The letter ran:
Dear Shiho Miyano,
I have a package for you. Your sister, who was my best friend, gave it to me. Something you created is in the package. Meet me at the train station, platform three, at three a.m. If you don't want anyone else to die, you'd better show up.
Even without Shiho's sixth sense, Shinichi knew that the Black Organization had sent the letter.
"No... They know... Shiho..." Conan thought frantically. "How could they have found out about us? Everyone connected to us will be killed. I can't let that happen."
"That girl better show up. I spent all that time getting those letters, and I spent five hundred dollars on those envelopes, but if she comes, sending a letter to every house was worth it. Not only did I send them to every house, but every building. The kind of person who would betray the Organization wouldn't want to cause the death of another person, would they?" Belmot thought, smiling evilly as she fingered the gun in her pocket. "She'll come if she's in Beika, won't you? Sherry?"
Shaking with fear, Haibara tore open the envelope and read the letter. She knew it was from the Organization.
"What should I do?" she asked herself. "If they know where I am, they must know everything. Why did they send this letter, then? Why didn't they just go ahead and kill me? Do they want to torture me? I won't let them. They don't seem to know that I've shrunk. I can't let them hurt anyone else."
Promise me you'll be back tomorrow by sunset, no matter what. Promise me. Shinichi's words rang in her head. She smiled bravely as she looked around for a bottle of White Spirit.
"I can't see you again, Kudo. I can't hurt anyone else anymore." she thought. "Good-bye."
"Well, looks like we're going to the train station." Conan declared.
"What?! Are you crazy? You think she's going to the train station? Why? How do you know that she even got a letter?" Heiji reasoned.
"I don't know either. I remembered she talked about leaving so she wouldn't endanger the people next to her. She never should have left, that fool!" he burst out angrily.
"Well, if she hadn't left, you never would have realized how you feel about her. You'd just have a crush on Ran forever." Heiji pointed out.
Seeing his friend's face, Heiji went on. "I guess we're going to the train station. Even if she doesn't go, we can get Belmot," he added quickly.
"Idiot." Conan whispered.
"Come on, standing there and insulting her won't get you anywhere. We only have 15 hours before it's three a.m."
"I was talking about you." Shinichi lied. "Anyway, let's start planning."
The anxious hours passed s-l-o-w-l-y.
"I don't even know if she's in Beika." Belmot thought angrily. "This shouldn't be my assignment. The traitor probably isn't here. I don't know why I spent $500 on those envelopes. This will ruin my reputation if I can't even eliminate this traitor." At this point, she opened the door and glanced both ways. Satisfied that no one was near, she took her gun out, loaded it, and put it back in her pocket.
"It's 2:50. It's illegal to open other people's mail, so no nosy bystanders should be there, but if there are, ... well, let's just say it doesn't pay to be nosy." Belmot laughed as she walked out the door. She checked out of the hotel, called a taxi, and had it take her to the train station.
"Come on, let's go." Conan said impatiently.
"I'm coming... wait, I just thought of something." Heiji walked towards the kitchen. He came back with a bottle of White Spirit. "Drink this. If they know about her, they'll be looking suspiciously at kids."
"I'm not sure if it will work." Conan said hesitantly.
"Just try it and see." Heiji insisted.
"How will you explain my appearance and Conan's disappearance? Anyway, if I turn back to Shinichi, they'll notice me." Conan answered.
"I hope they won't notice you at all. If they know, though, they'll be paying more attention to kids. Hurry, the Professor and Kazuha are sleeping. I'll just say I went to take Conan back home and ran into you on the street."
"Do you think they know?" Conan asked.
"I'm not sure, but I don't want you to take any chances, so just drink it now." Heiji ordered.
"Okay, let me borrow some of your clothes." Conan said, heading toward their room. When he emerged, he had returned to his normal state and was wearing some of Heiji's clothes.
"Let's go." Shinichi said.
"Heiji! Where are you going?" Kazuha cried. "I want to go too." She was rushing down the stairs, pulling on a sweater over her blouse, and she hadn't had time to pull her hair up in the usual ponytail.
"You idiot! This is dangerous!" Heiji screamed.
"I don't care. If you can go, so can I." Kazuha said determinedly.
Heiji knew it was useless to argue with her. "Fine, you can come. Hurry."
Kazuha noticed Shinichi. "Heiji, who's he? How did he get here?" she asked.
