So for those of you who follow me just for Gravity Rises and wondering why I'm posting this story and not another chapter for Gravity Rises, well I needed another outlet to help me keep writing. And gosh do I love mystery stories. So don't worry, I will be getting another chapter of Gravity Rises real soon to you guys.

On the other note, this story will just be about the same as the canon anime/manga. The only difference is the protagonist is a female with a different name. Haha, so you can expect to be a lot of differences including her and Ran's relationship.

This story will probably consist of a few chapters, but I'll continue it the more you guys ask me to. Just keep in mind that Gravity Rises is my main project.

Well that's all I have to say. I'm a busy busy bee cramming life, school, and sports into everyday. But I'll always try to make time to write. Oh yeah and Happy Halloween everyone!

Pain.

That was the first thing Shino registered in her mind when she opened her eyes. The second thing that slowly registered to her aching head was a bright light that was being beamed down at her followed by a loud male voice speaking in a gruff tone.

"I found a child! She's hurt! Call the ambulance!"

Child.

Shino groggily shook her head at the man's comment. That couldn't be right. She was 16. A second year high school student. Why were they even calling her a child?

"It appears her head was injured. She has a head wound." Shino heard a second man say this time with a softer voice.

Wait, injured? Was that why her head was pulsing in pain? Shino slowly lifted her hand and placed it on the spot of her head where the throbbing pain was coming from the most. As soon as her hand made contact with her head, she flinched and quickly took her hand off looking down at it. On it was blood. Her blood.

Wait. Something was wrong.

Shino stared closely at her now bloody hand with her eyes following from the hand to her arm studying the oversized blue sweater she was wearing. Why was it so large? Shino knew it fitted it. After all, she had just gotten it not even a week ago.

Suddenly, Shino's blue eyes widened in shock realizing something. It wasn't just her sweater that had grew. It was everything she had been wearing. Her clothes had all grown. Or... Shino felt a large lump grow in her throat. Maybe it was because she had shrunk.

"Okay. We'll take her in. She might be involved in a criminal case."

Shino lifted her to see the two men with their backs turned towards talking to a cellphone. From the suits they were wearing, she could tell they were policemen. And because of that, she knew she couldn't let them take her in to the police station. They wouldn't believe her if she told them what happened. She needed to get out of there and find out herself what exactly happened to her. She was suppose to be dead that she knew.

Clenching her teeth, Shino positioned the palms of her hand on the ground. Using them as well as her legs, she lifted herself up from the ground while making sure to bite her tongue from crying out in pain from the movement. Once she was on her feet, she quickly tied the skirt she was wearing so it awkwardly fitted around her now small waist and pulled up the sleeves of the sweater she was wearing. After making sure the clothes she was wearing wouldn't fall down, Shino took a few shaky steps away from the police to a nearby bush. It took at least several seconds before she gained balance on her two small feet. When Shino gained this, she immediately broke into a run. She ran away as fast as she could from the policemen, away from the shady area she was found at, and away from the amusement park itself.

Once she was a safe distance away, Shino stopped to catch her breath right by a small store. She hadn't realized how much her lungs were hurting nor the fact that it was currently pouring rain. No, the only thing she was focused on now was the small child looking at her from the glass she was currently standing by. The small child looking at her had her dark blue eyes and the color of her long dark brown hair stained with blood. Shino stared at the girl in front of her in shock and slowly dropped to her knees in disbelief.

This couldn't be her. It couldn't.

Shino wanted to scream at her reflection, but instead remained in silence transfixed on the child before her. What happened? Why was she was like this? Was there a way to change her back?

"When did it all go wrong?" Shino thought bitterly to herself.

What exactly was she suppose to do now?

"Shino wake up!"

Shino opened her eyes and glanced around drowsily looking for where the source of the voice came from. When her vision finally became clear, she found herself looking at her best friend, Ran Mouri. Like her, Ran had dark blue eyes, but light brown hair longer in comparison to Shino's. However, Ran was not her usual cheerful self and was glaring down at Shino with a disappointed look.

