Twins

by Rei-chu Asakura

AU. Shinichi and Kaito are twins, famous in their own fields of interest. One day, something drove them to switch roles, and Shinichi got to know Kaito's best friend, Ran. -ShinRan & semi-KaitoAoko

12. Energy Drink

AN: So sorry for the very long wait, my dear readers T.T but I really want to finish this fic no matter what, so I did my best to update this chap even if it's just little by little.. #_#

This chapter involves a karate national match actually, and I am not so familiar on how it is held (I sort of used the martial arts tournament in Dragon Ball Z and Tekken as a guide XD but then the movie Karate Kid also gave me an idea about the rules XD so I hope you can bear with me, hehehe XP

Hope you enjoy this chappie! ^_^

The ones surrounded by many worms and some sharps # (#~~~~~#~~~~~#) above and below are flashbacks, alrighty? :p

Grab a snack and a drink first, because it's going to take a while~ ;)

#######

Chapter 12: Energy Drink

The day has finally arrived.

The ever glamorous-though-ordinarily-dressed Kudo twins were walking their way towards the nearest train station. Their destination was none other than Matsumoto, a city in Nagano Prefecture where the National Interschool Karate Tournament is going to be conducted.

As they strolled, the younger twin had been enthusiastically looking around, as if everything they passed by tapped his interest. Meanwhile, the older one had been staring ahead seriously, with his hands placed inside his jacket pockets, as if walking really requires that much concentration.

"You okay, Chichi?" Kaito suddenly spoke; excitement was obviously steaming out of him.

"Where in the world did you get that name?" Shinichi raised a brow at him, his lips in a half-hearted smile.

The younger one merely replied with a childish grin.

Silence reccured between the two, leading Kaito into the idea of cheering up his might-be-sad-for-some-reason brother.

Having no other instant ideas in mind, he tried the cutesy acts and started singing in a random tune while marching like a toy soldier, "I'm going to watch Ran~ beat up all the people~ I'm going to watch Ran~ beat up all the people~ I'm going to watch Ran~~"

Shinichi accepts the fact that his brother definitely has a damn lovely voice, but the lyrics of his song - not to mention the repetition of those lines - was somehow disturbing for him! But it was indeed effective in diverting his mind from his previous thoughts, as he tried to think of ways to stop his brother.

This went on for a while until the happy-thoughts-filled Kaito remembered, "Hey, I haven't told you about my plan with Aoko yet!" In a snap, he was like an excited puppy with a wagging tail and hanging tongue. As he stuck his face in front of his brother, his fists were shaking in front of his chest as more excitement molecules reached his brain. His exceptionally enthusiastic expression made his brother realize that he really had to listen or else the younger one might die with excitement overflow.

"What plan?" Shinichi finally replied, smiling very weakly.

Upon hearing his brother's show of interest, Kaito jumped away from him and started his flashback.

"You see, I've done a lot of my schemes already but this is one particular event yesterday..."

#~~~~~#~~~~~#

It was afternoon in Teitan High gym, and we were practicing the entrance and positions of the characters in the play when I heard my Aoko said,

"Hey, Kudou-kun! I don't care if you're fond of carpets, you're wasting my time! Come back here!"

Those were her sweet words of affection before she threw a basketball at me. Luckily, I was able to dodge right before it hit my face.

#~~~~~#~~~~~#

"What were you doing with a carpet anyway?" Shinichi butted in.

"I was just walking on that wide carpet back and forth, and rubbing my feet with it." Kaito replied, snickering, before he continued his narration.

#~~~~~#~~~~~#

So anyway, since she was also standing on that carpet, I told her to do the same. As I approached her, I poked her, which then caused a noticeable amount of electricity to flow through us.

To my surprise, she said "Kyaa!" and it was sooooo cute! Then she hit my upper arm on impulse.

I smiled mischievously after that, which irritated her more.

"What?" she said with an annoyed tone.

"You felt it didn't you?" My smile grew even naughtier that I sounded like Happy when I said, "Wwwwwe had a ssssssparrrrrk~"

She looked like she knew that was coming. She slapped her forehead and explained, "That was just because of electrostatic discharge and friction! When you rubbed your feet with the carpet, you became negatively charged, and then we had contact, then your electrons flowed to me because I had positive charges, and then we sort of neutralized each other's charges, that's why you also felt my charges flow to you, something like that, but that's not exactly what happened because positive charges don't actually move because they are just remnants of the departure of the electrons." She sighed after her long geeky explanation and said, "You get it now?"

She looked a bit embarrassed, having explained all that scientific stuff, but my face and voice remained as naughty as before which caused her to look irritated again.

"No, you llllllllike me~ That's why there was a ssssssparrrk~"

Of course it aggravated her more, causing her to grab the nearest mop and chase me with it.

Her face was quite reddish as she tried several times to hit me with the mop - I don't know if that was because there was truth to my statement or because she was really steaming with anger that time.

#~~~~~#~~~~~#

Kaito laughed, looking so childish and free. Any girl would be drooling when they see that, and actually there were fan girls at the sides of the street, doing their usual job – drooling over and taking snap shots of the Kudo twins.

"So that's what the frequent mop chases I've been hearing are all about," Shinichi couldn't help but smile, and it was also a picture-perfect view for their female-stalkers.

"It just ends up like that," replied the seemingly seriously-bothered sneering Kaito. "I don't know why the mops in the gym are always that handy." His forehead creased. "But it's fun, actually." A childish smile quickly made its way onto his lips.

"I didn't know you were that masochistic. Is that really your plan, to be Nakamori's punching bag?" Shinichi kidded, chuckling.

"No!~~" He stopped walking just to emphasize how big of a NO it was. "My plan is to get to know her well, remember? And this time, I plan to do it by being a major nuisance to her." Kaito looked very confident. He continued walking as he added, "That way, I will discover many things about her including her cute reactions, and getting that close while being a nuisance won't lead her into developing some feelings for the wrong 'me', right?" He smirked.

Shinichi snickered. "But you should remember," he turned a bit serious, "doing those schemes will definitely prevent her from liking me, but that doesn't guarantee that she will like you instead."

"Of course I am aware of that," the younger one quickly replied, still smiling confidently. "I'm not yet planning to take the next step. I really want to just get to know her right now. Know what she likes and what she doesn't, what makes her mad -the cute one that is- and what makes her really mad, and other stuff there is to know. Then, I will make my move once the play is done and we're back to normal." He grinned at his twin.

"Tsk, you're really complicating your story," Shinichi remarked while smirking and shaking his head slowly. Then, without a minute passing, he was focusing his gaze again on the ground. In an instant, he was back to how he was a few minutes ago.

Seeing his brother staring deep into the cemented ground as they walked, Kaito sensed some anxiety from him despite the cool expression he was still wearing. He decided to finally ask him what was wrong. "Do you have something to share with your twin?" he asked in a very hospitable tone.

Shinichi chuckled making his brother flash an annoyed expression. Kaito being that concerned and nice was not a usual thing for Shinichi to see or hear, so he decided to tell him what was bothering him.

Shinichi sighed deep before starting, "Yesterday, I went to Ran's place to accompany her to a temple nearby as she requested. She wanted to train and meditate there in preparation for her match..."

He narrated what happened the previous day, trying not to give much description on the embarrassing parts.

~~~narration~~~

