so soon, so we needed time to prepare."
Harun nodded obligingly from his leaned back position. "Mochiron — I understand this is about Bikuta-san?"
"Hai, it is."
"Then you're wanting to talk to me about the forgeries."
Shiratori paused minutely before raising his chin. "So you know they were forgeries."
"I've known from the beginning, keibu-dono."
"You knew they were forgeries when you bought them."
"I did. My men have wives back home who appreciate art but don't particularly care whether the signature on the bottom is genuine — to them, art is art, I suppose. They are easy to please — and I can't help but please them, when it's no problem for my wallet."
"So you only bought forgeries from Bikuta-san?"
"There was the occasional original for the more discerning spouse, but otherwise hai."
"Last night, you called Bikuta-san before he died."
"I was calling to see if he had anything for me. He said he had a painting ready and told me to come by that evening."
"Did you?"
"I did show up at around 10pm, but he turned me away immediately. He was in the middle of an argument with another man. I respected his wishes and had dinner at a restaurant two streets over, I'm sure your men can check with their staff."
"What was the argument about?"
"Of the little I heard, the Japanese was going too fast for me to understand it."
"Did you see the man Bikuta-san was arguing with?"
"... I did."
"Could you describe this man to a sketch artist?" At that question from Shiratori, Harun simply held still for a moment before flashing a condescending smile and standing up, making his way toward the interview room door. "Where are you going?"
"Gentlemen, must we continue with this charade?"
"Charade?"
"Why are you asking me to describe a man to a sketch artist when the man in question is standing right over there?"
Shiratori and Shinichi looked in the direction of Harun's pointed finger as Harun followed through on taking his leave of the police station. The amnesiac stared back at them, a question understandably on his face.
Shiratori was the first to move to join Chiba in addressing the amnesiac. "Are you sure you didn't recognize that man?"
The amnesiac shook his head with a sigh. "Is this where I'm supposed to have images flashing through my mind as everything comes back to me?"
As Shiratori pinched his brow, Shinichi vented his frustration more productively in the direction of Chiba. "Where are we keeping the personal items we found on him?"
"Eh? Er... we left them in the first interview room."
Shinichi briskly made his way back to said interview room. "There has to be something in his belongings that can help us."
Chiba followed Shinichi into the room, Shiratori not far behind. "Really, Kudo-kun, there wasn't much on him: some loose change, a couple of small grocery bags... there was an inhaler in one of his pockets, which would indicate he's asthmatic, except he hasn't needed it once yet, so maybe —"
Shinichi instinctively cut Chiba off with a raised hand before picking up the target of his focus and presenting it to the two policemen. "These aren't grocery bags."
Sera dropped to her haunches to inspect the dog's dog tag. "Uhn, this is our guy's, alright."
Ran sighed before turning to the animal control tech with them. "You said you found this dog tied to a light pole?"
"Ee, not too far from the dog park in that area."
"And there was no sign of his owner around?"
"Ie — we tried calling the number on his dog tag, but we didn't receive any answer."
Sera herself sighed. "That's because he left his phone at home." Sera stood and turned to address the animal control tech. "Where exactly —"
Sera cut herself off as another animal control tech poked his head into their room. "Ano... that dog has been called up."
The first animal control tech raised an eyebrow. "Called up? Where?"
"That's the thing: he's being called into the Toyko MPD headquarters."
"The police? Why?"
"... They didn't say."
Ran shot an apprehensive look toward Sera. "Maybe our guy is at the police station."
Sera gave a tentative smile. "One way to find out."
"Come on, boy! Good doggy!"
As Ran and Sera exited the elevator, the dog more or less led them himself through the hallways of the Tokyo MPD, eager for something they couldn't yet see. Eventually, the dog managed to yank the leash out of Sera's hands and ran happily toward the sight of its owner to start licking his face affectionately.
Ran, by contrast, found herself stun-locked by the presence of Shinichi with the man in question. Shinichi appeared just as stunned, returning his answer to the implied staring contest request. Out of the corner of her consciousness, Ran registered Sera stepping away to call their client as the dog and its owner pet each other incessantly.
At some point, Shiratori deemed the reunion to have calmed down enough to allow for reading the dog's dog tag. "Your name is Koyoshita Kessai — does that ring any bells?"
The man smiled sadly as he continued scratching behind the dog's ears. "Ie, I can't say it does. This dog sure does feel... familiar, though."
"What brought you into this, Ran-chan?"
Ran forced herself out of her trance at the question from Shiratori. "His ex-wife asked us to find him — she said he called her last night to meet but never showed."
Koyoshita dropped an eyebrow. "'Ex-wife'... so I'm divorced?"
"... Ee — you mean you don't remember?"
Shiratori answered for the man. "He has a rather severe case of amnesia, unfortunately."
"Amnesia, eh?" Everyone turned at the reentrance of Sera. "Ma, your ex-wife is on her way here — perhaps she can help fill in the gaps in your memory."
"So... he has amnesia?"
Shiratori sat across from Tsuburashi after she sat, Koyoshita sitting at the end of the table between them. "It would appear so, hai."
"What happened to him?"
"That's what we're hoping to figure out. What can you tell us about Koyoshita-san?"
Tsuburashi froze and shifted her eyes toward Koyoshita. "This... feels weird with your sitting here."
Koyoshita shrugged minutely. "Tell me about it."
Tsuburashi seemed to gather her strength with a deep inhale. "You have a PhD in economics. You were a senior VP at a consulting firm after running up the corporate ladder faster than anyone in the company's history."
"'Were'?"
"You got fired from your job last year — you... weren't taking our divorce well."
"Why did we split up?"
Tsuburashi couldn't help but laugh. "I've spent hours ranting with my friends about it."
Koyoshita looked down at the table with a sad smile. "I suppose I'm not the good guy in any of those rants."
Tsuburashi automatically shook her head, then paused before answering meekly. "You were cold... and inconsiderate."
"Ah..."
Tsuburashi took her turn looking at the table. "The truth is, though... so was I — we probably married too young, is all..."
A silence blanketed the room for a short moment before Koyoshita shifted in his seat. "Ano... I'm sorry I don't recognize you at all, but... you seem nice... and quite beautiful... and I'm sure it was completely my fault our marriage fell apart."
Tsuburashi allowed herself a smile. "And that's the man I fell in love with — funny, sweet, self-deprecating..."
From the other side of the table, Ran on reflex looked toward Shinichi, who seemed to be looking sadly into the table himself. She found herself resisting the urge to do the same, instead forcefully pulling her attention back to the other trio at the table. She could feel Sera's questioning gaze from their end seat on her but resolutely ignored it.
Shiratori eventually cleared his throat. "Can you tell us what he's been doing since he lost his job?"
Tsuburashi snapped back to focus. "Er... I don't know — for all I know, he's seen multiple women since we split."
"What about the Bikuta Gallery — do you know why Koyoshita-san would be there?"
"Ie, I can't say I do."
"Chotto..." Everyone turned toward Ran. "He was at an art gallery?"
"Ee — why do you ask?"
Ran turned toward Sera. "Maybe it had something to do with the painting in his apartment?"
Shiratori raised an eyebrow. "Ma... our next step was going to his apartment, anyway, to see if it helps his memory any. Would you mind coming with us, Tsuburashi-san? It might help put some things in context."
"Ie, I don't mind..."
Ran's gaze automatically went toward Shinichi again, whose gaze remained on the table.
"You kept this painting?"
"... I wouldn't know."
Tsuburashi smiled sadly as she turned back to the painting, eyes far away. "We got this painting during our honeymoon in Italy — he accidentally touched it while the artist was still working on it, so the artist forced us to buy it. You were supposed to sell it as part of the divorce settlement, though..."
As Tsuburashi trailed off, the detectives in the room continued their respective searches — one noticing something near immediately. "A man of taste, I see."
Koyoshita turned with a question on his face. "I'm sorry?"
Shinichi pointed toward the bookshelf. "You have my father's books in your collection."
"And who would your father be?"
"Kudo Yuusaku."
"... OK..."
Shinichi managed to bite back a laugh at the noncommittal response. "Nothing is jogging your memory, then?"
"Ie, it's not... though it does seem like it should be familiar."
Before Shinichi could enquire further, his attention was stolen by Shiratori, who let out a small moue from Koyoshita's desk. In so doing, the inspector pulled out a pistol from one of the desk drawers, giving everyone in the room a meaningful look.
Shiratori then sniffed the gun appraisingly. "It's been fired recently."
Before Shiratori could act further, Sera interrupted forcefully. "That wasn't there when we searched his apartment this morning."
Shiratori raised an eyebrow. "You searched his desk?"
"Ee — I saw that he had left his phone and wallet behind, but there was no gun there. That has to have been planted."
"Sounds like we need to talk to the super, then."
Tsuburashi suddenly let out a rueful laugh, catching Ran's attention. "What is it, Tsuburashi-san?"
"I was wrong: he did sell the painting." Tsuburashi swept a hand at the painting. "This is a replica, not the original — the thumbprint Kessai-kun left isn't there."
Shinichi perked up. "You're saying that's a forgery?"
"Er... I guess..."
Shinichi turned toward Shiratori. "We need to find Harun-san again."
"License and registration, please."
The Bahraini diplomat turned along with his driver at the voice. "Excuse me?"
"You're parked illegally, we'll need to see license and registration."
"You don't understand — I have diplomatic immunity."
"You may have diplomatic immunity, Harun-san, but your driver does not."
The driver rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on, be serious."
Miike turned to Yumi. "Is he resisting arrest?"
"I do believe he is." Yumi prompting forced the driver to turn around and slammed him against the car with his hands behind him. "You better check his trunk, just to be safe."
"Hai, keibu!"
As Miike went around to open the trunk, the driver struggled under Yumi's grasp. "What the hell is this?"
"It's just standard procedure, sir."
Harun held up a pair of pacifying hands. "Really, this isn't necessary —"
"Ara, ara, what's this?"
At Miike's interjection, Yumi turned her head to see her subordinate bring out an oil painting of a sunny vineyard — with a thumbprint prominently visible on the bottom right. "Hmm... ma, Harun-san — mind telling us what you're doing with this original?"
Harun dropped his hands with a nonplussed look.
Paying no mind to the teen who decided to lean against the wall, Shiratori sat down across from their suspect in the interrogation room. "You're a hard man to find, Nagaiki-san."
Nagaiki shrugged. "My boss just died, I wanted to make sure I wasn't next."
Off to the side, Shinichi couldn't help but snort — Shiratori appeared not too far from laughter himself. "Ee, ma... I can guarantee you'll be made safe for a while."
Nagaiki narrowed his eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"
In response, Shiratori pulled out a piece of paper from his folder onto the table. "We have a signed affidavit from the super for an apartment complex that you bribed him into letting you into the apartment of Koyoshita Kessai-san."
Nagaiki raised his chin. "Is this about that painting? If so, then ee, I had the painting swapped out — I wasn't entirely happy with how the copy for Harun-san turned out, so I decided to present him with the original."
"So you admit to continuing the forgery scheme from where Koitena-san left off?"
"Ma... ee, Bikuta-san brought me into the fold when he hired me. What does that have to do with anything?"
Shiratori exchanged a meaningful look with Shinichi, who took the queue to indicate the affidavit. "Check the affidavit again, Nagaiki-san: the super said you bribed him twice. The second time was earlier today — when you planted the murder weapon in Koyoshita-san's apartment."
Shiratori leaned forward. "When you heard Koyoshita-san arguing with Bikuta-san about the fake painting last night, you attempted to shoot them both, only for Koyoshita-san to escape. When you heard earlier today he was amnesiac, you decided he would be a perfect patsy. Or do you have another explanation for procuring the murder weapon?"
Nagaiki shifted in his seat uncomfortably. "I told you people my alibi this morning."
"Your night class, hai — the thing about that is, we talked to your classmates and they say you always sit in the back, so none of them can even attest to your being there last night."
Shinichi pushed himself up off the wall. "That combined with the murder weapon's being registered in your name are bound to convince a jury, I'm sure you'll agree."
Nagaiki's gaze dropped to the table, which he stared at for a while before raising his head again. "There's a deal to be struck, isn't there?"
Shiratori exchanged a look with Shinichi before returning to Nagaiki. "Like what?"
"I could testify against Harun-san in the counterfeiting scheme, couldn't I?"
Shiratori leaned back and shook his head. "Harun-san has already decided to come clean himself... so I'm afraid that's not an option for you."
Nagaiki dropped his head in defeat.
Ran exited the observation room ahead of interrogation's occupants, pausing to allow herself a calming inhale and exhale. From the other end of the hallway, she saw Sera approaching her — and further down, Koyoshita and Tsuburashi were coming down the hallway hand-in-hand, ostensibly oblivious of everything and everyone around them as they went.
Ran raised an eyebrow. "Are they..."
Sera nodded. "Uhn — Tsuburashi-san said she and Koyoshita-san got talking and she decided it would be worth it to give their relationship a second chance."
Ran's focus involuntarily shifted toward the exiting occupants of interrogation — as a uniform led Nagaiki to holding, Shinichi remained behind to talk with Shiratori. Once their short discussion ended and the inspector followed the uniform, however, the teen detective's focus shifted to the couple passing him in the hallway, leaving him frozen in place. Ran watched the sight wishing he could read the young man's mind as he seemed to look down in thought before eventually shaking his head ruefully and making for the elevators.
"Need a ride home?"
Ran had nearly forgotten Sera's presence next to her. "Oh, er... I think I'll be fine walking, arigato."
"... If you say so." In so saying, Sera herself made for the stairwell, leaving Ran alone in her thoughts.
She dawdled as long as she could, but eventually Ran couldn't delay returning to the Kudo manor. After taking a moment to calm her heart rate at the entryway, she stepped into the sitting room to find it empty (and mercifully silent). Traversing down the hallway, she eventually heard the sound of pencil on paper coming from the library, prompting her to peek through the crack of the slightly open door trepidatiously.
Shinichi sat at the main desk of the library, apparently doing his homework. A few subconsciously-made hand movements on his part allowed Ran to deduce it as for economics. More of those... what did he call them? 'P vs. Q graphs'?
Suddenly, however, Shinichi froze in place staring at the homework, blinking only once in ostensible shock. Before Ran could even start thinking about what could have caused such a reaction, Shinichi began a flurry of movement which resulted in some hastily written notes and something — Ran couldn't see what — pulled out of one of the desk drawers and laid out next to those notes. The young man then pulled out his phone, took a picture of the top of the desk, then started typing on his phone frantically. Eventually, the text apparently finished, he dropped the phone on the desk and started rubbing his eyes in frustration with his now-freed hand.
The whole sequence left Ran frozen in place herself, before she remembered where she'd seen the motion before. A flood of more memories followed that recollection — prompting Ran to feel a renewed sense of anger.
Sera tapped her pencil in thought against her desk, the sound reverberating dully in her single-room apartment. Her current work had given her cause for thought, but how to act on those thoughts eluded her in the moment. Before she could ruminate further on it, though, a rapid knock came on the front door.
Sera turned her head back to verify she heard correctly, eventually being greeted with a repeat of the knocking pattern to confirm. Tossing her pencil onto the desk lazily, she then stood and made her way to the front door to inspect the peephole — only to be surprised by what it returned.
Sera stepped back and opened the door. "Ran-kun!"
Ran briskly walked past Sera into her apartment. "There's something that's been bothering me."
Sera remained frozen in place for a few seconds, then closed the door behind them and turned to see Ran standing rather indecisively in the middle of her apartment. "What's that?"
Ran allowed herself a deep breath before turning around to face Sera with a determined look on her face. "You said... when we first met after you came back to Japan, you said that I was 'your type'."
Sera raised her chin in apprehension. "... I did."
Ran's resolve seemed to break momentarily, but came back in full force. "Did you really mean that, or were you just saying that to get a rise out of Shinichi?"
Sera's brain short-circuited briefly, after which she tilted her head in curiosity. "What's it to you?"
Ran rather pointedly did not respond, instead maintaining her gaze drilling into Sera's skull. Sera reflexively felt her eyes wander downward, but she stubbornly brought her eyes back up, still not entirely sure what the point of the exercise was. Eventually, she pursed her lips in thought before deciding the truth would have to suffice.
"A little of both."
As the answer landed like a thud in the room, Sera watched Ran closely for her reaction. The young woman in question dropped her gaze and pursed her lips herself, then nodded slowly before starting to make her way back to the door. In response, Sera made to open the door for her — only for Ran to force the door closed again.
Ran then locked the door and drilled another gaze into Sera. "Prove it."
Notes:
Once again, if you're looking for smut, you've come to the wrong author.
