File Seven: Just a Rat

"Let's go to Tropical Land after school!"

A sense of déjà vu washed over him like a tsunami.

Blue eyes looked up from the book in front of them and blinked at the small girl grinning widely back at him. "But, Yoshida-san," said Conan, sounding confused. "We already went there recently."

"No, I don't mean that." She rapidly shook her head. "We need some clues about your brother, remember?" Ayumi turned to the other two. "Right, guys?"

"I agree." Mitsuhiko nodded, a determined look on his face. "If we want to know what happened, our best option is to investigate the place where he has last been seen."

"Okay, then we Detective Boys will-!" Genta began.

"There's nothing in that place," Conan interrupted with a plain voice.

"Eh? But you won't know until you try."

An eyebrow was raised, and the boy looked at them as if they were stupid. "Did you really think I haven't checked there already?" He closed the book, frowning a little as he stared, absently, at the cover. "There was no trace of him. It was as if he had just disappeared into thin air... Maybe they already..."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Ayumi tried to comfort her friend. "I mean, if there's no trace of him in that place, doesn't that mean he wasn't killed?"

"Not really. His body could've gotten carried away somehow," he answered with crude honesty. "He could have also gotten kidnapped and then killed somewhere else. Alternatively, he could have..."

"Okay, I think we all get it." Mitsuhiko stopped him there before things could get uglier. "All of those things are only theories. For all we know, he could have run away and hidden somewhere."

His fists clenched under his desk. I hope so.

"Wait a second... I think I have an idea!" the freckled boy suddenly said. "When was the last time you've gone to your actual home, Conan-kun?"

"More than a week ago, why?"

"Think about this." Grinning widely, the boy raised a finger as he talked. "If we assume that Shinichi-san is actually running away from someone else, he might have left some clue for you to find, right?"

"And there's no better place to do so than Conan's own house!" Genta nodded at him, brightening up instantly. "Let's go there after school!"

"Hold on-!"

Just then, Kobayashi-sensei opened the door, signalizing the start of another school day, and his friends scurried away to their places almost instantly. A secret message in my home, huh? Conan sighed tiredly as he put his mystery book away and pulled out his school materials from his bag.

That's probably the dumbest idea I've ever heard in my life...

And I live with Occhan.

"Wow, Conan-kun! Your place is so big!"

"There are so many books..."

"Hey, Conan, why don't you have any eel on here?"

For the eleventh time at this hour, Conan sighed tiredly, watching his friends roam freely around his home, as if they lived there. Seriously, he hadn't properly closed the door by the time Mitsuhiko and Ayumi had reached the second floor, checking every single corner of that gigantic house.

There, standing in the middle of the living-room, Conan stared at the stairs blankly for another two seconds before groaning under his hand. "You guys…" he called, loud enough for those upstairs to hear. "Are you sure you didn't set this up so you could go snooping around on my stuff?"

"How mean!" He heard Genta huffing from behind him. "We are checking for any hidden messages."

"Inside my refrigerator?"

"You never know."

Conan facepalmed hard, "Nevermind," and muttered, massaging his temples at the headache that was slowly building itself on the back of his head. Better make sure they don't break anything… Sighing again, the boy decided it best to go upstairs to check on them.

As soon as he got there, he almost bumped into Ayumi, who had out of the blue ran off the library. "That flower you have in there is very beautiful." The girl didn't seem to have realized it, however. "You and your brother must have taken good care of it."

She left before he could articulate a proper response, skipping through the corridor to continue investigating. Ah, right. He followed her calmly. She must have meant the petunia on the desk.

On top of his father's old desk, his brother used to keep a small petunia. He didn't know the reason, exactly, but when he had asked Shinichi had simply said, huffing a little as he did so, that their mother loved petunias thus he had basically been forced to keep one there. 'They are pretty,' she would say, according to him, and that was the end of the discussion.

Conan had the slimmest suspicion that his older brother also liked petunias, but he had never bothered to ask, therefore he hadn't really confirmed it. Shaking his head at the random memory, the child paused and turned around, until he was facing a certain door.

This is my brother's room, he thought, eyebrows inching together as he gazed at it, still unmoving from his spot. Sighing, he placed a hand against the doorknob and hesitated. Guess you won't be in here, even if I opened it, he thought, with a small, yet weak, chuckle. Shaking his head, he gingerly pushed the door opened.

Privately, the child wished a miracle would happen and his brother would be there, snoring away inside his bed like every school morning, when he would sleep through his alarm, prompting the youngest one to pass by to make sure he was up before Ran arrived.

Every single time, Conan would complain to him, call him irresponsible and lazy. Thinking about it now, Conan wondered if there was a reason his brother was so exhausted all the time.

