AN: So here's a brand new fic, piping hot and fresh out of the oven, so to speak! I noticed a really disturbing lack of fics that revolved around a what if scenario in regards to Heiji being the one shrunken by Apotoxin, so I decided to do as any good fic author would do, and take matters into my own hands- which is how we ended up with this fic!

This first chapter is an 'in medias res' kind of thing, as it takes place further along the line down the story. However with the next chapter, we'll be jumping back to the start of it all, and eventually, making our way back here to where this chapter takes place! I actually spent quite an amount of time trying to decide exactly how to *start* this story (I've been planning it since before (Don't) Believe What You Know, actually) but I think I'm quite pleased with the answer I've found!

Anyways, let me know what you think! Thanks for reading!

Twist of Fate

Chapter One

The Great (Shrunken) Detective of the West

If there was one thing that Kudo Shinichi, known by the media as the 'Heisei Holmes' and the 'Savior of the Japanese Police' couldn't figure out about this crime scene, it definitely had to be if the skull and crossbones on this kid's shirt was either entirely fitting for the situation, or horrendously inappropriate. Either way, he imagined that he hadn't picked out his clothes that morning with the knowledge that he would be running into a corpse later that afternoon. He'd been the first to discover the body, in fact.

All things considered, the seven year old seemed to be taking it rather well. A little too well, perhaps.

Never having been one to be all that good at dealing with children, Shinichi supposed he was grateful. Or at least, he thought, he should have been, if the kid's reaction hadn't been the complete opposite of what he had expected it to be- and if he would stop messing around in the crime scene already. The other, somewhat older child that had been with him was at the very least properly hanging back and minding her own business, as curious as she looked about the whole affair.

If this was anything close to what Inspector Megure had felt during his own early days of investigating homicides, then Shinichi almost couldn't help but feel a dose of sympathy for the man. It was, in fact, rather annoying. Perhaps he should consider purchasing the portly inspector a present to make up for it.

"Hey!" Catching the dark skinned kid once again having slipped underneath the police tape that sealed off the room, Shinichi made a face, all but storming over to him and pulling him away from the trash bin he had been rifling through. The kid let out a strangled cry, shooting him the dirtiest look he'd ever seen on a kid his age. "I thought I already told you this isn't a place for kids to mess around in. It's once thing if you want to watch us work from a distance, but you need to stay outside the crime scene."

Where the hell had that teenager he'd been with run off to anyways? Why wasn't she keeping an eye on him? The next time he saw her, he'd give that ponytailed girl a piece of his mind, because she was doing a right lousy job as a babysitter.

If there was one word he could use to describe this kid, 'brat' would have definitely been it. Wiggling himself out of Shinichi's grasp with what could only be described as practiced ease, an omamori wrapped in purple cloth strung around his neck revealing itself as he did so, the bothersome nuisance of a child simply glowered up at him, apparently not taking the way he had been manhandled by the high school detective very well.

"I'm not messin' around!" The boy almost huffed, his thick Osaka accent immediately becoming apparent the moment he opened his mouth.

"How is rifling through the garbage not messing around?" Shinichi shot back, folding his arms in front of his chest. "Where's that girl you came here with anyways? She needs to babysit you better."

"Kazuha's not my babysitter! An' I don't need ta be babysat in the first place!" The brat's eyes narrowed underneath the shade of his baseball cap, thick eyebrows knitting together as if deeply offended by the mere implication of this statement. "An' just so ya know, she ran off ta go check somethin' out. Ya'd better be careful, or she'll solve this case faster than you can."

"Oh?" Shinichi's brows raised. "I don't think you're fully aware of who it is you're talking to here, kid. I'm-"

"I know." The boy merely smirked as he cut him off, locking eyes with the high school student, a certain smugness to his words. "Yer Kudo Shinichi. There's no way I wouldn't know about ya, east. Ya got a real good reputation as bein' a high school detective, but I'll tell ya right off, it's small potatoes next ta-"

His next words were cut off by the loud coughing of the other grade school girl he'd been with. She'd slipped underneath the crime scene tape herself without anyone noticing, and had made her way across the room with practiced ease towards the unruly younger boy. Although her braided pigtails and large glasses made her look somewhat younger than she was, if Shinichi had to guess, she was at least two or three years older than the boy. Nine or ten, at best, either third or fourth grade, he thought. The shorter, brattier of the pair was definitely a first grader.

