With all the heists over with, Minami has to resolve her feelings before they get too distracting. The problem is whether she'll actually recognize she has feelings or not.

Chapter Ten

Kaito was walking to school alone, reading the news on his phone. The headline read Kid Foiled by Elementary Girl! Is There Another Kid Killer? The article had a picture of Minami and Jirokichi holding the two roses triumphantly. Jirokichi was grinning like mad, as per usual, but Minami looked a little more subdued. Sure she was smiling, but the smile seemed a little forced to Kaito, especially since she'd been acting so weird that night. He was used to how Conan and Hakuba usually acted, so the fact the girl wasn't acting like them, especially since she was supposedly just as smart, really made him worry a bit.

When Kaito entered the school, Aoko was busy talking with Keiko by the shoe lockers. When Aoko caught sight of him, though, she turned bright red and walked off as fast as she could go, with only one of her slippers on. "Aoko-chan, wait!" Keiko shouted, grabbing the other slipper and racing after her.

"What's with her?" Kaito wondered aloud.

"Don't you know?" Akako said, appearing from nowhere by his shoulder. "It's your fault, you know."

"How is it my fault?" Kaito asked cluelessly, changing his shoes.

Akako stared at him. "You really don't know, do you? Well, until you figure it out, I won't give you any hints!" With that, she turned around and walked away, her hair blowing behind her. She attracted the attention of every boy she passed as she went, but Kaito just rolled his eyes in annoyance.

Still pondering what Akako was talking about, Kaito went to the classroom and sat down in his seat. Aoko glanced at him hurriedly before turning her attention back to her friends. 'What's up with her?' Kaito thought. He thought back, but all he'd done was give her flowers as a joke. Sure, they could be taken as something more, but he hadn't meant it that way. But she'd reacted so strongly out on the sidewalk. Did she really take it like that? Kaito glanced at Aoko again, who wasn't paying him any attention now. 'Well, even if she did react so strongly because she likes me, I can't do anything until I destroy Pandora,' he thought. 'But I can't stand her looking so depressed or whatever she's looking like right now.'

But Kaito was Kaito, so he wasn't about to back down from a challenge. Taking a piece of paper, he scribbled a note on it, folded it up, and took a walk around the classroom. He was heading towards the back corner, where he'd spotted a marble on the ground when he'd walked in, so it was a good excuse to walk by Aoko and drop the note in her bag.

When Kaito reached the marble, he picked it up and held it up to the light. 'Wow, looking for Pandora's really gotten me in the habit of holding everything up to the light,' he thought, catching himself. He pocketed the marble and headed back to his seat. Aoko wouldn't find the note until later, so everything was OK for now.

XXX

"So, it looks like you won again," Haibara said, smirking.

"Yeah, yeah," said Minami. It was lunchtime, and they were using the time to chat about the heist. Minami was still loathing herself for acting oddly during it, and she could tell Haibara had picked up on it.

"But something happened. Let me guess: you confessed and got rejected."

"What? No! Why would I do that?"

Haibara just stared at her. "Wow, you're clueless. Well, this is something you've got to take care of yourself, but I'll give you a hint. Kudo-kun, you have a very obvious crush on Kid."

"Don't even joke about that, Haibara," said Minami dangerously.

"I wasn't joking," she responded, no longer sounding friendly. "Just because you're as blind as a bat when it comes to these things doesn't mean that I'm imagining things. You have a crush on Kid, so the sooner you realize that, the sooner you can do something about it. Then you need to resolve your feelings so they don't distract you. It's like how you loved Ran-san but could still be around her without acting like a fool. That's the dynamic you need to reach."

Minami looked at her in surprise. "Why are you helping so much? I didn't think you cared about this type of thing."

Haibara jumped, looked away, and said, "Take my advice or leave it, Kudo-kun; I don't really care either way. Just do something about it, OK?" With that, she went back to her food, her face a slight pinkish tinge.

'Has she had something like this happen to her?' Minami thought. 'Well, either way she might actually be right. And if she is, I need to settle this once and for all.' The problem with that was that the only way she'd be able to do that was if she could have a chat with Kid off-heist. And she didn't have any idea who or where Kid was.

'Wait, I met Kid off-heist recently!' Minami thought, remembering the whole cat food thing. 'But why was he in Beika? He asked about the two girls that were asking about me, so apparently he knows them from somewhere. But they didn't leave any contact information with Occhan, so how am I supposed to track them down? All I know is that they're in high school and a friend of theirs was looking into me. Their friend might be Kid's civilian persona, so he's the one I need to find. But I don't have time to check all the high schools in the area with dark blue sailor uniforms.'

"Hey Haibara," Minami asked hesitantly.

"What?"

"How many high schools in the area have dark blue sailor uniforms for girls?"

"Well there's Beika, Haido Girls, Ekoda, the list goes on. I'm not really that familiar with high schools."

'That's a start at least,' Minami thought. 'I'll check those three later and then go from there.'

"What about high schools?" Ayumi asked suddenly. Both girls started in surprise; they hadn't realized Ayumi was listening in.

"Oh I wanted to talk to that girl again that we met the other day," said Minami. "You know, the one we returned the picture to?"

"Yeah, I remember! The one who gave you her cell number right before Kid gave us that cat food! So, what did you want to talk to her about?"

