Ai Haibara was looking through her drawers for the prototype apotoxin antidote. It had to be there. She had organized and labeled everything in her usual manner, and NEVER misplaced important medicine. This was labeled under cold medicine, because she feared that otherwise Conan would come across it and use it to become Shinichi again.

"Professor?" she called, wanting to know if he had anything to do with its disappearance. "Do you happen to know where the bottle of medicine I put in this drawer went?" She hoped he hadn't been hasty enough to take any medicines name at face value…

"Ah, you mean that cold medicine?"

"Well that was what the container said but the contents were a drug that I had created" she lazily turned around and looked up at him.

He had answered her first question with a question, and now he looked worried, it was enough for her to guess at what had happened…

"You didn't take it, did you?" This was the worst case scenario, the second worst case scenario being that he had given it to the mini-detective. If Professor Agasa had taken it, she needed to ensure that he did not risk anything before it was too late, and so her worry was obvious in the urgency of her voice.

The professor went into a defensive position and said "No, you see, Conan was sick and…"

"And you saw fit to give him medicine from my drawers to get better." She sighed. When would Kudou stop getting his hands on the antidote so easily? It was worse than a game of cat and mouse, she had to constantly guard her lab to avoid these events.

"Well, where is he? We'd better get him here before it starts to take effect.

The professor looked sheepish again. "Well, you see…"

Kudo was off on a case again… He really did attract these things, didn't he. She just hoped he wouldn't do something stupid before they could deal with the situation.

"Whatever, just try to contact him, and we'll deal with the problem as we go along." He was going to have to be a lab rat and stay in place for a week after this she thought.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

But there was no response all afternoon. The telephone seemed to be out of coverage – not unusual for the area concerned, but she was starting to feel uneasy.

That evening after dinner, Hattori called. Ai came into the room just as professor Agasa was explaining that the medicine was the wrong medicine. She couldn't hear the Osakan kid he was speaking to, but heard enough to guess at the gist of the exchange.

"Hello Hattori, Finally I have someone on line! Quick, let me speak to Conan – I gave him the wrong medicine…Yes, that's right, the antidote for the APTX4869 that turned Shinichi into a child – in other words the drug that will turn him back into a high school student. I mistook the drugs that Ai had made for cold medicine and inadvertently gave it to him…. More importantly, is it true that Shinichi has lost his memories?"

She was surprised at this information, and immediately took the telephone from his hands.

The Osakan detective was still speaking…

"It may be best that he's like that for the time being. It will be easier for him to handle various things that come up in his original form."

"Idiot" – she was beside herself. Did he not realize the risks? What if he never remembered? She quickly continued talking :"That drug is just a prototype. Though I may have made a small measurement error, the range of effect should approximate 24 hours. If he doesn't regain his memories soon, things will not go well…"

"Why? He'll have plenty of time to recover his memory once he is a kid again."

"What kind of brain dead thing are you saying? If someone else with memory loss appear, someone's definitely going to discover that the two of them are one and the same. Especially her! If that happens, she's going to force him to explain no matter what – who forced him to take that sort of drug, and for what reason. And when she knows the truth of the matter, do you think she can keep it to herself?! At any rate, for now, in order to avoid putting her in such a dangerous position can you get him back here before he turns into a child again? After that, I'll do what I can."

"Yeah, leave it to me".

She heard Ran's voice in the background, and decided to hang up before Ran became too suspicious.

Ai didn't want anything to happen to Ran – she reminded her too much of Akemi for her to want to hurt her in any way, and this was also why she didn't want Ran to know about the organization. 'No more collateral victims' she thought, as she strode back to her room to prepare her bags.

"What are you doing?" Professor Agasa said, when he saw her packing her bags.

"If the mountain won't come to us…"

"What…?"

"It's an expression. I know how those detective idiots think, and the case always has first priority. With Kudo's possible memory loss, it would take longer to solve. Case and point – they will not even be on their way home in 24 hours."

"So we are going…"

"To Okuha village, yes. I hope you know precisely where they are because I am not going around asking policemen if they have seen three detectives and two girls investigating a murder nearby."

"Can't we at least have a night's sleep first?" The professor's voice was pleading, but she did not even turn around before she answered.

"No."

And just like that, they left in the professor's beetle. She just hoped it wouldn't break down this time.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As expected, they had spent most of the morning driving around Okuho trying to find an inn – only to find that there were 3 or 4 of them.

"Think, professor, what was the name of the inn?" – Professor Agasa did not respond immediately, but kept guessing at names under his breath.

"Was it by the forest or the beach at least?"He didn't know, and they had been going round and round for hours.

"Let's go have lunch at the nearest inn. We may see them, and if not, you may think better on a full stomach…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Finally! There was less than an hour left, and they had to be quick if they wanted this to work.

The professor had remembered the correct inn's name, and told her. They had seen Shinichi and the others heading back, so it was no mistake.

They just needed to get into the toilets quickly, hide and wait.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"In here Kudou, quickly! I was told it would only last 24 hours!"

"24 hours are you serious?"

Ah, finally she could hear them in the next stall over.

"Yes, that's what the professor's little girl said. The range of effectiveness of the drug is around 24 hours. Can you please bring Kudou back here before that?"

"It's almost that time"

Yes, yes it was, she thought smugly, while pondering how to make Hattori pay for calling her 'the professor's little girl"… That remark was painful!

"Anyway, if you shrink again, get inside this bag. Then I'll make up some clever story, and you can come back out. Leave it to me"

Well, it sounded like the Osakan detective had had another wonderful idea… Maybe Kudou would join her on her quest for blood…

She heard the girls calling Hattori from outside the bathroom. But it was not time to react yet, he was still big.

She waited with baited breath until she heard the scream.

'Well', she thought, 'he's back to normal now. Better wake the professor up so we can start the plan.'

She lightly kicked the professor and asked him to hold her up above the stalls. She then knocked on the wall, waiting for him to look up. She could hear Ran calling from outside the stall, and the commotion that was starting.

She threw the APTX down at him, and explained that it wouldn't last as long. Hopefully he would learn something from this experience! She then went back into her stall while he was getting changed and they were going.

He wouldn't be in need of her help so soon after having solved a successful case, would he?

For those who might not have guessed from the start, this is the case where Makoto pretends to be Shinichi to take revenge for a case from a year earlier. Episodes 521 and 522 of the anime from Haibara's point of view.