Somehow Ran knew: if she didn't follow him then, she'd never see him again. She couldn't tell why she's been so sure about that, but it was hardly the most important thing at the moment. Instead she focused on catching up with Shinichi. After almost tripping she only had general idea which way he ran, but then she heard it: a pained yelp, like someone getting attacked from behind.
"Shinichi!..." She gasped, because of course this trouble magnet had something to do with it.
And when she finally arrived at the source of the sound she saw something slightly unexpected: a small body of a boy with bloodstained hair and wrapped in a jacket much too big for him.
When Shinichi regained consciousness his head felt like it was going to explode and thinking was still an overwhelming concept, but hey, at least his bones didn't feel like melting. Trying to focus on his surroundings he realized someone was talking to him. A familiar voice… Ran?!
Finally opening eyes he locked his blurry vision on the face above him. So it really was Ran.
"Thank God, you're awake! Don't worry, little boy, I'll protect you now, you're gonna be okay" Ran's reassuring voice just made Shinichi wince.
"Little boy? Ran, I'm really not in the mood, my head hurts like hell."
"What?" Ran looked at him surprised. "Do I know you?"
Shinichi groaned and reached to wipe something wet from his face.
"Like I said, it's not very funny…" The words died in his throat as he look at his hand, hand that didn't even reach halfway through his jacket sleeve… Hand that looked so small, almost like…
"Ran! Give me a mirror, quick!"
Startled girl automatically reached into her purse and pulled out a small mirror. Shinichi quickly reached with his freed from the sleeve hand and looked at his reflection. Looking back at him was a familiar face, face he remembered seeing in his parents' photo albums, face he used to see every day.
His face, from a decade ago.
"Ran, please, it's me, Shinichi! I took you to Tropical Land for winning your karate tournament, I just solved a murder on a rollercoaster and then started following those creeps in black, one of them hit me from behind and fed me some weird experimental poison that must have done this to me, please, you gotta believe me, I'm literally wearing the same clothes as before!" the boy before her - no, Shinichi, it really must have been him - was talking faster and faster, dangerously near hyperventilating.
"Shinichi, calm down, I know, I believe you, please calm down, you're going to hurt yourself." Her assurance seemed to have a quick effect on the boy, his breathing slowing and body slightly relaxing.
"Thank you" he murmured, and then his shoulders tensed again. "But we still have a problem. What do we do now? How do we fix it?"
"Maybe Professor Agasa will know what to do, he's a scientist after all" Ran suggested, and added "But we should also do something about your head, you were bleeding pretty badly earlier and you could have a concussion."
"I feel better now, don't worry, it must have looked worse than it really was" he tried to brush her off, but feeling her glare he only rolled his eyes. "Really, that poison thing scares me much more than some headache, let's just go."
She just sighed and silently cursed her friend's stubbornness.
"Can you stand?" Ran asked and carefully held his tiny arm as he faltered slightly on his feet. "You know, I could carry you…" she looked thoughtfully at her friend and - despite his annoyed growling - picked him up and started carrying him on her back.
"Idiot, put me down!" he struggled a bit but gave up when she didn't react. She could be the stubborn one too.
They slowly made their way home. Shinichi on her back fell quiet, going over the situation over and over while trying to ignore his headache. She was careful not to shake him too much, still worried about his injury.
Ran would be lying if she said she wasn't extremely freaked out by what has happened. Her best friend suddenly shrunk down to the size of a first grader by some mysterious poison? Sounds like something straight out of a bad manga. But there she was, carrying said friend without much effort. It would definitely take some getting used too. But what if Professor Agasa couldn't fix it either? What if they didn't find a solution? She tried to stay optimistic, they couldn't give up. And then she realized something that brought tears to her eyes: he could've been dead. These men in black meant to kill Shinichi with this poison, but he lived. He was there, maybe a bit smaller, but alive.
"...and then we decided to ask you for help, since you're a genius inventor and all that. So? Can you do something, Professor?"