"Geez Shino, I've been calling you three times now to wake up." Ran said crossing her arms. "It's lunch time now. You slept all throughout class. Did you solve another case last night?"

Case? Oh right. She did solve one last night. It was a murder case at a party she was invited to. By the time she came home, it was past midnight.

"Shino." Ran said wanting a response.

Shino squeezed her eyes shut fighting to yawn and only nodded her head stretching her arms.

Ran sighed in acknowledgment at Shino's response and placed down her lunch bag on Shino's desk sitting down down across from her. She smiled as she opened her lunch bag. "Well tell me all about it Shino. You didn't exactly finish that phone call you had with me last night."

Shino only nodded getting out her own lunch bag. As the two friends ate their lunch, Shino made sure to go over detail over what happened on the case she solved. There was a murder at the party of the wife of the host. It took Shino some time given she didn't have that many details to go over, but eventually she found out who killed the wife. It was the host himself who was an old man bound to a wheelchair from a leg injury.

The murder occurred exactly after dinner. The wife had gone to her room to change which the host took the opportunity to kill her. He entered the room and killed her using a knife that did not have his fingerprints on it and then jumped out of the window and climbed to the roof. Once he was on the roof, he had went back down to the party in his wheelchair to make it look like he had no possible way of committing the murder. However, the host made one crucial mistake: There was evidence that his leg had healed from his doctors exactly three months earlier before the party occurred. The host had faked his leg injury just so that no one would suspect him. But Shino could see right through him. And because of that, that man was now behind bars.

"So that's what happened... Shino, this is the fifth case this week. Aren't you tired?" Ran asked in concern after Shino had finished telling what happened.

Shino shook her head smiling. "No, not at all. I mean, I just can't help it when Inspector Megure calls me to help him solve cases. It's what I am Ran. A detective.

"High school detective." Ran corrected as she placed her finished bento box away back into her lunch bag. "I just... I'm worried about you. It seems like you never get a break now."

Shino frowned looking away. Was Ran right? Now that she thought about it, it always seemed like she was always too busy solving a case. But, she was a detective after all. And yet, she hated making Ran worried.

"Anyway, I wanted to ask if you could go to the amusement park, Topical Land, with me tomorrow. I think it's about time we did something together. Besides you canceled shopping on me two weeks ago Shino." Ran said giving a determined look at Shino begging for Shino to say yes.

Shino stare at Ran's eyes for several seconds thinking of any excuse before she finally sighed. There was no way she could say no to Ran. Unlike her, she never forgets about things and liked to hold grudges.

"Okay," Shino answered with a small smile. "I'll go."

Ran smiled brightly and wrapped her arms around Shino giving her a big hug. Shino felt her chest ache in pain from the strong bear hug Ran was giving her. She forced herself to take it though until Ran had let go. When she did, Shino looked up to to her to see her eyes twinkling in happiness.

"Okay, meet me at the amusement park tomorrow at 10. And you better not back down Shino or I will make you regret it."

Shino chuckled nervously nodding. "I-I understand Ran. Perfectly."

Just as Shino finished speaking, a loud bell echoed throughout the classroom signaling that lunch was over and it was time to get back to another lesson. Or in Shino's case: sleeping.

"And that's why Holmes is so amazing! He could tell from the moment he first met Professor Watson that he was a military doctor in Afganistán just from a handshake!"

"Oh please Shino." Shino heard Ran say right next to her in a bored tone. "You say a lot of things about what's amazing about Holmes."

Shino struck her tongue out at Ran playfully smiling looking away not noticing that she was staring at a woman with a pearl necklace. After several seconds, Shino looked way from the woman back to Ran. The two friends were currently in a line waiting to board a roller coaster at Tropical Park. While waiting, Shino had decided to combat the boredom of waiting by talking about her most favorite person in the world: Sherlock Holmes. However Ran was not taking the conversation very well.