"Conan was whining to go home, so I took him home, and met Kudo on the street. Heiji lied.
"Are you Ran's boyfriend?" Kazuha asked.
"No, we're just friends." Shinichi explained. "Now we have to go. It's 2:45."
"Where..." Kazuha began.
"The train station." Heiji answered, knowing what she was going to ask as they headed out the door.
Ai was still searching in the Kudos' house for White Spirit. She took bottle after bottle out of the pantry.
"No, no, no. Why isn't there any White Spirit? It should work as long as it's been a while since you've drunken it." she thought. "I need it. They don't seem to know about my current condition."
She grabbed another bottle. It was the White Spirit.
"Yes! I've finally found it." she thought triumphantly.
She prepared some clothes and emptied the contents of the bottle. Nothing happened. "Is it going to work? Nothing's happening!" she thought frantically.
Just then, she felt a pain in her stomach. She began to grow. She gasped as she put on the clothes she'd prepared. "I meant nothing's happened yet." she panted. She glanced at the clock. It was almost 2:40. She took a deep breath, walked out the door, and called a taxi.
Belmot arrived at the station first. She paid the driver, gathered her belongings, and stepped out of the taxi. She walked to platform 3 and hid behind a column.
Shiho arrived next. She stopped by a mailbox and mailed a floppy disk containing all the information she'd ever gotten concerning APTX-4869 to Conan Edogawa at Professor Agasa's house. She looked around, feeling lost. "Today is my last day on earth," she thought to herself as she slowly walked towards platform 3. "This is my fate. I was just meant to create the drug. That was the reason of my existence. I made it for the most evil people on earth. My sister tried to free me from those people and they killed her. There is no justice in this world. The good guys never win. I'm coming to join you, sister." She reached the platform and walked in, shivering.
Belmot was swinging her handbag impatiently.
" If you're here, hurry up." she ordered. "I have a plane to catch. I'll just watch for the red hair. I doubt she's even here."
She peeked around the column again.
" Red, red, red. There's no red, and needless to say, no traitors." she scowled.
Suddenly, she turned around, and spotted the pretty, red-haired girl. She smiled and pulled the trigger. The second she heard the shot, she knew she was going to die. Shiho didn't even have a chance to duck. She felt a pain as the bullet hit her, and she fell to the floor. Blood soaked her clothes, and images of her sister flashed before her eyes, then, all she saw before her eyes was darkness as she fainted.
" Bull's eye." Belmot thought calmly, congratulating herself as she put the pistol back in her handbag. " Carrying only one bullet at a time means you have to be a good marksman. Or markswoman. So the traitor had been in Beika the whole time? How did she do it? How had she escaped the gas chamber? Then, how had she escaped our spies? Oh, well. She'll die from loss of blood very soon, so how she had escaped everything didn't matter much anymore. She was going to die, and that was all. We always win in the end, Sherry." Then Belmot smiled brightly and flagged a taxi.
Shinichi, Heiji, and Kazuha were running into Platform 3. They heard the gunshot, and glanced at each other in horror.
Shinichi froze. This couldn't happen. Shiho couldn't get hurt. They wanted to kill her. He had to stop them. They had already shot once. Was she all right? What if they... what if... what if...
" No." he shouted as he started running over. He wasn't thinking. He didn't want to think. He had to get to her. He had to. He didn't care if they saw him and realized that he was still alive. If they killed her, he didn't want to live anymore, either.
Heiji grabbed him. Shinichi was too emotional to think things through clearly. He shouldn't be seen here. It wouldn't be safe. What if someone in the Organization saw Shinichi? He had to keep them from seeing Kudo, and he had to keep bystanders from learning Shiho's name so nothing would spread. He groaned. This was not a good situation, and he would have to take care of it. He had an idea, but it wasn't great. However, it was the best he could do under present circumstances.
" Calm down. Go call the Professor. It's better for you not to be seen, in case...anyway, don't worry. I'll take care of things. I have an idea. No one will find out who she is. Meet me back here." he said. " Don't worry. Trust me, Kudo."
Shinichi looked at Heiji. He knew that his friend would never hurt him, and was telling him to stay away for his own good, but how could he stay away? He knew it would be stupid if he ran out there, Heiji was right. He took a deep breath, and realized that he had been irrational. Heiji was his best friend, and he could trust him to take care of things. He gave Heiji a tight, worried smile before he agreed. Heiji and Kazuha pushed through the small crowd surrounding Shiho.