"What do ya want, Nanako?" The rather impressive glower the boy sent the girl's way was all but blown off, as she instead turned and flashed a bright smile Shinichi's way.

"Do please excuse him." Nanako began, her tone perfectly polite, yet somehow vaguely artificial, Shinichi couldn't help but note. Something she had taken great care in practicing- which was curious in and of itself, if not slightly worrisome. "He gets himself far too overexcited about these sorts of things. Now, if you'll excuse us for a second. Come on, Kaname-kun." Bowing her head, she grabbed the boy by the wrist, all but dragging him back outside of the crime scene with her, completely ignoring his protests.

Watching her go, Shinichi couldn't help but be filled with the notion that there was a girl who was likely to one day grow up to be something like Ran. Peeking his head just outside the door, he caught the girl scolding the boy just out of earshot. The boy, whose name was Kaname if the girl's words were anything to go by, had his hands shoved into his pockets, making quite the face as the slightly older girl lecture him in hushed tones.

It was only when the ponytailed girl, whose name was apparently Kazuha, returned to the scene that Kaname's mood lifted, and did so in an instant. His eyes gleaming brightly, he all but latched himself to the girl, who leaned down to whisper something to him. Tilting his head, Shinichi tried to strain his ears to catch what she was saying, but it was no use. Whatever she had said, it caused Kaname to grow all the more excited, a triumphant grin appearing on his face.

"Weird kid." Shinichi muttered to himself, deciding that he'd wasted enough time watching him, and returned to the job before him. On the surface of things, this crime certainly appeared to be a locked room mystery- but he knew otherwise. He already had an inkling as to what the trick might be and who the murderer was, but he was still lacking a crucial piece of evidence. The moment he found, he knew everything would connect together, but without it, there was still an important piece of the puzzle missing.

For some reason, he found his gaze returning to the rubbish bin that the boy had been rifling through. Walking over to it and turning it upright once more, he carefully examined the contents that had been spilled out of it- before his eyes narrowed, catching sight of a shimmering piece of string. Taking it carefully in his gloved hands, he could almost see the missing piece click together in his head.

Fishing wire. Of course. When was it ever not fishing wire.

With the valuable piece of evidence in hand, Shinichi made his way back out into the hall, where knew Inspector Megure was waiting for good news from him. Ducking underneath the crime scene tape, he turned towards the portly inspector. "Ah, Inspector-"

"What? You know who the murderer is?" He heard the Inspector exclaim, rousing in him a sense of confusion- he hadn't even said anything yet. It took him a moment to realize that the Inspector actually wasn't talking to him, but rather, he was speaking to the ponytailed babysitter girl- Kazuha, he reminded himself.

And by her side, was none other than the dark skinned boy, wearing a triumphantly smug grin on his face- one that was unmistakably directed at him.

"So? Was she right?" Mouri Ran had to admit, her interest was piqued. Normally she tuned Shinichi somewhat out when he went on about his cases these days, but at the mention of a female detective around her own age, she couldn't help but be more than a little interested. "This Toyama Kazuha girl?"

"Yeah." Shinichi frowned, leaning his chin into his hand. "Well, she stumbled in a few places when telling the Inspector her deduction, but she was definitely right." Shrugging his shoulders, he heaved a sigh as he recalled the incident. While he was glad that the culprit had been caught, he didn't really care for someone stealing his thunder like this, especially since he'd been the one called to the crime scene in the first place. "Right after she exposed the guy, he tried to charge her, and he wound up flat on his back before anyone knew what even happened. She's apparently a national aikido champion or something."

That irritating boy she had been with had promptly given the culprit a sharp kick to the shins once he was on the ground, he couldn't help but recall.

