Yuri: Okay. So I took a long time to start this fic. Muse gone. Writer's block. And so many more excuses! But, I'll probably make this chapter and the rest of my chapters shorter. I realized I seriously can't write to save myself. Gah! Maybe a shorter chapter helps me in my grammar, fluency and the overall flow of my writing. Once again, pardon me for my incompetency in English as it is not (and never will be) my first language.


Chapter 4: School

Conan is a bright and intelligent eight-year-old. Shinichi knew better but she still could not help but worry about her youngest brother's first day at Teitan Elementary.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Crystal clear blue orbs filled with worry and the owner's body crouched down to meet the shorter kid's eye. "You sure you don't want me to bring you to your class?"

Rolling his eyes at the comment, Conan sighed and gave his nee-chan a weary smile. "Shinichi-neechan, I'm fine." With that said, Conan turned around and ran towards the school gate, successfully shutting his motherly sister.

Transferring to a new school was nothing special to Conan. It wasn't like he transferred a lot. It's just that he knew he could manage well at any school. Even though he was not a sociable person like his Kaito-niichan, but he was not as socially impaired like his Shinichi-neechan.

Introducing himself in front of the class, however, proved to be quite a challenge. Not used to all the attention given to him, Conan fidgeted throughout his introduction until he was allowed to get to his seat.

The subject taught was nothing to the bright child as compared to the reading materials he did at home. In no time, the new kid who answered all questions in a sudden pop quiz quickly gained the attention of his female classmates and was in the good grace of his teachers.

Lunch time was uneventful, except for the fact that half of the classroom decided to crowd around Conan's desk, showering tons of questions about the poor boy.

It took about ten minutes for the boy to fend of his annoyingly excited classmate and proceed to tour around his school ground.

Teitan Elementary consists of a U-shaped 3-storey building. A small garden with a beautiful fountain is situated in the middle of the U-shaped where lots of students love to gather there. Their soccer field is just beside the east wing of the school building and there is a large field in front of the building. The school gym is beside the west wing with a storage room just behind it.

It was nice and thoughtful of his mother who enrolled him at Teitan Elementary that has its own soccer field. However, its kinda rare mum actually did something this thoughtful. Conan snickered at the idea before returning his attention to the kids on the soccer field. Few more days and he'll be the one on the field.

Touring the school ground, Conan came to the school gym and was amazed at the sheer size of the gym. It was a joint gym with Teitan Middle school that was just beside Teitan Elementary.

A glance into the gym showed that it was mostly occupied by the middle schoolers. Some were engaged in a fierce badminton match while some were practicing acrobatics at another corner of the room.

Conan was delighted at the sight. Big gym means he can show off some of his acrobatic skills Kaito-niichan taught him, or the magic performance Uncle Toichi showed them. He was looking forward to school days at Teitan Elementary right now.

Turning his back to the gym, Conan started to walk back to his classroom. He had to finish his sandwich before Shinichi-neechan ban him from magic tricks again. It isn't fair! Kaito-niichan is free to do magic tricks all he wants but the poor boy is often ban from doing such tricks.

Suddenly, a faint cry can be heard from behind the gym followed with a few 'thuds'. Being a Kudo, Conan was curious and decided to investigate the noise.

Remember what Shinichi-neechan said, hands on the wall, feet on tip-toes, eyes on the ground and be aware of the surrounding. Conan moved as slow as possible around the gym and crept around the storage house behind the gym where the noise came from.

Slowly peeping out his face, Conan was shocked at the sight. A freckled boy, few inches taller than him, but was no more bigger than him, was being surrounded by a group of five boys, all showering the whimpering boy with punches and kicks. The freckled boy could do nothing but cry and beg for the beating to stop but his pleas went unheard. Conan felt his blood boiled and stepped out of his hiding place.

"Hey, bullies! Pick someone your own size!"

So he successfully stop the beatings. But from the looks of the size of the bullies, Conan was sure he would be the one beaten up next unless he thought of something. Fast.

Blinking at the intruder, one of the bullies burst out laughing. The others joined him a moment later with some actually doubled over laughing at Conan. A midget trying to challenge them? Either the poor dear was delusional or he was plain crazy.

The biggest one cracked his knuckle while walking towards Conan. Huge. The only word appeared in Conan's thought.

"Kid, you might not wanna mess with us." The big guy smirked, though Conan didn't move as much as a flinch. He didn't even look scared.

Conan raised his eyebrow and yawned at the obvious lack of interest.

Why is he provoking them? Is his nuts?! Worried and frantic at the situation played in front of him, the freckled boy struggled to move but was in too much pain to even stand up.

Click! Poof!

Blue smoke engulfed all the seven kids in that area, blocking the visibility of the area for a whole thirty seconds. As the smoke cleared, the bullies were shocked to see both their object of bully and the little midget with a blue shirt disappeared. How had they moved past them? Shaking their head in disbelief, the bullies decided to return to their classroom. Bullies or not, they still have classes to attend to.

At the other side of the gym, two boys were panting and one sat down on the ground, obviously worn out.

"Are you okay?" Conan turned to the boy sitting on the ground, eyes scanning over his body for visible bruises.

"I'm fine. Thanks for saving me. Wow! Your magic was awesome!" The freckled boy though tired and in pain, had twinkles in his eye after witnessing what happened back then. The speed his savior moved after the smoke broke out was tremendously fast and it had successfully saved them from any more harm.

"Thanks! My elder brother taught me the trick and he was the one who made the smoke bombs. By the way, my name is Kudo Conan. What's your name?" Beaming at the praise of his trick, Conan couldn't help but felt happy.

"I'm Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko and I believe we're in the same class!" The freckled boy, Mitsuhiko, Conan had to remind himself of his name, said while reaching out to hold Conan's hand.

Shaking the offered hand, Conan smiled and inwardly felt gratitude at the sign of friendship as well as the lack of awkwardness seeing that Conan's social skill was nowhere near Kaito's.

"Mitsuhiko-kun!" A high-pitched chirpy voice shouted from behind the boys, making them jerked their heads to look at the source. A girl with brown hair and a pink headband ran towards the boys together with another boy who was almost twice Conan's size.

"Ayumi-chan! Genta-kun! I'm here!" Mitsuhiko waved at his friends who stop and stared at the stranger beside their friends.

"This is?" Genta tilted his head and shot an annoyed glare at Conan. Conan shrugged at the glare but otherwise didn't do anything else.

Realizing his cue, Mitsuhiko grinned and waved at Conan, introduced the bespectacled boy and summarized the boy's heroic act. The other two, together with Mitsuhiko, introduced themselves as Detective Boys and managed to drag Conan into becoming one of their members. Without his permission.

However, the school bell rang, interrupting their slightly heated conversation. Reluctantly, the newly formed Detective Boys went back to their classroom.


A/N: The ending's a bit weird and abrupt or so I say. Urgh! This chapter seriously took me forever and god knows why! I promise I'll make it up to you all next chapter. Reviews or criticism? =)