Prologue

Shinichi and the Detective Boys were walking home from a hard day of school and playing soccer. "We'll see you tomorrow, Conan-kun!" Ayumi-chan called out, waving as Mitsuhiko and Genta waved too. Haibara had already taken off to Agasa Hakase's house. Shinichi was exhausted from having to keep an eye on them. They did things without thinking about the consequences, but then again, Shinichi thought. He did the same thing. But, he reasoned, he only did that when it really counted. He had no idea just how late he'd been out until the sun had already set and it was dark. Crap, Ran was so going to yell at him when he got home! He thought to himself as he sped up his pace.

The area around him was very quiet. It was so quiet, he could hear a pin drop and he didn't like it one bit. He kept his ears open for any suspicious sounds. He knew he was probably being paranoid but he had a very good reason for it after all. Somewhere nearby he heard a trashcan being knocked over. He reasoned with himself that it was just a cat and moved on. The next thing he heard were footsteps. They were very distant but he could still hear them. Shinichi turned the last corner to get to the Mouri Residence. Lucky for him, nothing happened as he finally entered the building, but he could still hear those footsteps as they paused outside the building for a full three minutes, before they were moving again and then he heard nothing. Shinichi knew for sure that he was being followed, but he didn't know who was following him. He would say it was the Black Organization, but he seriously doubted it. After all he was very careful in not leaving them any breadcrumbs that would lead to him or Haibara.

"Conan-kun, where have you been? I've been so worried!" Ran said sternly as he walked in through the door.

"I'm sorry, Ran nee-chan. I didn't realize how late we were out." Shinichi said as she pushed him towards the kitchen table.

"It's about time, brat. Ran wanted to wait until you got home to start dinner." Kogorou grumbled.

"I'm sorry, Occhan."

"Whatever," After having a late dinner, Ran announced it was time for bed and Shinichi, still worried about whoever followed him, attempted to get some sleep.