A ponytail looks a bit serious on her, still it fits her. That's weird the more Haya asks me to keep my distance from Emiko the more I miss her, I sort of can't take my eyes off her. I understand why she is jealous of her, she is a girl and I spend a lot of time with her. Kioshi was staring at Emiko's back, trying to fight himself from breaking the rules his girlfriend had set. She is beautiful... The Japanese boy had his chin resting on his left hand, his right one holding a pen. He suddenly shook his head, trying to shake the thought away with it. His pulse had suddenly changed rhythm, after a swift acceleration it nearly stopped. What am I thinking? What was that? It's just Emiko...Emiko. Still I miss her a lot, of that I'm sure and all this jealousy is killing me.

She had that weird expression on her face, the same she already had when she started to wonder if Shinichi was her father. Kioshi had a weird feeling, almost a vision and things were about to get down. As soon as the lunch break bell rang Emiko rushed out which was totally unusual, Kioshi followed his girlfriend by rote but couldn't get the thought out of his mind. All his senses were telling him to go and look for his friend. When he saw Emiko passing by with a rather worried look on her face he gave up the inner conflict, he pulled up some toilet excuses and went after her. He almost caught up on her but at the last second he decided to keep his concern to himself, he merely kept an eye on her.

She was heading towards the office part of the school, looking constantly on her sides to check that no one was around, Kioshi even had to be careful to hide himself from her. Emiko entered the headmaster's office after checking if he was inside, fortunately he wasn't that was her chance, she started to look in his computer archive. Using a small piece of paper where she had prepared the right characters just to make sure she wouldn't forget them. Kioshi was hiding behind the wall, he clearly saw Emiko searching for something in the headmaster's computer and he knew that whatever it was if she would get caught she might get kicked out of Teitan. 工藤 新一 she instantly found the right file but she needed time to copy it to her flash drive and it was way longer than in the last James Bond she watched. When she heard steps coming closer she nearly had a heart attack, then she heard someone shouting in Japanese, the slow walk became a run but away from her. What she didn't know was that Kioshi had yet again come to her rescue by shouting that there was a fight outside the school.

I found you, Shinichi Kudo!

Emiko spent her day twiddling the flash drive with her fingers, she couldn't think about anything else. The same went for Kioshi who spent the day thinking about the British girl, he felt his brain melt under the pressure. The teenage girl's obsession was only going to grow, the only thing she wanted and cared about was to go back home and read what the school archive had to offer on Shinichi. She had no time to waste lingering in Teitan, she wanted to go back to the agency as soon as she got her shoes from her locker. However at the exact second she closed the door she heard someone calling her name.

"Mouri-san!" Two girls perfectly synchronized girls shouted her name waving an arm, they were running to her dressed in sportswear clothes.

"Yes?" Emiko looked totally confused.

"Hi! Hey, my name is Azami and this is Chizu, I am in my last year here and we are both from the handball Teitan team. We have a few injured players and as the captain I wanted to ask you if you would like to join us."

"Wow, that's a bit unexpected" she quickly realized that her hesitation was nothing funny to them. "I mean yes sure, it sounds like fun!"

"So that's a yes?" asked Azami, which Chizu completed with her own interrogation "Yes?"

"Yes!" I wonder if it really is a smart move... The girls instantly grabbed both of her wrists and dragged her along. "Where are you taking me?"

"Trainingu!" said Chizu with her widest smile.

"We train twice a week and play games during the weekend" explained the captain to her new recruit. Azami made her sign a few papers, asked her for some information and got her a proper outfit. Finally she was introduced to the rest of the team, Emiko recognized the girls who was training during her detention. I guess I am a handball player now. After a passing the ball around, the team warmed up a bit further and ran around the handball pitch. The girls were then divided into 2 different teams which competed against each other, during the opposition Emiko had been able to prove everyone that taking her into the team was a wise decision.

"You did good Mouri-san, I'll get you an official shirt for our next game" congratulated the captain with a pat on the back of her new team mate.

