episodes 881—882 — the magician of the waves
Now seven years old, both Suzume and Ran were taken on a trip to Atsuhama Beach by Yukiko and Yusaku, the latter staying at the hotel to work on his latest book. Suzume wore dark purple swim shorts and tank top while Ran wore a baby pink one-piece swimsuit and was carrying around a floral pool donut. The two kids had somehow managed to get out of Yukiko's sight and had wandered off on their own.
Yukiko was currently wandering the beach in search of the two girls when she came across a mother scolding her daughter about chips. "Ara. Is that a popular joke in England?" she asked, gaining their attention. "You're from England, aren't you?"
The woman narrowed her eyes slightly, not saying anything.
"In Japan, we call sliced and fried potatoes covered in salt fried potatoes," Yukiko continued informatively. "In America, they call them french fries. Since you called them chips, I thought you were from England, the land of fish and chips." She smiled nervously as the woman continued her silence. "Anyway, have you seen my daughter? She's wearing dark purple swim shorts and a tank top of the same color. She should be with another girl around her age."
"No," the woman finally said.
Yukiko's shoulders slumped. "I see." She straightened her back. "Sheesh. Where did that kid go? Sorry for bothering you."
"It's fine."
Yukiko sighed before beginning her search again. "At least she has her phone... Suzu-chan, where are you?"
The woman stared after the actress until she heard a chuckle. She turned to look at her eldest son, who was reclined in a lounge chair with his arms behind his head.
"Safe country indeed," he mocked her earlier words. "Even an ordinary person like her can tell where we're from just by the way we speak." He glanced at her. "There's no such thing as a safe country, Mom." She narrowed her eyes at him and he looked back up at the umbrella. "Don't worry. Before the men who killed Father discover who I am, I'll send every last one of them to hell.
"It's totally obvious," a young female voice spoke up.
They turned to look at the girl who spoke up in shock and wariness.
"That you're a pierrot," she continued, and he wanted to burst into laughter at the wild accusation when he saw the corner of her mouth twitch upwards.
Ah, she's pulling our legs, huh?
"I was listening to your conversation. I apologize about that, by the way. You do a lot of traveling to other countries, right? As far as I know, the only people who do that are circus workers."
And she wasn't done, he noticed as she took another breath. He was quite amused by this point.
"And when I saw your left hand, I knew what you were. I noticed the mark on the back of your wrist."
He took a quick look at it as she said this.
"It's common for those who play the accordion. Papa told me that since they press the buttons while inflating and deflating the instrument, the belt leaves that mark behind."
He sat up while still giving her his attention.
"Clowns play the accordion during the circus all the time during shows. And there are all kinds of clowns at the circus, but the only ones among them that wear tear makeup are pierrots. You still have some makeup under your left eye."
He blinked. Oh, the imagination of a child...
"You probably forgot to wipe it off since you were in a hurry to come to the beach, but you don't fool me, mister." She pointed at him. "You're a pierrot! Am I wrong?"
She finished with a wink and he couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of her deductions. His younger sister stared in amazement as she heard him laugh and saw him smile.
"Sorry," he told the girl, who wasn't offended in the slightest. "I needed that laugh. I've been to three countries, but I'm not part of a circus." He gestured to his wrist. "I'm impressed you noticed this mark left by the accordion, but I got this playing requests for customers at a bar." He glanced at her. "I make good money doing it. And this mark under my left eye isn't makeup." He took off his sunglasses to show her. "It's a bruise I just got from my violent mother. Though, I think you already knew that, right?"
Both his mother and sister looked at the girl in shock as she snickered, crossing her arms over her chest with pride. "Of course," she said with a nod. "I just thought I'd lighten the atmosphere after what I overheard earlier. Sorry if I was insensitive or something."
He shook his head, leaning forward. "No problems. What's your name?"
"I'm Kudo Suzume," she said with a bright grin. "And I'm gonna become the next Sherlock Holmes!"
"I see," he hummed.
His sister gasped, her eyes sparkling at Suzume's proclamation. The next Sherlock Holmes?
"Suzu-chan!" Another little girl came running over, pouting at Suzume. "There you are! Your mom's looking for you!"
"Ran-chan!" Suzume smiled happily, which Ran returned.
"Were you being like Holmes again?" Ran asked.
Suzume nodded, suddenly looking very irritated while still keeping a smile on her face.
"If you don't behave yourself, you'll get in trouble," Ran reminded her. "Those guys seemed really mad."
Suzume looked away. "As they should be," she said.
"You brat..."
They turned to see three men towering over them. Suzume frowned as she recognized them from a few minutes ago in the yakisoba shop.