I remember reading someone at some point complaining about the use of honorifics in English-language fics for DCMK, which made no sense to me. A lot gets lost in translation if you leave them out, so I honestly don't understand why you'd refrain from using them, considering enough gets lost in translation already. I'm a bit of a linguistic snob, though, so I suppose one shouldn't take me too seriously there...
NEXT KUDO HINT: envelope
Chapter 29: Uncoordinated
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Sera came to in stages.
The first thing she registered was that she was in her own bed. That was not necessarily a given as of late, so it was a necessary piece of information for her. The second thing she registered was that she was alone in her bed, as no weight accompanied the random bundling of sheets next to her.
The third thing she registered was that she was naked.
Sera's eyes flew open as everything came crashing into her mind at that realization, fully awaking her. She turned her head tentatively to the side and saw Ran sitting at her desk rather intently riffling through her homework. The other woman had already been awake long enough to be fully dressed while doing so, prompting a raised eyebrow from the apartment's tenant.
Trepidatiously, Sera pulled herself out of bed and started standing to make her way to the desk. "Ohayou —"
"Do you know if there's anything off about your economics professor?"
Sera froze briefly in her saunter over to the desk. "... Eh?"
"The economics professor you and Shinichi have, is there something shady about him?"
Sera made an effort to unfreeze herself to start pulling a chair over. "What makes you ask that?"
"I saw Shinichi last night doing his economics homework, and... he stopped in the middle of it to take pictures of it and send them to law enforcement."
Chair now in place, Sera sat down next to Ran. "How do you know his recipient was law enforcement?"
Ran turned her head toward Sera, then quickly snapped it back toward the desk with her eyes closed, as if in embarrassment. Sera lingered briefly at the action but eventually took the hint and stood to make her way over to her dresser. Once there, she pulled out a pair of underwear and quickly put them on, then decided on an undershirt to go with it.
"We alternate."
Sera paused her motions at Ran's voice. "What was that?"
"You asked yesterday... with Shinichi and I, who's usually on top. The answer is that we alternate."
Sera wasn't sure how to respond. "Er..."
"We also have this system..."
Sera found herself morbidly curious at Ran's trailing off. "System?"
"... We have a system to make sure we finish at the same time."
A wave of guilt washed through Sera in that moment, making her feel rather underdressed in the moment. She quickly threw her undershirt on, then stood momentarily in indecision before making her way back to her chair, hoping she was dressed enough for Ran's sake.
Once seated, Sera leaned forward on the corner of her desk. "Remember what I said, back when we were surveilling that guy at the storage center?"
Ran dropped an eyebrow in confusion. "You mean... that bit about trust?"
"Ee... it's clear from what you said that you trust Shinichi-kun a lot."
Ran closed her eyes, putting on a poker face Sera couldn't read. "Ee..."
Sera looked up and down at Ran before deciding to take the risk. "You've also make it clear that you trust me as well."
Ran flushed red. "Er... I —"
"So I think I'm justified in saying you can tell me whatever it is you need to say."
Ran's gaze remained on Sera's desk, ostensibly frozen in thought. Eventually, though, Sera noticed the young woman's eyes minutely scanning over her homework again, giving her cause for worry. Before Sera could comment, however, Ran sighed and leaned back in her chair to rub her eyes.
Once that pacifying action was completed, Ran dropped her hands. "The reason I know his recipient was law enforcement was that he's done the same thing before."
Sera raised an eyebrow. "To what end?"
Ran paused briefly before continuing. "A few months ago, we... landed ourselves in a case which involved a drug ring that is apparently deeply entrenched with friends in high places. We had been inspecting some evidence from that case when Shinichi determined the name of one of those friends and immediately decided to hand it off to the PSB and FBI."
Sera straightened her back deliberately. "And he handed it off the same way he fired off his economics homework?"
"Ee — and when I saw him do that, I realized... that I had seen him on a couple of occasions before then texting with someone then going off to the side. I didn't know what it was at the time, but... I'm pretty sure it's related... and that he's been hiding things from me again."
"You think he's been continuing the investigation without you?"
Ran took a beat before dropping her head sadly. "I don't know."
Still desperately attempting to maintain her calm façade, Sera shifted in her seat uncomfortably before trying a new tack. "Ma... Shinichi-kun and I have a lecture with that economics professor later this morning. If you want... I can try gauging what his interest is in the man there and report it back to you."
Ran tentatively turned her head toward Sera, then slowly turned it back, which Sera took as an improvement. After pursing her lips in thought for a few moments, Ran then eventually nodded silently, which Sera proactively took as assent, prompting her to get back up and dress further.
After dropping her things at her usual seat, Sera turned to look toward where Shinichi usually sat to find him sitting there as expected. The young man was staring rather intently at the professor for the upcoming class, who was huddled in the corner on a phone call he quite clearly didn't want anyone else in the lecture hall to hear. Sera briefly wondered if the other detective was attempting to read lips before deciding to take a risk.
Sera moved over to the seat next to Shinichi. "Ohayou!"
Shinichi minutely moved his head to send a disinterested glance toward Sera before returning his gaze to the professor. "Not that I'm not happy for you, but I'd rather you didn't include me in your bragging about having sex last night."
Sera froze momentarily before continuing trepidatiously. "I just came over to see how you were doing."
"Whatever you say."
Original mission forgotten, Sera did not like the look of Shinichi's self-enforced solitude. "... Did something happen between you and Ran?"
Shinichi lifted his chin minutely at the question but did not move his eyes. "She said she needed some time. I've giving her that time."
"How much time?"
"That is entirely up to her."
Sera felt even more disturbed by Shinichi's monotonality. "... Are you okay?"
Shinichi didn't respond for a while, instead opting for a slow sequence of picking up his water bottle, opening it, taking a swig from it, closing it, then placing it back on the desk before speaking again, his eyes not leaving the professor the entire time. "Whenever am I not?"
Before Sera could grill Shinichi further, the sound of a flip phone closing loudly heralded the arrival of the professor back at the podium. "Everyone — I'm sorry, but I've had a family emergency come up and I'll need to cancel today's lecture. I'll post today's lecture notes online as soon as I'm able."
The words had barely finished leaving his mouth as the cacophony of students' standing from their seats and packing up began. Sera sent one last concerned look toward a still-frozen Shinichi before going back to her seat to do the same. As she packed, she noted that Shinichi's now-narrowed gaze continued to follow the professor as the man packed up his own bag then exited out the lecturer's entrance. At the professor's exit, Sera quickly gathered her own bag and made for the exit before Shinichi could notice her lingering.
Shinichi stopped outside the lecture hall, alone in his thoughts by virtue of being the last out. From the little he was able to glean from the professor's phone call, he knew the man was lying about a family emergency, but what exactly he was covering the young detective could not ascertain. Before he could think any further on the matter, however, the sound of quiet sobbing from down the hallway broke his reverie.
Shinichi trepidatiously made his way toward the sound until he was able to pinpoint its origin to the stairwell. He looked down to find a young woman sitting halfway down the stairwell softly weeping, oblivious to everything around her. He decided to take a risk and started cautiously making his way down the stairwell toward her.
The young woman eventually startled and locked eyes with Shinichi. "Oh, Kudo-kun! I'm sorry, am I in your way?"
"Ie, you're not, I just... you're Tani Natsumi-san, right? From economics lecture?"
Natsumi nodded minutely. "Ee..."
"... Are you okay?"
Natsumi dropped her head again. "I don't know."
Unsure of what exactly was driving the impulse to do so, after a pause Shinichi moved to sit down next to the woman, leaving some space between them. "Anything I can do to help?"
Natsumi wiped the tears from under her eyes before regaining some resolve. "It's my sister. She... I can't find her."
"She's missing?"
Natsumi nodded tightly. "Ee."
"When was the last you heard from her?"
"She's supposed to call me every morning at nine, but she didn't call this morning. I went to her apartment, but there was no answer."
"Have you told the police?" Shinichi noted the hesitation on Natsumi's part at the question. "Do you not want the police involved?"
After another moment of indecision, Natsumi dropped her head again. "Kyoshi-chan... she's a recovering drug addict. It's part of why we have the system of her calling me every morning. She... I think she may have relapsed. She's been acting weird for about a month, but I have no idea why."
Shinichi allowed himself a deep breath. "You said you went to her apartment — did you go in, or did you only knock?"
"I only knocked — I don't have a key to her place."
"She never gave you a key to her place?"
"Her apartment building doesn't allow for copying keys for non-residents."
Shinichi pushed that annoyance aside. "Would you mind if I tried searching her apartment? It might help find where she went."
Natsumi finally brought up her head to look Shinichi in the eye again. "I... ie, I don't mind."
"You can come with me, if you want."
"I can't — I have another lecture in an hour."
"Then I'll need her address."
Natsumi nodded and started pulling out her phone, prompting Shinichi to reflect on the worst-case scenario he was almost certain would come to pass.
Sera walked into her usual watering hole to find Ran sitting at her usual table, her posture rather tense despite ostensibly attempting to appear nonchalant with her gaze toward the side. Sera paused briefly at the sight in concern, but decided to push that concern aside and approached the table with her own practiced nonchalance.
Ran's head snapped toward Sera at the sound of the chair's moving. "What is it with you and this café?"
Sera paused minutely before shrugging as she finished sitting down. "I don't know — this place has a way of attracting regulars."
"I'll say — the man at the corner table over there just received a package delivered directly to him."
"Ee, ma... the regulars here also make a point of staying out of each other's business, which makes it ideal for a detective."
"What did you find?"
Sera found herself staring back at Ran's suddenly intense gaze, eventually sighing at the sight. "Shinichi-kun definitely suspects the economics professor in some way — he wouldn't keep his gaze off of him even after the man cancelled the lecture for today."
"Suspects him how?"
"I don't know exactly."
"You didn't ask him?"
"... I couldn't exactly ask him directly without raising some suspicion."
"Then how the hell am I supposed to find out what he's hiding from me?"
Sera held up a mildly bewildered hand. "I'm sorry, but short of breaking into his homework and taking pictures, there's not much I'd be able to ascertain without giving him cause to suspect what you and I are doing." After rearing her head back tightly, Ran returned her gaze off to the side, looking for all the world like she was taking Sera's flippant suggestion seriously, prompting Sera to drop her brow in concern. "Listen, Ran... will you and Shinichi-kun —"
"We'll be alright — I just need time."
Ran's tone of voice did little to convince Sera.
Making an effort to push away the feeling that the rather downtrodden location of said apartment was a deliberate choice, Shinichi let himself into the apartment of Tani Kyoshi, being careful to ensure no one witnessed the act as he did so. Emphasizing its dubious location, the apartment itself was a rather bleak one-room apartment with little sunlight and a rather claustrophobic bathroom adjoining the front door, a stark contrast to the walk-in closet Shinichi found to the side after passing said bathroom. A cursory search of bed and desk — cursory so as not to leave any indication — yielded little beyond a few knick-knacks whose provenance Shinichi found doubtful, leaving him somewhat apprehensive at the lack of wallet and keys.
Eventually, Shinichi turned his attention to the walk-in closet, which was rather sparsely populated with clothes and littered with a few bags and boxes on the floor. Sticking out like a sore thumb, as a result, was what appeared to be a small cigar box, poorly camouflaged by the mess of empty shoeboxes. Shinichi carefully picked out the cigar box and brought it to the main room's desk to allow better inspection in the little sunlight the room provided. Upon opening the box, he sighed sadly as his fears were proven true.
The box contained small resalable packets of a white substance, each marked with a smiling thumbs-up face Shinichi vaguely recognized as coming from one of those popular American video games he couldn't name off-hand. The consistency of the white substance made it obvious to him what he was dealing with.
Heroin.
Wanting nothing more that to close the box and shove it away from himself, Shinichi nonetheless continued rifling through the box to see if it contained anything else, eventually being rewarded with what appeared to be a business card. One side of the card contained nothing but the same smiling thumbs-up face as the heroin packets, except in full color rather than monochromatic blue; the other side consisted of an unadorned phone number.
With some trepidation, Shinichi pulled out his phone, paused briefly in indecision, then finally fired off a text to Sato with the phone number indicating it to be in need of investigation, deciding the setup was much too obvious to be related to the case in the hands of certain three-letter agencies. Once done with that, he closed the box and replaced it where he found it in the closet before standing in the middle of the the room with an unfocused gaze — only to have his attention caught by an empty hook on the apartment wall.
Once inside the Kudo manor, Ran had to stop herself in confusion, evaluating the music now coming from the sitting room. It was not the usual Baroque affair, nor was it the big band crooning with which Shinichi managed to ingratiate himself recently. Instead, the music flowing through the front of the house boasted a soft acoustic guitar and a young woman's voice, singing in that annoying style that always sounded to Ran as if a grown woman were singing like a girl. Ran chanced a glance inside the sitting room to see the man of the house draped on his back along the couch, his eyes closed with his face pinched in concentration, ostensibly not even registering the other presence in the house.
Deciding not to dwell on the question of Shinichi's sanity, Ran quietly made her way into the library, restoring its door to the position in which she initially found it as she entered. She drove her focus and her steps toward the desk, which once there she inspected quickly for anything important on its top before throwing open its drawers. Systematically, and without much thought as to how much of it was actually relevant, Ran began laying things out on the desktop and taking pictures with her phone, her heart hammering in her chest during the entire process.
The following morning
Shinichi exited the elevator into Division One, only to slow somewhat at how uncharacteristically quiet it seemed. He made his way down the hallway with his head moving back and forth as he looked for any sign of life. Suddenly, he found himself the victim of an ambush hug.
After a rather vigorous rib-crushing, Sato pulled back with her hands on Shinichi's shoulders, looking brighter than the teen could ever recall seeing her. "Ohayou, Kudo-kun! That phone number you sent me was pure gold!"
Shnichi raised his brow in surprise. "Hontoni?"
"Uhn! That whole drug ring has been completely exposed — we made dozens of arrests overnight! Megure-keibu tells me this may just finally get me my promotion to full inspector!"
As his eye caught Takagi down the hallway looking just as bright, Shinichi couldn't help but smile. "That's wonderful!"
"And I just wanted to make sure you were a part of my thanks!"
Shinichi nodded tentatively. "Ne... I don't suppose there was a Tani Kyoshi-san among the arrests last night?"
Sato dropped her hands to search her memory. "Ie, I don't think so... why?"
"Her sister told me she's been missing since at least yesterday morning."
"What does that have to do with the drug ring bust?"
"Tani-san's apartment is where I found that phone number."
Sato dropped an eyebrow. "I don't like the sound of that."
"I don't blame you. I noticed while I was there that her guitar was missing as well, so I spent the evening yesterday listening to her music and I think I may have an idea where to look for her. In one of her songs, she alludes to a secluded area of Haido Park where she goes to... er, commune with nature, I guess."
"So you're wanting to search that secluded area?"
"Ee — and I was thinking it might be prudent to have someone from the police with me, just in case."
"Why aren't you taking Ran-chan instead?"
"... She's occupied with something else."
Sato raised an eyebrow at that statement, but thankfully didn't press, instead turning her head around. "Takagi!"
Takagi started jogging toward the duo. "Hai!"
"Kudo-kun needs someone to accompany him on a search, I think you're my man."
Takagi saluted. "Hai, keibu!"
Shinichi failed to hold back a snort of amusement; Sato flashed a knowing grin toward him in response.
Ran slammed her phone down on the table in front of Sera as she passed by to sit across from her. "Now do you believe me?"
Sera looked up from the phone to stare down Ran. "I never said I didn't believe you."
"Not out loud, you didn't."
"You misread my nonverbal reactions, then."
"If you say so."
Sera sent a dropped eyebrow in Ran's direction, but apparently decided not to press as she sent her gaze back to Ran's phone. She flipped through the photos left open on the phone and inspected them, first cursorily then more intently. Ran watched the whole process but found herself unable to interpret Sera's unreadable face.
Eventually, Sera dropped the phone and shrugged, her eyes rather resolutely gazing at the table between them. "I don't know what to tell you, I can't see off-hand what Shinichi-kun saw."
"Then how am I supposed to find out what he's doing?"
Sera finally looked up with a furrowed brow. "Look, Ran... you really shouldn't be following this through. Shinichi-kun must have had very good reason to leave you out of it, whatever it is."
"Then why did he at least not trust me with that reason?"
After a nonplussed pause, Sera closed her eyes then dry-rubbed her face before looking down with another shrug. "If you send me those photos, and I forward them to Mama to see what she can make of it, will you promise to drop it until I hear back from her?"
Ran narrowed her eyes at Sera for any hint of subterfuge, then decided it wouldn't matter either way. "OK." In so saying, she picked up her phone again and started formulating a message to her table-mate.
