Case Closed Fan Fiction ❯ When Pandora's Box Is Opened ❯ Paranoia ( Chapter 59 )

Chapter Fifty-Nine

Paranoia

“It seems that Shiratori will live, sir. Thankfully, it was not a major dose that he received, and the quick CPR of his colleagues...”

“Well, that's good,” Hakuba Keiso sighed. “But the fact remains, Yamashiro, that someone poisoned a police coffee maker... so how...?”

“Here's a list of those present,” his deputy said, handing over said list, “but of course nobody was paying much attention to who was at the coffee maker, so long as there was coffee... They never suspected something like this inside a police station...”

“They've all been searched?” Hakuba demanded.

“Yes, sir. Nothing's turned up, although we may have a motive...”

“Motive?”

“Yes, sir. The last person using the coffee machine before Shiratori was Sato. You remember? Her car was sabotaged the day before yesterday...”

“So it was merely a straying arrow?” Hakuba commented. “We'll need to strike soon against the infiltrators, dammit... with Hattori's information, two more prefectures have flushed out their rats, and there seems to have been a sweep of frightened resignations elsewhere...”

“When do you want to strike, sir?” Yamashiro asked.

“By the end of the week. I've got some good information from my sources, and I believe that we've located them all...”

“Don't count your chickens before they've hatched, sir,” Yamashiro cautioned casually as he left.

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“Toyama-keibu, something's been sighted in the river! It may be a body...”

“Brake, Otaki,” Toyama demanded as they screeched to a halt halfway across the bridge. Toyama was about to get on the radio to ask for the other officer's position, but one look in the water told him that there was no need. He could see the limp shape floating downstream towards him.

A limp shape in a familiar coat.

“Kazuha!” he cried, running along the bridge to climb down the banking.

“T-Toyama-keibu!” Otaki cried. Toyama ignored him, fording into the freezing water to catch his daughter as she floated past. Luckily, the current was pushing her nearer to the shore, so he didn't have to swim to get to her. He pulled her onto the banking as Otaki ran down with emergency blankets from the police car. He threw one over his shoulders and wrapped the rest around his daughter, who was now shivering violently. She was alive.

“Hattori,” he said into his radio, “I've found Kazuha, floating in the river... no sign of Heiji-kun... But she's alive, thank goodness...” It was then that he noticed a long, bleeding scratch on one cheek. It was very thin and straight, and as he touched it, he realized that the edges were slightly burned.

“Is this... a gunshot wound?” he wondered aloud, narrowing his eyes on the thin red line. Kazuha coughed again and opened her eyes.

“Otou... san...?” she said, and closed her eyes again as she shivered. “Cold...”

“It's all right, Kazuha,” he said gently. “Are you all right? Are you hurt? What happened?”

“Not hurt,” she murmured, “jus' cold... from the river... I was in the river... because...” Her eyes snapped open and she jerked as she tried to sit up.

“Heiji!” she screamed. “They're going to kill him! We've got to get back to the bridge, there's two of them, they had guns, and they're going to kill Heiji-”

“Kazuha!” he yelled, grabbing her to make her still, “Kazuha, calm down. Heiji-kun's father is upstream right now, he'll find him. Calm down, okay?” Into the radio, he said, “Did you hear that?”

“Every word. I'll get alerts out now. Get Kazuha somewhere safe-take her back to my house, It's nearer to the central station and the last I heard your wife had gone over there to worry herself to death with mine. When she's able, we need descriptions...”

“Two men in black,” Kazuha croaked into the handset. “I didn't really get a look at them, but one had long silver-blond hair and the other had sunglasses...” she sneezed several times.

“It's all right, Kazuha,” her father said, picking her up and carrying her to Otaki's car, hunching over a little to protect her from the falling snow. “That'll be enough for now. The most important thing is finding Heiji-kun...”

“There was stuff about nosy kids,” Kazuha muttered, her eyes drifting close.

