Tiny footsteps clicked against the sidewalk as a certain miniaturized, four-eyed boy of about eight years old walked along the same road he took every day on route to his 'home': school having just let out for the day. The sky was overcast, thick, grey clouds foiling futile attempts the sun might have made at shining a little bit of light through, and a small gust of wind brushed past the child. It played through his clothes and his short, brown hair, slowly turning his appearance more disheveled as the breeze grew stronger: well, the forecast that morning had said it was going to storm later that night… Not to mention tomorrow afternoon as well. A little wind was to be expected. Child-like blue eyes turned upwards as the boy reached his destination; a three story building with a coffee shop on the first floor, an office with the words 'Mouri Detective Agency' on the window above it, and on the third floor a small family residence. His eyes then moved downwards to the coffee shop, narrowing slightly as he noticed something of interest through the window… It could wait a bit, though: he'd investigate in a bit. Turning his attention away, the youth headed up to the second floor office and opened the door, calling out "I'm home!"

There to greet him was none other than Mouri Ran: a high school girl with long, brown hair and the daughter on Mouri Kogoro, who was known across Japan as the famous 'sleeping detective'… There was a long story behind the name, but that wasn't important at the moment; for now, he was just the usual lazy, drunken Kogoro who was busy watching horse races. "Welcome back, Conan-kun!" Ran told the boy, turning her attention away from her father's desk, where she had been cleaning up her father's left over cans of beer and used cigarettes. Edogawa Conan: that was the boy's name… Or at least ever since he, the teenage detective Kudo Shinichi, had been shrunken by a strange organization of men in black, that was the name he was going by. But again, that was a much longer story that didn't really need to be told at the moment. She paid the boy little mind as he set his backpack down, facing her father once again and telling him "Anyway, Dad, can I at least count on you to keep the house a little clean tomorrow?"

Ran's father waved a hand dismissively at her worried question, responding in a 'stop-nagging-me-already' sort of tone "Yeah, yeah, I get it already! I'll make sure the house is nice enough for your little friends, so don't worry."

Conan glanced over to the Mouris curiously, before asking "Are you having someone over, Ran-nee-chan?" Someone from school from the sounds of it… Probably not Sonoko, considering Ran probably wouldn't bother trying to make the house look nice just for her: the Suzuki heiress already came over enough that there wasn't any point in it!

"That's right, Conan-kun," she responded, kneeling down slightly as she spoke to the faux-child—a painful reminder of how short he was now. "We have a couple of new foreign exchange students at school, so I thought I'd invite them over to get better acquainted!"

The mini-detective spent a moment to ponder this, breathing out a mildly interested "Hmm…" Foreign exchange students, huh? A large part of him was hoping they wouldn't turn out to be more Hondou Eisukes: boy would that be a major headache! He really didn't any more undercover agents or their relatives in his life: CIA, FBI or otherwise. "By the way, Ran-nee-chan…" he added, standing back up, "Dr. Agasa invited me over to try out a new game! Is it okay if I hang out at his house for a little while?" It was his usual excuse, but it had never failed him yet: the true reason he needed to visit Agasa was something totally different, of course. His super shoes had been malfunctioning that day, making strange clacking noises on and off as he walked around, and he needed to get them fixed.

"That's fine, just make sure you get home before it starts storming, alright? The weather tonight's supposed to get pretty bad…" Ran answered, and with a slight wave and a thanks Conan was out the door once more, his shoes making strange but quiet noises as he headed back downstairs.

But before I visit Agasa… the mini-detective thought, entering the coffee shop below the agency and starting in the direction of a duo of foreigners he was more than familiar wiith, both of whom had rather serious expressions on their faces. "Ah-le-le~? Jodie-sensei, Camel-san, what a coincidence, running into the two of you here~!" he called out, putting on a childish act for the public: he was directly underneath his own 'home', after all! It was better for 'Conan' to not act too out-of-character.

The FBI duo notably jumped slightly as they heard him: they should've seen it coming, really considering where they were. Conan watched in slight amusement as the large, somewhat bulky agent Camel's eyes slid over to rest on him, and the blond, glasses wearing Jodie turned to face the child addressing them. "Oh! Cool Kid!" she exclaimed, using her little nickname for Conan, though she didn't have much of a chance to say anything beyond that before the child had already climbed into a seat at their table and started talking once more.

"You guys have such super scary looks on your faces!" he said in the same childish tone, but paused for a moment as his wide eyes sharpened, adding in a more hushed tone "Did something happen?"

Agent Camel chuckled slightly, commenting "Nothing gets past you, huh kid?"

Conan had to resist grumbling in response to the 'kid' comment, but instead of griping he chirped "You bet not~!" This, as he turned his gaze to Jodie, basically translated to 'so tell me what's going on already'.

Nevertheless, she still hesitated as she responded "Well, I don't think it has anything to do with you, so don't worry…" Conan cocked an eyebrow and sent her an impatient look, however, causing her to add "B-But I don't suppose there's any harm in telling you…" After all, the way cases followed him around, if something was up it was probably for the best in he was in-the-know. "You see, we caught wind of a rumor the other day that the internationally wanted assassin, Scarlet, has recently entered Japan."

