With Conan's bizarre sleep schedule the night before, it wasn't really surprising that he woke up at least an hour before the rest of the civilized world. Sighing, he dragged himself out of bed, accepting that sleep would no longer come to him. Actually, it wasn't that much of a loss. All the sleep he'd gotten was plagued with nightmares of shining metal guns and long blonde hair and black.

Allowing his eyes to adjust to the darkness of the room, he decided to explore the rest of the apartment. Takagi had never really given him a tour and he was curious by nature.

After an hour's tour, all he'd concluded was that Takagi either spent close to no time at home or simply had no social life to speak of. The apartment was bare, but it spoke greatly of a certain wear, as if someone sat around all here occasionally.

Conan frowned. The most likely conclusion was that Takagi had no life, but he really couldn't see why. Takagi was nice, if a little timid, but he was definitely a good person to befriend, and he certainly seem like the kind of guy who was unendingly loyal to his friends.

Sitting on the kitchen floor, still deep in thought, Conan jumped nearly a foot in the air when the light flipped on.

A drowsy voice asked, "Conan-kun? What are you doing up?" Conan jerked around to see the resident police officer blinking wearily at him.

Attempting to slow his beating heart, Conan took a deep breath. "I couldn't sleep. Sorry."

"Oh, it's alright. Want to help me make breakfast?" Takagi smiled.

"Sure!" Conan smiled.

--

There was silence as they worked on compiling an edible portion of eggs and toast, but when the finally settled down at the table, Takagi struck up conversation.

"We'll need to bring you in for fingerprinting today. After that, they should have everything in order. If you like, we can register you for school at the local primary school during my lunch break."

"Okay. Does that mean I have to go to the daycare again today?"

"Yes. Sorry about that, but…"

"It's alright." Conan pouted and Wataru laughed.

--

Well, Conan had said it was alright, but he wasn't at all sure about that. Frankly, he wasn't at all sure he could stand another day in this torture chamber. The daycare instructor was watching him like a hawk, probably suspicious about his lack of records. Because of the instructor's attention on him, the other kids began to take notice of him and started gathering around him, demanding attention as well.

Shinichi would've cried if he'd been the sort. He'd never been good with kids. Why couldn't they bother someone else?

Finally, a uniformed officer stopped in and called for him. Practically fleeing the room, Conan was more than happy to follow.

No words were exchanged between them as they walked down the busy hallway until they arrived in forensics. A woman in a white lab coat beckoned him over.

"Hello, boya. I'm Nakamaru Shiori. How are you?" She smiled pleasantly at him.

"Fine." He murmured.

"Well, come here and I'll do the fingerprinting for you." She grasped his hand and slowly rolled each finger in the ink and then on the paper. "Now, we'll run this through the system for you and see what we can find."

With a series of beeps, different documents appeared on the computer screen and Conan sighed in relief. Kuroba had gotten the information into the system in time.

"Well, everything seems to be in order. Take these," She handed him a light manila folder, "and go head back to the daycare, okay?" She leaned down to hug him, much to his mortification.

--

Takagi breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, the pile of paperwork was shrinking. His break would be coming up in ten minutes and then he'd head out to get Conan registered at school.

He chuckled lightly to himself. Conan truly was a relief. The poor boy must've been miserable in the daycare, but he didn't complain.

"What are you smiling about, Takagi-kun?" A feminine voice asked.

"Oh! Uh, Satou-san, um…I was, well, I was just thinking about Conan-kun." Takagi stuttered.

"Conan-kun? Oh, the kid you took in?"

"Yeah, he's – "

"Miwako-san!" A voice interrupted him. Wataru turned to see his superior, Shiratori Ninzaburo. Well, superior only in the loosest sense of the word. His pay was higher and he had a better title, but overall, they were practically the same rank. "Miwako-san, you're on break now, aren't you? Would you like to go out for some lunch?"

Takagi's shoulders sagged. Of course she would. Who wouldn't want to go out to lunch with a suave, sophisticated, wealthy police inspector?

"Sure, but hold on." Satou smiled. "I was just talking to Takagi-kun about the kid he'd taking care of."

Shiratori raised an eyebrow. "Oh? But shouldn't Takagi be working?" He smirked.

Wataru frowned. "Actually, my shift officially ended one minute ago."

Satou invited, "In that case, would you like to join us for lunch, Takagi-kun?"

Shiratori frowned and Wataru's heart soared, but he, sadly, had to decline. "Sorry, but I told Conan-kun I'd get him registered at school during my break. Thanks for asking, though."

Satou smiled at him. "No problem. Bring in a picture of Conan some time; I'd love to see him."

