A/N: And a new chapter here too! I hope you enjoy!

Chiyuki did not know when Araide Tomoaki got swapped with Vermouth. She did know it happened between Haido City Hotel and Desperate revival. No matter how carefully she looked at the man's mannerisms, she could not find any differences.

How did she get so many chances to see him? Easy. She'd gotten a cold after the Magic Lover Meeting and as Araide clinic had been closest, Nabiki had taken Chiyuki there. In the first check ups it had been Tomoaki's father but when the man had gotten murdered by his second wife, Tomoaki had taken over.

But then again, Chiyuki had been terribly distracted in the aftermath of Haido City Hotel since Ai had come back with multiple bullet wounds and several fractured bones (falling into chimney hadn't been risk free after all). So the girl had been fuzzing over the auburn haired girl and berating both shrunken teens with teary voice of how reckless they'd been. And careless, considering that Gin had come after Ai and had warned Pisco and Vermouth only based on the hair he found from inside his car.

So yeah, Chiyuki hadn't actually had that much attention to spare to the Vermouth-Araide dilemma.

Then came the Teitan High's School Festival and with it the Desperate Revival.

Chiyuki looked around in awe. It was the first time she had seen a high school from the inside in this life. Well, and in her previous life as well. And the booths made by the classes were so great! The cafés had good food, the ghost house was scary though cheesy, exhibitions made by artistic clubs were brilliant and the performances given by martial arts clubs were amazing.

Not to mention the sort of main event, the drama club's Romantic Shuffle play. Nabiki and Chiyuki had arrived in time to get their places at the front so Chiyuki would see everything. She sat in her seat, almost bouncing in excitement, and clutching her cup of soda.

Then the lights dimmed and the play began. Chiyuki really loved Ran's pink dress and the heartfelt way she delivered her lines. Though it was very cheesy in plot and dialogue, Ran made Chiyuki to believe in the world created around the princess and her knight.

Pity she wouldn't be able to see the end of the play…

The Knight arrived to save the Princess. Heart and Spade. Opposite yet alike, if you just flip the other upside down.

And through the lens of knowledge, Chiyuki could see the relief and desperation Shinichi had in his frame when he embraced Ran against him. He was finally back in his body. He was finally able to touch and look at his beloved without a veil of deception hanging between them.

Chiyuki was not crying, she was not…

She dried her eyes to her sleeve. Damn this little body so prone to crying. While she had been sensitive in her previous life as well, being just six – almost seven – years old, made her even more prone to crying.

And then there was a scream. The victim of the day was dead.

Nabiki made sure Chiyuki did not see the corpse. The first thing the woman did, when the scream sounded, was to lift Chiyuki on her lap and have the girl drink her soda in peace while everyone else hustled and bustled around. The two of them were in the front rows, the commotion was way behind them. If they didn't move, the masses would cover the body.

When the soda was finished, Nabiki slipped earphones to Chiyuki's ears and some music played from her MD player, to block the declarations of murder and poison. Chiyuki had been exposed to the darker side of the world with her witnessing Akemi dying and then seeing that one magic lover's corpse and Nabiki did not want the girl to see anything more. Not to have death tainting memories of places. Docks and some distant villa that Chiyuki would never visit again were okay. But Teitan was the closest high school and the most likely one for Chiyuki to eventually attend.

Herself, Nabiki listened to the proceedings. Of Kudou Shinichi stepping on the stage. Of him pin-pointing evidence and giving his deduction show. And collapsing afterwards and Hattori Heiji – another high school detective – stepping up and requesting the audience not to talk about the case and Kudou's presence. Well, Nabiki had no intention of bringing this up to anyone.

"Is it over, kaasan?" Chiyuki asked suddenly, looking up at Nabiki and removing one earbud.

"I think so. The Knight pointed the culprit to the guards who took her to the dungeons then."

"Good." Chiyuki nodded. "Can we go home now?"

Nabiki looked behind them. It looked like the scene was being cleaned up. Corpse had been taken away ages already.

"I think so. Are you tired, Chiyuki-chan?"

"Un." The girl nodded. "Carry me?" She asked hopefully.

"Very well."

Nabiki gathered the little girl on her arms and got up from her seat. Ouch, her legs had fallen asleep in the meanwhile.

Next day, Chiyuki walked to Agasa's house in order to walk to school with Ai, only to find out that she was sick. Chiyuki narrowed her eyes at the portly inventor before nodded and turned around, only to find Ran and Conan ringing the bell of the gate of the Kudou house.

"Ran-oneesan? Edogawa-kun?" Chiyuki asked aloud. "What are you doing here?"

"Ah, Chiyuki-chan!" The older girl smiled. "I was just seeing if Shinichi – my friend – was awake yet. He is such a sleepyhead that I need to wake him up in the mornings."

That was quite the good lie actually. No word about Shinichi being missing.

"I see. Nee… Is Shinichi-oniisan Knight Spade from yesterday? He seemed really happy to see you again."

"Ah…" Ran blushed. "Yes, he was playing Spade." Then she turned to ring the door bell once more. The gate slammed open.

"Sheesh! You're annoying!" The resident of the house shouted. "You only need to ring once. I know you're here!" But then he stepped aside and let Ran and Conan to enter. Or well… 'Conan'. Chiyuki lingered at the gate.

"Ano… May I come in? Shinichi-oniisan?" She called.

"Uh… Sure." The detective shrugged.

"Arigatou gozaimashita."

"H-Hey? Do you really know what we'll do at school today?" Ran was asking Shinichi as they made their way to the Kudou house.

"It'll be the same as last year, right? We're going to clean up from the Festival, aren't we?" Shinichi replied. Chiyuki sidled next Conan who was walking beside Ran, with bored face. Then Shinichi slammed the front door closed in front the three of them. "I'm going to get ready, so wait there!"

