Disclaimer: I don't own Detective Conan.

Confrontations

Several days passed, and still no indication of any information worth indulging over. Ran and Ai, the latter complete with a baseball cap and pig tails as a precaution, had stopped by the Beikan every day after school, casting a wary eye over its temporary residents and sometimes listening in on a conversation when anything invited their curiosity. Their job slowly became easier when, after a few days or so, Dr. Agasa and Ai developed fly-sized camera-slash-recorder-thingies and walkie-talkies. Still, Agasa/Ai Corp. could only do so much by way of technology. The rest were left up to the senses that God had bestowed upon just about every single human being.

"How about you take the double doors and I'll do the elevator this time," whispered Ran, already turning a corner to the elevators and taking a seat near them as she spoke, pulling a book from her pocket and pretending to read.

"Sounds good," came Ai's voice just beneath her ear. "Just don't finger that earring so much. You look like you're up to something. Which you are."

Ran grinned, although she knew her accomplice couldn't see it. "Sorry. I'm just so unaccustomed to an earring that talks. Besides—" she shook her head, the pearl clip-ons dancing under her ears "–why do they have to be so swingy?"

She heard a slightly crackled (on account of the static) laugh coming from the other end. "Trust me, from the way our level of success has been so far, you'll get used to those earrings." Silence. And then a gasp, followed by an all-too-loud "What the—"

"What? What happened? Ai!" she tried to keep her voice down as her hand went to her left ear again.

Near the double doors, Ai fingered the brim of her hat near her ears, realizing why Ran touched her earring so much. It was for reassurance. "N-nothing. I just thought I saw someone I used to know. But it's—it's nothing."

"Are you sure?" Ran's voice was wreathed in sympathy, not the pity she, Ai, had once feared would come from her once she knew her past. Ai smiled grimly. Back then, she didn't know Ran that well, did she?

"Yeah." Ai just wished she was as convinced as she sounded.

"Well, all right then." The seventeen-year-old still sounded like she was itching to soothe the elder's (although she certainly didn't look it) turmoil. The short-haired blonde grinned sadly as she remembered what had taken place on the way to the police station a few days ago, and she would have been surprised herself if she had known that within all of that sadness, there was no trace of the bitterness nor jealousy that she had often felt before whenever Conan, or anyone for that matter, mentioned Ran's name. It was hard to hate Ran, as hard as it was easy to like her. And sometimes it wasn't easy to like anyone. The girl was so compassionate, so selfless, so strong but so soft, innocent as a star with a soul several times as old. It wasn't her fault Shinichi loved her so much—and yet, in a way, it was.

This time, it was Ran who gasped loud enough for the other girl to hear, and Ai was broken out of her thoughts, grateful for the interruption. "Ran, what is it? Ran?"

She didn't answer, but touched her right earring this time, pressed her book to her face, and hoped that the person who had just turned the corner wouldn't notice her. The high-heels that clopped sharply upon the marble floor never broke their rhythm until they stepped into the open door of the elevator. Ran waited for the familiar ring of the elevator door followed by the sliding sounds of two heavy slabs of metal meeting each other before abandoning her book on her chair and staring at the closed elevator door the owner of the high-heels had disappeared into. Her gaze wandered above the sliding doors, where the numbers lit up with a faint yellow glow whenever the elevator reached the floor they marked.

"Ran! Ran! Answer me!" Ai pleaded for the umpteenth time, while still trying to keep her voice low.

"Sorry, but that was— " her voice stopped at her throat.

"Who?"

"That person you saw. Describe her."

"Glasses, pony tail, blonde hair, short green dress. Why?"

"That was Jodie-sensei."

"A teacher of yours!"

Ran nodded out of habit. "You said before that she reminded you of someone. Who? And was that person part of the Kurozukume?"

This time, Ai nodded. "What's she doing here? She can't be staying here, since she's been in Tokyo for quite a while now. So she's gotta be meeting with someone. Follow her just in case."

"But she can't be mixed up with those people, can she?" asked Ran, almost pleadingly. She's my teacher, she added silently. However, she did as she was told and stepped into the other elevator. "Ai?"

