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[are-too-holmes.livejournal.com]

"Oi, Ran!" Here, Dressing Room, is a very aggrieved Conan, waving a school bag packed with karate paraphenalia and holding a lunch box. "You can't go to the tournament without your stuff! ... geez, do I have to do everything around -- here?"

Comments

1. Very Heiji. Who needs to meet Ran. 2. Yes, that's the one!

[are-too-holmes.livejournal.com]

Shinichi looked very much like he wanted to argue that, but another yawn decided him against that. He shut the door with a quiet click -- just as the door on the other side of Ran was pulled open.

"Ran-niisan? Who are you -- there's no one here."

1. Should I threadjack or pounce him elsewhere? 2. Aww~ ...he's getting all the girls.

[is_not_watson]

"Nothing!" Ran said hurriedly. "Are you done yet? We should check the dining room."

1. I'm up for either! 2. Too bad none of these girls like ghosts.

[are-too-holmes.livejournal.com]

Conan weighed the trouble bringing Ran the bento had caused against the possibility of substantiating his friend's story with further information.

As always the mystery won. "Let's go."

1. /makes a note to ping Hydok 2. At least one IS a ghost?

[is_not_watson]

Sighing in relief, Ran led the way back down the winding staircase to the main floor, sneakers muffled by the rich carpet. "One of the Conans said there's a theatre here, too," he commented idly. "I haven't been able to find it yet."

1./o/ 2. Point well made!

[are-too-holmes.livejournal.com]

Conan bites down the urge to contest that 'one of the Conans' -- really? He is that unremarkable? "A theatre?" He smirks as Ran says he hasn't found it yet. "That's no surprise."

[is_not_watson]

Unremarkable? Far from it, but Ran doesn't need Conan snarking about 'the psychic Conan' on top of everything else.

"Hey, keep that up and you can just figure this place out by yourself," he threatened.

[are-too-holmes.livejournal.com]

Conan's smile was so slight as to be almost unnoticeable. With everything else going weird around them, it was nice to know that this stayed the same. "Is that supposed to be a threat?" he teased.

[is_not_watson]

"Even you'd get lost in this place," Ran said by way of an answer as they reached the lobby. "I bet some of you already have."

[are-too-holmes.livejournal.com]

"Only seventeen people in a place this size -- it's not that surprising we haven't seen anyone," Conan said thoughtfully.

[is_not_watson]

"There's more." Ran knew that much for sure, at least. "But I don't know who all of them are."

[are-too-holmes.livejournal.com]

"If you know they're here, how are you sure that they're not the one's replacing the food?" Conan asked as they reached the lobby again. "Or that there aren't people here whose job that is?"

[is_not_watson]

"...I guess we don't," Ran replied grudgingly. "But Hattori-san's been here pretty long, and she's never seen anyone do it. Neither has anyone else."

Granted, it'd be pretty easy to lie if anyone had, but Ran couldn't see the point. The only person who might lie about that was the Kid. Who may or may not be Kuroba.

Speaking of which...

"Hey, Shinichi," Ran said as he peered around the hallway, trying to remember which door was the dining room. "Do you know anyone named Kuroba?"

[are-too-holmes.livejournal.com]

Conan said nothing, but he was already thinking 'stake-out.' Although Hattori would probably have that covered ...

"Kuroba?" Conan frowned. "Not off the top of my head."

[is_not_watson]

"What about Toichi Kuroba?" Ran tried, opening the nearest door. Nope, kitchen. Maybe it was the next one.

[are-too-holmes.livejournal.com]

"He's the guy who used to give Mum lessons in disguises," Conan said, refraining from commenting on the fact that Ran clearly had no idea where he was. "Got a son about our age."

[is_not_watson]

He taught Yukiko how to disguise? Jeez, that explains a lot.

"...Kaito Kuroba, right?"

Hey, give him a few minutes. It can't be that hard to find a dining room the size of-- aha! There it is. Ran holds the door open for both of them, eyeing the tables. He still hasn't quite gotten used to the sheer amount of food that's usually in here.

[are-too-holmes.livejournal.com]

"That's the one," Conan said, frowning. "I'd almost forgotten."

He's impressed both at the scale of the room and the sheer quantity of food on offer. "... you're sure there aren't a couple of hundred people here?" he asked, trying to mentally calculate just how many people they were catering for.

[is_not_watson]

"If there are, they're hiding," Ran said, deadpan, and made a beeline for the plates. A joke about whether Conan would need a stool was dropped in favour of continuing their conversation. "Or maybe they haven't shown up yet." It wasn't like many people had gone home yet, after all, and people kept coming in.

"So if he's Kuroba Toichi-san's son, he probably knows some disguising stuff himself, right?" Well, so far it all fit with what Kid-Shinichi had said...

[are-too-holmes.livejournal.com]

"Much like these alternates you keep mentioning?" Conan said, going tip-toe to see what was on the table. "... haven't shown up yet." That wasn't ominous at all.

"It's a possibility. But remember, Toichi-san died when Kuroba wasn't much older than I look now."

[is_not_watson]

...Definitely fit. What was the best way to say this?

"...What do you think of Kuroba Kaito being The Kid?"

[are-too-holmes.livejournal.com]

"..." Where had that come from? "I haven't heard anything about the guy in years. I don't know if I'd even recognise him now."

[is_not_watson]

"Well, I kind of got the Kid version of you to tell me his story..." Ran started, and then launched into the explanation of The Kid's origins on that world. The suspicious men in black looking for a jewel that granted immortality, Toichi being assassinated, and that world's Shinichi finding out about it and deciding to take up his father's mantle (weird as that still was to think about).

He did his best to gloss over the parts with that Shinichi being half-brothers with Kaito, and Conan being another half-brother -- partly because he was still uncomfortable with that part, and partly because he barely expected Shinichi to believe him as it was. As he talked, he kept filling up his plate until he had a decent-sized meal, and waiting for Conan to finish doing the same.

[are-too-holmes.livejournal.com]

Ran should know better than to expect anything so unimportant as food to get a showing when mysteries came up. Conan's frowning hard as he listens, though his thoughts are not necessarily running along the same lines as Ran's.

"Interesting," he says at last. "So that's what you mean by alternates."

[is_not_watson]

Rolling his eyes, Ran reached over Conan's head and snagged some food for his friend's plate. "I was thinking that since you didn't become The Kid, it might be Kuroba," he pointed out. "Since he is his son. But it's not like we have any proof, and the other Kuroba I met was pretty closed-lipped."

[are-too-holmes.livejournal.com]

"It's obvious," Conan agreed. "Obvious enough that it might be assumed to be too obvious -- but we need more facts." He smirked at that. "Good. Wouldn't want this to be boring."