"I finally found you," the man said as he grinned at her menacingly. He cracked his knuckles as his friends joined him. "You'll pay for embarrassing me earlier."
"That was your own fault," Suzume retorted with a frown. "You tried to leave without paying for the yakisoba you nearly finished by putting a fly in it. Oldest trick in the book. Even Ran's dad could see through that."
"Suzu-chan!" Ran admonished as the man roughly ruffled Suzume's hair.
"If you hadn't said anything, no one would've noticed!" he snarled before jumping back to avoid the hand suddenly pointed at his face.
The kind man that Suzume had just been talking to, let's call him Pierrot-san, now stood behind her, staring down the would-be criminal with hard eyes and a thin smile. At this point, a crowd had gathered to see what was going on. Suzume glanced up at Pierrot-san, who gave her a quick once-over before looking back at the other man.
"Sorry, but the kid's with me," he began as the three men stared at him, terrified. "If you've got business with her, you'll have to go through me. If you don't mind having your eyes gouged out first, I'll listen to anything you have to say."
The three men quickly ran away after that threat. Suzume turned to give him a smile that he readily returned as Ran was wowed by what she just witnessed.
"What do you call that?" she wondered.
"A finger jab," he answered. "It's a blinding technique. It's a Jeet Kune Do technique."
"Wow!"
Suzume chuckled nervously as Ran's sparkling eyes turned towards her. "You're gonna have to talk to Kogoro-san and Eri-san about that, Ran-chan." She noticed Pierrot-san's curious gaze. "Ran-chan's in karate classes right now, so that's why she was curious about what you did."
He nodded and looked at his little sister. "Well then, is it okay if you play with my sister?" he asked Suzume and Ran as his sister gasped. "She seems to be looking for some friends."
Both Suzume and Ran happily agreed before they heard a crash. A car had burst through the guard rail and was now plummeting into the ocean. Everyone stared as it hit the water in shock and confusion. What the hell just happened?!
Ran glanced at Suzume, who just looked resigned. "Shinigami," Ran muttered to her, to which she just wilted at the dreaded nickname.
Pierrot-san didn't waste any time running into the ocean to check out the car and to see if there was anyone who needed rescuing. Suzume jogged forward and picked up the black ball cap that flew off his head when he dived into the water. She stared at the water with a frown and waited for him to resurface, which he did a minute later.
Ran grinned with relief. "He's back!"
"Stand back, please!" a lifeguard told the public as others held them back as the man dragged another man onto the beach, a bag hanging off his shoulder. "Thank you!"
He set the man down and Suzume stood next to them, the cap still in her hands. "Is he alive?" she asked.
"Afraid not," he said.
"What's in the bag?"
"Clues to determining his identity," Pierrot-san answered before looking at her seriously. "Anyway, I need you to do something for me. Remember the swimsuit shop at the beach hut? Ask if any soaking wet customers came to buy T-shirts, swimsuits, or sandals after the car fell into the water. There was another passenger in the car who escaped and blended in with the crowd. Think you can do it, the next Sherlock Holmes?"
Suzume turned to him with a determined grin. "Of course," she assured before handing back his cap. "Here you go." Once he took it from her, she took off running towards the shop.
She was quick to find the man working the cash register and began asking him questions. "Do you remember anyone who came to buy T-shirts after the car fell into the water?" she asked him first.
"I'm not sure," he answered. "There were two or three of them, but I don't remember their faces."
"Was there anyone with soaking wet hair?"
He smiled nervously. "Everyone's hair is wet," he pointed out. "They're here to swim."
"I think there were three," a voice interrupted them. They turned to see a young man standing there, holding a shirt. "I spent a while at this shop deciding if I should buy this shirt."
"You did?" Suzume asked hopefully.
He put on a pair of glasses. "I play shogi. I have a good memory."
It didn't take long for police to arrive at the beach to investigate the crime that had occurred.
"I see," the detective on the scene said. "So a car broke through the guard rail above that cliff and fell into the ocean?"
"Yes." Yukiko nodded, Ran hiding behind her legs. She had made the call to the police even before Ran had found her.
"And this man was the driver, and you called the police after pulling him from the car."
"I'm the one who called, but he's the one who pulled him from the car," Yukiko said, gesturing to Pierrot-san, who was now beside her.
"Who are you?" the detective asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Just a student studying abroad in the United States," he answered. "I returned to Japan and came here with my family today."
The detective hummed. "Anyway, is it true that there was another person in the car?"
"That's what he said," Ran said, looking back at the man.
"What proof do you have?" the detective asked.
