-Chapter 4: Devil's Advocate-

The least questioned assumptions are often the most questionable.

--Paul Broca

Ran noticed that Conan had been watching her more carefully over the past few days. It was nothing overly overt, but he had been spending more time in her presence lately. And it may have been her imagination, but the boy seemed to be acting even more childish than usual ever since she had gone to visit professor Agasa.

That could mean that the professor had ultimately decided to give her away, but she hoped that wasn't the case. It was just as likely that Conan had simply noticed her acting strangely. His eye for catching out-of-place details was not something she took lightly. Either way, Ran had to now proceed on the assumption that Conan knew what she was doing.

This actually made matters considerably easier for her. She had hesitated on moving forward in her investigation out of fear of arousing Conan's suspicion, but now she didn't have to care! It was not actually that simple, of course. If Conan really was Shinichi, she may have just started a war that she could not possibly win. Waiting for the other shoe to drop was not going to help her stress levels.

Ran sighed. Nothing was ever easy.

"What's wrong, Ran-chan?"

Ran looked up to see the brunette she'd been waiting on the train platform for. "Kazuha-chan!"

The two girls hugged. Because of the distance between Osaka and Tokyo it wasn't very often that Ran could see her friend, but they tried to meet up at least once a month.

"Oi! Don't forget about me!"

"Ahou! Can't you see you're ruining a moment?" Kazuha snapped at her baseball cap-wearing companion.

"Hattori-kun, it's good to see you again," Ran said warmly.

Heiji grinned and stuck his hands in his jeans pockets. "Same here, nee-chan. It's been awhile, hasn't it? Since we've seen you and the runt." He looked around. "Speaking of which, where's Kudou-kun anyway?"

Ran stiffened.

Kazuha looked around. "Yeah, I was surprised to not see him."

Why had she never noticed before? Ran forced herself to relax and replied, "Oh, there's a new Kamen Rider play out at the park that Conan and his friends have gone to watch."

Heiji snickered. "I bet Kudou-kun's going to love that!"

There it was again. Ran casually asked, "Why do you call Conan Kudou-kun anyway?"

Kazuha stared at her childhood friend quizzically. "I've always wondered about that too."

"Wh-what's the big deal? It doesn't take a detective to figure out that those two are eerily similar!" Heiji laughed nervously.

Ran smiled a bit sadly. "No, I suppose it doesn't."

"Did you just call Ran-chan stupid?" Kazuha demanded.

"What the hell? How did you get that out of what I said?" Heiji shouted.

Ran just allowed the sound of her friends bickering wash over her as she thought. Heiji was right. He may have met Shinichi only a few times and for only a few minutes most of those times, but that was enough to have a basis for a comparison to Conan.

But why had she never wondered before? It wasn't the first or even the tenth time she'd heard Heiji's 'nickname' for Conan, but she had never even given it a second thought. Shinichi had once told her that most people never really paid attention to their surroundings, and that there was a difference between sensing something and consciously being aware of it.

But so what? It would be quite a leap to conclude that because Heiji called Conan by Shinichi's last name that he must be involved with the big secret. Her instincts, however, told her that the Osakan detective knew more than he was letting on. But reason told her that it was only natural to see a resemblance between a child detective and his teenage counterpart.

Yet was it more than simply spotting a resemblance? Her breath caught as dozens of disjointed conversations and images flashed through her head. Heiji was always taking Conan along on investigations and discussing matters like equals with him when they were too involved in gathering evidence to realize they were acting strangely. It was more than simply a master talking to his apprentice. Hypercompetitive Heiji seemingly had no problems deferring to the deductions of a child.

That was not all. Heiji was always worrying about Conan and jumping in with bizarre excuses to explain Conan's reckless behavior. Heiji had pretended to be Shinichi on at least two separate occasions…(1)

"Nee-chan? Are you okay? Hello?"

Every bit on its own didn't mean anything but when combined together...