The voice on the other end became cracked with static. Shoot… Ran remembered. You can't use these types of things in an elevator.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, realizing it was all up to herself now. There had been two other people in the elevator with her English teacher, although they had all stopped at different floors. The yellow light had lingered on floors 12, 15, and 38 longer than the rest. She pressed their buttons and waited. Luckily, she was alone in the elevator, and she didn't need to feel conspicuous about her actions. The halls were long and almost devoid of turns, so it would be easy to spot anyone. The first two floors yielded no promising figure in a green dress, and she bit her lip. Floor 38 was her last hope.

Bingo. She spotted her teacher's retreating back at once, and slowly followed some safe twenty paces behind.

"Ai?" she whispered.

"Yeah? What happened?"

"Sorry about that. I've spotted her. Call Shinichi. He might be some help."

"I have. He's on the line right now."

"Ran?" Shinichi's voice sounded distant.

"Shinichi, Jodie-sensei's here, but she can't be involved with those people, can she?"

He took his time answering. "It could be a coincidence, but somehow I get the feeling it's not. She's pretty clever, you know."

Usually Shinichi's word was as true as gold, but not always. Ran hoped now was one of those times, even when another part of her agreed with him. Ever since the English teacher landed in Teitan High, she had had the feeling that someone was keeping her under close watch. And also—the thought made her stop in her tracks—there were only a handful of people who had known that Shinichi had kept contact with her when he was "missing". Sonoko talked openly to her about Shinichi's calls, so it wasn't exactly difficult for Jodie-sensei to catch on. But Gin had believed her—or had appeared to believe her—when she said that she had made all of that up. And Jodie-sensei herself had seen Shinichi at the school festival with her own eyes. What was going on?

"Where's she now?"

"She's stopping at a door. And now she's going into the room."

"Check the door number."

She nodded and quickened her pace while keeping her eyes fastened to the door her English teacher had disappeared into. "Room 3816."

"It's too early to suspect anything. Stick around for a while. She's bound to come out. Hide somewhere and don't do anything stupid."

"Shinichi!" she protested, a grin finding itself on her lips. She rarely did anything of the like, but both of them knew that she would have lost many a life due to the hastiness he had infected into her system if he hadn't been there to save her. Or maybe she was just unlucky in that way? Well, he certainly made up for that besetting misfortune, and inexplicably more besides.

There was a door across the hall with a window covering the upper part of it, unlike the others. A storage. She tried the knob, and, finding it open, ducked into the room to find that several cardboard boxes lined themselves in the narrow space. Taking a seat on one of them, she propped her arms up on her knees by the elbows and rested her head on her hands. "Got a soccer ball handy?"

"Yep."

"Get thinking. We're counting on you."

She stirred as the sound of a door closing reached her ears. Careful not to make any noise, she raised her head to the window and caught sight of someone leaving the same room her English teacher had entered half an hour ago. Blonde hair longer than Jodie-sensei's cascaded down the middle of the stranger's back, and the green dress had been abandoned for a crisp black one, but it was almost certain that this transformed woman was the Jodie-sensei of Teitan High. The way the high-heels bit the rug along with the confident rhythm with which the lady took her strides were exactly identical to that of the perky teacher that had often lectured Ran time and time again for one reason or another. The glasses were gone, revealing a face that held an undeniable beauty to it, and along with that beauty, a shadow of an evil grin. Gorgeous as this woman appeared to be, Ran couldn't help but shiver. It was as if someone had dumped a mountain of ice down the back of her shirt. The glint in the blonde beauty's eyes made her stiffen instantly, and she couldn't help feeling that this woman possessed a greater addiction to malice than even Gin.

You did ask for this, you know, a voice inside her head said.

And I knew what I was in for when I did, she shot back silently.

The footfalls faded into the distance, and she slowly opened the door after catching the sound of the ring of the elevator to see the right elevator's doors closing. She ran silently to it, her eyes glued to the top, where floor 14 was bathed in a brief yellow light.

