Case Closed Fan Fiction ❯ When Pandora's Box Is Opened ❯ Shinjitsu Wa Itsumo Hitotsu ( Chapter 79 )

Chapter Seventy-Nine

Shinjitsu Wa Itsumo Hitotsu

“Then...” Heiji said, breaking the long, long silence that had followed Shinichi's story, “V=Eta... is very simply... Vermouth is Eta?”

“Yeah,” Shinichi said. “I was already half-into the delirium at that point, I couldn't think of anything better, I just had to pray that she didn't see it... I can't really remember much after that… just delirium, and then, when I ran, she… helped me… watched over me… until I found you…” He trailed off faintly. Yukiko hugged him gently, tears etched on her cheeks and glinting slightly in the light.

“Ya really got somethin' complicated in the sketch, though,” Heiji grumbled, indicating the sketch of a monocle surrounding a cracked jewel. Shinichi plucked it from his fingers and stared at him, his face creasing into a frown.

“It wasn't actually... me,” He said slowly. “I sort of got shown what to draw by... the woman.”

“Woman? Vermouth... Eta?” Ran asked tentatively. Shinichi shook his head.

“I don't know if it was because I was delirious or what, but I saw another woman, a Japanese one, hovering around Vermouth-Eta,” he corrected himself. “Like a ghost... she showed me what to draw.”

“If it was a ghost, it coulda been that Hanako woman,” Kazuha pointed out. “Ya said she was a psychic, and kinda close ta Eta...”

“Yeah,” Shinichi said with a frown. “She looked... kind of familiar... like I've seen her face before... and her name... Kurosawa... where have I heard that before?”

“Gin's real name,” Ai said quietly. “Kurosawa Jin. His parents were both assassins, although I'd never heard what had happened to them before... nor that he'd had a sister.”

“That's right,” Shinichi remembered. “In the guestbook on Bikunijima, his name was next to yours... that's where I'd seen it...”

“Wait, you went ta Bikunijima?!” Kazuha squealed. “Did ya win?”

“No, but it doesn't matter since my investigation proved that it was only some stupid tourist festival,” Ai said coolly. “The old lady was a fake- Gin saw her putting the mask on. More importantly...”

“I know,” Shinichi said with a frown. “I could swear there was something about destroying the Pandora in this...”

“Gin's sister would know, wouldn't she?” Yukiko pointed out. “You mentioned that Shar-Eta said that her body was never found, that she might still be alive...”

“But that was thirty years ago,” Yuusaku said thoughtfully. “She'll be older than us now...

“And doubtlessly living under an assumed name,” Kaito sighed. “Calling for a Kurosawa-san from the rooftops is unlikely to net us much except bullets.”

“So ask the FBI to investigate,” Kogoro grumbled. “She'll have had to acquire new documents at some point, unless she stayed in Japan, which seems unlikely given the danger she was in...”

“She might not even be alive anymore,” Eri reminded them. “A lot can happen in thirty years...”

“Yeah...” Aoko's phone suddenly buzzed. “Oh... that's Otou-san. I'll ask him if there's any information on the Kurosawa family... I'd better go.”

“Be careful,” Kaito said. She kissed him quickly, then, sticking her tongue out at Ran and Kazuha, scurried away.

“Ain't that darlin',” Heiji sniggered. Kaito pinged him on the ear before getting up to return to his room, but Yuusaku stopped him.

“You'd better stay in here,” Yuusaku said. “Ran-kun's family can hardly go to Eri-kun's condo. If you and Kazuha-chan want to stay in the guest room, we'll roll out a few futons... we'll put Kaito-kun on Shinichi's bed and Shinichi and Hattori-kun can bunk on the floor...”

“Good thought,” Shinichi agreed. “What about Occhan?”

“What about me?” Kogoro growled.

“Weelll...” Yukiko giggled, “are you sleeping on Shin-chan's floor or in the girl's room?”

Kogoro threw a quick glance that would be subtle if he wasn't surrounded by detectives at Eri before saying “do I look like a girl?”

“Hardly,” Eri snorted.

“You two have a fun fight, we'll go fetch futons,” Yuusaku chuckled as Kaito collapsed heavily on Shinichi's bed.

“Warning: he snores like a motorway,” Shinichi muttered to Heiji.

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“What are you thinking, Aniki?” Vodka said, as Gin stared at the screen.

“Something those brats said was suspicious,” Gin said quietly. “If it's...” he fell silent as he saw an old man and a child wearing a baseball cap appeared onscreen, walking from the Kudo's to the lab next door. They were nearly in the gate when a gust of wind blew along the road, blowing away the girl's cap...

...exposing her hair, her face...

There was a sudden shot, and the video feed cut out; somebody had found the camera and shot it. But before that...

