Case Closed Fan Fiction ❯ When Pandora's Box Is Opened ❯ The Learning Curve ( Chapter 47 )

Chapter Forty-Seven

The Learning Curve

“Oi, Takagi,” Chiba called. “There's a call for you...”

“Sure,” Wataru said, thankful to escape the desk to answer the call. “Hello? This is Takagi.”

“Stop investigating the Edogawa case.”

“What?” Wataru said in surprise. Then he frowned. “Is that a threat?”

“No, it's a warning, forgive me if it sounded menacing. But very soon, I believe, anyone getting too curious is going to go the same way as the cat, if you understand me.”

“What? You mean the kidnapper?” Wataru hissed.

“I mean the kidnapper's important friends in the police. You want my advice, you'll keep out of it entirely, and tell your girlfriend to get out of the Kuroba case. If you don't want my advice, talk to Hakuba Saguru. I'm sure you'll find mutual interests. Now, I'm afraid that the batteries on my white-noise generator are running out, so I shall take my leave before the bugs on the police lines pick up again. Sayonara.”

“Oi-” Wataru said, blushing involuntarily at the reference to Sato as his girlfriend, but whoever was on the other end had hung up. “Do you know where that was from, Chiba-kun?”

“The trace just said a phone booth in Osaka,” Chiba shrugged. “Can't nail it down. What was it?”

“Umm... nothing much,” Wataru shrugged, slipping away to find Sato. She was drinking coffee with Yumi and sifting through her traffic reports.

“What's up, Takagi-kun?” Yumi said cheerfully. Sato waved, but didn't say anything because she was mid-gulp of coffee.

“Sato-san, can I speak to you for a moment?” he asked, glancing at Yumi. “Umm... in private?”

“Ooo,” Yumi giggled, getting up. “I'll leave you two alone, then...” she wandered off, giving Wataru worrying looks.

“Sato-san-” Wataru began, but Sato held up a finger to her lips, stalking down the hallway where Yumi had disappeared, before sticking her head around the corner and yelling “Go, Yumi!” Wataru heard Yumi's squeak as she fled, actually leaving them alone. Sato came back and sat down. “You were saying, Takagi-kun?”

“I got a strange call,” he said, lowering his voice as he remembered the mention of “The kidnapper's important friends in the police”. “It was... a warning, of sorts. It said that anyone getting involved in Conan-kun's case... or the Kuroba case... is liable to come to a sticky end.”

“What? They're connected?” Sato said in surprise. Wataru quickly motioned for her to shush.

“They also mentioned,” he hissed, “that Conan-kun's kidnapper has some important friends in the police. In other words, they're part of a bigger operation.” Sato's eyes instantly narrowed as she glanced around suspiciously, leaning towards him.

“If it's big,” she hissed, “We've got even more reason to take it down. They are not getting away with whatever they did to Conan-kun.”

“Of course not,” Wataru agreed. “So... whoever it was... suggested that we talk to Hakuba Saguru.”

“Hakuba? Isn't that the superintendant general's name?” Sato said in surprise. “Wait, no, his first name's Mamoru, isn't it?”

“Yeah, I think it's his son or something,” Wataru said quietly. “I remember, he was all over the papers a while back for faceoffs with the Kaitou Kid, before Conan-kun got wind of him... A blond boy, a Kokosei-tantei like Hattori-kun and Kudo-kun, I think...”

“Wait, wasn't there a blond kid who was talking to Hattori-kun the other day?” Sato said. “You know, when Conan-kun came back...”

“Maybe I'll call Hattori-kun and ask,” Wataru said, pulling out his mobile.

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“Conan-kun! You're back so soon!” Kobayashi-sensei said happily. “Now, you're feeling all right? Are you sure you're ready for this?”

“I'm not sick, Kobayashi-sensei,” Kudo said. Ai watched him follow their teacher into the classroom. It was his third day back, and since his CAT scan at the hospital had turned up no form of head trauma, Dr Ariade had said that it would be all right for him to return to school. Ran had looked tearful for a moment as she and Sonoko split up with the five children to continue on to the high school, but the three real kids had quickly engulfed him in chatter and stories. Still, Kudo had looked slightly lost for a second when Ran walked away.

