Inside the limousine, the driver spoke respectfully, "Miss Sonoko, where should we head first?"
Sonoko turned to the group. "Alright, kids—who lives closest to this area?"
Mitsuhiko, Genta, and Ayumi raised their hands simultaneously. "We're close to this street!" they answered.
"Okay, then we'll go there first," Sonoko decided.
The driver nodded in acknowledgment, carefully listening to Genta, Mitsuhiko, and Ayumi as they helped guide him with directions.
Sonoko then turned her attention toward her brother. "Leon… aren't you feeling hot? You can take off your hat and mask if you want some fresh air."
She already knew that inside the car, he was safe.
However, her suggestion to remove his cap and mask wasn't only for comfort—it also carried another intention. It was to subtly, yet proudly, showcase her brother's appearance.
Her eyes shimmered with pride as she spoke.
The others, who heard Sonoko's voice, became intrigued. They were curious to see what Leon truly looked like, as they had only seen his mouth before.
Sonoko intentionally raised her voice slightly to capture their attention. Then she crossed her arms and stared at Leon with clear expectation.
Leon didn't feel uncomfortable wearing his cap and mask. He had long grown accustomed to it.
He wasn't particularly concerned with such small matters, but he followed his sister's suggestion anyway.
First, he removed the face mask covering his face. His right hand reached up, carefully unhooking it from his ears. Once the mask was taken off, he finally exhaled, taking in a deep, fresh breath.
As his face was revealed, everyone could see his skin—pale, almost as if the light itself had been afraid of touching him. It would not be an exaggeration to compare it to porcelain, or even to untouched white snow.
Next, he raised his right hand and grasped the tip of his cap. With a smooth motion, he lifted it off his head.
Once the black cap was removed, his full appearance was finally revealed.
His hair was tied into two buns, and its color was unlike anything they had ever seen—pure white. Extremely white. It resembled a delicate formation of snow, as though each strand had been sculpted into intricate, frozen patterns.
Combined with his pale complexion, his features gave off an almost ethereal impression. If they had not heard his hoarse voice earlier, they might have mistaken him for a girl.
His nose was refined—slightly high yet soft and delicate. Even his eyebrows were white, blending seamlessly with his hair. His long eyelashes framed his eyes elegantly, and his jawline was sharp yet balanced.
But the most striking feature of all were his eyes.
Each eye held a different color.
His right iris was the color of the ocean—deep, vivid, and vast like sapphire waters. His left iris was the color of a forest—rich, deep, and vibrant like emerald greenery.
A sapphire eye. An emerald eye.
The group stared in complete awe at the sight before them, momentarily speechless at the remarkable and almost unreal appearance of Leon.
Leon looked like some kind of angelic child, with white dominating nearly every part of his appearance. Not only his skin, but even his hair was pure white, and his eyes resembled gemstones.
"Heterochromia," Conan exclaimed as he finally understood what he was seeing. "It's not just albinism—he also has heterochromia. That's an incredibly rare condition."
"Wow, you look like a fairy," Ayumi said.
"No, he looks like an angel," Mitsuhiko added.
"Hey, Suzuki-san," Genta asked, tilting his head, "don't tell me you're a girl pretending to be a boy, right?"
Genta couldn't tell Leon's gender from his appearance, as it was quite ambiguous.
Ran also stared at Leon. She had heard from Sonoko that her younger brother looked like some kind of angel. At first, she thought Sonoko was exaggerating, but seeing him now, it was clear she hadn't been lying at all.
Sonoko watched everyone's reactions, lifting her chin slightly, clearly proud of her younger brother. She inwardly chuckled.
Even she hadn't believed it when Leon was born. A white baby who didn't cry or scream was already unusual, and because of his condition, he had been raised under the care of many professional doctors.
Of course, Sonoko would visit her younger brother with her elder sister whenever they were on vacation. And when she heard that Leon would finally be coming to Japan to study, she was overjoyed. However, her thoughts were interrupted when she heard Genta ask if Leon was a girl. Sonoko immediately replied, "Of course, Leon is a boy."
"What? He's really a boy?" Genta said, staring at Suzuki with a confused expression.
Leon maintained the same calm demeanor. His face remained expressionless, his lips a straight, unmoving line. His sapphire and emerald eyes were distant and blank, like a living doll.
"How can Suzuki-san be a boy? He looks like a girl!" Genta exclaimed.
Ayumi and Mitsuhiko nodded as they examined Leon more closely.
"And his eyes are different colors," Ayumi added.
