Another week passes, Rei and Ai start to pull together some real progress.
"Thanks for helping me out, Furuya-san. With you here, it's been a lot less stressful, I feel like I can think more clearly now."
"I'm glad I'm able to help! I like hanging out with you." Rei smiled. "Plus, I feel like I'm learning a lot about chemistry. I make a pretty good scientist!" He excitedly said as he examined some notes.
"This stuff means we're on the right track, right?"
Ai smirked. "You tell me, Mr. Scientist."
KNOCK KNOCK
"Um… Haibara?" Conan suddenly walks in. "The professor let me in…"
Expecting a big lecture, Conan braces himself.
"Oh… hey Kudo-kun." Ai says nonchalantly.
"Hi Kudo-kun!" Rei waved.
"Eh? Oh… hi…" He gulped. "Listen, Haibara…I'm really sorry..."
"I'm still annoyed you lied to me like that." Ai huffed. "But we're still partners, I guess."
"Does that mean I haven't been replaced by Furuya-san here?" He jokingly asked.
"Of course not." Ai smirked. "Furuya-san is in a different league than you!"
"Ah, I see…" Conan chuckled. "Did you catch the game last week? Higo scored big, huh?"
"As always." Ai hummed.
"Well, speaking of scoring big…" Conan held up a piece of paper. "I managed to score these tickets to Big Osaka's game next month."
Ai's eyes widened in excitement. "Really?!"
"Mm." Conan nodded. "I figured you might want one."
"I see… Well in that case, I guess we're good." Ai smiles as he hands her the ticket.
"How's the antidote going?" Conan asks.
"We're making some good progress, right, Miyano-san? …Miyano-san?"
Rei shook the small scientist, who was carefully reading over every word on her ticket.
"Huh? Oh, yeah…" Ai nodded. "It should be ready soon."
"Are you serious?!" Conan jumped up in joy. "That's amazing, thank you so much, Haibara!" The boy suddenly gave her a hug.
"H-Hey! Watch it!" Haibara became flustered, pushing him away. "Save it for Mouri-san…"
"Oh, sorry…" Conan grinned. "I'm just so excited! Oh, I better plan that hiking trip for the kids then. Our last day as the Detective Boys…" Conan went to go get Agasa. "Well, I'll be with the professor!"
"Bye bye!" Rei said, looking back at Ai. "So, I'm in a different league huh?" He grinned.
"Yup." Ai got up to put her ticket in a secure place. "A different league of annoying."
"Ouch." Rei chuckled. "You and Kudo-kun seem pretty close…"
"I guess." Ai shrugged. "He's just excited to see his girlfriend again."
"I see… Do you have a special someone to go back to?"
"Wha-what? Of course not!" Ai stammered. "Don't be silly."
"Hey, I was just asking! I've seen what you look like as an adult. You're very beautiful. I'd be surprised if you haven't been out on a date or two at least."
"Well, surprise…" Ai looked away, embarrassed. "I don't really do stuff like that."
"Really?" Rei tilted his head. "I guess that makes sense, considering your circumstances."
"And don't say stuff like that so casually to a girl!" Ai glared. "You might give her the wrong impression."
"What, that you're beautiful?" Rei chuckled. "So shy…"
"Whatever…"
.
.
.
Meanwhile, Conan started planning out a hiking trip with Agasa to take the kids on. They started making a list of things they'll need and gathered some old pamphlets of different places they could go to.
"Hmm, let's plan this for maybe next week or so?" Conan said as he flipped through some pamphlets. "I need to call the kids to make sure they don't have a doctor's appointment or something…"
"I'm happy to see you and Ai made up, Shinichi." Agasa smiled. "Plus, I can finally fix that skateboard!"
"Mm." Conan looked back at the basement door.
"So… what's up with her and Furuya-san?" Conan whispered. "When did they get so friendly?"
"They're good friends, aren't they?" Agasa chuckled. "Afraid you're being left out?"
"What? No, it's just that I've never seen Haibara so friendly with, well, anybody!"
"Ha ha, that's true!"
.
.
.
"So…" Ai said as she read over her findings. "I kind of told Akai-san he could stay a little longer."
"Is that so?" Rei asked. "I figured…"
"I'm sorry, I know how much tension there is between you two…"
"It's ok, Miyano-san." Rei smiled. "He'll go eventually, and I'm here for you now, regardless."
"Mm... Wait, what?" She looked up. "You're here for me?"
"Well, yeah... I'm here to help you with the antidote, right? Or did I misunderstand?"
"No-no... you're right." Ai nodded. "It's just for the antidote..."
She remembered what Akai said the other night.
'He said it was a tragic misunderstanding... but what misunderstanding was there?' She thought to herself.
Rei noticed the young scientist was deep in thought. 'Of course... I hope we can keep spending time together after you return as Shiho...'
.
.
.
The sun began to set, and the two became tired.
"The professor and I planned a great hiking trip for us and the kids. It'll be in two weeks!" Conan excitedly said. "I'm gonna head home now, make sure you guys get some rest!"
The two waved goodbye, and Rei began to yawn as Ai diligently kept working on her drug.
"Could you pass me that powder, Furuya-san?...Furuya-" Ai didn't realize he had fallen asleep at the desk.
"He's been spending so much time here after work... no wonder he's tired." She went to go get a blanket.
'Thanks for everything...' Ai thought as she placed the blanket over his shoulders.
"Shiho…" He mumbled in his sleep.
A slight blush appeared on Ai's face, but she quickly walked back to her workspace. 'Stop it, he doesn't think of you in that way!' She looked down at her papers. 'You're just a little kid to him.'
.
.
.
An hour passes, and suddenly, the girl jumps up, looking around for her phone.
"Huh...?" Rei starts to wake up. "What's up? What time is it?"
Ai quickly tapped her phone, calling her friend in a hurry.
"Hey, Kudo-kun! You better push that hiking trip up sooner…" Ai looked over at Rei with a big smile.
"The antidote is complete."
Woah! The return of Shiho and Shinichi... At least they'll be able to enjoy one last peaceful trip with the kids! Nothing crazy will happen on that trip... right?!
Anyways, thanks so much for reading. Please let me know what you think! I love hearing from you all!