Ran felt like she had gone ten rounds with a karate opponent. Was this how Shinichi felt when a piece of the puzzle snapped into place? It was quite a rush. She was beginning to see why Shinichi loved solving mysteries so much.

She had everything she needed to complete the picture but had never taken the time to arrange the pieces together. Maybe if she hadn't spent the last few days lost in paranoid musings she still wouldn't have connected the dots. But now that she had it was so blindingly obvious!

"Ran-chan!"

Ran shook her head as if she was coming out of a daze and saw that her friends were looking at her with concerned expressions. She smiled weakly then replied, "Oh, sorry. I haven't been getting much sleep lately. Let's get some coffee and I'll be fine."

Was it her imagination or was Heiji staring at her with a knowing expression on his face?

"Don't worry me like that!" Kazuha scolded as she grabbed Ran's hand and started dragging her toward a nearby Starbucks. As Ran struggled not to trip as she was dragged along in Kazuha's wake, she turned her head and saw that Heiji hadn't moved from where he had been standing. He was apparently lost in thought.

What was he thinking about?

Ran mostly sat back, latte in hand, while her two friends argued with each other. If they would have looked over, they would have seen the despondent look on her face. She had been so excited about her discovery of Heiji's deception until she realized that she had the same problem with Heiji that she had with Conan. She had no proof! She was back right where she started!

She sank down in her seat and sighed. Actually, she might be even worse off. She now faced the prospective of having the two smartest detectives she knew teaming up against her. It was very likely that Heiji had already reasoned out the real reason for her spacing out.

Or was she just being paranoid? Better yet, maybe she was just utterly insane and the men in white coats were going to come drag her away any day now as she ranted about men turning into children and the giant conspiracy that was preventing her from learning the truth…

"Ran-chan, you're looking pale," Kazuha said worriedly as she put her hand to Ran's forehead. "It's doesn't feel like you're running a fever, but maybe you should go home. We can do this again tomorrow. We're staying the weekend anyway."

Ran felt tempted to take up that offer, but then she glanced over at Heiji, who was sitting across the table with an unreadable expression on his face. A spark of anger ignited inside Ran. She was tired of running into roadblocks everywhere she turned.

Getting to her feet, she raised her voice and said, "Do you want to know why I'm so tired? It's because I think Shinichi and Conan are…"

"Nee-chan, wait!" Heiji shouted as he desperately stretched across the table to try to cover her mouth. Ran easily knocked his arm out of the way and concluded, "…mystery-loving geeks who aren't considerate enough to let a girl get a good night's rest!"

The expression on Heiji's face was priceless.

Ran then thought about what she just said. She began to blush when she noticed the other customers staring at her.

"Heiji! What are you doing?" Kazuha cried as she frantically started trying to clean up the mess from the drinks Heiji had knocked over in his haste.

"I think Hattori-kun was afraid I'd faint if I got to my feet too quickly," Ran said calmly, pushing her embarrassment aside. "Isn't that right?"

"Y-yeah, I guess I over-reacted," Heiji said. He gave Ran a sharp glance then he continued, "I'm going to take Ran-chan home. Kazuha, I'm going to need you to get us some hotel rooms."

"What? Ran-chan said it was okay for us to stay with them!"

"Ahou! If nee-chan's really sick then you might catch it too! Your coach would kill you if you couldn't enter the aikido tournament next weekend!"

"Heiji…" Kazuha looked like she couldn't decide whether to shout back or smile at the boy. She finally settled on a cross look and replied, "Okay, fine! You be a good mother hen and take Ran-chan home. Ran-chan, I'll call you later to see if you're feeling better!"

Ran waved back as Heiji grabbed her by the elbow and escorted her from the coffee shop.

They continued walking until they were out of Kazuha's sight, then Heiji pulled Ran into a nearby alley. He took a quick scan of the area then he leaned in toward Ran and in an angry whisper, he asked, "What were you doing back there?"

