A/N: Short chapter is short but I wanted this out of way... Guess what by the way? My summer job ended! I have a proper holiday now! Yay!

I can't wait to get writing the next chapters. But while waiting, why don't you go to take a look on my three oneshots themed around Tooru and Takuya. I had fun while writing them.

Chapter 49.

Tsukiko could only stare the amount of curry sitting on the counter. She closed her eyes and opened her mouth while turning her head to face her 'brother'. But then her mouth closed and she shook her head. While one of her hands remained on her hip, the other one came to meet up with her forehead.

"Why?" The blonde girl asked behind her palm.

"Why what?" Subaru merely smiled.

"Why this much curry? You know very well that I won't help you eat it as I hate curry." Tsukiko didn't even bother to hide her irritation from her voice.

"Well…"

"Or is this a new plan to keep tabs on Haibara-chan? Offering food to her and her friends?"

"Actually no. I happened to put too much spices so I had to mild it up. But good idea. Maybe they'd like some…" The man placed his chin against his hand thoughtfully. Tsukiko could only stare at him in disbelief.

"…" She spun on her heels and marched out of the kitchen. "I refrain from commenting!" The girl called to him as she made her way to the library where her homework was waiting. She could deal with her 'brother's' antics later.

"How can someone be so awkward?" Tsukiko shook her head.

"But isn't that how you like him? Cool, smart, mysterious but socially awkward?" Kage grinned on the background.

"I didn't ask for your opinion, no-gender!"

"Oi, don't pull that card! It's already bad enough as it is when Reds calls me that."

"And since when I gave the permission to call me 'Reds'?" Red Moon arched her eyebrows.

"I don't need one."

"Sure you don't…" Tsukiko snorted.

"But you gotta admit that you used to be hardcore Akai-fangirl back home as Jade."

"Emphasis on the words 'used to be'… I grew up from it pretty fast."

"Says who?"

"Fine! I still like him but not like like. I prefer him as my brother now, thank you very much." Tsukiko could practically see Kage and RM high-fiving each other. Something they did only when ganging up on her. She sighed.

"But first the homework and then dealing with him… And I need to eat dinner too…"

"Alright, Subaru-nii… Since you seem incapable of making the right amount of curry I've decided that we'll do something completely irrelevant time to time." Tsukiko was her arms crossed on her chest glaring down at Subaru who had lifted his gaze up from his book.

"And what that would be?" The man asked, removing his glasses and placing them a top of his book on his lap. He rubbed his eyes momentary before putting the eyewear back on his face. Tsukiko smirked. Obviously he didn't think it would be anything bad.

"Anime marathon!" She announced gleefully.

It was a miracle that the book didn't slip on the floor. Subaru was definitely surprised about the sudden and completely unexpected decicion. He did try to cover it though, by blinking(quite stupidly) and making a strange noise in the back of his throat.

"An anime marathon?" He repeated.

"Yep. It'll be fun. And useful." Tsukiko sat on the sofa next to him.

"Useful? How so?" Subaru pushed his glasses a bit. The girl looked at him and smirked, making the man think whether or not he should be worried about this all.

"Because thanks to this…" The blonde held up her Lumia phone. "We have a chance to watch the anime called Meitantei Conan!"

"But not today."

"Not today… Of course not today! We have kids to invite to curry." The girl jumped up and walked to the window to take a look at the street, the houses along it and the darkening sky on the background. "You know… There's no lights at Hakase's house."

Subaru walked to stand behind her and looked outside too. "I wonder if something has happened…"

The sibling duo made their way to the neighbor's house. Tsukiko shivered slightly at the chilly evening wind and cursed silently her decision not to take a jacket.

"The door is open…" Subaru noted, pushing the front door gently. It swung slowly open.

"Agasa-hakase and Haibara-chan would never leave the door open…" Tsukiko whispered. While they had no security cameras and such, they were still quite paranoid. They'd definitely not leave the door unlocked, even in a hurry, because of all the inventions and Haibara's research.

The two stepped in to find the house completely empty.

"I could guess that Haibara-chan has gotten mixed up in a case with other kids but for Hakase to be gone too like this…"

Drrriiiiing!

The housephone rang. They turned to look at it. Who could it be? After exchanging a look, Subaru stepped forward to answer the phone.

"Hello?"

It was hung up immediately.