"Alright." Takagi grinned. "See you later." He headed off down to the nursery to bail Conan out.

--

They stopped at a small deli to pick up sandwiched before driving over to Beika Primary School.

"So, are you ready to start school, Conan-kun?"

"Yeah," He mumbled.

"What's wrong?" Takagi inquired with concern. "They didn't have trouble finding your records or anything, did they?"

"No, it's just… the forensics lady kept fawning over me." Conan pouted.

Wataru laughed. He couldn't blame the lady. He was sure that she wouldn't be the only one to fawn over Conan.

"She gave me these forms to give to the school." Conan said, holding out a folder. "It's mostly my birth certificate and a few forms from my old school."

"Alright, good. I have paperwork to prove I'm your current legal guardian, so we should have everything.

They did, fortunately. However, the process of enrolling him involved a whole lot of paperwork and it took most of Takagi's hour-long break.

"Well," The office secretary said, "you can come to school starting tomorrow, okay?"

Conan smiled stiffly at her. "Right."

Takagi placed a hand on his shoulder. "Well, if that's all, I'm afraid we need to be going. Bye." He rushed Conan out the door and into the car.

"Are you late?" Conan asked, amused.

"Just about." Takagi clinched his jaw. "We're gonna have to hurry."

Just then, a voice crackled out of his radio. "All units available, there's been a murder in down town. All units available, converge at – "

Takagi frowned. "Well, at least we won't technically be late. Sorry, Conan-kun, but I'll have to bring you along. Just stay out of everyone's way, okay?"

"'Kay." Conan grinned. A murder, just what he needed to cheer him up. Of course, it was bad that someone had died, but if it gave Conan a chance to solve a case…

They arrived just as the majority of the patrol cars did, along with the portly inspector of Division One.

"Megure-keibu," Takagi nodded. Down by his ankles, Conan did the same, though fortunately, no one seemed to notice.

"Takagi-kun, take statements from all the witnesses." Megure ordered. "What happened?"

"The victim is Fujie Akiyoshi, 22. Cause of death is the knife in his back, most likely instant death. His body was found in the apartment by Okino Yoko. Her manager, Yamagishi, was with her at the time. It was on the 25 floor, with the window locked and no entrances other than the door. The only fingerprints on the knife are Okino-san's." A uniformed officer told them, leading them to the room.

"This room is really hot." Megure said, tugging at his collar. "So you always have the heater on so strong?"

"No, never this powerful." The apartment owner, Okino Yoko, said, "And I turned all the power off when I left."

"That is quite strange…"

"That's not all that's strange, Keibu." Conan said, peering at the floor. "There are small dried water marks all around the body. And this chair next to the body," He pointed at the lone chair, "everything else in the room is knocked over, but this chair is standing." He explained.

"WHOSE KID IS THIS!?" Megure shouted.

Conan blinked. Whoops. That's right, he couldn't act like he'd used to as Kudo Shinichi.

"Ah, he's mine, Keibu." Takagi, who had just walked in, said.

"Yours?"

"I'm, uh, taking care of him for the moment." Takagi rubbed his neck in embarrassment. "I'll keep him out of your way."

"You'd better." Megure growled.

"Yes sir." Takagi bowed, dragging Conan out of the room. "Conan-kun, you have to stay out of the way, alright? You really shouldn't be at the crime scene at all."

"I'm sorry." Conan said. He'd forgotten himself and handled the crime scene as he would've before. "But keiji," he called and Takagi turned, "the water and the chair are weird."

Takagi smiled. "Alright. We'll see if they mean anything."

"'Kay."

--

"Do you have any ideas about who would bear a grudge against you, Okino-san?" Megure asked.

"N-no, no one."

Conan frowned, looking around the room and avoiding calling attention to himself. Something was missing, something important to the picture… He dropped onto all fours and looked in all the nooks and crannies. Ah ha!

"Keibu, under the sofa over there!" He began, tugging on Megure's pant leg.

"Takagi!" Megure shouted. "Keep your kid under control! Why would you even bring him to a crime scene."

"I'm sorry."

"Takagi-keiji, there's an earring under the sofa!" Conan said, hoping desperately that someone would listen to him.

"Eh? Really?" Takagi followed him to the sofa and looked, pulling out the earring with his handkerchief. "An earring?"

"That's Yuko-san's!" Yoko exclaimed.

"Who?"

"Ikezawa Yuko-san, who made her debut the same time I did. We often work together, so I see her all the time. But why would Yuko-san's earring be in my apartment?"

"Y-Yes," The manager agreed, "I heard that Ikezawa Yuko bears a grudge against Yoko for taking away her acting role."

