He'd noticed her first because it had been too hard not to. She'd looked like Ran, only older and somehow more real. Her clothes were always immaculate, neat blazers, prim skirts that wouldn't hinder quick movement, and a blue scarf around her neck always tucked neatly into itself so no one could grab it and strangle her with it.

The woman always dressed sensibly. Even her hair was clipped short, though the first time he'd seen her it had brushed her mid-back, messy and disheveled from how it looked that point onward. She had a single ring, a silver band in lieu of a more extravagant ring on her left hand ring finger.

She dressed how he imagined Ran would dress, during those moments when he'd pictured the two of them in the future. Sonoko favored stylish over sensible, but Ran always dressed to accent herself first. She was beautiful because of her bearing more than because of her clothes.

And this woman had Ran's bearing, too. Her shoulders were set in a matured version of how Ran's had taken to be over time. The longer it took her to hear from Shinichi, the more firm and despondent her shoulders became, a stiff but gradual decline that sorrow and disappointment wrought. This woman knew a crushing sorrow, and it emanated off her in a near tangible wave.

She boarded the bus at the station near the elementary school, always the last one on, and she exited the bus at the nearest stop to Department One's main office. None of the department really knew her, or at least seemed too reluctant to share information about her with children.

Conan could respect that.

It was because he noticed this sad and strange woman, a woman Ran could be if he had to live as Conan for the rest of his life instead of returning as Shinichi, that he noticed her stalker. He boarded and exited the bus always one station after her, sat three seats back to her right, where she tended to stand near the front using the handholds, and wore nondescript clothing like any shabbily dressed college student.

The man would sit and watch her, track her as she moved about the bus and then down the street when she exited. It had taken him several days to realize the man was following her, and only then because she'd dropped an earring without realizing on the bus. The man had picked it up as he exited, feigning a trip and snatching it up as he pretended to catch himself.

Conan noticed her wearing the pair the following day, carefully touching them as she exited the bus one day. The man had exited with her that day, keeping three people between them at all times.

Conan slid to the edge of his seat, shouldering his backpack and keeping his eyes on the stalker. The bus slowed and stopped, and Conan joined the file of people exiting the bus. The Ran lookalike had exited at the previous station, and now four people were between Conan and the man following her.

He'd found it far easier to follow people as a child. He learned to watch surreptitiously, smiling and playing innocent, and it was a much better disguise than anything he could have thought up before. He hadn't had much need for disguises before he'd been shrunk, but the possibilities had always lingered in the back of his mind.

Now he just had to paste on a smile and affect an uneven and bouncy gait. People ignored him, moved aside without thought, and blatantly disregarded his actions with unnerving apathy. The stalker wasn't any wiser.

The woman was walking into Depertment One's building, significantly less foot traffic to obstruct the stalker once Conan got close enough to catch sight of her. The stalker lingered at a nearby street corner, pressing the button for the crosswalk but still watching behind him.

Conan joined him, grabbing both straps of his backpack with his hands and humming. He could see the stalker glance down at him and then ignore him. One of the teenagers, all wearing Teitan uniforms and on their way to school, reached past the stalker to press the crosswalk button. As a small crowd grew around them, Conan studied the stalker as well as he was able from between the bodies of other pedestrians.

It was a young man, maybe Shinichi's age or a year younger, wearing a dark hoodie and black slacks. The hood was drawn up, and he could see thin black cords peeking out of the gap in the hood. He couldn't get a good look at his face with the hood up and at such a low angle in the crowd.

The light changed and the walk sign lit, motivating the crowd to hurry across the intersection. Conan kept up the act as he followed the flow of foot traffic and lingered back once the stalker peeled off the crowd and then down an alley way.

The stalker kept to alley ways and roads with light to no traffic. Conan had to put greater and greater distance between them once the traffic died out altogether. The stalker still seemed oblivious to him, but Conan wasn't taking chances. The last time he'd followed people in black, he'd been shrunk.

He'd also stumbled onto a conspiracy that spanned the globe.

The stalker wasn't proving to be as interesting. He'd looked Shinichi's age on the first glance, but maybe he was older. He could also be playing hooky, but hanging out on the riverbank in plain view of overhead foot traffic wasn't inconspicuous. Conan hovered behind the stalker, settling at a distance behind the stalker.

He moved his bag to his hand and opened it, fishing out a bottle of water. He observed the stalker, but the man lingered at the riverbank for hours, doing nothing more interesting than watching the clouds. Several pedestrians crossed the bridge, but none of them even glanced down at the man by the riverbank. The police officer, who Conan had thought would come down to at least question the man or bring him in for truancy, ignored him entirely.

The stalker stood up and started up the riverbank with thirty minutes before the bus was due. Crowds were starting to form again as schools let out and the stalker joined them. It was depressing how unobservant people were to their surroundings.

Ran's lookalike was already on the bus, and the stalker passed her for one of the seats at the back. Conan joined the fringes of a group of school children, stilling as he got his first good look at the stalker.