"Strange…" The man stated as he placed the receiver back to its place. Not long after that the phone rang again. But as soon as Subaru answered to it, the call was hung up again. "Something must be up…"

"Say… The Mouris came back from London yesterday, right?" Tsukiko asked suddenly, her face thoughtful.

"Yes… Do you know something about this then?"

"I do indeed." A smirk sneaked on the girl's face. "I'll go fetch my jacket, you shall figure out what to do next."

When Tsukiko came back, Subaru was standing by the gate and holding the spare tracking glasses. The man held them out for Tsukiko to take as he couldn't really be seen without his glasses outside the house.

"Alright… You take a look on the map then…" The blonde girl placed the familiar unfamiliar pair of glasses on her face. "By the way… I'm going to tell Yukiko-san how you screwed up with the curry next time when she comes to visit…"

"I'm terrified."

"Oh, sure you are." Tsukiko snorted and pressed the button on the frame of the glasses. "The detective badges are all about…"

"So that's it! I got it!" The voice of one of the bad guys rang on the empty corridor of the abandoned house. "It's the confinement room! This was all a strategy in order to get you out from that room! Hurry back there and tie them all up good!"

Tsukiko and Subaru peeked around the corner and exchanged a look. While these guys were alone(at least to their knowledge) they weren't being subtle at all.

"Hey, what happened!? Were the brats there!?" The man dressed up as a constructor worker continued talking to his phone and making his way to the stairs. "Hey!? Hey!?"

"Hey…" Subaru tapped the man on the shoulder. In a flash that man was on the ground, out of cold.

"Good that I took this with me." Tsukiko was twirling a roll of tape around her finger. "You go ahead. I'll wrap this guy up in a nice little packet for the police to find. Oh, and I'll call the police too."

"You really like bossing me around today…" Subaru stated amusedly, making the girl look up from her 'wrapping a nice little packet'.

"I do?" She blinked.

"Yes."

"Whops… Sorry." Tsukiko grinned. Subaru just shook his head and made his way upstairs.

About five minutes later, the blonde girl hurried up too. The police was on their way already after all.

When she was in the correct floor, Tsukiko could already hear the children and Subaru talking. After the three real kids praised the man, Ai took the turn to speak.

"Coming to check on us because the lights weren't on… It's almost as if he had been keeping watch over the house the entire time…" She accused.

"Yeah… The truth is I had been keeping watch the whole time, waiting for you to come home." Subaru answered, making the shrunken scientist even more wary. "I made too much curry for lunch today, so I was thinking of sharing some, you see…"

"You wouldn't believe the amount he made…" Tsukiko sighed, stepping into the room. "I still can't fantom how he succeeded in it…"

"Tsukiko-oneesan!" Ayumi waved to the older girl.

"Hi, Yoshida-chan. Hello, kids."

"Tsukiko-neechan? You were here too?" Conan questioned.

"Yep. When we found the other guy in the stairs, I stayed behind to wrap him up." The blonde showed the tape roll. "I also called the police."

"Why did you even have a tape roll with you in the first place?" The boy deadpanned while the rest of the kids were making plans of eating curry on the next day at the Professor's house.

"Well… When it comes to you guys… One can never be too sure." Tsukiko smiled. "But I hope you'll enjoy the curry anyways. I can't stand it."

"Eh!? You don't like curry!?" And of course the kids hear the last sentence.

"Yes. I hate curry. I do like spices… but not curry." The girl explained. Back home it had also bugged her: why everyone in DC World seemed to love curry and why they were always eating it. Oh well, she didn't need to eat it. And hopefully she wouldn't need to eat that cream stew either…

A/N: Guess what? The next chapter is number 50! 'And that means what' you might ask. Well, let me tell you. It means that Sera will take the stage next! And that Takuya will finally make an proper appearance...

Replies to reviews:

-GeekyGenius:
It's alright. You read them now.
Thank you very much.

-Zeladious:
Yes, there is a lot of awesome people there. I just mentioned one who is the 'Scholar of all things Conan'.
Something like that, yes.

-Akai4Ever:
I recognized and remembered you!
I'm glad you like it. I also enjoy putting Kage and RM banter with each other.
No, Jodie won't get suspicious. When Kir made the call she relayed the information like she and the rest of the BO knows it: that Kage is a male.

And now I'm off to a proper holiday!