Hey, um... sup. I have no reasonable explanation as to why this took so long.


"I'm not the worst at school, but man, is it a heck of a relief for the week to be over!" Sera Masumi stretched her arms. "We don't have any exams scheduled next week, so whaddya say we go hunting? I hear there's a new falafel place next to the mall."

"I second the motion!' Sonoko cried out gleefully. "Although I don't think our little martial artist over here is very enthusiastic about that."

Sera slung her arm around the distracted girl, causing her to yelp in surprise. "What's gotten into you, Ran? I didn't know you daydreamed outside of class!"

Ran blinked and flushed slightly. "Ah, no, it's—it's nothing, really."

"Are you thinking about the exams already?!" Sonoko said. "Those aren't for another month or so, you'll do fine! It's not like your ranking's far off from Miss-Other-High-School-Detective over here."

Sera's eyes flashed. "Biased, much? I haven't even met Kudo-san, so how am I supposed to know how good she is?"

"Speaking of that detective freak, why don't we go to her house?" Sonoko said, her eyes gleaming. "You know, see how it's been doing, check out if she's been back…"

Sera laughed. "You just wanna see Subaru-san. But sure, why not? Maybe I'll finally get to meet her."

"It's decided then! Let's go!" Sonoko marched onwards, leaving the two girls to catch up with her.


There was something very off here. Why was there a pond in the library? Subaru wiggled his fingers and decided that the pond was not water. Though it appeared clear, it was slightly thicker and stickier. The pond appeared to be plenty shallow, too. How wide was it? He couldn't see the end—

THUNK.

Subaru woke with a jolt. His neck protested as she straightened up in his chair. He squinted at the carpeted floor where a glass lay next to a growing stain, then at his hand which was covered in the stuff. It took him a while to register what had happened, and when it finally hit him, he groaned. This was going to be such a pain to clean up.

On the small coffee table he was certain was completely bare before he dozed off sat his hibernating laptop, several now stained documents, and a bottle of liquor that glinted at him innocently. He glared at it accusingly. It did not respond

He stood and stretched, his head swimming. Last night was a blur, what was he doing anyway? He glanced at the clock and blanched.

2:36 pm

What in the world had possessed him to sleep for more than half a day? Well, he supposed that getting drunk would explain it… He sighed and clumsily ran his fingers through his hair and immediately regretted it, since they were still drenched in the sticky alcohol. Deciding that having a full blown hangover in the middle of the afternoon would not be fun, he stepped out of the library to go get water.

One step out of the safe haven he'd had for the past months spent in the Kudo mansion, and everything came crashing down. The back of his head smarted terribly and he had a vague feeling of being suffocated under a wet blanket. He ignored the pain and dragged himself slowly down the hallway.

For some reason, the kitchen light was on. He frowned, remembering that the last time he ventured into the kitchen was at least three days ago After all, he had been living off convenience store food, finding it too tedious to cook for himself. Ignoring the throbbing pain that rocked his head, he softened his footsteps and reached for the handgun he always kept hidden on his person. His heart raced in his half-drunken haze. What would he find around the corner? The Black Organization? Vermouth? His vision blurred and the ground rocked beneath his feet as he nearly stumbled into a glass cabinet. Dammit, he was in absolutely no state to fend for himself right now.

A half-spin around the corner and burned retinas from the searing light had him pointing his gun at the first human figure his brain registered inside the room. His finger tensed on the trigger, but before he could shoot, a terrified squeak brought him back to reality.

"Don't point that at me, holy crap!"

"Ah… it's just you, Se—" His brow furrowed and he tottered forward. "Christi," he said, lowering his gun, his hands now full out trembling. He didn't catch the flicker of surprise on the girl's face at the name he had almost called her. The scene before him swam then stabilized almost as quickly. He staggered into the kitchen and heaved himself on one of the counter chairs, across from Christi. His cheek welcomed the cool marble of the counter and he listened as his gun clunked next to the beaten book the girl was reading. "S-sorry," he said, feeling so much more sick now that the supposed danger had passed.

"Shit, I know you're hungover and all, but that was a gun you just pointed at me now, you know!" Christi's words didn't quite match her tone, or the look on her face, which was a mixture of concern and slight annoyance rather than fright. Then, with much gratefulness on his part, she offered him a glass of water, which he sloppily drained, spilling most of it on the counter and floor.

"I don't know," Christi said, staring disapprovingly at him, "but you're still scarier when you're not such a mess."

Subaru weakly set the glass down along with his head and nodded minutely. Christi took the glass and filled it again with water. "So," she said, leaning forward in what Subaru somehow mistook to be enthusiasm, "Did you get the dog before or after you got drunk and fell asleep in my second-favorite chair?"

Subaru began to raise his head before deciding it wasn't worth it. " 'Fore. Pro'lly a week 'r so," he mumbled.

Christi had decided by now that hungover Subaru, while alarming and unusual, was actually pretty amusing. "No, I think you were already drunk by then. The dog's meant to be a guard dog, I suppose?" She stole a glance at the dog slumbering carelessly at her feet. "She's not very good at her job, is she? Practically bowled me over in absolute excitement and smothered me in—in drool when I opened the door."

