AN: Boy oh boy, this chapter, have I ever been waiting to write it ever since the start of the fic. Obviously, since I started this fic before the manga chapter in which Heiji and Amuro finally met in canon, we're just going to kind of pretend that didn't happen, or I guess that this fic split off from canon right before that point. But anyways, here it is, chapter eleven, where the plot really begins to start to pick up the pace! I'm really, really, looking forward to what's coming in future chapters, so I hope everyone else is as well!

Until next time!


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Chapter Eleven

Artificial


There was something about this guy that made his skin crawl. He didn't know who he was, or how long he had been here- but at the very least, the one thing that Heiji did know about this stranger was the fact that he didn't feel like he could trust him one bit. Perhaps his admittedly vulnerable state had left him a bit paranoid, and it was actually nothing.

Or perhaps not.

"Good evening." With a polite smile on his face that looked as artificial as it could get, the young man introduced himself. "I'm Amuro Tooru. You are Hattori Heiji, are you not?"

"Nah, I'm some random stranger who likes lyin' in other people's hospital beds." Heiji couldn't help but quip, the strange feeling that he got from this person not nearly enough to nip his sense of humor in the bud. "Of course I'm Hattori Heiji."

"Quite the sharp tongue you have on you." Amuro couldn't help but observe, merely lifting one brow, not letting his smile drop as of yet.

"In what world would someone not be annoyed ta find some strange man in their hospital room when they wake up?" Heiji couldn't help but note, forcing himself to sit up, narrowing his eyes. Out of the corner of his eye, he couldn't help but take notice of the fact that the switch used to call the nurse had been disconnected at some point- there was no way this guy was any kind of run of the mill visitor. "Ya got a hobby of watchin' people ya don't know sleep? That's pretty creepy."

"Hardly." Keeping the slight twitch his words gave him internal, Amuro didn't let his pleasant expression falter. He had heard that Hattori Heiji was a rather sharp tongued, temperamental youth, but it would appear as if that was very much the case. He couldn't help but wonder how it was that the Edogawa boy seemed to get along with him, when as far as he could tell, the two of them seemed to have rather clashing personalities. "I came here to ask you a few questions, Hattori-kun."

"Well, that's a change of pace." Heiji couldn't help but note, quirking a brow. "Usually I'm the one doin' the question askin'. An' I can't say that I don't have more than a few about ya myself. Yer certainly pretty enough ta be a nurse, but somehow I don't get the feelin' yer one, Amuro-han."

"I'm afraid not." Amuro said simply, shaking his head. "The two of us are in the same line of work, I suppose you could say. Just like you, I'm a detective."

"Oh?" Arching his brows, this information only served to make him more suspicious of him. Who was this guy? There was definitely something shady about him, no matter how he looked at it- that smile of his sure was polite, but it was completely artificial, no matter how he looked at it. It would barely pass as a customer service smile. "An' what is it that another detective wants with me, then? If yer askin' fer my help with a case, I'm afraid I'm not really in much of a condition ta provide anyone assistance right now."

"No, I believe you'll be able to help me just fine as you are now." Amuro said simply. "Does the name Kawaguchi Souma ring any bells with you?"

"Kawaguchi?" Heiji asked, tilting his head. There was something about that name that faintly bothered him, but he couldn't say he remembered anyone who went by it. "Can't say that I've ever heard of it."

"In that case, what about Makino Suzume?" Amuro asked after a moment, carefully gauging his reaction. He was certain that he wasn't mistaken, even though the young man had barely flinched at the name. Still, to think that a key to finding someone that both the Organization and the Public Security Bureau had been searching for, for some time now, had been lying underneath their noses all this time- he couldn't help but find it more than a little ironic.

To think that that man had really succeeded in making a clone- even if it was one that was now falling apart. Were the Organization to learn of this, they would probably stop at nothing to obtain him as a research sample, in lieu of the actual researcher himself. He couldn't quite say that the idea of a human lab rat sat all that well with him, but he wasn't really in a position to oppose them if they managed to piece together the puzzle themselves. And given that his orders this time had come from none other than that woman, it was probably only a matter of time.