"Maybe he's wearing contact lenses," Mitsuhiko suggested, scrutinizing Leon's eyes.
Sonoko crossed her arms and said, "No. Leon's eyes have been like that since birth. They're not contact lenses."
"What? Those are real?" Genta, Mitsuhiko, and Ayumi exclaimed in unison, shocked. They began to wonder if Suzuki-san was some kind of living doll.
Their thoughts were cut short when they heard the driver announce that they had arrived near their destination.
The driver stepped on the brakes, got out of the car, and slid open the door. Genta, Mitsuhiko, and Ayumi quickly got out, waving as they said, "Thank you for the ride! See you tomorrow, Conan and Suzuki-san!"
"Hey, there's no school tomorrow," Conan reminded them.
"Oh, right—it's Valentine's Day," Ayumi said.
Genta and Mitsuhiko laughed as they remembered.
The driver closed the door, returned to the driver's seat, and drove off to the next stop.
Ayumi, Genta, and Mitsuhiko watched as the car disappeared down the road.
"I really thought Suzuki-san was a girl," Genta said, scratching the back of his head.
"No," Mitsuhiko added. "I thought she—uh, he—was some kind of angel."
"Really, Suzuki-san looks like some kind of doll," Ayumi added. The three of them continued speaking among themselves about Suzuki-san joining the Detective Boys group, already discussing how they would make adjustments for him. As they chatted, they walked off in their own direction. Their homes were nearby, barely a minute away, yet their pace was unusually slow.
Inside the limousine, Ran continued staring at Leon, while Sonoko helped him pour his drink. Sonoko held the flask carefully as she poured the chocolate beverage into the cup Leon was holding.
Meanwhile, Conan was speaking with the driver, giving directions toward the Mouri Kogoro Detective Agency, where they lived.
After Sonoko finished pouring, Leon lifted the cup and took a sip.
Sonoko smiled softly, watching his subtle, almost delicate movements.
Then Ran spoke up. "Is he really your brother? He doesn't look anything like you."
"What are you saying? Am I ugly, Ran?!" Sonoko shouted.
"No, that's not what I meant," Ran stammered. She glanced at Leon again. "It's just… he really doesn't resemble you."
Sonoko scoffed, though she understood why Ran would question their relationship. Leon looked completely different, all because of his rare condition.
Just then, she heard Leon's hoarse voice asking her again.
"Nee-san… who was that big man in the red shirt earlier?"
"Oh, you mean that muscular guy? That was Wakamatsu-san," Sonoko replied.
She noticed Leon's eyes, fixed on her, quietly waiting for more information. That steady gaze, that silence—it felt like he was expecting her to continue.
"Leon, you're curious, right?" Sonoko added with a faint chuckle. "Fufufu… he invited us to a Valentine party."
"A Valentine party…" Leon muttered to himself.
He slowly closed his eyes, sinking into deep thought.
Ran, Sonoko, and even Conan watched him closely as he suddenly fell silent again.
Then, in that faint, sickly voice, Leon spoke once more.
"A murder… using poison…!"
Conan raised an eyebrow, then repeated the words—but this time in Japanese. "A murder… using poison…"
Sonoko and Ran understood immediately what Leon meant, and both fell silent. Ran, in particular, looked confused and uneasy, trying to grasp the meaning behind his words.
Sonoko's eyes widened slightly. This was exactly why she had once described Leon as a strange kind of genius—not just because of his intelligence, but because the things he said often felt like clues, hints of events that would later unfold, almost like foresight.
She swallowed and then asked, "Leon… do you mean tomorrow? At the Valentine party?"
Conan and Ran shifted their gaze between Sonoko and Leon, who slowly opened his eyes and took another sip from his cup.
Ran turned to Sonoko again. "What's going on?"
Conan also chimed in. "Yeah, what exactly is happening?"
Sonoko crossed her arms, falling into deep thought. "Well… how should I explain this…"
She knew this wasn't the first time. His words had often served as subtle hints—simple things that later turned out to be true. But those were usually easy to interpret, minor details that anyone could guess.
This time, however, it was different.
Leon had spoken something far more serious—something that sounded almost unreal… a claim that someone would be murdered using poison.
The three of them sat in silence, their minds filled with confusion and uncertainty.
Then Leon's weak voice broke the silence once more.
"Don't think too much… I'm just talking to myself."
A long pause followed his words. Somehow, his statement eased the tension slightly, yet the meaning behind what he had said was not something that could easily be ignored or dismissed.
(っ－＿－)っ
AM N. NOT.
♤DRAFT ♤