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(Episode 705 - 706)
"Shiori-san, although it was her fault, what happened is an accident. You don't have to get mad at her." The man said, smiling while acting all carefree and foolish by scratching the back of his head.
Shiori was staring at him, shock was displayed on her face.
"What? Is there something on my face?"
"N ... no." She stuttered for a bit, before regaining her confidence to act, "I just thought that you really look like my childhood friend."
"Really?" Amuro asked and kneeled in front of her, "Give me your finger."
"What?" Shiori asked, looking at him suspiciously.
The man just kept on smiling and took her left hand. "Here," He said and replaced the band-aid on the finger that bled earlier. The band-aid she had was not sticking anymore.
"I forgot." She mumbled.
"It's good that you're not crying."
Her eyes are watching his every move before saying, "Thank you,". Glancing at the band-aid on her finger then her gaze went back to the calm lake. After a few seconds, she stood up.
"Are you already leaving?"
"Yes ... I don't want to bother the lake any further." Shiori said and walked away with her hand behind her.
"Then let me lead you," Amuro jogged to catch up and walk in front of the woman.
As they walk back to the house, Shiori stared at his back just like what she did back when they were at the Police Headquarters. His back really looks familiar.
Distracted by Amuro's back, Shiori wasn't looking at the trail and suddenly tripped over some tree roots, sticking up from the ground. She yelped and extended her hand to prevent herself from falling but a strong hand held her arm.
Shiori looked up and saw a close-up of Amuro Tooru smiling since their faces are centimeters apart, as if it wasn't enough to convince her that this man is Rei, he said with a familiar aura, "I caught you, this time."
Yes, this man is Rei-chan.
...
(Flashback)
"What are you doing?!" A five-year-old Furuya Rei yelled as he ran towards the playground where he saw a group of boys older than him by two years bullying a young Fujimine Shiori.
One of the boys turned around and looked excited at the sight of Furuya running towards them, "Look! That yellow alien is coming at us!"
Furuya scowled, "Hey! Get away from her!" He yelled and stood between the bullies and the girl who was sitting on the ground, crying because of their taunts.
The bullies then cornered the boy, directing their bullying to him. The half-Japanese boy braced himself and fought with them with fists.
"Rei-chan! Stop!" A tiny shaky voice yelled and tried to pull Furuya away from the bullies but one of them accidentally with her with his elbow causing her to fall down and cried louder.
This enraged the boy further and fought harder. The childish brawl stopped when some residents near the area arrived because of the loud cry coming from Shiori.
The adults pitied Furuya while they were scared at what Shiori's family would do once they learned their little princess was involved in a fight.
Furuya stood beside Shiori who was sitting on the swing, her nose, cheeks and eyes red and she's looking sleepy and tired from crying. Her handkerchief is drenched with her tears and snot. They were waiting for her parents to arrive but the sun is already setting.
"I'm sorry, Rei-chan." Her small voice was now hoarse from crying.
"Why did you even come back here?" The boy rudely asked, his hands inside his pocket.
"I - I just want to play with you." The girl pouted making the boy blush at her cuteness.
Last week, Shiori went out of their house to wander around until she was lost. The girl stayed at the playground, crying because she couldn't find her way home ... until Furuya Rei appeared.
The boy was able to help her find their house but for Furuya, it looked like a mansion with their wide garden and huge European-style mansion and thought, so she really is a princess.
"It's a good thing that I came here. What do you think you'll do if I'm not here?"
The girl stared at him with her puffy, grey eyes, "What do you think I'm doing by crying? Of course, I'm asking the help of the adults around us and if you're not here, I'll cry louder that you'll be able to hear me anywhere you are. If Rei-chan doesn't come, I'll come back here tomorrow."
Furuya couldn't suppress his blush and turned around to leave her.
"Wait!" She said shakily and jumped down the swing to follow him.
The boy kept on marching out of the playground while Shiori was having a hard time to follow because of her broken sandals.
"Ah!" Shiori yelped as she fell down on the sidewalk, scraping her knee and palms. "It hurts!"
Furuya turned around and sighed when the girl looked like she was about to cry again. He knelt down, with his back towards her. "Come here, I'll just carry you."
The girl wiped her tears with her arm and followed Rei's words. She let her carry him to the direction of her house. The scene was adorable for the teens and adults who saw them walk at the sidewalk.
Furuya was able to carry her because she's as light as a feather.