The hood still cast most of his face in a light shadow, but he could see enough.

The stalker had Shinichi's face.

The stalker looked like how he'd remembered he'd looked on his first day of high school. Soft lines to his face not yet matured into adulthood, the line of his jaw matching Shinichi's, the turn of his nose, everything about the man echoed a face that Shinichi had left behind.

Conan almost didn't get off the bus in time to follow the man.

Ran's lookalike walked a few blocks from the bus stop into a residential area. She passed houses, waving at people along the way but never stopping to speak with anyone. The stalker was always a block behind, but the noise of the neighbors calling out to her made her easy to track. Conan was more likely to be the stand out, an unfamiliar child in a neighborhood where everyone knew everyone else.

The house he trailed them to was upscale with a security system to match. Conan stopped between two houses, far enough back to observe Ran's lookalike punch in a number code at the gate and then latch the gate behind her. The stalker, only waiting long enough for her to enter the house, punched in the same number code and prowled around the side of the house, slipping into the shadow of the building and out of sight.

Conan approached the gate. The name plate read 'Hakuba' and he immediately recognized the name. Hakuba Saguru, or Superintendent Hakuba, was chief of the metropolitan police, someone he'd even met in passing as Kudou Shinichi with Megure once. The man was half-Western, evident in his features and extremely fluent English, and no one had mentioned he was married. Ran's lookalike visiting Department One made sense if she was married to their overseer.

And he was left with a choice. The stalker was familiar enough to know the number code to enter her residence, but hadn't yet done anything more malicious. Conan hadn't seen enough to know if following the woman was as extreme as his behavior was, but it was still a dangerous sign. Escalation could come at the most random moment.

This had earmarks of a pattern, but stalkers weren't rational. This could be the night that he chose to escalate things into assault, kidnapping, or even murder.

He stayed at his distance from the residence and pulled out his cell phone.

"Shinichi? What's going on?"

"Agasa-hakase, I need you to call Ran and tell her I was helping you with one of your inventions and fell asleep. Tell her I had a busy day at school, whatever you need to to justify it, and that you'll drop me off at school tomorrow. I'll call the school in the morning using the bow-tie voice changer, but I need you to cover for me with Ran."

"Are you on your way here?" He could hear the man rustling through papers, possibly digging himself out of whatever he was working on.

"I'm in Edoka following a lead. I'm doing surveillance now and I'm being safe." He had on his stun dart watch, ball-dispensing belt, powers shoes, extension suspenders, and even a a pair of handcuffs. Everything he needed to take down any suspect should things get violent.

"What are you doing in Edoka?" Agase demanded. "Our problems are that close to home?"

"Different set of problems." He took a breath. "There's a man here wearing my face. He looks exactly like I should. Exactly. I need to figure this out."

Agase was quiet, clearly holding back questions, and then he sighed. "Fine. One more lie won't make the larger ones any less."

"Thank you."

"Be safe, Shinichi. And get here once you are done. I'll have Ai-chan bring your school work over so Ran-chan won't be suspicious."

"I'll be as careful as I can." He hung up then, slipping it into his pocket and adjusting his backpack. He carried some more supplies, mostly water and energy bars, but he'd have to stop somewhere in the morning if he wanted to keep following the man.

He'd have to wait until the man came out.

Unless he could find another way in...

Conan hiked his backpack up and started down the sidewalk, passing the house and eyeing the neighboring properties. The Hakuba House had high walls with obvious cameras mounted on the corners of the property and several more well-hidden in the foliage and eaves of the house. The most obvious point of entry was the wrought iron gate at the front. The perimeter was bricked walls and decorative fencing only a foot high across the top.

Hakuba was either paranoid or planning for an assault.

But all that security hadn't kept out his wife's stalker.

He wasn't going to have an opportunity to follow the stalker onto the property, so he settled in for a wait in an alley between two houses down the street. He kept the front gate in sight, watching the few passersby traveling the sidewalk on their way where ever they were going.

He kept track of the time, so he wasn't surprised when a dark police-issued car dropped off an older man with tawny hair and a polieman's jacket.

Superintendent Hakuba was home.

Conan wasn't sure what to expect, but it wasn't for the stalker to slip out the gate as Hakuba punched in the code, pushed open the gate, and turned back to the car to offer a hand to a brown haired child with big blue eyes. The boy was talking in a constant stream, never even pausing as the stalker crossed behind them and started down the sidewalk.

No one paid the man any mind, despite how out of place and suspicious the man looked.

The child, who could only be their child with the bone structure and blue eyes that brought his father's Western blood to the front, held Hakuba's hand as they entered the house. The boy's voice didn't carry enough far enough for him to eavesdrop, but he could pick out a few words lipreading. Typical chatter about his school day, questions about his father's day, and excitement to see his mother.

The police car left in the opposite direction that the stalker had, so not even the driver noticed the man.