“He's been hovering around her all the time ever since he came back,” Ai thought, noticing how apprehensive Kudo looked about returning to the classroom. “Does he remember her after all? Kami, he looks so afraid separated from her...”

“All right, class,” Kobayashi-sensei called, clapping her hands for silence. “As you can see, Conan-kun made it back safe and sound!” The children cheered happily as Kudo walked into the classroom. He looked a little freaked out, but the Shonen Tantei-Dan quickly surrounded him, not blocking him from view but simply sticking close to him. He looked slightly more reassured, but still scared. “However, I'm afraid he has amnesia. Does anybody know what that is?”

“Ummm...” Maria said nervously. “Doesn't it mean... you can't remember anything? Not your name or your home or anything?”

“Correct,” Kobayashi-sensei said sadly as the whole class gasped. “So we're all going to have to reintroduce ourselves to Conan-kun at some point, okay? Not right now,” she added as everyone stood up, calling their name. “But when you get the chance, okay?”

“I'm sure I'll get my memory back soon,” Kudo said, putting on a smile to try to wipe the sad looks that were on many of the children's faces. “But for now- Hajimemashite!”

“Okay, can you four show him back to his seat?” Kobayashi-sensei said.

“You're over here, Conan-kun!” Ai said, towing him down the aisle. “You're right next to Ai-chan, and I'm across here, and then there's Genta-kun and Mitsuhiko-kun...”

“Your notebook should still be in your desk,” Ai said as Kudo pulled his pencil case out of his bag.

“Ah! Arigato, Haibara-san,” he said, opening his desk to get the aforementioned notebook. The class quickly settled down into a normal day, though the children kept glancing at Kudo and whispering. She watched him descend into boredom out of the corner of her eye. Normally, he hid his classroom boredom, but now he didn't know to. She wondered what he made of the ease with which he did the work. It might explain the vague confusion with which he stared at the notebook. Did he realize that his intelligence was far above that of everyone else in the room (except her, of course?).

Still, everything when fine until the silent reading period.

He was pulling out a book and read the prologue when Kobayashi-sensei took it away. “You're in the sixth-graders' section, Conan-kun. These books will probably be a little beyond you. Why don't you go pick one out of the junior section with the others?"

“Hai,” Kudo said, but the look of confusion resurfaced.

“That book has some slightly difficult kanji,” Ai remembered as she saw Kobayashi-sensei reshelve the title. “Normal third-graders wouldn't be able to understand a lot of it... but I bet he understood every word.” He resumed looking through the books when he paused, reaching in behind a book that he'd pulled out and retrieving a torn leather wallet.

“What's this?” he said in surprise, staring at the wallet.

“That's the wallet the ghost left!” Ayumi said excitedly. “We decided to leave it there in case he ever came back...”

“Ghost?” he said, confused, unfolding the wallet.

“Yeah! You told us all the story once! Mitsuhiko said excitedly. “About when Ran-neechan and Shinichi-niichan met a ghost in the library and followed all of his riddles!” Kudo's head jerked up.

“Shinichi... niichan?” he said, sounding even more surprised. Was there a trace of... recognition in his eyes? “Who's that?”

“Ran-neechan's boyfriend,” Ayumi giggled.

“He and Ran-neechan were friends since they were really little kids,” Mitsuhiko added. “But he's a really famous Meitantei, and he's been away on a case for a couple of years, so we've only met him the once.”

“His house is next to Agasa-Hakase's, and it's a ghost house!” Genta proclaimed excitedly.

“Really...” Kudo said quietly, staring at the wallet with brows furrowed. He pulled out a piece of paper and read it for a moment. “Kudo Shinichi-niichan...” Suddenly, he paled rapidly, his breath seeming to freeze, staring at the paper unseeingly.

“Conan-kun?” Ayumi asked worriedly. “Conan-kun, are you all right? Conan-kun?” He didn't seem to hear her, his hands suddenly starting to shake as he gripped the wallet and note tighter.

“Is he having a flashback?” Ai thought in shock. “His memories... is this a trigger? But if he's remembering a moment from Kudo Shinichi's childhood... if he's remembering Mori-chan as a child... something he knows that Edogawa Conan can't possibly remember...”

