Chapter 2: Trail.

Ai clutched a hand over her heart and tried to move a step back, but bumped into whoever stood behind her. She glanced around frantically – the bus, already on the go again, was completely full, leaving her no way away from Gin.

A gasp, nearly a shriek, flew out of her throat when Conan laid a hand on her arm.

'Are you okay?' he asked. A look, both of suspicion and realization, gradually brightened his features. 'Is any of them here? A member of the Organization?'

The girl remained silent. To tell or not to tell. To risk or not to risk.

She nodded her head.

'Who is it?' he asked, gazing around very cautiously. 'How many of them?'

'Only one,' she managed to mutter. 'Gin. Keep quiet!' In spite of the terror that flooded her mind and restrained her body, Ai hurried to hold her friend's shoulder as hard as she could, stopping the shout he was evidently about to let out. 'And stay still. Don't do anything dangerous.'

'Where is he?' Conan demanded, evidently using all of his will so as to observe his friend's advice. 'Where exactly?'

'He's by the middle of the bus.' Ai peeked at their object of discussion and her heart pounded painfully. 'But he's not here as Gin. He's wearing everyday clothes,' she added at Conan's 'How do you know?' gesture. He was wearing jeans, for hell's sake.

'Okay.' The boy turned around, as if gazing at the buildings the bus was passing by, and stopped when reaching the angle from which she knew he saw Gin best. He returned to his original position after a short moment and took a deep breath. 'Okay,' he repeated, clearly nervous. 'You go hide among the other children – make sure Gin can't see you at all. I will put a tracing device on him so I can follow him when he gets off…'

'Don't you even think about it!' Ai protested in a whisper. 'You have no idea where he might be going…'

'I don't care,' he replied. 'Wherever it is, it will help us bring the Organization down.'

'That makes no sense! And it's too dangerous to follow him, anyway. Even to put a tracing device on him!'

'I said I don't care,' insisted Conan with a fierce expression on his face. 'He's the reason I shrunk! He's the one who killed your sister and shot you on that rooftop! Do I have to remind you just how many days you needed a crutch after that?' Ai didn't say a word. The boy seemed to calm down thanks to her silence and took yet another deep breath. 'Haibara, this might be the best opportunity we ever have. For who knows how long, we haven't found the tiniest hint about them, no matter how hard we searched. So I'm going to follow him and that's it.'

'Don't, Kudo!' she retorted. 'It's too dangerous, I tell you. And you don't even know where he's going – of course this could be our best opportunity ever, but it could also lead us to a dead end, in both senses.' The bus stopped again and both she and Conan struggled not to fall. 'Please stop to think for a second!'

Conan, who had kept glancing back every now and then, let out a curse. Ai gazed over the boy's shoulder – Gin was heading towards the open exit door, ready to get off the bus.

'I'll go after him!' announced Conan, looking at her in the eye. 'Stay here – I'll phone you in a while.'

'Wait!'

Ai had hardly opened her lips when Conan dashed away. The girl peeped one last time at her classmates and teacher and hurried after him, making her way through the dense crowd with effort.

No sooner had she stepped onto the road than the doors of the bus closed behind her, missing her hair by inches. She believed she heard the teacher shout her name, but spotted Conan a few feet ahead from her and followed him automatically up the long avenue.