Gomen'nasai, minna-san! I haven't updated in a while. I've just been busy with school work and other stuff. However, to apologize, I came back with 3 new chapters! So that should be okay . . . right?

Also, I've started doing file uploads this time instead of copy-n-pasting, so things are a little bit different.

Anyway, let's get right to the chapter then.

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Chapter 11: Investigating Conan:

So Conan-kun is their son, Shinichi thought to himself after the call ended. And they forgot to tell me. It's been 7 years since he's been born on a ship coming back to Japan and been adopted by my dad's cousin - which they planned to happen anyway - and they forgot to tell me. Even after Conan-kun's adopted parents died in a car crash and he came back here to live with Agasa-hakase, they still didn't tell me until now. How could they forget such an important thing as me having a little brother I never knew about? Shinichi shook his head and sighed. It wouldn't do much good worrying about it now as if he could change anything.

Sighing again, Shinichi stood up and stretched. He still had some investigating to do. He found out about Conan causing Sleeping Kogoro, but he hadn't found out how he knew so much, was so smart, and was able to solve cases just like an actual detective. There was still a big mystery surrounding Edogawa Conan, and he wasn't done with it yet.

As Shinichi stepped out to go to Teitan Elementary (since school was almost over anyway) and see what his teacher thought of Conan, he looked up at his house when he passed by it, wondering what the person staying in it was like. Why hadn't he just let the person - Subaru-san, was it? - stay in his house with him instead of letting Subaru-san move in while he moved out? Thinking about that question until he remembered that he had been off on cases many times without going home recently, he walked the rest of the way to Teitan Elementary.

When he arrived, some kids were saying goodbye to Conan and a few other kids that seemed to hang out with him as they left school. Before they could spot him, Shinichi hid behind a tree with a thick trunk until the children passed. When the coast was clear, he entered the school and tried to find Kobayashi-sensei.

"Kon'nichiwa, Kobayashi-sensei," he said when he found her.

"A ra, Shinichi-kun. What are you doing here? Wait, haven't you been missing for some time now?"

"Missing?" Shinichi asked, confused. "I know I left to solve a whole bunch of cases but I didn't know people thought I was missing."

"Hm? Well, anyway, what are you doing here?"

"Actually, I have a question about Conan-kun."

"Conan-kun? What about him?"

"Well, how does he act in the classroom? Are there any strange quirks he has? Anything different about him than normal kids? Have you noticed anything weird about him at all?"

"Sheesh, it sounds like you're doing an investigation on him," she replied.

Actually, I am, Shinichi thought.

"Well," Kobayashi-sensei continued, "he always seems zoned out in the classroom when we're teaching, but he gets the highest marks in class. So now, I've even started to suspect that he has a tutor. And when I call him out to answer a question, he solves it like it's nothing and then sits back down and zones out again."

"Heeeh?" What was with this kid? He could solve a murder and have the sense to make it look like Detective Mouri was the one who solved it, he was top of the class without even paying attention to the lessons . . . Maybe he did have a tutor? Shinichi decided to ask Ran when he saw her later. But even if he did, then it wouldn't show why he was so good at deducing.

Shinichi shook his head and, after talking a little bit more with Kobayashi-sensei (though he didn't find out much more about Conan except for something about a club called the Detective Boys), he walked out of Teitan Elementary. He headed toward the Mouri Detective Agency, ready to ask Ran about the tutor.

When Shinichi got there, he knocked on the door and came in. Ran was somewhat surprised to see him, and asked him why he had come.

"Actually, Ran," Shinichi said as he walked into the apartment, "I want to ask you about something."

Conan looked up from finishing his homework when he heard Shinichi's comment. He shivered. It was still strange and somewhat creepy to see himself from another, smaller, body. Recovered, Conan narrowed his eyes at him. The thing he wanted to talk to Ran about was probably about him, seeing as how he was investigating him.

Both pairs of suspicious eyes met, and Conan and Shinichi immediately looked away from each other. Conan went back to his homework that was nearly finished and Shinichi ushered Ran into another room where Conan wouldn't be able to hear them talk.

When they left, Conan looked up and touched a button on his glasses. Luckily the tracker that Agasa-hakase made for me transmits sound as well, he thought.

"Ran," Shinichi said, "Does Conan have a tutor?" What was this about?

"A tutor?" Ran asked. "No, why would he?"

"He doesn't?" Shinichi replied. "Interesting . . ."

"Interesting? Why?"

"I'm sure you know that Conan has the highest marks in class, right? I talked to Kobayashi-sensei and she said that Conan rarely ever pays attention in class." Uh oh, this wasn't going anywhere good. "So then if he doesn't have a tutor, how is he able to get such good grades in class?" There was silence now and, for a second, Conan thought Shinichi had found the bug.

However, finally, he heard Ran reply, "I . . . don't know."

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Kudou Shinichi's look-alike, Kuroba Kaito, walked down the street on the way back from a department store. He was in the area and realized that he needed to get food for dinner, so he had stopped by a nearby store on the way home. As he walked along, he noticed how everything looked slightly familiar. He looked around and read the words on a building's window: "Mouri Detective Agency". Of course! This was where that tantei-kun lived.

In order not to draw suspicion to himself, he casually looked away from the windows and pretended he was just glancing around in random directions. But something caught his eye and he looked back up. He saw Conan-kun through the window, a worried look on his face. Well, it wasn't strange that he was there. However, a little farther away, in a different room, he thought he saw someone that wasn't supposed to be there, whispering to Ran.

"Masaka . . ." he muttered to himself, and looked harder. But sure enough, he was really seeing it. Conan-kun and Shinichi were both there, as different people. Could his thinking about Shinichi turning into Conan be false? But no, Conan had once confirmed it by asking him to disguise as him. As Shinichi.* So then, what was this all about?

Thoroughly confused, Kaito moved away into a nearby alley before he was caught staring. He set the pile of groceries on the ground and stood there thinking. His curiosity was piqued. This whole thing couldn't be possible, but he was sure his eyes weren't tricking him. He needed to know about this. However, it wasn't like he could just appear in front of the two of them and ask what it was about.

Slowly, a plan formulated in his mind.

He took out a small, thick, piece of paper and a pen, thought a while, and wrote down a bit in as computer-like characters as possible. He paused once more, wrote on the card again, and finished it off with his signature drawing. Kaito smiled smugly to himself, there was only one way he could find out what was happening here, and he intended to use it.

He took a roundabout way back, and walked past the Mouri Detective Agency once more. Only this time, before he casually left the scene, he stealthily dropped that advance notice card into the mailbox.

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*Movie 14, The Lost Ship in the Sky

For those who may not know, Kuroba Kaito is Kaitou Kid's actual identity, not something I made up. You find that out in the anime/manga Magic Kaito.

Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! And it looks like Kid's getting involved too. Let's see how he handles this . . .

Ja ne!