The next day after school, Suzume was walking home while reading the newspaper, easily avoiding bumping into anyone after years of practice. She ignored the gossip of the girls and boys she passed who were talking about the case she solved last night as she was not interested in any of it. She already received an email of praise from Pierrot-san and her parents, and that was enough for her.
She ducked to avoid getting hit by Ran's bag. She turned to her with a nervous face as she saw Ran's deadpan. "Sorry about the tournament, Ran," she said with a sad smile. "Sonoko told me you won, as did your parents. Congrats."
Ran hummed as they began to walk together. "Thank you. Though, you are stealing cases away from my dad... Totally doesn't make me angry at all." She stuck her tongue out.
Suzume let out a nervous laugh. "You know that's not entirely my fault," she said.
Ran let out a mocking laugh before punching the light pole next to Suzume, causing pieces of it to crumble off. "As I said, I'm not angry at all."
When did I say you weren't? Suzume kept that thought to herself. That's the captain of the karate team for you...
"Did you get any more of those fan letters?" Ran asked curiously, her anger having calmed after punching the light post.
Suzume twitched and pulled some out of her uniform jacket, grimacing. "Pierrot-san just tells me to burn them." She looked at Ran. "What do you think?"
"Burn them," Ran agreed immediately, making Suzume sweatdrop. "I can do it for you, or even Mom or Dad."
Suzume laughed nervously. She was thankful to have so many people care about her, but this was a little...overprotective.
"Seriously though," Ran said, getting Suzume's attention. "If you keep chasing crimes like this, one day you'll get into a lot of trouble."
"Yeah, I know," she agreed.
"Then why?"
Suzume smiled. "That day on the beach, with Pierrot-san," she started, Ran looking at her. "It was like nothing I've ever felt before. Being able to solve a crime and lock up the person responsible...I can't think of a better feeling. It's like you when you win a match in a karate tournament. You know, the feeling of satisfaction when you've beaten your opponents and come out on top?" Ran nodded. "It feels like that."
Ran nodded in understanding before remembering. "Are we still on for tomorrow?"
Suzume blinked before smiling. "Ah, Tropical Land, right?" she remembered. "Of course. Everything on me, yeah?"
Ran grinned. "Yep!"
"Alright, then!" Suzume laughed. "We'll meet up tomorrow at your house at ten so I can drive us! That okay?"
"Yep! See you then!"
"See ya!"
~ — — — ~
Meanwhile, in the white car that Ran and Suzume walked past...
"No way! We finally came back to Japan and we have to return without meeting our daughter!" a woman complained in the passenger seat. "I wanted to surprise Suzu-chan and made this disguise—" Yukiko pulled off her mask, frowning, "and now we're leaving?"
"Well, we returned to Japan just to take some old documents," the driver reminded. "Let's leave this disguise for another time." Yusaku pulled up his mask and top hat. "Besides...looks like we would be interrupting something."
They watch Suzume grin at Ran after the Mouri girl said something to amuse her, and their daughter wrapped an arm around her friend's shoulders.
Yukiko groaned. "I want to tease Suzu-chan!"
~ — — — ~
The next day, Suzume made good on her promise and took Ran to Tropical Land. Even though the Mouri girl had been hesitant to ride on Suzume's motorcycle, she trusted her friend's skills enough to get on for the ride. Suzume made sure to take it easy on the drive to ease her friend's worries.
Ran looked through the binoculars in the castle and jumped as a cold can of soda was pressed to her cheek. Suzume grinned at her face. "Thirsty?"
"Thanks."
Suzume took her friend by the hand and pulled her out of the castle and towards a small courtyard, counting down along the way. Once she got to one, water shot into the air around them, surrounding them in rings of water.
"Amazing!" Ran said, looking around in excitement.
Suzume grinned. "I thought you'd enjoy it," she said with her friend turning to look at her. "Ready to keep going?"
"Yeah!"
Suzume paid for some food and snacks as they ventured around the theme park. Ran even laughed at her for getting an ice cream mustache! Ran wanted to get a large stuffed squirrel and Suzume was able to negotiate for her to get a small one that could fit on one hand. Ran agreed as it reminded her of when they visited New York a year ago.