Emiko waved good bye at her, sped up her walk, on her way back home she took a second to send a text to Kogoro who was supposed to be already back at the agency. She had not lost track on her objective as she held her precious flash drive tight in her hand, she got rid of her bag and switched on her laptop. This is the moment I've been waiting for the whole day. Emiko inserted the flash drive, opened the file and started to read. She actually read the main man's name several times, it took her a while to move on to the others information such as his date of birth. Those generals information were nothing interesting but it was more data collected. She went through his report cards, they were really good if not brilliant, but slowly the mention absent appeared and slowly covered the whole report. That's weird, something happened but what?

"Are you sure you want to do that?"

Charlie kissed her cheek and whispered "Ran I'm ready if you are, the last thing I want is to force you."

"Believe me, you're not forcing me at all. It's just that if you enter my daughter's life... I won't ever let you go. Then if I press the call button there's no going back."

Hearing that Charlie's heart melted and he couldn't hold himself and kissed her passionately, after a few seconds he was pushed away and received a pat on his shoulder. A confused Charlie was facing a laughing Ran.

"What's so funny?"

"You messed my makeup and now you... you... you" Ran couldn't stop laughing at her boyfriend's newly acquired lipstick.

Emiko was about to read Shinichi Kudo's medical emergency file, but a ringtone suddenly started to play. It was Ran calling her daughter, Emiko fell off her chair, to her it seemed that god wanted to prevent her from discovering more. She climbed back on her seat and after quickly restyling her hair she accepted the call. The image took a second to load as both webcams needed time to start, Ran appeared in an elegant dark blue dress which looked absolutely perfect on her. Both her hands and legs were joined as if stuck together. She somehow instantly looked nervous to her daughter, was it because of her smile or maybe was it her short breath?

"Daijobu desu ka?"

"Daijobu desu... Erm Mom why are you talking to me in Japanese?"

"I was checking your progress and I have to say that it wasn't too bad."

"Well I guess I am just trying to survive here..."

"I am sure you're doing fine."

"Yeah I got enrolled in a handball team, just like that. It wasn't weird at all..."

"If I remember right, you're quite good at throwing a ball to people... Also break windows."

"That's not my fault if I am a single child and I had no one to throw the ball at!" Emiko complained. Ran giggled nervously, the awkward silence following was ponderous, thus her only hope was that her daughter would ask her questions or notice something. Moreover Charlie was right in front of her eyes waiting for her.

"Mom, are you alright? You look really nervous, is that because of me?"

"No, not because of you" Ran smiled shyly at Charlie and reached for his hand. At first Emiko could only see the man's hand, her mother quickly made room for him, still holding Ran's hand Charlie sat beside her putting Ran's hand on his knee.

What the hell is going on today? What? What?

"Mom, w-would you introduce us please?"

"Yes sure... Emiko this is Charlie my... he is my boyfriend and Charlie as you already know this is my daughter Emiko." Ran closed her eyes and pit her head down waiting.

"I'm very pleased to meet you Emiko" the 34 years old took an extra effort to shave for their first meeting, he was wearing a simple pair of jeans and a white shirt.

"So you're the man behind the jacket?"

"What is she talking about Ran?" Charlie played dumb which caused Ran's face to become redder than ever, the gag had gone just a bit too far the only thing she could do was to pinch him. "Alright I am the jacketman!"

"Okay, looks like he is the funny type... How long have you been together?"

Ran looked blankly at her daughter's image on the screen, she was totally unable to speak. Charlie saw his beloved's distress, he first tried to comfort her holding her hands. However the man quickly realized this wouldn't be enough and resigned himself to talk to the teenage girl he heard so much about.

"It's been 2 years now" he smiled at the camera.

"Wow!" Emiko was stunned, she didn't suspect anything and took a second to think before bouncing back. "Have you been hiding in her closet the whole time?"

"No, I've never hid myself in a closet. But yes, you're right, we've been hiding..."

"...I needed time" Ran finally spoke carefully avoiding to look at the screen.

