First off, I just wanna say thanks to those who have read the first chapter and given me reviews, even after FFA, which I admit was half-done. It's okay, I appreciate criticism, and flaming if there is. Now, back to the storybook!

…

"Name?"

"Edogawa Conan."

"As in Edogawa Rampo and Arthur Conan Doyle?"

His fingers tugged gently at his collar, which was beginning to feel a tad too tight. "Y-Yeah."

Hakuba Saguru bent down at the kid, peering at him through half-mooned eyes. "Oh really?"

"Mmmph-hmm. But you know that already. Why do you wanna ask me again?"

"Well…it's a little complicated. But before we explain everything to you, you need to come into this room for a moment." He directed Conan to a dark room, lit only by a single swinging lamp, a solitary chair in its halo of light.

Conan held back for a moment, but Hakuba pushed him in anyway, and shut the door behind him.

…

"I've got to tell Kudo, I've got to tell Kudo, I've got to tell Kudo…"

Hattori Heiji punched in Shinichi's phone number into his cell, and paced around impatiently for him to pick up.

The phone rang for a couple of seconds, and then someone on the other side picked it up.

"Hello? May I speak to Kudo Shinichi please?"

"Kudo?"

Heiji gulped. The person who had answered his call was definitely feminine. He hoped against fate that it was not Conan's guardian.

"What are you talking about, Heiji? This is Conan's phone. If it's Conan you want to find, I'm afraid he's busy with the police on some sort of investigation."

"Uh oh. That can't be good," Heiji thought.

"Oh. Then maybe I've gotten mixed up. Thanks anyway, Ran!" He slammed the phone shut and flung it onto his pillow, where it landed with a soft thump.

"Well now, Kudo-chan is gonna have one hell of a time waiting for him now."

…

Mouri Kogoro was lounging on the sofa, slurping up cans of beer. Ran and the little brat had gone out, leaving him all alone…with the fridge!

He lazily flicked on the news channel, and the breaking headline snapped him to attention at once.

No, it was not the pretty reporter.

"There has been footage of an extraordinary event circulated online," said Kurai Mai, reading off from her script. Behind her, a cut scene from the original video played.

"This video, unbelievable but truly not an animation, was taken off the popular MyVideo website, and a lot of its members have uploaded the video to other media websites like MikaCam and World-View. The footage depicts a fantasy-style battle, complete with its own helping of special effects, between two figures, one of which bearing a great resemblance to the High School Detective of the East, Kudo Shinichi. He has gone missing more than a few months ago, and this has triggered police investigations. The early parts of the video show a character that looks like a kid transform into Kudo in a blast of red light. Anyone with further information on this are requested to relay their information to the police."

Kogoro stared at the figures prancing around on the screen.

"Now, where have I seen that kid before….?" His eyes turned to a photo of Ran and Conan that she had set on the wall.

His eyes widened in shocking realization.

…

"Vermouth, just what are you doing?"

"Oh! Gin…Er…"

"You know you were supposed to be researching on our newest client."

"Well…it's just that….Oh! Have you seen the news recently? They say this video is the hottest thing on the net right now."

"And would you mind telling me why you are looking at it at a time like this?"

Vermouth paused the video, looked up at him, and said, "Well, it might just have something to do with that detective you and vodka dealt with half a year ago."

Gin froze, then bent down at shifted the screen towards himself.

"And why?"

"Well…I'll go for dinner now, so you can view it all you want then. Oh, and just a word of warning," she winked at him, just before leaving the room, "That video is entirely live-action. Totally no CG effects whatsoever."

"Whatever."

Vermouth skipped lightly out the door in that irritatingly soppy way she liked to adopt.

Gin sat down in front of the computer, scrolled the video player's seek right back to the beginning, and pressed the button with the large triangle on it.

And he stuck himself there for the next two hours.

…

The door slammed itself open with a bang, rattling the walls of the house. The impact was so huge, that the books Kaito were supposed to stack and dust toppled back down onto him, crashing down from the very top shelf.

A moment later, Kaito found himself under an enormous pile of dusty old books. Some wisps of dust sneaked up his nose, causing him to sneeze non-stop.

"Kudo!!!!"

Kaito quickly combed his hair down.

Kogoro stormed into the room, and hoisted him up by the front collar.

"What did you think you were doing, letting yourself get filmed like that?! You really want to get killed by those men in black, do you?!" Kogoro cried, throttling him like a ragdoll.

Kaito's head lolled around on his neck, his eyes bounced around in his skull. He reeled around the room for a few moments, a little dazed, then refocused back onto the Osakan.

"W-W-Where? What? Who? When? Why?"

Kogoro threw him down onto the sofa.

"You don't know anything about this, do you? Well," he flicked on the news channel, which was conveniently showing the video. Kaito goggled at it, his bright blue eyes nearly popping out onto the floor.

"You didn't know anything about this, did you?"

"I…I…I…Whoa. I didn't Tantei-kun could do that."

Kogoro turned to Kaito, a puzzled look etched on his face. Kaito gulped.

"You're not really that brat, are you?"

"I…er…"

"Where's Kudo?" Kogoro questioned, his voice taking on a more sinister, dark tone. Kaito backed into the shelf, sending another book falling down onto his head.

"K-Kudo's…er…."

"Tantei-kun. Only Kaitou Kid calls him that."

"How'd you know?"

"None of your business!!"

"So… I suppose Tantei-kun doesn't know about this himself?"

Kogoro flopped onto the sofa. "I don't know. But we could all very well be in big trouble if he doesn't. But what are you doing, impersonating Kudo like that?"

Kaito had no choice but to explain everything that happened, starting from Serin's appearance. When he was finished, Kogoro leant back with a satisfied expression.

"So that's what he has been up to all this time."

Kaito said nothing.

"So, where's Kudo now?"

"Erm…"

…

Conan was worried. No, 'worried' was an understatement. He was horribly anxious.

The room looked a lot like the scary interrogation rooms they liked to show in the movies, and he was probably supposed to get interrogated.

He cautiously climbed onto the chair, which was a little too high for his smallish structure, and waited for the worst to come.

"Edogawa Conan."

It was Hakuba's voice, he was sure of it. Pretty obvious. He must have come in through a secret door somewhere, and would most likely be the one questioning him.

"There has been live footage recorded of your 'friend', Kudo Shinichi."

"Ummm, okay."

A screen flicked itself on in front of him, and it started, almost immediately, playing the video. Conan recognized the scenes at once, since he was one of those who were actually playing it out. He remembered it all so clearly. Next, a pale white hand placed a colored earring Conan recognized as Serin's new one on the table in front of him. He did not understand anything going on. Why was Hakuba showing this to him?

The answer revealed itself to him in the climax. He was caught on tape transforming.

Conan's breath started coming out in short, hasty puffs, and his heartbeat was increasing rapidly.

"So this was what they were all talking about at school this morning…"

"Apparently, if you read the news now, the video has been leaked to the whole world."

Conan's heart skipped a beat.

"And…? W-What's your point?"

He could sense Hakuba smirking at him from the shadows. "What I want to ask, is if this video is true, because I myself was the one who recorded it from Serin's earring."