~~~narration~~~

~~~narration~~~

Kaito's eyes grew as wide as they can be. "Wwwhat? You saw Ran wearing only her un-"

"Shhhh!" Shinichi quickly covered his brother's mouth, leaving no free hands to cover his blushing face. "It's not like I wanted to! I told you it was just an accident!"

"Bwuh whuh awuh suh awuh-vuh?" Kaito was so full of questions that he couldn't wait to be released before speaking.

Surprisingly, Shinichi understood what his brother said. As he let go of his twin, he answered, "I'm still alive because she wasn't able to break my bones or at least throw some deadly stuff to me." The grim expression he was wearing disappeared when he rolled his eyes away from Kaito in a distasteful manner, saying, "Well, she slapped me really hard, but she apologized later on." He shrugged.

"Girls do that when they get surprised and they don't like it," Kaito explained, holding his laughter in.

"Yeah," Shinichi lazily replied. He then unconsciously recalled how surprised Ran looked like that time, and realizing what he was doing made him shake his head violently to literally shake off the idea.

Upon seeing his brother's movements, Kaito immediately gave him a head-whack, helping him to literally drop his thoughts. "Baka, don't think of nasty things about Ran!"

"I wasn't!" Shinichi defended, but he couldn't help but smile at the thought that he was being suspected. "I only imagined her face and it stopped right there, I swear!"

"Oh yeah? Then what was the color of her undies?"

"Pink."

*another head whack*

"Hey!"

"You see?" Kaito crossed his arms in front of his chest and shook his head in frustration. "I can't believe my twin is such a pervert..."

"I'm just naturally observant! That's all!"

"Tsk tsk tsk..."

Shinichi couldn't do anything but to sulk at a corner - hugging his knees while rocking back and forth as he poked the wall. "I really didn't do it~ and I'm older than him but he keeps on hitting my head~ Where's justice when you need it~ mou~"

Kaito merely gave the sight a half-hearted smile. "So how can she fight today if she's injured?" Kaito's question brought both of them back to seriousness.

Shinichi was, in no time, beside his twin again when he started explaining, "Well, after I gave her first aid yesterday..."

*flashback*

#~~~~~#~~~~~#

While she was sleeping on my shoulder, I used your phone to look for ways on how to quickly heal a sprain. Thanks to 4G, hehe... Anyway, I knew she would not let that sprain stop her from participating in the national tournament. I remember clearly how serious she was in her trainings and every time she talked about the tournament, she seemed excited… so I hope I can help out a little.

That afternoon, we did all those instructions posted online by experts and experienced people. Then after hours of rest and treatment, she was already using her left foot to see how much movement it can handle. By evening, it looked normal again and she could walk without difficulty.

#~~~~~#~~~~~#

"Now that's more like the Ran I know!"

"But still, I'm worried about her. I mean, what if she was just forcing herself or just letting me see that she's okay when she's actually not?" was Shinichi's concern.

Kaito shook his head slowly as a sign of disagreement. "As Kaito, you should not underestimate Ran." He patted his brother's shoulder before continuing, "Ran has been through a lot of injuries, slips, and other embarassing physical stuff-stuff, and never has it affected her." He snickered. "And besides," he added, now with a more serious tone, "she knows that I can tell when she's troubled or in pain, so she knows that there is no point if she would try to hide it from me."

His brother's words lightened Shinichi's worries a bit. "Alright then," he said, flashing a quick smile.

They then arrived at the train station and immediately bought tickets. While waiting for the train to arrive, the older twin suddenly remembered, "Oh, we agreed that if ever her sprained ankle cause her pain again today, that's the only time that I- I mean, you would tell her parents about it. She had me promise that."

"Hai hai!" Kaito's reply was barely audible because of the sound of the just-arrived train. But with his thumbs-up gesture and his wide smile, one could tell it's a yes. "Worry no more, 'kay Chichi?" He playfully reassured before they entered the train.

#######

Meanwhile, in the locker room of Matsumoto Sports Dome...

"I hope I can get through this day without any problem..." Ran whispered to herself. She was bent down, touching the surface of her left ankle as she was seated on a bench. There was still a little hint of swelling but it did not look like an injury at all.

She slowly tried heel and toe raises and it was manageable. She then stood up and tried to gradually put her weight on her left foot and it was also a success.

She sighed as she sat down. "Kaito said, as long as I don't do twisting or pivoting movements with my left foot, it'll be ok…" she muttered to herself while gently slipping her left foot in an elastic ankle brace. "Well, this thing will do the trick." She smiled. "I still have to be careful, though."

After wearing the other ankle brace on her right foot, she sighed and leaned her back on the wall.

"Shinichi will be watching today... I hope I don't screw up in front of him..."

She was too worried about her crush to remember her embarrassing experience the previous day.

Her face gradually turned red from bottom to top, as she imagined how handsome he would look when he bids her goodluck with a heart-melting smile.

'What if he taps my shoulder as he wishes me goodluck?' She imagined so, and her heart raced at that instant. "Stop it, Mouri Ran! You're making yourself nervous!" She cupped her warm cheeks with her cold palms.

#######

It was only less than an hour before the tournament starts. The audience were filling in almost all the bleachers while staff personnel were setting up the tables and chairs for the technical judges and announcers.

Meanwhile, the main entrance of the dome was also crowded as a huge wave of people all came at the same time. Nevertheless, the queue was fast enough and was perfectly peaceful until a girl screamed, "Kudo Shinichi and Kudo Kaito are here!"

It was followed by consequent screams and the usual dreamy-drools and the classic fan-girl box-out technique- Or circle-out, to be exact.

"Kaito-sama, can I have your authograph on my K.I.D. album?"

"Shinichi-sama, please take a picture with me!"

"Kaito-san, what's your next song going to be?"

"Shinichi-san, can I be your assistant in solving crimes?"

"Kaito-sama, I love youuuu!"

"Shinichi-sama, marry meeeee!"

Watching the two lads who couldn't do anything but just smile and sign and smile at the camera, the two male officials handling the tickets said, "Kids these days~" One of them even added, "Good thing they are taller than those girls, or else they could've been knocked down and who knows what those girls could do to them." They both chuckled before noticing, "Hey, where's Ayako?" The other one pointed towards the fan crowd where a girl in her 30's, holding a pen and paper, was also trying to get closer to the center. Seeing this left the two men sweatdropping in disbelief.

After a few minutes of struggling to get to the ticket-checking desk without anyone getting harmed, the Kudo twins were finally able to go inside the establishment. There they quickly found Ran and Sonoko waiting for them.

"Are you guys alright?" Ran was concerned but was still chuckling about what happened.

"I think I'm still the whole me," Kaito replied, laughing while looking left-right-down at his body.

"Hey, you have a kiss mark on your cheek!" Sonoko pointed at the lipstick smudge on Kaito's left cheek.

Ran and Shinichi also checked and giggled after seeing it.

"One of the girls jumped to reach my cheek, it wasn't my fault!" Kaito defended shaking his head and raising his palms, hinting innocence.

"You two sure have your own way of cutting in lines," Sonoko remarked, smirking.

"No, I swear~" Kaito couldn't help but smile, as he continued to explain.

Ran was just laughing at them, while Shinichi's mind wandered.

'So this is how they are when they are together.' He looked at the smiling and laughing faces of the three. 'They really seem close and natural with each other.'

His thoughts were interrupted when he saw Ran now standing right in front of him. She was already wearing her karate uniform. She bowed down once and then said, "Thank you for coming over to watch, Sh-Shinichi-san"

He was a bit surprised but his expression was quickly replaced by a calm and cool smile when he said, "You shouldn't be thanking me. Thank you for the tickets." He flashed his handsomest grin.

Having been smiled at like that, Ran wanted to burst with happiness but she couldn't. Her cheeks managed to let out a warm blush and it was good thing for her that Shinichi didn't notice it. This worth-dying-for chance of a face-to-face conversation with him was giving her a system overload but she was good enough not to let her fast heartbeat make her say or do embarrassing things.

"Goodluck on your matches later. I hope you don't strain yourself too much." Shinichi's sweet tone and the very high-spirited smile that came with it was the trigger that brought Ran to her melting point.

Dreamily staring at him while the time passed by in milliseconds, she thought, 'Shinichi~ He said matches... That means he believes I can win the first one and proceed to the next!~ ^o^ and he told me not to strain myself... He's just so handsome and caring, oh my!~ ^o^'

"By the way," his voice brought her back to her senses. "Shinichi-san is too... polite." He rubbed his cheek with a finger out of shyness. "Just call me Shinichi… or Shinichi-kun, if you're not comfortable calling me by just my first name." He smiled earnestly before his cell phone rang, which caused him to excuse himself out of their conversation. But before he walked away, he told her, "I hope I can call you 'Ran' in return." He smiled at the eagerly nodding, seemingly-hypnotized girl before he left. 'And that saves me from having to call her different names when I'm Kaito and when I'm myself. Less chances of getting caught, hehehe,' he thought.

Ran was left standing on the same place, her eyes still swirling with happiness. "Shinnnnniiiiiiichiiiiiii-kuuuuuuunnnnnnn~" she mumbled to herself. "He's officially going to call me Ran from now onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn~~~"

"Come on Ran, you have to get ready." Sonoko dragged her away but it didn't stop her from being in the dreamy state.

#######

Kaito, Shinichi and Sonoko arrived at their seats and there they saw Kogoro alone between empty seats trying to figure out how Ran's digicam works.

"What took you guys so long?" Kogoro asked.

Sonoko just grinned. When she sat down, one seat apart from Kogoro, the latter recognized Kaito, who was behind her, and greeted him along with putting an arm on the lad's shoulder. He even bothered to stand up just to do it. "How're you doing, kid!"

Kaito sweat-dropped, as he merely smiled in confusion. He knew Ran's father but they were never that close for him to give such greeting.

Kogoro then noticed the other one who looked like the one beside him and his smile quickly turned upside down. "Oh, it's the detective show-off punk!"

Shinichi sweat-dropped as well. He bowed his head and smiled a little, then quickly made his way to the empty seat farthest from Kogoro.

"So you really are twins with that guy huh?" Kogoro asked Kaito, as if their subject did not hear him.

Kaito nodded.

"You look so much alike but you two sure have opposite personalities," Kogoro commented flatly before sitting down.

Kaito wore a confused smiling face as he also sat down. 'Whatever happened between us two,' he glanced at Kogoro. 'And between you two,' he then looked at Shinichi. 'I'm pretty sure it was all your fault, brother.'

Shinichi coincidentally met his eyes and merely gave him a mischievous smile as if knowing what he was thinking.

Kaito's attention was then called by his seatmate, Kogoro who whispered to him, "I trust that you did nothing inappropriate with my daughter yesterday, mister."

Kaito sweat-dropped and said, ''Of course, Occhan!'' In his mind, he tried to shake away the fact that his twin brother acting as him saw Ran very defenseless the previous day.

Sonoko, on the other hand, who was sitting between Kaito and Shinichi, suddenly called the latter. "Hey, I exchanged tickets with Kaito so I can sit beside you for an interview."

Shinichi was taken aback. "Interview about what?"

"Everything about the famous Kudo Shinichi." She was gliding her hand in the air and her chin was up and proud as she spoke.

"You could've just asked my brother about the things you want to know," Shinichi replied lazily. He was expecting another noisy experience with Sonoko.

"But there are questions only you could answer," she stated, smirking.

"Do you plan on selling this interview article or make a blog about it or something?" Shinichi asked, not intending to be smug though his tone was.

"Of course not!" She laughed. "It's all for my best friend." Then she warned, moving closer to his face, "Don't think that she's cheating the race to win you okay?" She then rested her back on the seat as she continued, "It's all my idea, and I'm not going to tell her everything I would learn about you, I would just guide her in making the right decisions in the future." She laughed like a maniac, indulging on the greatness of her idea.

"Oh brother~" He sighed, knowing he had no choice but to be an interviewee sooner or later.

A few minutes later, a woman, wearing a corporate skirt-and-blazer attire with her long brown attractively wavy hair, came by and she seemed to be looking for her seat.

"Ojou-san, sit here!" Kogoro called, his usual way of being so accommodating towards beautiful girls.

When the woman turned around, both of them got surprised to see "You?"

It turned out to be no one else but Kisaki Eri. She sat down at that seat next to the aisle, the one beside Kogoro.

"Why are you sitting there?" he grumpily asked, not bothering to look at her and his arms crossed on his chest.

"My ticket says I'm supposed to sit here," she replied coolly, not looking at him either. "If I had known earlier, I would have bought my own ticket, you know."

"Why don't you buy one now?"

"Tickets are all sold out."

"You're just saying that."

"Oh come on, don't think highly of yourself, Mr. Handsome-detective-who-I-want-to-sit-beside-with," she said sarcastically.

He faced her to say, "You're one to talk. Look at you, at your age, you are dressed up like you're planning to seduce someone. This is a stadium, not a trial court, by the way."

She also faced him, now with a popping vein on her forehead. "You're the one who's flirty at your age! Calling out women to sit next to you... I'm sorry if I look young and attractive even from behind."

"Why you..."

The two continued to bicker that the young ones couldn't help but talk about them.

"Looks like Ran has set up her parents again." Sonoko muffled an evilish laugh. "She sure uses every opportunity she sees."

"Yeah, I'm sure she'll be so happy when she sees them this way - making up for the lost argue times." Kaito chuckled.

Shinichi got a bit confused and interested that he asked, "Why? What's with Ran's parents?"

Sonoko replied, "They are separated, that's why Ran always tries to set them up to be together."

"Oh..." Shinichi nodded. 'So that's why she's used to cooking dinner and doing household stuff all by herself. Good thing I didn't ask where her mom was that time.' He was referring to the time when he was making the props with Ran and Kogoro. 'I would have been discovered otherwise.' He smirked.

"I assume you know the reason why," Kaito kidded.

"Yeah." Shinichi glanced at the bickering couple. "No doubt."

"Sonoko-chan."

The three's attention was then drawn towards Eri and she continued, "Sonoko-chan, can we exchange seats, please? This old man is extremely annoying."

"Who are you calling old man, you wrinkled obaa-chan!" Kogoro remarked, though he did not bother to look at her. His eyes were on other people; he was observing people, something like a mind training for detectives which was also what Shinichi started doing at the moment.

"Aw, Auntie, I wanted to interview Shinichi-kun~" Sonoko whined.

"Sonoko, don't worry there's something interesting here for you." Eri smirked.

Sonoko looked at the direction Eri was pointing - the other side of the aisle, "A hottie!" Sonoko mumbled to herself, and in an instant, she was already sitting on Eri's seat.

"You're too old to be eyeing on hotties, Auntie," Kogoro mocked. "And to think you'd want to sit between those two boys... I really can't believe what you have become, tsk tsk tsk."

Suddenly, a pouch hit his head.

"Noisy old geezer." Eri scowled as she sat on Sonoko's seat.

The twins were both astounded with the sequence of events.

"Kudo twins Shinichi and Kaito, I'm Kisaki Eri, I hope you two don't mind me sitting here," she bid, looking at them each upon mentioning their names.

"How do you know which of us is which?" Shinichi asked straight away out of curiosity.

"Well, Ran has told me a lot about you two- I mean, just you, Kaito-kun," she answered, looking at Kaito at the last part. "And I've seen Kaito-kun a few times before, and I believe we, too, have met in a case before, Shinichi-kun."

But Shinichi's reply was unexpected. "Seriously," he flatly demanded, as if the explanation provided was not counted as an explanation.

"Alright, you got me." She smiled. "It was just a hunch. Of course my daughter's best friend would be sitting closer to her father than his twin brother who is actually a 'rival detective' of that old man, as what I have heard from Ran." She even gestured the quotation marks.

"Thought so." The young detective smirked. "When we met a few years before, there were twin waitresses in that cafe and you had a little mix up with their names."

Eri remembered what he was talking about. That time there were identical girls named Mikage and Tomomi who both assisted in calling the police and the ambulance and giving whatever Eri and Shinichi needed in solving the case.

"That's why I supposed that distinguishing identical twins from each other is not one of your skills." Shinichi followed.

'It means, Ran's mom would not be a threat to our switching, right Chichi?' Kaito thought cheerfully.

"What sharp observation skills you got there, kid!" she remarked, smiling childishly at him.

All of a sudden, a gray coat landed on Eri's lap.

"Don't disgust those kids with your sogging skin," Kogoro stated, crossing his arms on his chest. He was only wearing his white long-sleeves now.

Eri grimaced at Kogoro before spreading out the coat on her lap like a blanket. She smiled as she caressed the smooth piece of cloth. 'You still know that I easily feel cold. How thoughtful of you, dear... And gray, the warmest color, eh?' She kept a smile to herself.

#######

The tournament started and it was the girls division that was set to go first. They will be in alternate with the boys division for every round.

(Girls' round 1, then boys' round 1, then girls' round 2, then boys' round 2 and so on.)

There were 32 players in the girls division and likewise in the boys division - those who won in the interschool karate competition of their respective prefectures.

Each participant from both divisions drew lots in front of the audience, and the number they got would decide who their opponent for the first round will be. For the girls, Number 1 will fight Number 2, Number 3 will fight number 4, and so on up to Number 31 and Number 32, and same thing applies to the other division. For the next round, whoever wins between Number 1 and Number 2 will fight the winner between Number 3 and Number 4. The same rule applies to the other following contestants. This rule goes on up to the next rounds until there are only 2 contestants remaining, which now defines the final round or championship match.

In order for the tournament not to consume a lot of time, the first and second rounds will serve as elimination rounds and in here, four matches will be conducted simultaneously. That is, in one go, the match Number 1 vs. Number 2 will be held at the same time that the matchers Number 3 vs. Number 4, Number 5 vs. Number 6 and Number 7 vs. Number 8 will be conducted by separate sets of officials for each match.

As what was flashed on the screen, Mouri Ran got the number 7, and she was bound to get on the floor for the first set of matches. She didn't know if being one of the firsts was something good or bad, but she knew she had to do her best both in the match and in keeping her injured foot safe.

The first set of matches hyped up the audience. Indeed, all the participants were the best in their field.

Ran, who got the number 7, was faced with Number 8, Yukihara Nanami from Hokkaido.

Their match started with a few attacks from Yukihara successfully blocked by Ran, as the latter was first testing her foot's capacity. When she got the right rhythm, Ran was able to give out a fast chop-kick combo which caught her opponent off guard and sent her crashing down a meter farther. This gave Ran a point and an edge because the elimination rounds were best-of-three-points battles.