"There's nothing in here." Instead of the high school detective, Conan found Mitsuhiko, rising back to his feet after checking under the bed. "I thought there would be something here, but…"

"It's so plain and boring!" It wasn't until he heard Genta's voice that he realized that he, and Ayumi, had invited themselves to Shinichi room, as well.

"Yeah, I know," Conan said, plainly. "Just don't tell him that, okay?"

Ayumi pondered over it for a couple of seconds. "I wonder if Conan-kun's room is nicer…"

"Hey..."

"Let's check it out!"

"Hey!"

As he had predicted, ever since he had first heard of this plan, it didn't work. A few hours forward into the day, the Detective Boys were leaving the house, three of them sighing in defeat after finding absolutely nothing they could use as a clue about Kudo Shinichi's whereabouts. Conan, however, was glad this fruitless investigation was over. Can I go home now? he thought, hoping that his luck would allow him to go back home with nothing else happening on the way…

He didn't even get to cross the street.

Initially, he hadn't really given it much thought when an innocent piece of paper danced through the air, right in front of their eyes, before it landed right in Genta's face. But then, the boy had taken it out to see, letting his friend realize it was full of weird drawings, together with the word 'ORO' at the end.

Still, it didn't make Conan any more interested in it.

"Could this be…" Ayumi, unlike him, gasped excitedly. "This could be a message from Shinichi-oniisan!"

The bespectacled boy could only stare at her blankly. What?

"Ayumi-chan is right!" Mitsuhiko went serious suddenly. "Shinichi-san must have left this code for Conan-kun to find."

Genta's fist pumped into the air. "Alright, let's-!"

"Could you knock it off already?"

All three kids winced at the stern tone his friend had used, then slowly turned to face him. The boy didn't move, just continued gazing at the floor, eyes obscured by his glasses, and hands firmly placed inside his pockets. "He didn't leave a message," he said, calmly passing by the group without looking at them. "No matter how much we looked, there still isn't a trace of him." He paused, eyelids closing with a sigh. "Maybe it's too late…"

"You can't say that!" Genta shouted, and the other two nodded. "We just have to look harder!"

"Yeah," Mitsuhiko added. "If we keep looking, maybe-"

"Listen!" His tone raised a little, as he turned around to face the three kids. "My house has been left exactly the same as the last time I was there! If he really had been around, I should have noticed something…" When his gaze fell on Ayumi standing there, unsure of what to do, he trailed down, anger completely disappearing to leave the place to surprise. "… different…"

Then there was a gasp and, before they realized it, the boy had cursed under his breath and taken off running.

"Conan-kun?!" called Ayumi, still startled by his sudden actions.

"Go ahead without me!" he cried over his shoulder, crossing the street in no time at all. "I'll catch you up later!"

The rest of the Detective Boys just watched him rushing inside the house and exchanged equally confused glances.

As soon as Conan got to his house, he immediately darted to the stairs without bothering to take his shoes off."That flower you have in there is very beautiful," Ayumi's words echoed in his mind, forcing him to climb even quicker. Nobody has been there in more than an entire week.

The moment his feet landed on the second floor, he took a sharp turn. A petunia wouldn't have lasted over six days… Upon reaching the library, the boy pushed the doors open. Therefore!

Even gasping for air because of the sudden sprint, Conan hurried closer to his father's desk. I knew it, he thought, eyes narrowing at the flower that met his eyes.

Not a petunia, but an orchid ─ why?

Ran-neechan? His face grew pale when the teen who shared her name with the flower in front of him crossed his mind. No, that can't be it. Quickly, he fished out his phone and, in the next instant, his fingers were rapidly typing a number. Can it?

With every second the girl didn't pick up, the more restless the little kid was growing. Did something happen to her? He frowned at the thought. Please…

His gaze went back to the orchid. Despite everything, he couldn't help but notice that Ayumi was right ─ it was beautiful. Almost as if it had just been cut, he studied it carefully. A flower so exotic like this couldn't have just been cut on the way here and put there.

No, it required some planning. And whoever planned it, had to be aware of the fact that having this certain flower didn't fit with the whole place ─ somebody belonging to his family, since he was pretty sure nobody else knew. Crossing out his parents out of the list, because they were still in America, only Conan and Shinichi himself could have done it. So, if I didn't do it, then…

"Conan-kun, is something wrong?" Ran picked up suddenly, startling the young boy out of his thoughts. "I'm in karate practice right now."

Conan could've sighed in relief if it wasn't for the speaker beside his mouth. "Ah, I'm sorry, Ran-neechan." Pitching his voice higher, making it sound more innocent and sweet, he let his eyes travel to the bookshelves all around him. "I forgot about it."

Ran-neechan is okay. With his phone still on his ear, the kid went to his father's chair and walked away, dragging it with him. Maybe he meant something else entirely?