“Sherry,” he breathed. And at that moment, he knew where to find Sherry, just as he knew where to find Hattori Heiji and Kudo Shinichi; in a “strange dark-skinned boy” and an odd child at Mori Kogoro's detective agency...

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“Ohayou,” Shinichi muttered, wandering into the kitchen. He'd ended up talking to Hattori and Kuroba for hours- filling them in on a few fine points of his regained knowledge, discussing the Syndicate, Pandora, etc- and since Hattori seemed to operate on two hours' sleep and Kuroba wasn't leaving bed, Shinichi was one of the last ones down. It was only a little bizarre to see his normally empty kitchen swarming with Ran's parents taking turns at the coffee maker, Ran and Kazuha chatting over cereal, and his mother passing Hattori toast.

“Ohayou,” they variously chorused, Yukiko popping a couple more slices into the toaster at the sight of him.

“Where's Tou-san?” Shinichi asked, looking around for an empty chair. Ran pulled him onto her lap, careful not to jostle his injured shoulder, not breaking her conversation with Kazuha, who simultaneously grabbed Heiji. The two shrunken detectives exchanged blushes.

“Are they choreographin' this now?” Heiji mumbled around his toast, though he showed no intention to move.

“Probably,” Shinichi muttered.

“Here you go,” Yukiko said, passing Shinichi his toast. “I'd better take a plate up to Kaito-chan... I think Yuusaku went to talk to the FBI. There was something about gunshots...”

“Someone shot out a few hidden cameras, ones that the FBI had missed before,” Yuusaku said, returning to the kitchen. “Presumably the same person who shot at the Syndicate on two previous occasions...”

“Yeah?” Shinichi said. “From outside the police ring on the last Kid heist and from our house when Gin and Vodka found me...” then he frowned. “Wait a minute... Okiya-san's body was left with the snipers... that means it's...”

“I told them an address that I'd heard they'd do well to pay particular attention to,” Yuusaku continued enigmatically.

“Who gave ya info like that?” Heiji asked with a frown.

“A fellow Holmes fan,” Yuusaku said, sipping his coffee.

“What?” Heiji said, confused.

“Ah,” Shinichi said.

“You know what he's talkin' about, Kudo?” Heijisaid, staring at Shinichi.

“I think so,” Shinichi said. “We'll see.”

“Kami above, like father, like son,” Yukiko complained, returning to the kitchen. “Do you two realize how annoying you are when you have a secret?”

“If you weren't so small, I'd punch you for being irritating,” Ran said to Shinichi.

“See? There are bonuses to being this size,” Shinichi said to Heiji.

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It was the very next day that they saw.

“I hate reconnaissance,” Chianti muttered, peering through her scope.

“We just need a head count,” Korn said in her earpiece. “I can see one bedridden from here, and four in the lab next door- two adults, two children. No sign of Sherry. You?”

“Five,” Chianti said. “All adult. No sign of Sherry, but she's got to be on the premises somewhere. So you see five, I see five, plus Sherry... that's eleven... Korn? Korn, are you there?”

There was only silence on the other end of the radio. Korn was quiet, yeah, but he had to answer to a check-in...

“Hey, Gin, can you get Korn to report? I'm getting nothing on my radio,” she said.

There was a minute of silence, then Gin said, “There's a problem. He's not reporting in because he's dead.”

“What?!” Chianti gasped.

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“What the hell?” Jodie gasped, staring at the old man's body.

“He was found in an empty house,” James said. “Seems the elderly occupant is in hospital... heart attack, nothing caused by Them, I hope. He was in a reclining position... through his sniper scope, the house could be seen. We think he was aiming on the occupants when...”

“Somebody got an aim on him,” Jodie finished. “We think he's Korn- he was a sniper described as an older male. But the bullet...”

“That's the thing,” James said. “The angle and trajectory... they're from the Kudo house.”

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“You have your memory back?”

“Yeah. You've certainly been busy without me,” Shinichi said, sitting on an old cardboard box full of Christmas decorations. “Did you see it the night before last?”

“Yes. I haven't found the one who knows how to destroy it, though- the Kurosawa girl.”

“You know about her, too?”

“I have just as many sources as you do. Often the same ones.”

“So you know the Boss' locale?”

“Did your father pass it on to the FBI?”

“Yeah.” Shinichi shifted uncomfortably. “That was you at the heist, wasn't it? And when Gin and Vodka found me the other day. And at Ran's.”

“Of course.”

“More than a few people are worrying about that. Especially Jodie-sensei...”

The other figure grinned. “She would. Well... since the FBI are going to strike soon, and I have all the really necessary information, maybe I ought to come out of the shadows. A fitting announcement, eh?”

“The body of a sniper that got sniped? Yeah, that sounds like you...”

“Shin-chan?”