Conan waited just long enough to be out of sight, sure that the police would stop to question him about being out after curfew. In a residential neighborhood he had no right being in.

Conan hurried after the stalker, hesitating as they started towards downtown and the streets got busier. He was going to standout in the crowd no matter what he did, so he hurried as much as possible, not giving anyone a chance to stop him.

Eventually, the stalker stopped at a construction site, ducking under the warning signs. It was a budding office building without windows and wrapped in construction tarps and rope. By the time he caught up with the stalker, he was already on the rooftop, sitting on scaffolding.

Stalkers could escalate to suicide, too, and there was no way to know if he'd set anything in the Hakuba residence that'd go off later.

Conan hung back, breathing softly in the shadows of the rooftop entrance. The stalker rustled in place, unzipping the hoodie and dropping it on the ground. The trousers followed next, and the stalker was dressed in a gleaming white suit, pulling a cape and top hat out of his suit jacket.

It tugged at a memory, but before he could figure out how, the stalker jumped, falling down the side of the building and activating a hang glider.

He vanished into downtown.

-X-

"Is this who you saw?" Agasa handed over a tablet, an old news article on the screen. The most prominent picture was of a man in white standing on a jewel case, surrounding by policemen and security guards. Underneath the picture, the headline read: KID strikes again!

"Who is he?" Conan scrolled down the rest of the article, but there was very little about the man.

"A thief before your time. He debuted when I was studying for my doctorate. Bit of a showmen, but never caught. Your grandfather coined the name Kaitou KID, actually. And you've always known your father's Baron came from several real life sources." Agasa took back the tablet and scrolled up to point at the date. "This was the last heist before he disappeared from the public eye. Still active, but not as famous as he was."

"He looked like me. He had Shinichi's face. Maybe an apprentice?"

"KID was rumored to work with several accomplices. An apprentice wouldn't be unheard of in the criminal world." Agasa set the tablet aside. "He looked like you."

"Definitely my age group. Maybe younger. Too young to know the Hakuba family." Conan let his eyes drift out of focus as he tried to recall the previous day. "But he knew them. Followed the wife; knew her schedule. Knew the security code. Knew when the rest of the family would be home."

"Investigating the police perhaps?"

"But she's not part of the police."

"We will need more information." Agasa placed a hand on the tablet. "I will look into her history and email you what I find."

"Thank you," Conan said, picking up his backpack and walking towards the front door. He hesitated before he left the room. "Was Ran really upset?"

"She was understanding, for the most part. I think she worries that Conan didn't have as many friends before and now, he makes excuses to be with them. It is a positive sign for her, considering how often Conan is involved in her father's business. Proud, but worried it would make Conan difficult to relate to." Agasa smiled briefly. "She sees Shinichi in Conan, I'm sure, and worries no one is there for Conan the way she is for Shinichi."

-X-
"I never expected something like this to catch your interest," Haibara murmured, stepping to his shoulder and glancing about them. Ran and Sonoko were ahead of them with Suzuki Jirokichi, Hakuba, and several other police officers. "You don't really think you have a cousin you've never heard of who works as a thief do you?"

"It's possible." Unnervingly possible. His father's family was not very large, but all were supremely intelligent and prone to disaster. He has so little contact with his extended family, it was entirely possible one of them had a thief for a son. "Agasa found so much circumstantial evidence linking my family, the Hakuba family, and Kaitou KID, we might be related somehow."

"More likely related through your mother's side," Haibara said. "That's why they were interested in you to begin with. The Kudou family may be known for intelligence, but the Mine family, they have international renown as grifters, thieves, and con artists."

Conan grimaced.

"What would you even say to him?" Haibara continued.

Conan jabbed her with an elbow and didn't feel guilty when she winced.

"I have to ask for the children, your granddaughter, and her friend to remain outside of the target room," Hakuba said, casting sharp eyes over their group. Sonoko drew herself up to protest, but he raised a hand and she stilled. "This is not a request. KID is dangerous. People have been hurt before."

The police carefully corralled them into the security room, well away from the danger and isolated from outside contact with only two officers stationed inside to monitor the cameras. The target room was entirely empty, with three guard in each doorway leading into it and Hakuba and Jirokichi at the main entrance, leaving nothing but open space with a single display case in the center.

Heart's Lament was a gaudy ruby-encrusted necklace with a pink diamond as a centerpiece. It made for a perfect KID target because it was hideous beyond belief and came with a mystical story.

KID's note to Jirokichi specified an exact time, which Conan didn't believe, but as soon as the second ticked down, the glass ceiling overhead vanished. Smoke and gas filled the room and a figure in white dropped down from a rope and landed on the display case. The top of the glass case was gone and the thief simply reached down and pulled the necklace out, stilling as the steel tether linking the necklace to the display fully extended.

