The Confession Beneath Big Ben
Two days after the whole business at Beika Central Mall, Xia Yu dropped by the Mouri Detective Agency to deliver something.
"What's this?" Mouri Ran asked, turning the watch-shaped object Xia Yu had just handed her over and over in her hands. She studied it for a while before looking up at her in confusion.
"Oh, remember how we agreed to go see the idol competition finals together next weekend? This is your admission pass. It even has a voting function built in, so you can cast votes for your favorite contestants during the show," Xia Yu explained, pointing at the pass on Ran's wrist.
"Ran, could you give Sonoko hers? I made sure to grab plenty of extras, so if there's anyone else you'd like to invite, feel free to bring them along too. Someone like... oh, I don't know, a certain great detective, perhaps?" Xia Yu suggested teasingly.
Conan's mouth twitched.
Sorry to disappoint you, but he would indeed be going — just not in the capacity of Kudo Shinichi.
While Conan was lost in these musings, Xia Yu suddenly crouched down and leaned in close to his face, startling him so badly he nearly blurted out loud, half-convinced he'd spoken his thoughts without meaning to.
"Conan, this one's for you. Don't forget to share them with your friends at school," Xia Yu said, pressing five passes into his hands — one for each member of the Detective Boys, Conan included.
"Oh, that's right — Ran, I heard you're heading to London, England this weekend. Is that true?" Xia Yu asked curiously.
"Mm-hm. Dad helped a foreign lady find her lost cat, and as a thank-you she invited the whole family to visit England. She's covering everything — flights, food, lodging, all of it. We're really lucky," Ran said with a smile.
"Wow, Ran, you really are the luckiest person alive! A free trip to England — that's incredible!" Xia Yu exclaimed enviously. "Make sure you take lots of pictures, okay?"
Xia Yu remembered that this was supposed to be the trip on which Kudo Shinichi confessed his feelings in front of Big Ben, and she felt a small pang of regret that she wouldn't get to witness it in person.
Come to think of it, Lyney and Lynette were scheduled to be performing their magic show in England around exactly that time. Maybe she should ask them to snap a photo while they were at it?
"Yes, I feel incredibly lucky too. And that foreign lady seemed so kind — I'm sure it'll be a wonderful trip," Ran said, her voice bright with excitement.
The weekend arrived before anyone knew it, and Mouri Ran and Mouri Kogoro settled into first class for the flight to England.
Professor Agasa had tagged along on this trip as well.
Except that he was flying economy, tucked away with Kudo Shinichi — revived by a temporary antidote — carefully hidden from Ran and the others.
After arriving in London, Conan once again spent over half an hour waiting in an airport bathroom until the antidote wore off, and only then slipped out to rejoin Ran and the group.
Their very first stop in the city was the Sherlock Holmes museum at 221B Baker Street.
And, true to form, Conan stumbled straight into a case there. A boy had appeared clutching a sheet of paper covered in a cryptic code, claiming that someone intended to make certain people vanish before his very eyes — and that the cipher held the key.
The mystery seized Conan's attention instantly, and his head filled with nothing but how to crack the code on that paper. Before he knew it, he had completely forgotten about the dinner appointment with their generous hostess that evening.
At the banquet, the lady of the hour — Lady Diana — was introducing her circle of friends to Kogoro and Ran.
"...And these two are Mr. Neuvillette and Lady Furina. They've been on vacation recently, and they hadn't planned on traveling to England at all — but when they heard the name of the famous Detective Mouri, they kindly agreed to my invitation."
Lady Diana introduced the last of her guests, two friends she had made while traveling in Fontaine, though without going into much detail. She gave only their names, saying nothing of Neuvillette's position as Fontaine's Chief Justice or Furina's fame as an opera star.
Once the dinner began, Ran waited and waited, but neither Professor Agasa nor Edogawa Conan ever showed up.
Furious, she called Conan to demand where they were, fully intending to march over and catch them red-handed.
And so it was that Ran discovered Kudo Shinichi was in London after all — setting in motion the famous confession beneath Big Ben that Detective Conan fans know so well.
Shinichi, desperate to hold on to Ran as she turned away heartbroken, caught her hand and poured his heart out to her. Ran stared at him, stunned, scarcely believing the words she'd just heard — and as she stood frozen, unsure how to respond, a shutter click sounded right beside them.
Both of them whipped their heads around.
"Wonderful — everyone's looking at the camera." Lynette said flatly, pressing the shutter once more without a flicker of expression.
"Ahem. Sister, I suspect they turned around just now for reasons other than the camera," Lyney said, waving awkwardly at Ran and Shinichi.
"I know. I was simply playing a little joke on them. Brother, you truly have no sense of humor." Lynette looked at him with cool disdain.