Investigating the Watchers
Vodka watched his Aniki walk away with a quiet breath of relief — he'd had no idea how to answer Chianti's question anyway. Wiping the cold sweat from his brow, he hurried past Chianti and Korn to catch up.
"Chianti, Korn, move. We've got a job."
Just as Chianti and Korn were starting to regret not pressing Vodka for an answer, Gin's voice cut through. At the word job, the two of them lit up instantly, and the unanswered question vanished from their minds.
The next morning, six-thirty.
Curious about just who had been ringing Kir Rei-na's doorbell, Xia Xi and Charlotte were up at the crack of dawn. They crept downstairs, timing it carefully, and arrived at the corridor outside Kir Rei-na's apartment just in time to see Mouri Kogoro pulling open the main door.
"Morning, Mr. Mouri, Ran, Conan, and Miss Kir!" Xia Xi greeted them with a smile.
She noticed that Kir Rei-na's doorstep looked different from yesterday — two piles of old newspapers had appeared, and half-hidden behind those piles... a child? That had to be the kid who kept ringing her doorbell every Saturday.
Conan caught the direction of Xia Xi and Charlotte's gaze toward the newspaper piles and realized they'd already figured out who the "culprit" was. Under Conan's direction, Mouri Kogoro then fished a little boy out from behind the papers, and the whole group soon learned the reason behind it all.
It turned out the boy kept coming because Kir Rei-na bore a resemblance to his mother, who had passed away recently — so every Saturday he rang the doorbell to wake her up, and the sleeping pills he'd given her had been his way of hoping she could rest well.
As the boy spoke, his voice cracking and tears brimming in his eyes, something shifted in Kir Rei-na's expression. Deeply moved, she crouched down in front of him, placed both hands on his shoulders, and gently talked him through it.
Watching the scene before him, Conan felt his chest tighten. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Charlotte doing something odd beside him and turned to look — only to see her moving with exaggerated care, lifting the hem of her skirt slightly, drawing out her camera, and snapping a shot of the very moment.
Conan: ......
She really is a dedicated journalist, isn't she.
At Kir Rei-na's words, the little boy nodded with an "mm-hm," wiped his eyes on his sleeve, managed his best smile, and waved goodbye. "Bye-bye, big sister!"
"Goodbye."
Kir Rei-na straightened up and watched the boy's retreating figure, her eyes soft.
"Don't be too sad, Miss Kir. For that kid's sake, it's better to put the past behind you sooner rather than later." Then she raised the camera in her hand in a little salute. "Besides, I got photos of that just now. If you don't mind, I'll print them all out for you later — you can keep them as a keepsake."
"Thank you." Kir Rei-na had noticed Charlotte's movements even while she was comforting the boy. Naturally, she had no objections. The child had reminded her of her own little brother, so she gladly accepted Charlotte's offer.
With the doorbell incident neatly resolved, and Kir Rei-na insisting on paying Mouri Kogoro a consulting fee, she managed to secure his mailing address in the process. The group bid her farewell.
"Xia Xi, Charlotte, what are you two doing next?" Conan asked in his most innocent child's voice as they parted ways.
"We're going to have a look across the street." Charlotte looped her arm through Xia Xi's with a smile.
"You're going to that building across the way to find whoever's been watching, aren't you?" Ran guessed it in a heartbeat.
"Well, I live here, and I'm not planning on moving, so figuring out who's been spying from over there is kind of a necessity," Charlotte explained.
Truthfully, now that the two of them already knew exactly who the watcher across the street was, neither Charlotte nor Xia Xi wanted to bother making the trip. But as Charlotte had just said, she lived here and couldn't very well ignore it, and as her friend, Xia Xi would naturally lend a hand with the investigation. Not doing so would have been strange.
Ran looked worried. "This... could it be dangerous? Do you need our help?"
"No need to worry." Charlotte waved a hand, then tugged Xia Xi forward with her other arm. "Even if you don't believe me, believe Xia Xi's fighting skills. With her around, nothing dangerous is happening."
"That's true." Ran was instantly convinced.
"Then I'm coming too!" Conan was every bit as curious about who was across the street and what they wanted. He'd planned to find an excuse to investigate on his own later, but if Xia Xi and Charlotte were heading over now, he could simply tag along. Not only would it satisfy his curiosity — he might even pick up more information about Charlotte while he was at it.
"No you may not, Conan. Xia Xi and the others are going there to investigate — you can't be a bother to them."
"But I wanna go with Xia Xi! I can help too!" Conan launched into a full-blown childish tantrum, whining like an expert.
"...Fine, fine. Conan can come with us. Like he said, he's clever enough — he might actually be useful."
One look at Conan carrying on like that, and Xia Xi knew he was dead set on coming. Even if she refused, he'd probably just sneak along after them, so she might as well say yes. Besides, listening to him wheedle like a little kid — the moment she remembered he was really a high schooler, the whole picture felt so bizarre that goosebumps crawled up her arms.
Between Conan's insistence and Xia Xi saying she didn't mind, Ran didn't have the heart to drag him away by force, and agreed to let him join the two of them for the investigation across the street.
"Be careful out there." Ran threw out one last word of caution, then left with Mouri Kogoro, who — reportedly — had urgent business to attend to later.
"There you go, everything just as you wanted. Let's move." Xia Xi gave Conan's head a rough, exasperated ruffle.
"Mm-hm!" Conan nodded sweetly, mission accomplished.
With Conan in tow, Xia Xi and Charlotte set off toward their destination. But before they'd even reached the building across the street, Conan piped up that he'd forgotten something at Miss Kir's place and needed to run back for it — he'd be right back.
"Well? Traveler, do we wait for Conan?" Charlotte looked at Xia Xi.
"Let's go. My bet is that kid isn't coming back. In a few minutes he's going to realize Kir Rei-na is one of the Black Organization, and from then on his head will be so stuffed with leads on the Organization that he won't have room to spare for this." Still talking, Xia Xi kept walking toward the building across the way.
She'd braced herself for a wasted trip from the start, but time not wasted was time best saved. Conan clearly wasn't coming back, so they might as well hurry over and do the investigating themselves — she had no intention of standing around waiting for someone who was never going to show.