Part 5

The child scientist sat in the oversized chair, staring expressionless at the television screen. Turned on to one of the local news channel, she knew who was attending the infamous Kaitou Kid's lasted heist. She wasn't quite as interested in the heist itself, but more or less wanted to know what a certain detective and his companions were up to; Haibara Ai was not the scientist she was if that little fiasco wasn't going to appear for at least five minutes.

The elder scientist fell asleep well over an hour ago---he couldn't keep his eyes open long enough to see what had happened.

Expressionless soon became wide-eyed as she saw what was on the television.

"...Kid murdered someone? My, my," Ai said softly. "That just doesn't seem right..."

Ai continued to stare with more interest as the news reporter took over the screen and quickly went through the current events.

---

"Aoko, do you realize that you're standing over a dead body?" Kaito muttered. Aoko looked down, and immediately turned pale. She took a couple of steps back, gripping Kaito's hand harder. "Oww!" he could not help yelling.

Aoko turned in surprise. "Gomen nasai!" she exclaimed, picking up his bleeding hand. "Are you okay?"

Inspector Nakamori leaned over to see too. "What happened to you? It looks like you got cut by something."

Kaito immediately realized that some of the people were looking at him already. "Uh, uh...I got cut by a tree branch," he bluffed with a stupid laugh.

Just then, he felt someone pulling his hand down. He looked down and saw Conan. "This is a clean cut, it doesn't look like a cut from the tree branch," the boy said, examining it.

This kid again! Kaito thought in frustration. "Okay, it was not a branch, it was, er..." He almost said 'card', but he remembered that there was an evidence of it. "...paper cut."

Conan still looked suspicious. "A paper cut?" he asked, his voice still touching his higher tones. "What kind of paper was it, Oniisan?"

The young detective's eyes traveled up to Kaito's face. The features were familiar, like he had seen him on some mirror before...or some person. No way. His eyes widened slightly, taking in what he was seeing. No way...that this person...this guy...looks like ME.

Kaito felt uncomfortable with Conan staring at him like that. He quickly pulled away, looking quite annoyed. "How many kind of paper cuts are there?" he retorted. "It's none of your business."

Kaito's movement snapped Conan back to reality. His eyes held a thoughtfulness that was rather child-like, if not for his still form. Then they narrowed, eyeing Kaito briefly with slight suspicion. No conclusion jumping. Bit too early for that. The boy surveyed the scene once again, hoping to catch something he might have missed. Though he did seem a bit too eager to get away from me...or our group, for that matter.

Meanwhile, Heiji was frustrated because he could not find anything fishy about the knife. It was like any other kitchen knife and nothing strange about the blood on it either. This is the hardest yet, he thought as he walked back to the others. How are we going to find the murderer? There are millions of people here and he might have run off... He stopped in surprise when he saw Kaito. K-Kudo?! He looked down at Conan, and then back at Kaito. He shook his head. I must be hallucinating. They just looked the same. He turned away.

Quickly glancing Heiji's way, as well as the faces of everyone else to make sure they were preoccupied, Conan dashed to the other side of the fountain to look for more clues.

Kaito was relieved that Conan was gone. I think I better get out of here as soon as possible, he thought. "Aoko, I think we should go," he said.

"No, I want to stay," Aoko replied matter-of-factly. Stubborn girl, Kaito thought in annoyance.

"I'm not staying, come on," Kaito said, starting to drag Aoko. Suddenly, he accidentally tripped over the dead body. He quickly lifted a leg to avoid falling on it, and he managed not to step on it. Unfortunately, he still couldn't keep his balance, and stumbled for the fountain. "ACK!" he screeched when he saw that he was going to fall into the bloody fountain. Fortunately, he slipped on some water under his shoes and fell just before he reached the fountain. But it still hurt when he fell on the floor---just like falling on ice. Only harder. "OWWWW!"

"Kaito! Are you okay?" Aoko exclaimed, helping him up. Kaito rubbed his head in pain as he stood up. That was close. I hope the jewel is still--- He felt around his pocket, and his eyes widened. NOT HERE?!

---

At home, Akako quickly headed down to the basement. Her servant bowed politely and commented, "Afternoon, Miss. You look lovely as usual."

Akako flung a strand over her shoulder and retorted, "You're ugly, as usual."

No time for insulting her servant. She frantically reached out for her crystal ball and confronted it. Waving her hands mystically around the sphere, she murmured a spell and gently asked it, "Who was the person who framed Kuroba Kaito?"

The crystal ball was dark. Akako frowned and conked it.

First, there was a vague figure. The witch squinted and stared into the ball until the figure was uncovered.

"Th-this...this is..."