The boy felt Shiori leaned her head on his shoulder, so he thought she was asleep. "How bothersome," He muttered.
"Then next time, don't just walk away and when I fall, catch me." Shiori mumbled but Rei heard that, irritating him.
"Hey ojou-sama, I'm not your butler. Don't order me around." He said and knelt down, placing Shiori back on the ground. "Here, get down. I'm tired. Don't go out of your house again."
Shiori was looking up at the boy, "If I do that I won't be able to play with you again."
It was dark so Shiori couldn't see his face and the boy just left her alone in the alley after telling her, "You can walk from here right?"
The girl pouted and had a hard time standing up and walk but someone familiar came to her rescue.
"Young miss! Shiori-ojousama!"
"Shiori-chan!"
It was, "Butler-san! Yukiko-neesan!"
Both of the adults noticed her dirty dress, damaged sandals and scraped knee and palms, "Oh no! What happened?" Yukiko asked taking Shiori's sandals from the girl's feet while the butler carried Shiori back to the mansion.
"There were boys bullying me." Shiori pouted, "But that boy saved me again."
"That boy?" Yukiko repeated, "The one who took you back home before?"
Shiori nodded.
"How cute. What if you ask him to be your boyfriend?"
The butler sighed, "Yukiko-sama, it's too early for Shiori-ojousama. Takumi-sama would be angry if he hears you."
Yukiko laughed, "I'm just kidding because my Shiori is so cute, I can't help it ... Oh, I just remembered, Takumi-nii's friend will be arriving with their children. I should dress up my beloved niece."
"Yes, the Moronofushi family will visit tonight. We're here." The butler confirmed and went inside the gate. Shiori was surprised.
Already? The girl wasn't looking at her surroundings since she has her head down all the time. Rei-chan left me just behind the house?
...
(Present)
"This time?" Shiori just played dumb and took back her hand from his hold.
"You fell down on the court, didn't you? I wasn't able to catch you earlier." Amuro asked, Shiori could see that he's also playing all innocent.
"So that's what it's about." Shiori smiled. He must have his reasons to hide his identity. A PSB agent inside the Black Organization. He must have it rough.
The two went back awkwardly to the house. Sonoko greeted them at the doorway with a sly smile, "What do we have here? An affair?"
Shiori laughed, "No, no. We just bumped into each other."
Amuro agreed with an awkward smile. "Yes, Sonoko-san, don't misunderstand it."
Sonoko just smiled, "If that's what you say."
"By the way, is Conan-kun awake?" As Shiori asked that, they heard a thump sound coming from the second floor. "What's that?"
"It came from Ishiguri's room."
"Maybe something happened."
The people inside the house said and they decided to go upstairs.
"Maybe that brat fell on the bed." Sonoko said beside Shiori.
"That's impossible. That child doesn't move a lot while sleeping." Amuro and Sonoko looked at her, asking how she knew that. She laughed, "I put that boy to sleep when he was younger and I slept beside him once or twice." That's not a lie.
When Shinichi was 4 or 5 years old, Shiori was in charge of putting him to sleep and sometimes while listening to the lullaby, Shiori would fall asleep beside the boy.
The people in front were talking about spare keys. Is the door locked? Shiori looked at the three of them conversing about plans how to get inside the locked room. "Conan-kun." She mumbled and took out a hair pin inside her pocket. Please not a case, please not a murder, she prayed.
Amuro was watching Shiori, he misunderstood that she was worried about her cousin. I have no choice, "In any case, could I try unlocking the room?" Amuro stepped up. "I consider this sort of thing as something of a specialty."
Everyone looked at each other, doubting the man but Shiori went beside him and gave him her hairpin. "Here," I believe this would be easy for someone like you.
"Thank you." He knelt down and managed to tweak it to open.
"That's amazing!" Ran complimented as she and Sonoko was just behind Amuro.
"Like Kaitou Kid!" Sonoko added.
Amuro just smiled and opened the door, trying to push it for many times but ... "Hmm? Something's blocking the door." He said.
Through the gap, they saw Conan looking agitated, "Don't open the door! You can't open it because it's the body that's blocking the door."
"What?! Body?!" Sonoko, Ran and Shiori yelled. The older woman jumped away and quickly hid behind Kogorou, not wanting to look at the corpse.
...
"Shiori-nee," Conan whispered to the woman while the police arrived and wants to question the suspects in the kitchen.
"Why?"
Conan glanced at Amuro who was talking to Kogorou and the detective.
