Fic - The Mystery of Yomiyama, Part 1
Title: The Mystery of Yomiyama, Part 1
Fandom: Detective Conan/Another
Genre: Crossover, Mystery, Supernatural
Rating: PG
Characters: Conan Edogawa, Ai Haibara, Detective Boys
Word Count: 4,603
Part 1
“May I have your attention, everyone?” Conan looked up from the book he was reading as his teacher waited for the rest of the first grade class to quiet down. It was a hot July day, and most students would rather be outside than stuck in the classroom, and the noise level reflected that. When everyone was focused on her, Kobayashi-sensei smiled and spoke.
“I have some very exciting news to share: our class has been given permission to go on a field trip!” Pausing briefly as a gasp went up from the class, she continued with, “We will be going to Yomiyama City for two weeks in mid-October as part of an elementary school exchange program that has been set up between our school and theirs. This means that we’ll be having regular classes at Yomiyama’s elementary school as well as going to places around the city to learn more about the area. Now, I know that all of you will want to go, so make sure you give your parents the information booklet I’m going to pass around, ok?”
“We will!” the class chorused. As the students began to talk among themselves about the announcement, Conan leaned back in his chair and rubbed his chin. He had done a field trip like this back when he was still Shinichi, but that had been nearly a decade ago and so he didn’t remember a whole lot aside from that it had been fun. But something else was bothering him…
“You look troubled, Edogawa-kun,” Haibara said quietly from her seat beside him. Like him, she had been turned into a child after taking poison that should have killed her.
“I am. It’s about Yomiyama. The name sounds familiar, but I can’t remember where I’ve heard it before.” He was certain that he hadn’t been involved in any cases in the city, nor could he recall any major crimes being committed there in the past few years. Maybe it had been mentioned recently on the news and he was simply remembering that?
“I don’t recall them being active in the area, so I’m afraid I know very little about the city.” Conan handed her an information booklet while she thought about it some more, then she shook her head. “Whatever you’re remembering must not be related to anything we’re involved in,” Haibara said, turning her attention towards the booklet.
“Yeah,” he agreed softly. Them. The Black Organization. The group who assumed they had killed Kudo Shinichi, brilliant teenage detective. That was the reason only a few people knew who Edogawa Conan really was, Haibara among them. It still stung, having to hide out as a child, but going on a field trip like this was one of the perks that came with doing so.
Shaking off the thoughts of the past, Conan decided that he would ask Ran about it when he got home. Whatever he had heard about Yomiyama couldn’t be too important, but it was worth looking into. At least they wouldn’t have to worry about the Black Organization while in the city. Perhaps this field trip would allow him to relax a little. Assuming, of course, that no dead bodies turned up while the class was there, as tended to happen whenever he went outside of Tokyo. As Kobayashi-sensei called for them to settle down and take out their English books, Conan smiled to himself. The more he thought about it, the more fun the field trip sounded.
- - -
“Mitsuhiko, is Yomiyama big?” Ayumi asked as she leaned over the bus seat, distracting him from his reading. Glancing over, he saw that their friend and his seat-mate had a map of some sort out and was looking at it intently.
“Hmm…It seems small at first glance because it’s in a hilly area, but I would say it’s about the same size as Beika, if not bigger,” Mitsuhiko replied.
“Hey! I wanna see too!” Genta exclaimed, and Conan hid a smile of amusement as the large boy settled himself on the top of his seat. “Wow, Mitsuhiko, you can read that?” A closer look revealed that map in question was also a detailed topographical map, and the detective wondered where his classmate had gotten something like this.
“Yeah! As a detective, I figure it’s important to know how to read a map like this. Right Conan?”
Startled by the sudden question, he stammered back “Y-Yeah, o-of course.” Recovering slightly as the others giggled, he added, “It’s always good to know how to read all kinds of maps, since you never know when you might have to use one.”
“Does that mean you’re going to teach us?” Genta asked, and Conan realized that he might have gotten in over his head. They hadn’t even left Tokyo yet, and he didn’t want to spend the rest of the bus ride acting as a teacher.
“Uh--I suppose so, once we get to the hotel…” As he was scrambling for a response, he glanced across the aisle and saw that Haibara, who had clearly been listening to the conversation, was smirking at him. Shooting her an irritated look, he tried to come up with a better way to say no when he was saved by Ayumi.
“Not now, Genta! I want to see where we’ll be going. Aren’t we going to a shrine tomorrow morning?” she asked, and Conan breathed a sigh of relief. Genta, being Genta, would definitely listen to Ayumi. And if he was lucky, the other boy would forget all about the map-reading lesson by the time they reached Yomiyama.
“Yep. Yomiyama Shrine is located here, outside the city,” Mitsuhiko replied, pointing to a spot on top of a small mountain, then slid his finger to a place within the town. “Our hotel is here, by the way.” A quick mental calculation showed that the shrine was just over half an hour away from where they were staying, which meant…
“Hey Genta, we should be able to have breakfast before we leave,” Conan joked, and Genta joined in the laughter that followed.
- - -
Conan yawned as he trailed behind the others, wishing he was old enough to plausibly order coffee with breakfast. Hot chocolate would just have to do. “Did Kojima-kun keep you up all night studying maps?” Haibara asked, falling into step beside him.
“No, he got bored of it pretty quickly.” He had been surprised that Genta had remembered the map lesson after all, but everyone been too tired to do much last night. “Mitsuhiko brought various town maps along, so I was looking at them for a while.”
“Expecting trouble?”
“No. Just being prepared.” He always had to be prepared now, Black Organization or not. Still, he was here to relax and act like a kid, so he supposed he should start doing so.
