Final Confrontation

Conan couldn't believe what he had just heard. There was no doubt about it—it was Shinomiya Rina's voice on that CD. It was from Kourin's mother.

~"To my beloved daughter, Kourin. Once you hear this, I want you to listen to it to the very end. I'll let Arisa-chan decide to whom she would entrust this. This is from your mother…"~

"M-Mama…" Kourin uttered in surprise.

The others heard her that confused them as to why would Kourin call out for her dead mother. But soon after, they got the answer to that question.

~"Rin, I know I'm doing this in advance but I want you to know that I love you. Weird me, right? I'm talking as if I'm going to die. But I tell you, it's not like that. Somehow, I have this urge to tell you in a way they'll never know. Only your Papa and Hitoshi knows I'm doing this. I'm just bothered by a certain prediction made to me before you were born. Don't worry, I'm not going to let it affect your future. After all, only you can change the clan's future and you, as their future leader, will lead them to a new era. You alone has the ability to change it—not just our clan but the other three families, as well.

~"Hitoshi declined the position even though he is the next-in-line candidate to rule the Four Families. He believed that his health would not last much longer. We never told you this but you see, your brother was already too sick. The doctor diagnosed him that he only could live until he reached 17. They said he might not be able to reach the succession ceremony in time. That's why the clan elders allowed him to play tennis to his heart's content. They knew he wouldn't be able to last long. And we let him play tennis so that he would be able to convey his way of tennis to you. Rin, this truth is just one of the predictions done to this family. It's you who's going to fulfill the other predictions enough to determine the fate of the Four Families.

~"No matter what happens from now on, just remember that you are not alone. You'll always have us in your heart. The Knights of the Sky will be there for you and guard you till the end. I've entrusted them your safety and the other three items you need for your succession as the first female leader of the Four Families. The Crown of the Earth will be your ultimate proof. Swift like the wind, passionate like the fire, effective like the water, and nurturing like the earth—I know you'll possess those traits to become an efficient ruler/leader. You don't have to worry. I know you can do it. After all, you are my daughter—a beautiful angel from the formidable Shinomiya and the intellectual Kudo.

~"One day, you'll be able to understand all the words I said here. Just remember that I always love you and I will be here for you, no matter what happens…"

The message ended there before another message played on. It was a message dedicated to Azuraya Kenji.

~"Onii-sama, this is Arisa. This might be the final time I could talk to you like this. But I've come to accept that. Since the beginning, I know I'll come to the point that I'll disappear without a word. But before something like that happens, please listen to this…"~

And so they did. He message ended after a few moments before the same voice was heard again. It was the voice of Arisa—the middle school tennis player first murdered in that school.

~"I'm sure you're aware that the Four Families cannot be ruled by a female but because of Hitoshi-sama's circumstances, that tradition is about to be broken. Onii-sama, as the princess of the Azuraya family, I know it's my duty to protect the person who's next in line to the position of being the Four Families' leader. But I doubt if I would still be alive to fulfill that duty. The Dark Rose is more determined than ever to destroy us—especially the family that banished them. If I don't make it alive out here, I want to say something to you.

~"Protect the princess for me. She is our only hope—the only one who can change the fate of the Four Families. I want you to protect her in my place. I want you to protect the 15th succession item in our possession for me. Don't let our princess be killed by those demons. I know you can do this for me. And if I did disappear without a word, you can easily find me. The hint is our flower emblem—the flower that represents our element. This is all I ask of you, Onii-sama. Thank you.

~"Sakaki-sensei, forgive me for being a selfish student. But even still, thank you for protecting Rina-sama's and my will for our beloved. I'll never forget it…"~

As soon as the message ended, nothing more was heard. All were speechless after that. Only silence and disbelief surrounded that room.

And then…

"Ne, Ai-chan, what else do you know about the first tennis court murder five years ago?" Kourin suddenly asked after a few moments, breaking the silence.

The sandy brown-haired faced Kourin after glancing at Conan who just nodded once. "No one knew who killed Arisa-san but most people believed she's dead. Her body was never found, though."

"But how could they speculate something like her death?" Oishi inquired.

"Her blood tainted the tennis court. A lot of blood pools were found one morning that an investigation was made. But they never found anything which could lead them to find Arisa-san. The night she was presumed dead was the connection that the victims had to the recent murders."

Conan frowned at that. "What do you mean?"