"Come on Ran. Can't you at least agree with me that Holmes is amazing?" Shino asked looking up at Ran with a pleasing tone.

Ran shook her head looking away. "No, because you talk about him way too much. You might as well marry him Shino given how much you idol him and all."

Shino felt her cheeks heat up and simply looked away so that Ran wouldn't see her face. As she did, she heard a loud screech from the rollercoaster coming to a stop followed by a male's voice calling people to get on. Not even noticing, Shino felt Ran take her hand into hers leading to the roller coaster. As they got on the second car, Shino realized that she was staring at Ran. Ran noticed this and gave a huge smile back at Shino.

"Are you okay Shino?" Ran asked as she placed the safety guard on herself.

Shino nodded her head as she did did the same thing. "I... I just forgot how it felt hanging out with you."

Ran stared at Shino for several seconds in seriousness before breaking up in laughter. "Oh Shino. Well you wouldn't feel like that if you just went shopping with me when I asked you to two weeks ago you mystery otaku."

Shino puffed her cheeks in annoyance. "Well I would have if I wasn't so caught up in that murder case. You know being a detective calls for me to be on call every second of the day."

Ran nodded glancing down sadly. "I know... but even then, I just can't help myself worrying about you."

"Ran..." Shino heard herself murmured. She opened her mouth to say more and cheer Ran up, but the roller coaster roared to life. It shakily moved forward silencing Shino. As it moved to the top, Shino glanced at Ran who was only frowning. Shino wanted to cheer her up, but even then, she had no idea what to do.

As she thought about this, the sound of the rollercoaster stopped. Shaken out of her thoughts, Shino glanced around seeing that they were now at the top of the tracks overlooking everything. She figured that she should at least enjoy the ride for Ran. Immediately after deciding this, Shino felt the rollercoaster move forward and in effect, she saw her whole world in colorful blurs with people screaming both in fear and excitement.

Eventually the blurred colors turned into black. Shino figured that they were now in a tunnel. She only stared forward trying to ignore the creeping darkness that seemed to engulf her until Shino felt something wet on her forehead. She placed her finger on her forehead to check if it was water that had dropped on her when she heard a loud suspicious sound behind her. What followed the sound was a warm liquid falling on the side of her cheek. Immediately, Shino knew something was wrong. But it was too dark to see anything.

When the roller coaster finally made it out of the tunnel, Shino turned her head behind her to see what exactly happened. What she did not expect to see was a headless body.

Someone had just died right behind her.

"So let me see if I have this right Kudou-kun. There was no signs of an accident or mechanical failure. And you gathered five suspects besides you and Ran-kun that were currently on the rollercoaster at the time."

Shino nodded her head at the large man she was currently talking to. His name was Juzo Megure, a Police Inspector in Division 1 of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. He usually always called her down to help with solving cases. Only this time, Shino had called him.

"Yes, I'm positive it was one of the five excluding me and Ran." Shino said staring at the laid out bird's eyes view drawing of the rollercoaster's cars on the ground. She pointed at the third car behind the car she and Ran had rode in.

"There was where the man sat." Shino said before pointing at the seat right next it. "Right here was the victim's lover." She then pointed at the first car. "In the first car was the victim's friends. And lastly, in the fourth cart was two men in black."

Shino crossed her arms and then looked up at Megure. "However since everyone was wearing safety guards and unable to move, the only one who could have killed the victim was the woman sitting right next to him."

"Hey, can you hurry it up! We haven't got time to play detective games with you." Said an emotionless male voice behind Shino. She turned her head to see one of the men in black glaring down at her with cold gray eyes. Staring at them, Shino felt her whole body shiver.

So cold. Who was he?

"Inspector, there's a knife in this woman's bag!"

Shino forced herself to turn from the man's cold eyes to a policeman holding up a bright red bag that belonged to the woman that sat right next to the victim. Inside it was a knife wrapped in a bloody cloth.