They ventured around some more, met some of the park's mascots, and sat down for something to drink. Ran got tea and Suzume got some coffee since she didn't drink any when she got up this morning.
And, somehow, Ran even managed to get a couple to take a picture of them in front of the castle. They both held up their fingers in v for victory. Ran thanked the couple and they took a look at the pictures.
"Make sure to make me a copy of that when you print them," Suzume said and Ran nodded in agreement.
"Of course!"
Eventually, Suzume was able to convince Ran to go on the Mystery Coaster, which the Mouri girl was apprehensive about until Suzume's nagging about it wore her down. They had done everything she wanted to do, so why not do something Suzume wanted to do?
They stood in line behind some girls and Suzume leaned against the railing. "How's the day going so far?" she asked Ran.
"Pretty good so far," Ran told her. "Still waiting for something to happen, though."
Suzume groaned loudly, catching the attention of a pair of men in the line behind them. "That is not my fault!" she argued. "I'm sorry the police call me a Shinigami! I just have bad luck!"
"Yeah, bad luck that causes crimes to happen all around you," Ran said blankly. "The beach ten years ago, the plane, New York, the aquarium..."
"Stop listing them out!" Suzume said, pressing a hand over Ran's mouth. "And it had to be the ones that you were there for, huh?"
Ran gave her a cheeky grin when she removed her hand. "Payback," she said.
"For what?" Suzume dreaded to think.
"Leaving my tournament early."
"I already apologized for that!" Suzume protested before looking at one of the girls ahead of them in line. "You're in gymnastics, right?"
"How did you..." the girl trailed off.
Suzume smiled apologetically. "Sorry, but your skirt flew up and I saw the bruises only a gymnast would have from the horizontal bar. My curiosity is deadly, I suppose."
Ran sighed. "Even now, you're doing deductive stuff," she complained.
"It's not exactly something I can turn off, you know," Suzume said, pointing a finger at her friend.
"Oi, you!" Suzume turned to look at the man who called out to her. "Are you making passes at my friend?!"
"Eh? Friend?" Suzume turned to the pair of girls.
"Yeah, well..." The gymnast looked a little uncomfortable.
"Then how about you guys go ahead of us," Suzume suggested, feeling bad.
"It's fine."
"We don't want to bother them," the other girl stated sheepishly.
They turned to see the girl next to the guy kiss like they were the only ones there. Suzume sweatdropped and exchanged a glance with Ran, who looked just as uncomfortable as her.
"This is why I've given up on romance," Suzume muttered, her eyebrow twitching in annoyance.
It didn't take much longer for them to be able to take their seats on the coaster, Suzume letting Ran get in before her.
"Two seats left!" one of the ride workers called out before being intimidated into silence as two men in black got into the last two seats.
"How are you feeling?" Suzume asked Ran. "I know I kind of dragged you onto this ride..."
Ran shook her head. "I'm fine," she reassured her friend. "I agreed to come on here, didn't I?"
"Yeah, I guess," Suzume conceded.
The ride started and it wasn't long before there were screams of excitement from the ups and downs, twists and turns. They went into a tunnel where Suzume felt something wet hit her cheek. She reached up to feel it. Is it water?
There was a strangled scream behind her and something hit Ran on her cheek. "What is this?"
The woman behind Ran started screaming as they left the tunnel and Suzume turned in her seat, eyes widening at the headless body of the man who sat behind her.
Once the ride was done, Suzume grabbed her phone and dialed a number, handing Ran a towel she always carried in her bag. "Hello, Inspector? Yes, a murder has occurred in Tropical Land. Ah, the Mystery Coaster. Come quick." She hung up the call and swallowed, taking another look at the body, and noticed the two men in black attempting to leave. "Excuse me! This is officially a crime scene and everyone who was on the coaster at the time of death is now considered a suspect!"
The man with long silver hair turned to look at her with a glare, but she didn't back down.
