Conan put a hand to his forehead to try and stave off the incoming headache. The day had been horrible. He had gotten a cold and it seemed it had reached its peak today. He paused his walk home for a second to let a few disorienting sneezes out. He sniffled and continued his miserable trek back to the agency.

Well, it was no wonder he got sick. After the events that happened a few days ago he hadn't really been sleeping or eating well. Also, just yesterday, he had reluctantly told Yusaku everything that happened. He had gotten a bit mad because Conan had waited to tell him. Although, he was understanding considering how traumatic the event must've been, but he was adamant that, in the future, he tell him those types of things immediately unless he wants Agasa to know he isn't actually Shinichi.

Conan was also a little worried about how Masami had recognized his name. As far as he's aware, his family hadn't done anything recognizable (well his mom probably could've done something without him knowing because she wasn't exactly normal). It was definitely concerning that someone from the Black Organization knew him. There was a possibility that she remembered him from the news because the house fire that his parents had been killed in did make it in the papers, but that was very unlikely. That had happened in America and it wasn't even that big of an event, as his parents were the only casualties.

But, at least it didn't seem like Conan had a fever, yet. Every time he got one, he always shut down and felt horrible for the entirety of it. He hoped and prayed that this was just going to be a bad cold that'll pass in a few days; he did not want to deal with a fever right now.

Conan saw the detective agency come into view and was flooded with relief. He desperately wanted to just lay down and rest after the long day. His pace started to slightly quicken in anticipation. When he started walking up the stairs, he heard an unfamiliar voice coming from inside. Oh of course they would have a client. Why did Conan even think Lady Luck would be kind enough to just let him rest today. But.. they sounded very angry to be a client.

When he got to the door, Conan heard the voice yell, "Bring out Kudou Shinichi! I know he's here!"

Conan stared at the door confused. Someone was looking for Shinichi? He sighed. This was potentially worse than a client. He did not have the energy to deal with a possible Black Organization member right now. (But he was pretty confident they weren't; they wouldn't just go and ask like that.)

Conan slowly cracked open the door, hoping to just take a peek and not interrupt, but a loud sneeze racked his body, having him stumbling in.

"Oh, welcome home, Conan-kun. Do you have a cold too?" Ran asked. Conan gave a small nod as she bent down to wipe his nose. Conan usually would've objected to such coddling, but he was too tired to do anything.

"Too?" The mysterious guy asked. "Someone else has a cold?"

"Yeah, Shinichi does." Ran curtly answered.

"But, if ya don't know where he is, how d'ya know that?"

Conan gave a suspicious look to the guy. Who was he and why was he so interested in Shinichi?

Ran answered, "He called a couple minutes ago. Sounded terrible."

"Kudo did?" The man narrowed his eyes at her from beneath his hat.

"Yeah. He calls every so often. Got a problem?" Ran angrily glared.

"Hmm..." The man pondered, instead of addressing Ran. "So it's true that you're his girlfriend." He suddenly said.

"G-girlfriend!?" Ran shouted in embarrassment. "Who told you that!?"

"That Suzuki girl. Said that he hasn't been to school and that you're probably hidin' him."

"Sonoko..." Ran furiously said under her breath, with a clenched fist.

"So, what do you usually talk with Kudo about?" The man continued.

"Hmm? Oh, nothing much." Ran answered. "Just like, how everyone's doing at school, the cases dad's solving, what I'm up to..."

"That's it?" The guy asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Yeah! Nothing about some weird Kansai-ben guy coming!" She yelled.

"...Does he ever talk about himself?"

"Huh?" Ran looked at him, confused.

"You guys seem to be at least friends." The man started to explain. "Wouldn't he want ya to know what he's up to, especially if he's been gone for so long?"

"Now that you mention it, he never does talk about himself." Ran pondered with slight worry. "I have asked him, but he just says he's on a case."

"He's definitely up to something suspicious." The guy said.

Well, Conan thought he's not wrong. Hiding from a giant criminal organization who thinks that you're dead is kind of suspicious.

