Disclaimer: I don't own Detective Conan. If I did, there'd be a lot more Shonen Tantei episodes.

365 Days in America

December 30, Part 1

Smuggling Pseudo-Children


Dear Damn Diary,

Haibara (the bastard)told me to write in a journal about a week ago. And so, here I am. I'm not writing in you because I want to, but because Genta (the fat "leader of the Shonen Tantei-dan") won't stop bugging me about how all of the members are required to write in it while we're in America (he got the idea from Haibara, go figure). But you don't know the story yet, do you? Well, the story is that we were able to "smuggle" ourselves (meaning Haibara and me) onto a plane for an "educational" trip to America. It went a little something like this…


"Hakase, we're gonna be late! Hurry!" Ayumi took hold of the professor's chubby hand and dragged him while simultaneously pulling her luggage to his car. The Shonen Tantei were about to journey on their most exciting adventure to date: they were to spend a year in the States in order to become culturally educated in a place that was vastly different from Japan. Of course, the Shonen Tantei included the professor since they wouldn't be able to get very far as seven year olds.

At the present moment, they were all getting ready to head towards the Tokyo International Airport for their long flight to California where they would be staying. How, exactly, had this idea come about? Well…

FLASHBACK (December 29, yesterday)

"Ne, Conan-kun, Haibara-san," Mitsuhiko addressed them as he sipped the last of his juice. It was the end of classes at Teitan Elementary, and the kids had just gotten some juice.

"You guys came from America, right?" It seemed odd to Mitsuhiko that they were from America, and yet, they acted nothing less than if they were native to Japan. Except maybe Haibara Ai. His inquiry was met with nods. Genta and Ayumi seemed to be getting the gist of what Mitsuhiko was getting at. They, too, were curious as to their friends' American backgrounds.

"But we haven't heard anything about your life in America or anything. What's it like over there? Is it like here?" The questions seemed to pile before Conan had him stop before his brain exploded.

"Well, I guess it's kind of like over here…" In truth, Conan, or Shinichi, was not a native-born American, and frankly neither was Ai, so he wasn't exactly well-rounded in American culture. At least, not the nitty gritty details of it. Of course, Conan was from America, so he had to have some knowledge of it, else he'd be suspicious.

"Aw, but that's boring! I thought America was really different from here," Genta muttered. The other two first graders seemed to share the same sentiments, and were thus disappointed.

"What about you, Ai-chan? You mentioned the different grading system a while ago. What else is different about America?" Ai sat in silence for a moment, thinking it over. Then, an idea, almost un-Ai-like, formed, and she smirked. Conan visibly flinched.

"It does no apparent good to simply ask about how America is different. The best way to embrace a new culture is to immerse yourself into it."

"''Immerse'?" Genta asked. Conan decided to take up the explanation.

"To live in it. Haibara's trying to say that the best way to learn about America is to live there. Of course, we're not all going to go to America, so I think you guys should just—" but Conan was cut off by three excited children. Almost immediately, he regretted mentioning they weren't going to America anytime soon.

"That's a great idea! We should all ask Hakase to take us to America so we can study American culture!" Mitsuhiko exclaimed excitedly, earning him equally excited nods from the two other children.

"Oi! You can't just go to America out of nowhere! It takes a lot of time and planning to go on a trip so far away." And besides, their parents would never allow it, Conan thought. He couldn't say he wasn't slightly amused at the idea of a group of seven year olds on a plane to America, though.

"C'mon, let's go ask him!" Genta shouted as the rest of the Shonen Tantei raised their fists in the air and cheered in unison. Conan's words seemed to fall upon deaf ears. In mere seconds, the children were already disappearing from sight.

"Nice going, Kudo-kun."

"Shut up. It was your fault to begin with for even mentioning it."

"If I recall correctly, I never mentioned going to America, I said to live there." It took everything in Conan's power not to shoot a dirty look at her triumphant smirk.

When the two non-children had finally gotten to the professor's lab, they saw the three first graders huddled around the professor, watching as he made a phone call to what was assumed to be their parents.

"Oi, oi, you can't be serious," Conan muttered, mildly awestricken at the fact that the professor would give in to their demands so easily.

"Ah, yes…I'll be watching over the children. What? Of course, I'll make sure they stay out of trouble. Oh, it's really no problem at all! Okay, you're welcome. Have a nice day!" The professor placed the phone on the receiver before letting out a heavy sigh. Parents were just so hard to convince sometimes. Conan made a dash to where the Shonen Tantei seemed to be celebrating.

