"Conan?" Megure asked and walked over to where the drama scene was unfolding.

"Conan," Ran said in a more decisive way and walked over and towered over the boy, her hands on her hips. "What are you doing there?" she asked.

"He… was talking and it sounded like Mr. Mouri," Ayumi said in a puzzled voice. "I heard it."

Megure turned to Mouri and shook him lightly on the shoulder. "What's going on?" he asked. "Hey!" he gasped as Mouri fell out of the chair and onto the floor.

Shinichi began to sweat bullets as everything unraveled before his eyes. "Ummm…" he said slowly. "I uhh…"

"You're Shinichi," Ran said finally. "That's it, isn't it? Sleeping Kogoro, it was always you. You…"

"What do you mean that's Shinichi?" Megure gasped.

Mouri chose just then to wake up. "Huh?" he asked.

Momentarily everyone's attention shifted to the bumbling man. Shinichi took the opening and bolted out the door. "Wait!" he heard Ran's voice. "Shinichi!"

"Oh man, oh man," Shinichi panted as he ran down the hall. He heard running steps behind him and he could only guess that he was being pursued. Without a second thought he ran into the main hallway of the hospital and used his small size to his advantage. He ran outside as fast as he could and disappeared into the crowd that was walking down the sidewalk.

Megure and Takagi both ran out of the hospital, panting. "We lost him," Takagi said into his walkie talkie to Satou.

"Kudou-kun…" Megure said softly. "I don't believe it."

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"Professor Agasa!" Shinichi yelled as he ran into the professor's house. "Professor Agasa!"

"You're being awfully loud today," Haibara said in her usual drawl as Shinichi ran into the living room.

"Not the time," Shinichi gasped. "I have to find Professor Agasa."

Haibara looked Shinichi over once and narrowed her eyes. "What happened?"

Professor Agasa chose that moment to come into the room, sipping on a cup of coffee. "Shinichi?" he asked.

Shinichi's blue eyes widened. "I've been found out," he gasped.

"What do you mean, 'found out'?" Haibara asked.

"I mean, 'found out'!" Shinichi yelled. "Ayumi saw me talking into the microphone as Mouri. She exposed me and Ran… well obviously nothing will ever change her mind again. I've been exposed, Haibara."

"All because you had to play detective," Haibara growled.

"Well it's gone right the other 400 times I've done it!" Shinichi yelled back.

"Now, now you two," Agasa said in a calm voice in an effort to get the two shrunk teens to calm down.

"Now not only are we in danger but they are all in danger too," Haibara continued. "They know, Kudou. They saw. Now what? You're going to run away? Run to mommy and daddy in America? Can you?"

"Shut up," Shinichi snarled. "I didn't mean for this to happen. Someone was murdered and I knew who killed them. I've been doing it for months."

"And now you've been found out. Your police friends can probably make it so you can't leave the country or catch you before you do if they want to. So, I ask again, now what?" Haibara growled.

Shinichi opened his mouth to continue the argument but Agasa put an end to it by yelling, "Both of you, stop it now!" as loudly as he could, shocking both children into silence. They both turned to him with wide eyes, unsure what to say next. "Now, listen to me. This is unfortunate but we can't run away. Not now. Not with the police knowing. Shinichi, you will stay here until things calm down then you will explain yourself to them. Just. Them. Understand?"

Shinichi nodded numbly.

"Ai-kun, I want you to keep an eye out for Ran-kun. Chances are she'll come here first," he said. "Do we understand?"

"Yes," they both answered softly.

"Good now…" he was cut off from lecturing any more. He sighed and pulled out his phone. "Hello? This is Agasa… yes." Agasa heaved a big sigh and left the room. Shinichi started to follow but Haibara put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"You know who it is, so why bother?" she asked. "What's happened has happened."

"Yeah…" Shinichi said unhappily.

"If it's the inspector, Professor Agasa will most likely invite him over," Haibara sighed.

"Yeah…" Shinichi agreed.

"So," Haibara's lips twisted unhappily. "Do you want to face them as Shinichi Kudou or Conan Edogawa?"

"What?" Shinichi turned to face the young girl.