“Conan-kun, Ai-chan, over here!” Looking around, he realized that his friends were already seated, and Ayumi was waving at them. Signalling that he understood, he turned to Haibara.
“If something does come up, will you help me? It would be unnatural for Shinichi to consult in the place like this, and Uncle’s too far away to call in.”
The corner of her mouth lifted slightly as she answered, “You don’t believe that there’s a suitable detective in town?”
“Highly unlikely.” If there was a useful detective in Yomiyama, he could impersonate them if needed, but he’d rather investigate any case on his own. It was just easier that way.
“Then I shall assist you as much as I am able to.” Conan smiled at her, then, hearing Ayumi call them again, trotted over to join the others.
- - -
They stood at the top of a wooded mountain, having just finished praying for success in their studies and the favour of the local gods. Conan wasn’t particularly religious, but he supposed wishing for a little good luck never hurt, so he didn’t really mind the trip. Besides, it was a nice day, and the bright sunshine seemed to dispel some of the gloom that hung over the shrine.
He walked away from his classmates who had gathered around the local priest who had acted as their guide, only half-listening to their questions as he examined the building. It seemed to be a typical Shinto shrine, flanked on either side by stone Komainu on pedestals, and made largely of wood. It was old, that much was obvious with the faded boards and worn roof titles, but it seemed to be in decent repair for the most part. Clearly the locals felt that this was an important part of their community, so Conan felt slightly honoured that arrangements had been made to allow them to come. As he was staring at the shrine, a question from one of his classmates caught his attention.
“Kannushi, I have a question! Is it true that a bunch of people died on this mountain a long time ago?”
Turning slightly, the boy watched as the priest’s expression froze, then slid into an eerie calm that told him that something was wrong. The man hesitated for a moment longer, then said smoothly, “Yes, it’s true. Some students got caught in a sudden storm while they were visiting this shrine, and unfortunately, several of them perished in it.”
The class went silent as they digested this news, then Mitsuhiko asked, “But if they thought the weather would turn bad, why did they come up here?”
The priest smiled tightly at him and answered, “The weather can turn bad very quickly, even on a small mountain like this. Besides, I believe that incident happened in late summer, so I’m sure many of you know what summer storms are like.”
Heads nodded, and Conan wandered over to where the path leading down the mountain began as the topic changed to more happier subjects. Rubbing his chin, he stared down the mountain, trying to imagine what it would have looked like in a storm. Dark, probably, due to the forest covering the slopes, and the path certainly would have been muddy, especially if it had been raining before the storm hit. He had spotted some exposed rocks on the trip up, which would have posed a hazard if the students had been rushing to escape the weather. Glancing up at the blue sky above, he was suddenly grateful that the weather was nice.
“Conan! Are you excited to go to the amusement part too?” Turning to find Genta standing behind, he saw the grin on his friend’s face and smiled back as he nodded in agreement.
“Great! We’re all gonna ride the Ferris Wheel once we get there. But only after we check out the food stand!”
“Don’t tell me you’re hungry already, Genta! We just had breakfast an hour and a half ago…” Ayumi said as she walked up, Haibara beside her.
“Kojima-kun is a growing boy, so he needs his food,” Haibara observed, a faint smile on her face as she looked between Conan and Genta. “Kobayashi-sensei said we could start down if we stay in a group,” she added as their classmates started to trickle past them.
“Is Mitsuhiko staying behind?” Conan asked curiously, seeing that the remaining Detective Boy was one of the few still gathered around the priest.
“Yeah. He wanted to know more about the deaths that happened, or something,” Genta replied with a shrug, then brightened and stepped past Conan to start down the path. “Anyway, let’s go! The sooner we get down, the sooner we can go to the amusement park!”
“Yeah!” Jogging after his friend, Ayumi fell into step beside Genta and broke into a marching song, the tune quickly getting picked up by those further down the mountain.
Smiling and shaking his head, Conan went after them, shoving the student deaths to the back of his mind. They had happened a long time ago, and while a tragic event, they had been caused by nature, so there was nothing for him to investigate.
- - -
Conan sat with the rest of the Detective Boys, finishing off the remainder of his lunch as the others planned what they were going to do with the rest of their afternoon. The amusement park was pretty small, even by Beika City standards, so there wasn’t a lot to do. The boy knew he would go on all the rides at least once, but also wanted to wander around and eavesdrop on the group of Yomiyama Elementary first graders who had met them at the park.
“I’m going to go get a drink. Does anyone want anything?” he asked once there was a break in the conversation.
“No drink for me, but see if they serve eel donburi!”
“Genta, they wouldn’t have that here! And I’m ok for now,” Mitsuhiko added, shooting his friend a glare
“Thanks, but I don’t need anything,” Haibara replied, looking up from her meal.
“Um…could you get me some soda, Conan-kun? Any kind is ok,” Ayumi asked, giving him a pleased smile as she held out some money.
“Sure, no problem,” he agreed, then dashed off towards the food stand. Due to the amount of people around, it was busy, so he took his place at the back of the line and shoved his hands in his pockets, trying to decide what he wanted. Coffee was out, but he could probably get away with some tea if it was flavoured.
He then realized that the pair of Yomiyama Elementary students standing in front of him were talking in hushed tones, and he edged closer to see if he could catch what they were talking about.
“-wa-san’s death makes two so far,” the boy muttered.
“Don’t! Oniisan is in the class. I can’t…” his companion, a girl, muttered. The line advanced then, and Conan shuffled forward a few steps, pulling a pamphlet about the city out of his back pocket and pretending to read it while he listened to them talk.