"I simply thought there was another person since the passenger window was open all the way," Pierrot-san told him. "The driver's seat was on the right side. If only one person were in the car, it would be strange for only the passenger window to be open. The other person most likely opened the window before the car filled with water and escaped, blending in with the crowd."
The detective glanced at the gathered crowd thoughtfully. "But couldn't they have opened the door instead?"
"Not with that water pressure. There's still air inside a car immediately after it sinks. They couldn't open the door because of the water pressure. That's why they chose to open the window and escape through there."
"So they abandoned their friend, and fled alone," the detective surmised.
"No. This man wasn't wearing his seat belt at the time of the accident," Pierrot-san said.
"Eh?"
"He struck his head on the windshield when the car crashed into the guardrail. It broke his cervical vertebrae, killing him instantly. It's probably safe to assume the passenger determined he was dead when they received no response after calling out to him, so they decided to escape on their own."
"But why would they pretend to be one of the crowd here?" the detective wondered. "If they were a victim of an accident, they wouldn't need to hide."
Pierrot-san smiled. "Probably because there was a reason they had to conceal themselves."
"A reason to conceal themselves?" the detective repeated.
"Was there a robbery at a store that sells watches in this area?" the man asked.
"What?" the detective gasped. "We did receive a report about an hour ago that two thieves entered a watchmaker's shop about a kilometer from here. How do you know about an incident that hasn't been reported by the news yet?"
"There was a bag in the back seat of the sunken car." Pierrot-san looked at the bag, the detective and Yukiko following his gaze. "It was packed full of brand-name watches with their price tags still on them."
"They could have been wholesalers making a delivery," the detective reasoned.
"Then they would've put them in plastic bags or boxes so they wouldn't get damaged," Pierrot-san refuted. "Only a thief concerned with stealing the watches and escaping would so casually stuff them into a bag. Did anyone see the faces of the thieves?"
"No. They were both wearing ski masks. Based on their voices, we know one was a man, but we don't know the gender of the other."
"I see."
"Pierrot-san!" He looked over at Suzume's call as she ran over. She pointed a thumb over her shoulder at the three people who stood behind her. "I brought all the customers who went shopping after the car fell into the ocean." She looked at the man who helped her. "You're sure, right?"
"Yeah." He pointed at the first man. "This chubby man bought a T-shirt and swim trunks." He pointed at the woman's feet. "This woman bought sandals." He pointed at the second man. "And this lanky guy bought a Hawaiian shirt."
Hawaiian shirt guy turned to face him. "What's the big deal, anyway?!" he demanded.
"It seems this man who was driving the car that fell into the water had someone with him." The detective stood up. "I'll be questioning each of you."
First was the chubby man. "My name is Fukumizu Shigekatsu. I came here with my girlfriend. When she suddenly brought up marriage while we were on a rubber boat, I told her it was too soon. So she pushed me into the ocean, and my clothes were soaked. By the time I returned to the boat, she was gone. Only my wallet remained. So I took off my soaking clothes and bought a T-shirt and swim trunks."
Suzume glanced at the soaked clothes hanging from the crook of his arm before glancing at the watch on his wrist.
"Where is your girlfriend now?" the detective asked.
"She was pretty angry, so she probably took the car home without me. It's her car."
"Where's the rubber boat?" Pierrot-san asked. Suzume really needed to get his name.
"Who knows?" Fukumizu shrugged. "Bringing it home with me would be a pain, so I abandoned it. Maybe it drifted away."
Next was the woman. "Kitamori Yasue is my name. I came here to pick up guys, but couldn't find any good ones. On top of that, the straps of my sandals broke, so I bought some new ones and was on my way home. Well, I did get to swim quite a bit."
"Where are the sandals with the broken strap?" Pierrot-san asked.
"I threw them away somewhere!" she replied, sounding defensive. She paused. "Oh, you're handsome."
The detective's eyes went wide and he cleared his throat to try and redirect the conversation. "How did you get dressed here like that?"
"I carried my wallet here and took a taxi. I kept my wallet in a locker while swimming, and anything I needed could be bought here. The less you're carrying, the easier it is to go back to a guy's place."
Suzume glanced at the see-through clothing and furrowed her brows together, glancing at the watch on her wrist. Her eyes narrowed in thought and Yukiko smiled. Her daughter was adorable when she got involved in a case.
Next was the Hawaiian shirt guy, Oami Raiya. "You've got it all wrong! Someone stole my bag! While I was showering after my swim, someone took my bag! That's why I'm only wearing a speedo. I had no choice but to buy a three thousand yen shirt from that beach hut."
"They didn't take your wallet?" the detective questioned.
"Nah. I folded my wallet into my towel while I was showering."
