Clue She Missed

Seishun Gakuen Tennis Courts, the next day...

Most of the students of Seishun Gakuen arrived early, including the members of the Seigaku Tennis Club. But their arrival at that school gave them a scare and shock in their life upon seeing something on one of the tennis courts of the school. Of course, one couldn't help but to scream at the sight that greeted them because of fear and surprise.

The person who did that the loudest was Arai.

This caught the attention of the other students of the school. When they decided to check out what was going on, they were shocked as hell. Even the Seigaku regulars who had just arrived were stunned to know the reason for the students' commotion on that court.

"Call the police!" Oishi shouted without looking away from the court.

"We already did. They said that they're on their way and told us not to go near the body," one student replied.

Just what was predicted, a murder happened at Seigaku. No one could say a word when they saw a junior member's dead body sitting in the middle of the tennis court with blood staining his tennis uniform, the net, and the court itself. His hands were tied with his arms spread wide onto the net.

When Fuji looked around the court, his eyes (despite being close) spotted something. He saw an orange lily lying on one extreme edge of the court. As far as he could remember, the court was clean when they left it yesterday. But he couldn't just conclude that it was from the killer, although he had to admit that the flower itself proved to be even more suspicious than the dead body itself.

A few minutes later, the police arrived. Of course, the regulars already recognized some familiar faces since it was just 2 months ago when they last saw those people.

"Oi, they're some of the police we met during 'that case,' right?" Momoshiro inquired as he saw Inspector Megure, Detective Satou, Inspector Shiratori, Detective Takagi, and Detective Chiba, among others, heading towards the crime scene.

"You're right. They're the ones in charge of the homicides in the metropolitan area since they belong to the Criminal Investigation's First Division."

Other members of the police force also went straight to the crime scene to secure it from onlookers and to prevent the evidence from being contaminated.

The police—especially Inspector Megure—couldn't help but to feel frustrated, disappointed, and angry. It would appear that despite their warnings to the students of Seishun Gakuen—most especially to the tennis club members, they couldn't prevent the murder from happening. Kourin and Conan were right in predicting that the next target was from Seigaku. He knew for sure, just like the rest of the police, those kids would be as frustrated and angry as them.

"Nya! Who could do something like this to him?" Eiji couldn't help but ask as he continued to look at the gruesome scene.

"Fsshh... This is surely getting way too far," Kaidoh muttered under his breath; anger could surely be felt in his voice.

"But I guess it wasn't such a simple grudge that the killer was bearing inside of him. This is too much. His hatred for us tennis players wasn't as simple as I thought. His determination to continue this gruesome game could be seen in each of his victims," Fuji commented in a grave tone. The other regulars agreed to that statement.

But while the regulars were giving their opinions regarding the case, Ryoma wasn't saying anything at all. He was still staring at the crime scene and the serious looks from the police officers as they continued investigating.

Tezuka noticed this, though. Fuji and Oishi soon followed who sensed Tezuka's attention focusing on the freshman.

"Echizen, are you alright?" Fuji asked.

Ryoma answered with a nod without looking at any of his senpai-tachi.

Fuji didn't say anything even though he perfectly knew that Ryoma wasn't alright. There was something that surely bothered the freshman rookie as Ryoma continued to look at the scene.

But it wasn't just Ryoma who was bothered. Fuji was immensely bothered, as well. He was bothered ever since he saw the orange lily on the court. There was something to it, he could feel at least that much. Though it wasn't obvious, the other regulars were as bothered as Fuji and Ryoma.

Only one truth prevails—Edogawa Conan once said that to Ryoma and the other regulars while they waited for Kourin to recover from the gunshot.

Whatever the truth that lies within the series of murders happening right now, they might be able to find that out. Of course, it wasn't like them to act as detectives (except for Inui, maybe). But they admit that they have incredibly curious minds and they were highly intuitive in some ways.

They might stumble onto a case related to this which could lead them to solve the mystery.

-x-x-

Kourin was panting hard upon reaching the gates of Seishun Gakuen. The rest of the Detective Boys soon caught up with her and just like her, they were catching their breaths for running from the train station just to reach Seigaku in time.

"Geez, Rin! Next time, try to remember the other people who were just right behind you when you run," Conan complained that Kourin only answered with a laugh despite catching her breath.

The rest of the Detective Boys decided not to go to play baseball that day (Teitan Elementary School was on a holiday that day so they don't have classes) when they noticed that Kourin and Conan were doing some deep thinking. Haibara already figured out the reason for that so she decided to ease Kourin's worried mind when she suggested that they should head to Seishun Gakuen instead. Almost instantly, the other kids agreed to that suggestion.

Kourin and Conan couldn't have been more delighted about that. It appeared that Haibara knew both kids wouldn't be able to concentrate on the game anyway even though they did head out to play with the others.

But much to the kids' surprise, police cars were already inside the school grounds and they could hear people murmuring and chattering in one corner of the school. Kourin already recognized the area—it was leading to the tennis courts.

"I guess we're too late..." Kourin murmured before rushing to the tennis courts.

"Rin-san, wait up!" Ayumi shouted before following the said girl. The other kids followed the two girls despite the confusion.

Conan soon realized why Kourin decided to run ahead of them. 'I guess the killer already went ahead of us, huh? He already killed someone here. And we just found out how to solve the code yesterday. We shouldn't have been underestimating the culprit's ability,' the bespectacled boy thought as he tried to keep up with Kourin.

After about a minute, they reached their destination but they were surprised to see a lot of people gathering around a certain tennis court. Both Conan and Kourin looked around to see a spot that wasn't so crowded for them to pass through easily. When they managed to find one and easily passed through together, they were stunned to see the gruesome scene.

"It can't be..." Conan uttered in his stunned state. "Despite decoding the coded music, the serial killer still killed someone here."