"Don't leave," she ordered them just as police sirens pierced the air along with the crying of the women who knew the victim. She turned to Ran and gestured at them. "Keep an eye on them, okay?" she asked quietly, and Ran nodded, handing back the towel.
Suzume clenched her jaw as she looked back at the body. Who the hell would do something like this on a roller coaster?
~ — — — ~
The police arrived and moved the body off of the coaster and off to the side, where Suzume respectfully put a towel over where his head used to be. Her heart clenched at the girl's crying.
"This wasn't an accident," she said to herself as she got to her feet, tapping her leg with her fingers in thought. "This was definitely a murder, but how?"
"Kudo-chan," Megure greeted as he and other officers were led in by the ride workers. "And Ran-kun as well?"
"Suzume-san, you really need to stop being around these things if you want that Shinigami thing to go away," Takagi said with a nervous smile.
Suzume sighed. "Don't remind me," she muttered, crossing her arms over her chest.
Kudo?
"She's the famous high school detective, Kudo Suzume!"
"The one who solves unsolvable cases one by one..."
Suzume sighed, looking away from the crowd and at Ran, who gave her a comforting smile. Ah, I hate having all this attention on me...
"The savior of the Japanese police!"
Suzume clenched her jaw and looked down at that, bad memories drawn to the surface.
"The savior of the Japanese police, eh? Ha! Yeah, right. More like the downfall of the police if they can't get their act together."
"Don't say that!"
"Why not? It's true, isn't it? They're using you, Kudo!"
"I'd say that's more you than the rest of them—!"
SMACK!
"Don't talk to me like that, you—"
"Kid."
She inhaled sharply and looked at the silver-haired man in black, who looked at her in curiosity.
"Are you okay, Suzume?" Ran asked. "You zoned out there."
"Yeah," she breathed, ignoring the looks of concern from Megure and the officers. "I'm good. Nothing wrong here."
Takagi sighed, sharing a glance with Megure, who shook his head. Now wasn't the time to talk about it. They had a murder to solve.
"I see," Megure hummed after getting filled in on what happened by Suzume, who was taking a sip of water on Ran's insistence. "So, in the Jet Coaster, it didn't have any traces of damage for it to be an accident. It's unlikely to be suicide judging from the circumstances."
"Yeah," Suzume agreed. "That's why this has to be murder."
"But who killed him and how?" Megure wondered.
"Inspector." Suzume whispered something into Megure's ear.
He nodded and turned to the crowd of people. "We would like all the people who didn't ride this Jet Coaster to leave the attraction for now," he spoke, earning various groans from the people who wanted to see Kudo Suzume in action.
Suzume sighed, her shoulders slumping in obvious relief at the crowd of people leaving. She crouched down next to Megure to stare at the drawing of the placement of people on the coaster.
"This coaster is designed for eight people to ride. So, if we exclude you and Ran-kun, we'll have five suspects," Megure said. "Victim's Friend A, who rode in the first row; Friend B from the same row; the one who rode in the same row as the victim, the victim's friend and lover C; and the men in black, who rode behind the victim, D and E. However everybody was in safety guards and were unable to move. The only one capable of doing this is this woman, who sat next to the victim." Megure thought about it. "No, it was also possible for the men behind him."
"Oi, hurry up," the silver-haired man said from behind Suzume as she turned to look at him with a frown. "We don't have time for detective games."
"A-Aniki," the other man in black said.
Megure stood up. "I'm sorry. Please bear with it a little longer."
Meanwhile, Suzume was wondering about the men in black. They have the auras of killers, she noticed as she stared at the silver-haired man, who was watching her as well. But I don't think they're the ones who did this... Just who are they?
"Inspector Megure!" an officer called out, breaking Suzume from her staredown with the silver-haired man and turned to look.
"What is it, Chiba-kun?"
Chiba Kazunobu reached into the girlfriend's purse and pulled out a bloody knife wrapped in a white cloth. "In this woman's bag was this."
"No way," she denied. "I don't know anything about it!"
"A-Aiko, why did you do such a thing?" the gymnast asked, and Suzume's eyes narrowed as she stared at her neck. That's odd...