He couldn't say that he wasn't interested in finding out what would happen if that Edogawa boy learned of such a thing, if such a thing were allowed to happen. To what lengths he would go in order to rescue someone that he considered a friend, from those very same ones that for whatever reason, he was hell bent on chasing. From what he had managed to gather about their relationship, the two of them appeared to be rather close- and judging from his recent movements, there was no doubt that Edogawa Conan had come to the same conclusion about Hattori Heiji that he had.

One that he hadn't bothered to share with the person himself, it would seem.

"No, I don't know 'em either." Heiji said, shaking his head. There was something about that name that bothered him as well, but once again, he couldn't quite place what it was. "I don't suppose yer interested in tellin' me what it is that ya really want from me, Amuro-han? There must be a reason why yer askin' me about these people, right?"

"Naturally." Amuro said simply, his smile growing somewhat more cold. "But what a shame, Hattori-kun. I thought for certain that you would at the very least remember the names of your own parents, if nothing else. Well," closing his eyes, he couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "...although I suppose it's something of a stretch to refer to them as that. It is a fact that they both made you, at the very least."

Just as he thought they would, those words almost instantly earned the young man's attention- and his ire. His current condition apparently did nothing to tame the fury of his temper, and when it lashed out, he could almost feel the heat brushing him. While it didn't really faze him, he couldn't help but note how different the clone was from the original. He had been rather young himself when Kawaguchi Souma was last in the news, but judging from the information that he had gathered about the researcher in the past week, he couldn't help but feel that the young man in front of him was a rather hard argument for the importance of nurturing.

"What's that supposed ta mean!?" Heiji all but demanded, all but glowering at Amuro. Shifting a little in his bed, he half wanted to swing his feet right out of it, and storm right over to him- but the wave of dizziness that just moving so suddenly sent through him nipped that in the bud. Gripping the railing of the bed as tightly as he could just to keep himself from falling over, it took several moments for his vision to stop dancing. Even if he did manage to get over to him, he wasn't confident that he could even remain standing, and any physical threat that he attempted to direct him would likely fall pathetically flat.

Not being able to move his body the way he wanted to was seriously the worst. He wasn't used to being this useless.

"There's no reason to get so upset." Amuro noted, a mock expression of surprise in his eyes, as if this wasn't exactly how he thought he would react. "I would have thought that Conan-kun would have already told you about your parents by now, Hattori-kun. It would seem that I was mistaken, though."

It was almost amusing to watch the way his words took the wind out of his sails, in a way that his own body failing to respond the way he wanted it to hadn't. Hattori Heiji did indeed seem to be a rather resilient young man- but hearing something like that was more than enough to douse the flames that had been lit inside of him, and very quickly at that. Still, perhaps entirely because he was so resilient, Amuro supposed, he quickly managed to gather together enough embers to light that flame again- though it wasn't quite as strong as before.

"What are ya tryin' ta say here, Amuro-han?" Heiji asked, his eyes narrowing, carrying as much of a threat on his voice as he could manage. Who the hell was this guy? He hadn't heard Kudo mention anything about him before- did he really know him? "Why are ya talkin' like ya know anythin' about Conan-kun?"

"I know him quite well." Amuro noted, that artificial smile once more forming on his lips. "I've worked with him together a number of times now, as I've heard you have as well. He's quite something, isn't he, that child? He has quite a bit of talent for his young age."

"Cut the crap already!" Raising his voice became something that Heiji almost instantly regretted, a series of hard coughs escaping from his throat, ones that left him shaking as he tried to breathe through them again, cutting short anything else he wanted to say.

"My, my, there's no need to get so worked up, especially in your condition." Amuro said simply, a look of mock concern crossing his face. Still, he supposed he should be a little bit more careful- he couldn't have the only living link he had to that man dying on him just yet. "You should really be careful, Hattori-kun. That body of yours wasn't exactly designed to last, after all. It's a miracle that you've managed to live this long."