"Hakase! You can't be serious! Their parents actually let them go to America? No…YOU actually let them convince you to take them?" To Conan, this was utterly unbelievable. Little kids didn't randomly decide to seriously take a trip to a different country!

"Ah, well, they looked like they really wanted to go…and since their parents agreed somehow, I guess we're going?" He laughed nervously at the piercing look Conan was giving him.

"You can't be right all the time, Kudo-kun," Ai decided to add as she leisurely flipped a page in her magazine. The children were too busy cheering to hear them. Conan wanted to slam his head on a desk and discover that this was all just some twisted dream. He proceeded in nearly giving himself a concussion.

"So, it's decided. The Shonen Tantei-Dan are going to America!"

"Yay!"

FLASHBACK END

Professor Agasa stepped into the driver's seat of his car, checked in the back to see that all of the children were present, and turned on the engine. The family and friends of the departees would be waiting at the airport for a final good bye before they were off. The children were singing a happy song as the car sped in the direction of the airport. Conan sat next to the ecstatic children, not too thrilled to be going on this trip. He'd very much prefer going to London to explore British culture instead. Ai, however, had made it a point to him that they would be less likely to be targeted in America as it was out of the country.

The initial question of how to actually board the plane when Haibara Ai and Edogawa Conan did not exist was short-lived as Ai offered each of them a temporary antidote that would last them no longer than five hours, ample time to get through security check and board the plane before reverting back to children. The reason they needed to revert back was because they could not go the whole plane ride without encountering the Shonen Tantei at least once, and saying they were taking the next plane was definitely not going to work this time.

Once the plane neared the end of the flight, they would tell the Shonen Tantei that they were going to be a bit late in exiting the plane, and to wait for them. Taking turns, they would sneak into the lavatory where a second antidote was to be administered, thus allowing them to securely get off the plane and get their luggage. The second antidote would be a much weaker dosage, thus allowing them to revert back to a child state without tipping off the rest of the Shonen Tantei.

Conan had to admit, the plan seemed like it would work. Of course, due to his excessive usage of the antidote, he wasn't sure if his body would be able to maintain the amount of time this trick demanded. He would need to think that through later, when they reached the airport.

"What do you think America will be like?" Ayumi asked, curiosity overtaking her.

"I bet it's really different from over here!" Mitsuhiko offered. Ayumi and Genta nodded in agreement to that, Ai watching their childish excitement with an amused look.

"We're almost to the airport, so make sure you're preparing your goodbye's, okay?" The children nodded vigorously as the professor turned into the airport. They took out all of their luggage and walked to the terminal where a large group of people awaited them. Among the group were some easily noticeable people: Hattori Heiji and Toyama Kazuha from Osaka, Mouri Ran, her father, her mother, Megure-keibu, Takagi-keiji, Sato-keiji, Kobayashi-sensei, Shiratori-keibu, and Sonoko, as well as a number of other less significant people.

"You guys have fun over there, okay? And Conan-kun, stay out of trouble! We all want you to come back safe and sound," Ran said, her sisterly-motherly side shining through. She was very reluctant to let Conan go so far away from her for so long, but after much debate and discussion, she had allowed him to leave. Even now, she was still hesitating, but she knew that this would benefit him in the long-run (of course, she didn't know that he'd already been there a number of times).

"Okay, Ran-nee-chan!" Conan grinned at her and used his best child's voice to reassure her that everything would be perfectly fine. After all, he wasn't worried about himself, but rather the group of adventurous children he was going there with.

"Ah, you all need to hurry, you'll be late to boarding the plane!" Kobayashi-sensei pointed out as she tapped her watch. Quickly exchanging their farewells, they headed towards where they would be boarding the plane. As the plan went, Conan and Ai both excused themselves to use the restroom, reassuring the children that they would be there to board the plane. The professor then led the children away so they could stand in the line to get their passports checked before getting on the flight.

The line moved surprisingly fast, and soon, the kids were getting restless as to the whereabouts of their two other friends.

"Geez, where are Ai-chan and Conan-kun? They're going to be late," Ayumi murmured, worried that the plane would fly away and leave the two behind. The professor just put a hand on her shoulder to free her of her doubts.