Minami started again. She'd totally forgotten she had the girl's number with her. That would make tracking Kid down a whole lot easier. "Oh, I just wanted to tell her Sakura-oneesan might be returning soon, so the two of them can talk about whatever it is she wanted to talk about."

"Oh, OK," said Ayumi, turning away.

Haibara looked at Minami and said, "You're planning something. What is it? And why do I think it involves me?"

"All I'm going to do is use one of those antidotes to turn into Sakura and visit that girl. I think she knows Kid, even if she herself doesn't know it. Plus, the Organization won't be looking for me as a girl, so I don't have to worry about being discovered. The antidote will still work, right?"

"All that may be true, but you don't know the first thing about acting like a teenage girl," said Haibara flatly. "You have to keep an eye on your hair, your makeup, your clothes, and your posture if you don't want to raise suspicions. Or you could be like that tomboy girl and not care, but you've made it clear that Sakura isn't a tomboy."

"Well, you'll help me out, won't you Haibara-sensei?" Minami asked, taking on a begging posture.

"Oh, all right," Haibara said eventually, rolling her eyes. "You can probably wear some of your mom's clothes, so bring them by Hakase's house early Sunday and I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you, Haibara," said Minami. "You don't know how much this means to me. I'd rather get all this Kid stuff behind me before it gets out of control." Haibara just stared at her, preferring not to comment.

XXX

The next Sunday morning, Haibara and Minami met at Agasa's house as promised. Minami had snuck into her old house and gotten some clothes without Subaru ever realizing she was there. Now Haibara was staring her down. "You're absolutely sure you want to do this?" she said, holding the pill cupped in one hand.

"Of course I'm sure," said Minami. "I've planned it all out, so all I need to do is call that girl and set up a meeting. I'll do that after I grow up because I don't really know what my voice sounds like and she'll get suspicious if I use the wrong one."

"Then take your clothes into the bathroom and hope this doesn't kill you," said Haibara, handing over the pill.

'What's that supposed to mean?' Minami thought, heading in. Once in the bathroom, she locked the door, put on the oversized clothes, which were just jeans, a T-shirt, and a light jacket, and took the antidote. She'd also taken a bra, but wasn't wearing it. She waited in eager anticipation for about two minutes before the pain started. It was subtle at first, but soon her heart was pounding like crazy. She closed her eyes and resisted the urge to scream as she felt the usual bone-melting sensation.

When the pain finally subsided, Minami, now Sakura, adjusted her clothes, took a deep breath to calm herself, and then left the bathroom. She noted that she was approximately the same height and weight as she would be as Shinichi. "How do I look?" she asked Haibara.

Haibara stared at her for a moment before saying, "You were right, Kid did screw up your bust size when he disguised as you. He went too small."

"That's what you're thinking?" Sakura asked in surprise, looking down at herself self-consciously. Haibara was right; she was about the size of Ran.

"Yeah, but that's not necessarily a bad thing," said Haibara. "Now come over here so I can pretty you up." She was holding a hairbrush and a makeup kit and was pointing at a mirror.

"Just don't make me look ugly to girls, OK?" Sakura said, sitting down in front of the mirror. "While you're doing that, I should probably call that girl and set up a meeting."

Haibara got up on a stool and went to work while Sakura hunted for the paper with the girl's number. "You're wearing a bra, right? I saw you bring one in. It'll help a lot with movement."

"Uh, well, about that…" Sakura began, feeling her face turn hot.

"Let me guess: you don't know how to put it on?" Haibara sighed. "Fine, I'll show you." Putting the brush down, she said, "Now, give me the bra and take off your jacket and your shirt."

Sakura twitched. "Right here? I'm a girl now; won't that be kind of weird?"

"Fine, go put in on in the bathroom," said Haibara, pointing at the door. "Just don't blame me if you can't get it to work."

"I suppose I can try that," said Sakura. "But first I'm calling that girl." Taking her Minami phone, she typed in the number and waited while it rang.

It rang twice before its owner picked up. "Yes, hello?" a tired voice said.

"Ah yes, I'm Kudo Sakura, and I heard from a mutual acquaintance you wanted to ask me something?" she said quickly, hoping she was doing an OK job of impersonating a girl.

There was silence for a moment before the girl, now much more alert, said, "Right, I did want to ask you something. But I don't think I can do it over the phone. Are you in Tokyo right now? Can we meet up?"

"Uh, sure I guess. I'll be free for lunch later."

"OK great! Then can you meet me at that sandwich place in Block 4 of Haido? The new one? I forget its name, but it's really popular."

"Sure, I can do that! Noon, right?"

"Yeah sure! See you then!" With that, the girl hung up.

"Well, I suppose I'd better pretty you up for your date," said Haibara teasingly.

"Oh be quiet; it's not like that!" Sakura protested.

"With a girl that looks like Ran-san? Sure it isn't," she countered.

'That little…' Sakura thought as she excused herself to the bathroom.

Surprise! Sakura Kudo, appearing for real for the first time (her appearance in Part Three was just Minami in a bodysuit). She has 24 hours to fix the whole Kaito situation. Can she do it? Note that this will take 3-5 chapters to do, so we're not quite not done yet.