Sera donned a look of concern over Ran's phone. "Ne, Ran... have you eaten since yesterday?"
Ran paused in her typing. "Er..."
Sera seemed to take the hesitation as answer enough, slowly standing as she spoke. "Let me get you some food."
Ran looked up, startled. "Ah, ie, I couldn't —"
"You need to eat — if Shinichi-kun were here now, he'd say the same thing."
To that, Ran could say nothing, leaving Sera an opening to leave the table and make for the counter of the café to begin talking with the server. Ran finished her message to Sera, then noticed out of the corner of her eye the same man occupying the corner table as yesterday, apparently inspecting another piece of mail. Her antennae twitching at the sight, she surreptitiously switched to her camera app and took a photo of the suspicious man, then pocketed her phone before Sera could return to the table.
"When are you going to stop stringing that woman along and ask her to marry you?"
Despite the cool morning mist of the park, Takagi found himself heating up at the question. "Ah... er..."
"She's clearly waiting for the question."
"I, er... I just... haven't found the right timing yet."
"If you're waiting for the perfect moment, I have a secret for you."
Takagi involuntarily turned toward Shinichi. "What's that?"
"The act of your asking will make it the perfect moment, whenever it is."
Takagi dipped his head as they continued their search. "It's... not that simple, Kudo-kun. Before last night, she's been... preoccupied as of late. I don't know why, but she recently started going through her father's belongings that were left in storage after his death. You've seen the snow globe on her desk?"
"I have."
"That came from her father's things — and every once in a while, I'll catch her just... staring into the snow globe lost in thought. Whenever I've tried to ask her about it, she'd just shake herself out and say it was nothing. Honestly, I'm hoping this break last night will help make that a thing of the past."
"You can truly make it a thing of the past if you ask her to marry you."
"What about you and Ran-san? When are you going to propose to her?" Shinichi was uncharacteristically silent at the question, goading Takagi into pressing again. "Have you not thought about it yet?"
Finally, Shinichi held up a stiff hand to cut off Takagi, then ventured toward the tree line, prompting the policeman to follow. They eventually arrived at what caught the teen's attention: an abandoned guitar, dropped rather haphazardly against a tree. Shinichi knelt down to inspect the guitar and the ground around it as Takagi took his phone out to take pictures.
Eventually, Shinichi stood again. "She dropped her guitar in a hurry and started running this way."
In so saying, Shinichi started following the path he perceived into the wooded area, Takagi tailing close behind him. The path they followed winded rather randomly through the woods, eventually coming to a sapling with a bright scarf that clearly got caught on its branches. Takagi took another picture, then watched as Shinichi inspected the ground again.
Shinichi pursed his lips. "The trail splits in two here."
Takagi looked down to observe what the teen saw before nodding. "I'll take the left path, you take the right path."
Shinichi wordlessly started down his assigned path, leaving Takagi to do the same with the other path. The trail eventually emptied out into a foot path skirting the edge of a wide ditch. Takagi found himself swiveling his head back and forth before he spotted what appeared to be a disturbance long the edge of the ditch. Trepidatiously, he approached the edge of the foot path to look over the disturbance.
At the bottom of the ditch lay the body of a woman matching the description Shinichi gave him. From where he stood, Takagi found it difficult to determine if the fall was the cause of death or if something else contributed. He took another picture with his phone, then was just about to run down for a closer look when a voice from up the path stopped him.
"Takagi-keiji!"
"I'm over here, I found the body!"
"... I was about to say the same thing!"
Takagi snapped his head toward the voice in surprise before jogging in its direction. He arrived to find Shinichi seated rather placidly in a lotus position in front of a corpse hidden in a small alcove amongst a rock formation adjoining the path. The dead man was clearly long gone, if the state of the blood around the many shotgun pellet wounds was any indication.
Takagi took another picture before composing a text to Sato. "I'll call it in."
Shinichi did not move at all, instead ostensibly meditating over the state of the body. Once the text to Sato was sent, Takagi put on a pair of gloves then stepped forward to reach carefully into the man's pockets for his wallet. Wallet now in hand, the police detective committed to the task of inspecting its contents. Shinichi had yet to budge.
Takagi took another stab at rousing the teen. "The victim's name is Caleb Green-san, 34 years old, American expatriate. Not much in his wallet other than license and credit card..." The teen remained motionless, prompting Takagi to drop an eyebrow. "Are you okay?"
"There's something off with the body."
"What's that?"
"The shotgun spread is all wrong."
"What do you mean?"
Shinichi finally stood and began demonstrating as he spoke. "The man clearly went into this crevice to hide from whoever was chasing him. Once our killer arrived to see the man hiding here, he had a clear, stationary shot on the cornered man. Why, then, is the shotgun spread so wild that some of the pellets ended up off to the side on the rock behind our victim?"
Takagi had no answer to that question.
Ran exited the elevator and walked down the hallway of Division One at a brisk pace. The lack of immediate presence gave her pause, but she nonetheless persisted in her search.
Eventually, Chiba came into the hallway and stopped at the sight of Ran. "Ah, Ran-san! What brings you by?"
"Where is everyone?"
"Ah, hai — there was a huge bust operation last night. A lot of people were given the morning off to compensate."
"Is Sato-keiji here?"
Chiba let out a moue of disappointment. "You just missed her — she got called out to the scene of a murder. I can call her and tell her you want to join, if you want?"
"Ie, that won't be necessary."
"Anything I can do to help you, then?"
Ran found herself hesitating, but pushed through anyway. "I need access to the police facial recognition database."
"Hold on." The super froze at Shinichi's command — the teen dropped to his haunches at the apartment door. "This lock has been picked."
Sato looked down to confirm what Shinichi saw, then slowly pulled out her pistol. "Stand back."
Once the three men did as requested, Sato used her free hand to test the door handle, confirming that the apartment was indeed unlocked. In one swift motion, Sato swung the door open and swept across with her gun to begin verifying the apartment was empty. After venturing further in to the single room apartment, she finally found cause to relax her stance.
"Clear." Sato heard Takagi dismiss the super as she approached the desk before addressing herself to an entering Shinichi. "Someone has definitely been here — looks like Green-san had a laptop here that's been taken, if the charger is any indication."
Shinichi raised his brow in the direction of the opposite wall. "That must have been all they took — there's enough vinyl here to make a record store owner drool, yet it's still here."
As Shinichi made to look through the collection, Takagi entered and approached the desk as well, stopping to sweep a finger through the rolodex. "Vinyl records and a physical rolodex... Green-san must have been rather old-fashioned."
Sato bobbed her head. "His phone was devoid of contacts."
"... So is this rolodex — all the cards are blank."
Sato's mind skipped a beat. "... Hontoni?"
"Ee... though it looks like maybe a card has been taken out?"
Sato dropped an eyebrow in confusion, then started going through the drawers of the desk — only to be rewarded on first try. "Looks like the card was dropped into this drawer rather than taken."
"I don't suppose that card is for a Nangoku-san?"
Sato startled slightly at Shinichi's question. "Er... ee, a Nangoku Kenkyo-san. Why?"
Shinichi retreated from the stacks and joined the police detectives with newspapers in hand. "Green-san hid some newspapers amongst his records. They all contain American articles about a group of CIA contractors in Afghanistan who were killed by military UAV after they evidently mistook their Taliban disguises for the real thing. Green-san wrote in the margins of at least a couple of them."
Takagi took a proffered newspaper and read the margin note. "'Nangoku is wrong. If it's not my fault, whose is it?'"
Sato took a moment to translate the English in her head. "Green-san thought he was responsible for the deaths?"
Shinichi read from another paper, this time translating into Japanese real-time. "'Pentagon sources refused to comment, but the practice of employing civilian analysts to fly surveillance drones has many detractors.' That article was accompanied by a margin note, 'I have to say something.'"
"He was thinking of becoming a whistleblower?"
"Certainly seems like we need to talk with Nangoku-san."
As Shinichi held the interview room door open for Sato and Nangoku, he spotted Ran down the hallway, appearing to be in a rush as she mashed the elevator button before briskly entering the elevator immediately upon its doors opening. Internally raising an eyebrow at the sight, he decided not to dwell on it and join the two other occupants of the room, silently wondering what had waylaid Takagi.
Sato offered the chair across from her to their interviewee. "Thank you for agreeing to see us, Nangoku-san."
Nangoku sat with a smile. "Anything I can do to help the police — what's this about?"
Sato sat herself. "What was your relationship with Caleb Green-san?"
"Caleb? He was one of my patients."
Shinichi's brow rose in surprise. "Green-san was seeing a shrink."
"Hai, he was."
"Was the rolodex your doing, then?"
Nangoku allowed himself a chuckle. "Ee, it was — he moved here from Las Vegas eight months ago and cut off all contacts from his previous life in doing so, and he was... not making friends very well. I gave him the rolodex as a way of documenting everyone he befriended while here."
Sato raised an eyebrow. "It was still empty except for your card when we went to his apartment."
"Ma... psychology is not an exact science, unfortunately."
"What was Green-san seeing you for?"
"... Just general anxiety — nothing that would make him a murder target, I would have thought. He was just a regular guy."
"What was the source of that anxiety?"
Nanogku dropped an eyebrow. "That would be getting into specifics of his treatment."
"Doctor-patient confidentiality ends when the patient dies."
"Even so, I'd like to be able to contact his family before I feel comfortable divulging treatment details."
Sato looked ready to argue, but ostensibly decided to drop it. "What was he doing in Las Vegas before moving here?"
"He was working at an aeronautics firm, a start-up — like I said, a regular guy."
"What did he do at that aeronautics firm?"
"... Again, I think speaking to that would get into treatment specifics."
Before Sato could grill the therapist, the door opened to herald the arrival of Takagi, who looked between Sato and Shinichi. "... Can I talk to the two of you outside for a moment?"
After a small curious pause, Sato got up from her chair. "Sumimasen, Nangoku-san, we'll be just a moment." Two police detectives and one teen detective exited the room and closed the door behind them. "What is it, Takagi?"
Takagi looked down at a small piece of paper in his hands. "Someone called in an anonymous tip while you were bringing Nangoku-san in, and I've been confirming what it said. The tip said that Nangoku-san has been taking in 'consulting fees' from some company named Dundon-Levi."
Shinichi straightened up his posture slightly. "This Dundon-Levi wouldn't happen to be an aeronautics firm, would it?"
Takagi nodded. "Ee, it is — it's also a frequent contractor for the American army. They're based in Las Vegas, but a couple of months ago they opened a satellite office in Tokyo."
"Sounds like doctor-patient confidentiality is just a cover to me."
Sato nodded in agreement, then opened the door to return to her seat, the two men following behind her. "This aeronautics firm — its name wouldn't happen to be Dundon-Levi, would it?"
Nangoku raised a nervous eyebrow. "It is... why?"
"You tell us."
"... What do you mean?"
"You can cut the act — we know Dundon-Levi has been paying you a 'consulting fee'. Tell us how much you reported to them about Green-san and everything you know about Green-san's work with them — perhaps starting with the massacre in Afghanistan."
Nangoku held frozen for a moment before dropping his head in defeat. "Ano... nine months ago, Caleb was flying a surveillance drone over Afghanistan when he saw some people marching near a river, fanned out like a Taliban scout unit would be. They were just a few pixels on the screen, really, but he passed his assessment on and the Army ordered a strike. It turned out they were actually Americans. Dundon-Levi was worried when Caleb left — and... I don't know how they found out he was seeing me, but one day a guy showed up and made me an offer."
"Was Green-san going public? Did you tell Dundon-Levi?"
"He told me he wrote everything down, some kind of report. I never would have thought they would kill him over it, though..."
Nangoku trailed off distractedly, but Sato didn't pay it any heed. "Who was your contact at Dundon-Levi?"
"I... is there a bug in here?"
"... I beg your pardon?"
Suddenly, Nangoku slapped his neck in a strained manner. "Ow! The damn thing just bit me!"
"What are you —"
Before Sato could finish her question, the therapist started convulsing in shock and eventually fell out of his chair, rousing the other three occupants of the room to action. Shinichi beat Sato to the man as Takagi went into the hallway shouting for a medic. Eventually, the man's convulsions stopped, prompting Shinichi to feel for a pulse — only to turn toward Sato afterward and shake his head.
Sera found herself mildly annoyed by the incessant knocking on her apartment door, but managed to rouse herself into answering the imposition. Upon opening the door, a rather angry-looking Ran brushed right past her without a single glance in her direction.
Sera remained rooted in place for a beat before closing the door and turning around. "This many visits to my apartment, people will start asking questions."
Ran slammed a folder down on Sera's desk. "You need to stop eating at that café."
"... Come again?"
"That man at the corner table is a known assassin!"
Sera froze momentarily before approaching the folder and casually flipping through it. "And why did you find it necessary to look the man up?"
"You said that café had a way of attracting regulars — it might be a meeting place for a drug ring! That assassin has been known to do business with one!"
"That didn't answer my question."
"You have to stop eating there!"
Sera gave up on having her question answered. "What are you planning to do with that information, exactly?"
"Maybe there's something to be found there that can get the police involved —"
Sera's hackles raised. "Hold on — you're telling me to stop eating there, but you're talking about doing surveillance there?"
"If there's a way to —"
"You can't possibly expect to be doing that on your own!"
"I have to do something!"
"Ie, you really don't!" Ran recoiled, but Sera pushed through. "Please, Ran — you need to drop this, it's too dangerous. I know you're trying to prove yourself to Shinichi-kun, but —"
"I'm sorry, you think this is just my trying to ingratiate myself with Shinichi?"
"... You tell me."
Ran drilled a gaze into Sera's skull for an uncomfortably long time. Eventually, Ran swept up the folder and stormed out of Sera's apartment, leaving its remaining occupant in something of a panic.
"You think Dundon-Levi killed Green-san using a drone?"
Shinichi laid down his phone on the sitting room table to talk through speakerphone. "It would explain why the bullet spread was so wild — seems to be their M.O., the way they killed Nangoku-san."
Sato hummed in consideration over the phone. "It will be hard to find concrete evidence to nail them."
Shinichi swept his gaze over his cork board of Dundon-Levi executives. "That, and we don't know for certain if the company itself was complicit or if one of its executives in Japan went rogue."
"I'll see what I can do about getting a friendly judge for a warrant."
"I'm reviewing what I can about potential suspects in the meantime." An abrupt knock on Shinichi's door stole his attention. "I have to go, someone's at my door."
"Talk to you soon."
Shinichi hung up the call then made his way to his front door, not bothering to hide his annoyance as he opened it. "How did you get past the gate?"
"Is Ran here?"
Shinichi raised an eyebrow. "Ie, she's not."
Sera pushed past Shinichi into the manor. "We need to talk."
Shinichi remained frozen in place for a time as Sera made her way into the sitting room. Deciding with a sigh she wasn't going to be expelled easily, he trepidatiously followed her in.
Upon Shinichi's delayed entrance, Sera tore her focus away from the cork board to drill a hard gaze toward Shinichi. "You need to talk to Ran immediately."
Shinichi raised his chin tentatively. "That would go against her wishes."
"Her wishes are not always for the best."
Shinichi narrowed his eyes at the accusation. "Ran said she needed time — I'm giving it to her. I've already told you this."
"She's investigating a drug-running assassin in your absence." Shinichi froze at the revelation, unable to respond. "I don't know what's gotten into her, it's like she's wanting to prove herself as a detective in her own right but without full regard for her safety —"
Shinichi raised a tentative finger, which thankfully stopped Sera's rant in its tracks. Slowly, he picked up the glass of water off the table and drank the remaining contents in one sitting. Finally, without any warning to the room's other occupant, he swiftly slammed the glass down upside-down on the table.
The tinny sound of metal clanking against glass provided confirmation that he had hit his mark.
Shinichi silently beckoned a startled Sera out of the room, chancing a look back at the entrapped drone once they were both out. He then led her down the hallway and let her into the library, just to be safe.
Once Shinichi closed the door behind them, Sera's patience appeared to break. "What the hell just happened?"
Shinichi sat down on the library desk. "That was a surveillance drone."
Sera's eyed bugged out. "A surveillance drone?! You mean —"
"I'm currently investigating a drone contractor agency for killing two people with drones — looks like they wanted to keep an eye on that investigation as well."
"Are you sure that drone wasn't sent to kill you, too?"
Shinichi paused to consider before shaking his head. "Ie, I don't think so — their second victim died right in front of me and two police officers, but the drone made no move for any of us."
Sera recoiled slightly but seemed to recover quickly enough. "Why the murders?"
"Ma, the first victim threatened to go public with a report on an incident of fatal drone abuse — in fact, his laptop was stolen from his apartment around the time he died as well."
