Believing the One You Wait For Will Come
"Well then, Takai, why don't you go down and apologize to Hiraya..."
Kawakami suddenly heard his own voice speaking to Takai. He turned to look — a small white-haired girl was holding the victim's phone, playing back the recording of that final phone call.
"It seems the evidence is all here now, wouldn't you say?" Nahida said, looking at Kawakami.
Kawakami stared at the victim's phone in shock, and with no way out, he could only confess.
Judy stood off to the side, quietly watching Xia Xi's solo deduction performance, making no further attempt to secretly photograph her.
She had noticed that Xia Xi's vigilance was almost excessive. When she'd tried earlier to snap pictures of her, not one of them had caught her face straight on — Judy had checked. So she wasn't planning to waste any more effort on it.
But that only made her more and more curious about who Xia Xi really was — excellent combat skills, razor-sharp alertness, and now impressive deductive ability on top of it all. How on earth was she connected to Vermouth?
With the case solved, Inspector Megure and his team prepared to take the culprit, Mr. Kawakami, back to the station to record his statement.
At that point, Conan tugged at Xia Xi's sleeve. When she looked down at him, he gestured for her to crouch — he had something to say.
When Xia Xi heard what Conan had to say, her expression turned hard to describe. She looked at his ingratiating little smile, and in the end, she nodded.
Once Conan and the others saw Inspector Megure off, they too said their goodbyes to Ms. Judy.
"Ah, sorry about that." As Xia Xi was leaving, she accidentally bumped into Ms. Judy while dodging Conan, who was walking in front of her, knocking the camera from the woman's hands to the ground.
She hurriedly picked it up and examined it. Her inspection showed no damage, so she handed it back.
"It's fine." Judy took the camera without a second thought and waved them off.
On the way back.
"Here, Conan. And don't come to me for this kind of thing again — stealing isn't exactly an admirable pastime." Xia Xi said as she fished something out of her pocket and handed it to him.
"Mm~" Conan agreed without a moment's hesitation. "You noticed it too, didn't you, Sis? While we were investigating, Ms. Judy was secretly taking pictures of us. Otherwise, you never would've agreed to swipe the camera film for me, right?" He beamed up at her.
"Oh, I certainly noticed. Why else would I agree to do something like that for a little rascal like you?" As she spoke, Xia Xi gave his head a firm ruffle by way of punishment. "Still... I get the feeling Ms. Judy doesn't actually mean any harm..."
She shrugged. "But that's just a feeling of mine. It might not count for anything."
"No — honestly, I get that feeling too," Heiji Hattori said, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "But Ms. Judy's behavior is definitely a little odd. Ku— ahem, Conan, you should keep an eye out, just in case."
Heiji had nearly blurted out the wrong name again. Luckily, he'd caught himself in time — they weren't alone, just the two of them, this time.
Conan's face went black. *......*
*This guy Heiji! Can't he show a little caution?! One of these days he's going to shout my name right in front of Ran!*
Xia Xi had also caught Heiji's clumsy save, and she sighed inwardly.
*He really has zero sense of vigilance. I genuinely worry about the day he calls out Conan's real name right in front of me, and I can't even come up with a decent excuse to play dumb.*
Still......
"Heiji, did you ever make things right with Kazuha? Don't tell me she's still waiting for you." Xia Xi had a feeling she wasn't misremembering — earlier, Heiji had said he would call Kazuha, but the case had interrupted things and the call had ended after barely two sentences. Surely he hadn't just... never called her back?
"Ah! I forgot again! I'm dead!" Heiji jerked upright as it hit him — with all the chaos that had broken out, he'd never properly explained things to Kazuha, and she was probably still waiting for him!
"Conan, Xia — Nahida — I've got somewhere to be, so I'm off. Conan, if anything comes up, feel free to call me anytime. See ya!" Heiji waved at the group, paused to give Conan one last word of parting, and then hurried off at a run.
"I can't help feeling a little sorry for Kazuha..." Xia Xi said with a sigh.
"Mm-hmm." Conan, eyes half-lidded, watched Heiji's retreating back and nodded a few times in agreement.
"But if Miss Kazuha is willing to wait, doesn't that mean she believes she'll eventually be reunited with the person she's waiting for?" Nahida tilted her head, looking at Xia Xi and Conan, and asked with a smile.
Xia Xi nodded. "Mm. You've got a point."
*Aether waited forty years for me. Did he, all that time, believe that someday I would come to this world too?*
*Well... considering how long he waited, I suppose I can let slide the way he suddenly appeared and then vanished without so much as a word.*
Conan hadn't expected to overhear words like these, and before he knew it, his thoughts turned to Ran: *If Ran is willing to wait for me forever... does that mean she believes I'll come back to her someday...*
Conan clenched his fist, steeling his resolve to tear down the Black Organization, to get his hands on the antidote as quickly as possible and become Kudo Shinichi again.
He didn't want Ran to wait too long — he couldn't bear it......
Conan drew a deep breath, settling the emotions that had surged up too violently inside him.
He shot Nahida a searching look: *That line just now is really not something an elementary schooler should be able to say.*
With that thought, Conan looked up at Xia Xi. "Hey Sis, how did you come to know so many friends? A chef, a librarian, a magician, even a foreign noble... Can you tell me? I want to make lots of friends too."
Xia Xi looked at Conan's deliberately naive expression and felt a chill run down her spine. She knew full well he was probably fishing for information, but given how sharp and mature he usually was, hearing him spout such childish lines — did it not make him seem like he had a split personality?
"Didn't I tell you before, Conan, that my brother went missing? I've been searching for him all this time, and that's taken me to a great many places. On that journey, even though I never found him, I gained plenty of other things along the way. These friends are one of the things the road gave me — during my travels, they helped me so much..." *Even if they also caused their fair share of trouble,* "...and that's exactly how we became friends." Xia Xi ruffled Conan's hair as she answered.
"Ohh — so you met them all while traveling, Sis? That's so nice. I wish I could make that many friends on my travels too."
Conan lowered his head, lost in thought. *The people Xia Xi knows — is it really all just coincidence?*
*No — I can't say for certain yet. But she doesn't have one of those Visions. And come to think of it, neither does Nahida, the girl at her side. So what's the story there?*
"Then tell me, Sis — have you ever heard the name Barbatos, the Anemo Archon?"