"I wish I could have met her." Ran said, an almost wistful tone to her voice. "She seems really interesting! And from the sound of it, far more modest than a certain someone I know." He didn't miss exactly who she was speaking about, not needing to follow the way her gaze slid towards his face as she spoke. "Besides, she ended up solving the case faster than a certain Mister Heisei Holmes~."

"Shut up. I'm not that bad." Shinichi muttered, leaning back in his seat. "And she didn't solve the case first, she just got to the Inspector first, that's all. There's a big difference." He grumbled a little, mostly to himself. Overall it had been something of an annoying afternoon, one he was eager to put behind him. "Honestly though, she should really do something about that bratty kid she had with her though. The little girl was perfectly polite, but that Kaname kid! What was he thinking, messing around in the crime scene like he was? Doesn't he know he could destroy precious evidence like that?"

"Well, maybe he just admires detectives." Ran said simply, her expression lightening up somewhat. "It's not a big deal, right? It was because he rifled through the garbage in the first place that you were able to find the fishing wire, wasn't it?"

"That was just a coincidence. I would have looked there myself before long." Shrugging his shoulders, Shinichi closed his eyes, leaning back further in his chair so that it tilted a bit off the ground. "Well, from the sound of their accents, the two of them were probably from Osaka, so I doubt I'll run into them again." The little girl that had been with them didn't have an Osakan accent, he couldn't help but note, but she was speaking too familiarly to the boy to be someone they had just met while in Beika.

"That's too bad." Ran frowned a little, before a spark of memory struck in her head. "By the way, Shinichi, you remember how we went to Tropical Land three months ago?"

"Yeah." Nodding his head, Shinichi settled his chair back down on all it's legs. It was hard to forget after all. He'd solved a murder case on a roller coaster there, and afterwards had managed to lose sight of the two mysterious men in black that had been on the coaster as well, much to his great annoyance. He had been certain that they were up to something- a suspicion which had been proven correct when he'd eventually crossed paths with them on a train nearly two weeks later. "What about it?"

"Apparently they're opening up a new attraction on Sunday, and Sonoko got us free tickets to it's debut party. Do you want to come with me?" Ran asked. "It sounds like it could be fun. We'd be able to watch the fireworks and the parade, seeing as we missed those last time because you ran off for some reason."

"Well, I guess." Shinichi said after a moment. "Is Sonoko coming too? Where is she anyways?"

"Of course she's coming. Her family's a sponsor of the party, after all." Ran nodded her head, and then laughed a little. "Apparently Makoto-san is having a tournament today, so she decided to cut school so she could go and support him."

"She sure does live freely." Shinichi couldn't help but scoff, shaking his head. He honestly didn't understand the way the rich girl thought, and didn't really care to learn. "Well, I'll make sure my schedule's clear for this Sunday, at any rate."

"That's a promise then, Shinichi, and I intend to see to it that you stick to this one. I won't let you off easily if you forget it!"

"Ahh, I'm exhausted." Flopping back on the tatami mats that lined the floor of the Toyama family's living room, Hattori Heiji closed his eyes, taking a moment to enjoy the cool breeze. "Those kids seriously don't know when ta quit."

"Here." Opening his eyes as something cold was pressed up against his cheek, he glanced up, blue eyes meeting the green of Kazuha's. Shifting his gaze slightly to the side, he noticed that she was holding an ice pop in her hand, which she had pressed up against his cheek, still in it's wrapper. Her own was already hanging out of her mouth, currently held in place by her teeth. "For you."

"Oh, thanks a bunch, Kazuha!" Heiji flashed her a wide grin, taking the ice pop from her, carefully unwrapping it and sticking it in his mouth. "Ah, that's better. I'm alive again."

"Shouldn't that be Kazuha-neechan, Ka-na-me-kun~?" Kazuha asked, her playful wink accompanied by a rather singsong tone of voice, waving her ice pop around to punctuate her words.