"The date of her presumed death happened to be the victims' date of birth. The coded music was one of the ways the Azuraya family communicate secretly. The orange lily was the flower emblem of Hyotei Gakuen many years ago and also the flower emblem of the Azuraya family. Zeus used those two things—in addition to Arisa-san's date of death—to commemorate what he did to her. He also used that to deliver his message of revenge to all of us and he would keep on using it until he finally killed Rin-san. As for him attacking Yuuta-san and An-san, he was doing it to destroy Fuji-san and Momoshiro-san since they just some of the people who became attached to Rin-san when the Dark Rose case became intense. Zeus has a plan of destroying Ryoma-san by des—"

"By destroying Rin's life where Arisa-san was killed… Is that right?" Ryoma finished Haibara's sentence. He did that upon concluding as to why the culprit would suddenly attack Yuuta and An.

Haibara nodded as an answer. Of course, it was enough for the others to be surprised with that information. They never realized that they could encounter a cold-blooded killer such as this person called Zeus. Knowing all that intensified a certain someone's determination to protect the last surviving member of the Shinomiya family—just like the promise he made to Kudo Shinichi.

"Unbelievable! Just to be able to destroy the family that brought them suffering because of their actions, he'd kill a lot of innocent people," Oishi mumbled in anger as he gritted his teeth.

"How cowardly…" Kaidoh grumbled plainly after hissing, but his anger after hearing all that was also felt around them. Not only him, but the rest of the Seigaku regulars, as well.

Haibara sighed upon sensing that. "Apparently, they were blinded to know that truth. He would stick to the plan as it was stated in their agenda. He'd stick to it until it's over—until he finally destroy the last person who stand on his way."

"That's right, little girl. Apparently, you'll all go with her so she wouldn't be lonely. Now that would be nice."

All eyes widened and several gasps were heard with that creepy voice followed by the sound of clicking a gun—like reloading a rifle. With that, they turned around to the door of the broadcasting room only to find a middle-aged man with washed out blond hair pointing a rifle at them.

"Zeus," Conan hissed under his breath and gritted his teeth.

Zeus grinned evilly that making almost everyone shudder in fear.

"I guess I'm famous to you now, huh? Well, that's for the best. At least, you know your perpetrator's name before you die, just like that damn fire princess!"

Kenji clenched his fist tightly after hearing that. "So you're the one who killed my sister?"

"That's right. I killed her at the place she loved the most. Just because she wouldn't tell me the location of the Orange Lily… She firmly stood up to her decision of protecting it until the end. Same goes to the other princesses who vowed to protect that little girl—" he paused and looked at Kourin whose head was down so her bangs covered her eyes, casting a shadow over it. "—so I gave them deaths that were just right for them."

"Other princesses?"

"The princesses of the Miyuzaki and the Yumemiya family. They said that only a female member of each family are permitted to protect the other three items essential to the succession of the future leader of the Four Families. Those three items were made out of one material—diamond. Only shaped in each family's respective flower emblems, each became a symbol of their dedication to serving the leader of the Four Families," Shouko explained seriously. "Having those three flower stones would already make him an official ruler of the Four Families even without the presence of the other 14 succession items."

Conan's eyes widened. "What did you say?"

"Well, whether I take the stones now or not, it won't make any difference. As long as I kill the only ruler left from the Shinomiya family, then it's all over for the rest of the families," Zeus said and took one step closer.

Instinctively, Ryoma stood in front of the silent Kourin that made the culprit's grin grew wider.

"Oh? So you're willing to let yourself get hurt for the little girl, Echizen Ryoma? In case you've forgotten, it was because of her family that you almost died three months ago. You shouldn't have involved yourself to her in the first place."

"Who do you think you are saying that I shouldn't involve myself with Rin after all that had happened? I made a promise to her cousin that I'd protect her. She still has a lot of dreams to fulfill in her life, after all. Besides, I'm not the person who easily breaks a promise I made. I'll fulfill them, no matter what it takes," Ryoma said firmly and surprisingly, with a smirk. Of course, that had surprised the others. Conan, Momoshiro, Fuji, Haibara, and Shouko could only smile mentally after hearing that from the freshman.

Atobe soon smirked at that. "You sure are brave to say that, Echizen."

As he was about to approach Kourin, a shot from the rifle almost hit his head if it wasn't for something pulling him down to the ground. The bullet from the rifle hit the wall instead.

"Idiot! Do you want to get yourself killed?" Conan shouted to Atobe which infuriated the latter. That's why Atobe didn't notice that he was sitting on a swivel chair.

"How dare you call ore-sama an idiot, brat?!" Atobe snarled at the bespectacled little detective.

One of them was about to stop the two from starting a fight when another gunshot was heard that stiffened them. The gunshot was enough to scare almost everyone there. Zeus then pointed the gun at Ryoma who didn't even faze from his position. The three kids gasped at the sight.

"Conan-kun, when I give you the signal, kick the CD player in front of me to that old man. Make sure he let go of the rifle," Kourin said in a whisper that surprised the said boy inwardly.

