Chapter 2

Dear Kudo Shinichi…

Conan finally arrived at professor Agasa's doorstep. He was very pleased to be there because the best friend of his father was one of the few persons who knew about his secret. He rung the doorbell and a few seconds later he saw the face of Hakase Agasa smiling at him.

"Oh Kudo-kun come in" he said cheerfully, "I didn't expect you so early, did something happen?" he said with worried look on his face, professor Agasa could always see when something was bothering Shinichi.

Conan didn't answer; he took off his shoes, walked slowly to the armchair in the living room and sat down. Agasa followed him in confusion; he was now sure that something happened. The professor didn't say a word until Conan eventually broke the silence and slowly started.

"Kogoro received a letter today, from a client…" he sighed

"But that's great, didn't you complain because he didn't get any cases?"

"Well, let me finish, the problem is that the client invited him to his cruise ship to tell him everything about the case and he surely won't take me."

"That itself isn't a problem, I could place a bug on him and listen from the apartment, but the client who requested his help is Ryou Ishikawa, the magnate who recently bought the Hope diamond, so I'm pretty sure that "That person" will strike on the cruise ship." he added while taking off his jacket and putting it on his lap.

Agasa looked at him in confusion but it was obvious that he was defending his reputation as a genius and didn't want to ask who Shinichi was talking about.

Eventually he gave up.

"And when you say "That person" you mean who? Kudo-kun don't speak in riddles, I can't follow you…"

Shinichi smiled at him and looked directly in his eyes. This was his favorite part – the explanation of his deduction.

"Well my dear professor, by "That person" I mean no-one less than the Phantom thief – Kaito Kid."

Agasa was now shocked and even more confused, Shinichi saw that too and resumed with his deduction "show".

"It's simple; you see the Hope diamond was donated to an institution in England over 50 years ago, it's one of the most perfect diamonds on the planet and we both know that our friend has a great taste."

"Oh I see, but what makes you so sure that Kid is after the diamond?" asked Agasa.

Suddenly a girl Conan's age walked through the living room and went to the cupboard. She didn't say a word.

"Ai-kun…" the professor said, but Ai didn't reply.

Conan ignored her behavior and continued.

"Well, I'm positive; he was after every expensive jewel that entered the country, on top of that Ishikawa hired a private eye to protect the diamond because he doesn't trust the police who failed every time against Kid and he is even paying an insane price for Kogoro's services" Conan added, and eliminated every possibility of an another "But what makes you so sure" question.

"Well I understand your and Kid's cat and dog games and why you want to be so desperately on that ship, but I can't see any solution for the problem." Agasa said and tapped Conan on his shoulder in a "It can't be helped" manner.

"Dear Kudo Shinichi. I would really need the help of a detective because of my current situation and since your detective skills are very renowned I chose you.

I can't give you all the details of the manner via this letter so I invite you and a person of your choice to be my guests on my cruise ship.

I am including the first half of your payment to this letter, and the other half upon completing the job. The "Oceanus" will take off on the 5th May at 17:00 pm. Yours sincerely Ryou Ishikawa." the weird girl read out loud as she was walking to Shinichi and dropped the letter on his lap.

"I think you won't mind that I read your mail, since I'm sure this made your day" Ai said with an unnatural smile on her face.

Conan looked at her for a few seconds with his eyes wide open but he soon regained his coolness and started smiling again.

"Well , Haibara you should see that the letter is addressed to Kudo Shinichi not his shrunken alter ego Conan Edogawa, so it's not very useful to me" he said ironically and crumbled the letter to a paper ball which he started juggling around like a soccer player.

"Well, Kudo you see it doesn't matter, you will still be able to go on that cruise" she replied mimicking the arrogant way he was talking to her.

Shinichi was caught in amazement, because he realized what Ai was talking about. The arrogant expression on his face was replaced by a child's look on Christmas morning when it is about to unwrap the presents.

"How long?" he asked with his eyes shining.

"Hmm… I'd say about 5 days but you took the other prototype antidotes a few times , that means your body has build some resistance to the antidote , so I'll go with 2-3 days if you're lucky and it doesn't kill you." she explained to him with an evil grin on her face.

She then started talking about the possible side effects other than death. Conan didn't listen to her; he took the crumbled letter and checked the time and date of the ship's take off. Then it came to his mind, it's May and today is the 3rd, just one day till his birthday and there was no better present than being Kudo Shinichi again, regardless how short the period was.

"Oh Ai-kun so that's why you didn't leave the laboratory for 3 days?" asked Agasa with an admiring look on his face.

"Yes, the antidote is now more efficient but the dosage is increased so the chance of a lethal outcome is bigger now…"

"So…Are you going to take it?" she turned to Conan and the evil grin didn't wear off.

"You bet I …" but the ringing of his phone stopped him.