"So whoever killed him has the report as well."
"Ee — except we have no clue which executive at the company is responsible, or even if the rest of the company even knows."
A small silence lay in the room before Sera raised her chin. "What if you offer a bluff?"
Shinichi raised an eyebrow. "What kind of bluff?"
"You let it be known that you have another copy of the report to draw out the culprit."
"How do you propose we do that?"
Sera flashed a screwy smile. "I don't suppose you have any index cards?"
Shinichi allowed himself a deep breath in of the evening air then let it out as he waited on the park bench. "Are you in position?"
Shinichi's earpiece came to life. "Ee — all three of your suspects are out, though, so you'll have to relay which it is."
"Wakarimashita."
As if on cue, Shinichi registered a familiar man making his way down the park path in his direction. After taking a moment to correlate the face with his cork board back home, he turned away nonchalantly to look elsewhere.
"It's the CTO."
"Roger that — making my next move now."
Eventually, the man sat down on the bench next to Shinichi, positioning himself rather awkwardly at the edge of the seat with his gaze directed toward nowhere in particular. "How did you find it?"
Shinichi pursed his lips in exaggerated consideration and allowed as much as time as he deemed possible before answering. "Green-san kept copies in a number of cloud services. We have people who can extract that sort of thing."
The man nodded absentmindedly before taking in a deep breath. "Could you repeat for me the first sentence of the report?"
Shinichi didn't respond for a while again, intent on giving Sera as much time as possible. "I beg your pardon?"
"I need you to recite the first sentence of the report for me."
Shinichi raised an eyebrow and again allowed time to pass before answering. "If you wanted me to memorize portions of the report, you should have gotten a message through your mosquito."
"I'm going to need some proof that you actually have a copy of the report, or we're done here."
Shinichi nodded absentmindedly, still not having made eye contact with the man during the entire conversation. More time passed, after which the man appeared to lose patience and stand as if making to leave. The action, however, was interrupted by the sound of the man's phone buzzing.
"You should answer that."
The man snapped his focus toward Shinichi in apprehension before answering the call. "Moshi moshi?"
Shinichi's earpiece provided the other side of the man's call. "My name is Caleb Green. On June 24 of last year, I was involved in an authorized attack on CIA operatives in Afghanistan, resulting in ten deaths that were quickly covered up by my employer Dundon-Levi."
The man frowned in incredulity. "Who is this? How did you get this number?"
The call hung up before he could get his answers, leaving the man to look at Shinichi, who simply kept his practiced look of disinterest on. Eventually, the man sat back down, again at the edge of the seat, this time looking down at his hands.
"... How much?"
Shinichi finally looked toward the man. "Hmm?"
"How much... for your silence?"
Shinichi looked away and pursed his lips again in fake consideration, then shook his head lightly. "Iya... I don't want money." Shinichi turned his head back to fix a hard gaze at the man. "I want justice."
The man seemed to wither internally at Shinichi's gaze, but nonetheless seemed to keep his cool as he nodded minutely. "What if... in exchange for my freedom... I give you the chance to pursue a greater justice?"
Shinichi raised an eyebrow, more intrigued by the man's wording than anything else. "How so?"
"I can get you information — information on a criminal drug ring... a deeply entrenched group with friends in high places..."
... Is... is he talking about...
Shinichi suddenly felt keenly aware of how wide open the area in which they sat was, causing him to snap his head rather forcefully away from the man. "Here's what going to happen: you're going to stand up and you're going to walk away as if I just declined your offer. You're going to go back to your office building, where the police are waiting, and you're going to turn yourself in to them, and they're going to take you downtown. You'll know what to do from there."
The man straightened up slightly at Shinichi's recitation. "So... does that mean —"
"Leave. Now."
Shinichi's tone brokered no room for argument, prompting the man finally to get up and walk away in a dejected manner. Shinichi remained frozen where he was for a time before remembering the other half of the operation.
"Find your way out of there."
"Already ahead of you."
Shinichi nodded then deactivated his earpiece before leaning his head back over the back of the park bench to calm himself, wondering just how long it would be until he felt safe again.
Ran felt her leg involuntarily bouncing under her table, prompting her to evaluate just how many cups of tea she had ordered since she had laid claim to Sera's table at her watering hole. She knew she should be using the restroom soon, but circumstances dictated she stay in her seat: the assassin had a guest.
The other man wore a medical mask, so Ran had no chance of being able to identify the man. Their table was also too far away for Ran to be able to hear what they were discussing, and she didn't dare attempt to plant a listening device in their vicinity. The few times Ran attempted to read lips proved fruitless, as the assassin never spoke more than a few words at a time, and of the times he did speak, she couldn't be certain what he spoke was even Japanese. French, maybe?
Eventually, the other man reached into his overcoat and pulled out a manila envelope, handing it to the assassin. Ostensibly taking care to ensure only he could see the contents, the assassin opened the envelope and pulled what appeared to be a large-printed photograph partway out, then dropped it back in the envelope with an unreadable expression. Evidently satisfied with the assassin's response, the other man got up and left toward the back entrance of the café.
Ran silently counted to twenty in her head before standing herself and making to pay for her many cups of tea at the counter. Once she finished with that, she saw that the assassin remained where he was, so she went back to her table to make a show of checking to ensure she hadn't left anything behind. Eventually, she knew she couldn't continue the act and made for the front door — during which time, she noted out of the corner of her eye, the assassin finally got up himself and started making for the back entrance.
Once outside, Ran diverted her course down the alleyway next to the café and put herself in a surreptitious position of observation of the back entrance. On the other side of the alley from that back entrance, the assassin tended to his motorcycle, sliding the envelope he received into the messenger bag attached to its rear. Once done with that motion, he patted his pockets and froze, then went back into the back entrance, apparently having forgotten something inside.
Deciding to take a risk, Ran silently rushed over to the messenger bag and pulled out the offending envelope. Taking mental note of how the envelope was closed, she cautiously opened it and started pulling out the photograph inside — only to freeze at what she saw.
Her own face looked back at her.
"We figured it would be nice to return the favor."
Before Ran could physically respond to the lightly accented voice behind her, a rag of what was definitely chloroform — what is my life, that I recognize that smell so well — was forcefully applied to her mouth and nose, paired with a strong arm equally forcefully wrapped around her belly, giving her no chance to do anything more than squirm in resistance. Ran vaguely registered a white van entering the alleyway before everything turned to darkness.
Notes:
I came very close to doxxing myself in writing this — but I won't say how.
Also, yes, I made something of Ran's astronomy lab in an earlier chapter, so of course I had to make something of the one other university course that gets explicitly named in this work. As for how much longer that will be relevant... well, we'll just have to see.
NEXT KUDO HINT: pupae
Chapter 30: Forced Hand
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
It was late, Sera knew that, but the contents of the laptop in front of her were too fascinating to allow her sleep. While the report from Caleb Green was definitely a healthy piece of whistleblowing, it was not the most damning document on the CTO's laptop by a long shot.
Mama will wonder how I've managed to hit pay dirt...
Sera's thoughts were interrupted by her phone buzzing on the table, which she answered automatically without even looking at the caller ID. "Moshi moshi?"
"We have your girl."
Sera snapped her head toward the BLOCKED NUMBER text on her phone screen. "Who is this?"
"Think long and hard, child — it will come to you. Your admirer certainly came to us — we crossed paths at a certain café? For all our sakes, I wish we had not."
Sera did her best to supplant the impending panic.
"Follow that yellow line down the road, where it goes, I don't know, and I don't care..."
Another knock on the front door broke Shinichi's latest listening session, prompting him to rise slowly from the sitting room couch to answer it. The soft folk music continued as he arrived at the front door and opened it.
Sera didn't even leave room for a greeting as she brushed past Shinichi again. "We need to talk."
Shinichi remained rooted at the front door for a beat before closing it to follow Sera into the sitting room. "One of these days, you're going to have to tell me how you're getting past the gate."
"Ran's been taken."
Shinichi froze in place, his brain needing to reprocess what he heard. "... What makes you say that?"
"I got a call from her kidnappers saying as much."
Shinichi evaluated the apparent lack of panic in Sera's face, which prompted him to narrow his eyes slightly. "Why did they call you instead of me?"
"I... they must have seen her with me over the past few days and figured I was the best person to call."
Shinichi dissociatively walked past Sera to the music cabinet and automatically opened the cabinet to press pause on the CD player. He then closed the cabinet door and turned around to return to the side of the coffee table, from which he picked up his water bottle and took in a deliberate swig of water.
The action failed to pacify Shinichi completely, as he soon found himself grabbing Sera by the collar of her shirt and pushing her against the wall in anger. "How could you let this happen?!"
Sera appeared just as shocked as Shinichi felt at his action. "I... there... I tried to stop her from investigating them —"
"You didn't try hard enough!!"
"There's no stopping her when her mind is set on something, you know that!"
Shinichi forced himself to drop Sera before turning around and walking aimlessly around the room, dry-rubbing his face in a panic. "So, Ran's been taken. She's been taken by the drug ring that's been the focus of PSB and FBI investigations. They're going to interrogate her for all she knows, and once they find out she knows essentially nothing, they're going to kill her."
"Ie, they won't kill her."
Shinichi snapped what remained of his focus back on Sera. "Why wouldn't they?"
"Because I made a deal with them."
Blood rushed back into Shinichi's head, disorientating him somewhat. "What sort of deal?"
In response, Sera pulled out her phone and handed it to Shinichi, prompting him to inspect the photograph she left open. "His name is Kita Ishi. He's the vice president of Japanese operations for the Swiss banking firm Credit Vernier — or at least he was until four days ago when he downloaded the names and account snapshots of thousands of the bank's wealthiest customers."
Shinichi frowned. "Thus making him wanted by the Swiss government, I'm sure."
"Ee — which is almost certainly why he's gone into hiding. Before he did, however, he let it be known that he was willing to sell the list to the highest bidder."
Shinichi looked Sera in the eye. "Bidders such as our drug ring."
"Not just them, but various governments as well — there are plenty of penalties and back taxes waiting to be collected from these accounts for them. For Japan alone, it could be worth hundreds of billions of yen."
"So this drug ring wants you to find Kita-san and the list."
"The list included some accounts of theirs operated through proxies, so hai, they want us to find the list and Kita-san for them."
Shinichi narrowed his eyes. "'Us' — you mean the drug ring knows about me?" At Sera's lack of response, Shinichi's suspicions went even deeper. "This deal was your idea, wasn't it?"
Sera broke under his gaze. "I... eat at a café one of their officers is known to frequent and overheard him discussing Kita-san with someone a few days ago. When they called about Ran, I couldn't convince them she wasn't a threat, so..."
"So you told them about me."
"And that you could be of help, ee — and they believed me on that. They've given us 48 hours."
"And once the 48 hours are up?"
Sera dropped her head. "I know you're upset, but we need to —"
"We need to what, exactly? How do you propose we find someone who doesn't want to be found within the span of 48 hours?"
"We start with going to the Tokyo office of Credit Vernier, of course — the drug ring couldn't go there themselves without raising any flags."
"And how do you suppose we'll go there without raising flags ourselves?"
Sera flashed a screwy grin. "By your offering them some business."
The bank officer escorted Shinichi and Sera into a large meeting room. "Please, help yourself, Kudo-san — this arrangement is intended specifically for this meeting."
Shinichi walked slowly toward the veritable smörgåsbord filling up the meeting room table and absentmindedly picked up an apple. Shiho would kill me if I didn't eat anything... but mo, is this wasteful...
The officer seemed oblivious of Shinichi's inner conflict. "It's not every day we get to meet with a member of such an influential family. I can assure you, Credit Vernier is a perfect business partner for someone as financially successful as your father, Kudo-san."
Shinichi rather forcefully ignored the look of laughter in Sera's face he felt directed toward him and faced the officer. "You're wasting your time, ginkoin-san. We're not here to discuss opening an account for my father — in point of fact, tou-san would sooner be caught dead than caught dealing with cheats like this institution. We have come here instead to offer our services as consulting detectives."
The officer maintained a practiced smile. "I don't understand."
"You are in pursuit of one Kita Ishi-san. I will find him and deliver him and his stolen list to you."
The officer dropped his smile. "Should I be calling security?"
Shinichi stepped closer to the bank officer. "Please understand: I will be pursuing Kita-san regardless of whether your institution cooperates. If you don't cooperate, I can't guarantee your list won't fall into unfriendly hands." Shinichi resolutely ignored the look of shock on Sera's face in the wake of his directness, instead waiting for the act to have its intended effect — which it eventually did.
The officer sighed. "I will need you to sign a non-disclosure agreement, then I'll have our head of security escort you to Kita-san's old office."
The security officer in question was a full-blooded Swiss man, making Sera uncertain if she would be able to grill him about Kita Ishi. The officer therefore escorted the two teen detectives in silence to their target's office, standing in the doorway as they entered and started looking around. Sera noticed immediately that the man's desk was missing any computer.
Shinichi apparently had no reservations with speaking to the Swiss man. "Kita-san's computer, where is it?"
The muscular Swiss man didn't budge. "We placed it in storage immediately after his departure."
"We're going to need to look at his computer." Shinichi walked further into the room, then turned around when the security officer remained where he was. "Now would be a good time."
The security officer dropped a judgmental eyebrow, but nonetheless relieved himself of his post to go fetch the laptop, leaving the two teens alone in the office. Sera immediately walked around the desk to start looking through the desk drawers, finding little more of interest than subordinate evaluations and CYA documents, the man's extraneous handwriting not offering much insight. She then noted one of the drawers had a lock on it, prompting her to pull out her lockpicks and go to work.
As she started working the lock, Sera looked up to see Shinichi seemingly wandering aimlessly around the room. "Er... Shinichi-kun?"
"Hmm?"
"... I, er... listen, are you okay?"
"I'll manage."
Sera wasn't entirely sure what was urging her to push, but push she did. "Are you sure? You... don't seem entirely focused."
"On the contrary, I'm completely focused — I'm getting a read on our mark." Shinichi pointed toward the low shelf against the side wall. "That seasonal triptych indicates the man fancies himself a man of nature, despite his job forcing him to be a man of the city." Shinichi waved a hand toward the whiteboard across the room from the desk. "That whiteboard, in addition to the volume of handwriting on the documents you so cursorily inspected, indicates he prefers the tactility of physical writing over typing — I peeked into the other offices on the way here and didn't find any such whiteboard, so Kita-san had this installed himself rather than its coming with the office."
Sera dubiously regarded the deductions Shinichi offered. "Ee, ma... if you ever want to talk about... you know..."
"The more we talk, the colder our case grows."
Sera considered pressing more, but decided against it as she finished picking the desk drawer lock, prompting her to pull out its contents and inspect them. "Looks like you can add avid Shakespeare fan to your list of traits — he kept what appears to be Shakespearean fan fiction in a locked drawer."
"Let me see that." Shinichi quickly moved across the room to look over Sera's shoulder, only to straighten up after a few seconds of reading. "That's not fan fiction."
"Eh?"
In response, Shinichi moved back across the room to the whiteboard then took one of the whiteboard markers and uncapped it ostentatiously. He then drew a straight line down the middle of the board, followed by a horizontal line toward the top, above which he wrote the letters VAR and OUT on either side of the vertical line.
"Read it back to me."
"Er... OK." Still not entirely sure what was going on, Sera decided to humor him. "The Count of Saitama. Romeo, a young man with remarkable patience. Juliet, a likewise young woman of remarkable grace. Ophelia, a remarkable woman much in dispute with Hamlet. Hamlet, the flatterer of Andersen Insulting A/S. Act I: Hamlet's insults and flattery. Scene I: The insulting of Romeo." Sera briefly looked up to see Shinichi had written 'Romeo', 'Juliet', 'Ophelia', and 'Hamlet' under the impromptu VAR column with quite a bit of space between them, much to her confusion. "[Enter Hamlet and Romeo] Hamlet: You lying half-witted coward! You are as stupid as the difference between a pigeon and thyself! You are as brave as the sum of thyself and a rotten codpiece! Open your heart!" As Sera spoke, Shinichi wrote a -4, then a 5, then a 3 by Romeo's name, then a 3 under the OUT header. "Thou art as wretched as the difference between a lovely fair warm summer's day and thyself. Open thy heart! [Exit Romeo]" The 3 by Romeo's name was followed by a 5, followed by a 5 under the OUT header.
The process continued for several minutes, Sera verbally reading through several scenes, Shinichi scratching in numbers on both sides of the whiteboard in silence as she spoke. Eventually, Sera read the final exeunt of the monstrosity and looked up to find Shinichi standing back from the whiteboard with a smile on his face. Still somewhat confused by what just happened, Sera forced herself to inspect the contents of the OUT column.
