AN: No-one tried to solve the riddle! You still have time if you want to try to work it out before you read the next chapter. And I would still love to hear what your theories/solutions were. Thanks to Flowerneko for the review on last chapter!

'Tantei-kun,

An hour after the darkness consumes the Baker's road,

A fortnight after the forgotten celebration,

The moonlight will be as visible as the raven's dark coats.

Your second time visiting, it is such a strange thing.

I will be waiting to play the tune of the 'nana no ko'

Your memories are the key, come and play.

~You know who *smiley face with KID hat*'

In the end, Conan's thought processing and scribbles combined to resemble this:

'An hour after the darkness consumes the Baker's road'

This line was too easy. It obviously referred to an hour after sunset had happened on Baker Street, which was in London. In May, that usually happened from 8:30-9pm. An hour after that would be 9:30-10pm in London time. After some quick calculations to change it into Tokyo time, it was clear that the meeting time was between 5:30-6am.

'A fortnight after the forgotten celebration'

That would probably refer to his, or Shinichi's, birthday. He had to look up the day again, as he had forgotten the date, but remembered Ran doing something for him in May. May fourth, that was it. Star Wars day. Two weeks after then would be the 18th, a Sunday. So he would be able to sneak away without Ran suspecting anything fishy and finding out. Not that she would make him attend every day of school now anyway; she remembered how bored he was the first time around. He double checked the date – it was Sunday night, so it wouldn't be until next week that they would get to dance again.

'Your second time visiting, it is such a strange thing.

I will be waiting to play the tune of the 'nana no ko'

The next two lines were the place. His second time visiting probably meant Beika shougako, or Beika elementary school, as it was strange for him to be attending again in a class he graduated 10 years ago. The music room would be the most likely place in the school to go to, as it mentions 'playing a tune.' The 'nana no ko' and 'the raven's dark coat's' all referred to them, which means he either discovered something, or something has or will happen. The use of the word 'raven's' only solidified who he thought was the riddle author, and cleared all doubts about it not being an imposter or a trap. The mention of the 'nana no ko' was a bit of information that he had found out from Conan. Playing the tune could also mean that he was planning to don the black coat and do some undercover work. It wasn't too important to work out now. Conan would hear all about it when they met.

'Your memories are the key, come and play', probably meant that he wants Conan's help on something, definitely about those pesky crows he mentioned. But what exactly, he wasn't sure. With that person behind the note, it could be anything.

Conan grinned down at his handiwork. Note solved in less than 5 minutes. Now he had the excruciatingly boring task of waiting a whole week to be able to converse with him again. He enjoyed their little games, they were a great escape from the pretty terrible reality he lived in, and no-one bar KID himself ever got injured. And what's more, he was treated as an equal rival. He just couldn't wait to get to face off one-on-one, even if it was just talking about their common foes and using their wits together for a change. He knew that no matter how they did battle, either against or with one another, they were rivalry was like Mycroft and Sherlock. They shared a common demon, but often went up in wit matches against the other.

There was no-one else Shinichi trusted as much in this war than him, although neither would admit to this fact. He naturally trusted Ran more, but not with this. She would not be involved more than she is. Sure, he would tell her everything. But when it came to the battle, she would definitely not be there. She couldn't be there. No, Shinichi would make sure that she was off with his parents somewhere untraceable. Who would have thought that his parent's running from his dad's editors would come as training for something more serious? Not even crows could keep up with the Kudos.

He had gathered another piece of information for the letter. Something big would happen soon. It was inevitable. For him to contact in this way… and the unusual message, coming right out and saying what the main topic of conversation would be, he had obviously found out something and it was going to happen soon. Or was already in motion. The giddiness that was felt only minutes ago from the prospect of meeting and the solving of the riddle was completely vanished. This was very serious, and the tone of the note, while light like usual, had a hidden seriousness now that he read it over again. He was never serious, not that Conan had ever saw before, anyhow.

It was real. The feeling that he could die at any moment came back to him. Ever since Ran found out, it had flew away somewhere for a holiday, terrifying some other poor soul. He hadn't really missed it. But now, it was back, the full paranoia with it. He could have sworn he was worse than Haibara at the moment. Just as he was beginning to fully freak out, Ran's soft voice called out to him.

"Dinner!" Ran called down the hall, oblivious of Conan's mental breakdown.

'Shit.' Was Conan's only thought. He had to get himself together, which was harder than usual. Being himself around Ran seemed to have down-graded his mask.

Bravely, he stepped out into the hallway, wearing a half-baked mask. It seemed to work well enough, as Ran didn't ask questions nor send questioning glances. Either she really didn't notice, or he would be grilled later. He prayed to every God he could think of that it was the former.

…

It was Saturday night, and Conan had secretly packed a bag with all his gadgets and miscellaneous items that he would need for the next morning. Ran was still none-the-wiser, and he had burned the note so she had no chance of viewing it, let alone finding out the hidden message. Haibara still didn't know about Ran's knowledge, or at least hadn't grilled him about it. All in all, he was feeling pretty decent, ready for whatever would come in the morning. He was glad that at least he wouldn't have to worry about Haibara or Ran. Kogoro was snoring in his bed already, and Ran had fallen asleep on her desk while studying with Conan. Setting an alarm on his watch, Conan joined them in the realm of dreams.

…..

His alarm awoke him at 4am. As he had predicted, he just turned it off and went back to sleep. He awoke an hour later, not able to sleep for long after having been awoken by the alarm an hour previously. He grumbled silently to himself about how annoying it was to have to wake up so early on a weekend as he changed and grabbed his pack of belongings from beside his futon. He left a note on the table for Ran and old man Mouri, before putting on his shoes in the entryway and leaving towards Beika Shougako.

Sneaking in was easy, he had left the window slightly open like he had many times before. The school really needed to improve security. Carefully, Conan made his way to the music room. He entered to find Kuroba Kaito sitting on top of a desk. Not dressed as KID, as Conan had half expected, but just as the average high school student Kuroba Kaito.

Kaito's hair was messy as always, and he wore a pair of dark jeans and a plain dark blue t-shirt with it. His usual smile was nowhere to be seen, he barely glanced at Conan when he came in, and just motioned to the chair beside the desk he was stationed upon.

Conan silently walked over, sensing the tense mood. Silence reigned for a good five minutes before Kaito finally turned to Conan and spoke.

"I already checked the room for bugs. We should be safe here."

"I figured."

"They are catching on. I don't have all the details yet, but something big is happening soon."

AN: Cliff hanger! Sorry guys! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my riddle ^~^ This chapter is a bit short, but I am supposed to be studying for a science and maths test tomorrow, and the second part is already planned out so it should be coming this week/next weekend.

Question for the reviews:

How do you like where the story is heading? Hate it? Love it? Want it to be more action? More letters? I'd love to know your thoughts.