“Sorry, but you can't fall asleep yet,” Toyama said, setting her down in the back seat and sitting next to her. “Stay awake. Tell me what happened.”

“I know...” Kazuha muttered, forcing her eyes open. “We were... walking home...”

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“It's sweet of you kids to come with me,” Kobayashi-sensei said to the kids as they wandered down the road, hunching down into thick coats against the frozen breeze.

“Do you think Shiratori-keibu will like these?” Ayumi said, holding aloft a little bouquet of flowers.

“I'm sure he will,” she said pleasantly, but she still looked upset. “I still can't believe it. Poison in the coffee...”

“I don't get it,” Mitsuhiko said with a frown. “How could anyone get poison into the first division in the first place?”

“By being in the first division,” Ai muttered to Shinichi.

“Them?” Shinichi said uncertainly. He'd talked about things for a long time with Ran last night, and he'd come to realize just what Kaito had meant about the “Shadow Syndicate”; Ran didn't know a lot about them, just what she'd gleaned from her conversation with Ai, enough to know that while they weren't absolutely everywhere and couldn't do absolutely everything, you'd need a microscope to tell the difference.

Ai just nodded, glancing forwards. Shinichi couldn't help staring a little, now knowing that the creepy, quiet girl was in fact an adult super-genius of a biochemist who had effectively put them in their predicament. He'd wanted to go straight to Agasa-Hakase's after school, to talk to his actual parents, see his real house and find out a little more about himself, but then a rather upset Kobayashi-sensei had mentioned that Shiratori was ill and in hospital after being poisoned...

“Well, it's a good thing he survived, huh?” Genta said, crossing his arms behind his head.

“Megure-keibu said that it was TTX,” Ran said thoughtfully. “I remember Jodie-sensei was talking about it once... she said it was fairly treatable if ingested by mouth, and he didn't have a major dose...”

“He's just lucky that whoever it was didn't use something more instantly lethal, like cyanide,” Ai commented.

“Oh, don't let's think about that,” Kobayashi said with a shudder. Shinichi, Ai, Ran and the kids all exchanged little grins. “What?”

“You really like Shiratori-keibu, don't you?” Ayumi giggled. Kobayashi blushed.

“What?” she said hotly. “He's been around the area a lot recently, we're friends... is it bad to worry about a friend?”

“The lady doth protest too much, methinks,” Mitsuhiko sniggered.

“Is this the hospital?” Kobayashi asked, desperate to change the topic though her cheeks were still pink. The clerk, however, had bad news for them.

“He's awake, but the room's swamped with police officers,” he said. “If you wait about half an hour, you might get in...”

“We can do that!” Ayumi said. Mitsuhiko and Genta both nodded, though Genta was already looking impatient.

“Oh, no...” Shinichi said, looking at his watch. “I was, uh... gonna meet Kaa-san...”

“I'll take you to do that,” Ran said. “We can come visit Shiratori-keibu tomorrow...”

“Aww, you have to go?” Ayumi complained.

“We'll give him your well-wishes,” Ai said.

“Yes, seeing your mother is important, right?” Kobayashi said brightly. “After all, it might help you regain your memory...”

“Then we'll see you tomorrow,” Mitsuhiko called as Shinichi and Ran left.

“If feel bad about not waiting around for Shiratori-keibu,” Shinichi admitted, “but... I just have to know...”

“What's going on, I know,” Ran said sympathetically. “I lost my memory, once, a bit over a year ago... I remember that it was a little scary, not quite having a handle on who I was...”

“You did?” said Shinichi. “What brought your memory back?”

“Well... you,” Ran said with a little smile. “But my situation was a little different. It was a traumatic thing, and... well, we're not quite certain what happened to you. But I'm sure we'll find out soon.”

“Yeah...” Shinichi said, a little uncertainly. Something was nagging at his brain, ever since he'd talked to Kaito. He knew something... something important... if only he could remember it...