He heard Ran sigh exasperatedly, mumbling something about him being forgetful, 'just like his brother', under her breath. To that, he could only reply with a nervous giggle, climbing over the chair as he did so. Is there something he would hide something in? His eyes scanned the dozen of books they held in there, and barely stopped himself from huffing ─ if he were to check on them, one by one, there would be no end to it. Somewhere only people he knew would think of…

"This is a secret between us two, okay, Conan?"

His eyes widened slightly. Maybe… He hopped off the chair, dragging it to that certain section. Maybe there is one!

He could remember, just barely, an even younger Conan playing hide-and-seek with his older brother and father in that same library. Fuzzy as the memory was, the kid could still see his dad's cocky grin when he spotted his sons for the fourth time that day, so easily that it had annoyed Shinichi. He had said, he recalled, that he would find every single time, no matter where they hid.

Until little Conan had found that secret spot. From that point on, Yusaku had become unable to find him any longer, thus Shinichi, overjoyed to see him so frustrated, had made his younger promise he would never tell a soul about that place. And so he did.

"... Conan-kun, are you okay?" Ran's concerned tone made him flinch.

He guessed he had spaced out for a moment there. "Yeah, sorry. Kojima almost tripped on his feet and I got distracted."

It didn't take him long to find that certain spot. There, on the second shelf, there was a section where books were much smaller, leaving a small space between them and the wall, large enough for a child to fit in it. Disappointingly enough, however, there was nothing there.

"Anyway, I just wanted to tell you I'm going to spend the night at Professor Agasa's home," he continued, regardless. "He made a new game, so Yoshida-san, the others and I are going to try it out-"

He came into an abrupt stop, which he hoped it hadn't been so noticeable in Ran's ears as it was in his. But it wasn't as if he couldn't help it ─ what he spotted had taken him off guard. There, resting horizontally between the books and the shelf above them, a few smaller books had been placed, and he clearly remembered that there wasn't such a thing before.

Hesitantly, he took one of them and read the title. Spanish. Blinking in confusion, he took the others. Italian, French, English, Japanese…

When Ran told him to take care, he had barely hummed, hanging off almost instinctively. All that occupied his mind was a single question, Why?

Why dictionaries? A focused frown took over as he opened the first one, hoping that this would be a hint. Orquídea. He didn't understand it so, frustrated, threw the book to the floor and repeated the process with the others. Orchidea… Orchidée… Orchid… He groaned loudly. This doesn't make any sense!

Hope was abandoning him quickly. Sighing, he dropped to the ground, glaring at the Japanese dictionary between his small hands, as if it was the cause of his suffering ─ and steadily developing migraine.

Ran… Ran… He tried the word in his mind, again and again, and groaned when nothing came to him. "I give up!" he cried, to nobody in particular, letting himself collapse on his library's fluffy carpet. "Why did it have to make it this hard? A note would have sufficed…"

Turning his head, he went to give the dictionaries a last glare. Ran… He focused on the English one, tossed away in a corner, and gasped. "Run… Run?!"

Shock had him sitting back up, eyes open in full capacity, as he turned back at the flower. To run?! Fear startled to settle in, making itself known by the shaky breath that escaped him. But…

Run from what?!

Then a faint, almost imperceptible sound made him jump, then groan tiredly. The front door opened, slowly creaking as he let somebody in, and he was just about to yell at his friends for entering, for the second time, without his permission inside his home…

His hands flew to his mouth, stilling instantly with the realization that suddenly had struck. Those people were silent ─ unusually quiet and sneaky. The boisterous nature of the Detective Boys simply did not fit with this. Then… Sweat trickled down his chin. Then, who…?

His eyes darted to the orchid, and he had to stop himself from gasping again. Run.

Wasting no time, yet being as silent as possible, Conan proceeded to gather all the books from the shelf, and the ones scattered across the floor, before climbing there. They are getting closer. He could hear them ─ it convinced him to move all the faster, putting the books back in the way they used to be before.

Just as he was finished, the knob turned. "Wow…" the male, gruffy voice made Conan pale, laying on his side in absolute silence. "This is big."

"There are three rooms on this floor alone," another one commented. "Maybe one of them belongs to his parents, and another must be a guest room."

There was sweat collecting on Conan's brow.

"They are in America right now." His snort made a chill run down the child's back. "Really, who lets a teenager live alone on the other side of the world?"

He could hear them from so close that the boy didn't think he could breathe without giving himself away. Calm down, he chanted inside his mind. Don't panic. If you hyperventilate now…

The prospect didn't make him any calmer.