"You'll have to try harder, Hakuba," the thief said, jerking hard on the necklace and letting all the delicate chain and links shatter apart until he had only the pink diamond in hand. He grabbed the rope with his other and yanked it taunt. KID began to rise, waving the diamond uncaringly.

A shot rang out next.

The rope snapped.

KID fell back on the display.

It shattered under his feet.

Another shot.

Kid lunged off the display case, hefting the diamond with a snarl, and landed right in front of the officer shooting at him. He cracked the man across the face, taking another shot to the chest. The cape swirled after him as he ducked past more guards, Hakuba in pursuit, and sprinted for the hallway.

Conan pushed away from the desk, running for the door and wrenching it open. Ran yelled after him, already following, but one of the officers grabbed her and hauled her back into the security room. Conan could hear him advising others that Conan was in the hallway.

Smoke still curled thick across the ground down every hallway he passed though. It stung his nose and made him feel light headed, and he passed several officers slumped unconscious. There were even more officers scattered along KID's exit route. But Hakuba was still in pursuit.

Conan had to stop and catch his breath before he tried to tackle the stairs up to the rooftop.

More shots echoed down the stairwell to him.

He swallowed hard and ran up the stairs.

The rooftop door was open when he reached the top.

"You got him?"

"Detained with the others. The rest?"

"Too afraid to come out. But someone's trying again. I don't know how much progress they've made-"

"Doesn't matter."

Conan crept through the doorway, freezing in surprise.

KID was bleeding freely from three major bullet wounds, slowly turning his white suit bright red. Hakuba stood only a few feet from him, tensed but not panicked. KID was flipping the pink diamond between his hands, holding it up to the moonlight.

"Have you seen Koizumi?"

"Not recently. Does she still-"

"Of course. We all-"

"Not all."

"No," Hakuba agreed, "but you've seen him recently too."

KID turned and leapt off the roof, flying away on his glider and disappearing into the cloudy sky.

-X-

"I don't understand," Conan said, "KID doesn't have anything to do with these people."

"He must somehow," Haibara said, offering the year book back to Conan. The class photo of Hakuba and his wife spread across the table. She was Nakamori Aoko. And to her right was Koizumi Akako. They stood just slightly away from the rest of the class, an invisible line between Hakuba and the other students that kept the three out of the immediate group.

"He knows these people. He's at least fifteen years their junior, but he knows these people."

"An illegitimate son. Estranged childhood friend's child. There's too many possibilities."

"It has to be more personal than that. He follows Aoko every day. He's in their home. He acts like an informant with Hakuba."

"Then you'll have to corner him and interrogate him." Haibara shrugged.

Conan frowned down at the pictures in the year book, staring at the strained and slightly sad smiles on their faces.

Something was missing. He was missing something because it wasn't there.

-X-

He saw KID every day, following Aoko everywhere she went. There wasn't a neat way to cut the man out of the crowd without drawing attention to himself. He never carried a wallet, watch, or music player Conan could pickpocket and return. He never even had change from buying a ride ticket, but Conan never noticed a pass either.

KID had nothing but the clothes on his back, and after several days of surveillance, Conan hadn't seen him eat once.

Another KID note was sent to the police. The target, the Seal of Susano'o, a briolette cut emerald of an unusually large size in the richest, purest green he'd ever seen, was on display in the Imperial Palace.

Whatever KID had planned, it would be with four different news crews, the Imperial guards, and every police officer in Tokyo not involved in an emergency system function present to witness it.

Getting access wasn't easy. Hattori and an entire entourage from Osaka arrived as auxiliary support, so Conan tagged along with Hattori, even though that access only extended to the control room. Hattori made faces at him during the debriefing, but Conan ignored him.

With so much personnel on the premises, getting the thief alone was going to be nearly impossible.

It was nearly time for the heist and this time Conan kept a countdown to the second.

KID showed up precisely on time.

And KID was wearing a self-contained breathing apparatus similar to the one's firefighters wore, which protected him from the paralyzing gas he brought with him. The first guards, mostly from the Imperial guards, slumped to the floor unconscious, but Hakuba's men wore face masks and promptly closed the exits, including the hole in the palace wall KID cut open to gain access.

And from under his cape, KID drew a silver pistol and shot apart face masks with sharp-tipped cards.

"Shit," Hattori hissed out, reflexively clenching a hand on Conan's shoulder. "What the hell, Kudou? Wasn't this supposed to be easy?"

Conan kept watching the security feeds, shrugging off Hattori's hand to wedge himself closer to the guard seated in front of the television screens.

The guards were attempting to overwhelm KID through numbers, rushing at him and trying to keep a sea of people between KID and the display case. KID nimbly avoided guards, ducking and weaving with an acrobat's ease, and when he couldn't avoid them, he turned violent.

With only five men between KID and the display case, KID dew out the silver pistol again, and neatly shot each of the guards in the head.

Blood splattered on the carpet and display case.

KID smashed the case with the butt of the pistol. He drew out the emerald and tucked it in his beast pocket.