"That's fine Mom"

"Actually Emiko... I wanted to ask you something. I am going to Japan in a couple of weeks on a business trip and I wanted to know if you would like to meet at some point."

How could Emiko refuse such an offer, besides that she was really curious about who really was the jacketman. Deep inside she was happy for them but still she was upset and couldn't let it show. "Sounds good to me but I have to go now... things to do" with this said she clapped the laptop off without second thoughts.

*CLAP*

The couple was surprised and slightly jumped when the call abruptly stopped and exchanged looks. "I guess it went quite fine" concluded Charlie.

"Quite..."

Emiko fell on her bed in exhaustion, she needed time to recover from the unexpected Skype conversation. The teenage girl had always hoped that her mother would bring her a father, the fact that they would have genes in common or not did not matter. Nonetheless the timing was wrong, it was a bit late maybe. In her haste she closed the laptop with the flash drive in, although she really wanted to open the laptop again to pick the investigation where she left it she couldn't bring herself to do so. Emiko was too scared that her mother would call her again and ask her further explanations. "Sounds good to me" Pffff What's got into me? I don't really want to do that right now, but I guess I have no choice.

It took her a long walk in Beika, a lot of music to calm her nerves. Still she didn't pronounce a word during the whole dinner making both Eri and Kogoro worry. The teenager was in her little own world, her eyes directed towards her room's door where all the evidence she had in her possession were. Shinichi, Shinichi, Shinichi... It was the only thing on her mind, Charlie and Ran were long gone. As soon as she emptied her plate, she left the table without a word.

Slamming the door behind her she ran to her laptop to read Shinichi Kudo's medical emergency file, when her phone rang she answered by rote and didn't speak.

"Mouri-san? Mouri-san?" Kioshi called not even sure if Emiko had picked the phone up.

"Ah Yoshida-kun... You're allowed to talk to me again?" Emiko was like hypnotised by the screenlight and wouldn't stop reading during the conversation.

Allergy : None

"I am free to do whatever I want but I didn't call to talk about me."

"Oh really? What is this about then?" Persons to contact in emergency case:

Kudo Yusaku

"What have you found?"

"What are you talking about Yoshida-kun, I don't understand..."

Kudo Yukiko

"I've seen you in the headmaster's office, you nearly got caught you know? I hope it was worth it, so tell me have you found anything interesting?"

"I haven't found anything..."

Address : Beika Town District 2 Block 21

I've found an address, his address! Well hopefully it is still the right one, there's a high chance that he moved away. I need to find out...

"I have to go, I'll see you tomorrow Kioshi!"

"Hey! Wait a minute!"

Emiko was already gone by the time Kioshi intended to say something, she put a dark jacket with a hoodie on and her favourite pair of Converse. Carefully she opened her room's door just enough to peek, everything was quiet Kogoro and Eri were already gone in dreamland. Also carefully she closed the apartment door behind her. The teenager used her mobile phone to direct herself in the unknown streets of Beika, fortunately enough the streets were empty and it was unlikely that she would meet someone she knew. Her hearts was pounding, blood rushing through her veins, she had to run until she was totally unable to breath and needed to rest her back against a wall. At least she was able to calm herself as the distance decreased, she wanted her eyes to memorize the full street. The British girl took yet her longest character lesson as she read all the front door names until the right one caught her eyes.

Kudo... There she was standing in front of the mansion in the dark cold night, only the wind and cat to keep her company. Despite the darkness Emiko could clearly see how big the house was, she found it to be truly splendid although it was a bit old. The facade looked a bit outdated, the garden had gone wild a while ago making the girl wonder if anyone was still living in the mansion. She took a few steps towards the huge iron gate, she let her hands slide on the cold metal to only tight it around the bar. She tried to push it, it was closed which annoyed her to the point she gave it a kick. Entering someone's garden through an opened gate was a thing, but climbing on a wall to break in someone's place was something completely different. Emiko let out a sigh her face in between two bars, she was exhausted.