"N-No! It's not me!"
"And I thought you were getting along so well with Kishida-kun," the gymnast continued.
"What? Believe me! It's not me!" Aiko was now in tears once again, and Suzume looked away uncomfortably at the sight. She didn't do well with tears.
"Oi, oi! Then this bitch did it!" The man in black wearing sunglasses pointed at her. "Let us go quickly! Detective!"
The silver-haired man smirked and Suzume sighed as Megure ordered for her to be taken into custody and ordered for the other people's identities to be checked, which stopped the men in black in their tracks.
Suzume looked at them and blinked, remembering Pierrot-san's email. "Black alcohol," she murmured under her breath in thought, making sure no one heard her. She cleared her throat. "Inspector, wait."
Megure stopped walking towards the men in black, and the silver-haired man looked at Suzume once more, his hand going back into his pocket. Her eyes narrowed as she had a good idea of what was in there. But she knew they didn't have anything to do with what happened on the ride. They were innocent this time.
"She's not the criminal," she continued.
"Kudo-chan..."
She smiled thinly, feeling tired from the events of the day. "The one who murdered Kishida-san on the coaster is you." She pointed her finger right at the gymnast, whose eyes widened at the accusation and everyone gasped.
"W-What?" Megure gasped as he walked back over.
"What are you saying? They found the knife in Aiko's bag, right?" Deflection of guilt...
"You can't sever a human head with a knife like that," Suzume said matter-of-factly. "Especially with a woman's strength. And if she's a criminal, she had quite a few chances to throw it away. There was no need to cover it with a cloth and hide it in her bag." Her eyes narrowed. "You put that in there beforehand to frame her, didn't you?"
She gasped. "Don't say such stupid things! I was sitting two seats ahead of Kishida-kun!" At this distance, Suzume noticed something on the gymnast's face, at the corners of her eyes. "How could I cut off Kishida-kun's head?! And you just said it! A woman's strength is not enough to sever a head!"
"That is true," Suzume agreed, making the accused blink in surprise. "Though, it is possible if you use the speed of the coaster and a steel loop made of piano wire."
She gasped.
"Inspector. I would like to ask for the police's assistance to re-enact what happened," Suzume said.
"I'm fine with it." He shrugged.
Once there were officers in every seat, with Suzume in the seat where the gymnast was, she was ready to get this underway.
"Okay, let's start. Pretend I'm the criminal, Hitomi-san, and the inspector will be the victim Kishida-san," she began with everyone's attention on her. She felt her skin crawl because of it but was comforted when she saw that Ran and the officers were not looking directly at her but in her general direction. "First, before the safety guard is lowered," she sat down with her bag between her and the seat, "you sit with an object like a bag between the seat and your back..."
She pulled down the guard. "And the guard is lowered. Right before the crime, you remove the bag, and you get a gap." She removed the bag and easily slipped out from under the safety guard. "Here! You can get out easily!
"Next, you take out the piano string loop, prepared beforehand, and attach something like a hook at the end." She pulled out an example but with rope instead of wire. She turned in the seat and hooked her legs around the guard. "With your legs in the safeguard, you stretch your body backward and put the loop around the victim's neck." She did so with Megure, whose eyes widened as she did it.
She leaned back. "Of course, this is all done inside a pitch-black tunnel," she added. She held up the hook. "To finish it, the hook attached to the loop is thrown on the coaster rail, and with the speed and power of the coaster, it ripped the victim's head off."
Everyone was stunned into silence before Hitomi tried to argue. "N-Nonsense! How can one do this on a running coaster?!"
Suzume got out of the coaster and walked towards her. "When we first met, I asked if you were a gymnast," she recalled and Hitomi's eyes widened. "You said you were. Unlike other women, you have a trained sense of balance that ensured you could do such a thing on a moving coaster."
"Hey, you! Stop this—"
"Where's your necklace?" Suzume ignored the interruption easily. "Before we got on the coaster, you had pearls around your neck. You used the necklace string instead of piano wire with the hook attached to it hidden inside your bag."