"What's that-" Unable to finish his sentence as he struggled for breath, Heiji finally managed to once more take in and let out a deep breath, feeling it slowly starting to steady. Still, his glare, at the very least, never faded, locking firmly onto Amuro's face. What the hell was this guy saying? He was talking as if he somehow understood everything, even though Kudo was still looking for those very same answers himself.

...He was still looking for them, wasn't he? He hadn't already found them, and just wasn't telling him what was going on, was he? To think that Kudo would leave him out of something so important, something that was literally about him... For a moment, a cold feeling crept it's way up his spine, recalling the strange way he had been behaving around him lately- avoiding eye contact, acting as if he was putting something of a distance between the two of them.

Sometimes it almost felt like he was avoiding him.

No, no, Kudo would never do that! He was only distracted because he was busy trying to locate his actual biological parents, that was all! There was no reason that he needed to put any faith into the words of this shady character, even if he claimed to know his friend. In the first place, there was no way that Kudo would ever work together with someone like as shady as this!

Still what was with this guy's choice of words? He was already well aware of the fact that his body was falling apart, but designed? Made? That almost made him sound like some kind of-

For a moment, just a moment, a cold chill gripped him, sending another shiver running down his spine. Unbidden, the strange images from his dreams bubbled forward from the depths of his mind, where he tried to hide them away in his waking hours. That strange scenery, those strange people... that place that he knew and didn't know.

Designed. Made. Children with identical faces. An overwhelmingly bad feeling began to rise up in the pit of his stomach.

"I see." Amuro said simply, blinking in slight surprise. He supposed that even someone like Edogawa Conan, whose life seemed to revolve around the pursuit of the truth, might have trouble telling this one. "You really don't know anything, Hattori-kun? But from that look on your face... it would seem that you have at least some idea of what I'm getting at here anyways. It would appear that not all of your early childhood memories have left you after all."

"In that case," and as his smile turned somewhat more cold, his expression more icy, he could make out the faint sound of tiny footsteps racing down the hall towards them. "...why don't I do you a favor, and tell you everything? It's not the sort of truth that should be hidden from you in the first place. It's the least I can do for someone in the same line of work as me."


"Oh, are you here to see your friend again, boy? You're early as usual."

"Yeah!" With a nod of his head, Conan gave the nurse who called out to him the best smile that he could. He wasn't really surprised that the nurses had started to recognize Heiji's frequent visitors at this point- from his understanding, he was the subject of a fair amount of nurse gossip. He couldn't say that it didn't really surprise him- given the mysterious nature of his condition, it probably attracted a good degree of attention.

"Do you know if he's awake yet, onee-chan?" Even with his condition somewhat improved thanks to Ai's drug, he still spent a fair amount of time sleeping. It was probably better for his body, even if it could be a bit annoying to visit him and find that he was asleep.

With a shake of her head, she gave him something of an apologetic look. "No, I don't really know. At the very least, he hasn't called for a nurse yet this morning, and Hikawa-sensei isn't scheduled to come by for another hour."

"I see. Then, I'll guess I'll just have to go and see for myself!" Conan said. "Has Kazuha-oneechan come by yet?" She had opted to spend the night with Heiji's mother instead of the detective agency, so for all he knew, she might already be here, chatting away with him. If that was the case, he probably wouldn't be able to give him the notebook today either.

Nor tell him the truth, for that matter. Each day that went by, the words that went unspoken weighed on him all the more. He had spent any number of hours, when he wasn't following any thread he could find to locate Kawaguchi Souma, rehearsing what to tell Heiji, trying to find the words that would soften the unavoidable blow at least a little.

He was a detective. Telling the truth should have been second nature to him. But when it was something like this, and about someone who had become important to him before he even knew it... it was proving harder than he could have ever imagined. The guilt that mounted day by day from the things that went unsaid certainly didn't help matters any.

If Heiji was the one in his shoes right now, he probably wouldn't be having this much trouble. He'd probably just blurt it out without thinking too much about it, and then scramble to try and clean up the aftermath. That was the way he was, after all- he was painfully honest, even when he did his best to lie. As much trouble as that could bring him sometimes, it wasn't a trait of his that he disliked.