"Ai?" she said, still keeping her voice low although no one was within proximity to hear.

"Yeah?" came the answer.

"Someone's come out of there, but it wasn't Jodie-sensei."

"Who was it?" The voice on the other end sounded frantic—Ran found herself bewildered by the change within the other girl's tone. "What did she look like?"

"Long blonde hair, cold smile, really pretty, short black dress—"

The "child" on the other end said a word that made Ran blink twice. "I'll try to call Kudo."

"So Jodie-sensei—" she began, unable to keep the hurt from her voice.

"I'm sorry, Ran. The woman you just saw—she's deceived us all before."

Ran didn't—couldn't—say a word in reply, but her disappointment didn't keep her from seeing her duty, nor that something out of the ordinary was going on with the panel above the elevator. Her blue-purple eyes widened, even when the elevator resurfaced from its brief anomaly and went back to the lobby.

"Ran?" Shinichi's voice offered more comfort than she could've imagined, just like in an occasion

that presented an uncanny similarity with this one. Although that time, it was also his voice that had caused her so much pain, when she realized that one of her favorite teachers had killed someone, back when Shinichi was still Conan.

"Mm?" she finally said.

"What's up?"

"Jodie-sensei came out again, but the person that came out wasn't her! I mean it was her, except different—I mean, she didn't look like her one little bit, but it seemed to be her—"

"Whoa, slow down. What're you saying?"

Ran took a deep breath and began slowly, "A woman came out of room 3816, but she didn't look anything like Jodie-sensei. But she was Jodie-sensei—"

Shinichi cut her off as soon as she got that far. "Listen, don't do anything to try to go after her. Take the elevator back to the lobby and wait for me."

She smiled at the last three words despite the circumstances, cherishing the way he said it. The sinking feeling within her lightened its grasp of her, and all because of his voice. I have for months, Shinichi. "But be careful not to get recognized."

"I can disguise myself, like Haibera."

"All right, but don't bring the police just yet. The woman I saw came out of room 3816, but the elevator she was in…well, just get over here as quick as you can."

Ran pressed the "down" button and waited, her face to the floor as she digested the news Ai had given her. Jodie-sensei—a part of the Kurozukume? It seemed near impossible…that friendly, comical teacher who would mince English in with Japanese, sporting the coldness she detected within the woman she saw just a few minutes before? She's deceived all of us before. The way Ai had spoken those words, plus the reaction she had had when she first saw Jodie-sensei entering the hotel…if Ran had doubted her feeling when she first saw that woman from the storage room, those would confirm them. She lifted a hand to her right earring, turning off the camera she had turned on in the lobby. Then her hand, without her mind realizing it, brushed against her right eye, coming away wet with memory and confusion.

She looked up, surprised that she had gotten into the elevator. She had no recollection of doing so. The thought returned to her. If Jodie-sensei was working with Gin and Vodka, why did Gin believe her, Ran, when she claimed she had made up Shinichi's calls, his visits? Jodie-sensei had seen him once with his own eyes, at the school play. But what other reason would there be for Gin and Vodka knowing what they did? No one really knew about Shinichi keeping contact with her, except for people close to her, like Sonoko. And Sonoko didn't see anything wrong with not keeping it a secret (as Ran didn't back then), so Jodie-sensei getting that sort of information wouldn't be a wonder. The image of the woman—she still refused to think of her as her teacher—returned to her. That smirk, that stride—it wasn't the smile of someone bent on killing whomever, like Gin. It also gave off the air of someone who was evil, true, but also of someone who enjoyed toying with other people. It just made that woman all the more terrifying.

Jodie-sensei wouldn't need to tell Gin and Vodka all she knew. All she needed to tell them to set them on the right track were that Ran had been claiming that the Kudo Shinichi they had supposedly killed was alive and well, contacting her by phone once a week or so. But—why hadn't Jodie-sensei told Gin and Vodka before? Was she possibly just biding her time for some reason known only to her? Or had she been waiting for something? Ran's heart sank, her face becoming clouded with pain. It seemed like this time, as were most times, Shinichi's words did ring true once again. All he needed now to prove that Jodie-sensei was associated with the Kurozukume was evidence.

