" Will you even notice that I'm gone, Shinichi? Don't worry; you won't have to see me anymore. I'll find a cure for us. I promise, Kudo." she whispered to herself. With that promise, Ai Haibara slid of the bench and walked on.
It was six o'clock. Ai had just realized that she had nowhere to go. She had left suddenly with feelings of anger and confusion. She briefly thought of going back, but quickly decided that she wasn't going back without the antidote. She thought about Kudo again, and suddenly, she knew exactly where she could stay.
" Thanks, Kudo." she thought. " Don't worry about me at all."
Shinichi had been unable to sleep. He had dozed for twenty minutes, but he had woken up again because he was too worried about Shiho.
" Where are you? Do you have food, or money, or anything? Please be alright. How will you live?" he wondered. He read the letter again, trying to get a clue to her whereabouts, but he found nothing.
Ai stealthily walked up the street to the Kudos' house. When she reached the gate, she tried to get in, but found that she was too short. She sighed in annoyance, then glanced around and quickly climbed over the gate. Once inside the garden, she ran up to the door of the house. She scowled upon discovering the locked door, but soon remembered that Professor Agasa had come a few weeks ago and cleaned out the refrigerator. He had also opened a window to let in some air. Was it still open? She ran around to check. It was. She smiled happily. There was even a trellis that she could climb on. She grinned, climbed up the trellis, into the house, then turned back and shut and locked the window. It had been so easy for her to get in!
She explored downstairs. When she was done, she walked up the stairs to explore to second level of the house. She saw a closed door and opened it. It was a bedroom. At the sight of the bed in the room, she suddenly felt exhausted.
" Well, I've been wondering in the streets since two." she thought. " I'll just rest for a while."
Ai crawled onto the bed and was asleep before she even had a chance to adjust the covers.
Heiji woke with a yawn at eight o'clock. He stretched, than glanced at Kudo to see what he was doing. From Shinichi's expression, Heiji knew exactly what he was thinking. Kudo was still determined to save that girl. The criminal.
" Shinichi, why are you-"before Heiji could finish, Shinichi cut him off.
" Heiji, I know what you think. Really. I felt the same way in the beginning, but-"
Now it was Heiji's turn to cut him off.
" You like her, don't you?" Heiji asked.
" I don't know." Shinichi admitted. " I just know that I hated her in the beginning, but now I don't know. I only know that I don't want her gone, and she's gone."
"What about Ran?" Heiji asked.
" Who cares? I never said I loved her, did I?" demanded Shinichi. " Maybe I liked her for a while, but I don't now. I'm sure about that."
" I can't believe it!" Heiji exclaimed.
Just then, Professor Agasa came in the room and handed Conan the phone, smiling.
" Is it Haibara?" Conan asked the Professor, but as soon as he did so, he heard Ran's voice on the other end.
" Conan! Why did you just run off like that?"
Conan scowled.
" I'm spending spring vacation with Professor Agasa."
" You can't do that!"
" Yes I can, he's my relative and he invited me. See you after the vacation."
" But Conan-" Conan hung up.
"Idiot." he scowled at the phone.
Heiji handed the phone back to Professor Agasa, who left to put it back.
" Never mind, I believe you now." Heiji said. " How exciting! You no longer like you old girlfriend because you've met a girl from a criminal organization."
" Ran was never my girlfriend. We were never more than friends anyway. She's too annoying." Shinichi shrugged. " Anyway, Heiji, please help me find Shiho. Please don't judge her because of her past. Meet her yourself."
" Okay, Kudo. I'll help you find her." Heiji promised. " It's just that you're my best friend and I don't want her to hurt you."
" She won't. I know she won't." Shinichi said. " Don't worry."
He turned and looked Heiji in the eye.
" Thank you, Heiji. You're my best friend too. I hope you know that," he stated truthfully.
" All right, where should we start?" Heiji wondered.
" I don't know. I looked at the letter she left, but I can't find a single clue." Shinichi admitted.
" Let me see it again." Heiji said as he reached for the paper. He read it and held it up to the light.
" I can't figure anything out either." Heiji confessed.
" Tell me her whole story." Heiji demanded.
" All right, but don't tell anyone about it, okay? Not even Kazuha." Shinichi said.
" I promise I won't tell anyone, Heiji promised."
" Her real name is Shiho Miyano..." Shinichi began.
As Ai slept in the Kudos' house next door, Shinichi told Heiji about their life, her sister, the medicine, and everything he knew about her. When he finished, Heiji nodded.
" We'll have to look all over Beika for a clue to her surroundings, then." Heiji decided.
" Let's go now." Shinichi said.
