That day Emiko strode the hallway for the nearly hundredth time, she was yawning more than ever due her obvious exhaustion. Somehow excitement was holding her back from sleeping while standing, however surprise totally woke her up when she made her first step inside the classroom. Kioshi's buddy was sitting at her seat, his own stuff on the table. The British girl wanted to avoid causing a scene, she decided to quietly accept the switch. She didn't think much about the situation until Haya's threatening look hit her. She gulped and sat at her new spot that is to say just in front of Kioshi.

"So that's what you meant when you said that you were free to do whatever you want?"

"HAHA you're funny" Kioshi ironically applauded her.

"Did she break up with you because she thinks there's... Something going on between us?" She asked slightly whispering in the end.

"Errrm sort of..." He carefully avoided looking at her in the eyes.

"What kind of explanations is that?"

"Well she, asked me to choose..."

"Wait wait wait... You didn't choose me over her did you?"

"I-I-I" he stuttered looking down while trying to hide his blush.

"Yoshida-san! Mouri-san! You will have time to date after the class."

The teacher's little lecture caused Emiko to join Kioshi in his embarrassment. She couldn't look behind herself anymore and search for the end of his sentence in his eyes. The teenage girl really wanted to know the end of it though, even forgetting about her night adventure. Could it be that he? No, no, no there's just no way he would. Emiko tried her best to shake off the idea. On the other hand Kioshi was praying she would never talk about that again, also his stuff were in his bag a good while before the bell would release all the students and turn Teitan into a zoo.

When the bell rang the end of the morning's class Kioshi was already on the run trying to escape his friend. She wanted to run after him through the school, however Kioshi knew the place better than her and he managed to avoid her the whole day but if there was a moment he wouldn't be able to escape it was the way back home. Emiko secretly took her shoes from her locker and hid it in her bag, when the final bell rang she skipped the locker and headed directly to the exit. The teenage girl waited for his bike and blocked the way with her arms fully outstretched which made the boy nearly fall off.

"What was that for?"

"Seemed like the best way to have a talk with you. Are you going to run away from me forever like that?"

"Of course not... That wasn't what I meant to do."

"Why did you choose me over her?" An uncontrolled blush appeared on her face which more than anything else annoyed her. What the hell is going on in that body? Stop it, already!

"Alright I... I chose to not choose her, I mean you see, I had no reason to stay with her, I mean what kind of girlfriend would be that jealous and also, also I guess that my feelings for her faded away. I don't know what happened but Haya and I it wasn't working anymore. And, and..."

Emiko was listening to each words carefully although she nearly got lost through his confusion and the amount of detail.

I, I mean you, I mean we..." As his face was covered in a dark shade of red he looked away, he hesitated for what seemed to be an eternity. "We're friends, aren't we? What kind of person separates friends?" After a second of relief, he nervously checked the British girl's reaction praying that she would buy this version.

The girl thought a second before bursting into a laugh and hitting the back of the Japanese boy's head "that's right my friend!"

"Stop hitting me already, this is getting on my nerves!"

"Okay, okay I'm stopping it!" She surrendered her hands raised up as if he pointed a gun at her.

They continued to argue on their way back to the agency, it seemed like any conversation was turning into a friendly fight. When they made it to the agency Kioshi put his bike against the wall getting himself ready to help her with their usual homework session. Nonetheless to his surprise Emiko stopped him with a palm gesture.

"I'm sorry I can't, there is somewhere I have to go to..." Her eyes directed towards the ground, she was visibly hiding something. However Kioshi didn't react he left her without asking any more questions. After dropping her stuff home, Emiko ran out, her phone's GPS app wasn't any longer necessary to find her way as she had memorized it already. Those streets were now her streets, she somehow felt like she belonged there. This huge old abandoned mansion was like the only witness of Shinichi Kudo's existence.

As days passed she felt like she had let her friend down at the worst time possible, he looked pretty sad and he was indeed down. Emiko couldn't let it be, leave him like that he said they were friends she just had to do something. That's when she came up with a brilliant idea. I hope it will work...

"There you go!" She hit him with her left fist and lent him a piece of paper.

"What is that?"

"Take it before I change my mind!"

"Wait, what? Are you inviting me to Tropical land, just like that?"