"Ah, that girl with the ponytail?" The nurse asked, shaking her head once more. "No, she hasn't come by yet this morning. Ah, although he should still have a visitor, judging from the fact that I haven't seen that young man leave yet. Maybe he really is awake, then?"

"Eh? A visitor?" Conan blinked. Judging from the way she spoke, it didn't seem as if the visitor was one of those who came by often- maybe it was one of his classmates? One of his fellow kendo team members was a possibility as well. There was also Hakuba Saguru, he guessed, but it probably wasn't him. As far as he knew, that guy was still in England. "Who? Someone I know?"

"Mm, I haven't seen him with you before." The nurse said after a moment, placing a finger on her chin in thought, tilting her head slightly. "It's the first time he's come here, I think. He might be related to him though. The hair color and texture is different, but they're both dark skinned, although that young man is a bit lighter, I think. He was pretty good looking! I think his name was..."

For a moment, Conan felt as if he were choking on his own breath, a chill running through him, as if an icy hand had reached out to grab him. From the description that the nurse had given him, there was only person who entered his mind, only one person that he knew that matched that description.

He knew that there was a high chance that the matter that Amuro was looking into was the very same one he was, but he never could have imagined that he would have so boldly come to this hospital on his own. Even though a small part of his mind, one that remained calm even as a wave of fear crashed over him told him that there was probably no way that Amuro could manage to leave the hospital unnoticed with Heiji when it was this busy, he could help but feel a surge of panic rise up within him.

It wasn't so much what Amuro would do to him that worried him- it was what Amuro might tell him.

"It wasn't Amuro Tooru, was it?" Conan finally asked, feeling his voice come back to him. What felt like forever was in reality probably only a few seconds, judging from the fact that the nurse wasn't looking at him strangely at all.

"Ah yes! It was!" The nurse said, nodding her head, a smile crossing her face, unwitting to the thoughts swirling around the head of the not child she was speaking with. "He should still be there right now. Do you know him, boy?"

"Y-yeah, a bit." Conan said, nodding his head slowly. The last thing he wanted to do was to turn this into a big deal, to raise the nurse's alarm, giving her the feeling that something was wrong. "Then, I'll go see Heiji-niichan now, onee-chan!" With a slight wave of his hand, he walked as quickly as he dared, until he turned the corner- at which point, he broke out into a run.

He didn't even have to ask what Amuro was here for- that much he already knew. The real question was who he was here for. The Organization? The Public Security Bureau? Would the latter even be that much of a better option? He had introduced himself as Amuro Tooru, and not as Furuya Rei, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. He might have just been trying to cover his tracks should the Organization look into his whereabouts.

Had long ago had he arrived? He really should have asked that before dashing off, but he had been such in a hurry to get to Heiji's room, that it hadn't even entered his head. Was Heiji already awake? He could only hope that he was still asleep, and that he hadn't heard anything from Amuro, hadn't spoken with him at all. In the back of his mind though, he already knew that his luck wasn't that good.

Why hadn't he told Heiji anything sooner? Why had he wasted this much time debating how to tell him? The truth was going to come out at some point, and he was probably the best person to tell it to him. On the list of people who might possibly know the truth, Amuro Tooru was at the bottom of the list of people who should be the one to tell Heiji anything. Even Vermouth would have been a better option- at least the actress had some idea of how to watch her words.

But Amuro?

The only person who would probably be worse would be Kawaguchi Souma himself.

"In that case," he could just make out Amuro's voice now, as he drew closer to Heiji's hospital room. Not only was Heiji probably awake, but from the sound of it, Amuro had already been speaking with him for awhile. This wasn't good!

"...why don't I do you a favor, and tell you everything? It's not the sort of truth that should be hidden from you in the first place. It's the least I can do for someone in the same line of work as me."

