Non-Challenge: A Policeman's Tale (Day 60)
Title: A Policeman's Tale (Day 60)
Author: ytak
Word count: 1308
Rating (chapter): K+ (PG)
Rating (whole story): T (PG-13)
Comments: Last chapter! I guess it's kind of a non-ending but it works for me. An epilogue will be up Friday with a post-script of sorts because people might want to know the actual dates and other little details and stuff that wouldn't have worked in the story but they might want to know anyway.
Other chapters can be read through here or here.
Day 60
Takagi forced himself to refrain from gawking at the sight in the room. It was a veritable sea of blue, moving in a chaotic manner. He blinked and the impression faded. The sight was still something he might stare at because it was only under certain circumstances that there was this many uniformed officers gathered in one area.
A moment later the sight shifted again. The uniformed officers had all merged together to form a blue dragon coiled on the ground. It raised its head and gave a mighty roar. Then it lunged out of the room and flew after an amorphous black mass hanging over the sky. The dragon was joined by other creatures as they fought the black mass. An eagle, a bear, a tiger and myriad of other animals all joined together, attacking the black mass. When a wisp of it tried to escape, another creature attacked it. Alone, they could not do it but together they were utterly destroying it.
He blinked. His room was dark. Groaning, he rubbed him eyes and rolled over to look at the time. There were fifteen minutes until his alarm was to go off and signal the start to his day. A sigh escaped and he rolled over onto his back. He stared at the ceiling until he started to see things against it. Closing his eyes, he considered staying in bed until the alarm went off.
I should get up, he thought but did not immediately get up.
After another minute of laying there, he literally rolled himself off the bed and almost missed landing on his feet. A moment was spent berating himself before staggering to the bathroom. Takagi opted for a longer than usual shower and only left when the beeping of his alarm clock began to drive him nuts. He felt a little bad about letting it beep without turning it off but only a little. He felt a little vindicated by it. Especially, after those late, noisy, nights they like to have. A little reminder that I have to get up earlier than they do isn't amiss, he justified to himself as he poured himself a bowl of cereal.
Faint wisps of the dream he had flickered through his mind. When he tried to grasp an image, it was promptly lost and all he could recall was the color or motion. I do know it was an odd dream but that's it. He tried to dismiss it but the eerie feelings left by imagery followed him to work.
He looked around the office as he walked in. Everything seemed normal. Some people were making calls, paperwork was being filled out, and much coffee consumed. The normality of the atmosphere helped clear away some of the eerie feeling the dream had left behind.
Takagi suspected that he would be having eerie dreams for a while. Honestly, I'm more surprised they aren't nightmares, he thought as he sat down at his desk and picked up the interoffice correspondence that was sitting on his desk. They really need to be more careful about where they put this on a person's desk. I know that it would disappear if put on the desk of half the people here.
He opened up the mail and began to read. It was what amounted to a newsletter, reiterating the request Megure made to wrap-up cases as quickly as was feasible. Scanning down the information, he noticed that there seemed to be a lot more meetings scheduled than there had been. Finished with reading it, Takagi opened a drawer to throw the letter and envelope into when he noticed that there was another piece of paper in there.
It took a moment to fish it out. It was a handwritten note.
'Takagi-kun,' it began, 'Barring a priority case, you and Sato-kun need to attend the meeting with me tomorrow morning. You don't need to bring anything. It will have something to do with that thing we discussed recently. If you have any questions, come talk to me. Do not discuss this with anyone other than Sato-kun or myself.'
-Megure'
Takagi reread it. He double checked to make sure it was dated today. A knot he had not even noticed came undone in his stomach. Maybe we'll be getting answers or some direction. Hopefully no bad news, he thought, his imagination supplying more than one scenario that would be bad. But I know it can't be good. Not after what we have learned. Takagi wanted to growl with frustration. If I don't go about my day normally, everyone will know something is up. I'm going to have to suck it for the meantime.
Shaking off the sudden lethargy that made him want to curl up and escape from the world, he stood up, grabbed his mug (which he noted was in desperate need of washing) and headed to the break room for some coffee. Maybe it will help me wake up and clear my mind. The stuff is strong enough to strip paint, he thought.
Takagi nearly tripped as he rounded a corner on the way back to the office. Looking down, he was surprised to see Conan standing there.
“I'm sorry about that, Conan-kun,” said Takagi, “I really didn't see you down there.” He gave Conan a puzzled frown. “Are you about a case?” he asked, leaving 'again' unspoken but clearly understood.
Conan gave him a sardonic grin, “I'm here so much I should get a job, right? That's what I hear the other detectives say.” An officer walking by the pair, sputtered hearing Conan say that and walked off quickly, his body shaking from what looked like suppressed laughter.
Takagi and Conan watched the other man walk off before the traded a look.
Conan seemed to think about something a moment. He cast a quick glance around and then gave a very unchildlike shrug. He looked up at Takagi. The detective swore that he was being sized up behind the oversized glasses. “Say, Detective Takagi,” Conan started, the child-timber dropping completely away, “I've thought about our conversation in the elevator. After thinking about it awhile, I think I may answer your question. But not today,” he finished. As sort of suppressed amusement and self-loathing seemed to shine from his eyes as he said that.
Takagi was about to ask about what question when the whole conversation came rushing back. He opened to mouth to say something but was arrested by the sight of Ran coming down the hall.
After a moment, she noticed Takagi. Looking down, she could see the pint-sized private detective standing next to him. She picked up speed, working her way around a couple of officers, and she called out, “Shi-Conan-kun! We need to be going!” She nodded to Takagi, “Hi, Detective Takagi. I'm sorry, I can't really talk right now. We'll see you later.” She grabbed Conan's hand and almost literally dragging him away.
Takagi stood there, frozen to the spot. The whole thing had come right out of the blue, blindsiding him completely.
“'Morning, Takagi!” Chiba said, giving Takagi a hearty thump on the back.
Takagi bit off a curse, his train of thought completely derailed. He snapped at Chiba, “Careful! I have coffee.”
“Sorry about that.” Chiba said, looking apologetic. “Better head back,” he said, “I heard that the inspector is talking to everyone again this morning.”
“Yeah,” Takagi agreed. He followed Chiba back to the room but threw a look back in the direction Conan and Ran had gone. What are they doing here? he asked himself. As outrageous as it seems, it feels like he is connected to everything. Which makes no sense. But it feels like something big is going to happen really soon.
Takagi could not help but wonder, really wonder, just what the next couple of days would bring.