"Yes sure, why not?" Suddenly she noticed that the whole 17-B was watching her and started to whisper "Listen I really want to go there, I need to at least once and there's no one else I want to go with. Plus we both need some air, don't we?" Even after that little speech Kioshi was stoic, he had no idea of what to say and started to wonder if he was day dreaming. But Emiko joined her hands and begged him with a puppy look. How could he refuse that? He gave her an "Ok" sighed and that was it.

Early doors on Saturday they took the bus to the amusement park together, on one hand Emiko was all happy and smiling but on the other hand Kioshi was all silent and expressionless. He had no idea of how to consider the invitation. Was Emiko trying to show him some kind interest or was it just for the friendship sake? First things first, Emiko took a map and took a cautious look. Where is it? Where is it? In a split second she started to run and Kioshi who was still in his thoughts was a few seconds late behind her. The British quickly made it to the spot, she was standing at the exact same place as her supposed parents. She just had to immortalize it, thus she put her mobile phone in Kioshi's hand.

"Would you take a picture, please?" Not waiting for answer she took a few steps backwards to adjust the distance and bent down imitating the picture pose.

"What are you doing?"

"Press the damn button!"

With this done she walked towards him and spoke before taking her precious phone back. "I'm sorry I just had to, I wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible so we could enjoy the rest of the day."

"That's fine" Kioshi scratched the back of his head, lending her the phone.

"But before we continue I have a condition..."

"Shouldn't I be the one who does..?"

"Let me call you Kioshi, I can keep up with the kun-thing but it's really hard for me to call you by your last name. It makes me feel like you're a total stranger. Please, please please, PLEASE!"

This time Kioshi couldn't hide his blush but complied, an embarrassed "Hai" and an enthousiastic "Vamos" later they lined up in various queue, amusement after amusement all the stress was gone. What's better than a roller coaster to evacuate negatives emotions? They laughed, teamed up to win various goodies, Emiko had the same legendary luck as her mother and Kioshi's heart nearly stopped beating a few times as the distance between their bodies radically decreased. In the end it was a perfect day, they left just before sunset and took the bus back together. The young man gained some confidence, he was ready to speak his mind out.

"Emiko, there's a question I need to ask you." He waited for her nod approbation before going on "Well, I want you to tell me honestly. What's wrong with me?" He asked with a quite annoyed expression.

"Huh? What?"

"You said that Haya had ABSOLUTELY nothing to worry about, you said it as if I wasn't even a man. So now tell me what's wrong!"

"Did I say that?" She nervously giggled scratching the back of her head. "Well... I-I have no idea I might have said that without thinking, you're totally alright."

"Wait I'm alright?"

She shook both of her hands "I mean you look great, great man, you're a great man Kioshi..." Gosh what are you trying to make me say Kioshi?

Almost every day Emiko would find a way to pass by the Kudo mansion, to just take a quick look or to observe it longer and this day was no exception. She suddenly got up, called for the bus stop. "I have to go" the bus stopped and she basically jumped out. "See you on Monday" she waved goodbye and Kioshi could only watch her run away, at least he didn't have to worry anymore about walking her back to the agency, still he was wondering where she was running to. Observing this mansion was like playing a live 7 mistakes game, Emiko would notice any tiny change. She passed in front of the mansion once, twice, a few times as discreetly as possible. However this day was different, Emiko heart stopped for a split second when the front door slowly opened, inch by inch she saw someone going out of the house. A woman got out of the house and locked it. She was rather young, 25 or less by the look of things, her height was average and her hair was long and wavy. A beautiful one to say the least, she was wearing a long taupe coat, an umbrella in her left hand. She stopped her walk when she spotted the British girl standing in front of the gate.

Time also seemed to stop as the mysterious woman approached her and talked to her in Japanese. Emiko was looking down, trying to think about something to say or something to do. All she could manage was a "I-I-I", the woman looked somehow a bit surprised.

"You don't speak Japanese, right?"

"No..." The woman's English was surprisingly good, Emiko had no idea of what to do, that person was obviously not Shinichi and she wanted to see him and no else. Carefully she tried to question her "Excuse me... Do you live here?"

"Actually no, I just water the plants... Are you looking for something?"

"Do you know where I could find the owners?"

"I am afraid you won't find them here, they only come occasionally."

"I see thanks anyway!" Emiko said as she ran away as fast as a lightning bolt.

Who is that woman? Where are the owners? Where is Shinichi?... What can I do now? Where to search? So many questions were flowing in her mind, she was totally lost.