"What are you going to do?" he asked.

Kourin sighed. "I'll immediately think of something. Shouko-san and Kenji-san will know what to do next."

Conan smirked at he faced Zeus. "Got it!"

"Are you sure you're not moving out of the way, boy? I can fire this gun at any time. That means you could die anytime, too," Zeus taunted Ryoma as he took another step closer to the freshman.

"You are a coward…" Kourin suddenly said that made everyone focus their attention on her. "If you wanted to kill Ryoma-niichan because he was blocking your target, you could've done that as soon as you could earlier."

"Nya, Kourin-chan, don't say such things. Do you want this old man to shoot Ochibi?" Kikumaru asked the little girl nervously.

What Kikumaru didn't know was that Ryoma already figured out what was going on. Not just Ryoma, but Momoshiro, Fuji, and Tezuka figured it out, as well.

"Now that I think about it, she's right," Conan spoke in his normal, adult-like tone. He smirked slightly, but that alone was enough to infuriate Zeus. "You're holding a rifle. Are you sure you could use it to shoot Ryoma-niichan without letting the bullet swerve a little? Your timing also faltered a bit, that's why Tezuka-san managed to push the swivel chair hard to Atobe-san. With all that, are you sure you're still confident enough to shoot any of us without letting your bullet's timing falter and the trajectory swerve a little?"

At that point, Zeus was already gripping his gun tight while gritting his teeth due to infuriation. These people in front of him were underestimating him. Just because he was alone? Before anyone could anticipate what was about to happen, he pointed the gun and shot the person who was a little near him. The impact of the shot made the person he shot drop to the ground.

"EIJI!" Oishi screamed with wide eyes and disbelief. The others couldn't move due to shock.

"Now, Conan-kun!" Kourin yelled at the same time, making Ryoma move out of the way and shielded her with his own body.

With that signal, Conan charged up his super-powered kick shoes and kicked the CD player as hard as he could. It was sent flying towards Zeus and hit him hard right to his stomach, making him let go of the gun. That was the chance that Kenji and Shouko were waiting for so they charged to the culprit. Once they positioned themselves, Shouko delivered a spinning back kick to the opponent's chest followed by Kenji's heel kick to the head of his opponent just as soon as Shouko's attack made Zeus lower his head. With these two devastating—not to mention painful—attacks, Zeus was then rendered unconscious.

Almost all of them heaved sighs of relief and Kourin immediately approached the unconscious Kikumaru.

"Eiji-san, it's over. You can wake up now," Kourin said reassuringly as she gently shook Kikumaru's body to wake him up.

"I don't think that's going to work, Rin-san. He was shot, remember?" Mitsuhiko reminded her but they were surprised to see Kourin give a small smile.

Fuji smiled at the sight. "I think something happened that we didn't know."

Though confused, they could only watch Kourin trying to wake Kikumaru up.

"Try this," Haibara gave her a handkerchief.

When Kourin took it, she then noticed that it was wet and a little cold. "What did you put here?"

"Something to wake him up."

With that, Kourin put the wet handkerchief on Kikumaru's closed eyes fast. As soon as it was done, Kikumaru suddenly sat up and took off the handkerchief from his face. Of course, it gave a surprise to most of them who actually thought that Kikumaru was dead because of the gunshot. The redhead then noticed the surprised looks on the faces of his teammates and the Hyotei regulars. After that, he saw Haibara, Kourin, and Conan's smiling faces.

"Nya! I thought I was a goner after that," Kikumaru said, sighing in relief.

Kourin looked at him apologetically. "Sorry. I bet you were scared after getting shot like that."

"H-how did you survive from that gunshot?" Oishi asked in disbelief as he approached Kikumaru.

Kikumaru gave a wide grin and stood up energetically. "Nya! It was Kourin-chan's plan. Thanks to her, I was able to survive that attack."

"Kourin-chan's plan? What do you mean, Kikumaru-senpai?" Kaidoh asked.

"The bulletproof vest that Rin gave to Kikumaru-san earlier in secret—that was her plan since she had a premonition of some sort that something will happen to him," Conan answered instead of Kikumaru.

"It's not premonition; it's intuition," Kourin clarified.

Conan just waved his hand. "Sure, sure… whatever." And then he sighed. "Moving on. This isn't the first time something like this happened. There wasn't a time her intuition failed, though we don't actually on that fully. Let's just say we used that as a precaution."

At that point in the conversation, Ryoma remembered something that has a connection to that. 'The picture frame that broke two days before I met Rin again. The two centers of the cracks were on Rin and Kikumaru-senpai's faces. Could it be that she used the same basis for her intuition?'