Glowering up at her, Heiji's eyes narrowed, staring at his childhood friend with all the fierceness his currently seven year old face could muster- which was more than one might expect, really. Plucking his ice pop out of his mouth, he spoke up again, internally grimacing at how infernally young his voice sounded. No wonder everyone treated him like he was some brat. "Shut up, idiot. I'm not gonna call ya that, we've already been over this a million times."

"Well, that's fine. You're the one who's developing a reputation as being a rude brat, not me." Kazuha noted with a shrug, taking a bite out of her ice pop and instantly regretting it, a shiver running down her spine. "Well, that said, it's not that much different from when ya were seven for real."

"Can it." Heiji grumbled, taking a bite out of his own ice pop, the action invoking in him a very similar reaction as it had Kazuha. "Where's Nanako anyways?"

"At your place. She doesn't live here, in case ya forget." Kazuha noted, holding her ice pop aloft over the head of her currently shrunken childhood friend. "I've got a different flavor than you. Wanna a bite?"

"She comes over here enough ya'd think that she did." Heiji said simply, before raising his head slightly, taking a bite out of Kazuha's ice pop. "Oh, vanilla. Wanna a bite out of mine?" He asked, lifting his own up.

"It can't be helped. The more ya go over to yer own place, the more suspicious it'd look. Given how blasted recognizable ya are, it's pure dumb luck nobody's figured out anything yet. And sure." Kazuha said, leaning down a little to take a bit out of Heiji's ice pop, savoring the chocolate taste. "Anyways, she's probably busy researching, going through yer dad's archives most likely, looking for clues. All we know about her little sister so far is that there's a small chance she might have survived the fire that destroyed her lab and might be hiding somewhere out there."

"Provided those bastards haven't found her first." Heiji muttered, eyes narrowing at the mention of the ones who had caused him to end up like this in the first place. He had almost no illusions as to what they would do if they ever caught this 'Miyano Shiho' that the one who had chosen the alias of Hanasaki Nanako was searching so desperately for. "When I see those guys next, I'll make sure to fill 'em with plenty of regrets."

"Idiot, how are ya planning on doing that at your size?" Kazuha pointed out, quirking a brow. "You might have been known as a demon on the kendo circuit before, but all of that is pretty much useless now that you're this tiny, Heiji. That's why I keep telling ya not to run off without me."

"Ah, shut up." Grumbling, Heiji twitched. "I can't help it, ya know! I don't exactly like bein' treated like I'm helpless. An' I'm not that tiny." He was, after all, one of the taller kids in his class, mentally grumbling again at the idea of being forced to enroll in first grade. "I don't exactly intend to stay this way forever. 'Sides, if we do find that Miyano girl, she might be able ta help us get back ta normal."

"Well, that's what ya get for running off after a bunch of suspicious guys and not paying any mind to yer surroundings, Heiji." Kazuha chided him lightly, folding her legs in front of her so that she sat cross legged. "Though it doesn't appear ya learned a damn thing from all of that. You're just lucky to be alive, ya know."

"I know that already!" Grumbling, Heiji took another bite out of his ice pop, glowering up at the ceiling. She made it sound so easy- how exactly could he ignore such blatantly suspicious looking guys in black anyways? It would go against everything he stood for as a detective, to ignore something like that happening in front of him. Granted, the end result of it all was that he'd been shrunken into a seven year old and was forced to live under an assumed identity at his childhood friend's place, but how was he supposed to know such a science fiction like plot twist was about to take place in his life? It even sounded ridiculous now.

"Well, at least ya finally got to meet yer precious Kudo." Kazuha said, pulling the last bit of her ice pop off the stick with her teeth. "I don't see what ya see in that guy, Heiji. He seems kinda..." As she trailed off, searching for words to described the aforementioned detective of the east, she glanced down at her stick. "Ah, a winner."

"He's not my precious anythin'." Heiji grumbled, shooting her a dirty look. "He's just my rival, my rival. Just as I thought though, he was pretty interestin'!" His grin was quickly soured as he recalled exactly how the high school detective in question had treated him, however. "Although it was a total pain ta have him treatin' me like I was some kind of unruly child the whole time. Ahh, this body's nothin' but trouble."