"Don't say another word!" His voice ringing out far louder than he had intended for it to, Conan threw open the door to Heiji's room, almost out of breath. Ascending several flights of stairs when it a somewhat panicked state really wasn't easy. Resting one hand on the door that he had shoved aside, Conan looked up towards the two of them, only taking a second more to catch his breath. "Don't say another word, Amuro-san!"

"Oh, what a surprise. You're here rather early, Conan-kun." Amuro's expression barely even flinched, even as he turned his full attention towards him. "And why shouldn't I say anything more? You make it sound as if you already know what I'm going to say. If that's the case, why doesn't your friend here know anything? He is your friend, right?"

"Just get out of here, Amuro-san." Narrowing his eyes, Conan took a few steps forward. He didn't really feel much like putting on an act right now, given the circumstances. More than anything else, he just wanted Amuro gone. "I don't know who it is you're here for just yet, but please leave."

That expression on Heiji's face... he didn't like it one bit. It was one that he had never seen before- and never one he wanted to see again. An expression that told him that whatever it was that Amuro had managed to get out, it had been enough to plant a seed of doubt within him- enough to possibly disturb things that were better forgotten. He couldn't help but let his thoughts drift back, to what Heiji had told him shortly before he had set out in search for Souma's younger sister.

"I don't know if it has any relation ta anythin' or not, but lately, I've been havin' pretty weird dreams."

If those dreams were actually largely forgotten memories... why hadn't he said anything sooner?

"If you're going to say it like that, I suppose I have no choice." Amuro said simply, before turning his attention back towards Heiji, giving him another cold smile. "Then, perhaps I'll come and ask you a few more questions at another time, Hattori-kun. Perhaps you'll start to remember the things that you thought you had already forgotten. If you remember anything that could help to locate the man who created you, I would be more than interested in hearing you out."

"Amuro!" The man's name, sans all honorifics in his anger, came out almost as a hiss, Conan's eyes narrowing sharply, even as the man himself all but breezed by him. He wasn't usually one to lose his temper this badly- that was more of Heiji's area, ironically, but given the circumstances, he couldn't help it. Of all the things, why did he have to say that?

If there was ever a time in which he had wanted to give the man a soccer ball to the head, now was it. Still, he restrained himself. There were more important things to deal with right now- like doing what he could to perform damage control.

"Hattori-" Conan began, reaching out to slide the door shut behind him again. Hopefully his earlier shout hadn't attracted too much attention. He would hate to be interrupted at a time like this.

"Kudo." The cold tone of his voice wasn't one that Conan was familiar with either- at the very least, he had never had it directed at him. That expression he carried within his eyes as he finally turned to face him, the expression that he couldn't help but feel had no place on the face of the usually cheerful and quick tempered Hattori Heiji, was almost enough to make him look away.

Ah. He knew. He knew that he knew.

Of course he was mad. He couldn't blame him at all. He had promised that he would tell him later, when he didn't have to give everything he had to fighting for his life. He had promised, and then he had kept the truth to himself. Even worse, he had basically lied to him. Searching for his biological parents? He didn't have anything like that to begin with. Certainly, in a sense, one could consider Kawaguchi Souma and Makino Suzume as his parents, if one wanted to, but not in the conventional meaning of the word.

"Hattori, I meant-" Conan began again, only to find himself cut off once more.

"Get out." The words came out short, as Heiji turned his gaze away from him, as if he was unable to look at him anymore. For once, it was impossible to tell what was going through his head. Whatever sync they fell into when solving mysteries together felt as if it had been destroyed. "Just give me some space, Kudo."

"Hattori..." Trailing off a little, unable to think of a single thing to say, words failing him for once. Finally, he let out a long breath, slowly nodding his head. "Alright. I'll give you some space, Hattori. But at the very least, you still need to see Haibara when she comes in an hour. Without that shot, you'll..."

"I know." Heiji's words were once more short, and straight to the point, as he closed his eyes. "But fer now, I don't want ta see ya."

That hit him far harder than he wanted to admit, and it was all Conan could do to swallow back an apology. Now wasn't the right time for it. "Then, I'll let myself out. We can talk when you're feeling more up to it."