"Don't worry about it, they'll be here. They'll definitely be on the plane before it leaves." With a bit of reluctance, Ayumi smiled brightly once more, chattering happily with Mitsuhiko and Genta about the trip.

Meanwhile…

"Oi, Haibara! You ready to leave yet? The line should be moving pretty fast, so we need to hurry," Conan, now Shinichi, called into the seemingly empty bathroom. He felt good to be back in his own body, but he knew it was only a matter of time before he was less than half his original height again. He tapped his foot impatiently, his luggage bag over his shoulder as he constantly checked his wristwatch.

"No need to be so impatient, Kudo-kun. Unlike you, I'm not accustomed to using the antidote," Ai, now Shiho, retorted as she stepped out of the bathroom. Her own luggage had been left with the professor, and thus she was empty-handed except for her smaller clothes. Shinichi took one look at her and grinned in recollection.

"Man, seeing you in that form reminds me of the time Sonoko decided it was a good idea to perm her hair like yours," Shinichi recalled as he continued to grin at the memory. Shiho looked over at him and smirked devilishly.

"Ara, you mean the time you 'admired' her new appearance when she first introduced it?" Almost instantly, the smile on his face was replaced by a very light, almost unnoticeable pink hue.

"Shut up, I wasn't admiring her. She just reminded me of your grown up self that time, it just surprised me." Still smirking, she quickly walked past him towards the boarding gate.

"Hai, hai. Whatever you want to believe, Kudo-kun." He shot a glare at the back of her head before following her towards the gate. They quickly got into the near the empty line, had their passports checked, and boarded the plane. Quickly finding their seats, they realized they were across the aisle from each other, but on the farthest end.

The plane was a rather small one for an international flight, with three seats on the left being separated from the three seats on the right by an aisle. Shiho sat on the far left side in a window seat, while Shinichi sat on the window seat on the opposite side. Shinichi's neighbors included a rather tall, muscled man that looked to be around his mid-thirties sitting in the middle seat, and at the aisle seat was a teenage girl that looked to be around Shinichi's age. Both looked to be Japanese.

Shiho's neighbors included a man around the early to mid-twenties, looking fairly young, in the middle seat, and the aisle seat was occupied by a little boy, around ten years old. Both teenage geniuses instantly decided not to associate with their neighbors, especially Shinichi. Heaven knows if he was ever acquainted with them in any way, they would probably get involved in some murder case at over twenty-thousand feet.

The plane still had not departed, and the antidote didn't seem to start wearing off yet. The plane had all the hustle and bustle that usually came with an international flight, and before long, Shiho and Shinichi found that completely ignoring their neighbors was not going to be an option.

"So, are you a native Japanese? You look more of the westerner type," the young man next to Shiho asked her casually. She had initially wanted to ignore him, but after realizing that he would continue to prod at her until she cracked, she decided to entertain his questions.

"I'm half-British, half-Japanese." The look on the man's face was so astounded, it made her want to punch him.

"So, why are you going to America? To study abroad, perhaps? How old are you? You look around my age, maybe even younger." The man next to Shiho simply radiated questions and cheerfulness, a combination she was not too fond of in excess. From across the way, Shinichi snickered at her unfortunate twist of fate at being stuck with probably the most annoying guy on the entire plane. However, his own peace was soon broken as well, as the teenage girl a seat away from him began to chatter at him, obviously attempting to flirt with him.

"So, like, what part of Tokyo are you from? Are you even from Tokyo? Like, what grade are you in? 'Cause you like, look like my age, and…" Her voice seemed distant to him as he blocked out the annoying twang her voice was reverberating against him. How many times can she use the word "like" in one sentence? He thought irritably as she continued to chatter away. If Shiho was stuck with the most annoying guy on the plane, he was definitely stuck with the most annoying girl.

He snuck a fatal glance towards Shiho, for reasons unknown, and noticed her smirking in triumph at her ability to shut the guy next to her up while Shinichi suffered a slow and painful death due to excessive chattering from someone who wasn't even his direct neighbor. He groaned.

This was definitely going to be a long flight.


Okay, so if you haven't noticed, I decided to change it up a little bit. Edited some of the mistakes (missing words, parts of the story that don't make sense, etc) and added the beginning bit where each of the members will write part of a journal to introduce the chapter. They won't go in any order, just whoever fits the situation. If you guys don't like this format, I can change it back if you want, with just the edits added.

SSCA