Grey Skies

"St. Rudolph? That can't be, right?" Momoshiro inquired in disbelief.

"What did the code say?" Ryoma asked before Kourin could say anything to answer Momoshiro.

Kourin looked at the text message on her cellphone and read the code there in Japanese. " 'Try to catch me as fast as you can. Solve this riddle to find me will fall from gray skies for it will mourn when one dies. My blade will slice through its heart; to St. Rudolph is where I'll do this part...' Just like the previous codes, it was originally stated in English. But unlike the first four codes, this one already stated the location of his next target. And I guess he stated the time, as well. We just need to figure out when." After that, she kept her cellphone in her pocket and proceeded to walk away from the vending machine.

Ryoma and Momoshiro followed suit, especially since they began to worry for Kourin who was frustrated with all this judging from her reaction upon reading Detective Takagi's text message to her a while back.

"This is getting frustrating..." Kourin mumbled that Ryoma still heard.

'I can already see that, Rin. I just hope I could do something to help you right now...' But the freshman decided not to voice that out for now.

"Kourin-chan, are you sure he's going to attack at St. Rudolph?" Momoshiro asked as the three of them began heading to the school gate where the others were possibly waiting for them.

"Well, that's what the code said, but I find it weird since the serial killer never stated in his music code directly about the exact location of his target. This particular code already stated the location but he still wanted us to figure out the time that he would strike down his victim," she said as she opened her Ponta and drink from it.

"Yeah. I just hope we could figure that out soon before he did strike at that school. Or else, Fuji-senpai would be worried sick if he found out about this," Ryoma said placidly as he drank his Ponta.

"Fuji-san? What do you mean? Why would he be worried?"

Ryoma sighed before he looked at her. "Fuji-senpai's brother is studying at St. Rudolph... and he's also a tennis player."

The girl was surprised to hear that. "Seriously?"

Both regulars nodded with serious faces. That was when she realized that it wasn't a lie. The three of them fell silent as they walked.

'If that's the case, then...' Kourin began speaking after moments of silence. "Ryoma-niichan, Momo-chan, can you promise me one thing? I guess it's for the best for now if we don't tell this Fuji-san. Of course, I'll still tell Conan-kun but I need your help to solve this, as well. Do you think you can keep it from Fuji-san for a while? I have a bad feeling about this."

Ryoma and Momoshiro exchanged worried glances with each other. But admit it or not, they too felt the same way as Kourin. With smirks gracing their faces, they finally came up with the same answer.

"Don't worry. We can do that for you. I know you don't want many people to worry and become frantic about this," Momoshiro said with a smile.

She, too, managed to muster a smile despite her worries for her friends. It was a smile filled with relief.

"Thank you..."

-x-x-

A few minutes later...

The regulars and the Detective Boys reached the sushi shop. In there, the kids began eating without a care in the world—well, it was just Genta who started eating like that. In Ryoma's perception, that fat kid could even compete with Momoshiro and would end up winning in a speed-eating contest. He laughed when he voiced that out to his other senpai-tachi. Even Kourin laughed at that comment. But even with that, Ryoma could tell that it was somehow forced out from her.

Of course, it made him even more worried for the fourth-grader.

The others began enthusiastically eating, as well. At least, it was enthusiastic enough for that particular moment. Kourin tried to do the same but she couldn't. She was worried. Ryoma and Momoshiro acted normally but Kourin's actions were making them worried even more.

"Rin, is there something you're not telling me?" Conan chose to break his cousin's silence as she asked her that question. She just shook her head as an answer even though she perfectly knew Conan would never buy that.

"You want to eat something else, Kourin-chan?" Kawamura asked.

She thought about it for a few moments before answering. "Will it be okay if I ask for salmon roe and wasabi sushi?"

Of course, the last two words caught everyone surprised. Well, almost everyone. And who wouldn't be? A nine-year-old kid would request wasabi sushi? Seriously, this one kid was definitely out of her mind.

"It's okay. It's not like wasabi sushi would kill her or anything," Conan said calmly as he continued eating.

"But Conan-kun, I don't think wasabi sushi is something that Rin-san should eat at this point. Her tongue might not be able to take it," Ayumi reasoned with worries on her face.

"She just happened to have a weird taste in food when she's frustrated and worried, Yoshida-san," Haibara stated placidly as she looked at the black-haired fourth grader who just sheepishly smiled at her.

"But of all food, she could eat when she's like that, why does it have to be wasabi? Couldn't she just ask for other options like flounder or silver mackerel?" Oishi inquired, worries were obvious in his tone.

"She usually takes out her frustrations on her choice of food. One of them happened to be wasabi sushi. It's just a miracle how she was able to take that spicy food, though." Then Conan faced Kourin.

"I guess Kourin-chan and I have similarities, then," Fuji said as he ate another wasabi roll.