Giving the one who had worked his way into his life without warning, the one who had become not only his rival, but his best friend, one last long look, Conan finally turned on his heel, heading back outside, shutting the door behind him. Taking in and letting out a deep breath, he was grateful for the glare of the overhead light on his glasses, so that nobody passing by could see the expression on his own face.

He had made a mistake. He shouldn't have waited. He had thought he was just trying to be considerate of Heiji's feelings by trying to work out the perfect way to tell him the truth- but in reality, now that this had happened, he realized that he never had any intention of telling him it in the first place. For all of his big words, for all of his promises- he had planned to take his silence to the grave, making up one excuse after another about why he wasn't telling Heiji today either.

Heiji was straightforward and honest. It was only reasonable to expect that he hated being lied to, didn't like things being kept from him. And from someone he considered unfailingly to be his best friend, someone he had probably started to think of one long before Conan really started to return the feelings himself, of course it would hurt him. And given the extent of what was being kept from him, a secret about his very self, his very existence... he had every right to angry with him.

Knowing that didn't make it hurt less, though.

At the very least, he could try tracking down Amuro to find out exactly what he was up to- or rather, who he was working for today.


It wasn't as if he had forgotten that cellphone use was forbidden in this area of the hospital, it was just that he didn't quite care at the moment. It was only after he heard the sound of small footsteps heading away from his room that he reached for it, almost by instinct. It had been turned off ever since he had been taken here, and he could only blankly stare at the screen as it turned on, his thoughts still reeling.

He didn't even know where to start trying to think. He was usually so good at that, too- at finding the right thread to follow, one that would lead him to the path of truth. But now, with his phone in his hand, it was all he could do to just stare at the search bar, unable to type anything in just yet, still trying to get a grips on what had just happened, on what he had just heard.

"If you remember anything that could help to locate the man who created you, I would be more than interested in hearing you out."

It hadn't been a mistake. That man had definitely said that, with those exact words. His word choices from earlier probably had been just as deliberate. In the back of his mind, even though his eyes were wide open, faces from his dreams danced before him, almost feeling more vivid than they had been before. An older man who looked too much like him. A round faced woman with woman with a kind smile.

People he knew and didn't know.

"Does the name Kawaguchi Souma ring any bells with you?"

His fingers finally moved, starting to type in the first name that had been given to him- before hesitated, doubling back on what he had typed, erasing it. In it's place, he typed the second name instead, hoping that he got the kanji right. If not, he would keep looking. He got the vague feeling that he already knew what she looked like.

Of course, he had already accepted the fact that he wasn't his parent's biological son. Something as minor as that wasn't an issue. They had raised him ever since he was young, after all, so they were pretty much his parents however that he looked at it. At the time, he had just assumed that he had been abandoned somewhere, and his father had ended up picking him up somewhere. Maybe to soothe his wife, mourning the loss of one of their own children.

He knew as well that his blood related family probably had something to do with his current illness, but...

Makino Suzume. It was the name of a genetics researcher who had died in an accident fifteen years ago, at the age of twenty eight. It was also the name of the round faced woman with the kind smile that he had been seeing lately in his dreams. A face that he had no reason to know.

A laboratory explosion, followed by a subsequent fire, which had been ruled an accident by the local police.

The Osakan police.

First responding officer, Hattori Heizo.

Owner of the laboratory, Kawaguchi Souma.

He almost didn't want to move forward. It would be fine if he just accepted the notion that this woman was probably his biological mother, and that he had coincidently been there at the time of the accident. Perhaps he had lost his memories as a result, and that was why he was only remembering anything about her now. That would be fine. It would be a perfectly fine truth, painless. She seemed like a nice woman- he was pretty sure that his mother would like her.

But it wasn't the truth. For the first time in as long as he could remember, which apparently wasn't nearly long as he thought, Heiji couldn't help but curse the fact that he was, in fact, a detective. Ever since he had decided that he was going to be one in the future, that he was going to seek out justice and the truth, he hadn't wavered. There were times where he had doubts about himself, to be sure, but he had never once thought about trying to be anything else.