“I know, I know. But I’m ok, though. I’m just saying that it must have started. I heard my parents talking about it last night. They said it was weird that it hadn’t started back in the spring, since apparently it always has before.”
“Please stop! We’re not allowed to talk about this!” the girl pleaded, sounding frightened, then gasped and quickly changed the subject. “So…uh…it’s been a warm autumn so far, hasn’t it?”
“Er, yeah!” Conan glanced up at them and saw that the girl was staring at him, her face tight with tension. Something had scared her badly, that much was obvious to his trained eye. Giving her a friendly smile, he raised his eyes to the menu board as the line moved forward again, considering the mysterious conversation. It was now clear that Yomiyama wasn’t the quiet little town he had taken it to be, and that made his detective senses tingle.
He returned to the group a few minutes later, drinks in hand and a newspaper tucked under his arm. The discussion had moved on to video games, and Conan smiled as he handed Ayumi her can of soda. “Sorry Genta, they don’t sell eel donburi here, but one of the restaurants near our hotel does,” he said once there was a break in the conversation.
“All right! Thanks, Conan! We’re going to go there sometime soon, then,” Genta replied, grinning excitedly at the news.
“As long as the prices are fairly cheap, we should be able to get permission from Kobayashi-sensei easily enough,” Mitsuhiko added with a nod.
Settling down and opening his can of lemon-flavoured iced tea, the detective opened the newspaper and waited until the others were ignoring him to flip to the deaths section. It being early in the week, the paper listed the deaths that had occurred over the weekend as well. It was unfortunate he didn’t have the full name of the person the school children had been talking about, since there were several people whose names ended in “wa”: an old man from a heart attack, a young man who had committed suicide, and a middle-aged women in a car accident. Nothing too unusual or mysterious for a city this size, which made the overheard conversation all the more puzzling.
“Conan? Hey, Conan!” Looking up quickly at the call from Genta, he realized everyone had gathered around him and was looking curiously at the newspaper.
“Did someone you know die?” Haibara asked curiously, tugging the page he was looking at closer to her.
“Ah, no, no. I was just looking for the comics and got distracted…” he lied, giving an embarrassed chuckle and hoping they would buy it. “I don’t know anyone who lives here, anyway.”
“I think I might have a distant relative in this part of the country, but I’m not really sure. You can look at the comics later, Conan-kun. Right now, it’s time to ride the Ferris Wheel!” Ayumi said, giving him an excited look. Smiling and nodding back, he folded the paper and put it in his backpack.
As they walked towards the giant wheel, he stepped closer to Haibara and muttered, “I might have something. Let’s talk tonight if we can.”
- - -
“This place is creepy…” Ayumi said, and Conan had to agree with her. The Teitan Elementary students had be allowed to explore the town until supper, so Conan’s group had set out, map in hand, to see if they could find anything interesting. At the moment, they had ended up in what seemed like a residential part, full of older buildings covered in ivy that looked rather sinister in the gathering dusk.
“Don’t worry, Ayumi. I’ll protect you if anything should happen!” Genta answered firmly, placing his hands on his hip and assuming a brave expression. The sudden harsh cawing of a crow overhead made him jump a second later, and everyone chuckled at that, the tension draining away as the crow flew off.
“So, are there any interesting shops around here, Mitsuhiko?” the girl asked, craning to look over her friend’s shoulder at the map he held.
“Hmm…there’s only a doll shop along this street, but there’s a pawn shop nearby,” he answered after consulting it closely.
“Let’s go to the pawn shop first! They might have some good video games!” Genta exclaimed, looking excited at the prospect of getting a new game.
“Is this the doll shop?” Conan asked, slowing to a halt and looking up at the store in question. Well, he wouldn’t really call it a store - it was a concrete building several stories high, with red ivy crawling down from the roof to cover most of the building’s front. Windows were scarce, limited to a row along the very top floor and two narrow ones along the left side. In fact, the defining feature of the store could be the large oval widow that was on the ground floor. There was no official sign either, only a stool with a framed quote sitting on it. A small wooden board leaned against the stool, with the words Feel Free to Drop In - Studio M written on it in neat writing.
“Hey, what does the framed sign say?” Genta asked, leaning over and staring at the kanji intently.
Haibara answered before he did. “The Hollow Blue Eyes of Yomi at Twilight,” she read slowly, frowning slightly as she considered the words.
“What is that supposed to mean? Did somebody famous say it?” Mitsuhiko asked, turning to look at her and Conan.
“I don’t know. I don’t recall hearing it before,” he replied with a shake of his head. The quote, if it was indeed a quote, was a mystery to him. Unless… “Isn’t Yomi a nickname for this city?” He was sure that he had heard one of the local students refer to the city that way while at the amusement park.
“So it’s referring to this place at twilight? Weird. Wanna go check it out?” Genta straightened up and jerked a thumb towards the door, obviously intrigued by the strange sign. Everyone agreed to go in, so the larger boy lead the way, opening the door and marching inside. A bell tinkled as the door opened and closed, and Conan found that they were standing in the oddest doll shop he had ever seen.
Dolls were everywhere, but there weren’t the typical dolls someone like Ayumi might play with. Some were nearly human-sized, arrayed on shelves and in display cases, and he saw they were mostly ball-jointed dolls, meant for collecting rather than playing with. Which led him to the conclusion that this was a place probably not meant for children.
“Welcome.” An old woman with grey hair and pince-nez glasses sat behind the counter, somehow managing to look even creepier than the dolls around her. “My, it’s unusual to see children your age here. Are you customers?”