"It sounds like he didn't know anything about you to begin with though." Kazuha observed, ignoring the scary look her shrunken childhood friend sent her. "Are ya sure yer not the only one thinking of him as a rival?"

"It doesn't matter!" Puffing out his cheeks, Heiji's face took on a downright childish expression. Finishing off his own ice pop, he grumbled as he turned over the stick to reveal that he hadn't won anything this time. Speaking of Kudo though, it sparked something in his head. "By the way, Kazuha, ya wanna go somewhere this weekend?"

"Sure, I don't mind." Kazuha said, lying back on the tatami mat herself, peering over at Heiji. As long as they didn't run into another case, she generally enjoyed her time with Heiji, much as their bickering would indicate otherwise- even if he did have the appearance of a child at the moment. Oddly enough these circumstances had actually managed to bring the pair of them closer together. Well, given that they were now living underneath the same roof, it wasn't all that surprising. "Where did ya have in mind, Heiji? And why bring it up so suddenly?"

"I got tickets to some amusement park from the old ladies at the shoppin' district. Tropical Land, or somethin'." Heiji said, reaching into his pockets and pulling them out to show her. "Apparently they're openin' up some new thrill ride this Sunday, an' they got tickets to it they weren't gonna use. There's three of 'em so I thought I'd ask ya if ya wanted ta go. Nanako, too, I guess, since there's three of 'em."

"Those old ladies sure do love you." Kazuha couldn't help but observe, wondering what it was that they saw in him. Adults seemed roughly divided into two categories in regards to 'Tsukiyama Kaname', the alias that Heiji had decided on- either he was a total brat, or they thought he was the most adorable thing on earth. Come to think of it, it had been that when they had been children as well, she just hadn't noticed as much at the time. "But sure, sounds fun. It's been awhile since I've been to an amusement park anyways. But Heiji, are ya sure you're going to be tall enough to go on the rides in the first place?"

"Like I said, I'm not that short!"

"Miyano, you here?"

Judging from the click of the tongue that got him, she obviously was. "Where else would I be, pray tell, Kudo-kun?"

"Sorry, standard question." Shinichi said quickly, giving the slightly older girl a small smile to try and smooth over any irritation that he might cause her. As he'd come to know over the past two months, there was nothing quite like Miyano Shiho when you were on her bad side. She might not know karate like Ran, but the cold shoulder she could give a person was nothing short of legendary in it's own right.

"Have you considered making it less standard?" Shiho asked simply, finally coming into view. She had been in the library after all, just as he had expected her to be. "I take it there's no cases for you today."

"Yeah." Nodding his head, Shinichi made his way into the kitchen, getting ready to make some tea. "I'm going to make some tea. You want anything, Miyano?"

"I'm fine. I've already gotten my own." Shiho said simply, coming down the stairs just enough so that her voice continued to carry through the house. "You seem in an unusually cheerful mood. Considering how annoyed you were yesterday, I thought that cloud would hang over you longer."

"I've got plans with Ran for this Sunday." He reported to her. "We're going back to Tropical Land for some kind of event opening party. Ah, do you want me to bring you back anything, Miyano?" Poking his head out of the kitchen, Shinichi met her eyes. "Well, as long as it's something I can bring back without rousing Ran's suspicion, that is."

"Let's see..." Shiho frowned, tapping a finger against her chin as she thought about it. "I can't think of anything in particular I'd want from a theme park. If it were a designer store, that would be different however."

"For someone in hiding, you sure have expensive tastes." Shinichi couldn't help but observe, before ducking into the kitchen, dodging her rather fearsome glare. "Well, when we get done with this Black Organization of yours, you can buy all the designer handbags you want, I guess. Sorry that you have to put up with my mother's wardrobe in the meantime."

"It's not that bad." Shiho said simply, shrugging her shoulders. "Your mother has surprisingly good taste, considering her son's fashion sense."

"Excuse me for not being fashionable." Shinichi grumbled, setting the kettle on the stove. "It's not exactly my highest priority, you know."

"So I've become aware." Shiho noted. "I almost feel sorry for this Ran girl of yours. I do hope you plan on dressing decently for your upcoming date with her."

