Blacking out meant little to the officials. Coaches held up my limp body for official photos with the trophy when I awoke in the infirmary. My friends took a few commemorative pictures as well. My addled mind couldn't care what they did either way. Afterwards Kazuha piggybacked me to the station to see the others off.

"No!" Conan yelled. "Please, please, please, I wanna stay! Please!" He flailed his hands as Ran purchased tickets.

I hugged the kid from behind, appealing to Ran with a smile. "I'll watch him."

As I hoped for a joke to arise, Ran spurned me with an exhausted expression. "You've got a fever, Keiko.."

With that I trailed back to Heiji's side. Was worth a try.

Conan tugged her skirt. "I wanna stay in Osaka awhile longer. Please, Ran!"

"What's so good about Osaka?" I mumbled below my breath. To which Heiji irritably shoved my shoulder. Ever the hothead. I laughed.

"Geez Conan, you never act like this... I would say yes but, who would watch you?"

"I will!" Heiji hugged the kid into his arms.

"Yay!" Conan threw his arms skyward. "I get to stay with Heiji!"

Still, Ran wasn't completely convinced. "Hattori, are you sure your parents won't mind?"

He grinned. "It's no problem at all."

"I guess this means he'll be returning home with me?" I asked.

"Don't worry," Heiji waved me off. "I'll pay his ticket home."

Bidding adieu, we parted ways. Kazuha, Heiji, the kid, and I saw the others off. Thinking of returning to Beika isn't something I cared to entertain. Because homework... make-up work, homework, and homework. Well, there is Shinichi. But he's another topic entirely.

Heiji pulled us to a halt. "Who's hungry?"

A restaurant? Now? My shoulders dropped. "I wanna go home, Heiji..."

"It'll be real fast, please?" Heiji clapped his hands, pleading in a way that had me averting my eyes in fear of blushing.

"Make it quick..."

"Alright!" he cheered.

Heiji patted a hand to the kid's back, welcoming him inside, babbling about the food they served. The kid, mildly interested, nodded occasionally to his words.

We were seated at a steel table. The cool surface drew me in, closer, till my arms and head sprawled across it. Heiji glanced at me, yet said nothing when I noticed.

Kazuha narrowed her gaze. "Heiji, yer so inconsiderate." Putting a hand to my forehead she said, "Keiko, I can walk ya home. Yer burnin' up."

"Nah... I should celebrate my victory." My fist went into the air, but fell with a thud. "I should've lost considering my condition... but," I smiled. "I won cause..." That's when I realized. "Where'd Shinichi go?"

Heiji and Conan froze.

So I restated. "Shinichi, he was at the tournament. Where'd he go?"

Heiji pulled Conan out of his seat saying, "one moment," before they disappeared into the restroom.

Kazuha shrugged. "I don't remember seein' Kudo there, but..."

"What?"

"There was a murder outside the stadium. While you were runnin'."

I jerked back. "What?!" Stirring up my fever in the process. "Wha- what happened?"

"Heard from Heiji. It happened cause— somethin' to do with two businessmen. One mad about... um... and the other... gamblin'... and," a crease grew between her brows.

"Stop." I told her. "You'll get a headache."

The two boys returned, looking in opposite directions. As they sat down Heiji stole another glance at me.

I asked, "Does this mean you missed the competition?"

"What- n-no." Heiji seemed to be puzzling out where this question came from. " ...right?"

So, I clarified. "Kazuha said that there was a murder. I'm assuming you got involved."

"Oh that," he released his breath. "Don't worry, I caught the end of it; when you passed the finish-line."

"Then did you see Shinichi? On the final lap, I heard his voice, he-" my headache throbbed, so I set my iced drink against it. "Right when I was gonna give up... Felt terrible. Only wanted to fall." I ducked my head to hide a smile. "Then I heard him cheer me on. His words helped my mind reset to refocus on getting ahead. I won because of him. Wanted to say thank you."

Kazuha beamed. "Aw, Keiko~"

Heiji shook his head. "You were probably hallucinatin'. With how exhausted you were, I'm surprised it wasn't worse." Heiji slyly grinned down at the kid.

The kid glared back, cheeks rosy, before he stepped forward. "I saw him. And Shinichi told me to tell you—" I curiously knelt down. All at once he averted eye contact, and fiddled with his bowtie. "Shinichi wanted to congratulate you, he said..."

Heiji and Kazuha's prying ears made him pause. With my ear toward him, he conveyed in a whisper, "Shinichi said, 'watching you was amazing. There was a moment I feared you wouldn't make it. Then, pulling all your stops right toward the end. Incredible. Reminded me of Sonoko when she dived through those crowds for her limited edition purse. When you crossed the finish line, I felt so excited I nearly shouted, 'she got the purse!'"

I broke into a fit of laughter, momentarily unable to respond as the kid waited with a wild sparkle in his eye. "Did he really say that?"

Conan nodded, "Yeah."

Kazuha leaned over. "What'd Kudo say?"