"How rude." Chiyuki huffed. Conan just shrugged and slipped inside the house when Ran was distracted by the sight of her sort-of-not-quite boyfriend. Chiyuki considered doing so as well but refrained. Maybe some other day she'd get the chance of seeing the house and its library.

"Aren't you glad, Conan-kun?" Ran asked the now missing boy. "Huh? Conan-kun?"

"He went inside. Probably wanted to talk with Shinichi-oniisan." Chiyuki replied. Then she looked away and back up at Ran. "Ran-oneesan was very pretty last night."

"Thank you, Chiyuki-chan." The karate champion smiled. "Playing a princess is pretty fun sometimes. Have you ever been a princess?"

"Sometimes. Aya-chan wants to be a knight or dragon mostly and the boys are what they need to be. So I'm usually a princess or a fairy." Make-believe was probably the best thing about being a child again. No one judged you for silly ideas or playing in general. It was something that Chiyuki had come to miss in her old life. When you grew up, you became more and more critical when it came to things you did, things you created, things you read and consumed. Nothing was ever enough, you always compared yourself to others and set the bar higher and higher for yourself.

"That sounds nice." Ran continued. "When I was your age, I liked fantasy games as well. Though I had a lot of detective games with Shinichi too. Shinichi was often Holmes while I was Watson or police officer or anyone else needed."

"I see. Was Shinichi-oniisan only Holmes? Was he incapable of pretending to be someone else?"

"Well…"

"What are you spouting here, Ran?" Shinichi emerged from the house, Conan following behind. "I was perfectly capable of pretending to be other roles than Holmes."

"Oh yes… It was just that your ego couldn't handle being anyone else." Ran retorted. Chiyuki snorted behind her hand. Such a bickering couple.

The four of them walked on. Ran and Shinichi discussed the play and lines. Chiyuki walked beside Conan and…

"Chi-chan…" The 'boy' whispered suddenly.

"Edogawa-…?" The girl began in surprise as the real Conan had never addressed her by her nickname. Submerging to this world was way too easy for her and thus her reactions remained mostly natural. She let herself take in the familiar eyes above the face mask and have a realization to dawn on her face. "Ai-neesan?!" She whispered back. "But Agasa-hakase said that you were sick!"

"It's a ruse." Ai replied back and flicked her eyes towards the high school detective.

"Ah… Edogawa-kun is Shinichi-oniisan like Ai-neesan is Shiho-neesan?"

"Yes. And I'm only telling you this because you would've noticed anyways."

"I see…" They came to a crossing where they met with other Detective Boys and… Chiyuki kicked Shinichi in the shin before he could greet the kids and thus almost blow his cover.

"Ouch… What was that for, Chiyuki-chan?" The teen grimaced.

"You were being rude to Ran-oneesan." The girl explained and tilted her head towards the kids who gathered around 'Conan'. Then she hurried to join them, leaving the young detective watch after them… in realization that he was no longer a kid. He was not Conan that the kids knew.

School went on as normal. Chiyuki spent time with Ayano, Kaito and Toshiya. The Detective Boys hung in the periphery but not really involved.

The next day, everything was even more normal. Ai was back and Shinichi was Conan once more.

Life went on.

One day when Chiyuki was walking around Beika, she saw the prettiest woman she'd ever seen. While both Akemi and Nabiki, as well as Shiho had been pretty too, this woman took it up a notch.

"Kirei…" She whispered, but apparently a bit too loud for the woman heard her and turned around.

"Ookini, ojou-chan." The woman smiled. She was wearing a violet kimono with a black haori thrown on top of it. Her dark brown hair was perfectly put together and pinned at the back of her head. "You are very cute as well."

Chiyuki blushed.

"A-Arigatou…" The Osaka-ben the woman used, revealed pretty much who she was. Hattori Shizuka, Heiji's mother.

"Could you perhaps tell me how to get to Mouri Detective Agency?"

"Sure!" And thus Chiyuki instructed her how to get to the fifth block of Beika. She also told, when asked that there was some phonebooths near the agency so the woman could call ahead.

This was… This was Shizuka's introduction case then. And holy shit, she was pretty!

Teitan Elementary school was having medical examinations done to all students. Height, weight, eyes, hearing, blood pressure… The entire deal really. Araide-Vermouth was conducting them. The first years went first. Ai was absent.

"Moroboshi Chiyuki-san?" Araide looked between the girl and the name on his file. "Weren't you Harumori?"

"I'm officially Harumori but at school I use my father's family name." Chiyuki replied. Yikes. No hiding that anymore. She could only hope that the disguiser wouldn't try anything weird. Or dangerous.

"I see. I shall update your file here from the one I have on the clinic then. In the meantime… Leave you hoodie and skirt behind the screen and then step on the scales…"

"How did it go, Chi-chan?" Ayano asked when Chiyuki came back.

"Just fine. Nothing scary. I'm healthy… And I've grown an inch!"

"Ooh, that's great!" Kaito congratulated her.

"Araide-sensei really knows his stuff. He is really kind too." Toshiya noted. Of the friend group, Chiyuki had been the last one to have her checkup. While she had been dreading it because of Vermouth, she was relieved nothing suspicious had happened.

Maybe everything would be okay… Chiyuki really hoped she could live on her life as normally as possible.

A/N: Busjacking is next!

Replies to the Reviews: (for the last time here, next time with pms)

-Topaz Leaves:
Oh yeah, that'll be funny.
And that's true too. With Okiya in the picture, they can interract more... Hopefully.

-Tsuki: (guest)
It's a good case in my opinion.
You're very welcome.

-GreenDrkness:
I have plans for that. ;)

-eeveelutionlover2000:
Answered already in PM