'Yeah, it's a good thing she didn't have your sadistic personality, Fuji-senpai,' Ryoma could've said that as a retort to the tensai's statement but then, he knew better than to mess with his senpai like that.

Soon after, Fuji handed one wasabi roll to Kourin. "I bet this will help you calm your mind."

The girl looked grateful, though, as she accepted the wasabi roll from Fuji. She ate it like it was just an ordinary candy before saying, "Can I have another one?"

As expected, Fuji complied with a smile. It made everyone—except Conan, Fuji and Haibara—surprised about that. But then Momoshiro and Ryoma realized that if it would help them get rid of Kourin's current frustration on finding out the time when the killer would strike, then so be it.

As for Conan, he knew too well that something happened when Ryoma and Momoshiro followed Kourin to the vending machine. But why would Kourin hide that from him?

"Conan-kun, can I talk to you for a minute? It's kind of important and urgent," Kourin said after eating several wasabi sushi from Fuji's plate.

One thing the bespectacled detective noticed, though, was that his cousin appeared to have eaten a larger share of wasabi sushi from the tensai's plate than Fuji himself. It was evident in Fuji's expression since Conan noticed that Fuji slightly gaped at his now empty sushi plate. Conan could have rolled his eyes at the sight before laughing but he chose not to.

Conan nodded as an answer but he did so in confusion. Yet that confusion soon faded when he noticed Ryoma and Momoshiro's serious faces—unnatural serious faces, that is. Those two knew what Kourin was about to tell him.

"Sure. Do you want us to talk here or is there any particular place that you want us to go for that important and urgent talk?"

"I think I'd rather talk to you in private," she answered meaningfully before casting glances at the others.

"You can go upstairs, if you want," Kawamura's father suggested. "You'll have your wasabi sushi and a whole bunch of salmon roe when you're done."

Kourin's face lit up and immediately stood up as she started dragging Conan away from the others. "Really? Thank you, oji-san!"

"W-wait up, Rin!" Conan could only say as his cousin continued to drag him.

The rest of the people there could only stare at their disappearing figure in surprise and confusion when they saw that.

"Nya... What was that all about?" Eiji asked.

"It might be something interesting," Inui said.

"I doubt about that..." Momoshiro mumbled gravely.

Unfortunately for him, his senpai-tachi heard it that only incensed their confusion.

"What do you mean, Momo?" Oishi inquired the junior power player.

But Momoshiro shook his head and continued to eat, but not as enthusiastic as he did a while back. "Don't mind me, Oishi-senpai. Forget about it."

But it was a hundred percent sure that they wouldn't do that. They don't need Inui's prediction on its probability for them to know that obvious fact. Whatever it was, they knew it has something to do with the current serial murder case.

-x-x-

"Oi, Rin, let me go! You don't have to drag me like this. What's wrong?" Conan inquired as they reached a certain spot upstairs. They stopped on one corner before Kourin faced him with a sober expression. He then knew that their conversation would be something more serious.

"He's about to strike again, Shin- nii," Kourin started after heaving a deep breath. "He's going to murder someone from St. Rudolph. What's worse, Fuji-san's brother is studying in that school and he's also a tennis player. But I'm not sure if he's a regular or not."

"What? Why didn't you say something about that earlier?"

"Oh, so you want me to do that in front of the others? It's enough that Ryoma-niichan and Momo-chan heard me talking to Takagi-keiji on the phone because he wanted us to help them solve the code. I can't simply blurt out stuff like that especially when I learned that one of the Seigaku regulars is someone connected to one of the students of the targeted school. Besides, I still need to figure out the time that this killer bastard would strike." And then she showed the code to Conan from her cellphone that Detective Takagi had sent to her. "If it's like the first four codes that we heard, the killer left a clue about when he would kill again. By the looks of it, it's like he knew we couldn't do that as fast as he killed the others. He's taunting us even in the codes."

Conan gritted his teeth as he clenched his fist to his side when he heard that as soon as he finished reading the code. But even still, he tried to solve the riddle in his mind since it was the only way. Maybe—just maybe—they could outwit the culprit at least once. They had to stop these murders, after all.

As both kids did that, the clouds outside started to get dark. Or maybe it was dark... and gray, to begin with. Something struck Conan's mind when he realized something.

"Tears will fall from gray eyes..." 'Wait a minute! If that's the case, then... 'gray eyes' means gray skies. Then rain probably signifies the words 'tears will fall...' 'With that thought, and recalling the weather forecast he watched at the detective agency before he left, he looked outside the window. His eyes widened at the sight of the gray sky. 'Then that means, he'll strike today... while the rain falls!' "Damn it!" he hissed as he suddenly took off without a word.

"Shin-nii!"