“Conan? Oi, Conan!” Genta yelled loudly, right in the smaller boy's ear. Kudo seemed to jerk out of whatever trance he'd been in, and glanced around.

“Gomen,” he said. “I thought... I might remember something, for a moment. But... it's gone now. I'm fine. Really, I'm fine,” he repeated to Ayumi, who was hovering worriedly around him. He stuffed the note back into the wallet and the wallet back into the bookcase. “Sorry for worrying you...”

Soon, he had selected a book and was settled down, quietly staring at the page like everyone else. But Ai felt that he, like she, was not reading a word.

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Conan spoke little to his friends on the walk home, even though his quiet was visibly worrying Ran. He kept running over the moment in the library earlier. There had been something, he swore, something had come back in the library, but... it was gone. Whatever had been triggered by that wallet, and the two notes inside... was gone.

To Kudo Yuusaku

?

Kaitou no. 1412

He could make neither heads nor tails of that one, though both the name and the number seemed faintly familiar. He wondered if he was related to the Kudo Shinichi-niichan that the other kids had mentioned...

It had been the other note that had triggered something.

Thank you!

1st grade, class A

Mori Ran

He'd seen Ran-neechan's name, then wondered who she was thanking, why, and then they'd mentioned that she'd been ghost hunting with Shinichi-niichan, then...

“Is that so? All you did was read the beginning of the novel's summary...”

“Who said that?” he thought, straining his brain. “I can't remember their face... nothing but a shadow... and that voice... and...” but it was gone. Whatever else he had remembered was gone.

“Conan-kun? Are you all right?” Ran said worriedly. “You've been frowning for a while now...”

“Gomen, Ran-neechan,” he said, trying to be cheerful. He didn't want her to worry. “I thought I remembered something earlier... but I forgot it again. Funny, huh?”

“Don't push yourself,” Ran said. “It'll come in time, I promise. It'll just take the right trigger, like with my memory. Until then... don't push yourself.”

“Okay,” he said, as they slowed in front of a bookstore. “Are we stopping here?”

“Yeah!” Genta said. “I got my pocket money, so I want to get the new Kamen Yaiba manga! I bet you'll like Kamen Yaiba once you remember it!”

“There's other books you like too,” Mitsuhiko added as they walked through the bookshelves. “Like... where's the mystery section? You love detective novels!”

“Yeah! Where's Sherlock Holmes?” Ayumi asked as they reached the mystery section, scanning over the titles.

“Yeah...” Conan agreed. He'd rapidly found mysteries fascinating. He'd loved reading all of the articles and reports about the Shonen Tantei-Dan's cases, found the complex tricks and the unravelling of the mysteries intoxicating. That was why he'd gravitated to the Agatha Christie book, even though it was in the older children's section. Kobayashi-sensei had insisted that it would be too hard for him, and he'd seen some complex kanji on the first page, but...

He'd understood it, every word. And just from seeing a few names, he recalled which one had done it, and how. He didn't remember when or where he'd read the book, but clearly he had, and had understood every word. He was starting to wonder. He could do high-school level math problems and read kanji intended for sixth-graders- and probably only the exceptionally bright ones, at that. Arthur Conan-Doyle's works, he was sure, would be even more complex. That, he knew, was not normal for an eight-year-old. But while everyone had said that he was bright, no-one had mentioned anything about being a super-genius.

And...

He paused when he spotted a familiar name. “Kudo Yuusaku?” he said, pulling a title off the shelf.

“That's Shinichi's father,” Ran said, noticing the book that he was holding. “He writes mystery novels. Oh, do you know who Shinichi is?”

“We told him about Shinichi-niichan today,” Ayumi said. “We found the wallet that you and Shinichi-niichan left for the ghost. Conan-kun told us the story a while ago. He said you told him the story...”

“I told him the story of the ghost?” Ran said thoughtfully. “When did I do that...?”

“It was a year ago,” Ai said quietly. “I'm sure it's just slipped your mind.” It was the first time that the quiet girl had spoken in some hours. She made Conan a little uncomfortable. All through class that day, he'd got the feeling that she'd been watching him out of the corner of her eye. He flipped open the cover of the book, looking at the picture of the author on the inside jacket. The man's face did seem faintly familiar.