The woman, who had sat next to the victim, stared at at the red bag with shock and disbelief. She dropped down to her knees hugging herself with tears silently falling from her eyes. "No..." she chocked out pathetically. "That's not mine! I... I... i didn't do it!"

"Aiko... How could you do such a thing?" Shino heard one of the suspects say with sadness and pity in her voice.

"No please! It wasn't me!" Aiko pleaded hoping someone would believe her. But it was useless. The crowd that had gathered around the crime scene all gave her silent looks with mixtures of pity, sadness, and disbelief that she would do such a thing.

The only person who wasn't giving that kind of look to Aiko was Shino herself. Instead, she was staring at the ground thinking quietly to herself while ignoring the commotion around her. She knew that Aiko didn't commit the murder. It was too simple. She was missing something. But what?

'Drip'

Shino widened her eyes at that sound and quickly turned to the source of it. She found herself staring at a pipeline at the corner of the wall dripping water.

"Water"

"Tears"

Of course! Why didn't she see it sooner! The crucial piece of the puzzle that she had overlooked. Smiling, Shino turned to Megure who was about to handcuff Aiko.

"Wait Inspector, she's not the killer! It's her!" Shino said in a loud tone pointing at the woman who had accused Aiko. The woman stared at Shino in shock simply shaking her head.

"W-what are you talking about?! The police found a knife in her bag! She has to be the killer!"

Shino shook her head smiling confidently. "You can't sever a head with a knife. Besides, if she had used the knife, it would been more to her favor to toss the knife away instead of hiding it in her bag wrapped in cloth."

"Admit it," Shino continued. "You placed that knife in her bag."

"No! I didn't! I... I was sitting two seats ahead of Kishida-kun! T-there's no way I could have killed him with the knife!"

"You're right. There's no way you could have killed the victim with the knife. But with the speed of the rollercoaster and a steel hoop made from piano wire, it is possible."

The woman stared in shock at Shino stunned at her response. At that point, Shino knew that she was right and it was time to demonstrate her hypothesis. She turned to Inspector Megure and continued.

"Inspector, can I have your assistance?"

Inspector Megure only nodded his head. "Uh sure Kudou-kun."

And so Shino led him and the other officers to the rollercoaster cars. She sat down in the side of the first car and had Megure sit in the third car behind her with the other officers filling in the other seats. From that, Shino went on exactly how the murderer killed the victim. First, she explained how the murderer used a bag and placed it behind her to help her get out of the lowered safety guard. Next, she explained how the murderer used a hoop with a hook at the other end prepared beforehand and threw it around the victim's neck while maintaining her balance with her leg in the guard. After that, the murderer tossed the hook into the rail.

"And of course, with the power and speed of the rollercoaster, the victim's head would come right off." Shino finished looking at everyone who only stared at her in awe and bewilderment.

However, there was only one person who wasn't giving that look to Shino. It was the woman who Shino had pointed at of committing the crime.

"This is outrageous! Where is your proof? You have no way of saying that I did it!" She shouted with tears rushing down from her eyes.

Shino smiled. She did had proof. And it was something she had noticed earlier while in waiting in line with Ran.

"Let me ask you something then. Where is the pearl necklace you were wearing earlier?"

"W-what are you talking about?" The woman asked.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about." Shino replied with confidence in her voice. "You were wearing a pearl necklace before you got on the rollercoaster. And if I'm right, I'm positive that you exchanged the pearl necklace for the piano wire and had a hook hidden in the bag you were carrying."

"Hold on! She could not have done it! What about those two?!" The woman's friend responded in fear pointing to the two black men who only turned away concealing their faces with their hats.

Shino stared at them in silence wondering why they gave her such an odd feeling only to look away turning back to the woman.

"As suspicious as they might be, they are innocent. If they were the people who committed the crime, they would not have stuck around when the police came. It's only suffice to say that they would have known this would have happen if they did do it."

"Besides," Shino continued. "The murdered knew she was killing the victim. And she cried when she did it."