“Good evening, ma’am.” Mitsuhiko edged around Genta and bowed politely in greeting. “We’re a part of the exchange group from Beika City. May we have a look around?”
“You may. In that case, I’ll give you half price.” A small sign on the counter indicated that admission was 500 yen, something they could afford even at full price.
“This is a doll shop, right?” Ayumi asked, seemingly nervous around the strange dolls.
“It’s both a doll shop and a museum. However, I doubt any of you could afford even the cheapest doll here.” The old woman paused, then said in a slightly darker tone, “But please, take your time looking around. I have no other customers. Would you care for some tea?”
“Er…we’ll pass, but thank you very much,” Mitsuhiko answered tightly, and Conan knew that Ayumi wasn’t the only one weirded out by the store.
“Very well. Take your time looking around,” the shopkeeper repeated, and Conan quickly placed 250 yen on the counter and took a closer look around. What he saw was disturbing. The dolls themselves seemed very finely made, but they clearly catered to a certain market of collectors. Eyes were missing on some of the dolls, sometimes artistically replaced with flowers or vines coming out of the empty eye socket, while others were fully intact by dressed in such a way that made him blush.
“Genta, be careful you don’t bump into anything!” Mitsuhiko hissed as the detective moved deeper into the store, occasionally craning his neck to look at the dolls on the higher shelves. If the street outside had made him feel tense, this place made him feel like he was being watched from all sides.
“Not your typical doll store, is it?” Haibara murmured in his ear, making him freeze for a moment in fright.
Shooting her a glare as he turned to face her, he shook his head. “No, it’s definitely not. I would never have expected this town to have a shop like this.”
“Unusual things appear in all kinds of places, Edogawa-kun. Surely you must know that by now,” she replied, slipping past him and vanishing down a staircase flanked by a sign that read indicated there were more dolls below.
“Conan-kun…we’re going to go check out the pawn shop, do you want to come?”
Looking over at Mitsuhiko, Conan shook his head again. “Haibara and I are going to stay for a bit longer. We’ll see you there, ok?” He wasn’t surprised that the others had chosen not to linger. This place was definitely bizarre.
“Suit yourself, but be careful not to lose your soul!” Genta joked as he headed out of the shop, and the boy rolled his eyes at the urban myth.
“Like one of these things could ever do that to me…” he scoffed, shoving aside his uneasiness to glare at the doll closest to him. Creepy, yes, but unless one of the larger ones somehow fell on him, they were harmless. With a final glance at the silent and unmoving shopkeeper, he followed Haibara down the stairs.
Down below was a partially finished basement, the exposed pipes and concrete walls giving the place an oppressive quality. The fact that the basement looked more like a storeroom than an extension of the shop above didn’t help either - dolls in various stages of completion were everywhere, and detached torsos and limbs were strewn about on the floor. It reminded him strongly of a crime scene, or the hidden lair of a serial killer. The few completed dolls that he could see mirrored the provocative style of the ones upstairs, adding to the sinister aura of the place.
After a few seconds of staring, he saw Haibara standing at the back of the room, studying a doll of some sort. Picking his way through the clutter until he was beside her, he looked the doll over as well. It seemed to be another of the full-sized ones, being in a form of a young girl in a low-cut blue dress. The red rose she held in her hand contrasted rather nicely with her loose black hair and the one green eye that wasn’t covered by her bangs. However, the open black coffin the doll was displayed in rather diminished the beauty of it in his eyes.
“It’s rather haunting, isn’t it? I wonder what the creator was thinking when they made it…” Haibara murmured as they continued to study the doll. “Were they thinking of death or of life?”
“Both, maybe?” Conan’s gaze dropped to the rose the doll held, and he mused, “Although the rose is more a symbol of love than of life or death. Depending on the culture and context, it can also be used to denote sacrifice or freedom.”
“Sacrifice, huh?” Haibara reached out and lightly stroked the edge of the doll’s dress, then turned towards him. “What did you want to talk about?”
“I overheard something odd this afternoon. Apparently, someone died recently and one of the local students was pretty upset about it. And there was something about ‘it starting’, although they didn’t say what.”
“It’s not something for a little boy to be concerned about.” Both of them jumped as the doll spoke, and Conan quickly backed away from the coffin, eyes narrowing. Was the room bugged with a listening device and a hidden speaker? Or was it some sort of automatic response? The response had been specific, so that was unlikely. The voice had been that of an older women, not a child like the doll represented.
“Who’s there?” he asked sharply, wondering if they had walked into something they shouldn’t have.
“Shouldn’t I be the one asking that?” the voice asked, and the black curtains that were covering the wall beside the doll’s coffin parted to reveal a tired-looking woman with long brown hair tied back with a bandana.
Wincing at the harsh look she was giving them, Conan quickly bowed. “I-I’m sorry ma‘am! We didn’t realize you were there…”
“Clearly.”
The woman still looked irritated despite the apology, so he tried again. “If we’re not supposed to be down here, I apologize-”
“He was just following me. I saw the sign and decided to take a look. Please accept our humblest apologizes for the intrusion.” Haibara cut in, bowing as well.
The woman sighed, then spoke. “Apology accepted. Now run along before it gets too dark…and don’t stick your noses into other people’s business, boy.” Nodding at the reprimand, Conan quickly returned to the staircase and left the basement, deciding that it was time to meet up with Genta at the pawn shop before returning to the hotel for dinner.
Footnotes
Komainu - called lion-dogs in English, they act as guardians for the shrine always come in pairs.
Kannushi - a general term for Shinto priests used in modern Japan.