"Move. I'm a doctor." Heiji shouted.
Kazuha stared blankly. "Since when?"
He reached Shiho's side and felt her pulse. It was faint.
"This girl is dead." he lied. "I've already called the police, so everyone, please resume your previous activities."
No one paid any attention. Heiji scowled. Suddenly, Kazuha had an idea.
"Look, Heiji, the train's here!" she cried.
At this, the small crowd raced toward the edge of the platform.
Kazuha smirked triumphantly. "Now what, Doctor Hattori?"
Shinichi came running up. "I called the professor." he panted. "How is she?"
"Pretty well, I think. She's still breathing." Heiji said.
Shinichi ran to Shiho's side. "Are you sure?" he asked anxiously. "It looks like she's lost a lot of blood."
"I..." Heiji started.
"The professor's here." Kazuha interrupted.
Shinichi picked Shiho up.
"Come on." he said to Heiji.
"Wait." Heiji protested. "You go ahead and take her to the hospital. Kazuha and I will meet you there later. You know, in case..." (he was going to say you shrink, but he couldn't say it in front of Kazuha)
At this moment, Shiho woke up and saw Kazuha with her hair down. Being only semi-conscious, she thought Kazuha was her sister. She tried to sit up, bu the effort was too painful and she fell back. She realized someone was holding her. She looked up and saw Shinichi's worried expression. She was confused. Was she dead? How could she see Shinichi and her sister at the same place? Her head swam, and she felt horribly dizzy.
"Kudo!" she gasped. "My sister, she isn't dead?"
Shinichi barely heard her. He looked around, but only saw Heiji and Kazuha looking at them worriedly.
"Don't talk." he ordered. "You've lost a lot of blood. You're going to the hospital." he expected to hear objections, but heard nothing. He looked down, but discovered that Shiho had fainted again. "All right, Heiji, see you later." he cried, holding Shiho and running toward the Professor's car.
"Come on, Heiji." Kazuha grabbed Heiji's arm.
"No, Kazuha. Kudo will take her to the hospital. We'll go later." Heiji said.
"Okay. Let's go to a shrine. We can get her a good luck charm and buy her some flowers." Kazuha decided.
"That's a stupid idea." Heiji objected, but secretly, he was relieved because Kazuha wasn't insisting on going to the hospital. He wondered what he would tell her when they got to the hospital. He tried to think of a good lie as he let Kazuha lead him around town.
Heiji was right. Shinichi and Shiho got on the professor's car.
"We have to go to the hospital." Shinichi said frantically to the professor. As soon as he said this, he felt a familiar sensation. He looked over at Shiho and saw that she was shrinking, too.
"Idiot! These flowers are unlucky." Kazuha yelled.
Heiji and Kazuha were at a flower stand. They had already purchased a good-luck charm for Shiho, and were now trying to choose a bouquet for her. The trouble was, they had difficulty agreeing on one.
"White?" Heiji asked
"No, white is used for funerals too much." Kazuha said.
"How about red?" Heiji suggested.
"Too cheerful for the occasion." Kazuha answered.
They finally settled for a bouquet of blue roses.
"Let's go back to the hospital now." Kazuha urged.
"Um..." Heiji began.
Shinichi was a little more relaxed now. Shiho was going to be fine. The doctors said she had just lost a lot of blood. The transfusion was done and now Shiho was sleeping peacefully. Actually, they were Ai and Conan again.
"Luckily, the professor brought some clothes for us." he thought. He was sitting at Ai's bedside. The phone rang. It was Heiji.
" Hey, Kudo. How's Miyano-san?" he asked. Then, he realized Kazuha was still beside him.
" Kazuha, don't listen to other people's conversations." he shouted.
Kazuha scowled, and Conan got the clue.
" Everything's fine now, we're leaving, but come visit Conan and his friend at the hospital. I ran into them." he said.
" Okay." Heiji agreed. "See you."
After a brief moment, Heiji and Kazuha were at the hospital.
" That guy just appeared and disappeared. He was weird. And what about that girl?" at this point, Kazuha remembered something. " Heiji, why did she think I was her sister?"
" How do I know? You must look like her." Heiji scowled. " Hurry let's go see Conan."
Heiji and Kazuha went to Ai's room.
" What should I do with these?" Kazuha asked. She was talking about the flowers and the charm.
