Sky: Gomenasai! I really, really hope you like this. I had to go on a week-long vacation to visit my uncle up in Canada and stuff and it was F-U-N! But I basically didn't have a chance to touch a computer for a week. So, without further ado...
Conan POV
Don't get me wrong: I felt really bad bringing Haibara to her old, abandoned home. But I had bigger issues and – unfortunately – I'm not very good with girls….of any age or size (just look at how Ran and I turned out).
So I asked her a simple question: "Do you want to go back?"
She stared at me like I was insane (Was I?). "Baka! Are you mad? I could barely recognize this place; there's no way you'll be able to find your way in there without my help!"
"It…it doesn't look too bad," I observed, peering around the house, trying to get a better view.
"Let's go," Haibara ordered, nodding towards the wooden door and the giant hole that had been smashed right through the middle.
Being the all-famous teenage detective (not to brag or anything), I knew that she didn't want to go to help me – in fact, she looked like she was about to wet herself; a first for Miss Einstein – but I didn't want to press it and simply stepped carefully through the splintering wood.
Weeds were overrunning the place and had reached almost every single available space within the house.
"It looks okay," I assured Haibara. "I mean, other than the fact that everything is smashed to pieces and that there's more weeds than plants here," I amended quickly, seeing the look on her face.
"It looks horrible," Haibara said softly. So softly, in fact, that I could barely hear her and had a strong feeling she was talking to herself. "It used to be beautiful. Mom had hand-picked everything with the utmost care. She was very into antiques, you know. When we had just bought the place, she kept on trying to drag A..Ak-kemi and me along to help. I….I wish I would've gone more willingly." She paused for a moment and suddenly turned to face me, her mouth forced into a weird-looking smile. "It's amazing what life does to you when you're not looking, huh?" She shrugged, trying to look nonchalant and failing miserably. "I guess that's what fate is: the unexpected turns that form one hell of a car ride."
I think I've mentioned this before, but I'm not good with girls, okay? I mean, I've liked Ran for ages now and still can't come out and say it (although I'm starting to regret it more each day I'm in this puny body). Haibara wasn't any different: I tried choking out a "H-Haibara…."
But then she said, "Never mind that, Kudo. Where are we going?"
It was then that I finally remembered that were here because Kogoro was. I fiddled with the controls on the side of my glasses a bit before finally locating where the tracking sticker was.
"Well?" Haibara demanded impatiently, crossing her arms and tapping her foot. "That thing does work, right?"
"Yeah," I said. "He's….upstairs."
We had to be silent as we moved through the house – just in case; we didn't want to take any chances, not even with an idiot detective – so it took as a while to reach the stairs. It took us even longer to climb them, for the house was old and each step creaked increasingly louder.
I was just about to turn the corner when I was yanked back by Haibara. "What are you doing?" I hissed. I had a perfectly-formulated plan in my head, but if I paused for too long, it was evaporate.
"Tell me what room he's in. We can't talk when we get too close, otherwise even an idiot like him will notice us."
"It's the rightmost one."
Haibara suddenly paled. "That one?" She pointed past the railing to the door that was closest to us.
I double-checked my GPS glasses. "Yeah."
"That's….that's my room."
Suddenly, we heard a joyful shout from said room. It was followed by a lot of thumping and creaking of floorboards – probably Kogoro celebrating, I concluded.
Which meant that he had found something.
I turned to my companion. "What's in your room?"
"Nothing of importance," Haibara said vaguely. "Some leftover chemicals, a few unfinished experiments, loose note paper that he'll definitely not be able to understand, the stuff I had as a child…..nothing he would find useful, unless….." Her eyes suddenly widened.
"Unless what, Haibara?" I prompted.
"My computer. After I had joined the organization, I had vowed that I would never come back here. But I needed to. Just once."
"What happened?"
"The organization wanted me to find 'anything useful'. I think they knew that I had something store in my computer."
"Surely you weren't already….?" My voice trailed off, the question lingering in the air.
"No," Haibara assured me. "But I had begun experimenting already. Some of them went well and others….not so well."
"And what did you test these experiments on?" I had a hunch but I needed proof.
"Lab rats. You could buy them by the dozen really cheap at this store downtown."
"And what were the….unfavourable results?"
"One died."
"No shrinking?"
"I only tested that experiment once. I was still a girl back then, even if I was already a scientist. And I just couldn't stand the sight of more animals dying – even if they were just rats – for my experiment; it was just some fun I had to pass the time, anyways."
"So what was the actual intent of these 'fun experiments'?"
Haibara looked thoughtful. "I…I'm really not exactly sure. It's been such a long time. I can't remember, Kudo."
"But is there a possibility that you might've wanted to design a shrinking drug?"
"Shrinking? Yeah, I don't see why not." Haibara paused for a moment and then realized what I meant by that. "But there's no way that's connected to the Apotoxin 4869 I developed – that was, like, ten years later."
"Did you store the….recipes for these experiments anywhere?"
Haibara sighed. "My computer, Kudo. Why else do you think I mentioned it? I recorded all of the data and put them in my computer hard drive."
"So do you think Kogoro –?"
A door slammed open. "Aha!"
Oh crap.
Sky: If you haven't noticed already, I luuurv cliff hangers. :D Hope you come back and check on this soon! For once, I actually have most of chapter 10 planned out already! Yay for me!