"There's no way a famous detective like Kudo would be stuck so long on a case. He may even be secretly going off with some girl." The man suggested.

Conan sighed. He thought that they already ruled that out a few cases ago, but.. it seemed Ran was convinced yet again. He could almost feel the rage emanating from her.

Kogoro finally looked up from his newspaper and decided to ask what everyone was wondering, "Hey, who are you?"

"Oh yeah, I haven't introduced myself yet." The man realized. "I'm Hattori Heiji, famous high school detective of the west." He said, taking off his hat.

"H-high school detective!?" Ran and Kogoro both exclaimed.

Another famous high school detective? Frankly, Conan had never heard of him. (Well, to be fair, Conan hadn't really been in Japan too long, and he had only heard of Shinichi a couple times.)

The conversation was interrupted yet again by another loud sneeze. Conan groaned and rubbed at his sore nose.

"Hey, kid. I've got some cold medicine." Hattori said as he took out a covered bottle and poured some liquid into a cup. Conan looked over, hopeful, and excitedly reached out his hand.

"Now that I think about it.." Kogoro said. "I think I've heard of some young detective from Kansai."

Conan greedily grabbed the cup from Hattori's hands.

"Yeah, it was always Kudo of the east and Hattori of the west." He explained. "We were always compared."

Conan tried to take a small sip of the substance (he knew well enough not to accept food from strangers), but it accidentally became a large gulp, his sickly body yearning for relief. And, man did it burn on the way down. Conan eyed the liquid suspiciously. He had never had cold medicine that tasted like that.

"But then he stopped appearing in the papers, almost as if he disappeared." Hattori continued. "And, I started to wonder, if Kudo Shinichi really was good enough to be compared to me." He finished with a smirk.

Conan started to feel fuzzy, as if he couldn't stand straight. "Huh?" He squeaked out as his legs started stumbling without his permission.

"C-Conan-kun!?" Ran worried, bending down to grab his shoulders.

"Rannn-neeechaan...?" He slurred. Conan didn't know why his words came out in such a way.

"What did you give to him!?" Ran angrily asked, turning to Hattori.

"This Chinese liquor, Paikaru!" He answered, taking the covering off the bottle and placing it on the desk. Oh, liquor. No wonder he felt that way.

"Figured I'd give it as a gift 'cause I'm staying 'till Kudo shows up."

"You can't just give alcohol to a child!" Ran yelled at him.

Their conversation was interrupted by a knock on the door. A middle aged woman angrily walked in, an actual client. She introduced herself as Tsujimura Kimie and wanted an investigation on her son's girlfriend, Katsuragi Yukiko. Kogoro was confused as to why, because there didn't seem to be a problem with her, but Hattori said that it was because she was too perfect. She also wanted Kogoro to come over to her house to meet her husband.

"Alright, I'll go too!" Hattori suddenly said. Kogoro looked over at him, confused. "It'll be less suspicious if he goes with his 'family', right?" He explained.

"... You're right, thanks." The client said.

Hattori turned to Ran and asked, "You coming?"

"Me?" She looked at him, confused.

"Yeah. If ya tell him about what's happenin', Kudo might show up."

Conan didn't think he would but.. now that he thought about it, that is exactly what happened the last time he saw Shinichi.

"Yeah, let's go too, Ran-neechan!" Conan said.

"... But what about your cold?" She asked.

"I'm better now! His medicine helped!" He cheerfully pointed at Hattori. And he wasn't lying. After the effects of the alcohol wore off, Conan actually started to feel better. Granted he didn't feel fully well, but his nose wasn't running as much and his headache had started to wear off a little.

"Oh, okay!" She said. "Let's go!"

They headed out the door after Kogoro and hailed a cab to Kimie's house.

Knowing his luck, Conan really should've seen this coming. He was standing over the dead body of their client's husband, Tsujimura Isao. It seemed he had been poisoned and not too long ago, because the lips were just starting to turn purple and the body was still warm. There was also a small red dot, just beneath his ear, which looked like a prick from a needle and how the poison entered the body. Also, if the dead body wasn't enough, his cold had come back in full force. It seemed the alcohol was only a temporary relief.