"H-Hey! Even if it was done like how you're saying, it was much easier for those two who rode behind Kishida-kun, don't you think?" her friend tried to defend her.
Suzume sighed. "While they may be suspicious, they didn't commit this crime."
The silver-haired man picked up on the word choice she used. This crime... His eyes narrowed. Does she know...?
"Why?!"
"I don't know why they rode this coaster, but when the police came, it looked like they wanted to leave as soon as they could," Suzume pointed out. "The sudden change in behavior was strange. If they were the criminals, they would have known it was coming." She looked at Hitomi. "The criminal knew. She knew he was going to die. That's why she cried."
She remembered the water that hit her face and when she realized that it was a tear. "Not much time had passed, between us leaving the tunnel and realizing he'd died, upon reaching the station." She took a breath. "In other words, the one who shed such large tears while riding the coaster could only be the criminal."
"So you're saying you saw Hitomi crying on the coaster? Can you prove it?"
"The traces of her tears are the strongest evidence," Suzume said. "Only when you're riding a roller coaster would tears flow sideways."
It was silent after that until Hitomi said, "E-Everything..." She fell to her knees, head in his hands. "Everything is his fault!" she shouted. "He dumped me!"
"H-Hitomi...could it be... You dated Kishida-kun?!"
"Yes! We were in love for a long time, before meeting you at the university! And for Aiko... For such a woman!" Hitomi threw her bag at Aiko, but Suzume quickly caught it before it could hit her. "That's why...at the jet coaster where we went on our first date...with the necklace he gifted to me...by framing Aiko for it... I wanted to kill him!"
She began to bawl and Suzume looked away and at the bag in her hands. She opened the bag and saw the bottle of pills. Her lips parted in shock as she looked back at Hitomi with sympathy. She planned to murder her ex-boyfriend and then kill herself afterward... Suzume sighed. I'll never understand love.
~ — — — ~
It took two hours in the tunnel for police to find the necklace used in the murder. The string had been replaced with piano wire with all but some of the pearls having fallen off. The ones that remained glistened in the light of the setting sun, just like large tears...
Jeez. Suzume scratched the right side of her neck, under her ear. Sounds like something out of a book.
It was nighttime now and Suzume was incredibly uncomfortable. Ran was still crying from when they left the Mystery Coaster and they were now moving to leave the park.
"Please stop crying," she said.
Ran glared at her. "How can you say that?!"
"I've gotten used to these things," Suzume said with a shrug. "Plus, you know I'm bad with tears and crying." Ran pouted at her and she chuckled nervously. "Just try to forget about it. Think of puppies and kittens, okay? That usually helps, right?"
"Why are you such a Shinigami?!" Ran shouted at her, making her cup a hand around her right ear as it rang. Ran gasped, hands covering her mouth. "Suzume!"
"I'm okay." Suzume held up a hand to stop her. "I'm okay. I'm still not used to it..."
"Well, I'm glad Pierrot-san was able to get it for you," Ran said, rubbing her eyes and the tears. "How do you think he got it?"
"I don't know." Suzume shrugged, watching one of the men in black out of the corner of her eye. "And I really don't want to."
Ran blinked in surprise and Suzume smiled.
"Something about New York rubbed me the wrong way, you know?" she said, noticing the man in black disappear with a frown. "Him appearing out of nowhere like that..."
Ran caught her gaze. "What's wrong?"
Suzume shook her head.
Ran sighed. "I knew something was going to happen today," she said. "I told you."
"Want to check out that shop there?" Suzume pointed to a random store that was near where the man in black disappeared. "I'll buy you something to make up for what happened at the Mystery Coaster."
Ran frowned but nodded. They entered the shop and Ran went to browse the shelves while Suzume pulled out her phone and twisted a small dial on her watch. There was static for a moment before she heard the man in black talk.
"Sorry for the wait," he said. "Manager-san."
"I came alone, as promised!" An unfamiliar voice spoke.
"Yeah, I know you came alone," the man in black agreed. "I checked from the top of the coaster."
Her eyes widened slightly as she scrolled through some random article she pulled up. So that's why they were there!