" Wait! Kudo, we have to eat something, and I have to get rid of Kazuha so she doesn't annoy us." Heiji said.
" Hurry! We don't have time! Tell Kazuha to spend the day with Ran." Conan anxiously said.
" Let's go to breakfast." responded Heiji.
Shinichi dragged Heiji towards the dining room. They met Kazuha in the hall, and they all walked down to breakfast together. At breakfast, they persuaded Kazuha to visit Ran. After that, Hattori and Conan headed out the door.
"Where could she be?" Conan wondered.
"She could be anywhere. She's probably not even in Beika anymore, you know. If she's been out since two, she could be anywhere by now." Heiji said.
"Why would she leave Beika for no reason?" Conan asked.
"How do you know she didn't find a reason?" Heiji demanded.
Conan and Heiji had been wandering around Beika all day. Of course, they had never searched Shinichi's house. They had looked in shops, restaurants, hotels, and even gas stations, but had found nothing. Now the sun was setting. Heiji looked up at the sky.
"It's getting late." he remarked. "Let's go back to the Professor's house now."
"No, lets keep looking." Conan objected.
Heiji pointed out that if they wanted to find Ai, they had to get a decent amount of rest. Shinichi knew he was right. He realized that he had only slept four hours the previous night. He was so tired that Heiji had to pick him up and carry him back to Professor Agasa's on his back.
Professor Agasa was surprised at Heiji carrying Conan through the door.
"What made him so tired?" asked the Professor.
"Well the fool hasn't slept well and he didn't eat well either. He was too worried about Shiho Miyano." Heiji smirked.
Conan reached up and hit Heiji on the head. Heiji just smiled.
"Put me down." Conan said to Heiji. Heiji obeyed.
"Did Haibara call?" Conan asked the Professor hopefully. Professor Agasa shook his head.
"Well we know she's not here, she's not at the Mouris', and she's not at your house, Shinichi," the Professor said.
"We never checked my house." Conan said.
"Why would she be there?" Heiji asked.
"Yes, come on, she wouldn't run away just to go next door." Professor Agasa said. "So other than here, your house, and the Mouris', she could be anywhere."
"But we checked everywhere!" Conan cried.
"Is Kazuha here yet?" Heiji asked Professor Agasa.
"She called to say she was coming home 15 minutes ago," he answered.
The door opened and Kazuha stepped in.
"I'm here!" she sang. She was loaded with bags and items. "You fool!" she snapped at Heiji. "Can't you see I need help with my bags? Carry them to my room!"
Heiji smiled, picked up a few bags, and walked towards Kazuha's room.
"Where could she be?" Conan thought.
"If she's planning to work on the antidote, it would be helpful to have a computer. Have you checked the library?" Professor Agasa asked. "It's a really big place. Did you check all eight floors?"
"Yeah, but like you said, it's really big, and there were so many people." Conan said. As he said it, he realized that the library was almost closing and would be empty soon. Heiji and Kazuha walked back in. Conan took Heiji aside.
"Pack your bags! Let's spend the night at the library and look for her." he whispered.
It sounded a little crazy to Heiji, but he had nothing to do.
"What about Kazuha?" he asked.
"She can come along. She does know martial arts, right?" Conan said. "But don't tell her the plan or she'll disagree. Just bring her. We'll waste time in the library until it closes. Just play along, okay?"
They packed and returned downstairs.
"Let's go to the library!" Conan cried.
"Okay!" Heiji hurriedly said before Kazuha could object. "Kazuha, do you want to come?"
"Yes, I'm coming." she said.
They boarded a bus and got to the library.
"Look!" Conan exclaimed. "It's the Final Problem. I'm going to read it and be a detective like Mr. Mouri."
Heiji's mouth dropped open. "Wh-"
"So what? Let's get out of here and go eat dinner." Kazuha interrupted.
"No, I'm not finished yet." Conan objected. "Please, let's wait a little longer."
"Can't you check them out?" Heiji asked.
Conan shook his head. "I don't have a library card." he said.
"Well, don't look at us, we don't even live here." Kazuha told him.
The lights went out.
Conan smiled to himself in the darkness.
" Let's get out." Kazuha cried. " We'll get trapped."
" Shh." Heiji warned as he took out a flashlight.
Kazuha's eyes narrowed suspiciously. " How did you know to bring a flashlight?" Kazuha asked.
"Detectives always have flashlights." Heiji snapped.
" Okay, so why do you have one?" Kazuha retorted.
" Shh. Someone's coming. It's one of the guards." Conan whispered.
" Good. They can help us get out." Kazuha said.
