A few weeks had passed since Akemi and Shiiho stayed with Professor Agasa. Shiiho was still the same as usual and spent her time reading magazines and watching TV, hoping that one day she would see Gin and Volka in it. From that day on, Shinichi followed Shiiho's advice and had not been going to school.

One day, Shinichi asked, "Do you want to go shopping today?" The Miyanos did not answer Shinichi. He asked again, this time sounding a little bit annoyed, "Come on, are you two going to stay here forever until the day they are caught? Why don't we go out now and see if we have the good luck to meet them."

Shiiho looked at him and said, "Are you trying to bring us closer to our grave?"

Shinichi looked at her and walked towards her, "Don't escape from reality, Shiiho. They might be out there but life must still go on, right?"

Shiiho did not speak. Akemi interrupted the silence and said, "He's right, Shiiho. We can't escape forever."

Shiiho wanted to put in a word of protest but Shinichi dragged her out of the house and as he did, he said, "No matter what happen, you can count on me. I am a detective, remember?"

At the shopping mall, Shiiho was feeling rather afraid. She hid her face with a pair of sunglasses and a hat. As they continued to walk, Akemi asked, "Where are we going, Kudo-kun?" Shinichi did not speak and he continued to walk towards the car park.

"What the…." Shiiho murmured. In front of them were a dead body and a few police officers.

"I was asked to investigate this case. I thought you two might want to see the super quality of my investigation." Shinichi said and laughed.

When Shiiho was about to speak a word or two of hatred, Akemi said cheerfully, "Ok, haha. I sure want to see….oh..who is that guy crying down there?"

"I suppose he is the boyfriend of that victim. Sorry, I can't talk with you now. I have to start my investigation."

As Shinichi walked away, Akemi walked towards the boyfriend of the victim. She said, "Are you ok?" She offered him a piece of tissue paper.

"She's…dead…" he said as he took the tissue.

Akemi looked at him and asked, "Are you close to marrying her?"

"No…I didn't really like her but now that she's dead, I am still…."

Akemi didn't speak for a while. She moved closer to him and asked, "What's your name?"

"Makoto..Nakashi Makoto."

"Oh…Nakashi-kun, you fancy to watch a movie with me?" Akemi said with a smile.

"Ahh…"

"A movie to brighten your day up. Life still has to go on no matter what happens, right?"

"Ok."

After they had watched the movie, Makoto and Akemi walked slowly back to the car park. There was a long silence before Makoto said, "Err…thank you."

"It's nothing. It is a nice movie, isn't it?"

Makoto nodded. He did not enjoy the movie very much (He had watched the move before – with the victim) but he truly enjoyed the presence of Akemi beside him. He asked innocently, "How should I address you?"

"Akemi. Miyano Akemi."

"Nice name." he paused for a while before saying, "Can I ask you out in the future?"

"Fine with me…"Akemi said. She paused as if she had thought of something.

"Good….can I get your number? Err…I'll give you mine as well."

They exchanged numbers and before they reached the car park, Akemi sighted Shiiho standing not far away from them. Shiiho smiled at her but did not move. Akemi said, "Err…Nakashi-kun..that's my sister." Makoto nodded and gave a friendly gesture to Shiiho. Shiiho smiled and walked back with them.

At the car park, Shinichi was standing there watching the criminal been brought away by Officer Takagi. Makoto stopped by the victim and whispered softly to her, "May you rest in peace forever."

Shiiho nudged Akemi and asked, "Are you sure it is alright to be out at this time? One more person we meet means putting one more person's life in danger, sister. The boy over there will also be..."

Akemi interrupted, "It'll be fine. He will not know anything about them. I just wanted him to feel better and have the courage to live on."

"If that's the case, sister, I've nothing to say. Another thing is I'm worried about you, sister. Now that I'm gone from the organization, Gin might be suspicious and he might look for you and harm you."

"E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G will be fine, Shiiho. Do you believe in me?" Akemi said with a wink.

Before Shiiho can reply, Shinichi came and said, "We should go back before it gets crowded, right?"

Shiiho wondered whether he had overheard their conversation but did not say anything. They took a taxi back to Beika Street. The sun was moving its way down the horizon as usual but today the sun seemed to be slower in it's descending as if it could not bear to go.

Gin entered the room with Volka and he noticed something strange in the room. There was one glass less on the table. He grinned and walked quickly into the basement.

In the basement, Chris was drinking red wine. She lifted up the glass, shook it gently and said, "You're back."

"Everything is settled?" Gin asked as he pulled out a cigarette.

Chris nodded and said softly as she pulled herself up from the table, "This'll be the last time I'm doing it."

"Does he know that you're stopping?"

"I haven't told him about this yet…I'll tell him later."

"You hadn't seen him?"

"I came this morning."

"You came here straight?"

"Ya, I was not feeling very well so I thought that I could get a drink or two here."

"Free drinks of course….. Do you want to mix some wine tonight?"

"Sorry Gin, not today though. I'm really not in a mood to do so."

"That's unlike you, Chris."

"Maybe." After that word, Chris continued filled her glass with wine. She allowed the wine to overflow and thought, "Everything has a brink….if it exceeds its brink, it'll overflow. …It had overflowed…Shuichi."

One day, Makoto asked, "Do you want to ride with me?"

"On this…?"Akemi asked shockingly.

"Yes. Hop on!"

"Ok."

Makoto rode Akemi around with his black shining motorcycle. Makoto traveled slowly as he was afraid that Akemi might not be able to take the fantastic speed of his new bike. He took her around for half an hour before stopping by a river. Makoto got down the bike and strolled towards the river. He said, "Akemi, can you be with me?" Akemi did not say anything. Makoto continued, "I feel that there is an affinity between us. An affinity that is beyond words yet as pure as the water in the river."

There was silence for a while before Akemi got off the bike and said, "The river is pure on the surface…but the hidden secrets underneath it are too vast to be studied in a person lifetime."

"Then…I shall use two lives to study them." Makoto said as he paced towards Akemi, grabbed her arms and pulled her towards his sturdy body. Akemi was shocked but did not retaliate instead she allowed herself to lie in his body. "I hope this could stay forever." Makoto whispered.

After Makoto released Akemi, he suggested that he would send her back home. Akemi accepted it and she went onto the bike. The bike's flickering front lights shone into the darkness of the night but the lights were not able to glow for more than five metres. When Akemi reached her temporary house, she came off the bike and said goodbye to Makoto.

When she was left alone in the dark street, she was dazed by what she had just done. She thought, "What am I doing? How can I accept his confession? Miyano Akemi, you should know that you belong to a world of eternity darkness and he belongs to the world of happiness and joy. It is impossible to be together. You're just been selfish to drag another person down to the shadow of the earth. Don't you know that? Stupid, stupid, stupid fool!" As she was thinking, tears trickled down her cheeks and she hid her face with her slender hands.

Note: Pls review!Thank you for your support. Next chapter will be on Shiiho and Shuichi.