Wow, the fandom's really quiet lately, isn't it? And I've hardly been getting any reviews, either. Thank you to the people who did review, though. ;)

Back to point, this is the chapter where character allegiances start getting revealed, including a start to why Hannah is even in the Detective Conan universe to begin with. And then Haibara's OOCness starts catching up with her.

Chapter Four

Kogoro Mouri got woken up bright and early the next day by the phone ringing. "Oh, Megure-keibu-dono!" he responded after checking the Caller ID. "What's the matter?"

"We've got another body from the Paint Man," said Megure quietly. "And it's one you need to see."

The way he said that did not sound good at all. "Yeah, I'll be right over. Where are you?"

"Office building in Block 2 of Toriya City," said Megure. He rattled off the address for Kogoro to copy down before hanging up.

The door to Ran's room opened and Conan stuck his head out. "Ojisan, what's up?" he asked, noticing Kogoro's alertness.

"Big case," he said. "It's the Paint Man again."

He had intended for Conan to get the hint to stay behind, but of course he didn't, and insisted on tagging along. When they reached the location, they found the body hanging by its neck from a utility pole several meters in the air. There was absolutely no way it could've been a suicide even if the dead woman's face hadn't been painted. It was painted to resemble a caricature of Kogoro's own face. While it could have been someone else, the culprit had painted the kanji for 'Mouri Kogoro' on the woman's face where Kogoro's mustache should've been. "This guy…" said Kogoro angrily, grounding his fist into his palm. "How dare he threaten the great detective Mouri Kogoro?"

"Mouri-kun," said Megure. "Did you know the victim?"

Kogoro looked, but she didn't seem familiar to him. She was very pretty, so he was sure he would've remembered her. "Nope," he replied, shaking his head.

"I see," said Megure. "Well, thanks for confirming it. Keep on your guard in case this maniac comes after Ran-kun next. We can provide a security detail if you'd like."

"There's no need for that," said Kogoro confidently. "By directly challenging the great detective Mouri Kogoro, he's just made it that much easier for me to track him down! Bwahahahaha!"

Well, he said that, but he really was worried. He quickly resolved to call every woman he knew the moment he got home to tell them to keep safe, particularly Eri. "Come on, we're leaving," he said to Conan, but Conan wasn't there. The body was still up on the pole, so he couldn't be trampling the scene or messing it up. He glanced around and saw Conan in deep discussion with a dark-skinned foreign girl. "Come on!" he said roughly, grabbing Conan by the collar and picking him up. The foreign girl watched in silence as he dragged Conan away.

XXX

Ai Haibara was continuing her investigation of Hannah. The girl had struck her immediately as weird, and she had been glad that Conan had picked up on it as well. She'd been thrown out of the karaoke box the previous day, so she'd decided to start from scratch today. As soon as school ended, she bade goodbye to her friends and headed immediately for Teitan High School.

She slipped into the grounds and started walking towards the building, hoping she wouldn't accidentally run into Ran. That would've been awkward. She attracted curious glances from passing students, but nobody stopped her. She knew that volunteering to investigate alone was a little odd, but she wanted Conan to fully focus on the Paint Man rather than something like this.

'Now, where do I go?' she thought, changing into slippers at the entrance. She stuck her shoes in Shinichi's locker, since he obviously wouldn't be using it. She strode purposely down the hall, trying her best to look like she belonged there. It'd be easier for her to infiltrate if she'd become an adult temporarily and worn a proper uniform, but for an investigation like this that was not worth doing at all.

When she neared a classroom on the second floor, she heard English coming from inside, and it wasn't badly accented English by a native Japanese speaker. Peering into the crack between the door and the frame, she saw two people inside, Kyle and Hannah. They were discussing something very intently. She put her ear to the crack to catch every word.

"I'm pretty sure it's him," said Hannah. "Kogoro Mouri might be a famous detective here, but he is close to the police. There are easier targets to paint a woman's face as if he's going to paint someone up as someone else. And why would he use paint anyways? What's the purpose?"

"You know Nostrum. He likes being utterly ridiculous. You remember he made you play volleyball with him after he imprisoned you?"