The elevator door opened, and she spotted Ai perched upon the chair, reading the book she had set there before she followed Jodie-sensei to the 38th floor. "Ai."

She didn't look up from the book as she said, "Kudo's coming."

Ran nodded and sat down next to Ai, reading over her shoulder (which, considering the latter's height, wasn't that hard to do) to avoid thinking about other things.

They had read five pages or so when Ai put down the book and turned to Ran. It didn't seem like she was very interested in the story, either. Not while they were living a much more exciting one. "Ran…" She had never seen Ai so uncomfortable before.

"Hm?" Her eyes, momentarily discarding their own sorrow, turned to the other girl.

"You like him." Ai lifted her gaze to meet Ran's.

Ran knew she didn't need to give any indication of affirmation. It was a statement, not a question.

The blonde averted her eyes. "And he loves you, more than anything else. Anything. I see it in his eyes, and I see it in yours. Just because I'm a genius doesn't mean I don't feel."

Ran gazed at the other girl, not sure what she was trying to say. "I know you feel, Ai. We all know. Everyone feels."

"Because everyone has a heart, no matter how focused they are on living by their mind."

Silence. Ran opened her mouth to ask her meaning, and stopped as her face clouded with worry and realization dawned her—for someone so dense at realizing Shinichi's feelings for her, and so slow at realizing hers for Shinichi, she was quick to see almost everything else that touched human hearts—and she placed a hand on Ai's shoulder. "Ai, you mean you love him?"

Ai sighed sadly, nodded, and then shook her head furiously. "No…that is, I like him. Although I'm not sure if I love him or not. I'm not sure if I love him like you love him, like he loves you."

"Oh, Ai…" she trailed off, at a loss for words.

"I know I'm only a friend to him, and I know how much he loves you. So much that usually there's only room for two things in his mind. You, and whatever case he's trying to solve. So I tell myself 'no'. But you can't imagine how hard it is to control your heart when you like someone."

"Yes, I can," she murmured softly.

Ai stopped and looked at her, breaking into a forlorn grin. "Sorry. I forgot who I was talking to."

Ran's grin matched hers. "Don't worry about it. Go on."

Ai hesitated. "Does it seem weird? That I'm confessing to you of all people?"

Ran frowned. The thought had never really occurred to her. "I suppose it would…"

"I never would've dared it before. I don't know why I'm doing it now…I guess it's because I know you better now, and I know you can understand."

Ran studied her averted features before speaking. "Is this another reason—"

"—that I didn't want to turn back into Miyano Shiiho?" She turned to face the other girl for a second before averting her eyes again, saying more quietly, "Yeah. To not give myself the opportunity to think I have a chance. Because I don't. I never did. Your relationship is so strong, so fragile, no one can break it."

"'So I don't tempt myself…'" Ran echoed.

Ai nodded, her small smile shedding some of its sadness. "And I want to start my life over, to forget him. But I won't forget him for a long time."

"Least of all with the Kurozukume up and about, and him dogging them."

"And you know what happens whenever Shinichi's set like that," she said softly, her smile full of the reason why people did smile.

Ai nodded, and her grin abandoned all of its sadness for a glint of mischief in her eyes as well as upon her lips. "Like when he's set on you."

She jumped, surprised at the other girl's sudden turn of feeling. Then the words sunk in. "What's that supposed to mean! You're making me sound like a criminal!" Ran tried not to grin, but the blush that crept onto her cheeks gave away her amusement.

Ai just grinned and glanced over Ran's shoulder. "Oh, there he is right now. How convenient."

"Ai! If you weren't a year older than me I'd—well, use your imagination."

"And since I am…" she shrugged, the grin still pasted on her face.

Ran blinked, trying desperately to formulate a response and failing miserably thanks to the heat on her cheeks.

They walked to the main lobby, the grins almost washed off their faces as they prepared themselves for the potential d-day at hand.