Yukihara reclaimed her stance in no time and she immediately gave a quick and fiery comeback which gave the calm Ran only a few hits as she was able to dodge and block almost all of them.

Ran decided to end this match by counter-attacking one of her punches with a grab, pull, then a finishing hit on the back, causing Yukihara to face the matted floor in her defeat. This was how she usually deals with criminals who try to resist in most of the cases her father handles, however in those cases, she gives them a hit that knocks out the criminal to sleep.

"Yeah, you gave her the criminal kill I taught you! Good one, Ran!" Kogoro was obviously so proud of his daughter- and himself.

This finishing move gave Ran another point which served as her ticket to the next round.

"Amazing, the way she executed her final blow was so cool! Wearing the cool and calm face and then quickly luring her into the trap and then bang! Sugoi, Ran!" The thrilled Kaito even mimicked her last move.

"Deshou?" The proud Kogoro grinned at the lad.

Shinichi merely joined the audience in clapping their hands but an amused smile escaped his lips, as if forgetting that his real reason for being there was to see how Ran would probably break his bones if he would mess up with her.

#######

The succeeding matches of the girls went on, and it would be followed by the first round matches of the boys division.

In the meantime, Sonoko invited her companions to visit Ran at her locker room. All of them agreed immediately except for Shinichi.

"Is that...even allowed?" He protested with a completely perplexed face. "I mean, isn't that- like the girls' locker room at school?" He was stuttering a bit, scared to be faced again with something like the scene the previous day.

On the other hand, upon hearing the term "girls' locker room", Kogoro's ears stood up alert like that of a dog. A mischievous smile instantly appeared on his face. "Ran, introduce me to you karate friends out there!" and in no time, he was already out of sight.

Eri just shook her head at that scene and muttered, "Dirty old man," before she headed towards the exit as well.

Ignoring the oldies, Sonoko focused on convincing Shinichi to join them. "It's alright Shinichi-kun, their locker room can accommodate the families of all the locker users; it's so big that you can hold a party right there!"

"And their actual changing room is a different one, so you don't have to worry about something like yesterday." Kaito teased. Shinichi only managed to give him a glare because Sonoko was in between them.

"Why? What happened yesterday?" the curious girl asked.

"Nothing~" Kaito laughed as he left the two. His hands were at the back of his head as he walked in a lazy manner.

Sonoko just shrugged and went on with the persuasion. "Shinichi-kun, if you won't come, I won't help you~" she warned.

"Help me with what?" His face creased a bit.

"Let's just go!" She grinned, evading the question. She was actually referring to the Ran-Shinichi love team that she swore to help nourish. However, when she pulled his arm - his BARE ARM because his dark blue jacket sleeves were pulled up to the elbows - she quickly felt a stab of violent glares which brought a chill to her spine. She looked around, and smiled sheepishly afterwards. She then slowly shifted her pulling-hand onto his upper arm jacket sleeve instead and started heading towards the exit with him.

Shinichi was still clueless about Sonoko's words, and now her actions too.

"You know what," she said while running (and dragging), "You're a detective who catches murders, but your fan girls are more than murderous! You should be careful of that; you might be causing the crime rate to increase without you knowing it."

Shinichi just grinned sheepishly. He now understood why she moved her hand earlier and even made it noticeable as an emphasis. He was still wondering about the 'help' thing, though. 'Does she know about our switch?' He thought, telling himself to observe Sonoko from now on to see if she knew something.

#######

"Ran, that finish was so cool!" Sonoko greeted, hopping in place while grasping Ran's hands.

The latter just smiled shyly, basically because Shinichi was around. She glanced at him but quickly turned away when she found him looking at her.

'Now that was so rude! Face him again and smile at him!' Ran's mind ordered herself. 'But I… can't...' She looked at him from the corner of her eye several times, while trying to make it seem like she was just fully listening to Sonoko's chain of comments. Then she decided to steal a glance of him when she couldn't stand the temptation anymore, but she ended up getting stuck staring at his face. 'I'm... mmmelting~'

Kogoro's rough voice and his pat on her shoulder brought her back to instant reality, though. "That's my daughter!" He laughed proudly afterwards.

"You got me worried at first you know," Kaito commented, getting too comfortable in the conversation.

"Why would you be worried?" Eri quickly wondered.

"W-well, she wasn't attacking, I thought she was s-scared of her or so? Ehehe," was his lame excuse to cover his slip. He glanced at his fierce-looking brother and saw a thought balloon above his head, saying 'You're so ##%&$¿¥!'

Kogoro saved him with his statement, "Of course that was just part of her strategy!" He laughed proudly. "You know, in any martial arts battle, you should still have a strategy, just like in any game or sports." He then pulled Kaito aside by his arm on the lad's shoulders, saying, "If you want to learn, the great Mouri Kogoro can teach you." He laughed manically once again.

"Ehehehe..." Kaito just allowed himself get dragged while sweatdropping.

"Ran~" Eri started with a motherly I'm-going-to-scold-you tone. "Did you give me the ticket to the seat next to your father on purpose?"

Ran merely grinned at her.

"You naughty little girl," the woman remarked, slightly scowling but still smiling as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. Before she could express how proud she was of her daughter after passing the first round, Sonoko pulled Eri away, without even any warning. She just said, "Eri-san, I'll borrow you for a moment, someone needs a lawyer out there!" while already dragging the woman out of the room.

As a result, Ran and Shinichi were left alone - except for the other karate girls of course.

The moment Sonoko disappeared, Ran's phone received a mail saying "This is your reward for winning the first match! There's more where that came from, so do your best on the next one! ^.~"

Another mail followed, saying, "Oh, and your mom wanted to say that she's so proud of you. Sorry I had to interrupt your motherly conversation. Peace ^_^v"

"Aww~ Sonoko's really sweet but mean..." Ran mumbled to herself, smiling gently.

"What?" Shinichi walked closer to her, as an instinctive movement due to not hearing what he thought she was saying to him.

Ran was startled and she quickly hid her phone. "Oh, no, nothing, hehehe..." She looked left and right, finding a topic to talk about but she couldn't. All she managed was, "Er, it's hot in here, isn't it?" She fanned herself with her right hand.

"Yeah, but it's alright," was his quick reply, as quick as his smile. "Cold weather anyway."

'Now what? That topic ended quickly!' Ran scolded herself. 'And don't dare talk about heat again because you're still a bit sweaty from your fight, Ran. That would be a major turn off!' She tried to sneakily smell herself to find out if she smells sweaty, and she was able to do so when Shinichi was looking at the lockers, observing everything about it from his place. 'Whew, good, you still smell ok,' she sighed, relieved.

Shinichi was indeed observing the lockers but he was thinking about something else while doing so. One thing is for sure, though – he wasn't looking at the other girls, in fear of seeing another towel scene or something even worse.

It was an awkward moment for him as well because as Shinichi, he is not used to talking to Ran that much, especially being left alone by their companions just like that. He thought he was the last person fit to be left in that very place because he didn't have as much comments or message for her aside from "Congratulations, by the way," accompanied by a short warm smile, which actually made her feel fireworks bursting in her heart despite the simplicity and lack of enthusiasm of that plain remark. That he didn't know.

In addition, he was the only guy in the room so it was REALLY awkward. Though, it was not so hard to deal with, unlike Ran's current 'I-was-left-with-Shinichi' worries.

He has thought of ways to escape like saying he'll go to Kaito or he has to make a call, but he thought that it might be quite mean to intentionally leave her alone after she won her first match and got left by her parents and friends. He wouldn't want her to feel bad so he decided to stay there until one of them returns or someone she knows comes to her.

They were still standing in the middle of the room, which was one of the factors that made them uncomfortable. Ran realized this so she gathered enough confidence to say, "Let's sit there while waiting for them, Sh-shinichi-kun." He simply nodded and followed her.

While walking past some girls with Shinichi, she felt the temperature go down exponentially, giving her some shivers. It was actually another fan girl aura felt from the icy glares of the girls who wanted to be in Ran's place right now but couldn't. However, when Shinichi saw her shiver once, his sharp eyes quickly noticed the most probable cause of it - an ant crawling on Ran's neck. It was somewhat covered by her hair tied up in a pony tail, but his eyes were far better than anyone else's in terms of observing.

"Ran!" He immediately called her.

It surprised her to hear him say her name with his hard-to-describe handsome voice. Feeling giddy but happy, she slowly turned around but to her greater surprise, he touched the left side of her neck with his right index finger, which instantly froze her whole body.

It was too light to be a poke and too gentle to be a prank, that the very mysterious feeling caused her not to care why he would do something like that. The instant seemed to last for an hour as she felt her soul evaporate while a pleasant amount of electricity, instead of blood, circulated her body. Her eyes remained still, though. They were frozen to stare straight ahead, that she looked like an android that has just been switched off by Shinichi.

When he finally removed his finger, Ran felt a rush of air enter the very spot on her neck that he touched, as if that poor little spot has held its breath for so long.

"It's an ant." He smiled like an innocent child as he faced her while still holding up his finger bearing the crawling ant. He stared at the little fellow a bit before he blew it away to the side.

All the while, she was still frozen, processing the events as fast as she could.

Shinichi then realized the violation he just committed and it could be seen from his slowly widening eyes. "Oh, I-I'm sorry I touched you." He stuttered his way to an explanation. "I- It's just- Darn, I'm so stupid, I'm sorry..." He was obviously traumatized from what happened the previous day. He heaved out a sigh, not knowing the right thing to say.

"Awww~ I mean- It's alright, that ant could have bit me and who knows what might happen because of that, right? I might have suffered from ant rash or ant fever or something if you didn't save me, ehehehe..." She forced a laugh which sounded rather stupid. 'What am I saying?'

He smiled a bit at what she said, and then added, "But still, I'm sorry for being careless." His tone was serious yet so gentle that she couldn't help but see a sparkling image of an apologetic prince with his charming voice and sincere face that Ran would want to videotape this if only she could. She was waiting for him to clasp her fists in his hands just like how she imagined the prince would do, but then, his jaw-dropping statement that followed instead was, "I'm not a p-pervert, I swear."

'Toinks, where did that come from, Shinichi?' She thought, sweatdropping. (O_o)

"I mean, I just thought that I should do something before that ant bites you," he explained, hands doing random gestures. "Saving instinct, I guess."

Ran chuckled. "And value for life, Mr. Crime Scene Detective! You blew that ant away instead of flicking it, pinching it or stepping on it." An image of Kaito flicking an ant naughtily, pinching an ant mercilessly and cruelly stepping on an ant over and over flashed on her mind which made her laugh. "Your brother would have done otherwise for sure."

Shinichi laughed a little upon imagining his brother doing those things.

Ran suddenly remembered, 'Oh my God, I'm laughing with Kudo Shinichi!' Her heart was about to explode with jumping emotions. 'I even made him laugh! And he laughs so handsomely! I'm sooooooo happy I could die right now~ oh, but please don't, I still have a match later and I'm still planning to reunite my family one day, ehehe.'

Unbeknownst to them, a few meters away was Sonoko, peaking from the small opening she managed to make with the door. From there, she was videotaping Ran and Shinichi using her cell phone.

"Hey, what is that for?" the just-arrived Kaito asked, imitating her sneaky hiding out of instinct.

"Shhh! My Christmas gift for Ran… a compilation of these" She snickered.

"Baka, why not ask for my help? I can give you a lot of Shinichi goodies for her, you know!" he remarked proudly, smirking.

"Baka! It wouldn't be my special gift if I won't gather them myself," she stated confidently, still video-recording without interruption.

Kaito remained silent for a while. She then noticed him thinking, and gave him a slap on the upper arm. "Hey, don't copy my idea! Give her something else!"

He just laughed conceitedly. "Alright, I'll give her Shinichi himself for Christmas. You'll see." He kept on laughing while she just made a face at him.

#######

After about half-an-hour of rest, talking with family and friends, getting crazy about her crush and some warm up routines, it was now time for Ran's next match as round two of the girls division started.

As part of the first set of four matches yet again, she was to fight with Number 5, Nekozawa Mai of Kanagawa Prefecture.

With only a second passing after they made their bows, Nekozawa immediately gave Ran chain attacks, causing the latter to step back for every hit she barely blocked. Nekozawa, however, made a fake on one of her attacks – it should have been a left punch but when Ran dodged towards the right, she received the real right punch from her opponent that hit her left shoulder. She lost her balance for a second but was able to prevent herself from falling down.

'Wow, she's on fire.' Ran was enjoying the challenge. She was a bit anxious, though, because her opponent gained a point.

"Raaaaan! Ganbatte!" Sonoko's cheer sounded a bit worried.

Kaito noticed that Ran was smiling so he concluded, "Ran won't let us down. That's for sure."

After the referee gave the go signal, Nekozawa did not waste any time and attacked Ran again.

'Hasty, aren't we?' Ran thought as she blocked the familiar yet modified chain attack.

Then after waiting for the right timing, Nekozawa's right-left punch came out again and Ran seized this chance by slapping down both of the former's fists and quickly giving her a right-foot kick from the side. The stumbling Nekozawa was able to prop herself with her palms on the floor, but their judges announced this as a point for Mouri Ran.

"Nice one, Ran!" Eri and Kogoro cheered at the same time, coincidentally. They looked at each other as a result and one made a silly face while one stuck her tongue out.

Now having equal points, the two girls stood up on their fighting stance. They were looking intently at each other, as if mentally asking who would attack first.

As expected, the ferocious Nekozawa took the initiative again. She gave a few punches that Ran was able to redirect with her palms, and then a side kick that Ran was able to block with an arm. After having been stopped by Ran's block, Nekozawa jumped a meter back to prepare another powerful kick, and this time she was planning a front kick.

Ran was able to read her move barely in time that Nekozawa's foot was already touching the former's stomach when she caught it with her hands. Planning a counter attack, Ran grabbed the foot firmly, lifted it and then gave it a push-twist combination, which were all done in just a second. Of course this made Nekozawa fall seated on the mat, granting Ran the point she needed to reach the third round.

Shinichi's companions were all rejoicing unlike him, who still watched the after-the-fight scene. He smiled when he saw Ran help her opponent to get up, just like what she did in her previous match. 'She sure is nice,' he thought as he watched her lower her head to her opponent.

#######

Ran had about 15 minutes to spare before the next round begins. This limited time was spent once more with her family and friends since they preferred visiting her and it was not a problem at all for the girl.

Sad to say that during this break time, Ran did not have another moment with Shinichi. Kogoro was too ecstatic to be dragged away from his daughter, and in the last few minutes remaining, he told them all to give Ran some time to warm up for the next fight. It was either he was really that enthusiastic about Ran's tournament or he has realized that Sonoko was planning on letting her daughter have a talk with Mr. Show-off Detective again and he totally opposed that idea.

"Mou, Kaito, I wasn't able to give her my reward…" Sonoko whined as they were walking away from the locker room.

Kaito just laughed at her saying, "My gift would be better than yours anyway, you don't have to bother yourself." She just scowled at him as a response.

Meanwhile, Shinichi, who was behind them all, saw a vending machine of drinks at the side and stopped when he noticed that it had Ran's favorite TeaZee Green Tea. Having heard the word 'reward' from Sonoko, he has thought of giving her a bottle of it, all out of generosity and not anything else. 'Perhaps it can be some sort of an encouragement.' His lips curved into a small smile.

However, when he approached the machine, Kaito came to pull him away protectively, saying, "Don't follow any of Sonoko's orders, okay?" and letting the girl beside him hear what he said. "I must preserve my gift for it to be better than anyone else's," he added, emphasizing the last two words, before laughing.

Sonoko just punched him lightly on the upper arm as she scowled once again.

#######

It was then time for the third round. Again, the girls division would go first and would be followed by the boys division.

In this round, only eight contestants were remaining in each division, so it was part of the rules that from this point onward, one match will be held at a time, giving the spotlight to these contestants who were worthy enough to reach the third round, which was also known as the quarter finals.

The stage/ring was set up in a matter of minutes and Ran was, yet again, one of the first participants to step on it, as her battle with Number 4, Yamaguchi Keiko of Osaka, was the first on the list.

'This part never fails to make me nervous,' Ran thought upon setting foot on the ring. Her heart was beating fast, out of both tension and excitement.

After the two contestants gave their bows, the referee signaled the start of their match.

Even though both of them were in their fighting stance, no movement has been made for the few seconds that have passed. Apparently, they were reading each other and waiting for the enemy to make the first move.

Deciding to initiate this time, Ran rushed towards her opponent along with a couple of punches. Yamaguchi was fast enough to block all of Ran's attacks, and in no time, she was the one attacking. Nevertheless, this was no problem for Ran as she was at par with her in terms of agility.

"Ganbatte, Ran!" Sonoko yelled in the middle of the excited crowd.

When Ran got tired of being in the defense, she turned to her left and launched a middle side kick right after she pushed away one of Yamaguchi's punches. With the kick being average in terms of the force applied, it just caused Osaka's representative to take a few steps backwards.

She was about to attack Ran again, but to her surprise, she saw the Tokyo girl run towards her and fire her middle flying kick follow-up.

Upon Yamaguchi's drop, the referee declared a point for Ran.

Now blazing for revenge as she stood up, Yamaguchi did not waste any second and aimed a front kick to Ran, but the latter was able to dodge it easily. It was followed by consecutive punches and chops yet again from Yamaguchi.

As Ran tried her best to either dodge or block the attacks, she noticed something about her opponent.

'She's nervous! And pressured… Having lost a point must have gotten her this nervous and now she's attacking randomly…'

Unbelievably, Shinichi had the same observations, which Sonoko, who was beside him again, heard him mutter.

"Is that so?" the brunette glanced at him and then yelled to Ran again, "Ran! Go for it, seize the chance!"

Ran pondered on what to do as she continued on her defense. She didn't want to be as mean as taking advantage of her opponent's weakness because for her, it would be more fulfilling if her opponent was at her best when she fights her.