"Yuko-san's angry at me?" Yoko repeated sadly.

"Go find this Ikezawa Yuko. Bring her straight here, no point in going to the station." Megure ordered.

Yuko was brought in, although she entered in quite a huff. "Of course I was angry when Yoko got my acting spot, but this is a murder at her apartment, right? Why did you have to make me come all the way over here!? If you're mistrustful, shouldn't you be more worried about the owner of the place first?"

"You're most certainly correct, Ikezawa Yuko-san," Megure appeased, "The body had a knife from this apartment in its back, and we found no other fingerprints on it other than Okino-san's, and this is the 25 floor, so no one could get in without a key. However, your earring was found at the scene of the crime."

"Eh? Oh, I thought I'd lost it. Thanks for finding it." Yuko said, completely at ease.

"We also have the testimony of the manager downstairs that someone who looked like you was here."

"Well, it wasn't me." She huffed. "This is ridiculous, I'm going to use the restroom, if you don't mind."

Conan blinked up at her retreating form. 'Wait a minute…Yoko-san and Yuko-san…'

He scrambled over to Takagi-keiji. "Those two, Yoko-san and Yuko-san, they look alike from behind! And she knew where the bathroom here was!"

"You're right, Conan-kun, that is odd." Takagi turned to Yuko as she came out of the powder room. "Ikezawa-san, have you ever been to this apartment before?"

"No, of course not!"

"But you knew where the bathroom was, correct?"

"I – "

"That's right." Megure said. "How did you know the location of the bathroom if you've never been here before? Perhaps you came here and killed him?"

"I – no – I didn't kill him! He attacked me and I fought him off! I was here, trying to find something to hold back Yoko's career when this man came in and jumped at me. I fought him off and ran, that's when the earring must've fallen off." Yuko defended.

Megure frowned and turned back to Yoko. "What was your relationship with the victim?"

"I – In high school, I went out with him." She whispered. "He was my boyfriend!"

"So you killed him to end the relationship." Megure concluded.

"No! He was the one who dumped me, back in high school. When I became a famous idol, he kept stopping by, trying to get together again, but I wouldn't. I didn't kill him!"

Conan scratched at his hair in irritation. Who was the killer? Who could it have been?

"Conan-kun!" Takagi whispered. "Come here, stay away from the body outline, please." Takagi walked towards him, but his path was intercepted when he tripped over something on the floor and fell. "Ouch!"

"Look at this, keiji-san!" Conan pulled Takagi closer. "There's a small, circular indentation here that you tripped over. But why would it be here?"

Takagi frowned, rubbing his head. "It looks like something impaled into the floor. But what? And the water around the body, too…"

"What about the chair? It was the only thing standing. Almost like someone had used it for something…"

"That's it!" Takagi said. "We figured it out, Conan-kun! Megure-keibu, what if the culprit isn't any of these people? Look," Takagi guided the inspector over to the outline of the body. "This indentation here next to the body and the water around it show that this was not a murder, but that Fujie-san killed himself, with the help of the unnaturally hot temperature in this room. Fujie-san jumped off of the chair onto a block of ice holding the knife up. He landed on the knife and turned over to make it look like a murder while the room temperature melted the ice."

"B-but! Why would Fujie-kun do such a thing?" Yoko asked desperately.

"Perhaps he was still in love with you." Takagi suggested. "Most likely, he came here to ask you out once more and ran into Ikezawa instead. She looks like you from behind and he must've mistaken her for you. However, when she ran, he must have given up hope."

--

Driving back to the station was an interesting ordeal. Megure had Ikezawa-san brought in for trespassing and requested that the others come down to the station for statements, so each of them filed into a squad car while Conan hopped into Takagi's car and they took off as well.

"You were amazing in there, Conan-kun. Most people never would have noticed the clues you did. Good job, you helped save an innocent person from going to jail." Takagi smiled at him.

Conan grinned back. "Thanks, Takagi-keiji. Um…what happened with that case you were talking about yesterday, the missing detective or something?"

"Kudo Shinichi? He hasn't been heard from in 72 hours, so he'll be legally declared missing. I wonder what happened to him…he was always such a help to us in the past, solving crimes. I just hope he hasn't gotten himself into trouble. Another department handles missing persons cases, so I won't really know anything that happens to him directly, but he was well-known in our department. Whatever happens, Megure-keibu will find out. I just hope we don't get called in to work the case."

"Eh? Why?"

"Because if Division One gets summoned, it means there's been a homicide. I really hope he hasn't died."

Conan looked solemnly out the window. "Yeah, so do I." He whispered. "So do I."