She paused as if waiting. "What were you doing, anyway, drinking like that?"

Subaru merely groaned in response. Christi sighed and put away her book. "Geez. I'll go see if I can find something to fix that headache of yours."

After an hour and multiple trips to the bathroom, Subaru was more or less the same as usual. The dog's cheerful demeanor helped him somewhat. Christi had just slid her bag down from the counter-top when the doorbell rang and a familiar female voice called out.

"Subaru-san? Are you here? It's Ran, Sonoko, and Sera! … Subaru-san?"

Subaru turned to look at the detective, his eyes pleading for help. Christi, however, moved faster than him and was already halfway out the kitchen door. She mouthed a not-so-sorry sorry, and was gone.


After another quick periphery of the Kudo mansion (this time avoiding the front road, where Kudo Shinichi's dangerous friends seemed to frequent), Kaito set to work. He slipped on some gloves and began examining the base of the metal gate, working his way upwards. The clean, rust free appearance of the gate told him it was fairly new. The flat horizontal bars of the gate were not scratched much at the ends, indicating rare usage. Kaito stepped back and stared hard through the foliage on the other side of the wall. Should he risk sticking his hand through to see if the plants were real?

Before he could decide, the bush on the other side of the gate swore and rustled. Kaito looked down into wide blue eyes.

Neither of them spoke. As Christi moved forward, Kaito resisted the urge to check his disguise. He thought he had his Akako disguise down quite well, but if there was a single slip-up, a slight mistake, Tantei-kun would be sure to see it. Heck, how was he supposed to figure he'd bump into the little detective at all? His doves told him she wasn't supposed to be back today. This wasn't even her house.

Wait, he told himself. It's not like Tantei-kun expects KID to show up at this time of the day. I can talk myself out of this. I just found the gate fascinating as I 'happened to pass by', after all.

He considered speaking first; the dead air was almost too much to bear. But he was already caught off guard, and the fact that the little detective hadn't shifted her gaze on him did not help with his nerves.

She lifted her hand to the right and a muffled beeping sounded, presumably the lock on the gate being lifted. It slid into the wall with surprisingly little sound, and closed almost as soon as she had gone through.

"I—"

"Cool, huh?" Kaito snapped his mouth shut.

"Oh, no, it's fine," Christi said with a lazy wave of her hand. "You're not the only one who finds our gate… interesting. Several people have popped up to take a look at it, though I must say, you're the first to do it in broad daylight." She grinned slightly, her eyes taunting. "Well, I'll be going now."

Kaito kept his mouth shut even after she called over her shoulder, "And don't worry, neesan, you can't get in."


"Well, you're looking smug," a voice greeted Christi as she entered the Professor's house. "More so than usual at least."

Christi rolled her eyes. "Says the girl who seems to think she's a spoiled princess."

Haibara gave her a ghost of a smile and shut the door behind them. "I prefer the term 'queen', thank you very much."

"Oh, you're welcome," Christi replied airily.

Haibara glared. "And so? What brings you here? Did you somehow manage to solve a case in the 5 minute gap between you texting me you were coming over and now?"

"What? No, what gave you that idea? I just caught another one looking at the new security system the professor installed. It was weird, seeing as it's still pretty light outside. An amateur, maybe."

Haibara raised her eyebrows. "I hope you didn't injure them. They might've simply been impressed. The professor hasn't released that to the public yet after all. And I doubt he will, even if it could make a killing."

Christi settled down on a couch and pulled a worn book out of her school bag, which Haibara eyed. "She had gloves on, Haibara. Pretty sure she wasn't just impressed. Anyway, I didn't come over because of that. Remember that deal we made about the hidden room in my library?"

The girl glanced at a wall clock before answering. "Yes, I'd like you to ensure that your freeloader isn't present when I—"

"Sorry, Haibara, can we break it off? I can buy you whatever you want. But I'm not doing anything else," Christi added as an afterthought.

A flicker of disappointment crossed the scientist's face. "Shame. I suppose you have reasons you've no obligation to tell me."

"Oh, no, I'll tell you right now."

Haibara looked at her disbelievingly, and Christi grinned. "The hidden room has a security system of sorts that only allows family members to go through. I haven't taken a closer look at it yet, but I'll find a way to disable it. I'm not sure what'll happen if you try forcing your way in."

The scientist sat on the couch across from Christi. "Are you telling me that that musty old book you have there is important enough to keep locked up like that?"

The detective shrugged. "There was some kind of jewelry box as well, but I didn't touch it. It gave me a weird feeling."

"It gave you… a weird feeling."

"Yeah, what of it?"

Haibara looked away. "Nothing."

Christi looked at Haibara for a moment before handing her the book. "Here, it's not a book, it's actually a journal. Or a research journal. Every entry is related to one thing."

Haibara wrinkled her nose at the faint moldy smell, but in the end, she gingerly took the book and began to flip through it. The detective didn't notice the odd expression that spread across Haibara's face.

