"Shinichi, thank you! I've had so much fun today!" Ran Mouri said to her childhood friend, thinking how great it was that Shinichi was finally back. He had been gone for so long, and sometimes she had really wondered if he would come back at all. But Shinichi was back now, and that was all that mattered. Or was it? Her smiling face was replaced by a thoughtful expression as she wondered about the little boy that had lived at her house, Conan Edogawa. Sometimes he had acted so much like Shinichi that she had believed Conan was Shinichi. But every time she had enough proof to confirm that he was, something had popped up to prove her wrong. The night Shinichi had disappeared, Conan had popped up at his house, and now that Shinichi had returned, it was Conan who was missing. But after her school play, she had seen Shinichi and Conan together. Conan acted a little weird then, but he had been sick.

" There's no way, right? There can't be, can there?" Ran mused.

" Ran? What are you talking about?" Shinichi inquired, looking at Ran curiously.

" Oh, nothing. Nothing at all. Haven't you had fun today?" Ran asked, giving Shinichi a bright smile.

" Yes, you're right. It really has been fun." Shinichi nodded and grinned at Ran. The two of them had spent the day together at Tropical Land, even though Shinichi had felt a little nervous about returning to Tropical Land at first, nothing had happened. He was fine, there had been no sign of anyone in the Organization, and he and Ran had had a wonderful day together, and now they were waiting for a train at the train station so they could go home.

Shinichi's grin didn't assuage Ran's doubts. In fact, it only made her wonder more if he was keeping a secret from her. He wouldn't give her any details about what had happened. When she asked about the case he had solved, he never wanted to talk about it, either. He acted as though he had forgotten everything that had happened during that period of time. Well, either that or it was a big secret he didn't want to talk about. What had happened to him? And where was Conan anyway? People didn't disappear into thin air the way Shinichi and Conan did. It just wasn't logical. Ran looked at Shinichi and saw that he was still grinning widely at her. She temporarily tucked back her doubts, fears, and worries. She smiled at Shinichi again and began a constant stream of chatter about things that had happened during the day to entertain him.

Shinichi nodded as he Ran talked to him. It was good to be back, good to be Shinichi Kudo again. It was nice to be able to reach doorbells, nice not to have to always carry the voice changing bow tie, nice to be with Ran and all his other friends, and nice not to be in elementary school repeating first grade. He continued thinking these thoughts and listening to Ran, then someone behind Ran caught his eye.

It was Ai. At first, Shinichi wasn't sure if it really was her, but no one else could have that red blonde hair. He only saw her from the back, but he was positive. Shinichi's eyes widened, and ¡¥Ai¡¦ was on the tip of his tongue, but he said nothing because Ran was there. He had never told Ran about being Conan, even after he was back. He knew the Organization was still out there, and it was too dangerous.

At the sight of Ai, Shinichi's mind was filled with questions and memories. Ai had grown too, she was Shiho again, but Shinichi just remembered the girl he had gone to school with when he was Conan. He realized that he knew nothing about Ai when she had been Shiho. In his mind, he saw Ai's first day at school, Ai pretending to be Conan, Ai holding the papion dog, Doyle. Where had she been? One afternoon he had gone to Professor Agasa's house to call Ran as Shinichi, and Ai hadn't been there. The Professor had given him a pill, telling him Ai had left it for him, that she had found the antidote for APTX-4869. It had worked, and Ai was a teenage girl again. He had asked the Professor where Ai was, but the Professor hadn't known. All Professor Agasa could tell him was that Ai had told him there were some things she wanted to do, and had given him the pill to give to Shinichi. Shinichi had never seen Ai again, until today.

" Shinichi? Shinichi, are you okay? Come on, hurry. The train's here! What's wrong with you?" Ran dragged Shinichi out of his thoughts; and dragged him onto the train.

Just before the doors of the train slid shut, the girl with the red hair turned around and saw Shinichi. Her eyes widened, and an odd expression appeared on her face. The train pulled out of the station, and the girl followed it with her eyes.

In the train, Shinichi looked out the window and looked at her, until the girl with red hair was almost invisible and the red hair was only a small dot on the window. He wished he could talk to her, but the train kept moving until even the speck of red vanished from his view.

The girl with the red hair was Ai, but if Shinichi saw her now, he probably wouldn't have recognized her. As she stared after the train, Ai's eyes were wide and her mouth was hanging open. She wasn't cool, calm, or collected. In fact, she looked almost idiotic.