Case Closed Fan Fiction ❯ When Pandora's Box Is Opened ❯ Reichenbach Falls ( Chapter 80 )

Chapter Eighty

Reichenbach Falls

“How?!” Jodie demanded. “How did you survive?!”

“We knew that Gin would demand my death,” Shuuichi explained. “We knew that even if the plan went off without a hitch, Gin would suspect Kir. He needed proof of her loyalty. And what better proof than my head? So I had to appear to die.”

“We... you mean you knew?” Jodie said accusingly to Shinichi.

“Yeah,” Shinichi said, at least looking guilty. “I'm sorry I didn't tell you... but the Syndicate's confirmation would be in how the FBI reacted, in particular his friends. Your grief had to be real.”

“How on earth did you pull it off?!” Jodie cried, dropping heavily into a chair. “The fingerprints matched the body!”

“Yeah, the fingerprints on the body matched my phone,” Shinichi said, digging in his pocket, “but I have two phones.” He produced two red mobiles. They were identical, down to the football strap. He set them down on the coffee table as he sat across from Jodie, on the couch, his parents a little protectively settling themselves on either side. Shuuichi didn't sit, but restlessly prowled the room.

“We let you see Akai-san touch one of the phones,” Shinichi explained. “My “idea” was just a pretext. But there were another set of fingerprints on my other phone- fingerprints belonging to a man who was now dead- of a bullet in the head...”

“Kusuda Rikumichi,” Jodie breathed.

“The body was going to stay in storage until something new came up in the investigation, and I knew it wouldn't,” Shuuichi said. “I stole it. I hid it, dressed in my clothes, under the back seat of my car. I already knew of many of the places that the Syndicate had slated for covert assassinations, and the seventh turn on Reiha Pass seemed most likely. I could work it elsewhere, but… anyway, I was right. I knew Gin would want cameras, too. He'd want to see me die. She shot me in the gut- I was wearing a bulletproof vest, of course. I crushed a pellet of fake blood in my mouth, and bent over, crushing another in my hand, making it look like I was bleeding, like blood was invading my lungs. Then she was ordered to shoot me in the head...”

“How on earth did you fake that?” Jodie asked.

“I didn't,” Shuuichi said, tapping the scar on his cheek. “Not quite. She shot me like this, though it looked like it was through the head. I made sure to fall fast, into the open back door of my car, onto the side with the scar. Blood dripped all over the place- through the camera, it would have looked like a shot through the head. Then she set the bomb next to me. I knew I'd have thirty seconds...”

“And meanwhile, Kir would drive away, not watching him anymore,” Shinichi said. “Which made it easier for him to switch the bodies... even though Gin was watching from a distance, he wouldn't be able to see two moving bodies dressed in black inside a dark car in the distance.”

“Precisely,” Shuuichi confirmed. “I left his body on the backseat, one hand protected for the fingerprints, and jumped out at the last moment...”

“Just like you had Andre do,” Jodie realized.

“Bingo,” Shuuichi said with a wink. “Didn't get away clean-” he indicated the burn scar- “but it worked. I climbed a little way down the side of the pass... see, there was a cave down there. Very shallow, if I fell asleep I'd fall out, but importantly it kept me out of the line of sight of anyone looking over the edge... sound familiar?”

“Reichenbach Falls,” Yuusaku said. “It's how Holmes survived.”

“Gin might have seen me climbing down the edge, but since I was wearing black clothes and it was dark, that would only have been if he was looking,” Shuuichi said, “and he wasn't. He probably left the second the bomb went off.”

“So you had to lay low for a while,” Yuusaku said, “and lo and behold, you had a friend with a big, empty house...”

“I stayed there until dawn,” Shuuichi explained. “Then I climbed back up and hitched a lift back to Tokyo. I paid the trucker not to ask about the scar. I walked back to 2-21 Beika... an empty house. I stayed for a while, and while I did I was careful to hide anything personal about Kudo Shinichi... you noticed that all of your photo albums and so on had vanished?”