"It's not a date!" Shinichi sputtered, feeling his cheeks turn a light shade of pink against his will, grateful that she couldn't see him from the stairwell. "Sonoko's going as well, I mean. Besides, I've told you before- Ran and I aren't like that! We're just childhood friends, nothing more than that."

"If you insist." Shiho's tone was skeptical, and it made Shinichi grumble to himself all the more. For someone who was depending so much on his goodwill, she sure did have a sharp tongue. "Well, I'll watch the house while you're gone then, Kudo-kun. Although really, there's nothing else I can do. If I take so much as one step outside of the place, the Organization is bound to find me much sooner."

"Aren't you the pessimistic one?" Shinichi couldn't help but ask. "Well, you've got a point though. You only managed to escape from them in the first place by the skin of your teeth. Considering you're the one that made that weird poison they keep talking about, there's no doubt that they're highly invested in finding out where you're hiding."

Thinking back on it, he wasn't quite sure why he had decided to take in the mysterious teenage girl, one year his senior, who he had found collapsed in front of his home one rainy evening. It was a good thing that she'd woken up in time to tell him to not call the hospital, otherwise he was almost certain that this girl- Miyano Shiho, she gave her name as- would already be back within their clutches- or worse.

They'd already killed her older sister, after all, using the same poison that the younger sister had developed. That was too cruel, no matter how you looked at it. He already knew that it weighed heavily on Shiho's conscience- the only cold bit of comfort that she had was the fact that her sister, Miyano Akemi, had never actually had her death confirmed. It left open the chance, however slight, that she might be still alive.

Ever since then he'd been hiding Shiho in his house, not knowing where else to take her. Other than his parents and his next door neighbor, Professor Agasa, nobody even knew she was here. She didn't leave the house, and they were extremely careful to not leave any traces of her existence lying around for just anyone to find. Not even Ran knew about her presence here- although, in part, Shinichi was keeping it from her for a different reason than just worrying about her safety. He didn't want for her to get the wrong idea.

"By the way, about the other day," Shiho spoke up suddenly, heading the rest of the way down the stairs, entering into the kitchen. "There was something that you said that jostled my memory. I have something for you to look into."

"Oh?" Glancing over at her, an expression of what she knew was anticipation as he caught the scent of a mystery ahead of him crossing his face. "Something about those guys in black?"

"Something related to them, at least." Shiho nodded her head. "Other than my sister, there was another victim of Apotoxin whose death was never confirmed. It didn't mean anything to me at the time, but it might be something that's worth looking into."

"Who is it?" Shinichi asked, his curiosity more than piqued.

"Did you know that you apparently have a rival?" Shiho asked, before pausing to correct herself. "Or had, at any rate. It was what you mentioned that boy from the other day calling you that made me look into things a little, but it appears that just as you are the high school detective of the east, there was also a high school detective of the west. An Osakan boy by the name of Hattori Heiji, the only son of the Superintendent Supervisor of the Osakan Prefectural police. One who suddenly vanished off the radar around three months ago."

"I recognized his name right away as being on the list of Apotoxin victims." Shiho continued, tucking her hands inside the pockets of her lab coat. "He's listed as the other unconfirmed death. It might be worth looking into, Kudo-kun. At the very least, you might learn something about them if you dig deeper into this."

"Hattori Heiji." Shinichi repeated the name, wondering why it didn't ring a bell. Then again, he'd never really paid much attention to detectives other than him in the news, so he doubted he'd know it, even if he was supposedly well known enough to be considered his rival. "I see. You're right, that does seem strange. I'll look into it, Miyano."

Nodding her head, seemingly satisfied with this, Shiho turned around on her heel. "That's good then. Make sure to report to me anything you find. And Kudo-kun?" She paused, sparing a glance back at him. "Do be careful."

"Don't worry, I will." Shinichi was quick to promise her.

As she turned back around again, Shinichi missed the strange expression that surfaced in the prodigy scientist's eyes. There was at least one fact about Apotoxin that she had yet to share with him- a theory that lingered in the back of her mind, one based off of almost nothing other than hope.