Hannah's face darkened. "Yes, I remember. How do you forget something like that? Anyways, he's here, and we need to track him down before the local authorities. I doubt even Gin could handle him in a one on one fight."

Haibara froze. What did this girl know about Gin? She was talking about the same Gin, right? Luckily, Kyle didn't know him, either, which was something. "Gin? Isn't that an alcohol?"

"Normally, yes. Actually, it still is. But there's this big criminal organization that gives its most elite members codenames based off alcohol. Gin's one of the most dangerous, right after Rum and the Boss. You know what? Maybe we could get Nostrum to go after them. We can make him think they're a spin-off of the local authorities. It wouldn't be that much of a stretch, and it'd give Conan an edge."

"Will you quit being a fangirl?" Kyle said loudly. "We need to AVOID doing anything unsightly. The authorities will track us down in MINUTES if we get exposed. Remember, I've been doing this a lot longer than you. The only reason you're here is because you found out where I was going and refused to be left behind. And my usual partner is still missing, so I don't really mind the company. But that doesn't mean you should be irresponsible!"

"All right, chill!" said Hannah, looking surprised. "That was just a joke anyway. Enough about that, though. What did you think of him?"

"Who?"

"Conan, of course! You're staying with his family, right?"

"Well, he's obviously not a child. I knew that by just looking at him. I know how kids act, and he doesn't act like one at all. Well, he does, kind of, but it's obviously an act. After all, how many kids do you know who can stand still for minutes at a time without moving? He can, and once I got into his memories, it was obvious why."

"Yeah, yeah, you can get into people's memories from physical contact. Don't rub it in," Hannah muttered. "It's basically a cheat to do that, you know. I'm a detective, and I had to learn to do stuff like that the old-fashioned way. Well, I had the assistance of 2030s technology, but you get where I'm going. I can't read minds and I don't really want to. They're no challenge there."

Haibara listened to them continue to chat with wide eyes. Were they really from the future? If so, that might explain why they knew so much about Conan and the Organization. But if they were, then why did Kyle not know a thing about Gin? Maybe he died in a fire before their time. That thought gave Haibara plenty of comfort, despite the situation.

Another thing is that they seemed to know who the Paint Man was: that guy Nostrum they mentioned. Maybe he was a time traveler, too. There was one problem with her theory, though. If they were time travelers, then surely they'd have tried to blend in better. A group of high school aged foreigners walking the streets of Tokyo weren't exactly inconspicuous. So maybe they were there for another reason.

Haibara turned back to the conversation, where Kyle was giving Hannah instructions. "Anyways, keep investigating Nostrum's stuff from the down to earth side of it. He isn't perfect, no matter what he believes. Assist the investigation alongside the police and avoid grabbing the attention of the authorities. I'll look for him in my own ways. And above all…" he paused a moment before continuing, "DON'T tell anyone who you really are. I know how much of a fangirl you are, and if you get taken in for knowing too much, there'll be trouble. And beware the little boy Conan. He's as smart as you, if not more so, so you can expect him to put two and two together if you leave too many hints that we're not actually foreign exchange students."

"What do you mean a little? He's a LOT smarter than me. The only people smarter than him are Sherlock Holmes and Akai. And believe me, I'm trying to be careful."

"Really? So that's why you sang this anime's theme song at the karaoke box, and then talked about it existing as a manga in front of one of the characters? You call that CAREFUL?"

"I might have…gotten…carried away," Hannah admitted quietly. "It won't happen again."

"Make sure it doesn't. Just try to be a high school detective from America. Considering you really are that, it shouldn't be that difficult. Be careful not to break the fourth wall and be wary of eavesdroppers."

There was silence for a moment before the door flew open and Hannah was there, staring at Haibara. "Haibara?" Hannah glanced up and down the hall, but didn't see anybody else. "What are you doing here?"

Haibara said nothing, instead preparing to use a sleep dart on the girl and flee. But before she could even act, Hannah reached down and picked her up, one hand covering her watch while the other covered her mouth. "You heard all of that, didn't you?" Hannah asked, looking at her. Haibara couldn't respond, but she apparently didn't need to.