A good idea then reached her and she immediately jumped away from her opponent. She took a couple more steps backwards which bewildered Yamaguchi a bit. Then, Ran relaxed her arms onto the sides and she demonstrated a few rounds of the inhale-exhale stress-remover technique. She wanted to tell her to get rid of the pressure and stress first before they continue fighting, and this reached Yamaguchi successfully as she smiled before imitating Ran's actions.

'Now that's more like it!' Ran smiled at Yamaguchi and the latter smiled back. In a matter of seconds, they were both heading towards each other again.

Yamaguchi gave out a high kick with her left foot aiming for Ran's face, but the latter eluded smoothly. It was followed by a middle reverse roundhouse kick with Yamaguchi's right foot which came along with her turn-around from her previous attack, and it was also avoided by Ran who ducked just at the right time. All the while, Ran was smiling, enjoying the fight with this fast opponent.

After getting separated a meter apart, Yamaguchi sent out a couple of punches, which Ran chopped away to the sides. After blocking Yamaguchi's last left-hand punch, Ran maneuvered the opponent's arm and threw it down and away to her left with her right hand, which caused them both to make a turn-around.

Upon facing each other again, Yamaguchi gave a sideward chop, which Ran evaded by bending backwards. Yamaguchi followed up with a punch, seizing the benefit of Ran's bending position, but Ran was able to straighten up quickly, and she turned around to catch Yamaguchi's attacking arm, which surprised the latter.

Ran grabbed her arm and pulled it down towards her, but Yamaguchi was able to pull away quickly before Ran could launch a close attack.

After a second of breaking contact, Yamaguchi was about to throw a touch-down chop at Ran, but the latter slapped it to the right with her left hand, before making a 360-degree turn to give Yamaguchi a reverse roundhouse kick. Ran's right heel landed on Yamaguchi's right flank, tossing her to the side and down on her knees.

And with that, the quarter finals ended, the winner being none other than Mouri Ran.

"Yatta!" Sonoko, Kaito and Kogoro exclaimed in chorus. "Ran won!" The three of them were jumping together out of glee.

Eri and Shinichi merely smiled as their eyes continued to follow Ran.

"Well done, Ran," Eri muttered.

'I can't believe how she manages to be fierce and nice to her opponents at the same time.' Shinichi chuckled to himself. He watched Ran help her opponent to get up first and then bow at her, before she let the referee declare her as the winner. 'I hope if she would have a reason to beat me up, she'll be nicer than this and change her mind instead.'

#######

Later at the locker room,

"Ran!" Sonoko hugged her upon arriving. "You're really great!"

Ran just smiled shyly as a response.

Her companions kept on praising her and she just kept on smiling at them and denying the greatness they were associating with her.

She kept on glancing at Shinichi, as usual, and he just settled with smiling at her whenever their eyes met. He didn't want to interfere in her conversation with her family and friends and some of the Teitan Karate Club members who were also there crowding up around her.

After seeing a girl pass by drinking a bottled soda, Shinichi remembered what he wanted to buy earlier. He hit his twin lightly with his elbow and whispered, "I'm just going to buy something."

"Oh, kei-kei!" Kaito replied cheerfully.

The young detective made his way to the vending machine outside of the room and eyed the particular row where he found the TeaZee's earlier. To his dismay, however, the only empty slot right there was the one where the green teas used to be. "Man, do I have to be this unlucky?"

He sighed before putting his hands in his pockets and leaving the machine.

Upon turning around, he saw a boy pass by, carrying a TeaZee Green Tea on his hand. With the high-speed processor inside his brain, he quickly realized that the boy has just bought it somewhere else that's near, judging the amount of the drink that was reduced from the typical full amount and the direction from which the boy appeared (not from around the vending machine behind him).

He immediately called the boy's attention, bent down to his level and asked, "Hey, do you know where I can buy that kind of drink?"

"Un!" The boy nodded enthusiastically. "I bought it from the oneechan by the gate. She had different colors of drinks but I chose this because it's my favorite color." The boy grinned.

"Thanks, boy." Shinichi also grinned at him.

"Is this your favorite color too, oniichan?" the amiable little one asked.

"Uhm, it's my friend's favorite actually. I want to give her one as a gift," he replied, trying to make it very understandable for a child of around six years old.

"You're really nice then! I hope you can get one for her," the boy bid before smiling again and running away.

He stood up smiling and then went to the direction of the gate.

However, upon arriving at the said drink stall…

"What the-" He was taken aback by what he saw. The woman was just crumpling the plastic wrappers bearing the label of TeaZee Green Tea.

"Don't you have any more of those green teas?" he asked, forehead creasing.

"I'm sorry, that was the last batch," she said apologetically as she continued to clean up the plastics.

"Wow, that green tea sure is in demand," Shinichi asserted.

"I have other flavors here anyway," the woman suggested while reorganizing the remaining drinks.

"Thanks, obasan, but I'm really looking for that green tea in particular." He smiled sheepishly.

"Must be for your girlfriend, am I right?" She was intrigued. "Well, I have good news for you, young man." She smirked and his eyes lit.

"You see that street?" She pointed outside of the Sports Dome area. "Just walk straight ahead and before the intersection right there," she pointed towards the stoplight, "there's a convenience store that sells that drink. That is on the right side of the street."

"Is that so? Thanks for the help." Now recharged with hope, he smiled at her and bowed a little before leaving.

Before passing through the gate, however, he had to get stamped anywhere on his hand, so that he can return to the Sports Dome even when his ticket has already been marked as used.

#######

"Irasshaimase!" was the greeting Shinichi received as he pushed the door open.

All it took was a quick glance from left to right and he has already mind-photographed the layout of the store - one of the things that his detective instincts cause him to do.

He headed towards the refrigerators and scanned the rows one by one, only to realize, 'I've seen this coming.' He sighed while smiling at his foolishness.

When Shinichi started walking away, he came across an employee of the convenience store carrying a few boxes, and his eyes followed this man of about his age. The latter stopped at Shinichi's previous spot to put down the boxes on the floor before he started unloading the boxes' contents into the nearest refrigerator. Recognizing the prints on the box, yet again, Shinichi took the chance to ask the man, "Sumimasen, do you have some more of the green tea of that brand?"

"TeaZee, sir?" The young man stood up as he closed the fridge door. He then brought out a small notebook from his shirt pocket and flipped its small pages for some time before finally scratching his head as he apologized, "I'm sorry sir, but the green tea just ran out of stock today."

"Oh, hehe, thanks." Shinichi forced a smile. 'I kind of expected it anyway, seeing how a lot of rows are emptied.' He glanced at the refrigerators. 'Probably because of the National Tournament being held just around the corner…'

He was about to turn around when the employee called his attention, "Try the other convenience store, Big Stop, sir. It's just one block away from here. Though, I'm not sure if they sell that particular brand and flavor."

"Alright, thanks." Shinichi smiled, hope coming back to him, especially when he thought about asking, "Is there another branch of 70-Seven around here?" He figured that since this particular convenience store chain sells that brand and flavor of tea, he would most likely find it in other branches.

"Well…" The young man escorted Shinichi towards the glass windows where he started pointing directions. "We have a branch along that street, at the other corner of it. If they still don't have that tea, try looking in our branch on Nakamachi Street, that's just near the second branch. To go there, just take the street where the right side of our second branch is facing, then after walking two blocks, turn left and you'll see it immediately. It's beside the coffee shop, Moonbucks."

"Thanks." Shinichi might be stingy with words but his smile was more generous in showing how happy he became after hearing some more hope. He was already seeing success that he couldn't stop his lips from smiling.

"I bet your girlfriend is going to be soooo happy when she finds out that you really intend to find her favorite drink no matter where it takes you," the young employee teased.

Shinichi just chuckled. He didn't mind about the girlfriend thing because he was busy thinking about how much time is remaining before Ran's next match.

"Well, goodluck on finding it, sir!" the young man bid as Shinichi made his way to the door.

###

'Each match takes about five to seven minutes, so considering six minutes per match, and there are still three matches for the girls and four matches for the boys, then that would be a total of 42 minutes before Ran's semi-finals.' He glanced at his watch as he was walking towards the other convenience store, Big Stop, which was the closest. '12 minutes have passed after her previous match ended. I still have half-an-hour to spare.'

He opened the door without any trace of haste.

"Irasshaimase!"

After confirming with the refrigerators that they don't have green TeaZee's, he went to the counter and asked if their company sells that drink at least. He didn't see any drink of the same brand when he checked, that's why.

"I'm sorry sir, we don't sell that brand. We have a contract with Coco Loco, Inc. and our bottled drinks here are only from their company," the cashier girl explained regretfully.

###

Shinichi ended up on the streets again, now sure of his target store.

A previous heist with robbers in Fukushima suddenly flashed in his mind and he remembered seeing 70-Seven markers on Geegle Maps when he was searching for the fastest way to get to a certain place. He then brought out his phone and accessed the internet for a vicinity map of Matsumoto. 'So stupid to have forgotten this thing,' he scolded himself.

Following the directions told by the man a while ago and that by Geegle Maps, he went to the nearest branch of 70-Seven, only to be dismayed again by the response he got, "I'm sorry sir, but that drink has been in demand with office workers for the past weeks that we already ran out of stock even after replenishing just the other day."

Remembering the high-rise building he saw across the street, he realized that those office-workers might have been the bigger enemies than the Karate Tournament people, hoarding all the bottled green TeaZee's during the weekdays and leaving empty boxes for the town visitors during the weekends.

He had no choice but to try the branch beside Moonbucks.

"I'm sorry sir."

Hearing that sentence, he wanted to leave right away so as not to waste more time, but the detective side of his brain was curious if there was some sort of a connection among the reasons why the green tea was always gone, and so he listened.

"There have been some problems with our inventory and we weren't able to refill our stock of TeeZee's immediately. If you want, sir, we have another brand of green tea that might just suit your taste." The cashier girl ushered him towards the refrigerators and he sweatdropped, realizing that there wasn't any connection after all.

"Here you go sir." The girl handed a green tea bottle to him, and in that instant, the tip of his thumb touched the girl's hand accidentally, causing her to become a madly-blushing fan girl, when she was just the can't-take-my-eyes-off-you type of fan girl a while ago.

"So handsome, my gosh~" was repeatedly emanating from the dazed girl.

Merely sweatdropping at the adoration that he has already gotten used to, he contemplated about the drink. 'Ran would settle for this, I'm sure. But I wouldn't want to give her the second best when she's doing her best there.'

He decided to return the drink back to the fridge, bypassing his fan in the trance. "Thanks, but that can't replace the one I'm looking for."

With that, he left the store and went to the next one that his map told him about.

###

'Crap, I never thought I'd end up exploring Matsumoto just for a drink, when I only wanted to buy one from a vending machine…'

Shinichi was now a kilometer away from the Sports Dome, but he still couldn't find the drink he was looking for.

During his quest, he even passed by a public bath, which reminded him of a drama series that Kaito made him watch a few months ago. He wore a twitching smile as he thought, 'Don't tell me I have to take a bath like Kenzou just to buy a drink from a public bath?...'

He checked the establishment still, just to make sure he wouldn't miss out what he was looking for.

Ironically, it was sort of a relief for him not to see a TeaZee green tea bottle in the refrigerator beside the public bath counter.

Continuing his journey, he arrived at the next 70-Seven store, but the odds of finding the tea seemed to be so small.

He looked at his watch as soon as he got out of the last store. 'Only 10 minutes remaining… I guess I've lost… I have to go back empty-handed…'

'Not being there to support her would be worse than not finding her energy drink anyway… er, that is if I were REALLY her best friend, which I am quite forgetting." He chuckled to himself, not knowing that his mere presence as Shinichi was enough to energize Ran for a week already.

He sighed as he put his hands inside his pockets while taking the shortest path back to the Sports Dome. 'Good thing this wasn't a case where a life depended on finding that drink, otherwise I would have been having a heart attack right now.'

'If only ordering something like that and having it delivered could all be done in just a matter of minutes, then there wasn't a problem like this to start with…' He smiled half-heartedly.

"Lunch bento for sale!" he suddenly heard a woman announce.

The voice came from the other side of the street, so he crossed to check it out for a TeaZee green tea, his hopes rising again for the nth time this day. He would seize even the tiniest probability there is, just so he wouldn't fail this small quest that he ended up venturing.

To his utmost surprise, there was a sole bottle of it, standing at the center of the table, surrounded by the bento boxes displayed.

Without any hesitation, he got hold of the bottle and immediately asked "How much is this, obasan?"

However, to his greater surprise – or dismay once again (poor Shinichi) – there was another hand whose fingers are wrapped around that same green tea bottle. The owner of that hand also asked the very same question he did, which made them both look at each other.

She was a tall woman who was roughly around 24, and from her pink jogging attire and her hair tied up, Shinichi could almost sense thirst and hunger from this potential foe.

She looked at him from head to toe, and then raised a brow at him when her ferocious eyes were directly against his. In doing these, her right hand was still grasping the green tea bottle on the table.

Shinichi, on the other hand, did not lose his coolness – proven by his right hand that was still inside his pocket. He returned the gaze but he didn't raise a brow at her or do something annoying. He just waited for her to speak, but he did not let go of the drink either.

"Kid," she spoke in an undoubtedly serious tone. "Ask her if there's still more of this."

With his mind processing properly despite the fierce situation with the seemingly scary woman, he asked the vendor right away, "Obasan, do you still have this kind of green tea?" without any hint of fear in his voice.

He then heard the best answer he has been getting the whole morning, "I'm sorry, there's no more of it."

'Why did I bother asking anyway?' he thought, sweat-dropping.

He then looked back at the lady, who, for sure, heard what the vendor said.

"Do you know why I deserve to have this tea?" she started, her eyes twitching with irritation.

As she narrated her situation in a threatening manner, he took the chance to observe her from head to toe.

The pink jogging pants and pink hooded jacket she was wearing had fluffy hemlines. Her white rubber shoes were tied with a pink shoelace that had pink dangling accessories at the ends of the lace. Her pony-tailed hair was tied up with a pink fluffy thing, yet again. She also had a little pink bear hanging from her pocket, probably her cell phone strap.

Now seeing the enemy's weakness, Shinichi searched some more for clues, while partly listening to her narration for some important detail that he could use.

He noticed her silver necklace which had a pendant "Makiko" on it. 'Women hate it when you address them as someone older, so I guess that's a bingo for me~'

"Makiko-san," with his smooth voice, he cut off her speech. "I have a proposition for you."

The interesting last statement prevented the woman from getting angry after having been cut-off by a seemingly - or equally arrogant young man.

"Alright, I'll hear you out," she said, raising a brow at his face again.

"You like pink cutesy stuff, don't you?"

She didn't respond, but her ears and eyes were still waiting for his continuation.

"And I bet, a cute bento would be more appealing to you than a mere bottle of ordinary green tea." He smirked with full confidence.

The woman blinked and her fierce expression changed into a semi-interested though still-resisting one.

"You see, obasan here has a variety of decorated bento to choose from." He looked at the vendor and Makiko followed his gesture.

"Obasan, now's your turn," he encouraged the older woman and she toured Makiko into her bento paradise where there was a Hello Kitty bento, a pink bunny bento, a panda bento, a three-little-pink-pigs bento, angry birds bento, octobento, sesame street bento, a guitar bento, and even a Meitantei Conan bento.

During the bento 'tour', however, Makiko still had a tight grip on the green tea bottle.

'She's tougher than I thought.' Shinichi sweat-dropped.

"Hey kid." Makiko turned from the overwhelmed-by-the-cuteness, cheerful, young woman back into the I-can-outsmart-you-whoever-you-are, fierce woman she was a while ago. "I accept your proposition... But I will choose which bento you will buy for me." She suppressed the smile that was forming on her lips.

"Huh?" Shinichi was dumbfounded. "I will buy the bento for you?" he repeated. He couldn't help but smirk at the thought that he was getting outsmarted.

"Yeah, and then I'll let go of this tea," she replied flatly. She was good at speaking emotionlessly and hiding her love-for-all-things-cute nature behind her vicious-chic façade.

Shinichi glanced at his watch which caused a dread look on his face for a second.

"Alright, choose whatever you want, Makiko-san." He gave up in the end, but he emphasized her name to suggest that he was only calling her that - and not oneesan or obasan - despite not wanting to.

She shot him a lethal glare upon hearing the mockery in his tone.

He just stared arrogantly at her, once again, despite the razor-sharp look she was giving him.

Seeing the glare-stare contest pointless, Makiko went on with choosing the best bento. However, a minute has already passed and she was still undecided.

"What's taking you so long? You just have to choose one and that's it," Shinichi grumbled, glancing at his watch again.

"You dare complain to me? You sure have guts, young man." She smirked at him before looking back at her top three bento choices to examine them.

Then, after a few seconds, "I want these three," she flatly stated like a spoiled little girl as she shoved the three bento boxes on top of each other onto his surprised face.

"Seriously?" He wore a confused look.

"Yeah." She wore a forced smile.

"Can you even eat them all?" His face turned doubtful.

"Well, I can settle for just a bottle of green tea or go with three bento boxes, anything's fine with me," she responded mockingly, her confidence never dropping a single percentage.

Shinichi sighed before bringing out his wallet. "Alright… I've been through a lot to just give up on this last green tea."

The moment he paid for the bento, Makiko let go of the bottle and that signaled Shinichi's long-awaited victory against the elusive green tea.

#######

Now having the famous green tea at hand, Shinichi seized the chance to make an order while he was running his way back.

'Finding this guy is a headache. I'll order straight from the factory so it will be handy whenever needed.' He smirked at the good idea.

