Detective Conan: The Yellow Sheets Alibi (Part 1)
Summary: Ran is starting to catch on to Conan's secret. The Professor and Haibara have a solution Conan thinks will make him become older but instead just goes to make him seem so much younger.
o-o-o-o-o-o
"Thank you for looking after Conan-kun for the afternoon."
Conan and Haibara were sitting side by side watching the television while Professor Agasa and Ran spoke.
"...I hope it's not too much trouble looking after him on afternoons where I have karate and my father is out at some pachinko parlour," Ran said.
"Nonsense," said the professor. "Conan is so mature he practically watches himself while I toil away in the lab. Besides, Haibara enjoys the occasional company of anyone that's not me."
"Yeah but…" Ran hesitated. Conan and Haibara's ears perked up. "...sometimes he seems too mature. He reads at a high school level, he uses words way above his age range, he knows the most random facts, and he notices just about everything. Not to mention he's cleaner and less trouble than any kid I've ever met!"
Haibara stole a sideways glare at Conan who was smiling nervously beside her.
Professor Agasa jumped in "well, you know, all kids age differently!" He hated trying to cover for Shinichi (Conan) in this way because he knew that even before he was shrunken by the APTX 4869 pill Shinichi had trouble with being a know it all.
"Well not like this. If it goes on like this I might have to take him to a professional. This behaviour can't be healthy." Ran retorted before looking at the clock. "Oh no, if I don't leave now I'll be late."
"Thank you again professor!" Ran yelled back as she jogged out the door. Agasa and Haibara glared at the young detective who by now had small beads of sweat gathering on his forehead.
"You just couldn't keep your big mouth shut. You just can't pretend to be stupid and immature every now and then. You have to be The Famous High School Detective, even when you're only in first grade." Haibara said with traces of annoyance and mocking amusement in her voice.
"Well it's not like I can help it. I hardly know any children outside of the Detective Boys. Besides, I'm a detective, not an actor." Conan shot back.
Before Haibara could respond, The Professor interjected. "Haibara, this might sound rash but maybe your 'new cure' pill might actually have some practical use here after all."
"What are you…" Haibara said out loud. Then, realizing what The Professor was getting at, her hands shot to her lap, her legs closed tightly, and her cheeks turned a rosy red.
Conan perked up instantly. "New cure? Why didn't you say so, even if it's a failure I should still try it! Who knows, what fails on you might work on me." Ai Haibara was a proud woman, Conan thought. It only made sense that she would be embarrassed by failure.
"Well it's not quite…" Haibara really didn't want this to get out. Especially not to Conan, of all people.
Regardless, Conan didn't give her much chance to respond. The thought of getting his teenage body back was too exciting. "Come on, we need something. Ran's about to find me out or get me committed if I don't get my body back soon. If it's not gonna kill me then it's worth a shot."
The Professor looked toward Haibara and shrugged. "He's right, it might actually work as intended on him." Then he added, reassuring both of them individually for different reasons, "If not then the side effects really are nothing to be too worried about anyway."
Haibara sighed. "Alright, I threw out all the old batch so I'll have to make some more." Haibara jumped up from the couch and was about to make her way to the lab when she began adjusting her posture. She then turned to The Professor "Could you help me in the…*ahem*... lab?"
The Professor said worriedly "Oh dear, again? Yes of course."
Conan, slightly confused by this exchange, began following them to the lab before Professor Agasa stopped him and said "Oh, sorry Conan. This is a delicate matter, er, procedure. We'll let you know when we're finished."
With that, Conan shrugged and proceeded to go and find a soccer ball.
o-o-o-o-o-o
A couple of hours passed when Haibara and Professor Agasa exited the lab. Conan jumped up from the couch he had about fallen asleep on hoping he could test the pill and maybe, finally, get his old body back.
"Now these pills are different, Shinichi." Haibara said, pulling the pills back towards herself just as Conan reached for them. "If this works it wont be like how you shrunk. These pills affect you slowly from inside the body. They increase certain chemicals in your body that will push you to age faster and they swell or compact certain organs as they are needed in the aging process. For this reason the pills take about 2 months to work, after the first week or so we should know if the medicine is taking to your body as it should."
"Yeah, yeah, can I get started on it already then?" Conan said, apathetic toward the details but still anxious to begin.
Haibara finally gave Conan the pill bottle but added "No, not yet. Since your body needs sleep to grow, only take these before bed. One per night. There's a relaxant in the drug to help you sleep through the aging process. Oh and one last things. There's a chance…"
Haibara hesitated as she began to grow embarrassed. She had been taking the pills for only about 4 days before the symptoms had become more than she was willing to tolerate. As she was opening her mouth to continue her warning there came a knock at the door. Ran had come to pick up Conan. 'Saved by the bell' she thought to herself in relief.
o-o-o-o-o-o
Conan got into his PJ's and made up his futon early that night. He had hardly said a word on the walk home in fear of making Ran even more suspicious and during dinner he let Mouri do the talking. The faster he could get out of this mess, the better.
Conan opened the pill bottle and examined the medicine. The pills were bigger than anything he'd taken before. Luckily he'd brought a glass of water to help it go down. So he popped the pill and eased his throat with a full glass of water. He laid down and in hardly no time the pill began relaxing him, and soon after he was fast asleep.
He knew. He'd figured it out. The cobbler had done it. The shoe was made in a perfect way to trip on the last step of the stairs, sending the cobbler's old business partner to his death. He began to announce his findings but as he accounted the story none of the police in the room were paying him any mind. Mouri yelled at him, "shut up kid! The grown-ups are talking."