Hope, and a single lab mouse that hadn't died after being fed Apotoxin. It had instead portrayed the most curious of results- something she'd concealed even from the Organization.

It shrank.

If there was a one in a million chance that her sister might be alive, then Shiho would bank every hope that she had on it, no matter how harshly she might be let down afterwards if it proven not to be the case. After all, she didn't want to let things end like this. At the very least, she didn't doubt that if her sister really had, by some miracle, survived, that she was probably looking for her just as frantically.

She could only pray that her faint hope would pay off in the end.

"Eh, you're going to Tropical Land, Kaname-kun?"

From the loud whine in his classmate's voice, the one formerly known as Hattori Heiji and currently known as Tsukiyama Kaname, suddenly began to regret informing the trio of actual children that surrounded him. It couldn't be helped though! They'd been pestering him so much about what he was doing that Sunday, and why he couldn't come hang out with them and Satoshi that he'd just sort of ended up blurting it out without thinking about it.

"I am. What about it?" Kaname asked, glancing over at the boy walking just beside him- Yagi Mikihiko. "I only had three tickets anyways, it wasn't like you lot could come along in the first place."

"Well, you could have just given them to us..." Ohsawa Kenta spoke up, tilting his head slightly as he made the 'innocent' suggestion.

"Don't be stupid." Esaka Mayumi folded her arms in front of her chest, shooting her friend a look. "If he did that, he wouldn't have any for himself, and he's the one the old ladies at the shopping street gave them to in the first place! Besides, with three tickets, we couldn't invite Satoshi anyways, so it wouldn't even matter."

"Look, I'll pick up the three of ya some souvenirs, so don't fuss so much about it." Kaname told them, letting out a small sigh as this seemed to excite the trio in an instant. "It's not like I'm keepin' ya out on purpose. It just ended up that way."

"They're supposed ta be showin' off a new attraction that day, aren't they?" Mayumi spoke up. "My older brother's one of those thrill ride junkies or whatever ya call 'em, an' he hasn't shut up about it once since earlier. Honestly, I'm already sick of hearing about!"

"That does sounds mighty annoyin'." Kaname quirked a brow. "So anyways, I can't come with the four of ya fishin' this Sunday, cause I have plans. If ya really want someone ta keep ya company though, I think Otaki-han's free that weekend. He'd probably come along with ya if ya asked him."

"Then, maybe we'll give him a call!" Mikihiko said, sounding pleased at the prospect. "If we have an adult with us, we might be able to cook the fish we catch... what do you think, Mayumi-chan?"

"Yeah, I think it sounds like a good idea. I know a good fishin' spot that has grills ya can use." Mayumi nodded her head. "By the way, Kaname, how do ya know Otaki-han in the first place? The two of ya have always seemed to be on real friendly terms ever since the start. I've never seen an adult listen to a child so well afore."

"Ah, that?" Kaname rapidly blinked, racking his brain for a possible explanation. There was no way he could tell these actual seven year olds that the classmate they'd decided to attach themselves to, for reasons he frankly still didn't understand, was actually just the shrunken form of the well known high school detective of the west. Even these kids seemed to know his reputation, it seemed. It had actually caused a bit of a stir the first time he'd met the trio- Kazuha had been completely right earlier when she'd bemoaned how recognizable he was. It was one of the reasons why his father had at first considered relocating him completely out of Osaka- something which he'd stubbornly refused to accept.

Any resemblance he had to the famous high school detective Hattori Heiji had been explained away by being his distant relative, which the kids had easily bought. "Ya know, since that guy's," he'd never once managed to actually refer to himself as a different person, 'that guy' was about as close as he could get to it, "my mother's aunt's cousin's son, he introduced me to him once before. That's how."

"Hmm." Mayumi blinked, and for a second, Heiji wondered if she'd bought it. He had to bite back a sigh of relief when she seemed to accept it easily enough. "Well, it's not a bad thing, having an adult willing to listen to ya. Rather, it makes thing easy for us. As the leader of the Detective Club, I consider Otaki-han to be a valuable ally to us!"

