Chapter 89: Believing One Will Wait for the Person They Want to See
"Then Takai, you go down and apologize to Hiraya..."
Kawakami froze. The voice echoing through the apartment was his own. He snapped his head around, his eyes widening as they landed on the petite, white-haired girl standing near the center of the room. Nahida held the victim's phone delicately in her small hands, her finger resting on the screen as the damning recording of that final, fatal call played out for everyone to hear.
"It seems the evidence is now at hand, isn't it?" Nahida tilted her head, her bright green eyes fixing onto Kawakami with an unnerving, quiet clarity.
Kawakami stared at the device as if it were a venomous snake. The color drained from his face, his shoulders slumping in utter defeat. Cornered by his own recorded words, the last of his resistance crumbled. He dropped his head, a ragged breath escaping his lips as he finally confessed to the murder.
Off to the side, Jodie Starling leaned against the wall, quietly observing the aftermath. She had stopped trying to snap covert photos of Natsume a while ago. The blonde woman's vigilance bordered on the supernatural. Every time Jodie had tried to angle her lens for a clear shot, Natsume had perfectly, almost casually, shifted her posture—a turned shoulder, a tilted head, a sudden step into a shadow. Not a single frame on Jodie's roll held a clear image of her face. It was a waste of film to keep trying.
Still, the FBI agent's curiosity only deepened. High-level combat skills, an almost paranoid level of situational awareness, and now a sharp, deductive mind to match. Just who was Natsume Natsuki? And more, how did someone like her end up tangled in Vermouth's web?
With the truth laid bare, Inspector Megure adjusted his hat and signaled his officers. They escorted a defeated Kawakami out of the apartment, heading back to the precinct to record his official statement.
A light tug on Natsume's sleeve drew her attention downward. Conan stood beside her, his oversized glasses catching the room's light. He gave a subtle nod toward the floor, silently urging her to crouch down to his level.
Natsume bent down, leaning in as the boy whispered into her ear. As she processed his request, her eyebrows twitched, her expression twisting into a complicated mix of exasperation and reluctant amusement. Conan offered her a wide, placating grin, pressing his hands together in a silent plea. With a quiet sigh, she gave a single, barely perceptible nod.
The crime scene was clearing out. Conan, Natsume, Heiji, and Nahida moved toward the exit, turning to bid their farewells to the English teacher.
"Ah, excuse me!" Natsume suddenly sidestepped, seemingly trying to avoid tripping over Conan, who had abruptly stopped in front of her. Her shoulder collided directly with Jodie. The impact was light, but just enough to knock the camera from the woman's grasp.
It clattered onto the carpeted floor.
"My apologies, how clumsy of me," Natsume said smoothly, dropping to one knee before Jodie could even react. Her hands moved with practiced, lightning-fast precision. In the blink of an eye, she scooped up the camera, her fingers dancing over the latch. By the time she stood back up, her expression was a mask of polite concern. She inspected the casing briefly. "It doesn't look broken. Here you go."
"Oh, it is no problem at all!" Jodie smiled warmly, waving it off in her usual exaggerated manner as she took the camera back. She offered them a cheerful wave goodbye, completely unaware of the missing weight in the device.
The evening air was cool as the group walked down the bustling Tokyo streets.
Natsume reached into her jacket pocket, her fingers brushing against a small, cylindrical object. She pulled it out and tossed it lightly to the boy walking beside her.
"Here, Conan," she murmured, keeping her voice low. "Don't ask me to do this kind of thing again. Pickpocketing isn't exactly a respectable hobby."
Conan caught the roll of film with a practiced ease, tucking it away instantly. "Mm-hmm!" he agreed, his childish facade slipping into something much sharper. He glanced up at her, a knowing smirk playing on his lips. "You noticed it too, right, Natsume-neechan? While we were investigating, Jodie-sensei was secretly snapping photos of us. If you hadn't caught onto that, you never would have agreed to help me swipe her film."
"I noticed," Natsume replied dryly, reaching out to give Conan's hair a firm, messy ruffle as a mild punishment for roping her into petty theft. "Otherwise, I wouldn't have humored a little brat like you." She let her hand drop, her gaze drifting thoughtfully down the street. "Still... I didn't sense any genuine malice from her."
She offered a casual shrug. "But that's just my intuition. I could be wrong."
"Nah, I actually got the same vibe," Heiji chimed in, rubbing his chin as he walked alongside them. "But that teacher's behavior is definitely sketchy. Ku—cough! Conan, you'd better stay on your guard, as usual."
Heiji choked on the syllable, coughing loudly to cover up his near-fatal slip. He had almost called him 'Kudo' again. A quick, panicked glance at Natsume and Nahida reminded him that he and Shinichi weren't alone.
Conan stared at the Osakan detective, invisible black lines dropping down his forehead. 'This idiot!'he screamed internally.'Can't he be even a little bit careful? At this rate, he's going to blurt out my real name right in front of Ran!'Natsume, having heard the incredibly stiff transition, could only sigh inwardly.'Heiji's situational awareness is practically nonexistent,'she thought, feeling a headache coming on.'I swear, one of these days he's going to shout Kudo's real name right to my face, and I won't even be able to find a convincing excuse to play dumb.'