Master Post | Part 2
Fandom: Detective Conan/Another
Genre: Crossover, Mystery, Supernatural
Rating: PG
Characters: Conan Edogawa, Ai Haibara, Detective Boys
Word Count: 4,603
Part 1
“May I have your attention, everyone?” Conan looked up from the book he was reading as his teacher waited for the rest of the first grade class to quiet down. It was a hot July day, and most students would rather be outside than stuck in the classroom, and the noise level reflected that. When everyone was focused on her, Kobayashi-sensei smiled and spoke.
“I have some very exciting news to share: our class has been given permission to go on a field trip!” Pausing briefly as a gasp went up from the class, she continued with, “We will be going to Yomiyama City for two weeks in mid-October as part of an elementary school exchange program that has been set up between our school and theirs. This means that we’ll be having regular classes at Yomiyama’s elementary school as well as going to places around the city to learn more about the area. Now, I know that all of you will want to go, so make sure you give your parents the information booklet I’m going to pass around, ok?”
“We will!” the class chorused. As the students began to talk among themselves about the announcement, Conan leaned back in his chair and rubbed his chin. He had done a field trip like this back when he was still Shinichi, but that had been nearly a decade ago and so he didn’t remember a whole lot aside from that it had been fun. But something else was bothering him…
“You look troubled, Edogawa-kun,” Haibara said quietly from her seat beside him. Like him, she had been turned into a child after taking poison that should have killed her.
“I am. It’s about Yomiyama. The name sounds familiar, but I can’t remember where I’ve heard it before.” He was certain that he hadn’t been involved in any cases in the city, nor could he recall any major crimes being committed there in the past few years. Maybe it had been mentioned recently on the news and he was simply remembering that?
“I don’t recall them being active in the area, so I’m afraid I know very little about the city.” Conan handed her an information booklet while she thought about it some more, then she shook her head. “Whatever you’re remembering must not be related to anything we’re involved in,” Haibara said, turning her attention towards the booklet.
“Yeah,” he agreed softly. Them. The Black Organization. The group who assumed they had killed Kudo Shinichi, brilliant teenage detective. That was the reason only a few people knew who Edogawa Conan really was, Haibara among them. It still stung, having to hide out as a child, but going on a field trip like this was one of the perks that came with doing so.
Shaking off the thoughts of the past, Conan decided that he would ask Ran about it when he got home. Whatever he had heard about Yomiyama couldn’t be too important, but it was worth looking into. At least they wouldn’t have to worry about the Black Organization while in the city. Perhaps this field trip would allow him to relax a little. Assuming, of course, that no dead bodies turned up while the class was there, as tended to happen whenever he went outside of Tokyo. As Kobayashi-sensei called for them to settle down and take out their English books, Conan smiled to himself. The more he thought about it, the more fun the field trip sounded.
- - -
“Mitsuhiko, is Yomiyama big?” Ayumi asked as she leaned over the bus seat, distracting him from his reading. Glancing over, he saw that their friend and his seat-mate had a map of some sort out and was looking at it intently.
“Hmm…It seems small at first glance because it’s in a hilly area, but I would say it’s about the same size as Beika, if not bigger,” Mitsuhiko replied.
“Hey! I wanna see too!” Genta exclaimed, and Conan hid a smile of amusement as the large boy settled himself on the top of his seat. “Wow, Mitsuhiko, you can read that?” A closer look revealed that map in question was also a detailed topographical map, and the detective wondered where his classmate had gotten something like this.
“Yeah! As a detective, I figure it’s important to know how to read a map like this. Right Conan?”
Startled by the sudden question, he stammered back “Y-Yeah, o-of course.” Recovering slightly as the others giggled, he added, “It’s always good to know how to read all kinds of maps, since you never know when you might have to use one.”
“Does that mean you’re going to teach us?” Genta asked, and Conan realized that he might have gotten in over his head. They hadn’t even left Tokyo yet, and he didn’t want to spend the rest of the bus ride acting as a teacher.
“Uh--I suppose so, once we get to the hotel…” As he was scrambling for a response, he glanced across the aisle and saw that Haibara, who had clearly been listening to the conversation, was smirking at him. Shooting her an irritated look, he tried to come up with a better way to say no when he was saved by Ayumi.
“Not now, Genta! I want to see where we’ll be going. Aren’t we going to a shrine tomorrow morning?” she asked, and Conan breathed a sigh of relief. Genta, being Genta, would definitely listen to Ayumi. And if he was lucky, the other boy would forget all about the map-reading lesson by the time they reached Yomiyama.
“Yep. Yomiyama Shrine is located here, outside the city,” Mitsuhiko replied, pointing to a spot on top of a small mountain, then slid his finger to a place within the town. “Our hotel is here, by the way.” A quick mental calculation showed that the shrine was just over half an hour away from where they were staying, which meant…
“Hey Genta, we should be able to have breakfast before we leave,” Conan joked, and Genta joined in the laughter that followed.
- - -
Conan yawned as he trailed behind the others, wishing he was old enough to plausibly order coffee with breakfast. Hot chocolate would just have to do. “Did Kojima-kun keep you up all night studying maps?” Haibara asked, falling into step beside him.
“No, he got bored of it pretty quickly.” He had been surprised that Genta had remembered the map lesson after all, but everyone been too tired to do much last night. “Mitsuhiko brought various town maps along, so I was looking at them for a while.”
“Expecting trouble?”
“No. Just being prepared.” He always had to be prepared now, Black Organization or not. Still, he was here to relax and act like a kid, so he supposed he should start doing so.