"We've been careless. It was like... the killer was mocking us with this. But I guess it's more of the fact that he was trying to lure someone out using this series of murders. And to think he would even put the bodies on the tennis courts..." Kourin said in a soft yet grave tone in which Conan could tell that she didn't like the idea of the killer going ahead of them.

She was angry and downright frustrated, he could tell that. So was he.

Kourin called out his attention by nudging him. "Shin-nii, look over there!" she said as she pointed in a certain direction.

His gaze followed it. He saw the orange lily lying innocently yet limply on the far edge of the court. He frowned at the sight.

"I have a feeling that the CD isn't the only clue that the killer left beside his victims' bodies."

Conan faced Kourin upon hearing that. "What do you mean?"

"If you want to consider the general meaning of orange lily in flower language, it means revenge, hatred, and disdain in addition to wealth and pride. And judging from the intensity of the damage he did to kill his victims, I would say it's too much. His hatred was something that had lived in his heart for a long time," Kourin explained in a serious tone.

'She has a point on that. But is it true that the CD isn't the only clue left by the killer besides the victims' dead bodies?' Conan asked himself but he couldn't find an answer as he tried to think about it. There was only one person who could provide that to him. With that thought in mind, he pushed himself through the crowd. He didn't look back to face Kourin since he knew she would understand his sudden action. Before the police could even stop him, he entered the court and headed to the spot where Kourin saw the wilted orange lily. He picked it up using his unused handkerchief.

"Conan-kun, you shouldn't even be here. Aren't you supposed to be in school right now?" Detective Satou scolded him but he didn't pay attention to it. It looked like the female officer didn't know about Teitan Elementary being on a holiday.

Instead, Conan faced her with a serious look. "Satou-keiji, I want to ask you something. The mini-CD with the code isn't the only item left by the serial killer on the crime scenes, is it? Could it be that he was also leaving wilted orange lilies beside the victim?"

Of course, the said female officer was surprised to hear that question and to think it would come from a kid. But Conan was never an ordinarily curious kid, and she knew that. With a sigh, she answered him. "That's right. Megure-keibu thought it wasn't a vital piece of clue but they found several orange lilies near the victims besides the mini-CD with coded music. But now that you found another one here, I can tell that the serial killer is leaving a message to us besides the one hidden in the music."

"Revenge, hatred, and disdain... Rin said that it's just a few of the general meanings of orange lilies. The murderer wanted us to know his hatred towards the people possibly connected to the ones he murdered," Conan stated before handing the flower to Detective Satou and leaving the scene without a word.

Kourin was waiting for him outside the court hidden from other people.

"So?" she asked.

Conan sighed before he saw the other kids coming toward them. "You're right. The mini-CD isn't the only item that the murderer was left beside the victims. Megure-keibu thought it wasn't related too much to the case. But seeing another orange lily for the fifth time, I doubt they could still say the same thing."

"Orange lily?" Genta asked while frowning. Conan nodded. "Why would the murderer leave something like that?"

"To convey his message to us—to anyone who could understand its meaning," Haibara said placidly.

"What kind of message?" Mitsuhiko asked.

"His hatred and desire for revenge," Kourin answered plainly before facing the crime scene. "But first, maybe we should get away from this place for a while. Seeing something like this reminds me of a lot of things. I don't want to get emotional here."

Ayumi and the others immediately understood what Kourin meant so the girl pulled the fourth-grader a little away from the crowd and the crime scene. They stopped under the tree near the sinks outside the courts.

"I guess this place should be perfect for us to rest," Ayumi said with a nod after sitting down on the grass along with the other kids. "Are you alright, Rin-san? Should I get you a drink?"

Kourin gently shook her head before smiling. "No, it's okay. But thanks for the offer, anyway." Her faces went serious again—something that Conan and Haibara immediately noticed.

"Rin, if you're blaming yourself for what happened, don't. We never anticipated the murderer to be this fast. That only proves how determined he is to kill his victims," Conan simply stated despite his frustrations because of the case and his worries for his cousin. 'That's why we have to think of a way to corner him. Solving his code isn't enough. If this continues, he'll kill more tennis players for something unreasonable. The orange lilies somehow provided a clue as to what the motive could be. But it's still a general reason. We need something more concrete.'

The said girl didn't say anything, though. She was just looking at the ground and appeared to be in deep thoughts again.

'Not again,' Conan could only think and was about to sigh when he heard Kourin mumble some words which still reached his ears.

"There's still something that I missed, I know it," he heard Kourin say.

He then saw her face Haibara and Ayumi who happened to be sitting next to each other.

"Did any of you know the victim's estimated time of death?"

The two girls frowned at the question. Despite that, Haibara answered when Conan gave her the signal that it would be okay since they thought that Kourin asked that question randomly.

"We heard it from Takagi-keiji a while back about that. He said that the victim died between 10:00 and 11:00 PM last night and that it was an immediate death," Haibara answered.

Kourin went back to thinking again. "Between 10:00 and 11:00 PM, huh?" But as she replayed the answer in her mind over and over, a part of the code appeared there. Her eyes widened upon realizing something.

~"Silver moon, enlighten me in full as I end their journey with my tool..."~

'It can't be! The code didn't only hold a riddle about his target's location but it also holds the clue to when he would kill his victim. He killed his fifth victim during the full moon last night!' She slapped his forehead after realizing that. 'Why in the world did I miss that part? I can't believe I didn't realize that sooner! I'm an idiot!' Kourin thought in frustration and because of that, she began to simultaneously hit her head even though she wasn't doing it that hard.

Probably just enough to punish herself for missing that part of the code.

"Oi, Rin, that's enough! What's wrong with you?" Conan asked a bit loud, causing some ears to catch the name he mentioned.