"Scarlet?" echoed Conan: the name didn't ring any bells in the mini-detective's mind… Could the guy really be an international criminal, and yet he hadn't heard of him? Perhaps later he could check his father's criminal files…

Camel took a sip of hip coffee and added "I'm not surprised if you haven't heard of him… He's never operated in Japan before, and he hasn't even been around that long. The first time we became aware of him was about…" he paused for a moment, thinking back, before coming up with an estimate. "…About a year and a half ago, I think. And besides that, cases regarding him are usually kept quiet, considering…" Once more, the faux-child raised an eyebrow in question towards the FBI agent. Considering…?

"Well, anything beyond that is classified information, but we can give you a general idea of why." Jodie interjected, preventing Camel from continuing. Conan's inquisitive gaze turned instead to her now: so the details were kept secret? It stunk of political interference, but he stayed quiet about that point and let her continue. "To keep it short and sweet, Scarlet's handiwork is far, far from pretty: the things he leaves behind can only be called overkill. He's considered highly dangerous and possibly mentally unstable."

At the way Jodie ended her little description, Conan couldn't help laughing nervously as he commented "Sounds like a pleasant fellow…" Or far from it. "Seems it really doesn't have anything to do with me! Always nice to know when there's a deranged killer on the loose, though." On that note, he stepped down from his chair and turned to leave, before pausing and adding one more thing. "By the way, Jodie-sensei, Teitan high got two new transfer students."

Jodie seemed a bit taken off-guard by this random statement, blinking as she asked "Oh, really? Is there something strange about them?"

Conan laughed inwardly at his own paranoia in asking her about it in the first place, and replied "No, it's nothing… Never mind. I'll see you later, Jodie-sensei! Camel-san!" Ha, he'd just wanted to make sure it really had nothing to do with the FBI: from the sounds of it, it sounded like they really were two completely unimportant students! And with that, he exited the coffee shop and made his way to Dr. Agasa's house, shoes clacking all the way.

There really isn't much on this Scarlet guy, is there? Thought Conan as he scrolled through his father's case files on Agasa's computer, shoeless feet idly swinging back and forth. The files basically just reiterated what Jodie had told him, though he did learn a few new facts: for instance, when the assassin first appeared, it was in America… That would explain why it was the FBI's problem. Though after a while, he made several appearances in the UK, France, Italy and a few other European countries as well: all in a little under two years! Now there was a busy fellow! It did seem, though, that this was his first time in Japan, if the records were anything to go by. Lastly, he always left a note behind with the body—if it could even still be called such; his dad's files had a picture from one of the cases… Jodie hadn't been kidding when she said 'not pretty'—written in cursive, claiming it to be his own work. And since it was always hand-written, it was easy to tell the real ones from the fakes.

"Scarlet, hm? I've heard of her." Came a familiar, somewhat monotonous voice from Conan's right. Standing there was none other than Haibara Ai, his fellow shrunken comrade and ex-member of the Black Organization, holding a pair of shoes for him. "Your shoes are fixed, by the way." Her gaze turned up to the computer screen as he took the repaired footwear from her, and she added "There were a lot of rumors flying around about her while I was still with the Organization."

"Ehh…" he breathed, looking back to the page onscreen for a moment longer before closing out of it. "Her, huh? So Scarlet's a woman?" From the way Haibara was talking, it didn't sound like he—or she?—was very well acquainted with the Organization, if at all… Which came as quite a relief: he didn't need any more dangerous people like that in his life to worry about.

Haibara shrugged at his question, answering simply "Who knows? I certainly don't." Ha, of course. She had just decided to use 'she' like Conan was using 'he'. The shrunken scientist narrowed her eyes and glared up at his after a moment, asking cautiously "Why are you looking into someone like that, anyway? Don't tell me that now you've got Scarlet after you as well!"

Conan shook his head and waved a hand in dismissal, telling her "No no, it's nothing like that! Jodie-sensei mentioned it, and I was just curious." She relaxed visibly, seemingly satisfied by that response, and he decided that it was probably better from him not to mention that Scarlet was in Japan at the moment… It didn't seem to involve either on them, after all.

A low rumble of thunder rolled through the air, and Dr. Agasa poked his head into the room. "Shinichi, it's started raining… Do you need a ride home?" Sure enough, as he looked out the window, Conan could see a light drizzle of rain, growing heavier by the minute. He nodded to the professor in thanks: it was about time he got back, before Ran threw a fit.

Author's notes:

Okay, someone please tell me, cause I can't figure it out for the life of me… Does Ran know about Conan's fancy shoes or not? I'd imagine she might, since she's usually there when they're capturing criminals… But whenever she's around and they try running away, she uses karate before he can kick them, right? Most of my friends said she probably doesn't know, but…

What do you all think?

Also, I love Agent Camel for some reason. Probably cause when I first met him, I suspected him of being Vodka in disguise for the longest time. xD

And Ran-nee-chan looks weird when typed. xP

One last thing. Whenever you say 'super shoes', say it like "SUPA SHOESSSSS"

I know the ending's kind of derp and rushed... My mind died a bit and went blank. xD