He brought out his phone and dialed the telephone number printed on the green tea bottle. The quickest route towards the sports dome was still clear in his mind anyway.

"TeaZee Incorporated. How may I help you?" A female voice greeted.

"I'd like to order some green tea and have it delivered to my house," Shinichi stated coolly. It was before he glanced at his watch and saw that there were only '4 minutes left! Crap!' He then started running faster.

"Hold on a second, sir," the woman cheerfully said, "I'll transfer your call to the sales."

After the short-lasted melody during the call transfer, Shinichi then heard a male voice lazily say, "Sales department."

"TeaZee Green Tea please," Shinichi said, panting a little. He was nimble enough to safely pass through the obstacles on the way such as a girl and her dog suddenly coming out of a shop, a boy on his skateboard doing exhibitions on the sidewalk, a lady with a grocery bag blocking her sight, and a man carrying long bamboo sticks and swinging them carelessly as he made a turn on a corner.

'Does the world really hate it that much, for me to have this green tea?' He chuckled to himself.

"Are you a new customer, sir, or have you ordered from us before?" the man on the phone asked, his manner of speaking was slow.

"New one," Shinichi stated, getting impatient.

"May I ask for your name and your company name, sir?" was the man's lazy follow-up.

"Kudo Shinichi. I'm not ordering for a business, I just want to have your green tea at home." He was a bit more impatient but he tried making it sound normal.

"Alright sir. How many boxes are you going to order?" asked the unenergetic man. He almost sounded like Squidward, right there.

"Uh… wait!-" Shinichi saw an orange bus which gave him some sort of an idea.

'I saw that kind of bus this morning when we arrived at the tournament venue… That bus also stops where the bus we rode earlier stopped! And that's just in front of the sports dome!' He quickly checked Geegle Maps to confirm this and he found it to be true, based on the orange dots on the map which were on the location of Matsumoto sports dome and the Pacific Building that he saw near the bus stop ahead. He smirked, praising himself in his mind for the good idea.

He thought about the chances of not being late for the semifinals as he was running towards the bus stop. 'Well, to begin with, my calculations alotted a constant time for all matches. The actual time for each might exceed six minutes, especially since it's the quarter finals already.'

'Moreover, I only saw a few cars on my way to the convenience stores, so traffic jams are less likely to happen here.' He smirked once again before entering the bus.

He checked the map on his phone again and saw that the sports dome was just two bus stops away. 'This bus goes along the shortest route towards the dome.'

He paid the fee and went on inside. He then clicked a few icons on his phone and it revealed the satellite version of the map which shows the real-time traffic status of the areas in Matsumoto, and during that time, the route of the bus was more or less clear. 'Thought so.' He smiled confidently. 'Looks like luck is on my side now.'

As he walked through the bus aisle, the female passengers followed him with their eyes. This was yet another handsome aura effect being exhibited. After he found a spot to stand at, he noticed two girls to his right, giggling. He only gave them a glance, but he couldn't help but give them a second look when a flash of light shone upon him from their direction. It was a relief for his detective instincts, however, to realize that they were just sneakily trying to take a photo of him with their phone, and there was no flash bomb or terrorism to worry about.

He smiled halfheartedly to himself after hearing one girl mumble to her companion, "I told you to check if the flash is on! This is so embarrassing! We should have used my phone instead."

'Wait a minute… Shimatta! The phone!'

He hurriedly brought his phone onto his ear and said, "I'm so sorry, are you still there?" He was even wearing an apologetic expression even if the other person would not see it.

Luckily, Squidward- er, the man from TeaZee Sales was still there. "Yes sir, I'm still here."

Shinichi was a bit curious about why the man did not hang up, but he just thanked it for happening and went on with ordering.

"I guess I'll just have one box of it for now," he decided upon remembering what Ran said about not wanting to stock up those green teas for herself because she wanted other people to enjoy it too and discover it if they haven't.

"Are you sure?" the man on the line asked.

"Uh, yeah?" was his confused reply.

"The basic shipping fee applies to orders of one up to five boxes and it increases every multiples of five boxes, hence, it is impractical to order just a single box," explained the man. It was surprising how he was able to say all those in a bit faster pace than before. "And besides, you've made me wait too long for you to order just ONE BOX."

Shinichi grinned sheepishly while rubbing his cheek with a finger. "Sorry about that. How about sending me a box every week for about hm, two months?" he suggested, thinking that it would be favorable for both of them.

"Are you sure about that, sir? That would not change anything about the shipping fee. It's just like ordering a box every week," the unenthusiastic man commented.

"It's alright. I will mail you my address after this call," Shinichi replied, now a bit hasty as he was checking through the window the name of the bus stop outside.

"Alright. I will try to give you a discount for your two-month subscription. I'll send you the quotation afterwards," the man finalized. "How about the method of payment, sir? Bank deposit or card?"

"Card." Shinichi grinned. 'Dad's Mastercard is always so handy.'

"Okay, thank you for your patronage. Have a good day," was the last lazy sentence said by the man.

"Thanks, bye." Shinichi bid.

'Now I don't have to undergo this kind of an adventure when I want to get this drink.' He smirked as he looked at the bottle he was holding.

#######

Minutes later, an orange bus stopped in front of the Matsumoto Sports Dome and a young man got out of it panting his heart out.

'God, who would have thought that the bus would get crowded from the previous bus stop? And to think all the other passengers are girls! If I wasn't any careful, I would've gotten molested for real!' He chuckled remembering how some girls stumbled during the ride and hugged him 'accidentally', and how he was able to barely pass through the crowded aisle full of girls trying to smell him, grab him and even steal a kiss from him. 'Next time I ride a bus, I'll bring a body guard along.' He smiled halfheartedly.

Having thought about a body guard, Ran in her fighting stance flashed in his mind and so, he immediately headed inside the sports dome carrying the green tea in his hand.

#######

When Shinichi arrived at the bleachers, Ran's match was already on, and it surprised him to see that her opponent was already leading by a point. He made his way to his seat slowly as he was watching her and was trying to get an idea as to what was happening while walking.

Ran was panting after the long exchange of punches and kicks that happened. She glanced at the scoreboard with a worried face while the referee was checking up on her after having been knocked down. 'Where could he be?...'

Toinks, so she was worried about Shinichi, and not the score.

She glanced at the audience for the fifth time this round and finally she saw Shinichi just when he was about to sit beside Kaito. Their seats were interchanged, actually, but it did not matter for him nor for her.

'Shinichi-kun!' Ran's heart skipped a beat. In that instant, her face lightened up while partly reddening.

She clenched her fist, now ready for the next rally. When the referee gave his signal, the two girls dashed towards each other.

"Yo, where have you been?" Kaito asked, not turning his eyes away from the match.

"I went around to look for this." Shinichi smiled halfheartedly while shaking the bottle a little to emphasize. He was also watching the match intently.

Kaito glanced at what Shinichi was talking about and freaked out when he saw it. "You're drinking that now?" He moved closer to his twin's ear. "Did Ran influence you with that leaf-tasting tea? Oh man, now I have to drink that when I'm myself!"

"No, calm down." Shinichi chuckled. "This is for Ran." He placed the tea at the foot of his seat for a while and focused on the match.

Ran, on the other hand, was preoccupied in blocking her opponent's attacks. This girl, Himura Noriko of Kyoto, was not only fast but also strong that most of the attacks that Ran blocked gave bruises to the latter.

'She's so fierce; I can't get the chance to attack...' Ran thought, thinking of ways to get through the situation.

She waited for Himura to give a kick after having observed the latter's chop-punch-kick order of attacking that comes out in varying numbers. When she finally did, Ran dodged to the left and pushed Himura's right foot to the right, causing the Kyoto girl to turn around and Ran to switch places with her.

Although Himura was able to quickly plan and execute a comeback touch-down chop after the turn-around, Ran had expected it and was able to counter it with an upward block with her left arm followed by a front sideward kick straight onto Himura's stomach.

This caught Ran's opponent of guard, causing her to be driven down to her knees, holding her aching, striken tummy.

Realizing that she was to gain a point from this, Ran took a step backward and let her guard down as the referee checked Himura. However, before the referee could declare it a point for Ran, Himura took advantage of her position and set off a low roundhouse kick with her right foot, sweeping both the floor and Ran's left foot in the process.

"Shimatta!" chorused the Kudo twins who both stood up in surprise at the same Ran fell seated on the ring floor.

"Itai..." Ran pulled her left foot closer, her eyes twitching in pain. After successfully hiding her sprain for 3 rounds, it ended up getting triggered in the semi-finals.

Kogoro, Sonoko and Eri also stood up, all worried seeing how in-pain Ran looked.

To make things worse, the judges decided that both Ran and Himura gained a point from the series of events.

'So this is the end huh?' Shinichi thought, thinking Ran lost already. He turned his back from the center stage and was about to run towards the exit so he can rescue Ran immediately, when Kaito put a hand on his shoulder.

"Where are you going? Ran will be looking for you again." The smile Kaito was wearing was obviously hiding the anxiety he had. "She will be bothered even more to see that you're gone, now that her ankle is causing her trouble."

"Isn't it over?" Shinichi turned and saw Ran standing up.

"I forgot to tell you, it's best-of-five now. The first to get three points wins." Kaito grinned sheepishly.

Meanwhile, Ran staggered a bit before finally making it to her fighting stance. Some sweat of pain were rolling down on her forehead, a proof of what she was enduring.

"Hey, that last move was not fair!" Sonoko yelled. "Aren't you going to change the decision?"

"Ran seems to be in great pain..." Eri noticed.

Kogoro quickly faced Eri. "Did that kick break her bone or something?" He clenched a fist upon looking at the ring again. "Why that little..."

"Don't you think we should stop her?" Shinichi mumbled.

"I..." Kaito watched how Ran was trying her best to make it seem normal. When the referee approached her, she shook her head and smiled. "I guess we should tell them about it first..." he decided.

#######

"Wwwhat?" Kogoro grabbed Kaito by his collar. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Calm down!" Eri pulled Kogoro's arm.

"I'm sorry Occhan, but I couldn't... Ran made me promise... that I will only let you know if it starts hurting again..." All the while, Kaito was facing down. He really felt like he was the one who made that promise and he understood why Kogoro was this upset.

Shinichi remained silent behind his brother. He was also feeling responsible for this, having allowed Ran to pursue the tournament in the first place.

Sonoko, on the other hand, was shocked and worried at the same time that tears were starting to well up in her eyes. 'So all this time, she was keeping that to herself? I wasn't even able to help Ran in any way...' She wiped her eye as she turned to glance at Ran, but to her surprise, what she saw was not an injured Ran but a Ran that just earned a point after bringing her opponent down. "What the- Ran!" Her cheerful voice made her companions look at the same direction.

"Ran gained a point?" Kogoro wore his super-surprised face, his hand letting Kaito loose in the process.

Eri then slapped his arm, saying, "Now we didn't see what happened because of you!"

Both the jaw-dropped Kudo twins, on the other hand, had smiles forming on their faces. "What just happened?" they chorused, their moods now lightened.

"Ran is still fighting!" Sonoko announced. "What should we do, uncle?"

"Ran! What are you doing?" was the only thing Kogoro could say. All five of them were undecided whether they should call for the match to stop or let Ran finish it since she was still able to fight.

The answer was given by Ran herself when she engaged in a fiery combat with her opponent.

They were taking turns in attacking and blocking, that everyone on the watch could not risk to take their eyes off them. Even if Ran's left foot was hurting, she was able to comply just by using her right foot for support and her hands for attacking. Her left leg was still useful in blocking, though.

In one very critical instant of their offensive exchange, Ran was able to grab Himura's fist after muffling the punch that the latter threw. This allowed her to flip Himura onto the floor with all the remaining strength she's got, and thus earned her the license to enter the championship match.

Everyone took time to rejoice except for the five who immediately rushed towards the exit and hurried to the ringside.

#######

In spite of her aching foot, Ran still considered giving a hand to help her opponent get up. She certainly did not bear a grudge against this girl from Kyoto for what she did to her. It was Ran's gentle smile that served as Himura's assurance that her kindness was genuine.

Shinichi and the others arrived after Ran was declared as the winner.

As part of Shinichi's fast-acting instincts, he went up the stage to take Ran's arm and prop it on his shoulder. Ran hesitated at first but when Kaito came to their side and said, "Do you want him to carry you instead?" she reluctantly gave up let him support her walking.

Although still worried, Kaito couldn't help but grin seeing Ran's face turn crimson.

#######

"Now explain to us, young woman," Eri started the scolding session, her arms crossed in front of her chest and her foot tapping impatiently.

The injured superstar sitting on a chair was surrounded by the four people that were throwing her pretending-to-be-angry-but-worried-really looks and questions that she merely answered with a sheepish smile.

"Why did you keep this from us? From me?" Kogoro asked.

"Why did you continue the match earlier? You could've lost your left foot if things got worse!" Sonoko warned.

"Are you feeling alright now?" asked Kaito.

Shinichi, on the other hand, just stood somewhere at the side. He preferred being the silent but observant type he usually was. He was, however, smiling at what he was watching.

Ran was glancing at him from time to time, blushing at the fact that she wanted to know Shinichi's reaction to all of this.

After some more questions, expressions of worry and Ran's explanations, she then asked in the humblest way she could, "So... Am I still allowed to fight?" She wore a shy, excusing smile, "...Or not?" and then a slightly-frowning disappointed look.

The four turned silent for an extended period. Ran sighed and looked down.

A minute later, Kogoro cleared his throat and thus broke the silence.

"Ran," he called her attention. "Tell me, does your foot hurt?"

Ran shook her head enthusiastically. "It doesn't hurt if I'm not doing much movements." She showed them how she can move her foot slowly. "If I can prevent it from getting attacked again, it wouldn't hurt as much." She grinned like a child. "And besides, Kaito and I know a way to relieve the pain and to sort of heal it… temporarily." The last word was more like a whisper as she smiled sheepishly. "Ne, Kaito?" She grinned at him.

Kaito was startled a bit when everyone looked at him. "Uh, yeah, hehe." His poker face expertise got him through their inquisive eyes, though.

In fact, Kaito wanted to help Ran treat her sprain since earlier but he knew Ran would not want Shinichi to see her in that state, so he waited for the right time to ask for some time alone with Ran.

"Well," Kogoro's gruff voice started, but Eri cut his sentence when she said, "I believe you are old and responsible enough to make your decisions, Ran."

Kogoro merely grimaced behind Eri.

"You're the only one who can really tell if your foot hurts so much or if you can still manage to have another match with it," she continued. "I know you are someone who knows her priorities well and does not take risks unreasonably, so I'll leave the decision up to you. However, if I see that you are really incapable for the final round – and I'm sure your friends will notice that too – then I would impose my motherly authority and forbid you from continuing." Her words and the earnest smile that concluded them caused tears to well up in little crybaby Ran's eyes.

"Aww, Okasan…" Ran's smile turned into a chuckle as she tried to hide her rolling tears. Eri simply laughed at her while lightly patting Ran's head.

She was always that easy to move and Kaito knew that well, so in order to spare his bestfriend from getting further embarrassed in front of her crush, he suggested, "Everyone, may I borrow Ran for a few minutes? As her sprain doctor, I say we need some time to prepare for the next round." He smirked and Eri instantly understood, that she led the others to go out of the room.

"Wait, I haven't said my side!" Kogoro complained while Eri was pushing him towards the door.

"I know you'll just be copying what I have said," Eri teased. "Ran doesn't want to hear the same thing twice so let's just go."

"No! I'm the father around here! Hey, wait!" Ran heard her father exclaim before the door closed.

"Is it alright?" Ran sweatdropped. "Mom's really more powerful than dad."

"Yeah, she's really strong and cool." Kaito laughed.

Ran then sighed when the image of Shinichi going out of the room flashed in her mind. She took note of his faint smile – exactly how it looked – and she was a bit troubled by it. "Mou, Kaito, I don't know what he was thinking!"

"Shinichi?" Kaito laughed again. "Don't worry, that guy just thinks you're cool that you still won the previous match despite your sprain, you're cute because you cry easily and you're weird because you're too strong for a girl." His laughter resounded.

"Jeez, for a second I thought you were serious!" She hit his upper arm.

"I am serious." He chuckled.

Ran just made a face at him as a response but Kaito kept on laughing.

"Ne, Kaito." Her tone was a bit more serious now, but there was a hint of embarrassment in her voice. "Thanks for always saving me."

"Save you from what?" He played innocent.

"Ehh~ You know that already!"

He shook his head while smiling evilly.

Ran pouted before continuing. She fiddled with her fingers as she spoke, "When I cried, you made him go away so he wouldn't see it that much, and you did not do the first aid and massage on my foot when he was around." She smiled. "Thanks for being nice in some ways."

"That's better; thank me specifically." He laughed conceitedly. "Wait, what do you mean by 'nice in some ways'?"

"Nothing~" She covered her mischievous smile.

"You're really mean, Ran." Kaito just played along, acting like he's angry although Ran knew so well that he wasn't.

He then knelt down and checked Ran's foot with a serious face at first. It then turned out that he actually planned to poke her left foot repetitively wearing his naughty little boy expression, asking, "Does this hurt?"

The in-pain-but-still-smiling Ran hit his shoulder. "Cut it out!"

He then turned those pokes into tickles, targeting Ran's foot sole, which made her giggle reluctantly. She was slapping his shoulder as a sign of resistance but her strength didn't seem to affect the laughing Kaito.

"Hey, you're wasting our private time, Mr. Sprain Doctor," she said, still laughing, when he stopped tickling.

"That's just what I call lightening-up therapy," he stated confidently as he stood up to get another chair. "How can you be so dense?" he teased, and then a towel ball came landing on his face. "Hey! Don't go throwing yucky stuff on my precious face!" he chuckled.

Then another towel ball came his way but he was able to dodge it. "Those are clean towels, Mr. Neat-freak!" she said smirking.

She then sighed, "Good thing Shinichi wasn't here to hear your meanness. Otherwise I would've been imprisoned now for beating up my friend." She laughed, trying to make it sound as evil as possible.

Kaito smiled half-heartedly before his phone rang. He picked it up quickly and said, "You hear that, Shinichi? She said she's going to beat me up!"