" Just shut up and hide in the bathroom until they lock up and leave." Heiji commanded.
" What? Why? Don't we want to go?" Kazuha asked.
" Just hide!"
After the guards left, Kazuha demanded an explanation.
" My best friend was kidnapped, well, she just disappeared. I don't know where she is and she might be in danger." Conan explained.
" Your best friend is a girl? How weird." Kazuha jeered.
" Well, I like her better than anyone else in our class. Everyone else is so stupid." Conan said.
"Oh..." Kazuha trailed off. "But I can't believe your best friend is a girl!"
"Who's your best friend, Sister Kazuha?" he asked.
Kazuha immediately thought of Heiji and blushed. "It's ... Ran, of course," she stammered.
"Brother Heiji isn't your best friend?" asked Conan.
"No, he's an idiot." Kazuha said with a smile.
"Aren't you his girlfriend?" Conan continued.
"Enough, let's start looking." Heiji said.
Conan walked out of the room, leaving an embarrassed Heiji and a red-faced Kazuha looking into each other's eyes.
Ai sat up and stretched. She looked around for a second, then remembered where she was. She located the computer, turned it on, and started tapping away at the keys. She had a clue now. The white spirit... and she also had the results of the other experimental drug.
Conan, Kazuha, and Heiji searched the entire library. They looked behind every bookcase, in every stairwell, every desk, and at every computer but they found nothing. They combed every inch of the eight-story library. Conan looked around cautiously.
"Haibara!" he called softly. "Haibara! Where are you? Are you in here? Haibara!"
He shone his flashlight on the bookshelf. As he did so, he noticed that the G encyclopedia was out of place. It was now behind the H encyclopedia. He took it out and opened it. It fell open to the article about Gin. There was a sheet of paper between the two pages. Conan took it out. It said:
We can burn the will. Now everyone can be rich. We are relocating to help out everyone. We are going to make plans to build. It will be the biggest, best, grandest new baseball stadium that American people run to. We must find will in order to be rich. They then needed a diamond ring to be able to have any one of the famous baseball player's appearances in the form of a big, fat, rat. A place to have company. We have invited everyone. The party's location is the big museum to the right of the Leave Money Here store. Their owner is on mission to find money or to find a job. It is all for the best party at the big museum, least of all to an expensive ballet show. Month is now April and no one can go wear a coat to their school to meet their best friend in the whole world. Austin is there now in the deserted school. One rat bit him. Week is now over, or nothing else.
"If I didn't know Gin, I'd think this was just a stupid kid's scrawls." Conan thought. "Is this to Gin or from Gin? What's the code? I'd better show Heiji."
Conan copied the phrase in his notebook and put the paper and encyclopedia carefully back in place.
Heiji smirked. "Of course I can figure this out, Conan." he bragged as he took the notebook. Kazuha sat beside him. Her eyes were wide and interested.
"We can stay here tonight and go to the encyclopedia section tomorrow and see who get the message." Conan said.
Heiji nodded, but his thoughts were on the paper.
"Give me the paper, Heiji. I'll figure it out. I'm much smarter than you." Kazuha bragged. She grabbed the notebook from Heiji. "This makes no sense." she muttered.
"Did you figure it out?" Conan whispered to Heiji.
"We don't know for sure if it has anything to do with them, though. It doesn't really matter if we solve it or not yet. As you said, let's see if anyone comes to read it tomorrow. Just let Kazuha have her fun." Heiji whispered back.
"It's very late. You two get to sleep. Now." Kazuha commanded.
Conan didn't want to go to sleep. He wanted to continue to look for Ai, but they had checked the whole library and decided she wasn't there.
"Get to sleep, Conan." Heiji ordered. "There's nothing we can do now; we're trapped here, and you need to rest. I know you're worried, but trust me, we'll find her."
`Conan lay on the floor and was instantly asleep. Heiji looked down at him before he settled down beside him on the floor.
"Of all the people to fall in love with, Kudo." he thought.
He yawned as he set his watch so it would wake him up at six.
"Don't do anything stupid, Kazuha." he murmured. Kazuha scowled. "I'll show him." she thought. "I can figure out the code. You may be smart, Heiji Hattori, but you're still human."
Two hours later at five, she was still puzzling over the code. "That book on code breaking was no help at all." she thought. "It told about using letters to form words, but I did that and none of it works. Is it a code at all? I'll try to look for words that form sentences, but if that doesn't work, I quit." she decided.
Forty minutes later, she smirked. "I finally figured it out." she thought triumphantly. "Heiji Hattori!" she screamed. "Get up! Now!" She ran to Heiji's side and shook him until he slowly got up.