"So, Oami-san, why did you come here?" the detective asked.
"Huh? To hit on women."
"Do you use those watches you have on both wrists to hit on women?" Pierrot-san asked, observing what Suzume also noticed.
"Huh? Yeah." He looked at them. "This one's on Japan time, and this one's on New York time. Fashionable, right?"
Noting that the interviews were over, Yukiko called Yusaku, who was still locked up in their hotel room on his computer.
"Come on, Yukiko. I told you not to call since I'd be writing until dinner. Go enjoy yourselves at the beach."
Suzume looked annoyed as Yukiko crouched down to her height so she could listen in on the call. "A little hard to enjoy a day at the beach when we're helping a police investigation, Papa," she said into the speaker.
"What?"
"Yeah, a car fell into the ocean. Driver died after crashing through the guard rail," Suzume filled him in.
"Apparently, he was a thief," Yukiko added to her daughter's description. "His accomplice escaped from the sunken car, and they've blended in with the crowd on the beach. If I send you photos of the three suspects, can you tell me who did it? I'm so curious."
She sent the photos and Suzume deadpanned at her mother's request. You really think he'll be able to get it just from pictures alone? If this were a different case, definitely not. This one, though... She smirked, sure that her father noticed the same thing she did about one of the suspects.
She noticed from the corner of her eye the family she met was walking towards the parking lot, so she rushed after them. The two men gave her welcoming smiles, Pierrot-san even ruffling her hair, and the woman gave her a short glance before continuing on.
"Don't let anyone wet or wearing a swimsuit leave!" the girl was telling the man at the parking lot. She saw more people leaving. "Ah! More people are leaving!"
"Masumi, that's enough," her mother scolded.
"Mama," Masumi said, walking over.
The woman looked at Pierrot-san. "You know we can't get involved in a case."
"It's not a problem," he said with a smirk. "Case closed. All we have to do now is name the culprit."
Case... Masumi began.
...closed? Suzume finished.
Pierrot-san looked at Suzume with a smile. "You've already got an idea of who it is as well, don't you?" he asked her knowingly.
She grinned at him. "Yeah!"
They made their way back toward the group of suspects and Pierrot-san said, "The woman who bought the sandals, Kitamuri Yasui-san." She gaped at him. "You were riding in the car that fell, weren't you?"
"What? No way," Yukiko said.
"Huh? Is it really that surprising?" Yusaku asked.
"Oh, no. A young man on the beach just said the same thing."
"W-Wait a minute," Kitamura said, eyes wide. "How does buying sandals make me the culprit? Look at how I'm dressed. I obviously came here to swim."
"Indeed," Pierrot-san said. "If what you're wearing is actually a swimsuit, that is."
She gaped.
The detective peered at her, adjusting his glasses. "Are the clothes she's wearing not a swimsuit?"
"It's a bra, not a bikini top," Suzume told him.
Pierrot-san hummed in agreement. "When she escaped from the sinking car, she was wearing pants or a skirt. She found herself on a public beach when she surfaced. If she exited the water in what she was wearing, she'd be exposed as the passenger in the car. So in the water, she took off the pants or skirt she was wearing and wrapped her scarf around her waist like a wraparound. Then she tied up the hem of her shirt so she could pretend to be a swimmer."
"But either of the guys could have done the same," Ran pointed out, earning a few surprised looks. She pouted. She's hung around Suzume enough to be able to point these things out. "And the woman only bought sandals."
Pierrot-san smiled at her thinking. "Actually, it's more accurate to say she could only buy sandals."
"Why?"
"When she fell into the ocean, her wallet was submerged and her bills got wet. She could only use her change. So I thought the woman who took off her wet shoes and bought the sandals she could afford with a single coin must be the culprit," Pierrot-san explained. "As you can see, unless you're right on the water's edge, the sand's too hot to walk on barefoot. She could've used her wet bills, but the beach hut employees would've remembered someone like that. And I doubt the beach hut accepts credit cards."
"But she could've been wearing sandals that are okay to get wet," the detective said.
"Did you forget? There were thieves in the car," Pierrot-san pointed out. "On top of that, the robbery occurred just before the car fell. If they were on the run, it's hard to imagine she changed into sandals that would be difficult to run in. Right, Kitamori-san?" He stood in front of the woman, who grit her teeth. "I'm sure that's a fake name, of course."
"And you're wearing one of the watches that you stole," Suzume said, causing everyone to look at her.
"What are you talking about, you brat?" The thief scowled.
Suzume frowned at her. "First, my name is not Brat, it's Suzume. Second, the clock is at 10:10."
"Oh, it probably broke when I went in the water," she tried to play it off.