Ran showed a doubtful face, so he pressed the loudspeaker button and they heard Shinichi say, "What? Who's going to beat you up?"

Ran whined and threw her sports bag to Kaito. It was beside her chair previously, but now it made a dent on the locker it hit behind him. She was seated with her sprain when she did that, what more could have happened if she weren't?

Kaito slowly turned to look at the locker behind him with eyes anticipating a horrible scene. He then put the phone back to his ear and said, "Nah, I'm just fooling around, bro. You know me." And he laughed stupidly.

"Trying to cheer her up, eh? Hey, come out for a minute, I have something to give you," Shinichi told him.

"Sure, right away," Kaito said with a more serious face before putting down his phone.

Ran was clueless as he walked towards the door and went out.

#######

"This might help in cheering her up." Shinichi handed the green tea bottle to his brother.

"Yeah, I forgot about this! Thanks, bro." Kaito grinned as he got hold of the bottle. He then looked around and pressed his ear onto the door for a while before whispering, "Hey, a little help with the sprain-healing stuff… I might end up doing a different routine and she might think it's weird."

"About that, I already saved the webpages on your phone." Shinichi smirked. "In case Kaito would not be able to remember all those routines yesterday…"

"Yoshi!" Kaito clenched a now-recharged fist. "The doctor will do his best, don't worry." He kidded.

"Goodluck then," Shinichi said as he walked away, his hands in his pockets the usual way. "Just tell me if you need any help," he said without looking back.

#######

"Ran~ I have a peace offering for you~" Kaito cheerfully greeted as he entered the room.

"What's that?"

"Tada!~" He showed her the green tea, in a commercial model way.

"Wow! Green TeaZee!" She made an effort to stand up so she can walk towards him to get the drink, although her foot gave her a little difficulty.

"Hey, hey!" Kaito hurried to her to stop her by the shoulders. "You don't have to walk to get your energy drink, princess. The doctor will bring it to you." He smiled.

And so he opened the bottle and handed it to Ran before he started with the sprain treatment.

"Hey, don't treat me like a baby. I can open this on my own," she complained before taking a sip.

"Shinichi told me to open it for you so you wouldn't have to move a lot," he said, smirking, as he lifted her left leg onto another chair for it to lie straight.

"He really said that?" Ran's eyes grew big and she almost got choked with her drink.

"Nah," he stated flatly before laughing.

"Why you…" she kicked his leg lightly with her right foot, smiling, before she took another sip of her tea.

"Is that how you treat your doctor?" He complained jokingly. "But it's true, he was the one who bought that," he stated, thinking that the drink would be a better booster if Shinichi's name was attached to it.

"Really?" she doubted.

"Yeah."

"Then what took you so long?"

"I uh… talked with my brother." He grinned. '…and browsed those sprain-treatment articles.'

"You're lying," she stated like a little girl suspicious of her dad.

"No, it's true." His smile was more like a guilty one that she couldn't be convinced.

"Then what did you talk about?" she tested him.

"He said he's hoping that this will cheer you up a little, and he taught me a few stuff he knows about sprain treatment." Kaito's confidence made it seem believable.

"Really?..." Ran's Shinichi-fandom was starting to light up. "Then… then this really came from him?" Her big eyes were excited for the answer.

"Yeah, but I told him what to buy because he doesn't know about that green tea, you know," Kaito stated like a jealous little boy, his arms crossed in front of his chest and his eyes turned away from her.

"Awww~ Shinichi's green tea gift for me, how thoughtful!" She completely ignored Kaito's 'contribution' as she hugged the bottle and pressed it onto her cheek.

"Hey, are you listening?" he pouted as he continued with the sprain treatment.

But she continued to adore the green tea she was holding.

"Hey, let's just use that for cold compression instead of ice," he teased, trying to grab the bottle from her.

"No way!" and they kept squabbling that they forgot the problem for a while.

Later on, the two turned silent, as if they both ran out of jokes or things to argue about. They were almost finished in doing the things listed on Kaito's phone.

'Kaito's massage seems a little different from yesterday…' Ran thought as she watched him handle her foot. 'Maybe he's distracted… or worried…'

"Kaito…" she called with her soft voice.

"Hm?" His tone was also tranquil. He didn't bother looking at her.

"Are you angry with me the least bit?" she asked, seriousness evident in her voice. She stared at him, waiting for a gaze to be returned.

"What are you talking about?" He merely glanced at her, smiling. "Why would I be angry?"

She frowned. "Because I insisted on going here… because you've been worried about me but I still do as I please and get you involved with all the troubles it takes…"

He looked at her and now she was the one staring down. "My dad might have even scolded you for letting me hide this from them… I'm sorry for being so stubborn, Kaito."

He let out a smiling sigh before leaning forward to reach and rub her head. "I'm always here to support you. There's nothing I can't do for you, Ran." He smiled gently.

"Thank you, Kaito." She returned the heartfelt smile.

'Anyone watching us might think that I have feelings for this girl… I'm not Kang Shin Woo! This isn't a Korean drama people!' Kaito sweatdropped in his thoughts.

"You're really nice even if you're always mean," she commented playfully.

'And if this scene happened three years ago, I'm sure I'd be crying…' He smirked faintly. 'So much for unrequited love…'

"And besides," was the follow-up for his previous statement, "I know you didn't want to back out because you've set up your parents here." His smirk made her grin.

"Shinichi, too," she said shyly but cheerfully.

"You're really nuts." He chuckled, shaking his head.

She smiled. "But if my bestfriend doesn't want me to fight anymore, I will do so and surrender."

"You tell me the answer, Ran." He lifted her arms and led her to stand up.

Ran was oblivious of what he was planning when he guided her to walk forward, still holding her left arm.

When he stopped, he let go of her arm and they were face-to-face.

Ran was baffled even more when he slowly took a few steps backward. "What are you…? Ahhh!"

She was taken by surprise when he suddenly drew out his card gun and started firing it to her. She tried her best to avoid every card that was trying to hit her that she almost looked like dancing.

"What are you doing?" she asked looking vexed and confused.

"I couldn't dare hurt you, so I guess this will do," he said while shooting cards semi-randomly at Ran.

Though she found it weird and really extreme, she was able to dodge all the cards, especially those that were aiming at her injured foot. Her movements were considerably smooth, but it was still noticeable that she was trying to do fewer movements with her left foot and was hiding it from the attacks.

"Alright." Kaito stopped shooting. "You passed." He blew his card gun and rolled it on his finger before putting it back in the inside pocket of his jacket. He then smirked and said, "I formally allow you to go to the championship match, Ran."

But then, his cool act was ruined when a half-filled green tea bottle crashed on his forehead.

#^$&%!

"Oh my God, I just threw Shinichi's gift for me!" The worried Ran quickly went to Kaito's side to get the green tea bottle on the floor, disregarding the groaning Kaito beside it.

"Itai…" he mumbled, holding his forehead and acting all hurt. 'But it wasn't that strong of a throw. She doesn't want to hurt me too.' He smiled to himself.

"Why are you smiling and groaning at the same time?" She said it with a stern voice but a smile still escaped her lips. "You're really the weirdest, shooting your cards at me just to check if I can move well…"

He just smiled.

"But, thanks for trying me, now I know how much I can move." Her smile grew wider. "Thanks for keeping your promise, too."

"I'm really the best, aren't I?" He flashed his trademark grin.

She hit him lightly on the stomach with her elbow while chuckling. "Don't be so full of it."

Kaito took the initiative to pick up the towels and carry her bag. Before they left the room, he called her attention. "One last thing, Ran."

"What is it?"

"If it hurts again, quit right away, alright?" His face was serious but calm when he said it.

She nodded enthusiastically.

After their sprain therapy, Ran immediately went to find and thank Shinichi for the green tea. Kaito volunteered to accompany her, and he secretly mailed his brother to meet them at a spot nearby so Ran wouldn't have to strain her foot so much.

"Shinichi-kun, thank you for the green tea." She lowered her head in front of him, hiding her faint blush in the process.

Shinichi was surprised as he did not expect that the drink would be credited to him. He glanced at his brother before smiling at the girl who was now facing him. "Don't mention it," he said looking at her eye-to-eye.

Her cheeks got even warmer seeing him smile and speak the way he did. When she realized that she was already gaping at him, she quickly turned away and looked down. "I-I'm gonna get going." She smiled shyly.

He merely nodded with a faint smile. "Don't get hurt, okay? Kaito will be worried about you," he said in a somewhat teasing tone.

Kaito's attention was caught by his words. 'Kaito who? Me or you?' He smirked and his brother, who glanced at him, did so too.

Ran, on the other hand, was struck that her heart started to run wild. She couldn't look at him in fear of getting caught in an eye contact again, but she was bothered, thinking, 'Does he think I have some sort of a thing for Kaito? No, Shinichi, don't misunderstand!'

Not knowing what to say, she only managed to bow a little as her face continued to flush. With that, Shinichi walked past them, leaving her no chance to clear up the wrong idea.

'Mou, Shinichiiiii! #_#' Ran wiggled down in frustration.

#######

It was then time for the championship round of the girls division. Ran and her opponent were already at the foot of the ring, waiting to be introduced.

Meanwhile, Kaito and the others, who spent the last few minutes making sure that Ran could really fight, were running their heads off to get to the bleachers immediately. On their way, however, they came across a couple of men in white uniform, carrying a stretcher with a girl on it.

These medics were heading the same direction as they were at that moment, so Kaito, allowed his curiosity to speak up as they were running. "What happened to her?" He referred to the half-blanketed unconscious girl they were carrying. His companions cared to listen as well while still running.

The girl was in her casual wear so Kaito and the others had no idea that…

"She's the contestant who got badly hurt in the semi-finals," explained one man.

Another one added, "Her opponent gave her no mercy and left her with a fractured leg aside from beating her up."

Kaito and Shinichi's eyes grew with grave terror. Without saying anything, they both dashed back to where they came from.

"That…" The frozen Kogoro muttered. "That's Ran's opponent right now they are talking about!" In a flash, Kogoro, Eri and Sonoko were already following Kaito and Shinichi's footsteps.

#######

"What?"

Kaito was at the edge of his temper. Two security personnel grasped his struggling arms as he further tried to convince the other man who was guarding the door to the arena. "Why won't you let us in? My friend's in danger! If we don't stop the match now, she might end up like the other girl!"

"Don't say such weird things. You can't fool me with such a prank," the man by the door said as the other two laughed.

Shinichi took hold of the wrist of one of the guards holding his brother and he grabbed it tightly as he glared at that man. "We're not fooling around."

Kogoro, upon arrival, already had an idea as to what was happening with the twins. Seeing the man by the door as the greatest obstruction, he rushed to him and grabbed him by the collar. "Let us in! My daughter is in danger!"

The three tall guards were of big muscular bodies but the other three did not care.

Unfortunately, the tables were turned against our heroes. All their verbal persuasion and physical resistance did not triumph against the brawny men. Kaito ended up getting his elbows held behind his back by the big hands of one guard. Shinichi's arms were caught by the unyielding hands of the other guard. They both struggled to free their arms but to no avail.

Eri and Sonoko couldn't do anything but to yell at all of them to stop.

Kogoro, on the other hand, still held onto the third guard's collar, but the latter was already squeezing his shoulders, intending to threaten him, saying, "Since you're older than those two boys, I expect that you understand the rules better than they do."

Kogoro narrowed his eyes at the man. "Oh, no I don't." And in a split second, he grabbed the guard by the arms and threw him onto the ground with one of his stupendous judo techniques, giving him an aching back that kept him lying on the floor.

That served as the signal of war that the twins were waiting for.

"I didn't want to do this but…" they muttered in chorus before making their move.

With full strength, Shinichi pulled his arms quickly as he took a step back, dragging the one restraining him in the process. He then gave the partially crouching tall man a strong kick on the stomach with his right knee, knocking the wind out of him as he fell on the floor gasping for air.

Kaito, meanwhile, managed to move his right hand in his restrained position and after opening his palm and pointing his fingers down, his card gun magically appeared within his grasp in just a blink of an eye. Whether the gun slid down from his sleeve or he was able to draw it with lightning speed from a hidden holster somewhere on his belt, no one knows but him. He then shot a couple of cards at the man's feet, startling him especially when he saw that the cards pierced through the floor. This caused him to loosen up his grip on Kaito's elbows.

Kaito quickly turned around and pointed his card gun at the last guard standing. "You're lucky I was the one you pinned," he remarked, smirking.

Shinichi and Kogoro stood beside Kaito as he added, "but you'll run out of luck if you don't open that door right now." He was holding his gun very steadily and by looking at his eyes, one can tell that he's dead serious despite the smirk he was wearing.

Seeing that he will either be shot or knocked down if he didn't obey, the guard raised his palms and walked towards the door to open it.

Without wasting any second, the three guys, as well as Sonoko and Eri, rushed inside and called out to Ran.

"Raaaaaaannnn!"

To their utmost surprise, however, an ecstatic Ran turned around to face them and showed them the gold trophy she was holding. "Where have you guys been? I won!" she exclaimed cheerfully as she went down the stage and ran towards them.

The five stood dumbfounded. "What did we miss?" Kaito spoke for the rest.

#######

"So you knew about your opponent being a notorious, merciless, bone-breaking one?" Kaito started the clearing up.

"Really?—I mean, what? No." Ran was confused.

They have decided to talk in one of the vacant hallways as they all could not wait to know what happened.

"We were so worried about you. Thank goodness you're safe." Eri sighed in relief as she embraced her daughter.

"Why? What's with my opponent?" Ran was clueless.

"We found out that during the semi-finals, she beat up her opponent badly and even fractured the girl," Kaito explained.

"The officials I asked just earlier said that all of her matches were won by knock out," Shinichi added.

"Then she must've been a really ruthless one!" Sonoko concluded.

Ran's forehead creased as she stood speechless, actually worried about those girls especially the one who got a fracture.

"Are you not hurt anywhere, Ran?" Kogoro's rough voice was in contrast with his concerned tone. "How's your foot?"

"I'm alright, Otousan." She smiled shyly. "I'm sorry for making you all worry."

"How did you beat her anyway, Ran?" was Sonoko's question that also interested the other four.

"Well, she was always aiming for my left foot. I thought that maybe she learned about it from the previous match," Ran narrated. "She got the first point but she didn't hit my foot because I was able to save it, at least." She chuckled and then turned serious again. " Anyway, as I was saying, I really noticed that she was always after my sprained foot, so I tried provoking her to do different attacks but she still insisted on aiming at it." She scowled a bit as she recalled what happened.

"And then? What did you do?" Sonoko was excited to know the good part.

"And then… I knocked her down three times and I won." Ran grinned innocently.

5… 4… 3… 2… 1…

The dissatisfied five took a few seconds of frustrated silence before demanding, "How did you actually beat her?"

"Well- I-" Ran was startled. She took time to look at them each before finally showing them another grin and saying, "It all happened so fast, I can't remember quite well." She laughed foolishly with a hand behind her head, "Ehehehe…"

#######

"I'm telling you, Ran, they were all fuming that time! They were super worried about you!" Sonoko couldn't contain her excitement.

The two girls were at the canteen of the sports dome, having some ice cream. Ran wanted to know what happened earlier so Sonoko dragged her there to tell her everything.

"Those three were really cool when they fought those big bouncers – or guards, whatever," she said, gesturing the height and size of the guards.

Ran chuckled after taking a sip from her remaining TeaZee. "What do you mean by cool?"

Sonoko went on with her enthusiastic story-telling. "If only you have seen how they looked like – even your dad, actually – they were so cool! Even your Shinichi, he knocked down one of the three guards just so they can save you!" She described in detail what happened according to her point of view.

Unbeknownst to them, Kaito and Shinichi were just a few tables away from them and these boys could hear what they were talking about even if they didn't want to.

Shinichi smiled half-heartedly after glancing at the refrigerator near the counter. "Good thing that tea is not here. That would be frustrating otherwise," he muttered, looking grim.

Kaito chuckled after realizing what he meant. "You must've gone through a lot to find that tea, huh?"

"Yeah, there was no turning back that time." Shinichi smirked lazily.

"Brings me back memories." Kaito laughed before taking a sip from his fruit shake. He recalled the old times when he had to engage in some sort of an adventure just to find that tea for her, much like what his brother did today.

"So they really had a serious fight with the guards?" Ran was surprised. "Good thing they weren't hurt."

"Yeah." Sonoko took a bite of her banana split before continuing, "But they must've been hurt a little. The guards took hold of their arms and they had to struggle."

"I hope they didn't get wounded because of that," Ran mumbled worriedly. Her mind then wandered off, imagining how she would tend Shinichi's wounds if he were wounded from that fight. She imagined herself applying medicine at the corner of his wounded-but-still-attractive lips, and he would twitch a little from the pain and then hold her hand to stop her. Then, they would gaze at each other's eyes and without them knowing, they were being magnetized closer and closer towards each other.

"Ran!" Sonoko interrupted the dream sequence.

Ran's face quickly turned red after realizing what she was thinking about. "What happened with those guards?" she asked, hoping to bring her mind back to reality.

"Your mom dealt the legal matters about it, I think." Sonoko smirked. "It's nice to have a lawyer mom sometimes, ne?"

Ran merely smiled. She then turned serious again when she said, "But I still can't believe Kaito and Shinichi would get angry to that extent. I mean, my dad would've really used brute force if he were in that situation…" She grinned sheepishly. "But those two are usually cool and they don't seem hot-headed even the slightest."

"It was your dad who defied the guard first and they just followed," Sonoko stated bluntly.

"Oh." Ran smiled half-heartedly.

"But you know, at that time, I really saw how worried Kaito was." Sonoko recalled. "Pointing his card gun at that man with that serious of a face and his fierce eyes that were locked onto the man until he opened the door… he was scary even if he was wearing a smirk, but I know that it was all just out of his concern towards you."

'Yeah, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself for having allowed Ran to fight if something bad happened to her,' the eavesdropping Kaito thought, his face was serious with a hint of regret.

Ran wore a worried expression. "He must have been blaming himself at that time for letting me fight…" She hit the bull's eye.