“Well, yes,” Yukiko said. “I thought Shinichi had put them away.”

“No,” Shuuichi said, “Kudo told me his story at the hospital… It wasn't exactly a surprise, I already knew a lot about Project Pandora and had guessed what had happened to Sherry…”

“I thought he ought to know,” Shinichi said quietly. He looked a little upset, though his gaze was a little unfocused, looking into the past. “I thought… I don't know. Maybe I felt like I owed it to him… for Akemi-san.” Jodie felt an odd pang at the name, though it wasn't grief for the woman's sad death.

“I did it while I was hiding and healing,” Shuuichi continued. “All to prepare for something that Kir had tipped me off about before... Bourbon, an agent who was going to be placed in the area to watch Mori Kogoro.”

“I figured he'd investigate my house at some point,” Shinichi said. “The one who had closed the case on me was a traitor, after all. I hadn't really expected him to move into my house... the burning case was a bolt out of the blue. Akai-san had told me who he was, and then he requested to stay at Agasa-Hakase's... I couldn't have him that close to Sherry, of course, but I couldn't let him slip out of our reach. So I offered him my house...”

“And I watched him,” Shuuichi said. “All the time. I'd intended to take his place at some point, and this proximity just made it easier.”

“Then you killed him?” Jodie said.

“I hadn't intended to until necessary, but he found me,” Shuuichi said with a shrug. “Kudo-kun helped me replace him with his mother's disguise supplies... thankfully, not a huge amount was necessary, since we look a little alike. Mostly a wig and coloured contacts, and something to cover my scar. For two months, “Okiya Subaru”- Bourbon- was me.”

“So there was a body sitting in our house for two months?!” Yukiko suddenly shrieked.

“No, no, no,” Shinichi said rapidly, patting his mother's arm soothingly. “Akai-san hid it...”

“In Kusuda Rikumichi's body bag,” Shuuichi said. “It was only a temporary measure. I just dyed his hair black and hid it there, in the police morgue, until I could dispose of it at a more opportune moment...”

“When Ran-kun's family was shot at,” Yuusaku said.

“Bourbon got sent in as the second sniper,” Shuuichi said. “I tampered with the explosives- the entire building was supposed to be incinerated, not just collapsed. Then I shot the other guy and dumped Bourbon's body, which I'd brought along and hidden since I knew that there was no way I could sabotage the mission and get Bourbon out alive. I had the information I needed, anyway.”

“Which was?” Jodie asked.

“The address you told me,” Yuusaku said quietly.

“You knew he was here?!” Yukiko demanded.

“Not for long,” Yuusaku said, “thought I knew Okiya Subaru wasn't what he appeared. I caught him sneaking in not long ago and confronted him... the problem with you losing your memories, Shinichi, on top of everything else, is that you keep so many secrets.”

“Gomen,” Shinichi said. “Seems like you read my mind too much of the time anyway.”

“So the end result,” Jodie said, “is that... that address is...?”

“The home of Red Rum,” Shuuichi said. “The boss of the Organization.”

“Red Rum?” Jodie asked. “That's his codename?”

“A rather portentous one,” Yuusaku mused.

“Why?” Yukiko asked.

“Translate it into English,” Shinichi said. “In any case, if you can take him out...”

“We'll concentrate our efforts there,” Jodie said. “In the meantime...”

“I'll head back with you,” Shuuichi offered. “I no longer have any need to play the part of Bourbon... but for Kir's sake, I'd better lay low anyway.”

“And we have to get packing,” Yukiko said firmly. “We need to get ready to go to America.”

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“Where's Akako-chan?” Aoko asked the next morning, glancing around the classroom. She was used to Kaito being gone now, though it was hard knowing that soon, he wouldn't even be on the same continent. But... as long as he got out alive...

“I don't know...” Hakuba said. “She hasn't seemed well recently...”

“You don't look well either,” Aoko said. The normally composed and pristine detective was pale, with bags under his eyes and his blond hair a mess. “Have you been sleeping?”

