All was tranquil in the neighbourhood around Mouri's Detective Agency when all of a sudden a deafening crash broke the peace, causing every bird in close proximity to take flight in panic. It was Ran Mouri, lodging her resilient fist into Kogoro Mouri's office desk. Kogoro cringed.

"That's blackmail! I knew I shouldn't have sent you to those karate lessons. Darn hindsight! Who would want to harm that tantei bozu anyway?" he expostulated at a teed-off Ran while hiding behind the toffee-coloured couch.

"Um, like, errr... EVERY RELATIVE OF THE CRIMINALS SHINICHI PUT BEHIND BARS!" Ran bellowed. Her otousan could have sworn his hair fanned backwards for a second there.

"Ok, ok! I get the idea!" Kogoro spluttered. He muttered under his breath, "What kind of father-daughter relationship is this?"

"What did you say?" Ran enquired in a menacing voice. He immediately shook his head, "Nothing, nothing! But why don't you contact his parents for help? Surely they want to know what happened to their only son."

"I tried, but they're really hard to reach. Shinichi told me before that his parents travel all the time. Shinichi's otousan even wiped out all means of communication with them to elude his publishers' harping on manuscript deadlines. I left a couple of messages at their house in Los Angeles, but God knows when they'll get it," Ran elucidated.

"But where should I start?" Kogoro pointed out, desperately hankering to find a way out.

"How would I know? You're the detective here! But I suggest you start with Tropical Land where Shinichi was seen last and his house too."

Kogoro sighed sorrowfully. There was no getting out of this one.

--

"Sumimasen, can you tell me anything about the patient admitted here on March 3 due to a car collision at Beika Street? His name is Kuroba Tenichi," Tenichi inquired to the receptionist at Beika Hospital. He did not tell the receptionist that he was Tenichi Kuroba himself because he did not want his family to discover that he had been there. In fact, he managed to evade their accompaniment today purely based on luck. Kaito had to complete his weekly chores and Mrs. Kuroba had to attend a friend's birthday party.

For the past few days, whenever he wanted to go out, either Kaito or his okasan offered to go with him. At home, he felt eyes unobtrusively scrutinise him around the clock. Their peculiar conduct did not escape unnoticed. It was as if they were afraid he was going to do something unwelcome or something uninvited might occur to him.

In addition, Mrs. Kuroba had been all too polite to him. By all means, they never had any form of interaction for 16 years so it was quite understandable. However, there was an inexplicable distant atmosphere between them, unlike other mother and son rapport.

Most of all, both Mrs. Kuroba and Kaito seemed unwilling to assist him in recovering his vanished memory. Surely they should be just a teeny bit curious where he had been or what he had been doing all those years? But no, they gave him the impression that they would rather that he never remembered anything. Heck, they even found a zillion excuses so he would not report his kidnapping to the police. Was that outlandish or what?

All the more reason to investigate the truth.

"Gommenasai, we have no record of that person ever staying here, sir," the receptionist informed Tenichi much to his amazement.

"Are you sure?" he asked, flabbergasted.

"Hai," the receptionist confirmed, "Besides, sir, there wasn't any accident at Beika Street on March 3."

Tenichi stood stone still, his pupils dilating in shock. Nani? What's going on?

"Sir? Sir?" the receptionist called, "Are you alright?" Tenichi recuperated his consciousness.

"Oh, yes, I'm fine. Domo arigato ne," Tenichi said and headed towards the exit, his brain working overtime to achieve a seamless solution to the puzzling mystery. I woke up without my memory, everything around me feels phony and I was given trumped-up story. And there was that girl on the zebra crossing. Why do I feel like I know her from somewhere? Her soft black hair and tender gaze, so very familiar... Like a dream of a dream...

He suddenly caught sight of an old newspaper at the newspaper stand with the words "Meitantei Mouri Kogoro Busted Another Murderer" emblazoned across the headlines. Mouri... Kogoro? Mouri? Mouri... Ran? His contemplation was intervened by an intense twinge in his chest coupled by a fiery sensation in his head.

"Aah," he cried before crumpling into a chair, his right hand tightly gripped over his thumping heart whilst his left hand searched for support. Sweat beads broke out on his creased forehead and the earth swirled before his fuzzy eyes. He shook his head repeatedly to focus his sight. After a while, the sting somewhat ebbed and his vision cleared. Although so, whenever the name "Ran Mouri" crossed his mind the pain returned full force.

"I don't understand," Tenichi said in a wavering voice to nobody in particular. When he felt well enough, he stood up and started to leave.

"HELP!!"