'Heiji-kun? Are you okay?' Heiji's brain had stopped being able to function properly. What was he even supposed to say? He could only hope his face wasn't as red as it felt.

'I think Heiji nii-chan is tired, we walked a lot today. I'll take him to his room.'

'Ah okay, don't push yourself too hard.'

After finally getting to his room, Heiji fell into his bed. He sighed and turned towards the boy sitting on the chair, 'Kudo what on earth is wrong with me?'

'Hattori, how many times are you going to ask that? You kinda need to figure that out for yourself.'

'Say Kudo, how long have you liked that nee-chan of yours?'

The other boy blushed, looking at something outside the window, 'how is that important? That doesn't really matter now.'

'Oh so it was practically love at first sight, huh?'

'Oi Hattori, don't you have other issues to deal with right now?'

Heiji started to say something, only for Kazuha to burst into his room, 'ah, the both of you are here. Dinner's ready, we're going to eat.'

'We'll be there Kazuha nee-chan,' he smiled at the girl as she closed the door, 'come on Hattori, we can deal with your problem tomorrow, let's eat.'

'Fine.'

After dinner Ran had decided to stay the night at Kazuha's house, leaving Conan with Heiji. His mum made them go to sleep as soon as possible, on the count of Heiji looked drained. Which was true in some part, he looked exhausted despite not having done much that day but going to bed early didn't help whatsoever. Instead he spent most of the night tossing and turning, for some reason he didn't want tomorrow to come.

He was woken up by Conan, who had been struggling to wake him up for a while. It was about 10 in the morning, Kazuha's movie date was at 4, giving him very little time to stop her.

After they'd got changed and had some breakfast, the girls had come over to pick them up. The both of them were quite dressed up, well more so than usual.

'Ran nee-chan? Are you going somewhere special?' He looked up at her, trying and failing not to blush.

'Oh Conan-kun, not really, Kazuha-chan was embarrassed to dress up by herself so I offered to do so as well.' Ran had chosen a pink summer dress, it was off the shoulder and a mix of baggy and fitting that definitely flattered her.

Kazuha on the other hand had chosen a light orange halter neck dress, it was backless, and had a belt that gave it some shape. The dress itself fell mid-thigh, paired with a cute pair of deep green block heels. Luckily for him, Heiji had chosen that precise moment to go look for his hat. She had hair up in its usual ponytail, with a matching green ribbon. She was wearing little makeup, scared she'd overdo it, either way she looked beautiful, which was precisely what Heiji was scared of.

'What's taking Hattori-kun so long? Conan-kun could you check on him?'

'Sure Ran nee-chan.' However, he couldn't find the Osakan detective anywhere, that was until he walked into one of the back rooms. Heiji was sitting there talking or arguing with his mum, it took him a while to realise that Conan was standing in the doorway.

'Ah Kudo, I can explain. But could you tell the girls to go on without me, just make something up.'

He didn't bother questioning it, when he made it back to the girls he told them that he couldn't find Heiji nii-chan and that they should go ahead. He then had to promise Ran that they would join them for lunch at least.

Heiji on the other hand was facing some sort of crisis, he couldn't possibly face Kazuha now, when he caught a glimpse of her this morning his heart definitely did a flip, which was not good. His mum hadn't helped either, he fished out a bunch of pictures of the both of them when they were younger and it didn't help that they looked very close. Whatever feeling he was feeling, it was making him very uncomfortable, he couldn't possibly be in love with her, they were best friends. That's it, anyone would be annoyed to see their best friend be close to someone else. That's all, he didn't want to lose a good friend like Kazuha.

'Hey Kudo!'

'You owe me one Hattori.'

'Ah thanks Kudo, what did they say?'

'They want us to at least join them for lunch, some cafe, 12:30.'

'We have an hour and a half Kudo, what d'ya want to do til then?'

'I still haven't seen the Osaka Police HQ'

He grinned at the request, 'you've come to the right person.'


After a tour that could only interest police officers and keen detectives, they had made it just in time for lunch with the girls. When they got there, Kazuha and Ran were deep in conversation, but had stopped by the time the boys had gotten to the table.

'Glad you were able to make it Hattori-kun.'

'Ah yeah, no problem.' Kazuha shot him a small glare, suggesting that, that was not the best possible reply. However, in a way it showed that things were becoming normal between them.

'Say Ran-chan, what time are you guys leaving today?'