“All right, this is actually your house,” Ran said, as they approached the huge western-style mansion next to Agasa-Hakase's.

“Wow...” Shinichi said, staring up at it. He looked at the cars in the driveway. “Whose are those?”

“The silver one is the one that your parents were renting,” Ran said, frowning at the rather old-fashioned convertible, “but I don't know whose that is...”

Shinichi was silent as they entered the front hall. “Hello?” Ran called. Instantly, a pretty woman with curly, bleached hair popped out from a doorway down the hall. She seemed familiar to Shinichi, although he knew he hadn't seen her since he'd lost his memory.

“Shin-chan!” she cried happily. “And Ran-chan too... Yuu-chan said you might be here today...” Shinichi stared a little, caught off-guard by the onslaught of “chan”s. “If you're here, then...?”

“Ran told me a lot,” Shinichi said, “but I'm still kinda... overwhelmed... are you my Kaa-san?”

“That's right,” she said, kneeling in front of him. “Do you...?”

“I... don't really remember a lot,” he admitted. “But... you seemed kinda familiar, so I guessed...”

“Who else is here?” Ran asked.

“Well, we've been chatting to your parents all day,” Yukiko said, with an amused glint in her eye, “and I feel ashamed to admit it, but the look on Kogoro-kun's face when we told him the full story was just the funniest thing... He's gotten over it with relatively good grace, I have to admit... I really admire your mother for not needling him too much about it. Then Hakuba-kun turned up...”

“Hakuba-kun?” Ran said.

“Who?” Shinichi said.

“Hakuba Saguru's a kokosei-tantei, like you,” Ran explained.

“And he's got a friend with him with some rather odd theories about what happened to Shin-chan's memories,” Yukiko said, leading them to the living room, “although at least he recognizes how bizarre they are...”

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Heizo peered through the snow, windscreen wipers thrashing against the increasingly heavy deluge. Soon it would be a blizzard, and whether Heiji was alive or dead right now, Heizo feared that if he was out in a blizzard all night, it would no longer be a Schrodinger's cat case...

Then, though the thickening blur of white, he spotted something black stepping out of the treeline along this stretch of banking. He turned on his siren, and the figure ran, leaping onto a motorbike and accelerating away. He pulled out his radio.

“Calling all cars on the west bank!” he barked. “This is Hattori. Figure in black spotted escaping on motorcycle, headed towards the motorway. Intercept and pursue. I'm going to sweep the bank.” He braked, skidding slightly on the snow, then pulled up his hood and stepped out into the driving snow.

It really was coming down thickly, though the trees provided some shelter. He grasped his gun under his coat, remembering that Kazuha had mentioned two figures in black; he had only seen one. He pressed through the trees, faintly hearing the roaring of the river. Then the riverbank came into sight, and he stilled. There was something else dark there, faintly visible amongst the snow. It wasn't black. It was just dark skin- a dark-skinned hand protruding from a bunched-up sleeve.

“Heiji!” he hissed, lurching forwards. He glanced around, watching for any sign of movement and wishing that he'd brought backup, but there was nothing; no black figures standing out against the snow. He let go of his gun, hurrying over to the prone figure.

It was then that he realized that something was very, very wrong.

The sleeve was indeed bunched up- too bunched up. The hand protruding from it... was too small...

Heizo knelt before the tiny, prone form, reaching out in surprise to pick up the little boy swathed in soaking, oversized clothes which had frozen stiff. One look at his face left Heizo in no doubt; this was Heiji, this was his son. But...

“What's going on?” he whispered, staring down at the sleeping face. He shook him slightly, trying to wake him. The little boy moaned and shivered, curling unconsciously towards Heizo's warmth, but did not wake. Heizo felt a surge of relief; he was alive, at least. But...

Why was he so small?

Without calling any squad cars, he hurried back to his own, removing Heiji's frozen clothes and wrapping him in a number of emergency blankets. Then he lay him down on the back seat and buckled him in, accelerating away through the growing blizzard, trying to head home without being seen.