"I guess you finally remembered, Ryoma-niichan," Kourin said which surprised Ryoma. He then saw Kourin facing him with a smile. "I based my intuition on the picture frame I found in your room. I was almost shot a while back if it wasn't for Eiji-san saving me. And Eiji-san was shot but didn't die because of the bulletproof vest I handed him earlier before we went here. In a way, if I haven't found that, I guess both of us would've been dead by now."

No one could say a word after that. After heaving a heavy sigh, Kourin removed the hat from her head, letting her long jet-black hair down. With a smile on her face, she handed the hat to Ryoma.

"Thank you for everything, Ryoma-niichan," she said sincerely.

Much to the team's surprise, Ryoma showed off a gentle smile as he slightly crouched in front of Kourin. "You have nothing to thank for, Rin. I did it wholeheartedly since you did the same thing to me before. Besides, you're my friend and like I said before, I'm willing to be your brother. That's what brothers do, right?"

Kourin smiled a little wide and nodded as she let out an agreeing sound.

"I guess it's over now, huh?" Genta commented.

That was when Kourin's face turned serious. "Not yet."

"Huh? How come it's not yet over?" Momoshiro asked innocently.

But no one chose to answer that. Kourin approached Shouko.

"Shouko-san, could you stay with Sakaki-sensei and the Hyotei regulars for a while just until the police arrive?"

The woman nodded. "But what about Kenji?" she asked as she faced the said person.

"He'll go with us," Conan said soberly.

Inui frowned and approached the bespectacled boy. "To where?"

"To where Arisa-san was buried…"

-x-x-

Only Conan, Kourin, Ryoma, Momoshiro, Fuji, and Kenji went out of the building to go to the place where Azuraya Arisa was buried, as Conan had stated. It wasn't long before they heard police sirens echoing in the background. A few minutes later, they reached their destination.

"Don't tell me…" Momoshiro mumbled in slight disbelief.

Fuji sighed inwardly. "I guess this is it."

"Underneath this flower bed… lies a person who defended her duty until the end…" Ryoma concluded, most likely to himself.

Yes… The place where Arisa lies for five years was underneath the flower bed of orange lilies blooming beautifully and full of life.

"Just like what she said in the CD, the hint is the flower emblem of her family—the orange lily," Kourin uttered.

"I guess Arisa-san wanted to uphold the family honor until the end…" Momoshiro said with hints of sadness in his voice.

Kenji approached the small flower bed sadly before he collapsed to his knees with tears started to flow from his eyes. "Arisa…" He clutched some dirt on the ground as he clenched his fists. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you."

Now Ryoma knew why it was easy for him to spot the flower bed. Not only because of the flower's bright orange color but also because he was somewhat drawn to it. But they never thought that underneath the beautiful flower bed lies a proof of an unsolved horror from five years ago.

A few moments later, Conan noticed Kourin's sober expression. "Does this reminds you of something?"

Kourin sighed before facing the flower bed with sad eyes. "I've been doing a lot of thinking after I heard Mama's will from that CD. I kept on asking myself why they would entrust the fate of the Four Families to a little girl like me. I also myself how many lives have to be destroyed just to protect me. Mama, Papa, Onii-sama and everyone else died because they wanted to protect me. A few months back, Ryoma-niichan almost lost his life because of a secret that he was never supposed to be involved in. And now, innocent people were killed just to lure me out… I always thought my life was a curse…" Her tears soon fell but immediately wiped them with her jacket's sleeves as she sniffed. "But after learning from Mama's will and Arisa-san's message that they believe I could lead the Four Families and change its fate in a way, I guess I changed my mind about my life being a curse."

"I know Arisa believed in you till the end, Kourin-ojousama," Kenji said without looking at her. Despite that, she could feel the sincerity in his voice. "I'm sure her death had never been in vain. These flowers were proof of that. Her pride as the princess of the Azuraya family was evident in each of these flowers—just like its meaning: flame. And I believe you said it yourself that it also means 'wealth' and 'pride'. Am I right?"

The only thing the little girl could do was smile at that before nodding. "You're right."

"I've been looking for her for five years. Now I can finally let her rest in peace. Your parents and your brother could finally rest in peace, too, now that the last of the Dark Rose has been captured," Kenji said as he stood up and faced Kourin.

Everyone agreed to that.

Before the sun had completely set, the police were ordered to dig out Arisa's body underneath the flower bed. Without destroying the flowers as they were carefully removed there, Arisa's corpse was finally found.

The wind blew soft and slightly warm even though it was already autumn. Kourin smiled when she heard a voice carried by the wind that whispered "Thank you" before it finally disappeared.

It was a long, long day for all of them but they were glad the horror of the tennis court serial murders had finally come to an end.