Conan sniffled and went looking for the needle. He saw it on the ground under the desk and quickly bent down to inspect it, but he felt a sharp on his forehead and was knocked over. He hissed in pain and rubbed the sore spot. He looked up and saw Hattori, also with a hand to his head.

"Stupid kid! He's in the way!" Hattori yelled in annoyance as he picked up Conan and threw him to Ran (which did not help his cold). Conan took a moment to let the dizziness pass and then groaned with a worsening headache.

"Children shouldn't be seeing corpses anyway!" He shouted. Conan still gave him a glare despite knowing that he was right. Ran set Conan down and he went over to the side of the room with a slight pout, waiting for the police to arrive.

When they got there, Megure had actually recognized Hattori as the son of the chief of police in Osaka, which made him a bit more trustworthy. They also discovered that this was a locked room murder, because one of the only keys to the room was in the victim's pocket, and the other with their client.

Despite Conan's sickly state, his mind began to whir. By creating a locked room, the culprit obviously wanted to make it look like a suicide, but in order to do that, there must be a way to return the key to the victim's pocket from outside the room. He immediately thought of fishing line because of its frequent use in the murder mystery shows he's seen, but he couldn't think of a way to use it just yet. He'd need to gather more evidence to figure out the trick first.

There was also the question of the stack of books in front of the victim, the loud opera music that had been playing when they first entered the room, and why Isao was positioned as such. What was their purpose? It seemed they were to prolong the discovery of the body. (Although it clearly didn't work too well.) People wouldn't want to bother him with such loud music playing, and if someone became worried and somehow got a key to enter the room, at first glance they would think he was just resting and leave him alone. But then that begged the question, why do they want to delay the discovery?

He also had to consider the suspects. Based on their statements, he could rule out their client and the butler because they had alibis, which left the son and his girlfriend and the victim's dad. But, Conan didn't have enough clues to try and pick out one of them.

Megure asked Kimie about some picture on their shelf and Conan tried to get a look but, suddenly, his vision blurred. He rubbed at his eyes and noticed that he felt much worse. He was really hot and sweaty but also cold and shivering at the same time. He was also breathing hard despite only having walked around the room. Oh god, those were symptoms of a fever. Did the alcohol make it worse? Probably. Hattori better solve this soon so he could rest.

Then, he heard Hattori and Megure both yell, "Scotch tape!?" He noticed they were looking at something in the forensics officer's hand. (When did Megure get over there? Just how out of it was he?) Conan stumbled his way over and saw that it was the key in the victim's pocket. Why would there be tape in the key holder?

He heard Hattori mumble, "What's this gap in the middle..?"

Gap? Conan though back on the fishing line again. If the string was there.. and if you pass it through the pocket with a needle.. you could totally lock the door and still be able to return the key! Conan walked over to the door and noticed the gap on the bottom was definitely big enough to fit the key. And, the son and his girlfriend were only up there for two minutes which isn't enough to pull off that trick, so the culprit had to be the dad. He also fished so he'd easily be able to find some strong fishing line. He still needed concrete evidence but they could probably find some discarded line somewhere in the house. His heart was beating rapidly in his chest, he was breathing heavily and felt as if he was burning.

Conan started thinking of ways to subtly hint at the answer but suddenly he felt a wave of dizziness and fell to the floor.

"C-Conan-kun!?" Ran rushed over with worry. Conan felt someone turning him over and saw a blurry figure when he cracked open his eyes. He started coughing and gasping for breath as he felt himself being lifted up. He vaguely heard mention of a doctor. He willed himself to stay conscious a little longer.

But then, Conan heard Hattori say, "I've got it.. the locked room's trick and the culprit!"

Conan looked at him as they passed him entering the room, and saw that he was holding a spool of fishing line in his pocket. Conan faintly smiled in relief and finally let his surroundings fade to black.