Who is that girl? What was she doing there? Could she be Ran's daughter? Gosh I should have asked her name... Ai walked the few kilometres separating herself from her house, the only thought in her mind was Emiko's face and its features. Her place was quite close from the Kudo's mansion, it didn't take her more than 5 minutes to walk back, she opened the gate and instantly spotted her husband's sports car parked in front of the garage. She started to look for him inside the house after taking off her coat and her shoes, it didn't take long to look for him, as usual he was reading a book on his favourite seat. For a short second she smiled at the scene but quickly came back to her confusion. The two married about a year ago but they had lived together for a couple of years, usually Ai would have asked him about his day and told him about hers, but this day was definitely different. She sat on the couch and stayed silent which caught his attention. He slowly put his book back and sat next to her, Ai who was still in her thoughts didn't even noticed when he waved his hand in front of her eyes.

"Are you okay?" He asked her in Japanese

Ai violently shook her head to wake herself up "Yeah yeah it's just... I am a bit sick but I'm okay, you don't have to worry." She hoped he would buy this half lie since she indeed had felt sick but this wasn't what concerned her, Ai wasn't going to complain for something so insignificant.

"Are you sure? I can call the doctor if you want."

"It's fine..." she rested her head on his shoulder and pretend to sleep which was what seemed the least suspicious if he doesn't notice her fake sleep.

Emiko didn't know but Ai had been observing her every day since they met. Every day after school or after her handball training Emiko came to look at the house for an hour or two. She hoped to see the mysterious woman again not knowing she was just a little behind her. A week had passed since Ai met the teenage girl, she had memorized the girl's features and could even see them with her eyes closed, she was now sure of it... It's Ran Mouri's daughter. However Ai was surprised when Emiko didn't come as she'd usually do but the woman thought she might had something else to do. She was wrong, that night Emiko decided to wait till it got dark to go to the Kudo's mansion.

She had waited for everyone to be asleep, she was wearing the same outfit as the very first time to stay discreet. As usually when she made it to the building she observed it for a little, but she quickly took a few steps back and made a run to jump over the wall. A second later she was in the yard a flashlight in her right hand. Just what am I doing? She walked directly to the door and desperately tried to open it. Who would leave the door opened like that? Plan B... She looked around her, tried under the carpet and under the flower pot but found nothing. Out of anger she kicked a rock which made a weird sound. Plastic... It sounded like plastic. Emiko examined the plastic rock, found a crack the key was inside. Can't believe this old trick worked...

She carefully stepped in, nothing on the right, nothing on the left, Emiko progressed through the living room and the kitchen. After wandering around for a few minutes she arrived in a huge room filled with bookshelves. There were thousands of books, only classics and mostly crime novels. Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, Henning Mankell, Edgar Allan Poe, Edmund Crispin, Yusaku Kudo... Wait what?

Suddenly she felt a man's hand on her shoulder, in a split second she clenched her hands into fists and took support on her left foot. She used all her strength and speed to attack the man who still managed to dodge it. However he didn't strike back or defend himself, no instead he hugged her in a tight embrace leaving Emiko motionless.

"Shhhhhh" He whispered in her ear "It's just me". They remained in the same position for what seemed to be an eternity, Emiko unable to move her heart racing and Kioshi not really willing to move.

"Ki-Kioshi... You scared me, I nearly had a heart attack. What are you doing here?" She pushed him away

"I could ask you the same! So that's what you meant when you said that you found nothing?"

"That's funny... Would you now whisper please!"

"Okay, okay..." He whispered with his widest smile.

The two teenagers progressed in the dark with Emiko's flashlight, when they got to the stairs Emiko silently questioned him on whether to go take a look or not. He nodded and bent down as if saying "Ladies first" only to get another pad on the back of his head. After a few seconds of hesitation she proceeded and climbed on the stairs ahead of him. She opened the first door to discover a small room which was the toilet, a face palm later she opened the second door to discover the bathroom, a pretty cool one to be fair with a huge bath. It makes sense to have those rooms close to one another, that's not interesting, let's see what do we have next. Emiko closed the door and instantly her heart jumped out of her chest at the sight of a man in front of her. From what she could she could distinguish he was a foot taller than her and wore glasses. She froze, her body was paralyzed, thankfully enough Kioshi pulled her with him in his run.

"Hayaku!"