He was a detective, someone who sought out the truth. And this wasn't the truth.

"Shit."

The curse escaped from his lips as he took that step forward, before he sealed off the chance of doing so forever. Once he did so, he knew that he never could go back. Whatever was waiting for him was bound to be something that would shatter everything he had known about himself up until this point.

He had thought that he had known himself better than anyone else, thought he knew his body better than anyone else. But as she gazed at a face that was far too close to his own, as the small part of his brain that was still somehow active read the words next to it, he realized that wasn't true at all. He didn't know the first thing about himself, and there were too many others who knew himself better than he did.

His father. Kudo. That little neechan. Probably even Kazuha's father. Hell, maybe his mother and Otaki even knew. Each and every one of them, lying to him, about everything. About something this important.

There was some part of him, even now, in the middle of a whirl of feelings that was so complicated, he couldn't even begin picking them out, that knew the reason behind their lies was probably some form of kindness, that he was being unreasonable. Those who had been around him from the start probably just wanted him to be able to live a normal life. Those who had only learned as his life was hanging in the balance probably only wanted to not cause him any further problems. Maybe he'd be able to accept that one day, but today definitely wasn't that day.

And this man.

Kawaguchi Souma.

A man who had once been held up as a brilliant scientific researcher, a prodigy, a beacon of the genetics field, only to be exiled from the scientific world because of that very same research. A man who had spent ten years lying underneath the radar, before his name reappeared in the papers, in the aftermath of a deadly accident. A man who the world thought dead- but judging from what he had heard, he knew otherwise.

The man who had created him.

Made. Designed. Created.

No wonder he had never been able to beat Kudo, not even once. No wonder how much he trained, he could never beat that bastard Okita. It was probably impossible for him from the start. No wonder why, in the back of his mind, even as he tried to cover it up, he had always had a complex, a feeling of inferiority. After all, he was only an inferior copy of a human, flawed from the very beginning. He wasn't even made to last.

What a joke.

Swearing underneath his breath once more, Heiji could only clutch at his phone, wondering what he had to do to get it to stop spitting out such obvious lies. There was no way such a thing was true! There was no way he could be, that he was-!

Even in his current state, all of his might was just enough to shatter his phone, not even realizing he had thrown it until it had hit the wall. From the sound alone, he was pretty sure it was broken now, but he supposed it didn't matter. Even that little neechan could extend his life, what the hell could she do if he was flawed from the very start?

Air. He needed some fresh air. He wasn't thinking straight. Staggering to his feet, he had to reach out, tightly grasping the desk next to his bed just to help himself stand up straight. What a sorry state he was in- not just his body, but now his mind was all in a jumble too. It was good that nobody else was here to see him now, like this- he didn't want to show this kind of pathetic side of him to anyone else.

He needed some air.

He needed some answers.

Above anything else, he needed to know what he thought really was the truth. In the end, he only knew one way to do that.

But still, to think that he had been so annoyed by that shady guy's artificial smile, when it turned out that everything about himself was artificial. Even now, the irony was enough to make him laugh, even if it was a dry, bitter sound.


"Wait a second, Haibara, I can't understand you if you don't calm down. What's the problem?" Grumbling a little into his phone, Conan switched the hand he held it with. He hadn't had any luck in finding Amuro after that- he must have gotten into a car and driven off. At the very least, he had managed to get in touch with Jodie, and confirm with her that Amuro was investigating the Kawaguchi Souma matter, though for which group, he didn't know. She had promised that they would send someone to watch over the hospital that Heiji was staying in, and that provided him with some small amount of relief.

He didn't think that Amuro would turn over Heiji to the Organization to be used as a lab rat, but he really couldn't put anything past him.

Still, it was unusual to hear Ai sound this bothered about something- had something happened? Glancing down at his watch, wondering what time it was, for a moment he felt his blood run cold, his earlier words once more coming back to haunt him.

"But at the very least, you still need to see Haibara when she comes in an hour. Without that shot, you'll..."

"He's gone, Kudo-kun. Hattori-kun is missing."