Oh, right. It's just then that he remembered he was much smaller than he should be. He needed to find an excuse to leave the room so he could cleverly lead them to the evidence. "I'm going to the bathroom!" he announced to no one in particular. He got to the hallway and followed the signs leading to the water closet. After a few minutes of following signs he realized he'd gotten lost. He looked up at the sign he was following and found it completely incomprehensible.
It's then that he spotted Ayumi. Ayumi looked at him and asked "What's wrong Conan-chan?" Conan, desperately holding himself and jumping from foot to foot, said while choking back tears "I can't find the bathrooms! I can't read these signs for some reason!"
Ayumi look up at the sign. "It's okay Conan, you're still learning to read. You'll get there someday. Here take my hand," she said, grabbing Conan's wrist. As his hand was pulled away some of the pressure holding up his bladder left with it and he felt a long spurt of pee shoot into his school shorts. He was able to regain control but he hoped Ayumi wouldn't notice. He looked up at her as she smiled and winked at him.
A minute later they got to the restrooms. Ayumi held the door open for Conan and asked "do you need any help in there Conan-chan?" "N-no I don't think so," Conan said, rushing into the bathroom and up to the first urinal he spotted. As he was about to relieve himself he found that uh-oh, it was too tall! But by then it was too late, the pressure came in like a tsunami and Conan began soaking his pants right there at the toilet.
With no other options left, Conan pulled down his pants and tried his best to aim up into the urinal, with little success. As his urine splashed on the urinal he felt himself still getting wetter, his front and back. He thought it felt strange but realized that it must be from his own urine splashing against the toilet.
After what felt like a solid minute of peeing, he had finally finished and he felt more relieved than he'd felt in a long time. He pulled up his pants and examined the damage. A large wet spot had formed on the front of his pants but it wasn't too noticeable. He might be able to hide it from the detectives with a little help from Ayumi. Conan left the bathroom
and slowly woke back up into the waking world.
It was bright in Conan's room, he didn't know the exact time but it had to be getting close to lunch and since he'd gone to sleep so early he figured he must have been out for quite a while. Then he remembered Haibara's pills, aside from putting him into a deep sleep maybe they had some other effect. As he started moving around he felt a strange sensation. 'Sweat?' he thought. As he reached up to pull down his covers he felt how very wet his back was and that's when it hit him. The peeing dream might have had some real world consequences.
Conan sat up and tossed off his sheets. 'Crap!' he thought. 'Completely soaked.' He was looking down at himself and the wet spot reaching from his shirt around his belly button down to the knees on his pajama pants. 'Ran absolutely can NOT see me like this.' he thought to himself.
He stood up and felt the unpleasant feeling of the cold air against his soaking wet clothes. He pulled down his pants, cringing as the cold wet cloth slid down to his ankles. He carefully stepped out of his pants and picked them up as to not touch the pee (not that it mattered much at this point.) As he stood there wondering where to dispose of his clothes he heard a knock at the door that instantly shot up his adrenaline.
"Conan, it's nearly 12 O'clock, are you just gonna sleep all day?" Ran said while opening the door. But once she entered she was surprised to see Conan already up, looking at her with an expression like a deer in headlights. It took Ran a second to process what she was seeing but it became all too obvious to her what had happened.
She looked down across the room at Conan and saw a young boy holding wet pajama bottoms with nothing to hide his boyhood except his white underwear, which was drenched from every side. Conan pressed his wet pajamas against the front of his crotch to try and cover himself but it did nothing to help him maintain his dignity.
Having come out of his shock Conan began to feel a flush of embarrassment. This feeling was quickly followed by fear, he had not been truly punished since becoming a child again but he knew enough about Ran's wraith to know that whatever she had in store for him would be truly terrifying.
"R-Ran I can explain, I promise. I'm sorry I just…" he was freezing. He couldn't think of anything to say. He hadn't had to deal with this the first time he was a child, he didn't know what to do now. His legs became weak and he felt like he was about to cry.
Ran walked up to the young, frightened child and stood over him for a second before dropping to her knees and wrapping her arms around Conan's shoulders, embracing the young boy as best she could while trying not to get any of his accident on herself.
"Shhh...it's alright. It happens, there's nothing to be ashamed of." Ran told Conan softly, speaking next to his ear. "It's alright."
"Th...thanks…"Conan replied, meekly.
Ran stood up and walked to the dresser. She pulled out some clean clothes for Conan and made her way to the door. "Now, let's get you cleaned up. Dad isn't here this weekend so I don't see any reason why he has to know about this."
Conan nodded and began to follow her to the bathroom.
Ran added, "and don't worry about your bed, I'll take care of it."
o-o-o-o-o-o
Meanwhile Professor Agasa was tinkering with some new projects at his workstation when he heard Haibara walk in. Ever since she had tried the pill on herself there was an unmistakable crinkle with every step she took after most nights.
He turned to face her. "Good morning Haibara, though I think it might be closer to afternoon now. Still flushing out the medicine I take it?"
She put her hand on her neck and looked toward the floor. 'Flushing out' was not the term she'd use. "Yeah, it's getting better but I still can't seem to wake up before 10 hours."
"And tonight did that include…" Professor Agasa said, trailing off at the end, not wanting to be the first one to bring it up.
"...yeah." She knew he was only asking to be polite but the bulge in her pants from her wet diaper was twice the size as it was the night before. But thinking about last night reminded her of Conan. 'Once The Professor changes me I'll have to call Conan and see how his night went,' she thought to herself, half hoping that her cure would work and half hoping that Conan, too, would have to suffer this humiliation with her.