When Conan woke up he found himself in an unfamiliar room. He slowly sat up and let out a couple of harsh coughs. He didn't notice anyone else in the room or hear anyone nearby. He pulled off the blanket that was put on him and hopped off the bed. But, he felt his stomach lurch, along with dizziness, having him clutch onto the bed frame to stay standing. Oh right, whenever he passed out and got this sick, his stomach never took it well.

Conan took a moment to steady himself and decided he should probably head to the bathroom. He also took off the stuffy jacket and bowtie because he was absolutely burning up and drenched in sweat. He had made it to the hallway, already breathing hard with one hand grasping the wall and the other to his stomach, when someone came running through and ran straight into him, knocking him over.

Conan groaned in pain and weakly pushed himself up to send a glare to the person, when he saw...

"Shinichi..!?"

Again?

He also looked horrible. He was coughing, sweating, and panting just like Conan. Shinichi collected himself and went to apologise to whoever he collided with, but then exclaimed, "Conan!?"

He then grabbed Conan's shoulders with worry in his eyes. "H-hey! Are you okay!? You look horrible!"

"J-just a cold..." Conan gasped out. "Why are you here..?"

"Ran was texting me about this case and I realized that Hattori guy was wrong.. and I couldn't just let a murderer get away." He quickly explained.

"He was..?" Then that meant Conan was also wrong... Wait, had Ran been texting him this whole time? He didn't even notice.

"But anyways, you need to rest somewhere! You look sick!"

"I was just heading to the bathroom..."

"Ah..! Don't worry, I'll take you there." Shinichi then, kind of awkwardly, picked up Conan and hastily looked for a bathroom. When he found one, he set Conan down and went back to trying to find Hattori and the others.

But then, he stopped and turned back around. "Ah, Conan?" He asked. Conan looked up at him in acknowledgement. "Could you tell the others not to mention I was involved?" Shinichi gave him a sheepish smile.

Of course.

Conan nodded while Shinichi left with a quick thanks. As he heard his footsteps fade away, he felt his nausea worsen. He put a hand on his stomach, crawled over to the toilet, and promptly threw up. He flushed it down and sat back down exhausted. Dizziness overcame him and he let his eyes close, passing out yet again.

"No that's wrong..."

Gasps and exclamations of surprise filled the room, as everyone looked toward the figure leaned against the door. They gaped and stared, stunned into silence.

"Sh-Shinichi!?" Ran finally broke the tension. "Where were you!? I was so worried..!" Tears began to form in her eyes.

"D-don't cry..." He said with sympathy.

"Why not!"

"Hey, Kudo!" Hattori yelled angrily. "You come here so late then say 'it's wrong'? Are you saying my reasoning is wrong!?"

Shinichi turned to Ran and said, "Just wait a bit Ran. I'll be done soon." Ran stared back at Shinichi and wiped her tears with her hands.

"Hey, answer me!" Hattori shouted.

"Yeah." Shinichi answered. "I'm saying your theory is 100 percent impossible."

"W-what!?" Hattori exclaimed with a shocked expression. Everyone gaped at Shinichi.

He then went straight into how the key wouldn't be able to go into the inner pocket because the pants were too tight,and, even if it did manage to, there's no way the key would also be in it, only the holder. He then explained the remnants of the actual trick; the loud opera music, used to cover up any noises the victim made, and the stack of books, used to cover his face in case it showed any pain.

Hattori suddenly broke out into laughter. "That's ridiculous! Just who is that truck supposed to dieceive?" He asked with fake confidence.

"That is.. you, Hattori!"

"Huh!?"

"Not only you, but Mouri, Ran, and Conan too.. because the crime was committed right in front of their eyes." Shinichi said, surprising the room yet again.

"Wait, then that means..." Hattori slowly said, realization dawning on him.

"Right... The culprit is the first one who came close to the victim when they entered the study..." Shinichi turned and pointed towards the true culprit. "You, the wife!"