The remainder of the guards filed in, dressed in riot gear and carrying bulletproof shields.

KID made a show of holding up a pen, pressing the nub and standing to the side as the wall behind the case exploded. The shockwave sent some of the guards to the floor, but the rest pursued KID through the hole and into the gardens.

Guards scrambled to clear the garden and the street behind it, arguing with the reporters and television crews. Conan turned back to catch Hattori's eye and then head for the exit.

"You're insane. He just murdered five people for a stupid jewel." Hattori kept pace behind him, clipping his helmet on as they came to his bike, tucked away behind the police-issue cars. Conan took the helmet he was offered and hopped on behind Hattori.

"I know he did." The ease with which KID killed was unnerving. After that one article Agasa showed him, KID sparingly appeared in other articles, but there hadn't been any reported deaths. More than a few critical injuries, but not death. "Just follow him, Hattori. Something isn't right."

"No shit. You want to follow a murderer through the streets of Tokyo armed with a stun dart watch. Nothing unusual there." Hattori complained but continued weaving through traffic, tracking the white spot high above them. The police were also in pursuit, but KID was staying well away from them, and only the motorcycle could follow down alleyways, stone stairs, and through a parking garage.

KID started a descent and Conan tapped Hattori's shoulder.

"Hang back. I want to talk to him," Conan said, ignoring Hattori's startled yelp and ran for the roof of the small bookstore KID was landing on.

KID was still and quiet, standing at the roof edge and letting his cape billow in the wind. He didn't turn at the screech of the fire escape as it clattered under Conan's weight. Nor did he move when Conan lifted his watch and called out to him.

"You're new," KID said, glancing over his shoulder and down to Conan. "Awfully young to be chasing thieves, aren't you?"

"You're a murderer, not a thief," Conan shot back. "You killed five men tonight."

"I've killed more than that," KID admitted leisurely, "The trick is that they don't stay dead."

Conan clenched his jaw. "And the Hakuba family? Do you plan to kill them too? Wait on the bus and follow Hakuba Aoko home, leave her body for her family to find?"

This had KID turning sharply, the mask gone, but blood was still splashed on his suit jacket and top hat. He looked like a monster, something anathema in white and blood.

"You're with them, aren't you." KID advanced on him, silver pistol appearing in his hand. "I won't hesitate because you look like a child."

Conan's eyes widened, diving to the side as KID fired at him. A card buried itself in the concrete by his feet, the edge glittering silver.

"I'm not-"

"Back off, KID," Hattori snarled, hooking himself over the fire escape and leveling his own gun on KID. "I will shoot you."

KID smirked, pistol on Hattori and his free hand waving back towards the city. "They've done it, already. What's one more?"

Conan gaped in horror as Hattori fired on KID, an expert shot where his heart would be, and blood came flowing thick and fast.

KID laughed.

"I thought you'd have given up that by now. I shoot you, you shoot me. Nothing changes!" KID shot at both of them, Hattori able to fall back on the fire escape, but Conan had no cover, and one of KID's shots went wide in the wind. Conan cried out as he gripped his arm, a surgically thin line but deep.

KID stilled.

"Kudou!" Hattori ran for him, heedless of KID in his concern. "Shit!"

KID backed away, hands shaking, and Conan could see his eyes widen through the shadows and the monocle.

"No. Then you're not-" KID bit off the rest, a hand going to his mouth and then jerking it away as he smeared blood over his face. He ran for the rooftop and took off on the glider, shaking through the air and out of sight.

Conan watched him leave as Hattori dressed his arm.

"You're staying away from him. He's insane. Tell Hakuba you've followed him to his house, and let that be the end of it. You think you can tackle Them and a sociopathic thief, you're crazy, too." Hattori squeezed his uninjured arm, hands trembling faintly. "Ran's going to kill both of us for this."

-X-

"So I take it,everything went well," Haibara said, kicking her feet absently in Agasa's chair as she used the laptop.

Conan grunted.

"Judging by the headlines and your battle scar, you've had an answer about KID."

"He thought I was part of a group. He saw a child and assumed I wasn't one."

"You think he knows about Them?" She swiveled to face him, hands folded tightly in her lap.

"He knows something!" Conan kicked the coffee table in a fit of frustration. His coffee cup clattered to the ground, coffee splashing on his socks. "I just can't figure out-"

He stopped.

"You have that blood sample from KID. Did you get anything from it?" he demanded.

Haibara raised her eyebrows at him, regarding him coolly as he waited. She drew one of her hands up to brush some of the hair off her face and tapped her lips.

"I'm running tests right now, as a matter of fact. I'm waiting for my programs to process the information." She paused. "What exactly do you think I'll find?"

"I don't know. But there's something strange about him."

He had a suspicion, but he wasn't going to say anything yet. Haibara would just laugh.

-X-

"I just don't understand what you're asking us to investigate," Mouri said, and Conan hesitated in the doorway, looking through the gap into the office.