" Give them to that girl. It'll be the same." Heiji said.
Kazuha glanced at Ai.
" She has red hair too!" she exclaimed.
" Lots of people have red hair." Heiji snapped. " Just give them to her."
" Fine." Kazuha said. She reached for a vase by Ai's bed and began arranging the flowers.
At this moment, Ai opened her eyes. She slowly sat up. She saw Kazuha fixing the flowers, and for a second, she saw her sister, but then she knew she had made a mistake. She turned around to tell Shinichi, but her eyes met with Conan's. She looked at her hands. She had shrunk again.
"Why am I alive? What happened?" she thought.
Kazuha turned around. "Here." she said, holding out the charm. "This will keep you safe from now on and lead you to a speedy recovery."
Ai didn't think a necklace would really do that much, but she accepted it with a smile.
"Thank you, but who are you?" she asked.
"They're my friends." Conan told her. "Brother Heiji and Sister Kazuha. They came to visit you."
"Oh." Haibara nodded.
Just then, the nurse came in. "You have a lot of visitors, little girl. I thought I'd bring you a cup of water." she said, smiling.
"Thank you." Ai said.
Kazuha gasped. "Water!" she cried. "I left the water running at my house. Heiji, we have to go back."
"You brainless fool" Heiji snapped. "Well, bye, K-Conan, we have to go. See you another time."
"Bye!" Conan replied.
Kazuha and Heiji went out the door, but their arguing was still heard for a few minutes, then there was silence.
"You idiot! Where have you been? Why didn't you call me about the train station?" Conan shouted.
"How did you know to come? Why am I not dead?" Ai asked.
Now that he was sure that Ai was going to be okay, his anger surfaced. Conan glared at her.
Ai glared back. "Why should I stay here?" she demanded. "If I stay, I'm just endangering you, the Professor, and the kids."
"I've told you before. If you leave, it'll only look more suspicious. Just stay and be an elementary school kid." Conan yelled.
Ai put down her head. "I didn't think anyone would really notice if I left." she responded.
Conan's mouth dropped open. "What?" he asked in disbelief. "Don't you know people care about you?"
"Who?" she sneered. "The only person who ever cared was my sister, and she's dead, dead."
Conan stared at her.
"How did you know I was gone, anyway?" she asked.
"Well, I guess I had a dream." Conan admitted.
"Ha, ha, ha." Haibara snickered. "So, let's hear what happened in the prophetic dream."
"I'm not exactly sure. I just know I woke up, and I had a horrible feeling that something had happened to you." Conan said, wishing she would stop being so sarcastic.
"Horrible feeling?" she echoed. "Are you sure you don't mean ecstatic?" Ai asked, sarcastically.
Conan couldn't stand it anymore. He took her by the shoulders. "Stop talking like that." he ordered firmly, giving her a few shakes. "Don't you know how worried I was? When you were gone, it was just like something snapped inside me. I finally figure out that..." he broke off, unable to continue. His face was flaming red. He didn't have to say anything else. Ai understood.
"What? But I thought you loved Ran." she whispered, her eyes wide.
"I thought so too. We grew up together, we've been best friends forever, and I thought I loved her too. When I met you, well, I just thought we were close friends, but when you disappeared, I realized that if I never saw you again, it wouldn't be worth living."
Ai was surprised, but she managed to hide it with a blank expression.
"Shinichi..." she began. She gazed deeply into his dark blue eyes. When she looked in his eyes, she knew how worried and anxious he had been. Now she was sorry for running off.
When he looked into her eyes, he knew everything. He was so relieved to have her back. Nothing had ever seemed more precious to him.
"I'll never let you leave me again." he thought.
Aloud, he said, "Everything will be fine now."
A few days later, Ai was out of the hospital. She moved back to the Professor's house and started to develop the antidote based on the information she had gathered. Conan never left her side.
"Here." she announced one afternoon as she handed him a pill. "It's a new antidote. I found a default in last time's and now this can last longer. I don't know how long, though."
He took it. "Are you going to eat it too?" he asked.
"Yes." she answered coolly.
Conan was shocked. "You can't! What if anything happens?"
"I've already made up my mind." she said.
"Tired of being a kid?"
"You could say that."
"I won't let anything happen to you."
"If you think it's so dangerous, why are you taking it?"
"I'll do anything you do."
With these words, Conan and Ai stepped into separate rooms and ate the pill.