"It's an inside joke."

Kazuha giggled. "Ya'll got inside jokes?"

"Well, yeah." I turned back to the kid. "But why'd Shinichi pass on a message instead of telling me directly?"

Conan's gaze darted to the wall as a masking smile forced itself across his lips. "Shinichi said a case demanded his attention." As my own smile slipped his hands flew up in defense. "B-but he will try to return soon to celebrate your victory."

I ruffled the kid's hair. He shouldn't feel the need to defend Shinichi for my sake. "Thanks for tellin' me."

Shinichi popped out of nowhere, but then, so did that— oh. "Shinichi helped solve that murder, didn't he?"

Heiji stuffed his mouth, muttering, "he may have had somethin' to do with it."

"Or he may have solved the whole thing?"

The kid seemed to be silently preening. It didn't sit well with Heiji. "What makes ya think I would have even needed his help to solve it?"

"You don't have to take it personally," I scoffed around the rim of my drink.

"I-" Heiji faltered in his outburst when the waiter brought the check.

The walk home wasn't pleasant by any definition of any language. Heiji kept his distance. The kid accompanying him. And Kazuha was torn between walking beside me or Heiji, then settled in the middle.

She gave in though, and pity made her choose me. "What's going on with ya'll?"

I shoved my hands into my pockets, shrugging. "It's anyone's guess."

Kazuha crossed her arms, mousing away. "I saw Heiji looking at ya... maybe he wants to ask somethin'?"

"Like what?"

"I'm not sure..."

A shout along the lines of "fine!" rang out between the two before Heiji swung at the kid. The kid dodged. Heiji pursued him, till the kid came skittishly to my side. Then Heiji's gaze ping-ponged from him to me. Anger fading to something unreadable. I blinked. What? But he swiftly turned around. Now the one walking alone.

"Maybe you should have a word with him?" I asked Kazuha.

"He can stay angry for all I care," Kazuha exasperated. However, she met my eye, and quickly lost her backbone.

I faintly sighed. "Now what? You've been actin' funny as well. The Kazuha I knew as a child was sharp and composed. Far from shy."

Kazuha remained silent. A reddish hue falling on her cheeks.

"Do ya-" she clenched her fists before brazenly asking, "do ya still have a crush on Heiji?"

Abruptly my fever kicked up, like lead in the head, I drifted to the nearest wall. "I... what?"

"Do ya still like Heiji?" She bit her lip. "When we were kids, before you left, you said that you had a crush on 'im, and... do ya still.. have feelings?"

While looking for an escape, my eyes fell upon the kid. His gaping mouth and wide eyes fixed on me were hardly a comfort.

"Th-that... I don't—" My thoughts were swirling around a topic it couldn't handle while half-burning. However, like a shot in the haze, I realized this wasn't about me. She's... she likes him? Questions built up in my throat. How long? When did you realize? And most importantly, why? But she wasn't making eye contact, and it made me feel terrible for returning to Osaka in the first place. Nevertheless, the need to be earnest came in full. "Heiji's got his flaws. It's annoying when he turns conceited, and insists that what he knows is right... Leaving us to explain his brash behavior to those who happen to witness it." Kazuha wasn't pleased to hear me go a bit off topic, obviously. "But you... you think that's cute, don't you?"

She drew back with a blush.

"Once you develop feelings for someone every little flaw just seems," I grinned, "adorable. Right?"

Kazuha's blush subsided when she asked, "does that mean you—?"

"Maybe." At my word, she drew in a breath. My grin slowly broadened. "What are you gonna do about it?"

"I—" Kazuha adopted a grin of her own, as if accepting the challenge, "I won't hand him over to you."

I wrapped her into a hug. "There's my Kazuha!"

She accepted me gleefully, but pushed to arms distance to say, "this won't change anything between us."

"Never. Besides, he's always got his eye on you anyway."

"What?" She chirped. "No he doesn't."

"Sure," I ambiguously agreed.

She wasn't sure how to take my response. Her eyebrows drew together as she sped up to Heiji's side, watching me over her shoulder.

I chuckled when they turned a corner out of earshot. But as I turned to joke about this with the kid, I found myself turning around. He had been sluggish, and fell more than a few steps behind. I didn't feel like approaching, too tired to make the walk longer, so I knelt down and waited.

"Yo." My head tilted upon sighting his frown. "My friendly advice quota has kinda been met, but if you need to get something off your chest...?"

"N-no. I..." his eyes trailed from one crack in the pavement to another. "Why don't you catch up with them? I'm fine."

"More worried about you, Kid." I offered him a smile, but when he wouldn't take it, it faded.

"Heiji's probably waiting for you..."

"Nah," I waved him off. "He's got Kazuha." He remained silent. I sighed. "Did our talk dig up some memories of yers? Got a crush, Kid?"

His eyes hastily met mine. Cool deep blue that suddenly threatened to spill over with emotion. It threw me. To be drowning in the eyes of a child. It suddenly hit me that age doesn't define the depth that someone can experience their own brand of passion.