“Not well,” Hakuba sighed, stifling a yawn. “I've been researching the Pandora and so on, mostly... Looking for stories of Eta and Ushi, now. I was up all last night reading...” He rubbed his eyes.

“You need to sleep, you know!” Aoko said. “Does nobody remind you to?”

“Koizumi-san keeps telling me to, as well...”

“Huh?” Aoko asked.

“It's not like that!” Hakuba said quickly, his pale cheeks regaining a little color. “It's her library I've been researching in, it has plenty of odd information... and, well, research aside, I prefer being there than home. Haha-ue still hasn't returned to England, so if I went home, she'd be dragging me to her parties...”

“Shouldn't she be observing your father's mourning period?” Aoko said in shock.

“Are you kidding? She's probably already chosen her next victim,” Hakuba snorted. “Well... I'm grateful to Koizumi-san for letting me hide out at hers, in any case. She seems to have something on her mind, though...”

“Well either go get her to tell you, or go sleep,” Aoko demanded. “Look at yourself! You're exhausted...”

“So are you,” Hakuba said. “Your eyes are red. Have you been crying?”

“I...” Aoko rapidly wiped her eyes. “They're leaving tomorrow. For America. They can't come back until it's all over...”

“You don't want him to leave again,” Hakuba said softly.

“He has to,” Aoko sniffed. “He's not safe here. I just... I only just got him back. Not just from his travelling, either... it's just that... he's been so distant, for so long. Even before he became Kid... he kept everyone so far away. Even me. He's been so far away for so long, and I only just got him back...” she trailed off, blushing a little.

“We still have five minutes until the teacher appears, so I'll make a deal with you,” Hakuba said, glancing at his watch. “You go to the Kudo's. Go spend some time with him while you have the chance. I'll... go home, or something.”

“What'll we tell sensei?” Aoko said worriedly, picking up her bag as Hakuba grabbed her hand and tugged her out of the classroom.

“We tell him nothing,” he said. “We're ditching. We both have more important things to worry about.”

“Fine... you will get some rest, right?” Aoko said worriedly.

“I promise.” Hakuba suddenly leaned over and kissed her on the forehead.

“What-?!” Aoko said, but he just smiled.

“Thank you,” Hakuba said. “You probably never realize what you do for people- for me, for Koizumi-san, and most importantly, for Kuroba. He needs you like you need him, Nakamori-san. Look after that idiot.” With that, he turned and left, heading for Haido. Aoko stared after him for a second, ignoring the stares of her classmates, then shrugged and went to check the time of the next bus to Beika.

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Saguru ran one hand through his now messy blond hair with a tired smile. That was it; no matter what he'd said, no matter how often he needled Kuroba, he had given up on Aoko. He'd probably never truly been in love with her; from the first moment, it had been obvious how she felt about him. She had been a means to irritate Kuroba, something he regretted now.

He wanted them to be happy. She deserved it. She was a good friend. She'd taught him so much.

Like how important it was to have friends. How important it was not to be alone.

He paused, about to head on to his house. Then he changed his mind, backtracking and opening the tall black gates of the Koizumi mansion.

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“I just wish you'd told me you were alive,” Jodie sighed. Shuuichi was driving, taking them both to see James and inform him that Shuuichi was alive. “I mean, you even ignored me completely at the bank robbery...”

“I apologize, but I couldn't risk compromising your safety,” Shuuichi said calmly. “Surely you realize that.”

“I know,” Jodie muttered. “I'm being silly. I just...” she trailed off.

“Just?” Shuuichi prompted her.

“I missed you,” she admitted, blushing strongly. “It hurt, so much, to think you were gone forever...”

“You missed me?” Shuuichi asked quietly.

“A lot, all right?” Jodie said hotly. “You're my most important friend and I missed you...”

“Most important friend?” Shuuichi pressed.

“Y-yes...” Jodie muttered, blushing even stronger. “I mean... never mind. You're very important to me, that's all. I mean... you're still hurting, aren't you? Over Akemi-san's death. You're trying to destroy the Organization for her...”