“But Ran-neechan said I only met him once,” he thought. “So why should he seem more familiar than Kaa-san...?” he sighed. “Maybe it's just because I saw him recently and haven't seen her in a long time. So... he's Shinichi-niichan's Tou-san...” suddenly, he froze. “Wait... the others only mentioned “Shinichi-niichan”. How did I know that his family name was Kudo?” Almost as if in a trance, still holding the book open, his gaze roved beyond the mystery books, to the adjacent crime section, and he reached for a book by Maurice Leblanc...

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I just have to say, if you've not read or watched the arc where Shinichi has a flashback to when he and Ran were actually kids and met a phantom in the school library(chapters 570-573 or episodes 472-473) this flashback will mean nothing to you. Also, you should read it anyway since it's an awesome arc which is totally sweet and, on top of that, shows KUROBA TOICHI! *luvluv* It's the first time his face appears in the DC manga... and tiny Kaito too! :D *luvluvluv*

Thanks for the courage, Mel72000! I need it for the thunderstorms...

He doesn't know he can turn his shoes onto ultra-kick mode, KageNoNeko, so there's unlikely to be any footballing accidents... I'm sure he'll be happy enough to get his feet on a ball, though. ^_^

This is what's next, A Midsummer Night's Dream! XD

Ahh, we'll miss you Kayla Edogawa! And you'll miss Conan XD while you're in the White House, tell Obama that he is the first president since Clinton's early days to actually be LIKED overseas ^_-

I got that a lot a while back, HaibaraDaiFan... first year of high school, officially worst year of my life. I wasn't sure who I was, but I certainly didn't like that person, since everyone else sure as hell didn't... All over now, lingering self-esteem crisis aside. I love my friends. ^_^ But I know what you mean- who are you supposed to believe in that scenario? No previous data, you know? It's gotta be frightening, no idea what's real or not... And I finally got the pic! I love it! His little blank face is just like the mental image I had when that scene came to me... If I could actually draw, I probably never would have written the fic, just drawn all the scenes that came to me. But since I can't draw, I write the scenes and hope I do it well enough to bring them to life. ^_^ Trust me, it's a Da Vinci compared to my attempts :P

Conan'll have to share his suspicions sometime, Pretztailfan95... Genta sometimes seems a little extraneous to me, to be honest... Mitsuhiko and Ayumi are better developed as characters. Sometimes, Genta just seems to be there to fill in the “brains, beauty and beast” trio :P Poor boy. STOP SHOOTING ME! *shoots back with a rocket launcher* Well, they've both been shot in the gut... Come to think of it, movies aside, I think that's the only time either's been properly hospitalized. Movies are bad for these boys' health :P They're GONE! You scared them away! On the other hand, there's always HaibaraDaiFan... XD

Awww... I think at this point I would die without access to a computer, Marie Ravenclaw XD Yukiko is among those characters whom I think really ought to appear more... also Yuusaku and pretty much the entire cast of Magic Kaito... hell, I'd be happy if Akako appeared ONCE... :(

Ah, gotcha now, FaithlessGirl... ahh you're so cruel XD

Conan, you have a cheerleader in TwilTye! XD Heiji's all tied up in the dealing-with-the-Syndicate thing, so thankfully the issue of Conan isn't coming up much between him and Hakuba...

Conan may not have any memories, JapaneseAnimeFreak16, but he's still the same Meitantei... and still in love with Ran, poor boy. Love conquers all! :D

Well, there's plenty of Heiji and Conan here, FHP2208! ^_- Have a good time in Spain! Kami knows what'll have happened by the time you get back... XD

Here comes a flashback, Yuki Taiki ^_- Now what would happen? I personally think it would be scary as hell... X( Yeah, chapter 699 is up. And chapter 700 BETTER BE UP SOON.... DCTP's promised to have it up around the 22nd.

There's Kairi922! XD He's too smart for that, yeah, but it doesn't mean that being told that the most dangerous criminal organization in the world wants your head on a stick wouldn't be frankly terrifying... Yeah, I think Heiji and Saguru could be a good combination if they didn't end up killing one another XD yeah, YT has all of the episodes here and there, I think... A really good one if you like a bit of psychological horror is episode 196- “Midnight”. I personally adore that one, but I always end up biting my nails down to the knuckles... XD

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 29 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).