Ran was serving tea to a redheaded woman and Mouri sat across from them on the other side of the couch, face scrunched up as he chewed on the end of an unlit cigarette. Ran caught sight of him and waved him in, turning to greet him and moving away from the woman briskly.

The woman made Ran uneasy, and that made him nervous.

"Welcome home Conan-kun. Did you have a good day?" Ran asked, taking his backpack and hanging it up near the door.

He nodded to her, looking back towards the couch. "I did. Is she a client?"

"Yes. Someone stole a family heirloom and she wants us to find the culprit." Ran shifted in front of him when he made to move towards the couch. Her hand landed on his shoulder and her face became slightly strained. "You must be hungry, Conan-kun. Come with me to the kitchen and I'll make a snack for you."

"I think we're done here for now, Mouri-chan, no need to bother," the woman said, standing up and turning to face them. She swept red hair out of her face with one hand, a glittering viper ring on her pointer finger, and smiled. Her lips were the darkest red he'd ever seen.

She was dressed like his mother, flashy and high-fashion, in cuts of black and white fabric, and she pulled a red fox fur stole over her shoulders on her way out the door. The air in the room felt lighter when the door closed, and he looked between Ran and her father in concern.

"You're not taking it, are you?" Ran asked.

"Not much choice. You're always telling me we need the money. You wanna eat or have the high ground?" Mouri shot back, wandering over to his desk and cracking open the window behind it. He lit his cigarette and grimaced. "Don't look like that."

"She's-" Ran cut herself off, folding her arms around herself and rubbing at her elbows. "Something's strange about what she was saying."

"Of course there was. She wants us to find the Heart's Lament."

"What?" Conan blurted out, stiffening when Ran looked down at him. He hesitated. "But I thought Suzuki-san owned the Heart's Lament."

"She claims she loaned it to him." Mouri stubbed out the cigarette and sighed. "Guess I'll call Suzuki then."

-X-

Someone was watching him.

At first, he'd thought maybe Hakuba had sent police officers to help Mouri investigate, but there weren't any cars or policemen loitering anymore than usual. There also weren't any men in black suits or strangers who paid him any more attention than usual.

But someone was watching him.

-X-

"I'm glad we could find time to speak with you, Conan-kun. I know you've been interviewed already, but I never got a chance to talk with you personally," Hakuba said, leaning back in his chair and folding his hands on his desk. His suit was unbuttoned at the throat, his cufflinks undone, and his tie was loosened enough to hang down. He rolled his ring around his finger twice and sighed. "I have a son your age. I hate to think what it must have felt like to confront a killer at his age. Your age."

Conan nodded, but wasn't sure what he was supposed to say in response. Everyone in Department One knew of him and his reputation. KID wasn't the first or the last criminal he'd stand against.

"Even with Hattori-kun there, it must have been terrifying."

"KID was scary," Conan agreed, feeling uneasy. Hakuba was watching him for something, looking for something.

Hakuba's face tightened, but relaxed.

"Why did you chase him?"

"He's a criminal. That's what we do, right?" Conan said, knowing instantly that he'd misspoken when Hakuba nodded amicably.

"That's what we do. The police officers. Detectives. Even amateurs like Hattori who have police sponsorship. What we do is not what children do. So why did you chase KID after watching him kill my officers?"

"I- I got caught up. You're supposed to stop criminals." Conan held himself as still as possible. He'd always trusted Hakuba; he'd never thought otherwise.

"Even when you chase them to my home?" Hakuba leaned forward, laying his hands flat on the desk. "You've followed KID to my home and never reported it."

Conan nodded, biting his lip and bringing his hands together in his lap. He'd have enough time to get his dart watch up, hopefully.

"Hattori wasn't aware you knew where I lived, and he had no idea you saw KID at my home without reporting it during his iinterview," Hakuba continued, "I can understand being afraid of KID and possibly being too brash and chasing after him. I do not understand following him to my home and never reporting it. That worries me, Conan-kun. Perhaps living with a detective has given you the wrong impression of your duty to the law."

"I can't leave," he blurted out. "I don't have any family here."

"I know," Hakuba said, "But I think it would be wise to stay away from KID heists and crime scenes from now on. I've heard from my officers that it's not that simple for you, but we've contacted Mouri-san and his daughter with our concerns, so arranging alternatives shouldn't be too difficult."

Conan nodded again, trying to keep his face still.

"We only want what is best for you, Conan-kun," Hakuba said, pushing back from the desk and standing.

-X-

"It's our best lead," Mouri said, "KID might not want it, and going through the dealers is the only way to figure out who does."

"But that's hours out of the city." Ran wrung her hands together.

Conan kept his head down, pretending to finish his long division math problems.

"I'll be fine on my own. I have done this before," Mouri said, shrugging on his coat and dodging around Ran. She hurried after him as he left the office.