“Conan-kun, Ai-chan, over here!” Looking around, he realized that his friends were already seated, and Ayumi was waving at them. Signalling that he understood, he turned to Haibara.
“If something does come up, will you help me? It would be unnatural for Shinichi to consult in the place like this, and Uncle’s too far away to call in.”
The corner of her mouth lifted slightly as she answered, “You don’t believe that there’s a suitable detective in town?”
“Highly unlikely.” If there was a useful detective in Yomiyama, he could impersonate them if needed, but he’d rather investigate any case on his own. It was just easier that way.
“Then I shall assist you as much as I am able to.” Conan smiled at her, then, hearing Ayumi call them again, trotted over to join the others.
- - -
They stood at the top of a wooded mountain, having just finished praying for success in their studies and the favour of the local gods. Conan wasn’t particularly religious, but he supposed wishing for a little good luck never hurt, so he didn’t really mind the trip. Besides, it was a nice day, and the bright sunshine seemed to dispel some of the gloom that hung over the shrine.
He walked away from his classmates who had gathered around the local priest who had acted as their guide, only half-listening to their questions as he examined the building. It seemed to be a typical Shinto shrine, flanked on either side by stone Komainu on pedestals, and made largely of wood. It was old, that much was obvious with the faded boards and worn roof titles, but it seemed to be in decent repair for the most part. Clearly the locals felt that this was an important part of their community, so Conan felt slightly honoured that arrangements had been made to allow them to come. As he was staring at the shrine, a question from one of his classmates caught his attention.
“Kannushi, I have a question! Is it true that a bunch of people died on this mountain a long time ago?”
Turning slightly, the boy watched as the priest’s expression froze, then slid into an eerie calm that told him that something was wrong. The man hesitated for a moment longer, then said smoothly, “Yes, it’s true. Some students got caught in a sudden storm while they were visiting this shrine, and unfortunately, several of them perished in it.”
The class went silent as they digested this news, then Mitsuhiko asked, “But if they thought the weather would turn bad, why did they come up here?”
The priest smiled tightly at him and answered, “The weather can turn bad very quickly, even on a small mountain like this. Besides, I believe that incident happened in late summer, so I’m sure many of you know what summer storms are like.”
Heads nodded, and Conan wandered over to where the path leading down the mountain began as the topic changed to more happier subjects. Rubbing his chin, he stared down the mountain, trying to imagine what it would have looked like in a storm. Dark, probably, due to the forest covering the slopes, and the path certainly would have been muddy, especially if it had been raining before the storm hit. He had spotted some exposed rocks on the trip up, which would have posed a hazard if the students had been rushing to escape the weather. Glancing up at the blue sky above, he was suddenly grateful that the weather was nice.
“Conan! Are you excited to go to the amusement part too?” Turning to find Genta standing behind, he saw the grin on his friend’s face and smiled back as he nodded in agreement.
“Great! We’re all gonna ride the Ferris Wheel once we get there. But only after we check out the food stand!”
“Don’t tell me you’re hungry already, Genta! We just had breakfast an hour and a half ago…” Ayumi said as she walked up, Haibara beside her.
“Kojima-kun is a growing boy, so he needs his food,” Haibara observed, a faint smile on her face as she looked between Conan and Genta. “Kobayashi-sensei said we could start down if we stay in a group,” she added as their classmates started to trickle past them.
“Is Mitsuhiko staying behind?” Conan asked curiously, seeing that the remaining Detective Boy was one of the few still gathered around the priest.
“Yeah. He wanted to know more about the deaths that happened, or something,” Genta replied with a shrug, then brightened and stepped past Conan to start down the path. “Anyway, let’s go! The sooner we get down, the sooner we can go to the amusement park!”
“Yeah!” Jogging after his friend, Ayumi fell into step beside Genta and broke into a marching song, the tune quickly getting picked up by those further down the mountain.
Smiling and shaking his head, Conan went after them, shoving the student deaths to the back of his mind. They had happened a long time ago, and while a tragic event, they had been caused by nature, so there was nothing for him to investigate.
- - -
Conan sat with the rest of the Detective Boys, finishing off the remainder of his lunch as the others planned what they were going to do with the rest of their afternoon. The amusement park was pretty small, even by Beika City standards, so there wasn’t a lot to do. The boy knew he would go on all the rides at least once, but also wanted to wander around and eavesdrop on the group of Yomiyama Elementary first graders who had met them at the park.
“I’m going to go get a drink. Does anyone want anything?” he asked once there was a break in the conversation.
“No drink for me, but see if they serve eel donburi!”
“Genta, they wouldn’t have that here! And I’m ok for now,” Mitsuhiko added, shooting his friend a glare
“Thanks, but I don’t need anything,” Haibara replied, looking up from her meal.
“Um…could you get me some soda, Conan-kun? Any kind is ok,” Ayumi asked, giving him a pleased smile as she held out some money.
“Sure, no problem,” he agreed, then dashed off towards the food stand. Due to the amount of people around, it was busy, so he took his place at the back of the line and shoved his hands in his pockets, trying to decide what he wanted. Coffee was out, but he could probably get away with some tea if it was flavoured.
He then realized that the pair of Yomiyama Elementary students standing in front of him were talking in hushed tones, and he edged closer to see if he could catch what they were talking about.
“-wa-san’s death makes two so far,” the boy muttered.
“Don’t! Oniisan is in the class. I can’t…” his companion, a girl, muttered. The line advanced then, and Conan shuffled forward a few steps, pulling a pamphlet about the city out of his back pocket and pretending to read it while he listened to them talk.