Haibara pulled out a small capsule from her pocket. "I reproduced the cure. Same warnings as last time. I suspect it'll last between 36 and 48 hours this time. Ran is beyond hope, and she will convince everyone else you are truly Shinichi Kudou. There's no point in trying to trick anyone anymore, however I can offer you this."

Shinichi looked at the tiny capsule in the palm of her hand.

"So, do you want to face the music as Shinichi or Conan?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.

Shinichi looked from the drug to Haibara. "You're mad at me… why…"

"Because," she said, gritting her teeth. "Because, even though you screwed up, you should at least face your problems as yourself."

"Haibara…" Shinichi looked at the woman who had created the drug that had given him the body he was in in the first place.

"So, what do you chose, Shinichi Kudou?" she asked, holding out the capsule.

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Shinichi quickly dialed a number into the phone and paced back and forth in the bathroom as it rung. Finally someone on the other end picked up. "Hattori speak…"

"Hattori!" Shinichi yelled into the phone.

"Kudou, hey, what's up?" the western detective asked.

"Hattori, I've been completely found out," Shinichi said in a tight voice.

"What?" Heiji sat up and stared at his phone as if it had sprouted arms and legs.

"Ran, her dad, Inspector Megure, Officer Takagi, Officer Satou, Ayumi-chan, Genta-kun and Mitsuhiko-kun all saw me," Shinichi sighed.

Heiji gripped the phone with a shaking hand. "And?" he asked.

Shinichi looked at the capsule in his hand and took a deep breath. "I'm at Professor Agasa's house right now. They're coming over and…"

"You're coming clean?" Heiji asked.

Shinichi nodded. "Yeah, there's nothing I can do. Not against three police officers."

Heiji stroked his chin. "And?" he asked.

"I thought…" Shinichi blinked, not realizing why he called the energetic detective to begin with.

Heiji smiled. "I deserved to know?" he finished. "Well, we are friends after all. Still, you must be pretty freaked out, Kudou."

"You have no idea," Shinichi groaned. "Anyways, I panicked and called and…"

"Eh, don't sweat it," Heiji answered. "I'll hop on a plane as soon as I can and come over for a bit to monitor things."

"You don't have…" Shinichi started.

"I know I don't have to idiot. I'm your friend right? It's part of being friends and junk," Heiji said with a small smile. "Besides, you'll probably need someone there to make sure Ran doesn't kill you."

Shinichi broke out in a cold sweat, "Yeah, no kidding," he said.

"So, it's settled. I'll be there as soon as possible, see ya, Kudou," Heiji said cheerfully and hung up.

Shinichi pressed the call button on the cell phone and ended the call as well. He took in a deep breath, realizing why he called Hattori. He needed to hear someone's confident voice before he did what he was about to do. Someone's confident voice that wasn't currently mad at him. He glanced at the change of clothes on the floor and undressed himself from his smaller change of clothes. He shut his eyes and put the pill into his mouth.

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"Please come in," Professor Megure said in a kind voice to the people at his door. "Shinichi is here somewhere, he'll be out soon."

Ran clenched her fist so hard that it shook, but she gave no other outward sign of her distress.

"Then he really…" Takagi said in a small voice.

Megure nodded, "Yes. And the details as to how and why it happened will be explained by him once he comes out."

"What?" Mouri drawled in a tight voice. "You trust that brat not to run away like last time?"

"Wh-who said I was gonna run away?" an older male voice said from the hallway.

"Sh…" Ran looked over and saw Shinichi step out into the living room area that they were in. He was pale and sweating but it was most certainly him. "Shinichi…" her eyes widened.

Shinichi smiled and took a deep breath. "Hello, Ran," he said.

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Rawr, I know I said this would be up in 24 hours but the motherboard in my desktop decided to die and so I have spent the past few days arguing with the warranty people and backing up my hard drive. My deepest apologies, I usually am pretty good at keeping some kind of scheduele.

Tell you what, if enough people tell me they're reading this and my angsty comments aren't falling on deaf ears, I will do my damndest to write a new chapter and post it tomorrow, wednesday at the latest. Sound good? (I've got soooo much planned for this fic, he he >D)

As always, hope you enjoyed reading it and hopefully I can recover the rest of my hard drive and get my desktop fixed soon so I can write more comfortably.