Sonoko merely nodded before changing the subject. "At that time, I couldn't tell what Shinichi was thinking about, but he was as serious and as scary as his brother was."

Ran blushed instantly at the idea that Shinichi was also worried about her.

"I don't mean to discourage you or anything, though," Sonoko said, "but he seemed either worried about you too or he was just very supportive to his twin."

Ran grinned mischievously. "Maybe it's both." She turned into her dreamy fan girl self. "He's really cool and mysterious, isn't he?~"

Sonoko merely chuckled at her.

Meanwhile, the unintentionally eavesdropping Shinichi answered them in his thoughts, 'I just felt responsible too, for letting you to go to the tournament despite your sprain.'

'I felt as guilty and worried as he was.' He glanced at his brother who was gobbling up his yakisoba. He couldn't help but smile seeing his twin exert all his frustrations towards the poor noodles, mumbling "I may not be mysterious but I believe I am cool, too! Harr harr!"

#######

The awarding ceremony then came.

After the respective awards have been given, Sonoko suggested a picture taking.

"Shinichi-kun, you stand here." She said, placing Shinichi beside Ran.

Ran was wearing her medal and holding her trophy while standing bashfully as Shinichi stood beside her. He was merely obeying Sonoko having thought that everyone will do the same anyway.

"Congratulations," Shinichi said, as softly yet as coolly as ever. He was facing Ran as he said it, just to show her a quick but genuine smile.

She returned the gesture but with an additional blush that she tried to hide when she said, "Thank you, Shinichi-kun."

Kaito was making his way towards where his brother was when Sonoko stopped him by the face with one hand while her other hand pressed the camera button as she said, "Say cheese!"

"Hey!" Kaito complained.

"Don't get in the way," Sonoko scolded him.

Kaito pouted and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "The 'say cheese'goes before the shutter, tsk."

"Nah, this is perfect as it is!" She beamed at her digicam screen showing the image of Ran and Shinichi smiling at each other.

When Kaito stood beside her to peek, she pushed his face away and said, "Go there for another picture." She just grinned at him when he scowled.

"Hey! How come those guys take a picture with my daughter first?" Kogoro complained.

"Uncle, you'll make Ran really happy this way, trust me." Sonoko smiled mischievously.

"This old man doesn't understand things about young people, you know," Eri commented on the side, making Kogoro glare at him which resulted to a stare-down contest between them.

The sweatdropping Sonoko just shrugged and focused her attention on the three. "Alright. Move closer, guys!"

Ran was in between Kaito and Shinichi which was why she couldn't stop her cheeks from reddening. 'Sonoko~ Don't do this to me… I might be smelling of sweat right now and Shinichi's just an inch away.'

However, what Shinichi noticed at that time was, 'She really has this fragrance that I have come to notice.' He glanced at her wind-blown hair and smiled faintly.

Unbeknownst to Shinichi, yet again, Sonoko was able to capture that moment. 'Fan girls and fan-girl sidekicks should remember to put off the flash when they want to capture the best moments,' she thought, smirking proudly.

"Alright, one, two, three!"

After a bunch of photos with different combination of people in them, some girls approached Shinichi and a different set approached Kaito.

"May we take a picture with you?"

Some of them were participants in the tournament as seen from their karate outfit while others were either relatives or friends of the participants or just fan girls joining in the crowd.

"Uh, sure…" was the identical answer of the Kudo twins, both followed by a humble smile. Their pleasing smile, however, grew into an expression of surprise as a huge wave of girls came their way with the same intention.

Ran laughed as she watched how the twins messily dealt with the fan crowd. "I know Kaito's enjoying it deep inside."

"Are you not jealous of other girls sticking around Shinichi?" Sonoko, who was beside her, wondered.

She smiled and shook her head. "He's famous the way he is, that's inevitable. And if he enjoys having fans, I will be happy for him as well. After all, that's his price for doing great in his field." She grinned at her friend.

Sonoko played innocent and pointed at Shinichi. "Even if his fans act like that?" She was referring to the girls who were aggressive enough to take Shinichi's arm and wrap it on their shoulders as their pictures were taken.

"Mou~" Ran pouted before turning her frustration into nibbling the tip of the trophy she was holding. "Shinichi-kun~"

Sonoko merely shook her head in dismay. "So jealousy is different from hurting, huh?" She tapped Ran's shoulder and said, "Don't worry Ran, you have me on your side!" Her smile made Ran smile as well and they switched to checking out their photos instead.

Just then, some of Ran's juniors and the other members of Teitan Girls' Karate Club came to her and gave her flowers.

"Ran senpai! You were so amazing!"

"I hope your foot is not hurting anymore, Ran-chan…"

"Let's take a picture together, senpai!"

Even the guys from their male karate club came afterwards, along with their representative in the tournament. The guys also gave her a bouquet of flowers and flooded her with a lot more of praises and questions.

On that exact moment of the boys handing her flowers, Shinichi glanced at Ran and Sonoko, who caught him do so, gave a different meaning to it. 'Destiny is making things turn out more interesting,' she thought, smirking.

#######

"You tell him!" Kaito said in a teasing way.

"Oh come on, please, Kaito…" Ran tried her best to look convincing.

"You can do it, Ran!" Sonoko cheered, chuckling afterwards.

"Please, you guys have to help me…" Ran continued with the persuasion.

Kaito just laughed and called his twin's attention.

"What's the matter?" Shinichi asked him upon arriving at their side.

"Ran has something to tell you," Kaito tried his best to suppress his laughter.

"What is it, Ran?" Shinichi looked at her and gave her a 'go on, I'm listening' look.

'He called me Ran~' She thought, completely spacing out as she dreamily gazed at him.

"Ran?" Shinichi repeated with a little hint of concern in his tone.

'He said it again! His tone is so lovely~'

Sonoko then took hold of Ran's shoulders and shook her back to life.

"Oh, uhm…" Ran started upon waking up. After taking a deep breath to slow down her heartbeat, she spoke, "Will you go out with us tonight to karaoke? I was planning to invite you to lunch, actually, but Kaito said that you may not become at ease with it because my dad would be there and he has been literally bothering you since morning. So we came up with the idea of going out to karaoke tonight. Would that be okay with you?" Ran panted after that long continuous speech.

Kaito just laughed, seeing how nervous she was as she spoke. He commended, however, that she didn't stutter that much when she talked to him.

Shinichi, on the other hand, chuckled a little when he heard the thing about Kogoro. "Sure, anywhere's fine," he answered, smiling.

"Really?" Ran's eyes widened while Shinichi simply nodded. Ran's heart wanted to burst like fireworks at that time but his presence was impeding it or more like increasing its momentum before finally letting it go.

And so, they went to a karaoke center in Beika that night.

#######

Shinichi and Kaito arrived at the karaoke room that Ran and Sonoko told them about. They were carrying a chocolate cake they bought as a congratulatory present for Ran.

"Woah, so you're the champion for the third time in a row?" the usually composed Shinichi exclaimed upon seeing the banner hanging on the wall as they entered. The fact that Ran was a pro in karate was already a surprise that he has gotten over, but now another one has been presented to him. "How come I didn't know about it? I mean, we belong to the same batch in Teitan, right?" his brows were really expressing confusion and surprise, but his lips were still in a smile.

"Baka, there's always a big congratulations banner at school whenever Ran wins the tournament. Don't tell me you weren't able to notice that." Kaito looked skeptical.

The still utterly surprised Shinichi shook his head.

"Maybe you were handling a case when the banners were posted." The optimistic Ran chuckled.

"Probably," Sonoko agreed. "Didn't Kaito tell you about it?"

Shinichi shook his head and everyone eyed Kaito in an instant. "What?" the younger Kudo asked, wearing a guilty smile. "We're not the updating-each-other-about-each-other's-friends type of brothers, you know."

Ran pouted at him as Sonoko glared at the same guy. The startled Kaito then followed, "But it was only before. Now we're, you know, talking about each other's lives more." His hands were gesturing randomly in an attempt to explain better.

Good thing his brother's curiosity was there to save him. "So that's the reason why you really wanted to participate in the tournament despite your injury?" Shinichi asked Ran. "It would've been regretful not to at least try, right?"

"No~ She just didn't want to disappoint you, since you have expressed your interest to watch her fight," Sonoko and Kaito commented on the side, both snickering mischievously.

Ran fell speechless while Shinichi impassively said, "Oh."

"She wanted to impress you," Sonoko said, giggling evilly.

"And she wouldn't let her sprain get in the way," Kaito added, stifling his evil laughter.

Ran wanted to scold the two but keeping her cheeks from blushing kept her busy. She only glanced at Shinichi from time to time since she couldn't look at him straight in that situation.

It was a relief for Ran, though, that Shinichi was smiling when he asked, "Me?"

"Yes, you," the two naughty cats on the side chorused.

"She didn't want you to see her give up," Sonoko-cat said.

"Or be in her weakest state~" Kaito-cat added.

"Oh," was all Shinichi could say again. This time, however, he had a smile on his lips. He glanced at Ran and the latter who was about to scold her friends instantly froze.

"But she was undecided at first~" Sonoko-cat added.

"Because she was scared to mess up in front of you~" Kaito-cat finished. The two cats then gave each other a high-paw before laughing together.

"Ohh, I see." Shinichi just smirked. His amusement grew when he watched how the tomato-red chibi-Ran scolded her cat friends. He was already knowledgeable about this girl's adoration for him, but being used to having a lot of admirers, he didn't take the matter as a big deal.

###

Later that evening, Ran and Shinichi were made to sit beside each other, which became the reason for Ran to get buried in her seat instead of singing along with the party cats, Sonoko and Kaito.

Shinichi glanced at her and she quickly looked down to hide her flushing face. "Is something bothering you?" He asked, now looking at her intently. She just shook her head and bit her lip instead of articulating her supposed answer.

He decided to encourage her by saying, "Why not sing a song? You should be celebrating." His heartfelt smile was enough to boost her energy and confidence level.

Sonoko came to her side just in time. "Yeah, let's sing, Ran!"

Ran nodded enthusiastically and it made Shinichi smile a bit to see her now relaxed.

"Kaito, toss a mic over here!" Sonoko ordered, glancing at Kaito who was standing on the mini platform, meddling with the buttons of the smaller lyric screen.

"No, I'll go there instead." Ran grinned.

"You should rest your foot Ran," Sonoko stated, merely concerned, but Ran shook her head and insisted to stand up.

"Don't worry about me, Sonoko." Ran's smile, however, was quickly replaced by shock when her left foot failed to support her enough when she got up. She fell out of balance but fortunately, Shinichi was there to promptly stand up and catch her by the elbow and arm.

Their position – Shinichi was holding her from behind like a couple dancing at prom – was picture perfect, but Sonoko's camera was not in her hands at that time, to her dismay.

The very moment, along with the pounding of her heart, seemed to last forever for Ran, but the pause all happened in just a couple of seconds before Kaito sang something which teased her back to reality.

"Take my hand, I'll take the lead, and every turn will be safe with me," he sang with full emotion. "Don't be afraid, afraid to fall. You know I'll catch you through it all."

Though Kaito's voice was angelic, his intention was wicked. Ran scowled at him while Shinichi just chuckled as he let go of Ran after making sure that she can stand up on her own.

Ran bowed down a little at Shinichi before making her way to the platform, walking as fast as possible to escape from embarrassment.

As they both watched Ran walk away, Sonoko bumped Shinichi with her shoulder and commented, "Kudo-kun, I didn't know you have healing hands. Look how straight she can walk now." She chuckled and he just smirked in response.

They have spent almost an hour just singing and eating snacks. Of course, these minors did not drink alcoholic beverages – just some soda and iced tea.

Within that singing period, even Shinichi was forced to show his abilities. As we all would expect, he showed them how tone-deaf he was but his charms and coolness were strong enough to cover it somehow.

"He's really so cute~" Ran muttered as she watched Shinichi sing. She had her hands clasped beside her right cheek as she stared at her dream guy.

"I used to believe that love is blind; now I know it's also deaf," Sonoko commented, smiling halfheartedly at the dreamy Ran beside her.

###

Sometime later, Ran had Sonoko all to herself to consult when they were on the farthest end of the other sofa, opposite from the one where Shinichi was. They were holding a song book for front but were actually busy talking about one of Ran's worries in life.

"What if he doesn't like the sporty type?" Ran frowned worriedly.

"Come on, Ran. He watched your tournament and even helped out in the trouble earlier. How can you say that he dislikes a sporty girl from that?" Sonoko tried to convince her.

"But what if he just went with Kaito for a brotherly hangout?" Ran contradicted, glancing at the twins who were chatting about the songbook Kaito was showing Shinichi. She added, looking back at her friend, "Or what if he can only tolerate a girl who's just sporty up to a certain extent but is still feminine with everything, unlike me? Kaito always calls me boyish because I punch and kick hard…"

Sonoko's serious face lightened up into a smile. "You shouldn't believe that guy too much. Don't lose hope when the battle is just starting, Ran."

She then stood up and grabbed Ran's arm in the process, startling the latter. "Wait, where are we going?" Ran asked though she did not resist.

Sonoko only responded with a smirk as she continued to drag her friend towards the guys.

"Shinichi-kun," the brunette called the attention of the guy who was drinking his soda at that time. She did not waste any more second and immediately asked, "What's your type of girl? Is a sporty one alright with you?"

Sonoko's straightforward question made Shinichi choke on his drink. He took some time to cough, thinking that the question was rhetorical. However, Sonoko took the space to his right and sat there, staring at him, intently waiting for his answer, so he just smirked and decided to give a response. "Well, I haven't thought of that. It doesn't matter what type of girl it is, anyway," he stated before resting his back on the sofa and drinking some more of his soda to clench his choked throat.

Ran, who was also made to sit on that couch beside/behind Sonoko, was able to see Shinichi's face as he sat back.

He knew that she was looking at him but he chose to pretend not to notice, as he knew that this girl, who was spell-bound by him once again, would just suffer from embarrassment if he let her know that she was caught staring.

Kaito, on the other hand, was pretending to be busy enjoying the crispness of the potato chips as he listened and smirked at what was happening.

"Come on, Shinichi-kun! Just one trait will do," Sonoko whined.

Shinichi pretended to think as he stared at his drink, still wearing his smirk. 'This girl is still getting on my nerves even when I'm my real self.'

When she started pulling his sleeve as part of her persuasion, he finally replied, "Anything will do," and he kept himself busy drinking as an escape, a you-can't-beat-me smile still present on his face.

Sonoko just whined in defeat. "Mou~ Kaito, help me here!"

Kaito turned to look at her with a big piece of potato chip hanging between his lips. He just muttered, "Forry~" and smiled innocently.

#######

After a few minutes of scheming, Sonoko was able to declare a comeback by suggesting a game.

"I call it, 'How Well Do You Know Your Partner Game'!" She smirked at the greatness of her idea, thinking, 'This way, I'll be extracting a lot more information about you, Shinichi-kun.'

"You just have to give an answer that would match your partner's answer to a question that would be given by the opposing pair," she explained to the three. "Ran and I will be partners. It's boys versus girls. 30 seconds per question."

"Call," Kaito enthusiastically replied. "Shinichi's mine!" he said childishly, pulling his brother closer.

They managed to have the materials for writing because of the scratch papers and ballpens that were there for the purpose of listing song numbers picked by customers.

"Would there be a consequence for the losing pair?" Ran asked, scared of getting embarrassed in front of her crush for the nth time.

"Hm…" Sonoko looked around. "There!" She pointed towards the table. "Whenever a pair's answers would not match, their opponent would put icing on their faces," she decided confidently, thinking that she and Ran are at an advantage in this game. 'I've read from a magazine that girls remember stuff about their friends and families better than guys do. We're sure to win here.'

"At the end of the game, we'll take a group picture, so better do your best!" Sonoko added.

"No~ That's the cake that took me forever to decide on…" Kaito whined, pouting.

But Shinichi said at the same time, "That would be interesting," so even if Ran wanted to suggest changing the icing factor for Kaito's sake, she couldn't dare oppose Shinichi.

"I'm sorry, my friend, but I couldn't betray my master…" Ran dramatically told the dramatically crying Kaito.

"Alright, it's decided!" Sonoko declared before handing out the materials to the three. "Ran, you ask the first question." She grinned at her partner.

Ran took some time to think. The deeper her thoughts got, the faster her pulse became. She was excited to know more about Shinichi, but she was too inhibited to dare ask things about him. She decided to always ask about Kaito instead, since she would know the correct answers if it's about him anyway, and to just let Sonoko intentionally or unintentionally teach her more about the guy of her dreams.

So the first question given by Ran was, "What does Kaito answer when asked, 'Why do you think you and Shinichi are fit to be twins?'"

After half-a-minute of scribbling, here are the answers written by the two.

Shinichi: Because we look alike? T_T

Kaito: Since it would be too unfair for the world to have a single person that's genius and talented in all things and twice as handsome as I am, we are better off being in two separate handsome bodies with our talents distributed equally.

Shinichi's jaw dropped after Kaito's answer was read. He found it amusing that Ran declared that sort of an answer as correct. 'She knows him well, alright.' He chuckled.

"Wow, you two have identical handwritings as well," Ran commented, as she observed the papers they were showing.

Upon hearing that, Shinichi glanced at his paper and smirked, 'Yeah, it would've caused us to be caught switching, otherwise."

Sonoko, on the other hand, wondered, "How do you manage to write 43 words legibly in just 30 seconds?" Her confused look was aimed at Kaito.

Kaito just chuckled at Sonoko's raising eyebrows and said, "Talent." His self-assurance, however, popped away at the instant Ran put a line of chocolate icing on his cheek. "Whaaa!"

She just giggled seeing him shocked. "You may have been correct, but your answers did not match, sorry." Ran smiled and tilted her head in a sweet, mocking way.

When Ran and Sonoko's eyes met, the latter ordered Ran through eye movements and facial expressions to be the one to put icing on Shinichi. Ran shook her head in opposition, but when Sonoko narrowed her eyes at her, she reluctantly obeyed like a scared little girl.

'I'm going to put icing on Shinichi's face…' she told her nervous self as she approached him with some icing on her finger. 'Not all girls get to experience this, I'm sooooo lucky but I'm sooooo nervous! I hope I don't stumble on my way...'

Poof.

And Shinichi's got brown icing on the tip of his nose.

"Hey! Mine's this long while Shinichi's is just a dot!" Kaito complained, measuring with his fingers the length of the icing line on his cheek.

"Ran's hand just slipped," Sonoko reasoned before laughing. "Your face must've been slippery. Hahaha."

