I was surprised by the amount of positive support I got last time, since I figured a story not featuring one of the main pairings would be skipped. This chapter focuses on Conan trying to get Sera to open up, with humorous results.


Chapter Two

Sera was having a blast at the arcade. She hadn't been kidding about enjoying Japanese arcades earlier. She did feel a bit bad about teasing Conan, though. 'He's probably used to it,' she thought, glancing at Ran and Sonoko, who were busy playing a racing game. 'Still, I really shouldn't be moping, should I? I'm such a fool sometimes.'

"Sera-no-neesan," a young voice called out, jerking her out of her thoughts. There was only one person who called her that.

"Hmm? Did you want something, Conan-kun?" As a detective, she noticed that Conan was acting strangely. It was the way he was unconsciously fidgeting, which is something he rarely did, unlike normal kids.

Conan looked very uncomfortable. "Do you think we could meet up tomorrow sometime after school?" he asked eventually.

'Eh?' Sera thought. Whatever she had expected, it certainly wasn't that. From the way he was acting, she at first thought it was a date request, but she knew that was just wishful thinking. After all, he had Ran, and he didn't know that she knew who he was. Thinking about it wouldn't do anything, so she decided to humor him. "I guess so, Conan-kun. Where did you want to meet?"

"Oh, it doesn't really matter, I guess. What about Beika Park near the big tree? It's supposed to be a nice day tomorrow."

'Beika Park? What's he planning?' Sera thought. But then she mentally shook herself. 'If he was planning something like that, he wouldn't be nervous.' "After school, then? I'll be there, Conan-kun." She smiled at him before going back to her game, but her mind wasn't really on playing it anymore. She kept wondering just why he'd called her out. If he wanted to ask her something in private, he could've done it right there and then. The arcade was loud enough to mask what they were saying, and there hadn't been anybody near them. 'Why am I even thinking about this to begin with?' Sera thought, shaking her head.

XXX

That evening, Sera returned to her motel room still deep in thought over what had happened. Conan's actions were generally pretty easy to follow, since he simply used deductive reasoning to come up with what to do next when he was investigating. She knew full well he was interested in just what she was doing in Japan and the person currently giving her the evil eye for staying out late, but she'd been supplying all of his clues thus far, and she hadn't given him any new ones. Sure, he technically could just ask her for a new one, but that embarrassed look on his face told her it wasn't about that.

"If you're going to stay out late, you really need to call, you know," her roommate said suddenly.

"Sorry, about that," Sera responded, putting on an apologetic face. "It's just something happened earlier that I can't get off my mind."

"That boy again?"

"Is it that obvious?" Sera asked, defeated. She dumped her stuff on the floor and flopped down on one of the beds.

"You're really easy to read you know. That boy probably noticed and wants answers."

'Yeah, I know,' Sera thought. 'But it's not time for him to know yet.'

"I know you trust him, but be careful. We can't risk him interfering in our mission."

Sera decided to change the topic. "So, I'm here now, so how about we get something to eat?"

XXX

The next day, Conan was the first to arrive at the park. The weather prediction had been right for a change, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. 'Let's get this over with,' Conan thought, sitting down. He was curious what was up with Sera, but he was wary about being alone with her with nobody around to run interference if she started prying at his secrets.

"Yo! Conan-kun!" Sera called from a ways away, waving. Conan waved back and soon enough, Sera was next to him, dressed in her usual Teitan High girls uniform. "So, you called me out here. What do you want to talk about?" She down on the ground near him, making sure that no one could see down her skirt.

Conan took a deep breath. "Well, we never really get a chance to just…talk, you know? As friends."

Sera looked taken aback for a moment. "As friends, huh? Well, if you want to talk about something, I'll listen!" She grinned at him again.

"Sera-no-neechan, why are you always so peppy?"

"Well, why wouldn't I be when I'm around my friends? Do you want me to be dull and boring and snark at you all the time?"

'And be a clone of Haibara? No way," Conan thought.

"All right, then, Conan-kun," said Sera, leaning back on her hands and looking at the sky. "Do you actually like either of your two little girlfriends, or are the three of us just reading the situation wrong?"

