Fated Friendship

The Hunt for Kudo Shinichi

His trip to Tokyo had been relatively uneventful if one disregarded the small case he stumbled into just before his train arrived. A break in at a liquor shop beside Naniwa Station, the owner had called out quite a crowd, making a scene about how one of them were responsible for the burglary.

It had taken Heiji twenty minutes to calm them down and get the story out of the distraught owner. Another fifteen minutes later he'd compared the stories of the suspects and quickly found out the perpetrator.

The guilty party had apparently made some not so savoury friends who'd made him pay back for the money he borrowed in the form of booze. The man was taken away by the local police, the officers giving him a small salute upon recognising him.

"There you go, Occhan," Heiji told the owner, "I'm off now, have to catch a train!"

"Wait! How can I thank you?"

"No need, I help because I can," he replied with a smile, "not for money or anything of the sort."

The owner had gone slightly starry eyed at that before pressing a bottle of Paikaru, securely wrapped in brown packaging, into his hands, "It's Chinese white liquor, Paikaru. Please take it as thanks!"

...

His first stop after arriving in Tokyo had been Teitan High School. As he did not know Kudo's residential address, the best thing to do would be check out the school. Besides, it didn't seem as if Friday was a holiday for them here.

When he reached the school, it seemed the students had been just let out.

Heiji hailed a nearby student, "Hey, do you know if Kudo Shinichi has come to school today?"

The guy blinked, "Kudo-senpai? Not sure. I don't think we've seen him this past month. If you've got a case for him, look up Kudo Residence in the phone book and give him a call. Or leave a message."

'Man, Kudo certainly has the whole city's residents and their kids aware of his status as a detective if the first reason for me asking about him makes people think I want to hire him for a case.' Heiji shook his head, "Thanks. Which class is he in? I think I'll head there first."

The first year student shrugged, "If it suits you. Go to the second floor, 2-A. Ask anyone if you can't find it, everyone knows where Kudo-senpai's class is."

Heiji snorted to himself, yeah, that was true. It was quite similar to his situation in Osaka. While he got along well with his Kendo team-mates and the boys in his class, he was not very close to anyone apart from Kazuha. Most found his obviously high level of intelligence slightly intimidating and even irritating.

However, if anyone wanted to know about Hattori Heiji, the detective, there would be numerous people willing to give information – he was the pride of their school, after all.

...

"Kudo? No idea, he's not come to school this nearly two and half months. I had been hoping to persuade him to join the soccer club this year, but he's refused after middle school. Said he wanted to focus on his detective work," The guy – Nakamichi? – sighed despondently, "But if you want to know about his whereabouts, the best bet would be Mouri," – 'Mouri? As in Mouri Kogoro? A possible connection if Kudo knew the detective's kid' – "but since she's gone home already, you should ask Suzuki. She'll be in the Art Room."

Suzuki Sonoko turned out to be a brown-blonde haired girl, who from one glance, seemed to be from a wealthy family but had a pretty down-to-earth personality. But his initial assumptions about her being a close friend of Kudo went right out the window after talking to her.