"The subject of research is mentioned in the very first passage, see? 'Pandora, a brilliant gemstone with otherworldly properties not unlike those of the mythical Philospher's Stone.'" the detective quoted. "I only skimmed through it, but the gist is that whoever wrote this is a nutcase. They said that under certain conditions, the stone will grant eternal life to whoever 'drinks the blood-red tears'. Balderdash, in my opinion, but then I realized it could all just be an elaborate code about some sort of unpublicized technology, because in some parts, it's made out as if the writer is used to utilizing it."

"A prank," Haibara said, a slight quaver in her voice. "Your parents, they like pulling pranks, right? Surely that's what this is?"

Christi hummed thoughtfully. "I've considered that, naturally, But I've already contacted my parents and they said it wasn't. Usually, they'd ignore my call if it really was a prank or a puzzle. Besides, after closer examination, I had to take their word for it."

"I—I don't believe it," Haibara murmured, gripping the book a little too tightly.

Christi glanced sideways at the scientist. "Come one, Haibara, it's not that complicated. First of all, it's a bit too elaborate to be a prank. There's serious research and encoding placed into the research journal. Plus, the book itself is around 50 years old. There's the logo of a manufacturing company embossed on the front and back cover. I did a bit of research, and it turns out, their products stopped selling a while after World War II. It's also a sewn book, and there aren't any marks indicating the strings holding it together have been replaced, so the covers couldn't have been added later. The paper is wood pulp, and not cotton paper, which means it yellows with age and exposure to air. The double width pages' creases are tearing, which explains the occasional blank pages."

Haibara remained silent throughout her explanation, and now that she had paused to take a breath, Christi noticed the girl was trembling.

"Oh, but of course you don't want to hear all that," the detective said hurriedly, slightly bewildered at Haibara's reaction. "I guess if I prod a little further, I'll be able to find the author, or crack whatever code—"

"It's fine if you leave it, isn't it?" Haibara said suddenly. She looked straight at Christi who gasped at the horror stricken look in Haibara's eyes. Her face was pallid and sweaty.

"I... Haibara, what? What are you—?"

"Isn't it?" the girl repeated, her voice shrill. "It's not like you have to, you're just—just curious, right?"

"Well, yes, but—"

Still clutching the book, the girl stood, eyes wild and desperate. "Then burn this. Burn it, tear it to shreds, I don't care! Just get rid of it! Please, Ku—" Haibara stopped herself and her eyes widened. Then, before Christi could react, she hurled the book with so much force at the nearest window that it cracked and sent the book tumbling back across the floor.

Christi yelped in surprise when the scientist yanked her to the floor with her and curled up, hands clamped over her ears. "I should've known… it's bugged, it's bugged, of course it's bugged… I've put us all in danger, I'm so sorry…" Her words melted into incoherent rambling.

Eyes tight with concern, Christi shifted until she was kneeling. She reached out hesitantly, then gently shook the girl's shoulder.

"Hey, Haibara… Haibara? Calm down, okay? What's wrong?"

The strawberry blonde shook her head vigorously. "So close… so close, she knows it and now they know it…"

Christi did not speak for a few moments. "Er, Haibara, I'm not sure what's going on… but you see, I examined the book earlier and I'm certain that there are no suspicious devices on it."

If the girl heard, she did not let on.

"My parents were entrusted with the book at least 9 years ago," Christi pressed. "Even if there is some sort of transmitter or receiver hidden in the book, the battery would be long dead by now."

Haibara fell silent. Slowly, very slowly, she lowered her hands and looked up at the detective. "Your parents… entrusted?"

"Yes, by an old friend," Christi said gently.

Haibara shuddered and the fear crept back into her eyes. "A friend? How—how did the friend…" Her voice trailed off uncertainly.

"They stole it," Christi said quickly, then immediately frowned in disapproval. "I asked my parents how they allowed something like that, and they said it was important. They couldn't—or wouldn't—explain what was so important, but I trust them."

Some color returned to Haibara's face. "Trust them?"

"Yes," Christi said firmly. "I'm sure of it."

They locked eyes for a moment. The familiar look of steadfast conviction gazed steadily at Haibara. She looked away. "Oh… okay." All of a sudden, she gave a shaky laugh. "I—I'm sorry. I overreacted… I've been having nightmares again."

Christi frowned. "Haibara, it's okay. You don't have to talk about it right now."

The girl shook her head. "No, I owe you an explanation."

She paused, choosing her next words carefully. "That handwriting, I recognize it. Far too often I've found it ordering me or others around. I hated seeing that scrawl, telling me to do things I didn't want to do."

"You don't mean-?"

Haibara's voice went impossibly soft. "Yes… that handwriting, I don't know how, but… It's Vermouth's."


Amazing. Wonder how Vermouth's handwriting ended up there, hm? hahahahha I have no sense of anything :3

(P.S.
Thank you, america (and maybe jamjam too but not really actually) for helping me so much on this chapter. It would've done me great if I'd found you from the start.)

(P.P.S.
I'd have said 'surprise, b*****s' at the start, but they told me that was mean)