Kaito gritted his teeth childishly at her,but they all just laughed at him.

For the next round, Kaito gave his brother the privilege to ask a question. But before Shinichi spoke, Sonoko suggested that he ask something about Ran. Thinking that there's no harm to it anyway, he did so without complaining.

"What does Ran fear to happen the most?" was Shinichi's question that kindled his brother's interest.

'I know that one very well.' Kaito smirked. 'I don't think Sonoko knows that~'

Ran and Sonoko immediately wrote down their answers. Ran was serious and forceful with her writing while Sonoko was relaxed and slacking off. For the last few seconds, however, Sonoko seemed to have panicked and changed her answer.

"Time's up," Kaito announced, confident that he's going to have vengeance for his icing-stained cheek.

When the two girls flipped their papers to show their answers, it became a disappointment for Kaito.

Ran: Zombie outbreak (o...o)

Sonoko: Shinichi having a gf (crossed out)

Zombie outbreak! (written hastily)

"You must've copied Ran's answer!" Kaito accused Sonoko.

"What are you saying?" The brunette's forehead creased in disbelief. "I was able to change it just in time, and I didn't copy anything, for your information," she replied in a brat's way of saying it.

"No~ You shouldn't know that~ You weren't there when we talked about it before," Kaito claimed.

"I was there!" Sonoko found him weird that she couldn't help but smile despite the confusion. "I was there beside Ran when you two were talking about it before."

Kaito tried to recall that moment in second year junior high when they were walking under the rain and talking about zombies and the possibility of Resident Evil happening in reality. All he can remember was himself and Ran sharing her umbrella, no trace of Sonoko around.

"You weren't there," Kaito insisted, but he was starting to doubt his memory now.

"I was there!" Sonoko chuckled. "Don't tell me you were too focused on Ran that you've forgotten about my presence that time."

Kaito paused seriously for a while to think and then chuckled afterwards and said, "Maybe I was."

Shinichi glanced at Ran intending to see her reaction towards this hint about Kaito's past. Seeing her chuckle naturally at how the two were arguing about the confusion, he realized that she really was oblivious of such fact. He concluded that it was either she was that dense or his brother was just exceptional in hiding his feelings for and from his closest friend.

It was then time for the third round, the round Sonoko has been waiting for. She has already set her question for this and it goes like, "What is Shinichi's type of girl?" She snickered as the other three fell dumbfounded.

Knowing that they don't have any other choice but to answer this, the Kudo twins eventually wrote on their papers.

Kaito's answer was revealed first.

Kaito: kind, caring, simple

"So that's his type!" Sonoko demonstrated her victory pose, a triumph song even playing on the background. "Oh yeah~" But her joy only lasted until the time Shinichi flipped his paper to reveal his answer.

Shinichi: Anything will do.

"Noooooo!" Sonoko and Kaito chorused in frustration, her problem being Shinichi's real answer, while his problem being another icing line to be drawn on him.

"I'm chocolatier than ever," Kaito moped on a corner after Ran drew a line on his right cheek. "Rambo, where are you? I'm ready for battle..." he muttered, referring to brown mud-like lines on his cheeks, as the others just laughed at him.

Shinichi, on the other hand, was just smiling after Ran had drawn him a left mustache. She was still nervous as she drew, especially since she was drawing near his lips, but it was not that noticeable anymore because astonishment for his face was subduing her tension.

Next, it was Kaito's turn to ask. "What is the best thing that's common to both of you?" he said in a serious tone.

Ran: Both nice :P

Sonoko: Both pretty ;)

"Oh yeah! A point for us!" the previously serious Kaito exclaimed. "The correct answer is... Me, 'Kaito'."

"What?" the two girls chorused.

"What?~" Kaito smirked mischievously. "I'm the best thing that's common to both of you, ain't I?"

In a split second, the magically-appearing anime-style big paper fan hit his head.

Ran ended up chuckling as she came to accept his reason, while Sonoko went on with complaining.

"Your question's weird!" Sonoko grunted. "You just want to put icing on us, you're cheating!"

Kaito just laughed wickedly as he drew a line across Sonoko's nose. "Shin, you take care of Ran," he told his brother.

Ran's heart exploded upon hearing that line. Not only can the line mean something else, she didn't expect that Kaito would pass the icing opportunity he has been waiting for to his brother.

As Shinichi scooped some icing with a finger and moved closer and closer to Ran, her blood cells accelerated into the speed of sound in air.

Not knowing what to do in the inescapable situation, she just shut her eyes tight and let things happen the way they should.

In a few seconds, she felt something cold form a curve on her left cheek – it was a curve that opens upward. When she opened her eyes, a smiling face of Shinichi greeted her. He seemed to be enjoying the consequence of the game when he said, "Now we're both frosted with chocolate." And he left her trying hard to control her blush and smile together.

Next up was Ran.

After being able to compose herself, she asked, "What is something that Kaito has but Shinichi doesn't?"

The two boys started to answer right away, and after 30 seconds…

Shinichi: Talent in singing, dancing and cooking

Kaito: Twitter account

Ran and Sonoko cheered, realizing that they get another point.

"You're twins, yet don't know each other enough," Sonoko remarked, chuckling, as she drew another line on Kaito's cheek. From the looks of it, she was planning to put whiskers on his face.

"Why did you answer 'Twitter account', anyway?" Ran wondered, giggling.

"He doesn't have a social life as rich as mine, that's why!" Kaito reasoned as he whined at his reflection on a mirror. Three long whiskers are now on his face.

Shinichi just smiled at Kaito's statement. The thing about social life doesn't bother him at all, and he was used to his brother scolding him about it.

But Ran thought that he might have been offended with that, so she approached him and said, "That's not true; consider us your friends, Shinichi-kun." While saying it, her nervousness and worries about embarrassment all disappeared. Her concern for him prevailed, that's why.

"Yeah, count us in!" Sonoko agreed.

Shinichi just smiled and nodded coolly.

"You see! My friends are not that bad at all," Kaito followed, making Sonoko complain, "And what do you mean by that?"

She was supposed to hit his arm, but he was able to dodge and even mock Sonoko afterwards. As a result, she chased him around the room, with icing on her fingers.

Ran, meanwhile, completed Shinichi's icing mustache. She chuckled when he remarked, "I look more like my dad now," and they ended up laughing together.

Later on, when they were back to the game mode, Shinichi became the representative of his team.

'From what I have read before, girls are known to do better in remembering important dates than guys do,' he thought, and so he asked, "When was the exact date that you two first met?"

"Easy piecey~" Sonoko muttered as she wrote. Ran, on the other hand, just smiled as she answered.

When it was time to show the answers, Sonoko flipped her paper first. However, an idea suddenly flashed in her mind, as seen from her quickly-widening eyes.

"Shucks!" Instinctively, she flipped back her paper to change the answer but Kaito stole it from her hand in just a blink of an eye.

"No cheating." He smirked. "Hm, let's see..." He checked her answer and then burst into laughter all of a sudden. "You wrote the present year!"

Sonoko scowled at him and grabbed her paper back. "Careless mistake."

Kaito kept on laughing, while Shinichi compared Ran's answer to that of Sonoko. He just smirked after confirming that the girls should've won this round if it weren't for Sonoko's little mistake.

Ran, who followed Sonoko to the other couch at that time, was trying to cheer up her friend by saying, "Don't worry, Sonoko. Sometimes I carelessly write the present year too when my date of birth is being asked." She stuck her tongue a bit, embarrassed of her version of the same mistake.

In the end, the two girls earned another icing mark – a small vertical line above the previous curve on Ran's cheek and a long line from Sonoko's cheekbone down to her chin – both made by Shinichi.

"Shinichi-kun! How could you be so mean when I have helped you a lot of times today?" Sonoko complained regarding her icing, while glancing at Ran when she emphasized the word 'help'.

With what she just said, Shinichi realized, 'So the help she was referring to earlier was indeed about bridging me and Ran. Thought so.' He chuckled as he replied, "I'm sorry, Kaito bumped me. I didn't make that line long on purpose, I swear." He was even raising his right palm to convince her, but he couldn't stop smiling.

Ran found him cute – as she always does – and she laughed as well at the series of events. At the back of her mind, she was hoping that this kind of a friendly bonding with these three would not be just for today.

Kaito, on the other hand, acted innocent and just shrugged, though the smile he was wearing was already showing that he was guilty indeed.

For the next round, Sonoko thought of a good question that would grant her and Ran some useful information about Shinichi. But since the basic favorites and hobbies can easily be asked from his twin brother, she decided on the question, "Who is the girl closest to Shinichi?"

Having heard Sonoko's question, Ran's hands suddenly got cold as her heartbeat accelerated a bit. She believed that Sonoko has a good reason for asking that, but she did not know if she was ready to hear some bad news from the answers.

Shinichi thought about what to answer. 'Right now, I guess it's Ran because of our switching… but I can't say that.'

After the 30-second time, the two boys showed what they wrote.

Kaito: Mom! =P

Shinichi: Sato-keiji? O_o

Another mismatched answer for the boys that Sonoko rejoiced about.

Although Ran was relieved because he addressed the girl by her surname, which signifies that they are not that close of friends, she was still anxious to hear the succeeding explanation.

Her worry was suspended, however, when Sonoko asked for Kaito's reason and he explained, "I thought mom was the only girl in his life." He laughed before continuing, "Looks like my friendless twin is improving a little." He bumped his brother's upper arm as he teased.

Shinichi just smirked, never losing his cool stance despite Kaito's teasings.

Ran, on the other hand, was overpowered by her concern once again that she forgot about the other-girl factor when she lightly slapped Kaito's upper arm and scolded him, "You're so mean to your brother." He just chuckled as a response.

"Who's this Sato-keiji?" Sonoko then asked, bringing back Ran's anxiety. The latter's heart thumped so loudly and slowly as she waited for Shinichi's answer.

"She's a comrade of Megure-kebu and Takagi-keiji." He grinned. "She's the only girl in HQ that I get to talk with, so I guess you can consider her the closest as of now." He shrugged, smiling. The way he said it suggested that he merely answered for the sake of having an answer and this made Ran secretly sigh in relief on the side.

"Ohh…" Sonoko smirked after having confirmed that Ran has no threats to worry about.

"I told you he's friendless," Kaito muttered beside Ran and it granted him a quick hit on the arm again. Now relieved, she just smiled and chose not to further scold Kaito.

At the end of the round, though, Kaito gained another long whisker while Shinichi got a small beard as punishment.

The next one to give a question was Kaito. "What was the anime that became Ran's favorite during 3rd year junior high?"

He was confident that their answers would not match again this time, knowing that Sonoko did not like that particular anime and so she would probably be unfamiliar with its title. The game was becoming more like 'ask-something-that-your-opponent-doesn't-know' already because of the icing consequence that he wanted to exploit.

As the 30 seconds passed, it was noticeable that Sonoko had a hard time thinking about the answer.

Ran: School Rumble! :)

Sonoko: Rival Schools? #_#

"Waahhh, so my title's close to the correct one!" She made an annoyed face as she released her frustration by shaking Kaito, who was beside her, back and forth.

Kaito just laughed at her mistake, not minding what she was doing to him. "You should've watched it before. It was a good anime, ne Ran?" he stated as he drew a long line on Sonoko's left cheek similar to the one on her right.

"Yup! It's so random and funny but the love story was nice," Ran replied. After Shinichi completed the smiley on her cheek with the last line of icing, she turned to him, fighting her shyness, and asked in her attempt to be friendly, "Do you also know that anime, Shinichi-kun?"

As they talked, however, the other two bickered about the long icing line once again, with Kaito reasoning, "I just drew the exact reflection of what my exact reflection did!"

Going back to Shinichi and Ran, his reply was, "Yeah, I got to watch it whenever Kaito conquered the TV back then." His smile turned into a chuckle as he said, "Harima is the funniest; he always assumes the wrong ideas."

Ran and Shinichi laughed but was then stopped by Sonoko when she said, "So it was a comedy after all? I thought it was about thugs and delinquents, that's why I didn't want to watch it." She laughed at herself.

"Just because it has 'Rumble' on its title doesn't mean it's about thugs. How weak~" Kaito commented smugly, intending to tease her.

"Why you!" Sonoko caught his left ear and pinched it as hard as she could as she laughed like a witch.

"Oww! Cut it out!" Kaito was both grumbling in pain and still laughing that you wouldn't know if you should let him go or not.

'My twin must really be a masochist…' Shinichi though, eyes completely turned into two dots. He recalled how many times Kaito has been hit this evening all because of the teasing and mocking, which he was still doing.

Moving on to the next round, Ran asked, "Who was Kaito's biggest junior high crush?"

Her question made Shinichi blink twice, thinking, 'She had the guts to ask that herself? O_O'

He glanced at his brother who was so relaxed while answering. Since time was already running out, he just wrote the best answer he knew.

Shinichi: Mouri Ran? ^_^;

Kaito: Mizunashi Ranna

Ran chuckled before declaring, "The correct answer is Mizunashi Ranna! Where did you get that one, Shinichi-kun?"

"Ehhh?" Shinichi's eyes grew wide as he double-checked Kaito's answer. "Who's Mizunashi Ranna?"

Kaito just smirked confidently and let Ran do the explanation.

"Kaito must've kept it from you." She scowled slightly and then grinned. "I'll tell you about it." Ran glanced at Kaito before continuing, and he just gestured his head upward, telling her to go on.

"During first year junior high, our class played truth or dare and Kaito was made to confess about the girl he likes. It took a lot of convincing, blackmailing and encouragement for him to finally give his answer – Mizunashi Ranna. I realized that it must have been because Ranna is a famous Jpop artist and actress, and that Kaito was too shy to admit that he has a crush on someone as hard-to-reach and as famous as Ranna. Being someone who was counting his fans, it must have been against his pride to be a fan of a more famous girl." She chuckled.

'What a lame excuse. It's still so obvious." He smiled halfheartedly at his brother. 'Lucky for you that there really is a Ranna. It must have been a lot easier to cover up 'Ran' with 'Ranna', whether in writing or saying her name…'

Shinichi imagined how Kaito must have used that word play to his advantage.

#~~~~~#~~~~~#

"It's… It's Ran-na… Mizunashi Ranna." Kaito kept his head low as he couldn't dare look at how Ran would react to his big truth-or-dare revelation.

#~~~~~#~~~~~#

#~~~~~#~~~~~#

The absent-minded Kaito was caught by Ran writing something repeatedly on his notebook during a boring class. When she tried to check what it was, he pulled it close, covered it with his arms and scribbled on it quickly before pretending to give up and show Ran what he was hiding – the name "Ranna" all over the page.

#~~~~~#~~~~~#

"Too bad I wasn't able to tease him a lot that time.' Shinichi smirked.

"Anyway, from the time I have found out about that," Ran continued, "I tried to help him, despite teasing him occasionally, of course. Whenever we saw Ranna's poster and I would tease him, he would get angry in a unique way." She tried to imitate his voice and said, "'Stop it or I'm gonna be angry with you,' he would say that while smiling and the way he would speak was so frail that you wouldn't really believe that he's getting angry." Her forehead creased; up to now, his behavior back then was still weird for her.

'That must have hurt for him to be teased by the one he likes to another girl, that's why,' Shinichi thought, attentively listening.

"Knowing that he wouldn't buy or download Ranna collectibles on his own," Ran continued her serious narration, "I gave him Ranna's posters, albums, T-shirt, pictures and other goodies, even if he said that his high-rise pride would just lead him into throwing them away." She then smiled earnestly when she said, "At the end of the day, he kept everything I gave him, anyway."

'Even if the picture and the other things bear the name and image of another person, the fact that it came from you was what he cherished…' Shinichi's mind explained. 'I can't blame her; I was also too dense at that time! I wasn't even aware of what my brother was going through…'

Sonoko was quiet all the while, but she was still showing a smile. She knew the truth back then and was asked to keep it hidden, so she chose to remain silent about the matter instead. She knew so well that Ran would reaaaally be bothered by her conscience if she knew about Kaito's feelings before. She always disliked being a burden to others, so for sure, knowing the truth would drive her nuts.

Kaito, on the other hand, remained cool and composed. He chuckled occasionally at Ran's narration and in the end, he still had his confident smirk and serene aura that neither Shinichi nor Sonoko could tell how he really felt. Keeping a poker face was indeed a magnificent skill of this guy.

The four spent the rest of the evening playing and learning something new about each other for every round of their game. …and of course, putting icing on each other's faces.

For the whole duration of the game, Ran kept on asking about Kaito that Shinichi discovered more about his twin. Likewise, Sonoko asked about Shinichi consistently, taking note of everything that would be useful in nourishing the Ran-Shinichi love team she was managing.

Kaito's questions, meanwhile, were often about Ran, his reason being "Ran knows all about Sonoko so she's likely to be correct always. I'll ask about Ran instead, so that Sonoko would be wrong, hahaha!"

Shinichi, on the other hand, did not have any pattern on his questions. He just enjoyed the game and took hold of everything he learned about the three.

All in all, that was how this very looooong day turned out to be the happiest day for Mouri Ran.

###############

To be continued…

###############

Author's Notes:

(*takes a deep breath…..*)

FINALLY! It's done! It's finished!

It took 1 year and 9 days to finally patch up this chapter completely, whew~ #_#

Omatase shimashita… #_#

I really really hope that you enjoy this chapter as much as I did in composing it ^_^ there has been a lot of randomness and impromptu stuff yet again, but I hope you get to like the whole thing ^_^;

My greatest appreciation and gratitude to everyone who gave a review last time, subscribed to alert, and added Twins and me to their favorites ^o^ thanks a lot lot lot! There's a different happiness and excitement whenever I see in my email's inbox ^.^ Your expression of your appreciation of this fic keeps me determined to update and to finish this story! ^-^

I hope you'll consider submitting another review for this chap so I'll know what you think about it, hehehe ^_^

Special thanks to Alkyone! :D she even mailed me to ask how Twins and I have been doing, and expressed her never-ending support! So sweet =3

Special thanks, as well, to those who give reviews almost every chapter! ^o^

Thanks again everyone, and I hope you enjoyed reading the Energy Drink ^o^

#######

Now here's something to be excited about…

…or at least be curious about! haha XD

What will you do if the project you are managing is lacking financial support?

What will you do if you have a friend that's so freaking charismatic that he can get everything he needs even without actually needing them?

What will you do if there's nothing else you can do?

What's the best thing to do?

…Submit a review!

Err- tune in and calmly wait for the next chapter! XD

Chapter 13: Dates for Sale

"If the person you like the most is for sale, how much are you willing to pay?"

"Do they accept credit cards?~"