The New Assistants

Megure smiled grimly as the culprit was dragged off. "Looks like I owe you another one, Shinichi. Thanks again for helping out."

"It's no trouble at all, Inspector. I'm just doing my job-"

"Hi, Inspector!" Three voices chirped in unison, cutting Shinichi off.

Megure glanced down to see the Detective Boys' faces smiling up at him. "Oh, hey you guys. Nice to see you." Megure blinked, realizing that someone was missing. "Say, where's Conan?"

"What are you talking about? Conan is right – OW!"

Genta cried out as Shinichi stamped on his foot. "Oops, sorry Genta. My bad."

Genta rubbed his foot, glaring daggers at Shinichi. Shinichi responded with a warning glare back, the message in his eyes clear: Keep your mouth shut.

Ignoring the glare-off, Megure focused on the remaining two kids. "So what brings you three here?"

"We're here with Con–Kudo. Detective Kudo," Mitsuhiko corrected quickly, covering his near slip-up.

Ayumi nodded in agreement. "Yeah, he brought us along."

"I see." The inspector's tone grew more serious as he turned his attention back to Kudo. "Shinichi. May I ask what you're doing with these kids? A crime scene is not the ideal place for babysitting."

Pasting a smile on his face, Shinichi redirected his gaze back to Megure. "Oh, right. I nearly forgot. Inspector, I'd like you to meet my new assistants."

"Assistants?" Megure repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"Yep," Shinichi replied, wearing his trademark cocky grin. Yet though it looked the same as always, the grin seemed… softer, somehow. "I'd heard numerous stories about the Detective Boys' exploits, and recognized their potential. So I approached them one day with an offer of training under me. And they accepted."

Megure raised a hand to his chin, stroking it thoughtfully. "Well, I suppose they are more likely to stay out of trouble if they have supervision." He clapped Shinichi on the back with a grin. "Glad to see you're up to the task."

Shinichi sweatdropped nervously. Keep the Detective Boys out of trouble? Oh boy, what have I gotten myself into…?

"Assistants?" Ayumi pouted. "I thought we were partners."

Genta, of course, piped up with a, "Yeah, I'm not taking orders from a guy who used to be shorter than me."

Megure scratched his head. Where had that comment come from?

Again, Shinichi wondered what had possessed him that he'd considered this a good idea.

"Wow! Did you see the look on that guy's face when Conan busted him? BAM!" Ayumi punched her fist in the air for emphasis as the four of them strolled down the street.

"I told you guys, the name's Shinichi now." He rolled his eyes, but he couldn't hide the slight smile on his face. "Still, it was thanks to you guys I cracked the case. You know what that means?"

"Ice cream!" Choruses of "Hooray!" followed as the three raced on ahead to the ice cream parlor.

Shinichi shook his head good naturedly. Kids were so easy to please.

Because I like the idea of Shinichi incorporating aspects of Conan's life into his, that's why. Don't ask me to continue this, because I most likely won't. If anyone wants to take this idea and run with it, though, just let me know.