35942660 138775391
As if hearing the confusion radiating from Sera's brain, Shinichi stepped back up to the whiteboard to place two dots before capping the marker and returning it to its home.
35.942660 138.775391
"They're coordinates."
Sera wracked her brain. "How did you get all that from what I just read?"
Shinichi pulled out his phone as he responded. "You just read a computer program written in the Shakespeare Programming Language, an esoteric language designed to make its source code look like a series of Shakespearean insults and compliments. The act of one character insulting or complimenting another assigns values to the target character, and one character imploring another to 'open their heart' outputs their value as a number — hence the string of numbers here."
"And you think those are coordinates?"
Shinichi hummed in consideration at his phone. "They point to a remote area in the mountains on the western end of the Saitama prefecture. Perhaps that's where he's taken himself."
The silence between Sera and Shinichi as they walked through the woods was deafening for her. Shinichi focused remained glued to his phone and he used it to navigate them to their destination, leaving Sera to wring her hands nervously.
Eventually, Sera couldn't take the silence anymore. "Ne, Shinichi-kun?"
"Hai?"
"Listen, I know you're... ma... I just... I need to tell you something."
"What's that?"
Sera felt slightly perturbed by Shinichi's apparent indifference, but pushed through nonetheless. "I know you know Ran's been following me around since you had your fight, but... er..." Sera couldn't think of any other way to cushion it on the spot. "The night after the Koyoshita case, we slept together."
Shinichi was silent for a long time — long enough for Sera to wonder if he even heard her. Certainly, his focus never left his phone, though she did observe some involuntary eye movement when she finished. She couldn't swear on what it meant, however.
Eventually, Shinichi took in a deep breath and let it out. "Thank you for telling me — I was wondering when you would."
"I — haah? You mean you knew?"
"Ie, but I suspected something may have happened when you dropped your honorific for Ran the morning after."
"I... you're not mad?"
"Why would I be?"
"... Er..."
"In fact, I'm glad Ran is continuing to see to her sexual health — even if it means I'm not involved." Sera's brain short-circuited, leaving room for Shinichi to continue after a shrug. "Truth be told, I'm relieved she did so with you instead of someone else."
"... Any 'someone else' in particular you have in mind?"
Shinichi remained resolutely silent in response, giving Sera the temptation to press. Mercifully for him, however, the two detectives arrived at a clearing in the woods, in which resided a small, isolated cabin. Shinichi held his phone out in Sera's direction to confirm wordlessly that the cabin resided at their desired coordinates. As if they rehearsed it, they flanked each side of the cabin to look surreptitiously through its windows for signs of life. Finding none, they then reunited at the cabin's front door.
As Shinichi pulled out his lockpicks, Sera surveyed the area around them. "Maybe he went out on a hike and will come back soon."
Shinichi paused his motions minutely but continued shortly afterward. "Perhaps..."
Before Sera could probe into the hesitation, Shinichi managed to unlock the door and open it. Both detectives went inside and stood in the limited open space at the front to give a once-over to the one-room cabin. A large, king-sized bed lodged into the corner of the cabin appeared to take up a quarter of the floor space, with a small bedside table residing next to it. Along the side wall not burdened by the bed was a low counter stretching its entire length, its surface sparsely populated by a few mugs and a single hotplate on one end and some small throw pillows on the other end. A small dresser took up what remained of the other side wall.
Shinichi absentmindedly made for the bedside table and opened one of its drawers. "Hmm... looks like Kita-san uses this cabin for secret trysts, if this drawer's contents are any indication."
"No hard drive or thumb drive or anything like that?"
"... Not unless he likes to risk giving his guests some particularly embarrassing metal poisoning."
Sera decided not to press, instead opting to check under the long counter. "Ma, on the off-chance he didn't take the data with him on his hike, we'd better make sure he's not hiding it somewhere else here." Sera cleared the entire underside of the counter of any foreign objects, prompting her to turn her focus toward the dresser. Eventually, her search through the dresser yielded nothing of note — at which point she noticed that Shinichi had yet to budge from his position.
"... Shinichi-kun?"
In response, Shinichi silently beckoned Sera over to where he stood, staring intently at the floor as he did so. Sera wordlessly complied and directed her gaze in the same direction — only for her heart to drop at the sight.
"That's... those are specks of dried blood — and scratches from a scuffle."
"Not scratches — drag marks."
Shinichi followed the marks toward the back door, prompting him to open it toward the outside world and begin following the trail that now continued through the dirt. The trail led them a good distance from the cabin, though still within visual range, to a pile of leaves.
While Sera was momentarily confused as to what it meant, Shinichi immediately started ruffling through the leaves until the ground beneath it was exposed — showing a marked lack of grass the ground surrounding it sported. As Sera's heart dropped further, Shinichi frantically started digging at the ground with his hands, uncaring of the direction of the dirt he threw. Eventually, his digging came to an end, and the two teens stood back away from the result to keep their distance from the smell.
The dead face of Kita Ishi kept its rescuers in shocked silence.
We're fucked we're fucked we're fucked we're fucked we're fucked...
Sera paced back and forth in the little space the cabin allowed, resisting the urge to pull her hair out. As she did so, Shinichi sat in a lotus position on the bed, rather dissociatively staring at the body they dug out of the ground and brought back into the cabin to lay it on the bed. The young man's apparent calm only served to fuel the young woman's increasing agitation.
Eventually, Shinichi, his back still to Sera, broke the silence himself. "It would be considerably easier to focus here if you weren't pacing so maniacally."
Sera stopped fully and stared at Shinichi. "How are you able to remain so calm?!"
"I am able to stay calm because I must."
"What do you mean, 'you must'?! We were supposed to trade in Kita-san for Ran, and now he's lying dead in front of us! We're fucked!"
"I wouldn't say that quite yet."
"And why not?"
Shinichi didn't even budge — if anything, he seemed to sit straighter. "Ma, unlike you, I've been reviewing the facts in my head. The facts, for instance, indicate our victim was killed by someone he knew, and someone he knew well."
At Shinichi's pause, Sera was forced to come back to earth. "... No signs of forced entry, no defensive wounds."
"That, combined with the killing blow you'll note on his neck — a knife blow of rather military precision that requires getting quite close to the victim."
"Perhaps someone he was intimate with?"
"Perhaps — more importantly, however, I've been reviewing my mental catalog on entomology."
"... Entomology?"
In response, Shinichi half-turned to open the top drawer of the bedside table and extract a pair of tweezers. Deciding not to ask how he knew to find some there, Sera watched as Shinichi very carefully inserted the tweezers into the knife wound, pick at something, then pull them back out to present what resided between its tongs, letting out a small sigh as he did so.
Sera squinted as she inspected the tweezer's contents. "What... is that a cocoon?"
"Not quite — it is a pupa for a coffin fly. This particular species, it should be noted, takes about eight days to go from egg to pupa."
Finally receiving a look from Shinichi's eyes, Sera's brain short-circuited. "But... the files were stolen four days ago."
"Indeed."
"So Kita-san was framed!"
"He was murdered, then framed, in that order — our corporate thief is still at large."
"So there's still someone out there we can trade in for Ran!"
"... Ee."
"We need to find out who all had access to Kita-san's computer at Credit Vernier."
Shinichi looked briefly thoughtful, then after a nod suddenly dropped the tweezers on the bed and jumped off the bed to make for the front door. "Kill two birds with one stone..."
Sera found herself simply staring at the wake of Shinichi's exit. Huh?
"How's our special guest doing?"
"Bound and still chloroformed, as you requested, sir."
"Good — she's too dangerous to be allowed to remain conscious. We'll have what we need soon enough."
"You really think we'll be getting the data from her?"
"She knows what she's doing more than she lets on."
"I heard from one of our men in the field that the Kudo boy has been working with her. What about him?"
"Don't worry about the Kudo brat — I already have plans to take care of him."
The door opened for the security officer, who was greeted by the Kudo boy. "Thank you for coming to see us."
The officer raised an eyebrow. "Not entirely sure why all this skulking about is necessary."
"Ee, ma... Sera and I are a little unsure of how to proceed, we figured as the head of security for Credit Vernier you'd be in a position to help us."
The officer pulled out a piece of paper from his overcoat. "I brought a list of people who had access to Kita's computer, as you requested. Now will you tell me how it helps you?"
Kudo grabbed the piece of paper, took a cursory glance at it, then nodded tersely with a blank look.
Then the officer's world went black.
Shinichi kept his back to the officer as he heard his breathing change, inspecting the various accoutrement gathered on his kitchen island. Eventually, the sound behind his back indicated the officer had woken up and realized he was tied tightly to an immovable armchair.
"Wh-what is this?! This is kidnapping!"
Shinichi sent a quick glance toward Sera leaning back against the sink before turning around slowly to face the officer. "Welcome back to the land of the conscious, Yoder-san."
"It's Yoder, not Yodel."
It took a moment for Shinichi to figure out what the officer meant, at which point he flashed a condescending smile in response. "You've been holding back on us, Herr Yoder."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"The list you provided us with before Sera here kindly offered you a nap — it's missing a name."
"What do you mean? It isn't missing a name!"
"It's missing your name, Herr Yoder."
"What of it?"
"You see, Herr Yoder, the list is only one of two criteria we used to determine who killed and framed Kita-san. The second criterion is the killing blow itself — a close range knife wound which indicates military training... military training such as your own."
Yoder raised his chin. "Every man in Switzerland has military training."
"Uhn, mochiron — most, however, simply take in the compulsory training and spend a couple of years in the reserve. You, on the other hand, served further in an elite special forces unit which specializes in close quarters combat — hand-to-hand... blade work."
"That's not proof."
Shinichi flashed another condescending smile and started stepping forward. "This is not a court of law, Herr Yoder — Sera and I have enough for us to be convinced of your guilt, and for the moment that's all you should care about. You killed Kita-san, buried him near his cabin in Saitama, and framed him for stealing the list of Credit Vernier's clients — we're confident of that." Shinichi dropped to his haunches in front of Yoder. "So here's the deal: you tell us where the list is and how to get it, then we'll let you go and we'll all forget this ever happened."
Shinichi felt Sera's gaze drill into the back of his skull. Hai, I know that's a lie, get over it.
Yoder didn't so much as blink. "And if I don't?"
Shinichi pursed his lips and nodded before standing again and making for the kitchen island. "Then we'll have to force the information out of you."
"... Eh?!"
Shinichi began running a hand over his equipment. "You see, Herr Yoder... I've built quite a reputation as a detective of having an incorruptible moral code. Tsk... people should know better — there's no such thing as being incorruptible." Shinichi started picking up his instruments one by one to inspect them closer. "Everyone has at least one weakness... and at least one way to exploit that weakness in a way that corrupts them. For me... ma, it's simple, Herr Yoder: there's one person in the world who matters more to me than anything else... even more than my own person."
Shinichi decided on the garrote and turned around to face Yoder. "At the moment, Herr Yoder, you are the only thing standing in the way of my ever seeing that person again. So it's really quite simple: you tell us where the list is, or..." Shinichi pulled at the garrote in demonstration. "We see how many of your extremities you care to lose."
As Shinichi stepped forward, Yoder's gaze snapped to Sera. "You have to stop him!"
Sera remained ostensibly unfazed. "Answer the question and I will."
Shinichi dropped to his haunches again and started wrapping the garrote around Yoder's left wrist. "As a military man, you should know every person will speak when the correct tools are applied, ne? In your case, I'm willing to bet denying oxygen to your hand will do the trick." Shinichi began tightening the garrote, staring Yoder in the eye blankly as he did so. "Repeat after me: auf Wiedersehen, meine linke Hand."
"Stop!" Shinichi stopped. "It... it's on a thumb drive! I... it's in the trunk of my car, you'll find the keys in my overcoat!"
Shinichi paused to evaluate the claim. After deciding Yoder was telling the truth, he stood and exited the kitchen to make for the front door, leaving the loosened garrote hanging off the man's wrist.
Sera followed behind at a distance. "Ne, Shinichi-kun... you weren't actually going to torture him like that, were you?"
Shinichi stopped where Yoder's coat was hung to consider the question. "... I honestly don't know."
With that noncommittal response, Shinichi started searching Yoder's coat for the man's car keys. Once he found them and pulled them out, he took his phone out of his pocket and started dialing.
Sera's brow raised. "Whom are you calling?"
"Your brother — if we're going to effect a successful exchange, we're going to need some help."
"The FBI? Why not the police?"
"We can't guarantee the police will help us."
Considering the conversation finished, Shinichi directed his focus toward swapping his slippers for his shoes as he waited for the call to connect.
Then Shinichi's world went black.
Ran came to in stages.
The first thing she registered was that she was seated in the back seat of a car whose driver didn't seem to care too much about the state of its tires. The second thing she registered, as consciousness drifted back into her, was that the consistent applications of chloroform she had received had apparently stopped. That's either very good or very bad...
The third thing she registered, just as she opened her eyes, was that there was a bag tied tightly over her head. Oh... alright, then.
Before Ran could ruminate on how to remedy her enforced blindness, the car came to a sudden stop, forcing her to make an effort not to whack her head against the seat in front of her before the door next to her opened suddenly and a strong hand grasped her upper arm to pull her out of the car. The act of getting pulled out alerted her to the fact that her hands were also tightly handcuffed, making any future thought into de-bagging her head a fool's errand. After being pulled out, she was wordlessly directed simply to stand where she now stood, much to her confusion.
"Your friend is late."
Ran did not recognize the voice which addressed her, much to her consternation. She decided not to risk a response, instead allowing herself a deep breath before taking in what she could of her surroundings. The general lack of sound suggested a relatively abandoned area of town, while the echo of footsteps on pavement she heard as she was pulled out suggested a roomy, unenclosed space of some sort. An underpass? How original...
The sound of another car arriving and turning off cut off Ran's train of thought. The door to the new arrival opened and a pair of feet made themselves known on the pavement beneath, though they only took a few steps before stopping dead.
A few seconds of silence seemed to be all Ran's impatient foe could take. "The list, child — give us the list."
"Not until I've seen her face first."
Sera?!
A wordless conversation next to Ran carried out and resulted in the bag being taken off her head rather violently. A couple of blinks later, her vision brought to her a nighttime scene indeed located under an overpass. The assassin from the café held an empty bag in his hand; his apparent boss stood stolidly to his side, a trio of henchmen behind him as backup; Sera, much to Ran's discomfort, seemed to stare hard at her as if inspecting her whole body.
The leader of the operation sucked some air between his front teeth impatiently. "There, you've seen her face. Now give us what we want."
After another silent moment, Sera tore her eyes away from Ran and reached into her coat pocket to pull out some car keys. "In the boot."
The drug ring officer wordlessly nodded toward the assassin to keep an eye on Ran as he stepped forward to take the keys. Keys in hand, he then walked around the car and used the keys to open the trunk.
After a moment of silence, the man leaned his head over to address Sera, who had yet to move. "This is not Kita Ishi."
"Kita Ishi-san is dead — he's been dead for over a week. That man killed him, stole the list, and frame Kita-san for it — he's the man you want."
An exchange?
The man seemed to take Sera at her word and didn't argue further, instead retreating back to inspecting the trunk. Eventually, he came back with a thumb drive in one hand, his other hand digging into his overcoat to pull out a tablet. Now back at his assassin's side, he inserted the thumb drive into the tablet and began the process of verifying its contents.
Sera filled the silence left by the man's wordless action. "Like I said, she may work with the police, but she is no danger to you. We can walk away from this as if nothing ever happened, I assure you."
His work evidently finished, the man nodded with satisfaction, then pulled the thumb drive out to pocket both it and the tablet as he addressed the assassin. "Kill them." The assassin immediately pulled out his gun as his superior began walking back to his car.
Sera stepped forward desperately. "Now, hold on — mistakes have been made, I realize that! Don't make another one, I beg you!"
After opening the driver's door to his car, the man turned briefly toward Sera. "It's not my call, child — you should know that by now."
Ostensibly considering the matter finished, the man finished entering the car and drove off from the scene, leaving two young women to face four gun barrels pointed at head level. Sera looked briefly toward Ran, an apology in her face — along with... something else?
The assassin allowed himself a small smile. "I'm sorry it's come to this, mon ami."
Sera didn't so much as budge. "I don't suppose I will be allowed any last words before you kill us?"
"Go ahead."
Sera looked the assassin dead in the eye. "So it goes."
"... Pardon?"
Suddenly, the assassin fell over dead, a bullet from far away having ripped through his head. His three lackeys similarly dropped to instant deaths, prompting Ran to drop down and cover her head instinctually. Sera, however, simply stood tall without so much as a flinch. What on earth...