"Just be back before it gets too late." Ran lingered in the doorway until the lower door closed behind Mouri. "Looks like it's the two of us tonight, Conan-kun."

"I guess so," Conan agreed, but they both froze at the quiet knock at the lower door.

Ran visibly cheered herself, shaking herself once and heading downstairs. "Wait right here, Conan-kun."

He waited as he heard her open the door, but her voice was too low and indistinct to hear clearly. He started to worry when he didn't hear anything at all. Old fear prickled his skin and he went for the door, lingering cautiously and leaning down to get a better look at the landing.

He... Shinichi was at the landing, arms around Ran as she cried into his shoulder.

The man pretending to be him finally looked up the stairs and caught Conan's eye.

He grinned, instantly recognizable.

KID.

-X-

"But you can stay a little longer can't you?" Ran pleaded, looking like she wanted to hold him in place rather than let him out of her sight. Conan wanted to scream at the criminal wearing his face, being touched and loved and looking at Ran like she was everything in life.

The way KID's face twisted, appearing both repentant and adoring, was exactly how his face looked when Conan practiced in the mirror.

"I only have tonight," KID said, reaching to take Ran's hand and squeezing it. "But that's plenty."

Ran blushed, carefully pulling her hand away, but Conan noticed how she hesitated to let go entirely.

He kept quiet, fury sealing his lips, but he wouldn't know what to say anyway.

Nothing about this made any sense.

"I'll get tea together and you can tell me about this case you're working on," Ran said, choosing to walk around the couch and trail a hand over his shoulder. KID watched her go, a familiar fond expression on his face until she was through the door.

"Who are you?" Conan hissed once he was sure she was out of ear shot.

KID stiffened, but he didn't drop the persona. "Your cousin, Conan-kun. What's gotten into you?"

"You're not Shinichi," Conan accused, making his voice as cold as he could. "Who are you?"

"I don't understand," KID said, honest confusion on his face.

"Leave. Get away from Ran and never come here again." Conan wasn't sure how his face looked right then, but KID went bizarrely still and the Shinichi face slipped off without KID having to move a muscle.

"I didn't want to scare you," KID said, face not his own but no longer Shinichi's so it wasn't as upsetting. "I needed to talk to you. I needed to apologize."

"Then say you're sorry and never come here again."

KID studied him, and both of them jumped when they heard Ran rattling the tea service. He nodded to Conan.

"I'll apologize to her and leave. I won't come here again," KID said, and he kept his word.

Conan wasn't sorry to see the back of him, but watching Ran place her hand on KID's and blink back tears was gratifying in a shameful way.

-X-

A fox stole was hanging by the door two weeks later, even though Conan knew Mouri wasn't anywhere close to finding the Heart's Lament.

Koizumi Akako was terrifyingly sharp, picking him out immediately. Having the full force of her smile on him was like knives, like facing down Gin.

She wasn't to be trusted.

"I don't believe we properly met last time. I'm Koizumi Akako."

"Edogawa Conan," he said, wrapping his fingers around his backpack straps.

"Conan," she repeated, "Would you like to come with Ran and I to see the rest of my jewels?"

"I have homework," he said, hoping to deflect her. He didn't want to be alone with her, or have Ran anywhere near her either.

"You have to come, Conan-kun. Dad's chasing a lead, and I don't want to leave you here alone." Ran had her coat over her arm, and her face was apologetic.

Koizumi smiled even brighter, standing to her full height and draping the red fur over her shoulders. She dropped a hand to his shoulder as she directed them to the door, and Conan could have sworn her ring writhed around her finger.

She had a car waiting on the street, and a uniformed driver standing next to it. He looked oily.

Ran stepped between Conan and the woman, placing Conan by the car door. She folded her hands into her lap while they waited for the driver to start the car. She looked relaxed, but she could crush the woman sitting to her left if she had a mind to.

"Tea?" Koizumi asked, leaning forward and sliding open a compartment between the driver's seat and the front passenger's. It wasn't a true question. She poured hot water and steeped tea bags, handing over the cups once she finished. She didn't offer anything to go with it.

Ran politely sipped her tea, nodding along as Koizumi started narrating her jewelry collection. Conan eyed the cup suspiciously, but after ten minutes and nothing happened to either Ran or Koizumi, he took a drink.

And the edges of his vision started to blur, speckling black until everything went dark.

-X-

He was on a bed when he woke up.

He wasn't Conan when he woke up.

"I've never seen this reaction before. You are rather unusual," Koizumi said.

Shinichi pushed himself upright, hand going for his wrist. His watch was still there and his glasses were on the side table. Koizumi was seated in an armchair by the door. Her fox stole around her neck was watching him with glittering eyes, ears flickering as Shinichi sat on the edge of the bed.

"Where's Ran? What did you do?" he demanded.

"She's sleeping in the other room." Koizumi crossed the room and took his chin in her hand. The fox stole leaned in with her. "You're so very strange."