“I know, I know. But I’m ok, though. I’m just saying that it must have started. I heard my parents talking about it last night. They said it was weird that it hadn’t started back in the spring, since apparently it always has before.”
“Please stop! We’re not allowed to talk about this!” the girl pleaded, sounding frightened, then gasped and quickly changed the subject. “So…uh…it’s been a warm autumn so far, hasn’t it?”
“Er, yeah!” Conan glanced up at them and saw that the girl was staring at him, her face tight with tension. Something had scared her badly, that much was obvious to his trained eye. Giving her a friendly smile, he raised his eyes to the menu board as the line moved forward again, considering the mysterious conversation. It was now clear that Yomiyama wasn’t the quiet little town he had taken it to be, and that made his detective senses tingle.
He returned to the group a few minutes later, drinks in hand and a newspaper tucked under his arm. The discussion had moved on to video games, and Conan smiled as he handed Ayumi her can of soda. “Sorry Genta, they don’t sell eel donburi here, but one of the restaurants near our hotel does,” he said once there was a break in the conversation.
“All right! Thanks, Conan! We’re going to go there sometime soon, then,” Genta replied, grinning excitedly at the news.
“As long as the prices are fairly cheap, we should be able to get permission from Kobayashi-sensei easily enough,” Mitsuhiko added with a nod.
Settling down and opening his can of lemon-flavoured iced tea, the detective opened the newspaper and waited until the others were ignoring him to flip to the deaths section. It being early in the week, the paper listed the deaths that had occurred over the weekend as well. It was unfortunate he didn’t have the full name of the person the school children had been talking about, since there were several people whose names ended in “wa”: an old man from a heart attack, a young man who had committed suicide, and a middle-aged women in a car accident. Nothing too unusual or mysterious for a city this size, which made the overheard conversation all the more puzzling.
“Conan? Hey, Conan!” Looking up quickly at the call from Genta, he realized everyone had gathered around him and was looking curiously at the newspaper.
“Did someone you know die?” Haibara asked curiously, tugging the page he was looking at closer to her.
“Ah, no, no. I was just looking for the comics and got distracted…” he lied, giving an embarrassed chuckle and hoping they would buy it. “I don’t know anyone who lives here, anyway.”
“I think I might have a distant relative in this part of the country, but I’m not really sure. You can look at the comics later, Conan-kun. Right now, it’s time to ride the Ferris Wheel!” Ayumi said, giving him an excited look. Smiling and nodding back, he folded the paper and put it in his backpack.
As they walked towards the giant wheel, he stepped closer to Haibara and muttered, “I might have something. Let’s talk tonight if we can.”
- - -
“This place is creepy…” Ayumi said, and Conan had to agree with her. The Teitan Elementary students had be allowed to explore the town until supper, so Conan’s group had set out, map in hand, to see if they could find anything interesting. At the moment, they had ended up in what seemed like a residential part, full of older buildings covered in ivy that looked rather sinister in the gathering dusk.
“Don’t worry, Ayumi. I’ll protect you if anything should happen!” Genta answered firmly, placing his hands on his hip and assuming a brave expression. The sudden harsh cawing of a crow overhead made him jump a second later, and everyone chuckled at that, the tension draining away as the crow flew off.
“So, are there any interesting shops around here, Mitsuhiko?” the girl asked, craning to look over her friend’s shoulder at the map he held.
“Hmm…there’s only a doll shop along this street, but there’s a pawn shop nearby,” he answered after consulting it closely.
“Let’s go to the pawn shop first! They might have some good video games!” Genta exclaimed, looking excited at the prospect of getting a new game.
“Is this the doll shop?” Conan asked, slowing to a halt and looking up at the store in question. Well, he wouldn’t really call it a store - it was a concrete building several stories high, with red ivy crawling down from the roof to cover most of the building’s front. Windows were scarce, limited to a row along the very top floor and two narrow ones along the left side. In fact, the defining feature of the store could be the large oval widow that was on the ground floor. There was no official sign either, only a stool with a framed quote sitting on it. A small wooden board leaned against the stool, with the words Feel Free to Drop In - Studio M written on it in neat writing.
“Hey, what does the framed sign say?” Genta asked, leaning over and staring at the kanji intently.
Haibara answered before he did. “The Hollow Blue Eyes of Yomi at Twilight,” she read slowly, frowning slightly as she considered the words.
“What is that supposed to mean? Did somebody famous say it?” Mitsuhiko asked, turning to look at her and Conan.
“I don’t know. I don’t recall hearing it before,” he replied with a shake of his head. The quote, if it was indeed a quote, was a mystery to him. Unless… “Isn’t Yomi a nickname for this city?” He was sure that he had heard one of the local students refer to the city that way while at the amusement park.
“So it’s referring to this place at twilight? Weird. Wanna go check it out?” Genta straightened up and jerked a thumb towards the door, obviously intrigued by the strange sign. Everyone agreed to go in, so the larger boy lead the way, opening the door and marching inside. A bell tinkled as the door opened and closed, and Conan found that they were standing in the oddest doll shop he had ever seen.
Dolls were everywhere, but there weren’t the typical dolls someone like Ayumi might play with. Some were nearly human-sized, arrayed on shelves and in display cases, and he saw they were mostly ball-jointed dolls, meant for collecting rather than playing with. Which led him to the conclusion that this was a place probably not meant for children.
“Welcome.” An old woman with grey hair and pince-nez glasses sat behind the counter, somehow managing to look even creepier than the dolls around her. “My, it’s unusual to see children your age here. Are you customers?”