“Because they killed her...” Shuuichi said, slowing for the traffic lights, “and because they hurt you.”

“Huh?” Jodie began, a second before he leaned over and kissed her.

“Sh-Shuu...”

They broke apart when the cars behind them started honking. The car began to move forwards again.

“I told you,” He said softly, “That being able to love twice is a bad trait... and I have a lot of bad traits.”

“I-I think I can put up with it,” Jodie said, shaken, but somehow unable to stop smiling.

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My apologies to MMorg readers in taking forever to update, but in all fairness I wasn't under the impression that you existed. With no reviews, I was left feeling that posting on MMorg was increasingly pointless and time-consuming, and thus this fic has in fact been completed on FFnet for some months. I'll finish posting this and the companion on MMorg, but frankly it's easier and far more rewarding just to post on FFnet.

 

Gotcha hooked, FHP2208 XD Shinichi and Yuusaku can be evilly secretive… just like Shuu XDXD

I knew quite a bit already, Virushunter981, since I'm a history geek, and used Wikipedia to fill in and check details… and he might have been. I've certainly set him up to have been involved in every major crime for the past few centuries… XD I was more referring to the likes of assassinations, particularly Kennedy's (one of the greatest loves of conspiracy theorists worldwide XD) I have no idea where THAT bizarre little idea came from, but it wouldn't go away… XD You're STILL not back to school? LUCKY! DX I've been back for three weeks now! DX

I meant as in slash, Pretztailfan95 XD I just meant that all romantic couples in this fic are canon. Recently I've become a fan of KaiShin myself… well, Chatty Plunnies by Dragon-sama in particular, it's hard not to love them no matter what your preferences XD but they're just friends in this fic ^_^ Don Tacos vs Gin… which side would Tequila have taken? XD I scream at fluff too, though generally at some volume XD DON TACOS! XDXD

Akai is his family name, StargateNerd, Shuuichi is his given name, and Shuu is his nickname ^_^

Shuu is indeed awesome, Marie Ravenclaw… I don't know if it's actually him, it seems too obvious, especially after the whole Jodie/Vermouth thing… but then he might know that we'd think that and it's a double-bluff… and I'm messing with my own head here XD well, we'll see… WHEN HE GETS BACK TO THE PLOT! DX

Is that three words, International DCFanficNut 1207? (actually counted… Higher Math clearly did so much for me XD) three separate words, anyways… (stop dissecting a compliment!) XD Arigatou Gozaimasu, then XD

Ai is hiding and researching, Mimzsilver… the ghost is supposedly Hanako's. Where could Shinichi have seen her face before…?

Shuu is the awesome FBI, KageNoNeko XD he would smack those assholes in Die Hard in the face and bust ass with McClane XDXD

Hakuba's gone to hang out with Akako, questionable answer, so who knows? And to answer your question, I basically have no life XD seriously, I have about three free periods a day and no homework since I actually DO my work in class, so I just sit down at a computer in the library and write… I sit down at home and write… And I spend all the time in between daydreaming about writing XD

He tends to do that, lifawn, yes XD

I've always been of the opinion that Shinichi and Shuu are plotting something, Desperatembrace… even now I think the situation could be viewed that way… but only if THEY GET BACK TO THE PLOT! I mean, granted, a bit of ShiraKobi fluff is cute and all, but WHERE IS THE BO, DAMMIT?! WHAT WAS ANOKATA PLOTTING? WHAT IS GIN DOING? WHO THE HELL IS OKIYA?! My evil cliffies are but mildly mischievous compared to Aoyama-sensei's XD

Awww! I hope you're feeling better, Kayla Edogawa… though school going back is certainly no reason to do so ^_^; Glad you like… the fic and the show. I can still sing the rap. Only happy memory of my Duke Of Edinburgh Bronze Expedition is wandering through the highlands, completely lost, singing the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air rap at the top of our lungs… XDXDXD (the rest of it was getting lost for up to five hours at a time -_-)

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).