"Wait!? So you're saying that you saw Hitome cry on the ride? Do you have any proof?!" The woman raged with a scornful eyes.

"I do." Shino replied staring determinedly at the woman. "I felt her tears. Only on a rollercoaster can tears flow sideways."

Hitomi stared at Shino in silence and suddenly fell to knees covering her tear-stained face with her hands.

"He was awful to me!" She yelled with a disdained tone. "He deserved it! He left me with only that pearl necklace for that woman. I... I wanted to kill him!"

Shino only stared at the bawling woman and turned away nodding towards Inspector Megure who took that as a sign to arrest the murderer. As he did that, Shino found herself looking at a small pearl that had found itself in the corner of the victim's seat. She couldn't understand why, but they reflected the colors of death just like large tears.

"Ran, are you okay?" Shino heard herself ask as the two walked away from the scene of the crime. She felt bad that Ran had to see that. Unlike her, Ran was more emotional about murders. It was why she never liked to take Ran with her when she had to solve cases.

Ran nodded her head wiping away her tears. "I-I'm fine Shino. I-it's just... how could she do such a thing to a person?"

"To be honest, I don't know the answer to that question." Shino answered sadly. "It's probably something I'll never find the answer to."

Shino sighed and looked away only to see one of the black man's glancing around suspiciously before breaking into a run into the ally. Shino stared at where the man went deciding that she should follow. Sure he was innocent at the crime scene, but he was suspicious. And it time Shino got to the bottom of this of why those men in black struck her oddly.

"Ran, go ahead of me! I'll call you when I get home!" Shino said smiling to Ran as she broke off into a run after the man. She turned away not seeing that Ran only stared at her back with tears in her eyes and a fearful expression that this was the last time she would see Shino.

Shino containing running until she heard male voices. She stopped and hid behind a wall silently listening in to the conversation.

"I know you came by yourself. I checked to make sure from the top of the rollercoaster."

"Please give me the thing."

"I will, but the money comes first."

"Here! Now give me what I want!"

Shino forced herself to turned her head to look at the men who were talking. One of the men was one of the men in black she had followed. The other was a man in a gray suit wearing black sunglasses. They both looked heavily suspicious. Once Shino's eyes traveled down to the large suitcase the man was holding opened, she widened her eyes in shock. In it was a large amount of cash. She knew then she was watching an illegal transaction. The two men were making an illegal deal.

"The deal is complete." The men in black said taking ahold of the suitcase and closing it. He then took out a small piece of item from his pocket and handed it to the other man. "Here's the film of your company's gun smuggling. Wouldn't want that falling into the wrong hands."

The man only nodded with sweat running down from his forehead and turned running away. Shino watched for only for a few seconds deciding that she needed to report this to the police. Just as she was about to turn, she felt something hit the back of her head hard. From the impact, she fell to the ground while trying her best to keep her eyes open. She couldn't fall asleep. Not now. But everything was disoriented and she could only make out two voices. Both of whom that belonged to the men in black.

"This little girl was trailing us."

"A-aniki! W-what should we do? Kill her?"

Kill her? No they couldn't! Shino felt herself try to get up, but her body was not responding. She was helpless. There was nothing she could do.

"No we cannot use guns. The police are still here. Instead we'll use this... The new poison that the organization developed."

Shino felt a hand grabbed onto her hair and pulled her head up. She wanted to scream at the man to let go off her but she couldn't. All she could do was listen and feel. She felt the man place something into her mouth and liquid that tasted like water. After that, her hair was released from the icy grip and was dropped back onto the ground with the man's voice speaking over her.

"So long detective..."

Immediately after, she felt her body began to burn. It felt like her bones were melting. And that fact scared her. She was dying. And there was nothing she could do.

"No..." Shino screamed in her head, but it was useless. She found her vision becoming cloudier by the second and the pain feeling a hundred time hotter. Soon, she found herself closing her eyes and her vision turning into black.

This was not how her life was suppose to end.