But it appeared that he didn't hear her. He just continued talking off, making her heave an exasperated sigh. "You got to be kidding me!" But she still decided to follow him to remind him of one thing. Conan already slid the door open when she reminded him. "Before you take off, are you sure you know your way to St. Rudolph?"

Of course, what she said made the boy stop in his tracks. 'This girl knows how to ruin my excitement,' Conan thought in surrender before glowering at Kourin. "Okay, point taken. Do you know the way to that school?"

"No. but maybe someone here can help us with that," she answered in forced retreat when she realized that Fuji could guess what was about to happen. She said that before glancing at the regulars who were now intently looking at the two bespectacled detective kids.

"I can take you there," Fuji suddenly suggested and stood up to approach Kourin and Conan. "But why do you need to head to St. Rudolph?"

'Great! Another forced confession... but I guess it can't be helped,' Kourin thought before answering. "We need to head there before it rains. But that's all I can tell you right now."

"Before it rains? Don't tell us that the code mentioned—" But Momoshiro immediately shut his mouth when he realized that he was about to spill out the secret.

At the mention of the word "code", it didn't take the others long enough to gather the fact that something did happen while Ryoma, Momoshiro, and Kourin were at the vending machine. And it had something to do with a code—possibly the coded message of the serial killer.

Before Momoshiro got interrogated by his senpai-tachi, he stood up from his seat along with Ryoma.

"Oi, where are you going?" Oishi immediately asked upon seeing that. But then he was surprised when he saw the distraught looks on the two detective kids (Kourin and Conan). Even Ryoma and Momoshiro had that kind of look while Fuji could only cast worried glances at the two kids.

"To the place that we needed to go to before something worse happens," Conan answered indirectly and in a grave tone.

"I just hope we could reach there in time..." Ryoma added in the same manner.

-x-x-

A few minutes later, St. Rudolph...

Conan, Kourin, Ryoma, Fuji, and Momoshiro went to the school targeted by the serial killer as fast as they could. The three regulars used bicycles to travel. Conan used his turbo-engined skateboard and Kourin used her turbo-engined rollerskates. But as soon as they reached St. Rudolph, a gruesome scene greeted them at the tennis court. Conan was gritting his teeth. Kourin was clenching her fist at her side as she tried to catch her breath.

"We'll never be able to stop this," she mumbled while seething in anger. "Why can't we just figure out the answer to the code faster?"

"That jerk is doing everything he can to crumble everything that both you and Edogawa-kun had built so far," Fuji said in a serious tone—too serious, for that matter.

That made Kourin face Fuji. "What do you mean, Fuji-san?"

"I can tell that you've already thought of the serial killer as someone willing to throw everything he has for this one to finish in a way he wanted to end. The way he killed his victims already proved that fact. Slowly crumbling our spirit and determination to stop this horror—that's what he's trying to destroy by outwitting not just the police but everyone who's doing their best to put an end to this."

"You said so yourself, Rin. He's taunting us even in the codes he was leaving in the mini-CD. And he'll continue doing it until we finally realize the reason for all of this to happen," Ryoma added.

Before she could say anything about it when she realized that Ryoma was right, the five of them heard a scream before it got muffled by the rain falling in torrents and the rumbling clouds. Kourin looked up to the sky, allowing the rain to fall to her face before deciding to head towards the direction where they heard the scream. They were unmindful of the rain that kept falling from the gray sky—the ominous gray sky predicted in the serial killer's music code. But what could have caused that person—whoever that was—to scream?

That fact led them to the other tennis court of that school. Fuji's eyes opened wide, however, at the sight that greeted them.

A tall man clad in black and wearing a black and white mask was aiming a katana he was holding at a tennis player's neck. And it was a tennis player that the three regulars fully knew.

"Yuuta!" Fuji called out loud enough for the said teen to change his focus from the killer to the tensai.

The black-clad man also changed his focus from Yuuta to the five people now looking at him in total anger. Yuuta took it as a chance to get away from there just as soon as Kourin pulled out her tennis racket from her backpack and turned it on.

Yes, the tennis racket she brought with her was the one Ryoma used during the attack of the Dark Rose members at Seigaku more than 2 months ago. Taking out a tennis ball from her pocket, she immediately tossed the ball up, jumped, and with all she got, delivered her first serve—which was meant to attack in full force—towards the serial killer. The ball flew towards the killer fast and with incredible intensity.

It was soon followed by Conan's deflatable soccer ball that he kicked towards the man who was about to follow Yuuta. He did so as fast and as hard as he could so he could make it and save Yuuta from being killed by that serial killer jerk.

Much to their surprise, the killer evaded the tennis ball that created a hole on the tennis court's ground as soon as it landed on one spot there. The tennis ball then bounced towards the wired fence and passed through it with incredible force. He managed to do the same with the soccer ball that deflated just after its ten seconds time limit of the air inside ended.

