The Test Subject : A Detective Conan Fanfiction

79 Translator Upgrades

Conan's POV

"Agasa? You in there?" I call, closing the lab's sliding doors behind me.

"Ah, Shinichi! How're you?" The professor answered, popping out from behind a few boxes labeled 'robot parts'.

I swear, this place is a mess. When was the last time he even tried to clean up? But I guess I didn't come here to scold him about being neat, now did I?

I took a seat on the spinning stool across the table. "So, I heard Ellie dropped by earlier today. Haibara says she wanted her translator's upgraded?"

"Yeah, that's right. Don't ask why, because I don't really know myself. She didn't even specify any languages, just that she wanted an upgrade." He put down the tiny wrench he was using moments before, and stroked his chin a bit. "Although, she did give me a rather... strange request."

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? And what was it?"

"She wanted to know if it was possible to..." he paused, trying to find the right wording. "Talk to cats?"

Wow. That is definitely weird. I wonder why she - Oh, that's right.

I recall Rory's lesson about how this world is all just a fictional anime in Reality. Of course Ellie, being from Reality, would know this, therefore leading her to wonder if something as bizarre as speaking with animals is possible. I doubt something like that would be, but who knows until you try? I mean, this world has witches, so why not, right?

"What did you tell her?"

"Well, at first I said no. I didn't think something like that was possible. I asked her why she'd want to try something like that. She refused to tell me the reason, but insisted I'd try. Eventually I gave into her pleading. I mean, if it was possible, that'd be - "

I cut him off, not wanted a monologue about how extraordinary that would be. "Get to the point. Is it possible?"

"Haven't tried it yet. You want to test it? It's all set, all I need is the meowing."

I considered it for a moment. "Sure, why not?"

"Great! Here you go!!" Agasa said, smiling, as he handed over the devices. "I assume you know who to equip them?"

"Yeah." I replied, placing the hearing-aid-looking speaker in my ear.

Agasa nodded his approval, then walked over to his computer as I wiped the microphone on my shirt before putting it in my mouth. I set the remote's setting to "cat" while he set up some kind of soundtrack.

"Ready?"

"Fire away?"

The sounds of purring filled the room. Agasa looked over at me, hopeful. I shook my head. I frowned, then jumped in the soundtrack to the meowing parts.

"Anything?" I could see a slight twinkle of possibility return to his eyes.

I listened for a bit, but couldn't hear any words coming from his computer.

"Nothing."

His face fell once more.

"Oh. That's ok. I didn't really expect for it to work anyways. There's no way it could've been possible. Heh." Yes you did. Ellie convinced you it would, didn't she? That's the only reason you tried. Curiosity got the best of you.

I handed the translators back to him, and he began tinkering around once more.

"So did you actually install any other languages?"

"Yeah. Like I said, she didn't say what to add apart from 'cat', so I gave her Spanish, German, and French. Already tested them, all in perfect condition. Does that sound like enough?"

"Sure."

"Good. I didn't want Ellie to be disappointed."

"By the way, have you any idea when she'll be coming by to pick them up?"

"No, sorry."

I sigh. "That's fine."

We sit in silence for a bit.

"Do you think I could spend the night here? I really need to talk with her."

"Sure, if Ran's fine with it. I'll call her now, if you want."

"Thanks. I'd better go be with the kids. Ayumi's growing suspicious of me." I stand up and head to the door, but stop before opening it. "Oh, and one last thing."

The professor doesn't look up from his work. "Yes?"

"I think it's about time Ellie got one of the Detective Boy Badges, don't you?"

"But she doesn't want one."

"Then work it into the translators or something. It'll be good to have some kind of communication method with her, just in case."

"But Shinichi, if she doesn't want one I don't want to force it on her... Why would she need it anyways? She's fine!"

I glare at him, not really in the mood for arguments. "Do it."

"Fine, fine."

I turn around, leaving the lab behind me. The soccer match is down to the last few minutes, with a close score only 2 points apart. Everyone is cheering on one of the teams, except Haibara who is still trying to read her book. It's not working.

I'm determined to catch Ellie this time; we really need to talk.

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Side note : would you guys like it if I started an Ask Blog? I've been wanting to do it for a while, and I came up with a small back story and characters and stuff for it. It's mainly about some OCs I've had for, like, forever, but there may be some... "special guests" later on. Depends on what you want. Comment below if you like the idea or not! Thanks!! (Ugh, more stories to procrastinate on... what's wrong with me??)