"You can't kidnap people and expect to get away with it," he said, jerking his chin away from her. "The police will believe me no matter what you say."

"I have no doubt," Koizumi said, "But I have friends in the police, too."

"I never suggested you kidnap the boy, Akako." Hakuba was in the doorway, uniform gone but a rich tan suit in its place. "Not explicitly, anyway."

"If we did things your way, nothing would get done," Koizumi said, reaching out again and forcing Shinichi to be still. The viper ring around her finger uncoiled and flared up to stare at him. "He's very interesting."

"You'll have to forgive us, Kudou-kun. We've ran out of other options." Hakuba pulled Koizumi back, ignoring how the fox stole leaned into his neck and nosed up to his ear. "Now, could you tell me what you know of these people?"

And he held out a photograph, a worn polaroid of two men in black coats.

Gin and Vodka.

"They're the ones who drugged me," he confessed, seeing no alternative yet but to play along.

Hakuba nodded, like he'd expected to hear this, and tucked the photo away. "Have you seen them again?"

"No."

"You're not surprised we know who you are," Koizumi said.

There wasn't anything to say to that.

"You've done a very good job creating Conan," Hakuba said, "It's only that I've had more experience with this sort of thing that it was so easy to see through."

"It's easy to cheat when you have technology to do your hard work," Koizumi shot back, "I knew right away what we were dealing with."

"What are you dealing with?" Shinichi asked, leaning forward to rest on the balls of his feet and ready to run if necessary. He'd find Ran. They would get out of here.

"Someone special."

And there was KID, sitting in the window. His cape flapped in the wind, though near invisible against the dark sky. Only the faint gold light from inside the room illuminated him.

Shinichi turned to stare at the new threat, keeping Hakuba and Koizumi in his periphery. Neither of them acknowledged KID.

"You can see me. You can hear me." KID paused. "They can't."

"Just because we can't hear you doesn't mean we appreciate the tone you're taking, KID," Hakuba said, eyes drifting towards the window but not focusing on anything.

"Watch," KID said, stepping into the room and walking behind Hakuba. He held a hand in front of his face and made a motion like he would strike him. Hakuba didn't react. Even Koizumi's living stole didn't so much as twitch when KID leaned over to blow in its ear. "But you can."

"I don't understand," Shinichi said, breathing in slowly to counteract how hard and fast his heart was beating.

"Those men who changed you are headed by a very dangerous man," KID said, moving back to the window.

"If he hasn't explained properly yet, KID and you are suffering from the same fate. Given how you reacted to Koizumi's tea, I'd say you've been given a more refined variation of Pandora."

"I was exposed to the raw material," KID interjected quietly.

"And he'll wax and wane with the moon, forever trapped at seventeen until he can be cured," Koizumi murmured, eyes taking on a faint red gleam as she stared at the window.

Shinichi realized she could see KID when she smirked in response to the grimace he made.

"While all of his loved ones age and forget about him," she ended cruelly.

"Never forgotten," Hakuba said, fingers finding his ring and spinning it around his finger.

"Kaito," Shinichi said, shoulders softening just a bit at how pale KID went and how sad Hakuba looked. Even Koiumi shuddered, eyes glazing with tears before she blinked them away hard. "You named your son after him. That's why you all, your wife too, that's why you started to drift apart from everyone else."

"Yes," Hakuba said, "Aoko chose it."

"And you want to be allies?" Shinichi asked.

"I think we're in a unique position to help each other," KID said.

The cape, hat, and monocle weren't easy to ignore, but when he tilted his head, the gold light brightened the exposed side of his face. He looked like Shinichi still, but he could start to pick out the small differences in their faces.

"We can help you," Hakuba said.

"Okay," Shinichi said, relaxing as the tension in the room dissipated. Even Koizumi, as sharp as broken glass, softened at the edges. "Okay."

-X-

"I don't need the test results anymore," Conan said, "I already know what they'll show."

"Exposure to unmodified Pandora? The root formula I've been attempting to recreate to finally cure you? Is that what you were expecting?"

"Yes. You don't need to be that rude."

"KID has been connected to the opposition and that doesn't concern you. What is going on, Kudou?" Haibara was getting angry, her vowels clipping like gunshots.

"You wouldn't believe me without proof. So I'm bringing you proof."

"When?"

"Now." Conan looked up at the blurry figure he could see on the roof of his house and waved him over. The sliver of moonlight was making KID visible, but only enough to be a mirage. It would still be obvious to anyone watching his house who was like him or Haibara. "Open the door."

"She sounds pleasant," KID said, hunching his shoulders.

"She'll probably skin you alive and run tests on your beating heart," Conan chirped, enjoying the disturbed expression KID affected.

"You're strange."

Conan rolled his eyes. The irony of the situation was painfully obvious, but Haibara was pulling the door open and that took priority. She scowled at him, but flinched in surprise when she noticed KID. Her scowl intensified when she turned back to Conan.

"Why do these things always happen to you?"