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“They're planning the strike this week...”

“We'll do better... and they'll be slowed down... if they don't have his protection.”

“So should I neutralise him?”

“One of Sake's people will handle that. You just need to be in the room at the time so that you have an assured alibi... you'll be promoted into his place, and be in a position of unequalled use and power to us.”

“Got it. I have a morning meeting with him tomorrow at half-eight...”

“He'll be dead by nine. Just get him within sight of his office window.”

“Of course.”

“Don't fail, Schnapps.”

“Have I ever failed you?”

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I got my exam results yesterday! ^_^ A in English (anybody surprised?), B in History, C in Computing and Maths (how in the name of the Holy Pandora did I pass Maths?! I didn't ANSWER half of the questions!) and D in Psychology (WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL. I got A in all of the Prelims and NABs, so WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL?!). Aside from the Psych result, it's all good, mostly better than I expected :)

Yes I did, Desperatembrace! XD Well, for now they're all alive... Heiji's reaction is yet to come... XD

Would I really kill Heiji, Mel72000? I like him too much! Major character death is yet to come...

Don't worry, FaithlessGirl, he's not dead... chibi-time! XD

Do I scare you, International DCFanficNut 1207? XD Saguru, Miwako and Wataru all have some serious ass to kick... Saguru especially...

IT HAS COME, Yuki Taiki! XD They're all alive... for now... *muahahahaha*

The Black Org was out to “neutralize all threats”, as I think Gin would put it, KageNoNeko... but their devil's luck seems to be running out...

Yay, Kayla Edogawa? XD The world does everything it can to prevent Heiji/Kazuha fluff, now even resorting to attempted murder... XD Going to start having psychic dreams like Akako? XD I barely remember Disneyland either, I was three at the time...I like the Boardwalk in California better, TBH. Or anything with flumes. When I was really little, I got to see Keiko in Florida, as well... that was amazing. I've never gotten to see dolphins up close, though :( Now go sleep! XD

Akai may be slightly screwed, Marie Ravenclaw, if chapter 702 is anything to go by... but as for what will happen to him here... and what link? All I've put up recently is a YouTube link, that ought to work as long as you take out the spaces...

Thanks for the heads-up, Silver Shadowbreeze! ^_^; Enjoy your vacation! I was about to wonder... Shiratori's death is one of your favourite elements? O_o XD Nahh, but I know what you mean. Drama!

Heiji's always following in Shinichi's footsteps, FHP2208... XD revelations are coming! And thank you! ^_^

Glad to be inspirational, YoshimiKurosaki! You'd be amazed how many scenes here are the results of fanarts that I wanted to draw and failed badly at... I CAN'T DRAAAAW! DX So I wrote them instead. I'd love to see some of your fanarts and AMVs, though. Odds are good that they're better than mine. ^_-

Indeed he is, A Midsummer Night's Dream...

Yes he did, Pretztailfan95 XD I've always thought that the Kaitou Caricature had a scary grin... like Eskimo Joe. XD *Phoenix Down* try not to have a seizure on the keyboard in your Heiji-fangirl-joy... XD

Sounds like you had fun, JapaneseAnimeFreak16! ^_^ Rollercoasters? Lucky! <3

This is the best story you've read, Kyoko-chann? ?:D

Indeed, BobbyNeko... but I actually have a reason for it beyond narrative imperative... It is my fic, but I don't think I'd do that... *squirrels idea away for probably Kid-related oneshot crack-fic* XD I do like to hear the opinions of the readers, though, so long as it's nothing along the lines of “why don't you do KaiShin, they're so meant for each other...” Constructive criticism welcome, flames not. Kanji-geekery always welcome XD Yeah, this fic isn't going away any time soon... XD

I don't think what's coming up is quite from the same pool as amnesia and chibi-Heiji, Kolidescope... And thanks. I spent ages looking up the appropriate clips for the trailer ^_^

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).