The sound of another car's engine heralded the arrival of a black van, from which dropped out a man in an all-black covert ops uniform talking into a radio. "This is unit J-17, reporting all clear, repeat, all clear." As a veritable troop of similarly dressed men fell out behind him and scattered across the area, the first man addressed Sera. "All good?"
Sera simply gave the man a thumbs up, then turned and approached Ran to pick her up off the ground. "Let's get you home — there's obviously a lot we need to discuss."
Shinichi woke with a start.
The action triggered a reaction of pain in the back of his head, causing him to double over momentarily on his bed. After the pain passed, he checked his pockets and the side table frantically to see that his phone was not on his person. Now fully enraged, he promptly threw himself off the bed and swung the door open to run out — only to run into the back of the person guarding the door.
Mary turned around at the extrusion, then directed her voice down the hallway toward the stairs. "He's awake now!"
With that pronouncement, Mary then pulled out and threw Shinichi's phone at him, which he caught automatically in the midst of his confusion. Evidently considering the matter finished, Mary simply walked away toward the stairs without another word. His initial panic coming back to him, Shinichi ran at full speed and passed Mary to stumble down the stairs then burst into the sitting room.
The sight of Ran on the couch stopped Shinichi dead in his tracks. Ran herself returned a look of what appeared to be shocked mortification, but Shinichi disregarded both that and the physician attending to her as he pushed himself forward and flew into a hug with Ran. After a moment of frozen tension, Ran eventually relaxed into the hug, prompting Shinichi himself to relax and let the world fall away.
Shinichi held on for dear life long enough for him to lose track of time, to the point where a pointed clearing of a throat across the room startled him slightly. Reluctantly, he broke the hug and turned around to the sight of an awkwardly shifting Sera — Shinichi resisted the urge to glower at the fellow teen.
The physician cleared his own throat as he packed up. "Ma... you're doing quite well, Mouri-san, all things considered. I would recommend you go now and get a good night's sleep, though, just to be safe."
Shinichi nodded. "I'll take her up."
Sera shook her head. "Ie — you stay, we need to talk."
Shinichi returned his gaze toward Sera, nursing an urge to tear her head off — only to have it dissipate as Ran laid a gentle hand on his forearm. "Daijobu, Shinichi — I can take myself up."
Shinichi simply stared at the hand on his arm for longer than he would care to admit. Finally, he gently grabbed the hand and kissed it before giving a minuscule nod. Ran responded with a small smile before getting up and making her way out of the room, Shinichi resisting the urge to follow her.
The physician finished packing up. "Mary and I will be waiting outside for you." Sera nodded as the physician passed her to exit the room himself, leaving two teens alone in a staring contest.
After an uncomfortable pause, Shinichi broke the silence with a sudden realization. "That story you told me about your case in London... you said you were helping your mother leave 'her latest hotel room'. Your mother is still hotel-hopping... and the ex-pat doctor... MI6 has been investigating this drug ring for a while now."
Sera nodded. "Ee."
Shinichi was hit with another realization. "That's why they had your phone number, too — you've been working with them!"
"I've been... unofficially undercover with them, hai — if you asked MI6, they would deny it."
"Unless I asked Mary, I suppose?" Sera simply nodded, leaving Shinichi room to express his exasperation. "Would it kill you two to even talk to your brother?"
"... Eh?"
"The FBI have been investigating this drug ring as well, you know — along with the PSB, come to that. I would have thought everyone learned their lesson already!"
Sera had the grace to look discomfited. "I'll... bring it up with mama later."
Already feeling tired with the situation, Shinichi sighed heavily and pinched his brow. "So? What's the story MI6 will have me sticking to?"
"The story is there is no story — MI6 Tactical cleaned things up such that it appears nothing ever happened."
"... And Herr Yoder?"
"Yoder-san is in MI6 custody at the moment, I'm sure he'll be given a story of his own." Shinichi was too exhausted to respond with any indignation, prompting Sera to continue. "Mama and I will be back tomorrow to give you and Ran a full debrief — in the meantime, get some sleep."
The sound of Sera's phone buzzing in her pocket broke into the proceedings, prompting her to pull it out after a brief pause and answer it. "Moshi moshi? ... Hai. ... Er... OK, but... why me? ... OK... I'll be right there." Sera hung up the call and stared at her phone with a question mark in her eyes. "Megure-keibu just called me to a crime scene."
"You go ahead — I have other things to attend to." Resolutely ignoring the confusion on Sera's face, Shinichi left the room and started for the stairs, this time at a more leisurely pace.
The exaggerated presence of police cars outside the apartment building gave Sera some pause as she entered. An officer in uniform directed her to the stairwell with a floor number but remained behind with two companions, giving Sera even more pause as she climbed the stairwell. Once at the offending floor, the presence of uniforms was even more dense — making Megure stick out like a sore thumb as he talked to a pair of them.
Megure spotted Sera arrive out of the corner of his eye and beckoned her over. "Sera-kun — sorry for the late call."
"It's no trouble — why the urgency?"
"It's... just... this crime scene is a bit much, fair warning."
Sera was allowed only a small eyebrow raise before Megure opened the apartment door and beckoned Sera to follow. Once inside, Sera found herself having to hold back bile for the first time in a very long time.
The sheer quantity of blood across both the floor and walls would almost surely be enough to give even the crime scene techs nightmares. Certainly, those still in the room had a tension to them Sera hadn't thought possible. The body itself, lying face down in one of the deeper areas of blood, was quite clearly heavily mutilated before death, almost being unrecognizable as a human body.
Megure let out a deep breath before consulting his notebook. "The victim's name is Iysau Kokkyo-san, 46 years old —"
Sera's shock made her involuntarily finish the description. "Economics professor at the university."
Megure looked up from his notebook. "You know him?"
"He... I have a lecture with him. He actually cancelled his last lecture just as it was about to start, he said he had a family emergency."
Megure pursed his lips. "Seems like that was a lie."
Sera's heart skipped a beat. "What makes you say that?"
"We received authorization to expedite analysis on some samples we gathered from the scene, and... ma..."
"What do you mean, authorization to expedite? Who gave that authorization?"
Megure looked vaguely apologetic. "It came from high enough that there was no name attached to it."
Sera narrowed her eyes. "May I ask again, why did you call me instead of Shinichi-kun?"
Megure closed his notebook in something approaching disgust. "The preliminary analysis completed indicates that Kudo-kun was here at the time of the murder."
Sera felt blood drain from her face. "That's impossible — he..."
Sera cut herself off from saying where he was, prompting an eyebrow from Megure. "He what?"
"I... he can't have done this, he's being framed."
Megure sighed. "Be that as it may... I have orders from above to issue a warrant for the arrest of Kudo Shinichi. It's out of my hands."
Sera let her protests die in her throat, knowing that any further word from her could only damn her or Shinichi further.
Notes:
I once again came alarmingly close to doxxing myself here — once again will leave the means in the dark.
I know it just seems like language porn again, but if you check you'll see Shinichi is canonically fluent in German. Look it up, I'm not kidding. Likewise, the Shakespeare Programming Language is also a real thing — having Shinichi know that, though, is definitely self-indulgent, I will admit that.
He's not going to have much time to think about either, though...
NEXT KUDO HINT: USB
Chapter 31: There Is Always One Truth
Chapter Text
She looks so peaceful when she sleeps...
Shinichi sat in a chair next to the bed keeping a vigil over Ran, knowing going any further would risk waking her or worse. At a number of times he found himself fighting off the urge to fall asleep in his chair, desperate to stay awake to watch over Ran. The events of the past few days would lay heavily on his mind soon enough, he knew, but somehow all those thoughts were pushed to the back at the sight he drank in.
The vigil was interrupted by the sound of Shinichi's phone buzzing in his pocket. Annoyed by the disruption, he pulled the phone out as quietly as he could and inspected the caller ID — only to pause at the name on the screen. What happened to waiting until the morning?
Shinichi nonetheless answered the call with a whisper. "Moshi moshi?"
"Run."
"... Eh?"
"Our economics professor has been murdered, and the crime scene was set up to make it look like you did it. You're being framed for murder. Orders from higher up, if you know what I mean, have expedited a warrant for your arrest. The police are starting to look for you already. Run."
The call cut off, leaving Shinichi frozen in shock in silence. Eventually, his gaze returned to the young woman in the bed next to him, his mind running through the mental calculations.
The sound of a rough knock on his front door aroused Agasa from his already light sleep. With a sigh of exhaustion, he lifted himself out of bed and made for the front door, not even bothering to hold back a yawn as he did so. After another rough knock on the door, Agasa opened it to the sight of a police officer he did not recognize, much to his confusion.
The officer did not seem inclined to introduce himself. "Do you know where Kudo Shinichi is?"
"... Hmm?"
"Kudo Shinichi, do you know where he is?"
"Er... is he not home?"
"Ie, he's not."
"What's going on?"
Agasa turned at the familiar voice coming up the basement stairwell. "This officer is asking after Shinichi."
The officer still didn't bother with introductions. "Do you know where he is?"
"Is he not next door?"
"Ie, he's not — do you know where he is?"
Shiho narrowed her eyes. "He's not here, if that's what you're asking."
"I can see that — do you know where he is?"
"... Why the urgency?"
The officer drew himself up. "Kudo Shinichi is wanted for murder. We need to find him."
The claim landed in the room like a thud, leaving both its occupants momentarily speechless. Surely he didn't...
"Get out."
Both men turned their heads in surprise. "Eh?"
Shiho pushed forward and started pushing the officer out. "Get out of here."
"Eh?! What are you —"
"We have no patience for fake police officers."
"Haah?! Are you out of your —"
Before the man could defend himself, Shiho slammed the door on his face and walked away calmly — much to Agasa's confusion. "Er... Shiho-kun, are you —"
Shiho began pulling out her phone. "I'm not going to take anyone seriously who says Kudo-kun is wanted for murder."
"But... is that really enough to make you think that officer was a fake?"
Shiho started typing on her phone. "Ma... that, and I'm pretty sure the color of his badge was wrong."
Agasa felt his face go pale. "So... he really was —"
"Whatever the reason he's looking for Kudo-kun, it's not... because..."
Shiho slowed her speech as she read her phone, prompting Agasa to approach and read over her shoulder — only for both to stop nonplussed in silence.
Ran found herself slowly drifting back into consciousness, leaving her momentarily apprehensive. After receiving no resistance for a few seconds, she finally allowed herself to relax — only to realize she was in an unfamiliar bed. At that realization, her eyes flew open to the sight of a room she didn't recognize, making her wonder if she was dreaming.
"You're awake." Shinichi shifted over from his vigil at the window of... I suppose this is a bedroom...
"Where are we?"
"Someplace safe."
Huh? "Why would that be a concern?"
Shinichi sat down at the edge of the bed and allowed himself a short sigh. "My economics professor has been murdered."
"By the drug ring?"
Shinichi opened his mouth as if to respond, then stopped himself and looked Ran square in the eyes with a look of calculation in his own. It took Ran a moment to realize she had given something away with her reflexive question, at which point she made an effort not to shrink under his gaze.
Er... better come up with a new way to say that...
"You went through our homework."
Another confused moment passed before Ran arrived on Shinichi's train of thought. "Ee, I... I saw you texting pictures of it the same way you texted about the scraps from that warehouse explosion, so I... er..."
"Is that why you —" Strangely, Shinichi cut himself off before finishing the question.
Ran raised an eyebrow. "Why I what?"
Shinichi shook his head in frustration. "Never mind, we can deal with that later."
The raised eyebrow furrowed. "Seriously, where are we?"
Shinichi allowed himself another sigh. "If you must know, we're at the house of an old family friend. We can't stay here for long, though."
"Eh? Why not?"
"The drug ring managed to plant evidence at the scene of the murder which implicates me as the killer. The police have issued a warrant for my arrest."
Ran's eyes widened. "That... you're kidding."
"Would that I were..."
"Am I wanted as well?"
"Er... ie, at least not yet, but I figured if whoever is behind the drug ring is responsible for the warrant, then they'll be looking for you as well anyway."
Ran felt blood drain from her face. "A-are you sure?"
"Ma, I wasn't sure at the time we left, but Shiho texted earlier to let me know a fake police officer woke her and hakase up asking after me, which means the ring certainly are desperate to get to me, so I'm more sure now."
"So... why did you bring me here specifically?"
Before Shinichi could answer, a new voice arrived from the bedroom door. "Ohayou! How are my two favorite houseguests doing?"
While Shinichi dropped his head with a strangely long-suffering sigh, Ran simply stared at the owner of the new voice in shocked confusion. What... his hair?
"Ne, Kudo... did you not introduce me to ojouchan?"
Shinichi barely even raised his head as he picked up a hand to indicate introductions. "Ran, this is Kuroba Kaito, our current host."
Ran kept staring. "Is... have we..."
Shinichi cut Ran off. "It's complicated." Shinichi turned to Kuroba. "Is everything ready?"
"Ready and raring to go, m'lord!"
"... Don't call me that."
"Mmmm... iya."
"Just give us another minute, would you?"
"As you wish!"
The messy-haired teen left the proceedings, leaving Shinichi to turn back to Ran. "The reason we came here was for disguises."
Ran dropped her eyebrow again. "Disguises? Could you not have just brought some from home?"
"If I had raided the disguise materials at home, then the police would know for certain that we're in disguise. I at least want to keep them guessing on that front."
"But why here?"
Shinichi hesitated ever so slightly before responding. "Ka-san and Kuroba both had the same acting tutor. Listen, are you good to leave soon? The disguises will take some time to don."
Ran gave up on getting any harder answers. "Er... I'm definitely awake now, at the least."
"OK — how would you feel about becoming a blonde?"
"You have to be kidding me."
Megure sighed at Sera's objection. "Would that I were... but we've received word from someone above us that your personal connection to Kudo-kun is seen as a liability."
"That's ridiculous — I want this murderer caught just as badly as the police, they should know that."
Megure lifted his chin in consideration, then nodded as if in approval. "That's exactly what I'll tell them if it comes to that."
Sera pumped a nod in response. "To that end — in the interest of ensuring the police have all the resources they can on finding Shinichi-kun, I'd like to take on the task of ruling out his being framed. Perhaps if I had access to logs on the police's biometric records to see if Shinichi-kun's data were accessed shortly before the murder?"
"I'll see if I can give you that access. In the meantime, we're pursuing a warrant for getting a trace on Kudo-kun's phone to see if we can find him that way."
Sera did her best to keep her responding nod nonchalant.
"Are you going to answer that?"
"Check caller ID for me."
Ran checked Shinichi's phone where it was docked. "... It's Hattori-kun."
Shinichi resisted the urge to facepalm, knowing it might mess up his disguise, instead keeping his hands on the steering wheel. "Mo, Hattori..."
Without asking again, Ran answer the call on speakerphone, much to Shinichi's chagrin. "Moshi moshi?"
"What the hell is going on there?!"
Shinichi sighed in frustration. "Nothing you need to worry about."
"You're on the news as wanted for murder! How the hell am I supposed to stop worrying about it?"
"There's nothing you can do from your end, I have everything under control."
"Under control, my ass!"
"Don't do anything stupid on your end and everything will be fine." Shinichi's phone buzzed again, prompting him to sneak a peek at the caller ID. "Someone else is calling, Hattori, I have to end this call."
"Kudo! Don't you —"
Shinichi quickly hung up the one call and answered the other. "Moshi moshi?"
"You'll need to turn your phone off soon."
Shinichi sighed. "I figured that might happen."
"Listen, Shinichi — whatever is going on to make you a wanted man, it's beyond my influence in the police."
"I know."
"... What do you mean, 'you know'?"
"It's a long story, tou-san, I have everything under control."
"What's going on there, Shinichi?"
"Don't worry about it." Shinichi resolutely hung up the call at that, returning his full focus to the drive.
Ran furrowed her brow. "You didn't need to be so short with him."
"If what's going on is beyond his influence, then there's not much point in telling him the full story."
"Even so..." As Ran trailed off, Shinichi's phone buzzed twice, prompting Ran to read the received text. "It's from a blocked number... '11am, usual place'." Something in Shinichi's reaction apparently tipped her off. "What's this 'usual place'?"
"Nothing you need to worry about."
"Shinichi!"
"We can discuss it more when we get to a safe place."
"This is from your guy in the PSB? Or the FBI?"
"Careful with your disguise, Ran, your frown is affecting it."
"Why couldn't you —"
"I need to focus on this drive, Ran. Please."
The driver's passenger went mercifully silent, but only just.
Takagi found Sato staring at the snow globe on her desk again, much to his concern. He risked sitting down in the chair next to her desk, only for her not to react in any discernible way. I thought she got past this...