What is this boy thinking? Would it be good or bad if Amuro knew the truth about the Sleeping Kogorou? Should I trust him? But Shuichi said ... "He's dangerous. He tends to lose sight of the real enemy. If he learns about our ... connection, who knows what he'll do to confirm that I'm alive."
The woman glared at the man then to Conan, "What is it?" She asked.
"Don't come any closer to that man."
Shiori thought for a moment, maybe the reason why Amuro's still staying in the cafe is because of you, Shinichi. Maybe because of his personal curiosity.
"I know." The woman let Conan pull her to stand near the table where the interrogation will take place.
"Huh? " The detective looked at Shiori beside him. "Uhm, you are?"
"How cold, detective. We met in the Ikkakura Rock case before."
"No Shiori-nee, this man is Inspector Yokomizo Sango. The one we met is his twin, Inspector Yokomizo Juugo." Conan explained.
"Really?" Shiori stared at the inspector, flushing in embarrassment, "Now that I think about it, you're more talkative than before."
Inspector Yokomizo laughed, "It's alright, we always get mixed up. By the way, about Ikkakura Rock case my brother told me that he met Sherry Grey there. Are you perhaps ..."
Shiori just smiled making the inspector see the resemblance between the two.
"I knew it! After this case, can we take a picture?"
"Of course, but please don't tell anyone that I'm here."
"Yes!"
...
While interrogating the suspects, Shiori noticed the occasional glancing of Amuro on their direction whether her's or Conan's, she doesn't know.
For now, the police are searching for the missing spare key that could have a lead in the investigation.
Shiori doesn't know if it's her anger or instinct that's getting in her mind but the woman who accidentally hit Conan, Momozono, looked suspicious for Shiori. There's a possible way to hide the key inside her frozen drink and she took a long time talking to the victim to ask him about lunch.
Her grey eyes shifted to the boy who was thinking hard about the case. Should I tell him or not?
"Inspector! A number of strings on the racket are twisted out of shape in a few places." One of the detectives reported.
"Also, the bloodied vase matched the injury on the back of the victim's head and for some reason, there is water inside the vase."
She noticed Conan look at them with wide eyes. Yes, you got it. Conan turned to Kogorou who is sitting on the chair, trying to read Inspector Yokomizo's notes, he aimed his tranquilizer watch to him as usual, unaware that two pair of eyes are watching him.
"What are you doing, Conan-kun?" Amuro leaned down in front of Conan, looking closely at Conan's watch.
"Er ... My watch lid is broken." Conan lied and closed the watch. He hid behind Shiori's legs, obviously trying to think of a way to relay his deduction.
Idiot. Shiori thought and looked at the suspects standing on the doorway. They were discussing about a possibility that the murderer is an outsider based on the sound from the fallen vase.
"Speaking of hiyashi chuuka," Conan started, his head popped out from Shiori's right side, "You need ice to make those right? There's a lot of ice cubes in the freezer, right?"
"Yes," Ran answered, "You'll need icy water to chill the boiled noodles."
"Didn't you also help with getting out the ice cubes because we have so many people here?!" Sonoko leaned down to speak at Conan.
"Hey, cut the idle talk out now!" Kogorou intervened.
"But you know ice will melt, won't it?" Conan asked, looking at the inspector and Kogorou. "So I was thinking if that vase were made of ice, surely it would've melted and fallen by itself, wouldn't it?"
Shiori was watching Inspector Yokomizo think thoroughly from what Conan said while Kogorou kept telling Conan that he's saying nonsense.
"Wait a second," Inspector Yokomizo said, "If someone strategically balanced the ice cubes inside the vase and place the vase on the edge of the shelf, wouldn't the vase lose balance and fall? We found water in the vase, so if we assume it was melted ice ..."
"But you'll be seen carrying it, no?" Kogorou asked.
"While making the chilled noodles, everyone were still in their tennis wears. You could easily put them inside the large pockets of the pants and skirts, since they are made larger to contain tennis balls." Amuro added and looked at the suspects.
"But how could you move the body near the door?" Another question asked by Kogorou.
"Come to think of it, ice is slick and slippery, right?" Conan tried again.
"I figure it out!" Sonoko gleefully said, "The culprit placed ice and used it as wheels to slide around the body!"
"But there would be residual water from the melted ice and the victim's pants would be wet." Inspector Yokomizo said.
"Then how about using a special ice?" Shiori asked while staring at the agitated Momozono, "Like dry ice."