Chapter 3:

Conan ran out of the cab as fast as he could, and stumbled into the Agency. By now, it was already dark out.

Conan spoke to himself as he walked to the door, "I have to go into Ran's room and explain every detail to her. I hope she doesn't take it too hard and—"

Conan stopped was confused as he saw Ran casually walking in the kitchen preparing dinner as if nothing had happened.

"Um...Ran?" he said to her seeming a little puzzled, "I need to talk to you about um....well..."

"Shinichi?" she replied softly. "Conan, I have been in my room all day thinking. I am sure now that he did care about his cases more than anything. He has changed since we were kids. Maybe my mother was right when she told me not to trust childhood boyfriends who become detectives, you just end up with a broken heart....I have decided to try my best to forget him and move on with my life." She spoke in a depressing, almost regretful tone; a tone that showed she was just desperate to forget.

She continued to speak, and she turned her eyes away from Conan as she spoke.

"Conan, you remind me so much of Shinichi. Do me a favor, Conan, and don't abandon your loved ones...not like he did."

As he watched her put the plates on the table, he was more shocked than he had ever been before. His sorrow fro Ran soon turned into great fury.

"HOW COULD YOU!?" he shouted at Ran, and then continued to yell, "how could you ever think that Shinichi would put his cases before you, and then just abandon you? You have known him all your life and you know he would never abandon you without saying goodbye!"

Conan removed his glasses and continued to yell at her. "Shinichi isn't dead! The victim who was killed last night was Kaito Kid, disguised as him! He only came last night to keep you from finding out the truth! The truth that I am Shinichi! I have all the proof you need! Just name it! We have been friends since we were kids, we first met when—"Conan suddenly stopped his ranting. "huh?" he said quietly and confused as he saw Ran now staring at him, not moving a muscle, her eyes filling with tears.

"Ran?" he said softly.

Suddenly she dropped what she had in her hands and ran over to Conan, sobbing, and wrapped her arms around him.

The tears filling her eyes were tears of joy. She smiled, and spoke softly to Conan.

"Shinichi, I knew it was you all along. You had never abandoned me in the first place; you were always by my side. Shinichi...."

Conan waited for a moment, and then smiled in relief, and then his face turned red as he realized what was happening. She was hugging Shinichi now, not little Conan. He backed away, and said, "Um, let's go sit on the sofa and I will explain everything."

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"Okay, start from the beginning. What happened to you? Why are you small?" asked Ran.

She and Conan sat on the couch in the agency, fifteen minutes after Shinichi's confession.

Conan replied, "Ran, everything I tell you must keep a secret! You cannot tell anyone, no matter what!"

Ran smiled. "Con –I mean, Shinichi, you know you can trust me with anything."

"Here, this will make it a lot easier for us to talk together." said Conan, as he got the bowtie voice simulator ready on his real voice. He put the bowtie to his face, and continued.

"Much better! I will start from the beginning. On the evening we were about to leave the amusement park, I saw those weird men in black from the roller coaster acting suspicious, so I ran off to spy on them. That was when I left you. I saw them blackmailing a man, and before I knew it, I had been struck over the head by one of those men. I was almost unconscious, but I could hear what they were saying. They gave me a pill, and then I passed out. When I woke up, I was surrounded by police officers, who were calling me a little boy. I escaped before I was taken anywhere, but when I saw that I had shrunk, I immediately went to professor Agasa, and then to my house so I could put on my kid clothes and discuss with him. That's when you came barging into my house, and my new name was invented. I just looked at the names on the books behind me, and what do you know!"

"Wow....so there never was any Conan Edogawa...I always knew there was a reason why you always felt so comfortable entering the crime scenes. And I am also guessing that you have something to my dad's latest successes?" Ran asked.

"I am afraid so, your dad still has no talent."

Ran giggled "So how do you do it?

"With these two little gadgets the professor made just for me. First I go somewhere behind Kogoro where I won't be noticed, and then I use this special watch to shoot him with a small tranquilizer. Then, all I have to do is switch the bowtie to sound like him..." Conan switched the bowtie to sound like Kogoro. "...and I have my own case solving puppet!" Conan switched the bowtie back to Shinichi's voice.

"So, what do think?"

Ran stared in awe at the little boy before her.

"That's....that's....amazing! I wish that I could be turned into a kid!"

"Are you kidding!? Aside from some fun cases, this has been almost torture! Hanging out with 2nd graders as a high school student, losing my fame and glory, no being able to tell you—"

"Tell what?"

"Oh, I almost forgot!" replied Conan back in his little kid voice, trying to change the subject fast. "We have to go to Agasa's house now! Follow me!"

Conan ran out the door, and his face was red, realizing what he had almost said out loud to Ran. Ran waited by the door for a minute and watched the little boy run before she followed him.

Ran said to herself quietly as she smiled, "So he really does...care about me...."

She sighed, and then ran after Conan to follow him. Ran surprised herself, as she found she was excited about the whole situation, like it was a whole new adventure.