"C-Come on, that thing!"
"Don't be in a hurry," the man in black complained. "First, the money."
"Here!" Something clicked, probably a briefcase of some kind. "No problem, right?!"
"Okay! The deal is complete!"
"Now give me the film!"
She huffed. Wonder what's on it that he doesn't want people seeing...
"Here. Negatives and prints of your company's gun contraband. You shouldn't have done such bad stuff."
"Shut up! Compared to the stuff your Organization does, we're—"
"Oi! What do you know about us? Huh?"
A whimper. "N-No..."
Footsteps. "Are you trying to say we won't kill you for a mere hundred million? Move your company to another place as quick as possible. We just want to build a new lab at this land."
"Yes..."
She twisted the dial back as Ran waved a hand at her, hiding something behind her back. Probably what she wanted to get. She went to walk forward but was stopped when she felt a piercing gaze on her back. She took a quick glance over her shoulder to see the silver-haired man in black glaring at her from outside the shop. Aiya, looks like he knows I listened in, huh? She turned back towards Ran and gave her a convincing smile while holding up a finger behind her back, hoping he recognized the sign to give her a minute.
"Figure out what you wanted to get?" Suzume asked her friend as she pulled her wallet from her bag.
Ran nodded before pointing a finger at her face. "But you can't see what it is, okay?" she demanded, Suzume blinking at the finger in front of her eyes.
"O-Okay," she stuttered, handing over her wallet. "I'll be outside when you're done, okay?"
"Okay."
Suzume turned around and her smile dropped as she left the shop. She turned to the right and saw the man leaning against the building in the shadows, smoking a cigarette. She frowned as they made eye contact.
"Got something you want to say?" he muttered and she tilted her head.
"Not really," she replied, glancing behind her. "My friend will be out in a couple of minutes, so..."
He huffed a laugh, pushing himself off the building, and walked towards her. He stopped a few inches away from her as they stared at each other. He leaned down and she could smell the smoke on his breath when he spoke.
"How much of that did you hear?"
She raised an eyebrow and tilted her head. "What kind of an answer are you looking for?" she asked rhetorically since she already knew that he knew she was listening in.
His eyes narrowed. "Where did you get that earpiece?" He changed topics.
"A friend," she answered. "Got into an incident where I lost all hearing in my right ear, and a week later, the earpiece was on my doorstep. Honest."
What she said was true. She had been dealing with a case when the suspect stabbed a screwdriver through her ear, effectively deafening her in that ear. Her parents both rushed home when they heard and made sure she was taken care of at the hospital and stayed at the house until she made a full recovery. And a week after what happened, a small box was on her hospital table with the earpiece inside of it. Even though there was no note, she knew it was from Pierrot-san.
He said nothing when Ran called out, "Suzume!"
She didn't dare turn around with the man in front of her. "Are we going to have trouble?" she asked quietly.
He chuckled. "Oh, I hope so," he replied honestly before disappearing into the maze.
She took a deep breath before heading back out towards Ran, plastering a smile on her face as she accepted her wallet. "That bag looks like it has more in it than when I left the shop."
Ran blushed, looking away. "You can't look at it yet, okay?"
"Okay, okay. Calm down."
Suzume had a feeling she would see those men again in the near future...
Fun Facts —
— Oh, I am just looking forward to the interactions between Suzume and Gin! I don't know how far I'm going to take it, but I'll figure that out the further I get into writing this. I just know that there is some kind of attraction between the two of them, so I hope I'm making someone other than myself happy!
— Sonoko is Suzume and Ran's best friend and their biggest shipper. She will die happily if and when they get together after dancing around their feelings for years.
— Yes, I went a different route than the original anime: Suzume didn't get shrunk. I wanted to go a different route since Suzume isn't Shinichi. However, that doesn't mean others won't be shrunk.
— There is a glimpse of an exchange where Suzume has an argument with someone and ends up getting hit. So, yes, she was in an abusive relationship previously. It's why she doesn't entirely understand actual love.
— During her little flashback, it was Gin who was able to bring her back to reality. Hmm, I wonder what that means? hehe