Too bewildered to do otherwise, I patted his head.

"It probably doesn't hold a candle to whatever you're feeling, but my first crush was on Heiji. Always had him in my sight. But while I watched I noticed he never returned my gaze. But he did to one. To Kazuha. He always liked her. I can't believe she's still oblivious. They both are. And it was heartbreaking at the time, but recently I've got my eye on someone else." My heart fluttered thinking about him. "No, heartbreak doesn't go away easily, but you're young. And love is something you don't know yet."

Conan's head shot up. And I don't know what I said exactly, but there's hope where there was once defeat. "And you do?" he asked quicker than his breath would allow. "You know what love is?"

"I don't know," I told him, chest pounding while my upcoming confession ran circles in my heart. "But I think I will next time I see him."

The kid went from a heavy blush to looking indignant. "Then why did you say you still had a crush on Heiji?"

"Oh." I laughed. "Those two need some kind of push. The appearance of a—" and I air quoted, "rival might do them in."

Although hesitantly he joined in my laugh. "I can't believe you."

It's only when I returned home that I realized we lost Kazuha and Heiji. My head burned, and was probably mush by the way thoughts slithered to the forefront of my mind when Mother shouted. "Keiko!"

I cringed, cupping my ears. "Mother..."

"I thought you'd come straight home. It's almost dark! And who's this child?"

"This kid's—" I narrowed my eyes on him. He countered with a playful smile. "Wh- who are you again?"

The kid shrugged.

I glanced at the door. Despite the time I doubt I could escort him two steps. "Kid, Do you know how to get to Heiji's house?"

"Who's Heiji?"

My shoulders slumped to his antics. "Kid, you're awfully skilled at playing dumb."

"Who says I'm playing?"

"Oh... you're good."

I tried calling Heiji. No answer. Second time the rings were cut short.

"Jerk's ignorin' me?" I growled and slammed the phone down.

"What's your name?" Father asked the kid.

I expected the kid to shrug like before, but he surprised me. "Edogawa Conan."

"Wishy-washy kid," I muttered while typing up mail via cell to Heiji that I had 'Edogawa Conan.' After another futile attempt to call Heiji I turned to Father, leaning heavily against the counter. "Is it alright if the kid stays the night with us? He was supposed to end up at a friend's house, but I can't get a hold of 'im. Besides, the kid's hitchin' a ride with us home tomorrow."

"Sure. We didn't pack extra futons though."

"It's fine, he can share with me."

The kid's playful grin slipped. I noticed his discomfort and added, "unless, he'd rather share with someone else?"

I waited as he considered Mother, then Father. It sent a shiver down his spine. He shook his head, and fled to hug enthusiastically around my waist. "I'll share with Keiko!"

"Conditional love." I ruffled his hair with a wry smile. "How cute."

I brought Conan to my old room and flicked on the lights. His interest piqued the moment he laid his eyes on it's green painted walls. Flitting from the closet and window, he ran around and even bent to study the floor. I couldn't help but stifle a giggle while watching him, so eagerly searching a room with nothing in it. What could he read in the dust?

Personally, I can't say I feel at home in my old room. It's been devoid of life for years, sans the impression of it. Vivid green hues lined, pale where my old belongings used to sit. Sun bleached, as though my room were a ghost of what it once was.

I rolled out my futon and switched off the lights. Conan took his time setting his jacket down, and removing items from his pockets. So I got in the futon, and checked my phone once more. No new mail.

"G- goodnight..." Conan stammered as he slipped under the covers.

I turned to face him. "Hey."

Conan fell onto the pillow instead of slowly easing in. "Yeah?"

"You never answered my question from earlier." He raised a perplexed brow, so I rephrased, "do you have a crush?"

It didn't take a mind reader to understand his answer. The scarlet scorching his cheeks, and quick "no," spoke volumes. He nestled into the covers, muffling his voice, "never."

"Yeah right, you little liar," I laughed, lightly tugging his earlobe till he scooched into the open.

"But, I—" It seemed to be warring in his mind. He steadied his trembling voice, and captured my gaze with a spark of determination. Even though his face flooded with a contradicting red glow. "I do. There's a girl I like."

I jumped on the topic. "Who is it? Was it one of the two I met this morning? The blonde or brown haired girl?"

"Neither." Conan twiddled his thumbs. "The girl I like is c-cuter."

"Aw!" I fawned over his sincerity. "Does she know how you feel?"

Conan raised an eyebrow, accompanied with a conspiratorial half-grin. "Sort of."

"Sort of doesn't cut it." I leaned down, bumping his forehead to mine. "Next time ya see her, you gotta tell her. Cause ya see." My face flushed. "I told myself if I won the Tournament, that I would tell my guy how I feel. And well, you already saw how that went." I giggled. "Let's make a promise." I held forth my pinky. "Next time we see our crush we tell em' everything."

Conan linked his pinky with mine. "Promise?"

"Promise."