Detective Conan: The Road To Hell

In the Aftermath of the Flood

Sometimes I try with titles. Other times... we get this.
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Not far from where Conan, Heiji, and Ayumi were facing their fates, a group of men sat in a warm house, playing poker in the living room.

"Full house," the muscular man said proudly, laying out his cards for all to see. The other three inspected his cards carefully: three nines and two sixes.

The man opposite of him, after making sure that the other two weren't going to play, tossed his hand on the table. "You win yet again, Nakano. Are you sure you're not cheating?" Name: Ishiwatari Isao (44), House Guest.

Nakano, the muscular one, held up his hands in a surrender. "No tricks here. Just luck." Name: Nakano Haruto (37), Retired Swimmer.

The man to Nakano's left began gathering the cards. "Come on, Nakano, go a little easy on us. It's been a while since we've gotten together like this." Name: Kakei Daisuke (40), Journalist. "Ever since Akagi started his new newspaper, we've had a terrible time trying to get all our schedules to match up." He nodded towards the youngest at the game table. "Sorry for asking you to join us like this, Kenshin-kun. I hope we haven't made you feel like Akagi's replacement."

Kenshin shook his head. "It's his own fault for not coming. Tai-nii's been holed up in his room for the past few days, according to Mina-chan," Kenshin said as he took out a cigarette and lit it. "I'll bet he's working on yet another article that'll get the Tokyo Shinbun's attention. He never stops trying to get a job there." Name: Akagi Kenshin (31), Store Manager.

"Well, he'll keep failing if he doesn't find anything good to write about. Did you see his last one? It was about the Japanese fish that showed up in American lakes." Kakei laughed. "We've known about that for years!" A chorus of laughter arose as the door creaked open.

"Oh, come now," said the approaching young woman, her cold voice slicing through the joyful atmosphere. She stopped directly behind Kakei. "My husband was kind enough to invite you out here, so please, don't insult him-" she placed a drink from the tray she carried in front of Kakei. "-without me." Name: Akagi Mina (32), Housewife.

Kakei lifted his drink to Mina. "No one hates him as much as you, Mina-chan," he said, almost admirably. "How you live with such a man, I'll never know."

Mina continued to walk around the table, distributing the drinks. "You flatter me," she said as she set a drink in front of Kenshin, "but I don't hate him nearly as much as Ishiwatari-san. You still haven't recovered after those stocks fell, have you?"

Ishiwatari's eyes went wide before narrowing accusingly at a face no one else saw. He seized his drink, bringing it to his mouth and downing half of it in one gulp. The glass made a loud thunk when he practically slammed it back down. His scowl had a slight air of satisfaction, having received startled looks from Nakano and Kenshin. "That freaking idiot caused it all. Those stocks he told me about crashed a week after I bought them, and I lost just about all my savings. That backstabbing con man offered to loan me money, but I knew what he was up to.

"He'd lured me in with the risk- I always like a nice gamble, you all know that- but he rigged the system, selling his own stocks even as he was urging me to invest. Even if I have to work triple time at the casino, I'll never accept anything from that son of-"

Kakei slapped Ishiwatari on the back good-naturedly. "Lighten up, man. Akagi's not a terrible guy. I'm sure he meant best."

Nakano, sipping his drink, looked at Kakei over the edge of his glass. "You act like he's all that, but you hate him just as much as the rest of us."