"I'm not gonna think about it; I'm not gonna think about it. Not gonna think about" Conan chanted to himself as he watched Ran struggle with her new set of crutches.

"Shinichi? I'm ready to go when you are." she said and he could feel the nurses and doctors watching him, could feel the people around the room staring at him.

"I'm ready, let's go home. I can't stand this any longer." The last part he muttered to himself as he shouldered Ran's admittedly heavy purse and walked out the door of the hospital.

She hobbled along beside him, chatting about this and that a grazing lightly over those topics he didn't want to hear. "....And Makoto-kun actually got up the nerve to ask her out on a date on his own for once. Isn't that great? Sonoko's ecstatic." Ran said and he struggled to pay attention to her and not the stares and the whispers of the people on the sidewalks, people who gave them wide berth and whispered, even as they neared.

"....little boy, I think not!"

"Kudo Shinichi? No way, he's...."

"Look at him, acting like he's something! I could...."

"Why is she even still with him? I'd be so angry I'd....."

"....poor dear, what happened was just....."

"......deserves what he got! Little punks should know better than....."

"I remember him! But Kudo-kun's a teenager, isn't he?"

It was one thing for Ran to find out. It was another thing for Mouri-tantei, Kisaki-san, the Shounen Tantei, Sonoko, Kazuha, Hattori-san, Megure-keibu, Takagi-keiji, Satou-keiji, Nakamori-keibu, and Hakuba to find out. Even with a list like that, in the grand scale of things, that wasn't so many people. But, it was another thing entirely for the whole fucking world to learn his secret! It didn't matter that the Organization was gone, he was still Conan and, like this, was useless! But there was nothing he could do.

He had followed Gin and Vodka back to their hideout with Hattori and Kaitou Kid in tow. Things had been going well, little to none down on their side and a whole lot on the other side. But then, the unthinkable happened; Ran showed up. And suddenly, it went from being a game of 'Try to Make Swiss Cheese Out of Detectives and One Thief' to 'Everyone Aim At the Innocent Teenage Girl Walking In! That'll Help Us!' Needless to say, it did not go well. Thanks to some quick thinking on Conan's part and some even quicker reflexes on Hattori's, Conan was promptly hurled into Ran, hiting her in the stomach and knocking her down to the ground as Kid and Heiji took the defensive above them.

Ran got shot it the leg (a pretty nasty wound) and Conan had gotten a punctured spleen out of the deal. As soon as it was safe, they called the police and an ambulance and off the two were whisked (along with Heiji and Kid, who protested weakly, even as blood poured from his temple at an alarming rate).

And somehow, someway, during all of this and the corresponding stays at the hospital that were required, someone did a little research with the copious amounts of blood left behind in the ER by one Edogawa Conan. And what they found was all over the news by the time he was conscious again.

So now, everyone knew. There was no pretending, no dazzling little smile to ward away 'helpful' adults. No, there was only one surly teenager trapped in the body of a seven year old. And, not only was everyone staring, he wasn't even allowed to look back. (Girls these days wore extremely short skirts. And from his point on the ground, he could see right up them and the girls had noticed. They all ran when the saw him coming, hands grasp around the edges of the fabric and holding it tightly against their legs)

"Shinichi, stop glaring." Ran said as she limped along beside him.

"I can't help it. They're all talking about me...." Shinichi said.

"People were always talking about you!" Ran argued.

"But not in a bad way!" he exclaimed and she gave him a 'Look'.

"Well, Mr. Swollen-Ego, not everyone is always going to have something nice to say. Deal with it." She said and sped up.

"Oi, Ran! Wait up!" he said, starting to jog to keep pace with her. Suddenly, someone stepped right out in front of him and he ran straight into them, sending them both to the ground.

"Oh, sorry!" he heard them say and he saw a boy in front of him, not much older than he looked physically. "You're Shinichi-san, right?"

"Yes, how ever unfortunate it might be at the moment." Shinichi answered, rubbing his butt a bit as he stood.

The boy grinned and Shinichi noticed he was missing one of his front teeth. "Great! See, I was wondering, could you sign this for me? Not as Kudo Shinichi, but as Edogawa Conan?"

Shinichi felt his eyebrows jump up. "As...Conan?"

The boy nodded. "Yep! I actually go to school with you, I've been listening to all the detective cases you've done as Conan-kun from Ayumi-chan and I think you're really great as Conan! I don't know anything about Shinichi though. So will you? Please?"

Shinichi nodded and took the proffered pen and paper. "Did you want me to write a message or something...?"

"Um, okay. My name's Atsou." The boy said. "Yoroshiku."

"Yoroshiku." Shinichi answered automatically.

'To my littlest fan, Atsou. You measure up to the best of them. Edogawa Conan.'

He handed it back and the boy smiled gratefully.

"Thanks, Conan-kun! Ja ne!" the boy Ran off and Shinichi spotted Ran a little ways off, waiting for him under the awning to a shop.

Shinichi walked the rest of the way home with a smile on his face. 'At the very least, Conan won't be replaced by Shinichi.'