"Are you okay, Sato-san?"
Sato snapped to look at Takagi, then returned her gaze to the snow globe. "Oh, I'm fine, just... deep in thought."
"Thinking about what?"
For a moment, Takagi wondered if Sato would respond, but eventually she did. "I was just thinking... I felt like I knew my dad well before he died... but now I wonder if... maybe even my dad could have been involved in something shady..."
"What do you mean?"
"I just... you feel like you know someone so well... like Kudo-kun..."
"... Is that why you're staring at your father's snow globe again?"
Sato smiled sadly. "Ee — he actually got it not long before he died. He used to be so absorbed in his work, then a few months before he died... it's like he was making an effort to be in my life more... almost as if something had changed..."
Takagi suddenly felt the desire to change the subject. "Ne, I've been meaning to ask — where is that snow globe supposed to be set?"
Sato looked up at Takagi with something resembling a normal smile. "Oh! I suppose you wouldn't know. It's supposed to be Dickensian London — my dad liked his books a lot and couldn't resist getting this snow globe as a result..." Something in Takagi's face apparently tripped Sato up. "What is it, Takagi-kun?"
Takagi snapped out of his dissociation. "'Dickensian'... as in, Charles Dickens?"
"Ee — you know him?"
"Ie, but..." Takagi quickly looked around for anyone else listening before leaning in. "Remember the Hirata case?"
Sato nodded tentatively. "Kind of hard to forget..."
"Ma... not long after you went with Kudo-kun and Ran-san, the prison sent me a black box recording of Kudo-kun's interview with Hirata-san. Before Hirata-san was shot, he was talking about how he had recently read A Christmas Carol and had a change of heart as a result... which was why he wanted to tell Kudo-kun about the drug ring."
Sato's eyes widened. "That drug ring... I had nearly forgotten about it."
Takagi's mind skipped a beat. "You don't suppose that's related to what's happening now?"
"... What do you mean?"
"Maybe the drug ring is framing Kudo-kun for the murder."
Sato reflexively looked around for eavesdroppers before leaning forward herself. "That would certainly be more believable than Kudo-kun being a murderer... but why would the drug ring be targeting him and not us? The Hirata case was closed before we could find anything concrete." Something in Takagi's expression evidently betrayed him again. "Didn't it?"
Takagi decided against holding back. "After the case was closed, I... handed off the scraps from the warehouse explosion to Kudo-kun for him to look through himself."
Sato's face went white. "You think he found something in there and didn't tell us?"
"And maybe the drug ring knows that he knows."
Sato immediately turned back to her computer and started typing. "It's definitely something we should look into, for the sake of Kudo-kun if nothing else."
The sound of Shinichi slamming the door behind them startled Ran more than she would care to admit. "Where are we, exactly?"
Shinichi pulled out his phone. "I believe the American term for it is 'no-tell motel' — pay in cash and they won't ask questions."
"Won't the police see the withdrawal you made for the cash?"
"I didn't make a withdrawal, I took from a stash at home."
"... Where is that stash?"
Shinichi threw his now-off phone onto the bed and silently moved over to check the bathroom before finally speaking again. "You'll want to change your disguise while I'm gone. There's more hair dye in the —"
"What do you mean, 'while you're gone'? You're leaving me alone?"
"Only for a short while — I'm meeting someone who can help us then coming right back. Please work on your skin tone and hair color while I'm gone."
"Why didn't you get me a mask like you?"
"... Do you really want to wear a mask?"
Ran caught herself. "Ie, I suppose not."
"I won't be long."
Without any further fanfare, Shinichi left the room and threw the door closed behind him, leaving Ran behind standing in shock.
"What the hell is going on there?!"
Sera reflexively held her phone away from her ear at the shout before answering. "Nothing that isn't under control."
"Kudo is wanted for murder and you're saying it's under control?!"
"It is, Hattori-kun — you needn't worry about it."
"How the hell am I supposed to stand by while there's a warrant out for my best friend's arrest?!"
"If you truly want to do right by Shinichi-kun, then you need to stay where you are and not get yourself involved. He's stressed out enough by my being involved as it is."
"Come on! Not even when the Black Organization was the big bad did I —"
"The big bad here is arguably more powerful than that, Hattori-kun — so unless you have another three-letter agency to bring into the picture that isn't already involved, you'll be doing both yourself and Shinichi-kun a favor by sitting this one out."
The silence on the other end of the line was uncomfortably long. "... Fine."
Sera's phone buzzed in her hand. "I'm getting another call now, I'll talk to you later."
"Oi, hold on —"
Sera switched the call. "Moshi moshi?"
"If you want to get any further information through to Shinichi, I'd suggest you send it through me."
"... How are you supposed to get in touch with him when he's turning off his phone?"
"I have my ways."
"I don't suppose you have any way of demonstrating we have things under control to people? Hattori-kun called me desperate to butt in, and the police already had to shoo away the Shounen Tantei-dan from HQ from inserting themselves into this mess."
"I don't know how much we really have things under control, but I can at least talk to them. How are things going on your end?"
"Ma... I checked logs on the police's biometric records and there's a gap in the logs a couple of days old, which is suggestive but not definitive."
"So it's an inside job?"
Sera furrowed her brow. "How much did Shinichi-kun tell you?"
"Not much, unfortunately — I had told him that the orders for his arrest were above my influence, and he said he knew that already. He refused to elaborate."
"In that case, I'll just say that the National Diet sent over a liaison to sit in on the investigation, though he has been quite vocal for someone 'sitting in'. Officially, he was sent in because the name on the arrest warrant was so high profile that it might reflect on the country itself."
"But the official reason is not necessary the true reason?"
"Precisely."
"I'll see what I can do with that information."
"I have to go, he'll consider it suspicious that I've been gone from the room for so long and I'm on thin enough ice with this investigation as it is."
"Keep me posted."
"Mochiron, Kudo-san." Sera hung up the call, then allowed herself a sigh before reentering the Division One bullpen.
Once she was inside, Megure waved her over. "Sera-kun — we were able to execute the trace warrant, but it appears Kudo-kun has turned his phone off, so that's a dead end. We're requesting a warrant for Ran-kun's phone but I'm not holding my breath on hers being on."
Sera re-centered herself. "Then perhaps we should be keeping an eye on trains for them — he's bound to try to get out of Tokyo at some point. Maybe pay particular attention to trains headed for Osaka?"
Akai remained passive as a man sat next to him on the park bench. The only indication he gave was a brief sideways glance before leaning back further without a word.
Eventually, the disguised man heaved a heavy sigh. "Do I really have to regurgitate that ridiculous passphrase?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"It's just security theatre, not actual security."
"We're not talking until I hear it."
Another sigh responded before the man complied. "John is an eight foot tall man with thirty-two inches at the waist."
"Good to see you again, Kudo."
"Wouldn't that be a better passphrase for Hondou-san?"
"Things have been happening around you, haven't they?"
"Ee, and you know what? I really wish the FBI and MI6 had learned to play nice with each other, would have saved a lot of trouble."
"Oh, I don't know if we could have stopped this from happening."
"... You're kidding, right?"
"Before we go any further, I'd like to confirm your phone is off."
"It's off, and it's not even on me at the moment."
"Mouri will have to turn hers off soon as well."
"I'll let her know when I see her again."
"She'd do well to do so without your having to tell her."
"If worst comes to worst, our plan is to have her disavow me if caught."
"Here's hoping that actually works out for the both of you."
"You know, you've been suspiciously quiet with me recently — no secret ledgers to recon as of late."
"Haven't needed it since you were able to give us a name of someone high up in the organization."
"You've been able to make a lot of progress with that lead?"
"Ma... we did, but we ended up losing that progress not too long before you gave us that professor's name."
"Why, what happened?"
"We were able to turn someone inside the network into a secret whistleblower, but he managed to get himself killed while searching for something of interest."
"What were they searching for?"
"Supposedly there's a physical copy of a recording of Warabi-san back when he was a district public prosecutor implicating him in the drug racket. The recording is purported to be in the possession of a policeman. My contact reported having an idea of where to look — that was the last I heard from him before reading his obituary."
"So you don't know where it is?"
"Ie, I don't."
"I can look for it."
Akai finally turned to look at Shinichi. "What was that?"
"Let me look for the recording."
"Ie."
"I'm already a wanted man, it's not like I have anything more to risk."
"Absolutely not, Kudo. You're better off going into witness protection — the FBI is willing to accommodate the both of you."
"Absolutely not."
"Kudo —"
Shinichi hardened his eyes behind his disguise. "There is always one truth, Akai-san — and I'm determined to find it."
"The truth could kill you."
"The truth is more important than my life."
"Your life is not the only one you're responsible for, Kudo."
Shinichi froze at the reminder, a panic creeping into the edges of his mind.
Ran came to in stages.
She first had to register that she had been unconscious in the first place, which came as a dull surprise to her. She vaguely remembered prepping her hair for blonde dye and coming back into the main room to fetch said dye — then everything went black. The next thing she registered was the sensation that she had been drugged in some capacity — she was in a chair without anything tying her down but she found her body severely disinclined to get up out of that chair. The mental alarm bells at finding herself in such a state failed to wake her muscles accordingly, much to her consternation. Finally, she opened her eyes and looked up.
An older man stood in front of the closed hotel room door, offering a smug smile in response to Ran's gaze. "Welcome back to the land of the awake."
Ran's mental alarm bells rang louder, but any surge of energy she felt to remedy her situation was immediately quelled by the sensation of a gun barrel pressed lightly into the back of her head. Now sufficiently motivated not to move, she turned her focus toward identifying the man blocking her escape. The search through her memory eventually proved fruitful.
"You're Warabi Yokubo."
Warabi shook his head and tsked in response. "Now, now, a young woman like you shouldn't be forgetting her honorifics."
"You don't deserve your honorifics."
Warabi allowed himself a chuckle. "I see you've been hearing things about me from your boyfriend — a great deal of exaggeration was involved, I'm sure."
Ran snarled. "You won't be getting away with it for much longer."
Warabi hummed in mock consideration. "Let's see: a well-respected, long-standing member of the National Diet... versus two teenagers? I think you overestimate your chances."
"I think you underestimate Shinichi's influence."
"Oh, mochiron, that must be why he's wanted for murder."
"Only because you're framing him!"
Warabi tilted his head with a smirk. "We wouldn't have needed to frame your boyfriend if he hadn't been operating under the delusion that my organization can be dismantled. Our previous attempts at dissuading him haven't exactly been fruitful." Warabi rolled his head back upright. "Then again, neither has framing him, it seems — so we'll have to take on yet another strategy. Let's see him continue his war path in the face of our taking you away from him... permanently."
Ran bit back a gasp, instead staring daggers at the man with a clenched jaw. "Fine — kill me yourself, then. You know you want to."
Warabi allowed himself another chuckle as he donned a condescending smile. "Ie, you know I can't do that. That's the beauty of what I do: my hands never get dirty. All the drug runners, assassins, policemen in my employ — they do all the work for me, and nothing can point it all back to me. Sometimes a sniper bullet is what's called for, but often... more subtle means are needed: a serial drunkard falling off a tall balcony, an amateur fisherman drowning after a capsized boat, a random pedestrian killed by a seemingly errant truck driver..."
Warabi slowly stepped forward as he talked and crouched down in front of Ran to eye level. "In your case, it's a tragic tale — it seems one Mouri Ran was unable to handle her boyfriend's becoming a murderer, so she took after her father and drank herself into a stupor. Unable to handle even that, she succumbed to the base urge to take her own life... and put a gun to her head."
Still strangely incapable of lifting her arms, Ran simply sneered at the man. "You won't get away with it."
Warabi smirked. "Don't be so sure."
As Warabi stood and made his way to the door, something bugging Ran's mind finally loosened her tongue. "Why now?"
Warabi stopped with his hand on the doorknob and half-turned to look at Ran. "What's that?"
"You've had all this time to dispose of me and Shinichi — and all the time in the world after now. What's making it such an urgent task for you now?" Warabi simply raised his chin confidently in response, leaving Ran to piece things together in her head. "You... you're running for prime minister soon, aren't you? You're needing to tie up loose ends on your way there."
Warabi raised his brow and pursed his lips in consideration. "A pity — seems you would have made quite the detective as well. That's too bad."
With that cryptic remark, Warabi finally let himself out of the room, leaving Ran fighting to get her muscles activated again. A pair of strong hands suddenly grabbed her hair and chin, forcing her jaw open as another pair of gloved hands began stuffing in a small pill and drowning it with a bottle's worth of drink.
Ran suddenly found herself grateful Shinichi wasn't here to see what was happening.
The forced drowning of her sorrows went on long enough for Ran to lose track of time. Eventually, the drink stopped flowing, and both pairs of hands retracted, leaving Ran to roll her head back on the seat back in response. Why do people even like drinking this crap?
Feeling started coming back into Ran's muscles, just in time for one of the men to pick up her arm and place a gun in her hand. The man then brought her hand up next to her head to point the gun into her temple and started finagling her finger onto the trigger.
As the man started his attempt at getting her finger to squeeze the trigger, Ran summoned the strength to withdraw her hand forcefully for a pistol-whip into the assailant's face. Not entirely conscious of what she was doing, she proceeded to stand and quickly roundhouse the second man squarely across the head to knock him out, then grabbed the first man's head before he could fully recover and slammed his nose into her knee, prompting him to collapse onto the ground next to his compatriot.
Ran staggered backwards as her wits came back to her, reminding her to spit out the pill she had managed to hide under her tongue. Fighting the massive headache that was threatening to make itself known, she heeded the feeling that she needed to escape by haphazardly opening the door and stumbling out of the room. Such was her state that she had to hold onto the wall as she slowly made her way down the hallway. Eventually, her strength gave out on her and she collapsed onto the ground spent.
She vaguely heard the sound of frantically approaching footsteps as she drifted out of consciousness.
Fourteen months earlier
Ran simply stared at the ground from her seat in the hallway of the police station, unable to will herself into getting up and doing anything. Down the hall, the Shounen Tandei-dan were being debriefed by detectives regarding their latest case, but Ran couldn't bring herself to stay in the room as her mind wandered elsewhere. Her vigil in the hallway did little to focus her thoughts back to the present, though.
The sound of footsteps prefaced the arrival of another woman sitting next to Ran. "How are you holding up?"
Ran startled at the question. "Ah, Sato- keiji ! I, er..."
Ran found herself at a loss for words — which Sato seemed to take as invitation to read her mind. "You're worried about Kudo-kun, aren't you?"
Ran blushed. "Er... I don't... that is..."
"No need to be polite on my account, Ran-chan — say what you need to say."
"It's not that, it's just..." After another beat, Ran sighed in defeat. "It's just that he comes around so infrequently... even after we officially started dating, this case he's on is just so..."
Sato finished the thought. "You're wondering what it is about the case that's taking his time away from you?"
"I... I know his time is not mine for him to take away or anything, it's just —"
"I understand..." Sato pursed her lips ostensibly in thought, then smiled warmly. "You know, my father... he used to spend a lot of long hours on the job, and it made me feel sad that I couldn't spend more time with him. Eventually, though, he started making more of an effort to spend time with me — I wasn't sure why, but then not long before he died he told me why. He had started reading Charles Dickens recently, have you read any Dickens?"
"I, er... I've heard of him."
" Ma , he told me a quote he pulled from Dickens, he said: 'Mankind is my business... my work is but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business.'"
Ran finally raised her head. "That..."
"Sounds like something Kudo-kun would say, too, doesn't it?"
Ran couldn't help but smile. " Ee , it does."
"And if my read on him is correct... then he just needs a reminder that his work is only a drop of his business. Think you can give that to him?"
Ran sat up straight, a new resolve coursing through her veins. " Uhn , I can!"
Ran drifted back into consciousness to an unfamiliar but rather comfortable bed. She surreptitiously opened her eyes to confirm that Shinichi was indeed sitting in a chair next to the bed in silent vigil, his eyes closed with chin leaning into a thoughtful hand. Something in Ran's movement seemed to tip him off, however, as his eyes flew open and his head turned to look at her before she could register anything further.
Ran leaned her head back with a voiceless sigh. "Where are we now?"
"Sonoko called just before I turned your phone off."
Ran's eyes flew back open. "Why would you —"
"She offered to have us hide out in one of her villas outside of Tokyo."
"We left Tokyo?"
"Ee — and it seems the police are more interested in trains than in cars, thankfully enough."
"Why did you turn my phone off?"
"The police are looking to trace your phone after they failed to trace mine."
Ran closed her eyes in frustration. "So we're running out of contact with the outside world, then."
"Ee — almost makes me tempted to go for the nuclear option..."