“Good evening, ma’am.” Mitsuhiko edged around Genta and bowed politely in greeting. “We’re a part of the exchange group from Beika City. May we have a look around?”
“You may. In that case, I’ll give you half price.” A small sign on the counter indicated that admission was 500 yen, something they could afford even at full price.
“This is a doll shop, right?” Ayumi asked, seemingly nervous around the strange dolls.
“It’s both a doll shop and a museum. However, I doubt any of you could afford even the cheapest doll here.” The old woman paused, then said in a slightly darker tone, “But please, take your time looking around. I have no other customers. Would you care for some tea?”
“Er…we’ll pass, but thank you very much,” Mitsuhiko answered tightly, and Conan knew that Ayumi wasn’t the only one weirded out by the store.
“Very well. Take your time looking around,” the shopkeeper repeated, and Conan quickly placed 250 yen on the counter and took a closer look around. What he saw was disturbing. The dolls themselves seemed very finely made, but they clearly catered to a certain market of collectors. Eyes were missing on some of the dolls, sometimes artistically replaced with flowers or vines coming out of the empty eye socket, while others were fully intact by dressed in such a way that made him blush.
“Genta, be careful you don’t bump into anything!” Mitsuhiko hissed as the detective moved deeper into the store, occasionally craning his neck to look at the dolls on the higher shelves. If the street outside had made him feel tense, this place made him feel like he was being watched from all sides.
“Not your typical doll store, is it?” Haibara murmured in his ear, making him freeze for a moment in fright.
Shooting her a glare as he turned to face her, he shook his head. “No, it’s definitely not. I would never have expected this town to have a shop like this.”
“Unusual things appear in all kinds of places, Edogawa-kun. Surely you must know that by now,” she replied, slipping past him and vanishing down a staircase flanked by a sign that read indicated there were more dolls below.
“Conan-kun…we’re going to go check out the pawn shop, do you want to come?”
Looking over at Mitsuhiko, Conan shook his head again. “Haibara and I are going to stay for a bit longer. We’ll see you there, ok?” He wasn’t surprised that the others had chosen not to linger. This place was definitely bizarre.
“Suit yourself, but be careful not to lose your soul!” Genta joked as he headed out of the shop, and the boy rolled his eyes at the urban myth.
“Like one of these things could ever do that to me…” he scoffed, shoving aside his uneasiness to glare at the doll closest to him. Creepy, yes, but unless one of the larger ones somehow fell on him, they were harmless. With a final glance at the silent and unmoving shopkeeper, he followed Haibara down the stairs.
Down below was a partially finished basement, the exposed pipes and concrete walls giving the place an oppressive quality. The fact that the basement looked more like a storeroom than an extension of the shop above didn’t help either - dolls in various stages of completion were everywhere, and detached torsos and limbs were strewn about on the floor. It reminded him strongly of a crime scene, or the hidden lair of a serial killer. The few completed dolls that he could see mirrored the provocative style of the ones upstairs, adding to the sinister aura of the place.
After a few seconds of staring, he saw Haibara standing at the back of the room, studying a doll of some sort. Picking his way through the clutter until he was beside her, he looked the doll over as well. It seemed to be another of the full-sized ones, being in a form of a young girl in a low-cut blue dress. The red rose she held in her hand contrasted rather nicely with her loose black hair and the one green eye that wasn’t covered by her bangs. However, the open black coffin the doll was displayed in rather diminished the beauty of it in his eyes.
“It’s rather haunting, isn’t it? I wonder what the creator was thinking when they made it…” Haibara murmured as they continued to study the doll. “Were they thinking of death or of life?”
“Both, maybe?” Conan’s gaze dropped to the rose the doll held, and he mused, “Although the rose is more a symbol of love than of life or death. Depending on the culture and context, it can also be used to denote sacrifice or freedom.”
“Sacrifice, huh?” Haibara reached out and lightly stroked the edge of the doll’s dress, then turned towards him. “What did you want to talk about?”
“I overheard something odd this afternoon. Apparently, someone died recently and one of the local students was pretty upset about it. And there was something about ‘it starting’, although they didn’t say what.”
“It’s not something for a little boy to be concerned about.” Both of them jumped as the doll spoke, and Conan quickly backed away from the coffin, eyes narrowing. Was the room bugged with a listening device and a hidden speaker? Or was it some sort of automatic response? The response had been specific, so that was unlikely. The voice had been that of an older women, not a child like the doll represented.
“Who’s there?” he asked sharply, wondering if they had walked into something they shouldn’t have.
“Shouldn’t I be the one asking that?” the voice asked, and the black curtains that were covering the wall beside the doll’s coffin parted to reveal a tired-looking woman with long brown hair tied back with a bandana.
Wincing at the harsh look she was giving them, Conan quickly bowed. “I-I’m sorry ma‘am! We didn’t realize you were there…”
“Clearly.”
The woman still looked irritated despite the apology, so he tried again. “If we’re not supposed to be down here, I apologize-”
“He was just following me. I saw the sign and decided to take a look. Please accept our humblest apologizes for the intrusion.” Haibara cut in, bowing as well.
The woman sighed, then spoke. “Apology accepted. Now run along before it gets too dark…and don’t stick your noses into other people’s business, boy.” Nodding at the reprimand, Conan quickly returned to the staircase and left the basement, deciding that it was time to meet up with Genta at the pawn shop before returning to the hotel for dinner.
Footnotes
Komainu - called lion-dogs in English, they act as guardians for the shrine always come in pairs.
Kannushi - a general term for Shinto priests used in modern Japan.
Master Post | Part 2