Suzume wasn't buying it. "You mean you don't know? Watches sold in stores are usually stopped around 10:10 so the brand name is on display for shoppers."
The woman stared at her in shock and Pierrot-san smirked.
"Is that true, Suzu-chan?" Ran asked.
"Yeah." Suzume nodded. "I asked Papa about it once at the watch area of a department store."
"Really?" Masumi murmured.
"Brand name watches have serial numbers," Pierrot-san added to what Suzume said. "If we look it up, we'll know if that watch is stolen."
The woman sighed. "I see. That's how he knew." She recalled the events just after the robbery and before the crash. "We broke through the guard rail and fell into the sea. This must be what it means to hit rock bottom."
The detective took off with the thief and the case was officially solved.
"Shuichi." Pierrot-san turned at the call to see his mother walking over. "Aren't you finished? Let's go."
"Sure," he said before following after her.
~ — — — ~
"So, have you changed your mind?" Mary Sera asked her eldest son. "You said something about joining the FBI earlier."
"No," Akai Shuichi answered simply. "My desire has only grown stronger."
"Don't tell me finding the thief who blended in with the crowd has gotten to your head," Mary said.
Shuichi chuckled. "I'd be lying if I said it hasn't, but I've tasted the thrill of solving a mystery." He glanced at her. "If things go well, I might even find the people who killed my father."
Akai Shukichi stopped walking. "I'm afraid, Nii-san. You seem like you've been possessed."
Shuichi smiled. "I'm not possessed," he assured his brother. "I'm afflicted."
"Huh?"
"By a fever known as curiosity."
With that one sentence, Mary was reminded of her deceased husband, seeing him clearly in Shuichi. Tsutomu-san. He really is his son. "Shuichi, I wanted you to return to Japan, and be a father figure to Shukichi and Masumi, but I've given up on that." She looked at her son. "Go, Shuichi. Let that fever drive you to clear the mist obscuring the truth until you die." She looked away from Shuichi's shocked expression. "But in exchange, if you leave any haze behind, I won't forgive you."
He smiled. "That's what I always intended."
"What's gotten into you, Mom?" Shukichi asked as Masumi stared at her mother in surprise. "You sound just like Dad."
"It means starting today, I'm your father," Mary said.
"Ah, Pierrot-san," Suzume cut in, appearing out of nowhere and pointed behind her. "The detective's calling you. He wants to ask you about the case again at the station."
Shuichi smiled and crouched down in front of her, patting her head. "I'll let you handle that," he told her. "You're the one who identified the truth about the watch."
"That may be true, but..."
"After all, you're going to become the next Sherlock Holmes, my country's greatest detective," Shuichi continued. She blinked.
"Your country? You're from England?"
"Yeah, although I'm an American now," he chuckled. "Anyway, did this case help you towards your goal?"
She smiled. "Yeah."
Shukichi leaned in. "You were just like Holmes," he complimented.
Suzume immediately shook her head. "No way!" She looked at their surprised faces with a frown. "Holmes is even more amazing." A sly grin came onto her face. "Though, I suppose you're at least as good as Watson."
Shuichi laughed at that, shocking his family. "Dr. Watson, huh? Great." He continued to laugh.
Masumi beamed. He smiled again.
Shuichi stood up. "It was nice meeting you, Kudo Suzume. I'll keep an eye on the news for your name, the next Sherlock Holmes."
Her eyes widened before her face broke into a big grin. "You better, Pierrot-san!" she said, pointing at him.
He chuckled and followed after his brother and mother, leaving Masumi as she stood in front of Suzume. "Hey, you," Masumi started. She grinned at Suzume. "You're a magician."
~ — — — ~
I do wonder why she called me a magician back then, Suzume thought, ten years later, as she, Ran, Sonoko, and Masumi walked down the sidewalk. Masumi glanced over at the Kudo girl and caught her gaze before smiling.
You really are a magician, Suzu-chan, Masumi mused with a smile, feeling the inquisitive brush from Suzume and returned it with a brush of reassurance. You got my brother to smile and laugh when I couldn't, and you still do. Thank you for that.
Suzume smiled to herself and bumped her shoulder with Masumi's, earning a laugh from the other girl. They shared a grin and continued walking, Sonoko and Ran watching the interaction with smiles on their faces.
Fun Facts —
— Why is Akai Shuichi so hot?
— I absolutely loved writing the interactions between Shuichi and Suzume because they are going to be so close in the future. I'm really looking forward to when he makes regular appearances.
— Yes, Masumi is going to regularly call Suzume "Magician" in the future when she enters the picture. I am a sucker for nicknames that have real meaning between two or more people or that are like inside jokes.