Ran sat straight up at the suggestion. "Wait a minute, you can't be thinking —"
"If we're going to get any help in this endeavor, then we'll need to —"
"Hold on, we haven't even reviewed everything yet!"
Shinichi paused briefly before raising an eyebrow. "What is there to review at this point?"
"He was there."
"... 'He'?"
"Warabi Yokubo."
Shinichi's eyebrows flew up as he leaned back in his seat in consideration. "That's... quite a risk to take."
"Ee — and he has a reason to take it."
"What's that?"
"He's planning to run for prime minister."
Shinichi froze in shock for a couple of beats before closing his eyes. "And he's wanting to get rid of some loose ends on his way there."
"Including us, hai."
"Hence his framing me."
"And trying to have me killed."
Shinichi sighed. "I never should have left you there, I —"
"You couldn't have known that would happen."
"Ie, but I should have anticipated the possibility."
"It's fine, Shinichi — you know I can take care of myself."
Shinichi opened his eyes again and drilled a hard gaze toward Ran. "Just because you can doesn't mean you should."
Under Shinichi's gaze, Ran had to suppress the urge to apologize for everything that had happened as of late, knowing it wasn't the right time. "W-what about you? What happened while you were gone?"
Shinichi held his gaze on her for a moment longer before dropping his head into his hand. "Ma... the FBI had to go back to the drawing board recently. They turned a man on the inside, but he managed to expose himself and get himself killed."
"You mean the contact didn't get anything back to the FBI before dying?"
"He was apparently looking for a recording implicating Warabi-san that's purportedly in the possession of a policeman — whom or where he suspected, he evidently never communicated." Ran suddenly had a thought that kept her in stunned silence — a silence Shinichi seemed to notice. "What is it?"
Ran startled at the question. "I, er... I just remembered something Warabi said before he left..."
"What's that?"
"He was... bragging, I suppose, about how he's mastered the means of having people killed in ways that look like accident or suicide. One of the means he alluded to... he described as 'a random pedestrian killed by a seemingly errant truck driver'."
A moment of stunned silence preluded Shinichi visibly putting things together in his head — much to his dismay. "You think Sato-keibu's father may have been involved?"
"It makes me wonder... that combined with what Sato-keibu once told me about her father: she mentioned that he used to be absorbed in work before having something like a change of heart and spending more time with her."
"Perhaps due to removing himself from under the thumb of Warabi-san, you're thinking?"
"He had recently gotten into reading Dickens, she told me."
Shinichi's head snapped up suddenly. "That means... the recording..."
Ran nodded. "I'd like to propose an amendment to the nuclear option."
Sera stepped into the hallway intent on getting some air, the latest events in the bullpen having given her a headache. She had tried everything she could to prove Shinichi's innocence without tripping any alarm bells, but the Diet liaison simply exerted too much influence — and someone else had already been caught in the crossfire, much to her dismay.
Before she could ruminate further on recent events, the sound of the elevator arriving down the hall caught her attention for some reason. Only when its occupants exited the elevator did Sera have to start reminding herself to breathe.
Coming toward her was a police officer accompanying Ran toward the Division One bullpen, the latter wearing a strangely haunted look in her eyes. The officer wasn't anyone Sera recognized, but she wasn't inclined to dwell on that discrepancy at the moment.
Sera directed her voice back toward the bullpen. "Megure-keibu! You need to come see this!"
After a couple of beats, Megure entered the hallway in response to her shout. "What is it?" Megure looked down the hallway to see the answer to his own question, leaving him in just as much shock as Sera. "R-Ran-kun!"
As she and the officer arrived in front of Megure, Ran nodded sadly before dipping her head. "Megure-keibu..."
Still in shock, Megure turned to address the officer. "Where did you find her?"
The officer snapped into a salute. "She turned herself in, Megure-keibu. She came to me, I didn't find her."
"And Kudo-kun?"
Ran lifted her head. "I escaped from Shinichi."
Sera found her voice again first. "You escaped from Shinichi-kun?"
"Ee — he took me with him into hiding once he heard about the arrest warrant."
"To what end?"
"I... don't know. He never said."
Megure finally recovered. "Do you know where he is now?"
"I don't know — he said something about a villa outside of Tokyo, but I escaped before he could take me there."
Megure and Sera exchanged a look before the inspector spoke again. "Ma... you better come with us into the bullpen for some more questions."
"Mochiron, keibu-dono."
Megure immediately turned to reenter the bullpen, leaving Sera to watch the other pair closely as they moved to follow. As they passed her, the officer turned to look at Sera — and gave her a tense wink.
... You're kidding me.
Now sufficiently motivated to keep a straight face, Sera brought up the rear of the processional into the bullpen — only to narrowly avoid running into the back of Ran, who understandably stopped at the sights the bullpen provided. As Megure moved to join the Diet liaison, Sera moved to one side of Ran as her escorting officer wandered off to the other side inconspicuously.
Megure cleared his throat and indicated the two men seated in front of him. "Do you recognize these two men?"
After a beat to recover, Ran sighed in frustration. "You're kidding me."
The liaison raised an eyebrow. "Is that a 'yes'?"
"Ano... keibu?"
Megure turned toward the voice of the unknown officer. "Hai?"
"Why are Sato-san and Takagi in handcuffs?"
As Megure sighed at the sight of the two officers in question sitting at their desks, the liaison beat him to the answer. "Sato and Takagi are under suspicion for obstructing a police investigation."
Sera briefly wondered why the officer had bothered with the question, but forced herself not to dwell on it as everyone's focus returned to Ran. And it better stay there...
The liaison brushed away the distraction equally forcefully. "These two men are claiming you assaulted them when they attempted a citizen's arrest."
Ran pulled an annoyed face. "They really told you that?"
One of the two thugs nodded. "Ee, I had to have my nose reset and everything —"
"You two have a lot of nerve, you know that?"
... This is a hell of a distraction tactic...
"What do you mean by that?"
"You risk putting yourselves in the hands of the police and compromising your employer just to gaslight me like this?"
Sera risked inserting herself into the conversation. "Their employer?"
Ran turned to Megure. "These two men assaulted me on orders and I defended myself."
"On whose orders?"
Ran pointed at the liaison. "Before I answer that, I need to know who this man is."
The liaison didn't miss a beat. "I'm acting as the liaison between the police and the National Diet on the matter of the manhunt for Kudo Shinichi."
"And to whom in the Diet are you reporting?"
"I don't have to answer that."
"I'm not answering any more questions until I get an answer from you."
"I'm not the one under arrest here."
"Neither am I, I came here voluntarily."
"Your handcuffs suggest otherwise."
"Oi! What are you doing with Sato-san's snow globe?"
The interruption of another male officer in the room stole everyone's attention, prompting the target of the interrogatory to look up panicked from the snow globe in his hands. The officer started backing away as a sudden crowd of male officers started swarming for him aiming to defend their queen.
Before any of them could reach him, however, Sato herself threw herself in front of them to defend the officer. "Stop! Don't get any closer!"
What did he...
"Out of my way!" Without showing a single reservation, the liaison pushed his way through the crowd then threw Sato aside in pursuit of the offending officer, who kept fiddling with the snow globe as he backed away from the liaison. Sera started running over to intervene as the officer started running out of room. Eventually, the base of the snow globe dropped away from the rest of it, shocking even the officer as the entire room similarly froze.
Sighting the reason for the act, Sera recovered first to pick up the snow globe base and pulled out the flash drive hidden there to hold it up for the room. "I think we should inspect the contents of this before we proceed further."
"The snow globe was your father's, was it not?"
Sato startled at the officer's having addressed her with a whisper. " Ee ..."
"Would you mind if I took a look at it?"
"... Why?"
In response, the officer smirked slightly. "There is only one truth."
Sato dissociatively followed the rest of the procession into Megure's office, still in shock over the revealed contents of her father's snow globe. The officer responsible for the intrusion stole a glance as she entered which was a strange mix of apologetic and determined. You better know what you're doing...
After given silent permission by Megure, Sera allowed herself to the inspector's computer and plugged in the flash drive, then inspected its contents on-screen. "There's an audio file on here."
Megure nodded. "Play it."
Sera checked to ensure the volume was turned up, then pressed play on the audio file in question. As the track began with unaccompanied footsteps, Sato took the time to look around the room. Sera, Ran, and the errant officer had strangely expectant looks on their faces, while the Diet liaison inexplicably looked just as dyspeptic as the two goons who had accused Ran of assault. What is going on?
The footsteps gave way to the sound of a door opening and closing, followed finally by a voice. "Is Warabi-bengoshi in?"
Sato gasped at the voice. Tou-san...
"He's in his office, Sato-san, you can go right in."
"Arigato."
As more footsteps continue, Megure chimed in. "Warabi-bengoshi — this must be from back when Warabi Yokubo-san was a district public prosecutor."
The footsteps transitioned into another opened door. "Warabi-san —"
"Close the door, Sato."
"That's Warabi-san, alright."
The man in question spoke again after the door closed. "You have a lot of nerve coming here in person, Sato."
"I know, I just... I needed to talk to you."
"Lay it on me, then."
"... My wife has been asking questions."
"What kind of questions?"
"Questions about my late hours... and the extra deposits in my bank account..."
"And how did you respond?"
"I told her that I'd taken on some private security gigs for more money and that I legally couldn't say where."
"Good answer."
"I don't know how much longer that answer is going to work."
"What do you mean?"
"I... I just don't know how much longer I'll be able to lie to my wife... and my daughter..."
Warabi let out a laugh. "It's not my fault your friends got you into a spot of trouble only I could get you out of."
"I know, I —"
"Which is exactly why you're one of my men on the inside, you hear me?"
"I understand, it's just —"
"You're there to make sure everything is cleaned up after my men and that police attention never ends up on them."
"You're not telling me anything new, Warabi-san."
"Then what's the problem?"
"I just... I don't know how much longer I'll be able to do so for you."
A pause permeated the recording before Warabi's voice dropped dangerously. "You're taking a big risk by even telling me that, Sato — I've had other people in my employ offed for less than that."
"You don't have to worry about my saying anything, Warabi-san, if that's your concern."
"My concern is that we made a deal, and you know what happens when you break it."
"I know, but... could we maybe scale back the work you give me? My daughter just turned ten..."
Another pause kept the listeners in tense silence. "You work when I say you work, you hear me?"
"... I understand."
"Now get out of here — you have a job to do tonight."
"Hai."
"If any of my guys on the ground end up in police custody, I'm going to blame you, Sato."
"Mochiron." More footsteps separated the opening and closing of two doors before the recording ended.
Megure was the first to recover. "Blackmail and murder... Warabi-san, a crime lord?"
Sera leaned forward toward the computer screen again. "There are a lot more files on this flash drive, probably more details there..."
Megure looked up at Ran. "Perhaps you'd be able to explain everything to us now."
"Mochiron." Having beat Ran to the answer, Shinichi finally pulled off his police officer mask. "If you have the time to listen?"
"Tell me, Warabi-san: what makes you so confident that your party will win back the government in this year's elections?"
"I'll tell you what: I think the Japanese people are sick of the corruption and backroom deals of the current ruling party, and they're ready for a change. The Japanese people are looking for a party who will... who will..."
Warabi started stuttering as the doors opening behind the interviewer revealed its new entrants. "... who will see to it that... that..."
Warabi stood slowly as Ran and Shinichi approached him, looking for all the world like he was seeing a ghost. "You... you... you're not supposed to be here."
"We found the recording, Warabi-san." Blood drained from Warabi's face at Shinichi's revelation. "We found it and the files Sato Masayoshi-san compiled with it."
Ran nodded. "Your special liaison already admitted to his role in the scheme, and the two thugs you set on me are already being booked."
"It's over, Warabi-san."
"Ee — it's all being dismantled."
Shinichi beckoned over Megure, who opted to defer to Sato — Sato pulled out her handcuffs and walked around to the back of Warabi. "Warabi Yokubo — you are under arrest for conspiracy, fraud, the transportation and sale of illegal substances, ... and murder."
The shocked interviewer found it in herself to implore the cameraman to catch everything as Sato slapped handcuffs on a deflated Warabi and lead him out of the room. Ran allowed herself a deep breath before leaning her head on Shinichi's shoulder. Shinichi responded by reaching around to put a hand on her shoulder with a deep breath of his own, after which the two seemed to breathe calmly in unison.
Chapter 32: Postlude
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Ran stopped in her tracks after exiting the lecture hall at the sight of Shinichi sitting on the bench across the sidewalk. This time, Shinichi sat leaned back looking at his hands in his lap rather than hunched forward staring at the ground, but Ran couldn't help but see the parallel with last year. I suppose that's the point?
To test her hypothesis, Ran walked over and sat next to Shinichi on the bench. "Are you waiting for someone?"
Shinichi simply raised his eyes from his lap in silent response, then let out a humorless chuckle before returning them there. Ran found herself wishing she could read his mind to get a sense of the myriad of thoughts that were clearly going through his head. Instead, she had to content herself with the sounds of birds in the distance as the young man next to her fiddled with his fingernails, ostensibly lost in thought.
Eventually, Ran dropped her own gaze into her lap and couldn't take the awkward silence anymore. "Listen, Shinichi, I... we don't have to talk about what happened to me, or —"
"I disagree."
Ran startled at the force behind Shinichi's voice. "Eh?"
Shinichi picked up his head and drilled his eyes toward Ran. "We should talk about it. It won't do us any good to keep it all inside as if it can be hidden away."
"... W-what brought this on?"
Shinichi shifted his gaze off to the side dissociatively. "I found the song."
"What song?"
"The song I told you about last year — I quoted its chorus."
"The one about catching up with life?"
"Ee — its very first line goes, 'Sweep the dirt under the rug and leave it for another day.'"
Ran dropped an eyebrow. "That's..."
"So it's probably not the best song for basing one's life philosophy, ne?"
"Ie, I suppose not..."
As if sensing Ran's dubiousness, Shinichi fulled turned his torso toward Ran and grabbed one of her hands. "We've learned it the hard way, have we not? It's important that we're here for each other, hai, but that's not enough — we need to talk with each other as well... even if what we have to talk about is painful."
Ran found herself staring at her quickly warming hand. "I... you're right."
Shinichi dropped his own gaze. "I... I'm sorry I kept silent for so long about —"
Ran shook her head. "You don't have to apologize for that, Shinichi. I'm the one who should be apologizing for my behavior in the past —"
"You don't have to apologize for that either, Ran."
"Ie, I do." Ran waited until Shinichi looked at her again before continuing. "I don't think you can reasonably say my actions had good intentions, Shinichi — that's why you don't need to apologize but I do."
Shinichi simply stared at Ran for a long time, then chuckled ruefully. "It seems neither of us is going to accept each other's apologies."
Ran felt her heart drop momentarily at the observation, but found the courage to turn it around. "How about an exchange of thanks, then? Just like last time!"
Shinichi seemed to suppress a blush at Ran's smile. "Er..."
"I'll start this time: thank you — for being patient with me... even if I didn't necessarily deserve it."
Shinichi's brain appeared to short circuit for a moment, after which Shinichi let out another chuckle with smile. "Always — and thank you."
The pause was long enough for Ran to press. "For what?"
In response, Shinichi leaned over to rest his head on Ran's shoulder. "For just... being you."
Ran gave herself a moment to recover her heart rate before leaning her head against Shinichi's. "Always."
Shinichi sighed in contentment in response, leaving the two teens to rest against each other, their heart rates slowing in tandem as they simply enjoyed each other's company in peace.
Notes:
In December 2020, I decided to give myself a New Year's resolution for the first time in my life: to write every day. When the following year started, that resolution was quickly revised to every day I didn't have work, for reasons I can't go into without risking doxxing myself. From that resolution came, among other things, this work, which was started in February 2021 and completed November 2023. Over the course of writing this work, I found myself fighting the nagging thought that my writing style is singularly unsuited to the genre of fanfiction. Similarly, I was already spoiled by some extremely well-written long-form fanfics (which you can find in my bookmarks) and as a result found myself also contending with some highly inflated standards for what to expect from fanfiction. Those two forces combined to make me loathe to publish this work, despite the amount of time I spent on it. Eventually, I arrived at the realization that my standards are not the ones to consider. There is, for example, a TED talk on how to tie your shoes (I'm not joking, look it up) — everyone's standards are different, and ultimately there will always be an audience for something. If you managed to make it to the end of this work, then that's proof enough of that. I've since dropped the (quasi-)daily writing routine for a number of reasons, but I am sitting on some other unfinished fic ideas at this point. If there's enough of a response to this fic, then perhaps I might find the motivation to work on completing those as well.
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Last Edited Thu 26 Dec 2024 02:51AM UTC
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