“That's Kaa-chan,” Shinichi said, a little redundantly as nobody else called him “chan”. “I'd better go.”

“Just so you know, I shot all of their bugs. That's why they had to send snipers in to do a head count. No cameras.”

“I'll bear that in mind.” Shinichi jogged down the stairs from the attic. “Kaa-chan?”

“There you are, Shin-chan,” Yukiko said. “Jodie-chan's here... apparently one of Their snipers has been found dead!”

Shinichi headed down into the front hall to find Jodie limping through to the living room on her crutch and arguing with Yuusaku.

“That shot came from this house,” she insisted. “Are you certain nobody here-?”

“Nobody here owns a gun,” Yuusaku said calmly.

“Jodie-sensei,” Shinichi said, following them into the living room. “Korn's dead?”

“As it happens, yes,” Jodie said. “How did you know?”

“Because I told him that he could tell you. It's time I stopped working in the shadows. They can't see into this house any more anyway.”

Yuusaku narrowed his eyes interrogatorily on the speaker. Jodie whipped around at the voice, too fast, falling off her crutch. Luckily, he caught her.

“Careful, Jodie,” Akai Shuuichi said with a wry grin. “Here I am saving your ass again.”

“Sh-Shuu?!” Jodie gasped. “You... you're really alive?”

“Very much so,” Shuuichi said, leading her over to a chair- she was very pale and her legs looked ready to give way at any moment, and no wonder.

“What did you expect?” Shinichi said with a grin. “He went over Reiha falls.”

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Did you find the time to read, Marie Ravenclaw? ^_- back to the revelations!

Glad you like, KageNoNeko. Yes, they've changed a lot over ten thousand years… but maybe something has remained…

I know that little scream, Pretztailfan95… it comes with FLUFF! XD One ring to find them… Lovely to have such a trusting fan =D XD I know, it wasn't her fault… now less than ten friggen' chapters of this! THE SUSPENSE! XDXD

Your Akai theory may be correct, Mimzsilver… I have your theories in my sights, but I won't shoot yet… XD

Homework is the root of all evil, Kayla Edogawa XD Will Smith is a total… erm… legend XD He was brilliant in I, Robot and Hancock as well… I've been a fan since (I don't know if I should admit this XD) I used to watch him on The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air… that used to be the coolest show ever. MAN that was a long time ago XDXD

Back to this one, Desperatembrace! It's taking a while to update, yeah… and… and… THEY'VE LEFT THE PLOT AGAIN! DX granted, it's KobayashixShiratori fluff (we need a nickname for them… ShiraKoba?) which is sweet, but… THIS IS THE LONGEST MANGA I HAVE EVER HEARD OF AND I WANT SOME PLOT TO HAPPEN, DAMMIT! </end rant> XD

All that matters is that they love each other, FHP2208 ^_^ Next today! 3 chapters again, sorta…

You thought, you thought, TwilTye XD I went with reverting to six because Sherry, despite being two years older than Shinichi, apparently went down to about the same age… she's in the same grade, anyway, and the age difference is pretty easy to tell when they're that age… Look up Dragon-sama and/or Starling's “Chatty Plunnies” series. There's one called “Murdering for Dummies” XD my favourite is “endeavour not to commit the murder in the same building, city, country or, when possible, planet as Edogawa Conan” XDXD Everyone finds teenage girls scary, especially teenage girls, who are far more aware of what we are capable of XD

Welcome back, DiGi ^_- enjoy the companion fic?

I don't think Shinichi'll kill us all, PlayingThePiano… his proximity shall merely cause us to murder one another XD

It's not quite as simple as that, Mel72000… I worry that the next chapter will be slightly head-melting, but WTH… XDXD

What could it mean, A Midsummer Night's Dream? *MUAHAHAHAHA* a coin needs both sides, after all, heads and tails both…

Could I really have dragged this thing out any longer, Fireline? XD Don't worry, it's all back, aside from the obvious gaps that come naturally with a feverish delirium… I hope you enjoyed the companion fic and that it explained a lot ^_^ Kikyo died at the very beginning of InuYasha, then was resurrected fifty years later… then Naraku killed her again, so she fought with only her soul, but her servants kept her damaged body and Kagome healed it… then Naraku killed her again, and THIS time she stayed dead. Unless you count the part where she reincarnated into Kagome five hundred years later… This fic needs no bad sequels, and in any case it'll be challenge enough for them to even get out of the house, never mind to an active volcano… XD EVIL CLIFFIE ATTACK!

SHARISHIMA! I'm under pressure to choose colleges at the moment, and I'm just scared to death that I won't get the necessary grades this year… ^_^; Yeah, might as well have a little tape like Toichi's: “your introduction to WTF just happened” XDXD

Gin WANTS to be immortal, StargateNerd, but he isn't there… yet…

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).