Case Closed Fan Fiction ❯ The First Woman In The World ❯ 18 ( Chapter 18 )

A Year and a Half Ago

“I'm taking time off from Tinseltown. I've got some things to clear up here...”

Things still weren't much clearer, unfortunately.

She'd done a little digging. Kaito and “Conan” had faced off a couple of times, both times too evenly matched for Kaito to get away with anything or for Shinichi to arrest him. Conan had appeared at the same time that Shinichi had supposedly been killed, just as his classmate Haibara Ai had transferred shortly after Sherry had vanished.

Eta couldn't let Sherry get away. There was too much she could tell the world about the Organization- and about her, if only the little idiot stopped to think about it. Besides, what if she finished that drug? She had to get close- and to do so while she was under the watch of a Silver Bullet.

She'd eventually decided on Dr Ariade, an amiable enough figure who was close to the family but not close enough for them to notice any slight differences as she accustomed herself to acting as him. His grandmother and housekeeper would notice differences, though, so unfortunately they would have to go, but at least their disappearance was unlikely to be noted- neither left the household much.

Then there had been the car crash, which made things easier. She pulled some strings to cover up the crash, and promptly moved into his place. She was a bit disgruntled to find that his coaching job at Teitan High- a job which kept her within reach of Mori Ran, and thus Edogawa Conan- was almost over, but then she stopped by the drama club and started working with them, which was even better because the female lead was the Angel herself. Eta only had a minor heart attack when she missed school and rehearsal one day with the explanation that Conan had been shot and was in hospital, but luckily it hadn't done the boy any fatal damage and he was ready to come watch the show- where Eta would be playing the male lead, in place of the Suzuki girl who had injured herself with an overzealous sword sweep. It would be the perfect opportunity to get a little closer to the Mori household.

Though she spoke derisively of Hollywood, Eta did love acting. There was a thrill in it, in becoming someone else- and Toichi-sensei had taught her so well. Every time Eta donned her flawless Ariade disguise, every time she spoke in a perfect reproduction of his voice, every time she stepped onto the auditorium stage, slightly cheesy lines in hand, she remembered him- a brilliant teacher, a fondly missed friend, a good man. Perhaps Eta was growing sentimental with age, but still she regretted his death every day, like she regretted Hanako's.

So she was very disappointed, on the day of the show, to find that she had been replaced.

“Suzuki-san, have you seen my costume?” She asked the girl in Ariade Tomoaki's desperate voice. “It's nearly my cue...”

“Oh, I'm so sorry, Dr Ariade!” Sonoko gasped. “I forgot to tell you... I put in, uh, a special stand-in. It's really important that he plays the Knight in this last scene, so...”

“Really? Who?” Eta said, outward voice all innocent surprise, inwardly figuring that it was a boy who the ditzy girl had a crush on and had wanted the part.

“I can't tell you yet,” Sonoko said with a wink. “It's a very special surprise...”

“She won't tell the rest of us either,” muttered one of the bandits, before he and his friends charged onstage.

“Does he know the lines?” Eta asked worriedly, glancing up into the special spot on the rafters where a dark shape was crouching.

“He did, actually,” Sonoko said, sounding surprised. “I, eh... touched up his knowledge where it was lacking, but overall he knew them perfectly... it'll be fine, trust me!”

Eta shrugged and turned to watch the stage. Ran really was a brilliant actor, Eta thought with a hint of pride. She did look genuinely helpless amongst those bandits, and Eta had seen her karate practices.

Then the Black Knight leapt from the rafters, fighting off the bandits. Eta couldn't see his face, because the helmet obscured it, but he seemed... familiar.

Then, oddly, rather than saying his lines, he simply turned and hugged Ran- holding her close, despite her surprise. Sonoko just held up a sign going “Just Keep Going!”

“Suzuki-san...” Eta muttered.

“This is supposed to happen, I told him to do this!” she squealed quietly, with a disturbing grin. “Oh, watch, I hope he bought it...”

“Who is that and what did you tell him?” another girl hissed as Ran improvised to fill in the conversation that was supposed to take place between the two.

“I told him there was a “script change”,” Sonoko giggled, “and he's someone who'll be very happy to carry it out, I think... ooo, watch watch watch!”

It was the “kiss upon my lips” line. It was supposed to be a stage kiss- just a quick peck on air near the lips. But from the way Sonoko was squealing...

Then someone screamed.

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“What the... how...?”

Eta stared, ignoring the Suzuki girl's muttering about undeflated egos and stuck-up detectives. She just stared at the face that had been revealed from under the black crow helmet.

Kudo Shinichi.

There had been a bizarre moment before where some dark-skinned boy had turned up pretending to be Shinichi. “Conan” too had seemed singularly unimpressed with that... but there was something odd about him too. He looked different, and felt wrong.

Kudo Shinichi was full-size... how?! Admittedly, he was protecting Sherry, so she was presumably working on an antidote, but...

“That little idiot,” she thought, a cold fear gripping her. “If word gets out that he's alive, Gin...” Gin was the type who would hold a grudge against someone for surviving when he thought he'd killed them. If Gin found out that he was alive, that state of affairs would not last. He would die, as would those around him...

She stared at Ran, who seemed unable to keep her eyes off of Shinichi as he methodically went through his deduction.

“They will all die,” she thought. “I can't let that happen...”

She still couldn't decide whether Shinichi or Kaito was the true Silver Bullet. Both had caused admirable amounts of trouble for the Syndicate so far, and both were possessed by a fire to cause far more. But what she did know was that she could never risk losing either ever again, nor their Angels. It had hurt so much to think that Shinichi had died. She had to protect them... and help them.

She got the fright of her life when Shinichi collapsed. She was later thankful that it wasn't out of Dr Ariade's character to rush to the side of an ill student.

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TO WRITING! I'm actually bouncing around all sorts of things ATM, FHP2208… parody, two future fics, a number of oneshots and an original story… I love writing ^_^

Bingo again, Mel72000! XD

MUAHAHAHAHA, Pretztailfan95! XD I don't explicitly explain it, but it's already been strongly hinted at, I think… basically she doesn't want APTX 4869 to ever be completed, because she no longer wants to be immortal, nor does she want anyone else to be. Thus, she hates Sherry and her family for working on it.

And with the kicks he can produce in those shoes, StargateNerd… XDXD

Glad you like, KageNoNeko ^_^ I quite like how a situation can be transformed simply by altering the POV…

I'm addicted to flashbacks, DiGi XDXD Which pair might the “children” be…?

I do not claim to own any of the characters in Meitantei Conan. They are the intellectual property of Aoyama Gosho. All characters, couples and locations, if Canon, will be faithful to the manga, so if you're into fics with weird pairings like Shinichi and Heiji, the back button is at the top there. The fic may not make sense if you have not read up to chapter 698, which you can do at a site called (read between the lines) O/n/e/ma/n/g/a, but I advise you to buy the official Tankoban novels (up to volume 30 are out in English at the time of writing) so that Aoyama-sensei can afford to continue gracing us with his imagination. Now, I hope you enjoy the fic! (If you don't, please see my previous comments re the back button).