Hannah brought Haibara into the room, shutting the door with her foot. Haibara struggled against her grip, but she couldn't do anything. "I was afraid of this," said Kyle. "I've never interacted with this girl, so this is all on you, Hannah. You did something to make her suspicious."

"Yeah, yeah," said Hannah. Then she put Haibara back on the ground, taking her watch away before she let her go completely. Then she bent down in front of Haibara and smiled gently. "Sorry if I scared you just then. What gave me away?"

Haibara was silent for a moment, scared to death, before saying, in English, "You referred to us by name before we introduced ourselves."

Kyle suddenly laughed while Hannah looked mortified. "Crap, I forgot to ask your names, didn't I? Figures."

"And you thought I was being annoying by telling you to be careful," said Kyle.

"Oh, rub it in, why don't you?" said Hannah, annoyed.

"Believe me, I will. But first we have to deal with this girl." He walked forward and took Haibara by the hand, but suddenly froze like a statue for a few seconds. "Whoa, I totally forgot to set that for adults again. The same thing happened when I met that kid Conan. So you're Ai Haibara, real name Shiho Miyano, codename Sherry. And you're here alone, which is good."

"Really?" Hannah asked, looking surprised. "That seems really out of character."

"Well, her friends know she's looking into us, or rather YOU, but she didn't tell them where she was going, which is good. But we can't afford to have them looking into us. The problem now is how we keep this hidden. I don't wipe people's memories because I've had that done to me way too many times in my life, and I don't like it. So how do we make her forget? Or lie to her friends about us not being important. Hmm…" He was silent for a moment before his face lit up. To Haibara, in Japanese, he asked, "Haibara-san, I've seen your memories, and your desires. Tell me, have you ever heard of fanfiction?"

XXX

Professor Agasa was busy fixing dinner when the door opened and Haibara walked in, looking a little jittery. "Ai-kun? What's wrong?" he asked, dropping what he was doing the moment he saw her looking off.

Haibara dived onto the couch, her backpack still on, looking exhausted. "I don't know," she muttered, her voice muffled by the couch. "I went to do an errand for Shinichi, and the last thing I remember is walking into the grocery store. Next thing I know, I'm waking up in the high school's infirmary."

Agasa was now very concerned, especially since she never called Conan 'Shinichi'. "Did you faint or something?"

Haibara grabbed her head. "It doesn't feel like it. I don't know what this feeling is. Everything just seems…off. Does that make sense?"

It didn't make sense, so Agasa wasn't taking any chances. "I'm taking you to see Araide-sensei right now," he decided, leaving his food behind as he went to get his keys. "Did the nurse at the school say anything?"

"There wasn't a nurse. I just walked out."

"Then that settles it. Come on." He took Haibara, who still looked addled, by the hand, relieved her of her bag, and led her out the door.

So Kyle did something to Haibara, but good luck guessing what it is. I will warn you, though, that she WILL start acting severely OOC from this point on, at least until whatever it is gets fixed, if it gets fixed. I haven't decided that yet.

I suppose this is the point where I'd better give a little bit of background on Hannah, Kyle, and the Paint Man. Believe it or not, all three are actually characters in my original works, so this is technically a crossover, although I couldn't mark it as such because I haven't published my stuff yet. Hannah is a supporting character in The Search for the Scrolls, Kyle (that's not his real name, BTW) is the main character of The Traveller's Journey and a supporting character in The Search for the Scrolls, and the Paint Man is the primary antagonist of The Search for the Scrolls and a supporting character in The Traveller's Journey. (Confused yet? XD ) The two stories share a universe, but they're independent of each other. The events the characters reference are events from the books. I've come up with a good way for the two worlds to coexist peacefully, and I'll share that eventually. For now, I'll just let you guess what everybody's up to! :D

If you enjoyed this chapter, and the preceding ones, then don't be afraid to hit the favorite button, follow the story, and leave a review. And if you have any questions about anything, shoot me a PM. I'll generally respond to them within a week. ;)