'Our train is at 7:30, you don't have to worry about seeing us off, just enjoy your date.'

'Say Kazuha, how are you getting back home?'

'I haven't really thought about that, he'll probably walk me back, right?'

'He?' Heiji blinked at her, slightly confused, before realising who she was on about. 'Oh, you're boyfriend~' he chuckled, just a little teasingly.

'Heiji!'

'Kidding, kidding,' but he was still laughing, ignoring the slight twist in his stomach.


Heiji, Ran, and Conan hid behind a random pillar as they watched Kazuha meet up with her date. It turned out to be one of the third years, he was good-looking and probably popular. Ran slightly gasped as they linked arms and walked into the cinema.

'Hattori-kun, let's go.'

'Go where?'

'Don't you want to spy on them too?'

'Uh, I don't think that's a good idea Ran nee-chan,' he tried tugging on the hem of her dress gently, but she wouldn't be swayed.

'The both of you can go somewhere else if you want, but I'm staying.'

'Do you even know what movie they're watching? Or what seat they're in?'

'Well, I wouldn't be suggesting this if I didn't, they're watching the new Okino Yoko movie and their seats are in the middle. If we get seats at the back, they won't know.'

'You know that sounds like a very risky plan Ran nee-chan, I think it would be better if we didn't.'

'Yeah, we have time 'til your train, how about we do something else.'

She glanced between the both of them, realising there would be no way to convince them she sighed, 'fine, got anything in mind?'


Heiji was talking to Conan and Ran as they waited for their train, they'd sent the last couple of hours walking around many different shops. Conan had managed to stay away from buying more versions of Sherlock Holmes from a book shop they had found. Ran had bought herself a cute purse. Heiji on the other hand was slightly preoccupied, as much as he did not want to admit it, he cared about Kazuha and her date.

He couldn't tell whether it was a good or bad thing he had turned down Ran's offer to follow them, after all was it so bad to be curious about his best friend?

Just as the train was arriving, they heard a shout, 'Ran-chan!'

'Kazuha-chan? What are you doing here?'

'To see you off,' seeing her friend's slight confusion, she added, 'I'll tell you about it later, kay?'

'Oh okay,' she turned to face them both, 'thanks for having us, come visit us soon.'

'No problem, we'll see each other soon.'

'Make sure to check your phone later on, 'kay Ran-chan?'

'Sure, we'll see you guys next time.'

The teenagers watched as their friends got on the train, waving at them as they walked to their seats. They waited for a little bit before heading back.

'Say Kazuha, I thought your boyfriend was taking you home today.'

'As if, he was so annoying,' she glanced at Heiji before continuing, 'he would not shut up at all, worse all he did was talk about himself.'

Heiji chuckled earning a small glare from her, 'sorry, carry on.'

'After the movie, he wanted to take a walk somewhere, and guess what. He tried to give me a necklace with our initials on it.'

'A necklace?'

'Yeah, it was a leaf, or something, but we aren't even dating, isn't initials going a bit too far?' She watched as Heiji nodded albeit a bit confused, 'so I told him I'd think about it.'

'But you're going to say no?'

'Obviously, I don't know how though. He's just not my type.'

'Wow, so what's your type, guys who fall asleep during movies?'

She smiled at his attempt at a joke, 'of course not, ones who talk about the movie at the right points, oh wait a second Heiji.' She stopped and using him for balance took off her heels, 'that feels so much better, I don't know people walk in these all day.'

'Want me to carry you?'

She laughed at his offer, 'as if you could carry me all the way back home, no offence Heiji but I doubt you're that strong.'

'Yeah right, get on I'll prove it to you,' he bent down slightly to let her get on his back.

'Sure, what should we bet on this.'

'Loser pays for okonomiyaki next week.'

'Oh it's on.'


Needless to say Heiji had lost, not because he was weak, more like Kazuha had leaned in front to say something and Heiji who had turned to ask her something was surprised at how close their faces had gotten, and dropped her.

Kazuha chuckled as she brushed her clothes lightly, 'guess you owe me lunch.'

'That doesn't count, you scared me.'

'Your excuses won't work now Heiji,' she shot him an innocent smile before continuing to walk back.

'It's not an excuse!' He jogged to catch up with her, for now their relationship had gone back to what it normally was. How long that would last was unclear, but for now, walking back together felt perfect.

Just as best friends. For now.