"Woah! I guess I overdid that a little bit," Kourin uttered with a wince before her eyes hardened as she faced the serial killer. Surprisingly enough for the others, the killer was facing Kourin, as well. Since the killer was wearing a half-mask, Kourin saw him smirking evilly before he ran off and left. She felt her heart beating fast for some reason. Her hand was slightly quivering as her grip on her tennis racket tightened.

'Why do I have a feeling that I've sensed something weird and... foreboding like this before? And the killer's eyes... the way he gazed at me... I know I've seen it somewhere. When was the last time my heart beat this fast? Even my hands are quivering and I can't even stop it. I thought I'm done feeling something like this. Why do I have to feel it again?'

Conan noticed his cousin's strained look with hints of fear and confusion. Wait... fear? Fear for what?

It appeared that it wasn't only Conan who noticed Kourin's reaction. The three regulars also noticed the young girl's expression as she gripped her tennis racket tight. But that was interrupted when Yuuta approached them.

"Aniki! What are you doing here?" Yuuta asked despite panting because of running.

"We'll explain later," was all that Fuji said as an answer before he noticed Conan and Kourin heading to the first tennis court they went to a while back. "Yuuta, do you have any idea why that person was attacking you? he was about to kill you when we get here."

"I don't know. B-but I think it's because I saw him kill that poor guy there. I heard a scream—a painful scream—while I was practicing here so I followed the voice. The next thing I knew, I saw him pulling the katana out of that guy's body and tying the dead body to the net. I got scared; that's why I couldn't even move to get away. That's when the killer saw me and chased after me. The blade was only centimeters away from my neck and I thought I was going to die if you guys haven't come," Yuuta managed to explain despite the fear evident in his voice.

"But I thought the killer wasn't targeting regulars. Why do something like this now?" Momoshiro inquired.

"I don't think he is. Chasing Yuuta and nearly killing him wasn't a part of his plan. He probably wanted to silence my brother since he saw the killer committed his crime," Fuji explained. "But if Kourin-chan hadn't made that powerful serve using her special tennis racket a while back, the killer might have killed my brother, even if it wasn't a part of his plan."

"You mean that little girl?"

Fuji nodded to answer Yuuta's question.

"I have to admit, her serve was pretty amazing for a girl," Yuuta commented. "But she looked... afraid before she left with that boy."

"You noticed it, too?" Ryoma asked. Yuuta nodded.

"In any case, we need to follow those kids and call the police about what happened," Momoshiro suggested.

They were about to leave that place when they heard police sirens coming nearer—indicating that the police were already arriving at the scene.

"I guess someone beat us to it."

"Sorry about that. But as Conan-kun and Rin-chan perceived, this case will be even more dangerous for all of you," a woman's voice was heard from behind the four boys.

They were surprised to know who it was. "Miyuzaki Shouko-san..."

"Looks like you still remember me," Shouko said with a smile. She was holding a black umbrella to shield herself from the rain. That was when the boys remembered that it was raining.

They probably couldn't feel the cold from it because of what had just happened.

"Miyuzaki-san, what do you mean that this case will be even more dangerous?" Momoshiro asked the woman.

"You know her?" Yuuta asked Fuji when he faced his brother.

"She's a friend we met 2 months ago."

Shouko sighed before facing them with a serious face. "I'll explain it later once you had a change of dry clothes. We need to head somewhere so you won't get sick. We might be needing your help now to solve and end all this."

The four tennis players exchanged glances at each other for a short while before they agreed with Shouko's words.

"What about Kourin-chan and Edogawa-kun?" Fuji asked.

"They'll come with us so don't worry. But can I ask you one favor?"

Ryoma frowned. Now that was unusual. "What kind of favor?"

"Do what you can in order not to let Rin-chan overwork herself with this case. I might not be able to stop her from doing what she thinks she could to stop these murders, even to do some reckless actions to do that. So I'll let you guys watch over her just until this case is done."

The freshman smirked as if he anticipated the favor before walking ahead. "You don't have to ask us that, Miyuzaki-san. We'll do it whether you ask us or not."

Though Shouko was a little surprised, she still managed to show a smile. "You're surely one confident guy, Echizen-kun. But if you said it that way, then I'll be relieved to know all that."

"Don't worry, Miyuzaki-san. We'll do it. Besides, Kourin-chan is our friend," Momoshiro said with conviction.

"Momo's right," Fuji added. "Kourin-chan's a person who can't be easily stopped once she puts her mind to it and she's someone who obviously wouldn't notice that she's overworking herself. We'll try our best to do what you want us to do. I'm sure the other regulars would say the same thing." But then Fuji remembered something. "By the way, Miyuzaki-san, did the killer leave a coded music near the victim he killed today?"

Shouko's face went sober before she turned around and started walking away. "I'll let you know soon. But then you have to prepare yourself."