Ran gave him a wide-eyed look of mock innocence. "I don't know what you're talking about. Why did you try to stop me back there?"

"It's like you said. I was worried about you fainting," Heiji replied evenly.

Ran scowled at him. "You're lying."

Heiji smiled cheekily at her. "Can you prove it?"

Ran felt an urge to knock the Osakan boy upside the head. It was no wonder that he and Shinichi got along so well. They were both completely insufferable!

She took a deep breath and slowly released it. "Okay, fine. It's rather obvious that you're not going to help me… directly."

Heiji cocked his head. "Huh?"

"You're supposedly the Great Detective of the West. Well, prove it." Ran leaned her face in until her nose was practically touching Heiji's. "Convince me that Shinichi Kudo and Conan Edogawa are not the same person."

Heiji stumbled a few steps backwards. "Nani? What are you talking about? Maybe you are sick after all…"

"Just humor me," Ran snapped as the last strands of her patience broke. "Because I would like nothing more than to be proven wrong. Do you think I like feeling this way? Not knowing who to trust, feeling betrayed by Shinichi, wondering if Conan is really what he appears to be? So call me a silly girl but take me seriously, damn it!"

Maybe it was the rare display of profanity from the normally unruffled Ran or the note of pleading in her voice, but Heiji sighed and sagged against the brick wall behind him with an air of resignation.

He grabbed the brim of his cap and turned it so that it faced forward, a clear sign that he was thinking deeply. He asked, "I've heard from Kazuha that Kudou-kun calls you a few times every month. How do you explain that?"

"Kaitou Kid imitates voices all the time! Just because somebody sounds like Shinichi doesn't prove anything."

"So the Kudou you've been talking to until now is an imposter? Or are you suggesting that a little boy has the ability to sound like a seventeen year old teenager?"

Ran wished she had a response to that. Either possibility sounded absurd. And she didn't like the implications that came from the idea that she'd been talking to a total stranger for the last few months. Maybe she would be fooled at first by an actor, but too much time had passed by. Was it really possible that the person on the other end of the phone line who she'd been laughing and arguing with for so long could be anyone other than Shinichi?

No, it was not.

"I don't know how he's doing it, but the person who has been calling me is a child Shinichi," Ran said firmly.

Heiji gave her a pitying look. "And the fact that they've both been in the same room at the same time? Or is this where the imposter comes into the picture?"

"You tell me. How many times have you disguised yourself as Shinichi?" Ran shot back. Heiji had the decency to look away with a chagrined look.

Unfortunately, she had no other answer to give him. There was a surprising number of people who resembled Shinichi. Maybe he had hired an actor for some of their meetings, but it didn't feel right that every time she had seen Shinichi since their Tropical Land outing was a deception.

Others might ridicule her and say that her answer stemmed from pride or wishful thinking, but she would vehemently disagree. Her thinking was based on observation. There were times when she thought she was talking to Shinichi that she had the weird feeling that she really wasn't.

Yeah, that sounded crazy.

The first time she saw Shinichi after he disappeared was when she first met Heiji.(2) The Osakan detective had just revealed who he believed to be the culprit in a murder case when Shinichi had stumbled in and told Heiji why he was wrong. The whole time Shinichi looked like he had a fever. When Ran tried to confront him after the case was over, Shinichi had clutched his chest like he was having a heart attack, ran out the door, and vanished. She ran after him only to discover Conan hiding in the bathroom wearing overly large clothing that looked like the attire Shinichi had been wearing.

She saw Shinichi again with the "memories egg" incident with Kaitou Kid.(3) He had shown up for a few minutes to talk then vanished again. There had been no feverish behavior on his part that time. Was that Shinichi an imposter? There was no way to tell with such a brief visit.