'Eh?' Conan thought, color rushing to his cheeks. He had to fight to keep it down. 'What brought that on?' he wondered. "Definitely not!" he insisted childishly.

"Oh, so we were wrong, then? That's funny, then. Sonoko-chan said that the way you and that Haibara kid argue all the time reminds her of Kudo-kun and Ran-chan…" She snuck a glance at Conan, who didn't notice.

'That Sonoko…' Conan thought, annoyed. He decided to quickly change the subject. "Sera-no-neechan, did you find what you were looking for?"

Sera was quiet for a moment, as if debating what to say. "Well, I thought I did, but something happened, and then something else happened…" she trailed off, apparently consumed in her thoughts.

'Not again,' Conan thought. "Don't worry, Sera-no-neechan!" he said loudly, breaking her out of her thoughts. "You'll find what you're looking for someday! You're a detective, aren't you? You'll get it one day!"

That did the trick. Sera was instantly bright and cheery again. "Thank you, Conan-kun! You'll help, won't you?"

'Uh, maybe,' Conan thought. He wasn't about to help her find her brother, but if she had some other agenda he didn't know about he might help at some point. "But I'm just a kid," he said childishly. "What can I do?"

"You'll run interference of course!" she exclaimed, grabbing him up and ruffling his hair.

"Oh, if it isn't Conan-kun and Sera-san!" a voice exclaimed. They looked up to see Subaru Okiya on the path nearby, dressed in a jogging suit.

'Of all the people that could've seen us,' Conan thought as he squirmed around to free himself. "Subaru-san!" said Conan out loud, jumping up and straightening his hair a bit, "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I thought I'd go out for a jog today. It's a nice day, after all."

"A…jog?" Sera asked, also standing up and brushing dirt off her skirt. "I didn't think you were the jogging type, Subaru-san."

"Well, today's my first time. But never mind that, what are you doing here?"

"What's with the suspicious attitude?" Sera asked, crossing her arms. "Can't a girl talk to her friend without people nosing in?"

"Oh, I'm not nosing," said Subaru. "I just thought it intriguing is all. Although if you really want to get rid of nosy people, there's a few behind those bushes over there that would qualify." He jerked his head at some bushes on the other side of the path a ways away.

Conan was too used to his friends snooping to really care. But Sera had had enough. "What do you mean 'nosy people'?" she asked, getting fired up. She stomped over to where Subaru had indicated and got in a shouting match with whoever it was. They were too far away to hear much of what they were saying, though.

"So, why are you really here?" Conan asked. Subaru just smirked.

"Training, actually. Just because they think I'm dead isn't an excuse to not stay in shape. But you still never answered what's you're doing here."

"Oh, she just looked down in the dumps, so I figured I'd ask and see if there was something I could do."

"As a friend, huh?" said Subaru, putting his hand on his chin. "Well, I wish you luck with that. Just be careful that your kindness doesn't lead to you make any rash decisions." With that, he jogged away.

'What did that mean?' Conan thought, staring after him.

"Oh, Subaru-san left," Sera said, rejoining him. She still looked annoyed. In the distance, Conan saw a couple of Teitan High students running away as fast as they could go. "I was hoping to ask him something." Then she shrugged, "I guess I'll have to try again later."

"Who was spying on us, Sera-san?"

"Oh, just some freshmen from school. I guess they saw us sitting over here and got the wrong idea. But don't worry; I set them straight." Sera did a Jeet Kune Do move to demonstrate this.

'I'd hate to be them,' Conan thought.


And so a meeting between 'friends' gets interrupted, as per the norm in the Conan-verse. This isn't the last we've seen of the spies, by the way. And Sera's cheeky attitude is going to get them all in trouble.

As a side note, for those reading this in the future, I'm not calling the Mysterious Child by her name because as of this writing it hasn't been officially confirmed. The last arc before this writing was the Scarlet arc, so I'm assuming all the readers are familiar with it and its revelations. Though I doubt Bourbon is going to show up in this story. Sorry about that. ;)