Shinichi explained how exactly she committed the murder, by pricking him with the needle while pretending she was waking him, and that the evidence was in her key holder, which was where she kept the needle. Kimie then told her motive, that her former husband was wrongly accused and died in jail because of Isao.

The police took her out of the room with the rest of the family following, leaving only Hattori, Ran, and Shinichi behind. They turned to Shinichi but saw him violently coughing into his hand, leaning against the bookshelf.

"Sh-Shinichi!"

"Hey, Kudo!?"

They both yelled in worry and rushed over to him.

"Are you okay?" Ran asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Shinichi took a moment to let the fit pass, then steadied himself. "Yeah... Just a bad cold..."

"But, where have you been!?" She suddenly yelled at him. "You've been gone for weeks Shinichi! I.. I was so worried..."

"I've told you. I'm on a case." Shinichi answered.

"Liar!" Ran yelled. Shinichi stared at her with surprise.

"You're a famous detective Shinichi! There's no way one case would be taking you so long!" Tears started to form in her eyes again as she pointed over to Hattori. "He said that it's weird you never tell how you are when we talk. You're doing something suspicious behind my back, aren't you!"

"H-hey, Ran..." Shinichi put his hands up in a calming motion.

"Why... Why can't you just be honest with me..?" She cried.

"Listen, Ran." Shinichi began with sadness in his voice. "This case.. it's bigger than anything I've ever dealt with before. I wish I could just be done with this and get back to normal, but.. I just don't know. I can't promise you I'll be back soon."

"Sh-Shinichi..." Ran sadly looked downwards and wiped some of her tears with the back of her hand.

Suddenly, Shinichi broke into another coughing fit.

Ran looked back up at him, worried. "Ah! Hold on I'll go get the doctor." She frantically rushed out of the door.

Hattori looked at him with concern. "Are you sure you're okay? It looks too.. harsh to be 'just a cold'..."

"Yeah..." Shinichi steadied himself, breathing deeply. "My colds are always like this. I also ran all the way over here which probably didn't help."

"Ah..."

Shinichi took his hand off the bookshelf and started walking to the door.

"W-wait! Where are ya going?" Hattori asked in surprise.

"I-I have to leave.. before she comes back."

"Why!? You're too sick to be leaving!" Hattori tried to stop him.

Shinichi looked back at him with a sad smile. "When she comes back, she's gonna ask me all sorts of questions I can't answer. It'll be hard but.. it's for the best if I just leave her..." He shut the door and started heading down the stairs, leaving Hattori alone.

Conan finally came to, in the bathroom. He was awoken by a loud shout from outside the door, "Wait, Shinichi!"

Conan slowly sat up and put a hand to his head. He recognized the voice as Ran's as she continued, "You're not well! You can't go yet!"

He then heard loud clambering from, presumably Shinichi, as he rushed down the stairs. He faintly heard his footsteps as he ran away down the hall, then, soon after, Ran's louder ones down the stairs.

Conan grabbed his glasses and adjusted them on his face, preparing to leave the restroom, when the door was suddenly slammed open.

Conan startled and looked up to see Ran, equally confused. "Conan-kun?"

She bent down to him and yelled, "Where were you!? I was looking everywhere for you!"

She was?

"Uh, I..." He stammered. "I woke up and didn't feel good.. so I came to the bathroom..." Conan tried to stand up but felt dizzy again and had to grip the wall. It didn't seem Ran noticed because she was looking around elsewhere.

She turned back to him and asked, "Did you see Shinichi?"

Conan sighed. Shinichi did something again and had to leave her again, huh. He decided he might as well cover for him; he did help him earlier despite being in a hurry. "Yeah... He said he had something important to do and ran that way." He pointed toward the direction he heard the footsteps run off a second ago.

"What!? Again..?" Ran sighed.

Conan could feel the sweat dripping down his face.

"And..." His eyelids started to droop. "He also said.. that no one should know.." His legs started to shake and give out from underneath him. "..that he was here..." He weakly finished and collapsed onto the floor. The last thing he heard before he passed out for the third time that day, was the worried shouts from Ran.