The Eternal Lost Lurker wrote:

As before, author's notes and disclaimers at the end.

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"The sound of fireworks, the smell of black powder...the light of a
brilliant mind dazzles the night where criminals prowl.

"Seeing clear to the only truth, I have the body of a child, but the mind of
an adult. The boy detective called Meitantei Conan!"

* * * * * * * * *

Officers responding to reports of a disturbance in the main shopping street
of Beika-cho that night found no signs of any perpetrators, and no direct
witnesses--those who had heard the muffled shouts and yells in the street
had been too panicked to actually look.

Inspector Megure had not responded directly to the disturbance call, but had
informed the investigating officers to notify him of anything unusual at the
scene--anything out of place.

He knew it was a remote chance, but his intuition and instinct were nagging
at him. Something was amiss...there was a hidden mystery under his nose, and
damned if he wasn't going to find it.

He may not be in the same league as Kudo Shinichi

Or any of the graduates of the Dan Academy. :)

He blinked.

A soccer ball--embedded in a brick wall?!
 

So, the Hulk was involved. It added a whole new dimension to the case.

* * * * * * * * *

The night seemed to go on forever. At half three,

half past three

Kogoro finally passed out

>from too much drink, and Sonoko, having been slightly refreshed by her

impromptu drug-induced nap, finally wound down and decided to catch a few
hours' sleep before heading home in the morning.

That left Ran and Conan awake--and Ran was clearly in the mood to talk. "But
not here," she said softly. "Let's go down to the office."
 

And have one twisted lemon

Ran turned and looked at him, blinking. "Huh?"

"Ran, if...if something happened to you, because of me...because of my
stupid..." Conan sighed, rubbing his eyes. "If anything happened to you, and
it was my fault...and I wasn't able to save you..." He swallowed thickly.

Ran sighed. "Shinichi..."

"You--to me--are the most important thing in the world, Ran," Conan said,
walking towards her. "I've been dying inside, these last months, knowing how
much I was hurting you, and not being able to...knowing what'd happen if..."
He scowled, looking down at the floor, trying to compose himself. He then
looked up at her, locking his sharp blue eyes on her face. "I couldn't live
with myself if something happened to you because of me."

"But...something DID happen to me," Ran countered. "I spent months hurting
inside."
 

Conan; I meant something fatal.

Gin scowled. "One of those cripple contraptions, like the old polio victims
wore?"

"Oh, nothing so primitive as that," the doctor said in oily tones. "You see,
for you to remain, ah, useful to the organisation, you will need something
far more durable."

"Useful?" Gin asked.


Vermouth smiled. "Ordinarily, I'd have just killed you for your
incompetence...but I believe I can use your situation to my advantage. You
are of no use as an assassin now, obviously. However, as a spy..."
 

% Yep. Ideal, now. Probably more useful than an assassin. You can train 
just about anyone to kill like he did, but you can't train a spy to be a 
little kid.

"OTOUSAN!" Ran shouted, face flaming. "Shinichi wouldn't...besides, it's not
like he CAN, like that--" At the expression on the boy's face, she became
even redder. "Gomen ne, Shinichi..."

"It's okay," Conan sighed. "I've gotten used to it. BELIEVE me, I've HAD
to." Nodding to Kogoro, he added, "Agreed. Like she said, I would never do
that anyway." *Not that I don't WANT to, it's more that she'd pulverise
me...* "Condition number two?"

"Condition number two," and here his scowl became nastier, "No more
'Sleeping Kogoro'. Understood? It's a miracle I haven't developed some kind
of terminal illness from all the drugs you've been shooting me up with."
 

Heh. Now that would be an interseting fic idea.

Kogoro snorted. "Oi, you already blew your identity to the guys you were
hiding from, didn't you? So is there even any point to pretending you're not
Kudo anymore?"
 

Yes, so people won't treat him like a freak

Conan glanced up at the ceiling. "I respect his intelligence and cunning,"
he replied. "And from what I know of him, he seems strangely honorable and
decent. But he's still a thief, which means it's only a matter of time
before he slips up, and ends up in jail." He smirked. "I wouldn't mind being
the one to put him there, but catburglars are small-fry, even famous ones
like him. I'm more interested in solving murder cases and the like."

Kogoro shot him a sideways glance. "Oi. That's a little sick, you know?"

Conan shrugged, closing his eyes lazily. "Meh, betsu ni."

* * * * * * * * *

"You sure you're alright, dear? That was an awfully worrisome sneeze."

"I'm fine, 'kaasan. Must be somebody gossiping about me. What's for
breakfast?"

"I thought we'd have omelettes today. And Kaito? Do stop pulling coins out
of your nose when you blow it. That's disgusting."

"Sorry, 'kaasan."
 

% Heh

* * * * * * * * *

"I will, Ran." He smirked. "They're not going to do anything in broad
daylight with lots of witnesses. 

% Can you say 'hit and run'? Easiest thing in the world with a stolen car.

"We're gonna find Shinichi-niichan," Mitsuhiko replied. "Cuz the police
can't find him."

"But Conan-kun's real smart...just like niichan!" Ayumi exclaimed. "I bet
you can find him in no time!"

Conan sweatdropped. "Ah...heh..." *Oh, wonderful. Now they've got me trying
to find myself.*
 

It shouldn't take the normal half hour of time, though.

* * * * * * * * *

Toyama Kazuha couldn't help but notice that

help noticing that (flows better)

* * * * * * * * *

"It's fine, Takeda. I've got what I need. Thank you."

So now, Megure had a real puzzle on his hands. The case files for the past
several months showed that Kudo Shinichi had been identified as present at a
lot of crime scenes he personally knew the teen detective had been nowhere
near. Simultaneously, Edogawa Conan was, according to the forensics reports,
completely absent from the scene--which, again, Megure knew to be incorrect.

He scowled. *Some of the newer labrats need to be reprimanded for laziness.
This should've been caught months ago.*

Edogawa Conan had appeared at the same time Kudo Shinichi disappeared. And
now, Megure had tangible evidence which suggested the two were, in fact, the
same person.

The only thing left to figure out was *how*. Unfortunately, that particular
answer didn't seem to be anywhere in his files.

Megure sighed, sipping his coffee, and began poring over the documents
again, looking for anything he had missed.

 

Impressed he figured it out and accepted it so quickly

"DADDY!" A tiny ball of energy erupted into the room, bouncing up and down
happily. "I'm gonna go find a big frog!"

A twentysomething man with long, stringy hair smiled tiredly at the
excessively genki child. "That's great. Don't fall in any water. Be home in
time for supper."

"Yeah! Frog, frog, frog...gonna catch a FROG!" The little girl barely
remembered to put on her shoes before barrelling out of the house.
 

% Heh. Just started reading Yotsuba. Cute, not as good as AD in the 
first book, but it might pick up after the writer works with the 
character for a while.

%Nice work
 

DB Sommer


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