"Haah." Was all Kaname could managed to say, his brows knitting together, wondering how he'd managed to get himself dragged into this mess. It was all probably because he couldn't keep his mouth shut when it came to mysteries, he thought, thinking back on it. Maybe if he and Kazuha hadn't helped these kids find their no-show best friend he wouldn't be stuck with them right now. But how was he supposed to know that the group of kids he'd encountered would wind up becoming his classmates once he was enrolled in grade school?

Recognizing him as the one who had helped them out before, they'd almost instantly latched on to him, and he could never quite get rid of them, no matter how surly he might try to act around them. He'd eventually just given up and decided to put up with it. Somewhere along the way they'd gotten it into their heads that they were going to form a Detective Club- and he'd found himself roped into that as well. At least Nanako had the benefit of being enrolled several grades higher then them, and didn't have to deal with them all the time.

That said, she was better with children than he was. Probably because she had a younger sister of her own, he thought.

"Ah, it's Kazuha-neechan!"

Blinking at the mention of his childhood friend's name, Kaname looked up, watching as she turned around upon hearing Kenta and Mikihiko call out to her. As she spotted Kaname in their midst, the hint of a bemused grin crossed her face, one that made his eye twitch. One would think she would eventually get tired of making fun of him, but it appeared that Kazuha was having a regular field day with this whole situation. If it wasn't her, it was his mother causing him problems- the way she'd gleefully dug out his old randoseru upon learning of his enrollment into elementary school, and the way she eagerly heaped new clothes upon him gave him the distinct impression that she was greatly enjoying this second childhood her son was having.

Frankly, it pissed him off.

Unfortunately, as it turned out, both his mother and Kazuha thought his anger was adorable when he was this size.

"Don't you have aikido practice today, Kazuha?" Kaname asked, taking what small satisfactions he could from his adamant refusal to give into what Kazuha wanted. It'd be a cold day in hell before he addressed her as neechan. "What are ya doin' here?"

"It was canceled at the last minute." Kazuha told him, pouting a little. Just once- just once! She was going to get him to call her neechan while he was still like this. And once he did, she'd never let it go for the rest of his life- which was, probably, why he was being so stubborn about doing it in the first place. "Our coach an' a few other members apparently came down with the stomach flu."

"Hey, you're going to Tropical Land this Sunday, aren't you, Kazuha-neechan?" Mikihiko spoke up. "Have you ever been before?"

"No." Shaking her head, Kazuha smiled down at the boy. "It's my first time. Right, Kaname-kun?"

Blinking, Kaname glanced up at her, giving her a small nod. "Yeah. It's my first time too. If it's USJ though, we've been plenty of times."

"I prefer USJ anyways." Mayumi said, frowning a little. "Well, you'd better keep yer promise about souvenirs anyways, Kaname."

"Yes, yes." Grumbling to himself a little, he walked a bit ahead of them. "Well, since Kazuha's here, I'll head on back with her. I'll see that three of ya at school tomorrow, I guess." Pausing to glance back up at Kazuha, he quirked a brow. "Ya comin', Kazuha?"

"Yeah, just a second." Nodding her head, Kazuha flashed another smile towards the trio. "Then, I'll see the three of you later as well." Turning around, she noticed that her shrunken childhood friend was already some distance ahead of her. "Hey, wait, Kaname-kun! How can ya walk so fast on such short legs?!"

"Like I said, they're not that short!"

As the three actual child members of the Detective Club watched the pair head off, they exchanged glances with each other. "I bet ya anything Kaname wishes that Nanako-neechan wasn't coming with them as well." Mayumi observed, placing her hands on her hips.

Nodding his head, Kenta couldn't help but agree with this. "Yeah. I mean, it's pretty obvious, isn't it?"

"It's barely even a mystery." Mikihiko nodded his head. "There's no mistake- Kaname-kun is definitely in love with Kazuha-neechan."

"Probably doesn't even realize it himself though. He's dense about that sort of thing." Mayumi observed.