Pushing the thought aside, Natsume turned her attention back to the dark-skinned detective. "By the way, Heiji... did you ever finish your conversation with Kazuha?"
Heiji blinked, looking at her blankly.
Natsume crossed her arms. "She couldn't still be waiting for you, could she? Earlier, you said you were going to call her, but then the case happened and you hung up after barely two sentences. You didn't forget to call her back, did you?"
Heiji froze. The blood seemed to drain from his face, leaving him a shade paler. "Ah! Crap! I completely forgot! I'm dead!" He grabbed his hair in a sudden panic, realizing that in the chaos of the murder investigation, he had left Kazuha completely hanging. She was probably still waiting for him at their meeting spot, fuming.
"Conan, Natsume, Nahida—I've gotta run! I'm leaving first!" Heiji began backpedaling rapidly down the sidewalk. "Conan, if anything comes up, just call me! Bye!" With a frantic wave, the Osakan detective spun on his heel and sprinted down the street as if his life depended on it.
Natsume watched his rapidly shrinking figure, shaking her head. "I can't help but feel a bit sorry for Kazuha," she murmured with a soft sigh.
"Yeah, no kidding," Conan agreed, his eyes half-closed in a deadpan stare as he watched his friend flee the scene.
"Perhaps," Nahida chimed in, her voice light and melodic. She tilted her head, looking up at Natsume and Conan with a gentle, knowing smile. "But I think that if Miss Kazuha is willing to wait, it simply shows she believes she will eventually see the person she is waiting for. Isn't that right?"
Natsume blinked, the deep simplicity of the statement catching her slightly off guard. A soft smile touched her lips. "Hmm. You have a point, Nahida."
Her thoughts drifted unbidden to Aether. That stubborn brother of hers had waited in this unfamiliar world for forty long years. Had he spent all those decades firmly believing that she would eventually fall from the stars to find him?
Natsume let out a quiet, internal breath. 'Considering he waited in the dark for so long... I suppose I can forgive him for suddenly appearing and then vanishing on me without a word.'
Conan, too, was struck by the little girl's words. The image of Ran immediately surfaced in his mind. Ran was always waiting for him. Was it because, deep down, she truly believed that Kudo Shinichi would definitely return to her side?
Beneath the oversized sleeves of his jacket, Conan's hands curled into tight fists. A fierce, burning resolve flared in his chest. He had to tear down the Black Organization. He had to get his hands on the antidote. He had to become Kudo Shinichi again, as soon as humanly possible.
He didn't want to make her wait anymore. He couldn't bear the thought of it. Taking a slow, deep breath, Conan forced his turbulent emotions back under control, letting the cool evening air steady his racing heart.
When he opened his eyes, his gaze shifted to Nahida. A sharp glint of scrutiny flashed behind his lenses. 'Those words just now... that really didn't sound like something an ordinary elementary school student would say.'
His mind whirring with suspicion, Conan looked up at Natsume, instantly slipping back into his childish persona. "Say, Natsume-neechan!" he chirped, his voice artificially high and sweet. "How do you know so many amazing friends? You know a chef, a librarian, a magician, and even foreign nobles! Can you tell me your secret? I want to make lots of cool friends too!"
Natsume stared down at Conan's wide, feigned innocent eyes. A phantom chill ran down her spine. She knew perfectly well that the 'boy'was just acting cute to fish for information, but given his usual sharp, mature demeanor during murder investigations, this sudden pivot to a sweet, naive child was deeply unsettling.'It's like dealing with someone who has a split personality,' she thought, suppressing a shudder.
"Didn't I mention it before, Conan?" Natsume replied, her tone gentle but guarded. "My brother went missing. I've been traveling to many different places, searching for him. And while I didn't find him right away, I gained a lot of other things along the way."
She reached out, resting her hand on Conan's head. "These friends are the treasures of that journey. They helped me out a lot when I was wandering..." 'Even if they caused just as many headaches,' she added silently. "...and that's how we became so close."
"Ehhh! So you met them all while traveling!" Conan beamed, leaning into the act. "That sounds so nice! I wish I could meet that many friends when I go on trips!"
He lowered his head, letting his bangs shadow his eyes as his smile faded into a hard line of intense thought. 'Was it really just a coincidence that she knew all these extraordinary people?'
No, he couldn't be certain yet. But there was one glaring anomaly he couldn't ignore. Natsume didn't possess one of those glowing gemstones—a Vision. And now that he thought about it, the little girl beside her, Nahida, didn't seem to carry one either. What was the deal with that? If the Teyvat organization was bound by those mystical stones, why did its central figure lack one?
Conan looked back up, his glasses catching the glow of the streetlights, obscuring his eyes.
"Then, Natsume-neechan..." he began, his voice dropping the childish pitch entirely, replacing it with the calm, measured tone of a detective closing in on a lead. "Have you ever heard the name... Anemo Archon Barbatos?"
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