Disclaimer: I don't own Detective Conan/Meitantei Conan and any of its characters.(As if Gosho would do this...hehe)
Edit (November 17, 2006): I decided to use single quotation marks to indicate thoughts so that there wouldn't be any abrupt change in the POV. I also made some minor changes. Feel free to skip this chapter.
The Call of Death by Detective Conan Addict
Chapter 1: The Symptoms
Mouri Kogoro always kept to himself the memory lapses of the cases he managed to solve.
But that's not all that he's keeping…
He couldn't admit to others that he was sorry for what happened between him and his wife Kisaki Eri 10 years ago. She moved out and lived in a big apartment all by herself, leaving him and their 6-year-old daughter Ran behind.
So he decided to resign as a police investigator of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and became a private detective, with the office right at his very home (which was on top of a coffee shop).
His only refuge was more alcohol and cigarettes. He kept on watching more of Okino Yoko's shows, hoping that she would fill the emptiness of his heart.
When one is sick emotionally, the body is soon to follow…
There were so many changes occurring in Kogoro's 36-year-old body. He was very afraid yet he was very stubborn to admit it. Even Ran, who was usually dense, noticed the changes happening to her father.
He felt weak—even weaker than the time Ran made him run on the treadmill at the Seiji Sports Club. His gluttonous self lost the willingness to eat.
"Hey, Dad, I think you should go see a doctor." Ran said.
"Ran-neechan's right, Uncle. You look terrible." Conan agreed.
"What the heck are you talking about? I'm perfectly fine." Kogoro denied. "Could you please get me more beer?"
"No, Dad, I'm not letting you have any beer or cigarettes!" Ran exclaimed. "Just look at yourself! You look terrible!"
"I'm sure some rest is all I need to get better…" Kogoro said.
"I sure hope so…" Ran mumbled to herself.
Many days passed and Kogoro wasn't getting any better. In fact, he looked much worse. He felt too tired even to shave, which explains the black dots around his mouth and his much, much thicker moustache.
He felt too sick to even drink beer, though he was still in constant denial of it.
Ran just simply stared at her father with a worried expression on her face. 'This is so odd of him! He always shaves so that he could flirt with other women…except for that moustache that he always kept all these years. And he has beer for every meal…well…I did want him to stop after all…but…something…something just doesn't feel right about this…'
She then marched to her father who was slouching on his black office chair behind his desk. "That's it, Dad! I'm dragging you to the hospital whether you like it or not!"
As she grabbed her father's hand, she saw spots on it. They were yellow spots, to be exact. This just caused her to worry more. She wrapped her left arm behind her father's head and saw that the white areas surrounding her father's raven irises had turned into yellow.
Kogoro felt too sick to even resist being carried by his daughter's loving arms. He gradually closed his eyes and dreamt of what happened 10 years ago—when he and Eri had a very big fight. Eri was injured because of what happened earlier that morning—she was shot in the leg. She wanted to cook dinner in gratitude of Kogoro defending her—but he got angry at her because she didn't listen to him when he told her to take a rest. This all led to the separation between him and Eri although she never took off her wedding ring. (Kogoro didn't know that though.)
"C'mon, Conan-kun, we have to take Dad to the hospital!" Ran exclaimed.
Ran, together with Conan, ran out the door of the detective agency and downstairs going the sidewalk. They ran to the nearest hospital, which was the Beika Hospital. It was where Eri gave birth to Ran and where Yukiko gave birth to Shinichi. But Ran had no time to think about such things.
She and Conan raced to the white attendant counter. "You've got to help me," Ran panted to the nursing attendant. "I don't know what happening to my father…and…and…I'm scared…"
The nursing attendant immediately called a doctor to check up on Kogoro.
The doctor came and told Ran and Conan that he would take care of Kogoro while they wait in the lobby. With a white stretcher, Kogoro was taken away to be examined while Ran and Conan sat down on the scarlet bench leaning on the wall to the right of the attendant's counter.
"I wonder what's going to happen to Dad," Ran said to Conan with a worried look on her face.
"I'm sure the doctor's going to cure him, Ran-neechan!" Conan exclaimed with his cute child-like smile, hoping to cheer Ran up.
"Yeah, you're right," Ran replied.
Ran didn't notice it, but Conan cringed at the sound of that. After all, he does know a lot more than her, being at the top of the class when he used to be 16-year-old Kudou Shinichi. He knows what can possibly this would led up to but didn't tell her because he there's no way she would believe a child. She'd probably dismiss it as a joke or a claim it to be a figment of his imagination. 'If only I'm Shinichi, she'll believe me…but do I really want to worry her like that?'
Kogoro had gone through many tests and as the doctor looked over the test results, the prospects don't seem to be too bright. He then called the nursing attendant at the counter telling her to call the wavy chocolate-brown haired girl to the phone.
"Hey, you over there!" the nursing attendant shouted at Ran. "The doctor wants to talk to you!"
Ran stood up from the bench, followed by Conan. When she grasped the phone and held it over her right ear, she greeted, "Moshi moshi!"
"Hello, is this the girl with the wavy chocolate-brown hair?" the doctor questioned.
"Yes, I'm Mouri Ran."
"How are you related to the man you brought with you?"
"I'm his daughter. I'm the daughter of Mouri Kogoro."
"Mouri Kogoro, the famous detective?"
"Yes, now why did you call me, sir?" Ran asked, with her eyebrows pointing down and her left hand clenched and shaking.
"There's something important I have to tell you…something I just can't tell over the phone. Could you please go to Room 409?"
"Sure…why not?" Ran said with her voice trembling. 'I don't like how this is going…'
"Okay…then I'll see you later?"
"Yeah…see you later…" Ran whispered and put down the phone. "C'mon, Conan-kun," she faced him and smiled, trying to hide her worry from her face. "Let's go to Room 409!"
"Mm!" Conan replied. 'Something bad's going to happen…I just wish I was wrong.'
And off Ran and Conan went in search of Room 409.