Then came the longest period of time that she got to spend with Shinichi in the past few months. It was around the time of the school play.(4) There was no way there was an imposter involved then, was there? But Conan had been around too! Though he had been wearing a mask because of his cold and she had gotten a strange vibe off him…

Again, she was heading into crazy territory, but she was going to take this train of thought to its logical conclusion no matter how absurd it seemed. She had enjoyed spending time with Shinichi and hadn't wanted to ruin their reunion by questioning him too much. She had even gotten her hopes up that he might have returned home permanently until he had ditched her at that fancy restaurant. Not only did she have to eat without him and pay the bill but the jerk had sent Conan to break the news to her!

No, wait. Put the anger aside and think about that for a moment.

"Maybe he has a way to temporarily change himself back?" Ran asked doubtfully.

"Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds?" Heiji retorted, sticking his hands in his pockets and rocking back and forth on his heels.

"Not any more so than anything else I'm saying!" Ran shouted. "I don't need you to tell me how insane this is! And can you really rule out what I'm saying? If I don't know how his transformation happened in the first place then I can't confidently say that he doesn't have a way to change back for a short period at least. It explains why he's always running away from me for no reason."

"Conan has parents!(5) Are they actors too? How did he get enrolled in his school without records? If there are records, were they falsified? Are Kudou-kun's parents in on this deception as well? How far are you going to take this?"

"As far as I need to," Ran replied.

"And where is that?" Heiji cried out in obvious frustration. "Until it's proven to your satisfaction that Kudou-kun and Conan are not the same person? Is that even possible?"

"I don't know!" Ran shouted back at him. "I've never conducted an investigation of something that sounds like it came out of a manga!"

I don't even know where to start looking, Ran thought morosely. Then her eyes widened. Or maybe I do...

She studied Heiji's face. Was he actually trying to help her? Or had he simply gotten caught up in the heat of argument and inadvertently said too much? She would have to proceed on the assumption that it was the latter.

"You're right," Ran said, her shoulders slumping. "I'm acting like a crazy person. Ignoring all the logical flaws in my argument are not what good detectives do. There are just too many questions that don't have answers that it would be foolish of me to continue. Thank you, Hattori-kun, for pointing out where I have been blind."

Maybe it was her imagination but she thought she saw a flash of guilt pass over Heiji's face.

"I think that I need to clear my head," Ran continued. "Please forget that I talked to you about this. It's too embarrassing."

"Nee-chan..."

Ran felt her own pang of guilt as she walked away from Heiji with her head hung low. She didn't like lies, but she'd been doing more and more of it lately. She wasn't even doing it to protect others like Shinichi was but only to protect herself and her secrets. Well, she never claimed to be morally superior to anyone. She just wanted the truth.

But maybe she shouldn't be so hard on Shinichi when all of this was over. Again, that was a subject best left for another time.

Heiji probably hadn't been fooled by her last minute surrender, but he couldn't be sure that she was indeed lying. Without any proof that she was, he would be reluctant to telling Conan anything more than that she had questioned him then had apparently given up. He might even hesitate on telling Conan anything out of concern that doing so could lead to reawakening her suspicions.

Ran pulled out her phone and pushed speed dial 2. She waited through the ringing until there was a click. "Mom? I'm coming over to see you. I have a favor to ask..."

Author's Notes:

A devil's advocate is someone who takes a position, sometimes one he or she disagrees with, for the sake of argument. In this case, Heiji is arguing against the position he actually holds (namely, that Shinichi and Conan are one and the same) while pretending that he's not.

(1) Heiji poorly disguised himself as Shinichi during the school play arc in episode 190 and did a better job in episode 345 at the pirate ship costume party. I'm going to assume that Kogoro told his daughter about the latter deception.

(2) Heiji Hattori first appears in episode 48.

(3) At the end of Movie 3: Last Wizrard of the Century, Kaitou Kid talks to Ran disguised as Shinichi Kudou.

(4) Ran's disasterous date with Shinichi after the school play occurred in episodes 192-93.

(5) 'Conan's' mother first meets Ran and her dad in episode 43.