Shinichi now sat on a counter in Professor's kitchen, his head wrapped in bandage and wound cleaned up, but still dressed in his too large and muddy clothes from earlier.
"Hmmm, let me think. Did those men say anything about this poison?"
"I think they mentioned something about it being an experimental untraceable drug, not tested on people" Shinichi sighed "which means we're kind of fucked."
"Huh? Why?" Ran made a confused face.
"Because if it were a known drug or even a modified one, it would make it easier to create an antidote. Our best shot would be finding a sample of this poison and working with that." Agasa explained, still deep in thoughts. "Shinichi, why don't you go home, change, and then we'll discuss more? You must be pretty tired too, we can take a little break."
"Yeah, maybe you're right" Shinichi admitted and tried to jump down on the floor. Tried being a key word, since he forgot how much smaller he now was, and only Ran catching him mid-air saved him from kissing the cold tiles in Agasa's kitchen.
Shinichi murmured a quiet thanks to Ran and turned away his head, pinkish in the cheeks. He hated being so helpless, so weak. They better figure it out quickly, because best friend or not, he couldn't count on her help all the time, he didn't want to.
Slightly annoyed how well his clothes from when he was six fit (who would've thought that his mother's habit of never throwing out anything ever would be so useful) Shinichi joined Ran in the library. She was leaning on a bookshelf, playing with his dad's old glasses. When she heard him enter and looked up, her eyes widened a bit and a soft smile appeared on her lips.
"You probably don't even realize how cute you are right now" she smiled a little wider. "You look just like when we were in elementary school. It brings back memories."
"Then maybe I need a disguise" Shinichi scoffed, grabbed the glasses from Ran's hands and put them on. He shrugged at her raised eyebrows. "It did work for Clark Kent, didn't it? And since these guys really think I'm dead I should probably keep a low profile for now."
"Probably... You still look cute, but you're right, glasses make a difference." And the fact that said lenses successfully took up almost half of Shinichi's face did help a little.
"Good. Let's go back to Professor's then, we still gotta figure out our next move."
They slowly made their way Kudos' driveway and into the street, and just when they reached Professor's gate, a cheerful voice called out behind them.
"Hello Ran-chan! What are you doing here so late? Oh! And who's this little guy? He's so adorable!" Their energetic classmate chattered on, barely giving anyone time to respond.
"Mizuka-chan, hi, this is Shinichi's... distant cousin, we were just visiting Professor Agasa. Anyway, what are doing here? I didn't know you lived nearby."
"Oh, i don't, just visiting a friend for a sleepover and got a bit lost. Shinichi's cousin you say? What's your name, kiddo?"
Shinichi stared terrified at the face above him, mind completely blank and starting to panic. 'Calm down' he thought to himself 'what would Holmes do, what would Holmes do...'
"My name is... Conan. Edogawa Conan." He cursed at himself the second the words left his mouth.
"Conan? That's an unusual name."
"Oh you know" Ran chipped in "a family of mystery geeks. Sometimes even I wonder how can I stand all this mystery talk." She felt Shinichi glare at her from below but didn't look down. "Anyway, we should get going, it's already past Conan's bedtime. Will you be alright on your own?"
"Yes, I already found my way, thanks!" Mizuka jumped away a few steps and waved at them. "Bye bye, Conan-kun! See you Monday, Ran-chan!"
They waved back and waited until their classmate disappeared around the corner.
"Conan? Seriously? That's the worst name ever." Ran was unimpressed.
"Shut up, I panicked. Like you would come up with something better."
"My first thought definitely wouldn't be Holmes related, so that's already a win" she laughed and shook her head. "Let's just go inside."
"Maybe you could live with Ran? Her father is a detective, so you could gather clues about the men in black coats" Agasa suggested.
"That's actually a good idea!" She agreed. "Besides I've always wanted a little brother."
"And you're sure your dad won't throw me out instantly?"
"Oh, he can try." Ran raised her fist.
Shinichi just sighed (again) and realized that despite it's many flaws - such as Kogoro not being a very good detective - this was still the best option he had.
"Ok, let me just grab my toothbrush."