And it didn't help that he suddenly saw his surroundings lightening up, caused by the phone in his hands receiving a message suddenly. Biting down a gasp, he hurried to lower the light on the screen. Please, he pleaded, to nobody in particular, holding his phone against his chest. Please tell me they didn't see that.

Like so, he waited with a bated breath for anyone to take him out of his hiding spot so that he could meet his inevitable demise. But minutes passed, and the men continued talking normally, so he relaxed a little ─ he was safe.

That was, until the book closest to his eyes was pulled away.

Icy blue eyes, devoid of any kind of emotion, were staring right into his soul. As lungs stopped working altogether, and his heart raced at the realization of being discovered, the young girl in front of him did nothing. She couldn't be older than seven or eight years old and her long, raven hair was kept in a braid that fell gracefully over her shoulder, Conan observed, taking into the fact that, for whatever reason, was wearing a white coat.

The girl held his frightened gaze for a moment, before promptly placing the book back into place.

Conan blinked.

"Did you find something, Sherry-chan?" he heard a woman's voice, too close to his hiding spot for his own liking.

"Nothing." Her voice was childish, yet very cold. "Just a rat."

His eyebrow twitched, despite his current predicament. A rat? It didn't amuse him, but he guessed he couldn't mind all that much ─ this mysterious girl, for some odd reason, hadn't sold him out. He was definitely confused now.

Hearing that they had gotten a little farther away from him, he shifted his gaze to the phone he held between trembling hands ─ it was a text from Mitsuhiko.

"Are you okay?

We saw a group of scary people in black entering your house."

He wasted no time to type back:

"Don't come in!

Stay out of sight until they are gone."

After putting his phone back, the kid frowned, knowing that there was nothing he could do but to stay quiet and hope, pray, his friends just listened to him this once.

"I don't think anybody has lived here ever since that day. Guess we can confirm it ─ he is dead."

"I already told you he's dead." That one was the girl named Sherry, Conan noted. "The possibility of a human surviving after consuming that drug is zero."

Conan's eyebrows raised far above his hairline. Drug? What drug?

"We should leave for now," the woman from before said. "Sherry-chan is a little busy, am I wrong?"

After what he could identify as Sherry scowling at her, the sound of footsteps gradually fading away from his range of hearing met his ears, yet the boy still didn't move. Not even a muscle.

If what I just heard is true, that would mean Shinichi-niichan really did get involved with the wrong kind of people.

Even that girl, Sherry, said there was a big chance he is dead. Unconsciously, he hugged his knees and continued to wait. If she was telling the truth… He curled further against himself. Then, he…

No, he couldn't be! He shook his head, pushing those thoughts to the back of his head. He is the only one he could possibly know about the petunia, and our secret spot.

He just couldn't be dead.

"Conan-kun?"

"Conan-kun, please answer!"

"Conan! Are you alright?!"

For a slight moment he panicked upon hearing those voices filling the house, but when they didn't stop, rather increased over time, he felt himself breathing again. Those dangerous people must have left already, he supposed.

"Conan-kun!" He heard Ayumi's voice, and the door burst open. "He's not here…"

"Hey, do you think he…?"

"No way!"

The three of them screamed in unison, frightened by the books crashing to the ground. "Don't worry." They relaxed, however, when they caught sight of their bespectacled friend, hopping back onto the ground. "I'm still here."

"But who were those people?" the freckled wondered out loud. In response, Conan's gaze lowered to which Mitsuhiko gasped. "Are they-?"

An absent nod was all the answer he needed.

Not long after that, Conan led the group to the living room and then told them everything he had heard while he was hiding, including that girl who, for some reason, had let him live.

"Sherry…" Mitsuhiko pondered over it, clearly recalling his parents drinking a glass of something they called 'Sherry'. "Why would anyone call their daughter after wine?"

"Maybe they really liked wine," Genta said, unhelpfully. "Maybe I should call my first child 'Eel' when I grow up..."

Conan let out a dry chuckle. Please, don't.

"She doesn't sound like a bad person." The boys gave Ayumi a weird look after she said that. "I mean, she didn't say anything when she found Conan-kun. Would a bad person do that?"

By facts alone, it was hard to say. She could have just told the other people she was with about his whereabouts, or she could just have been quiet for the moment so that she could strike later when his guard was low ─ not that he could tell why she would have acted like this. So, shrugging, he leaned back on the couch he, alone, occupying, settling his eyes back on the ceiling ─ he was too drained to give this any more thought…

Though, certainly, her gelid gaze piercing right through him was something he would not forget soon.

Seeing that his friend wasn't going to say anything else, Genta fished out the paper that he had found later and sighed dejectedly.

"Does that mean that this isn't a code sent by Shinichi-niichan?"

"Evidently not." Conan didn't even look at him.

"I wonder what this is, though." Ayumi glanced at the paper from over Genta's shoulder. "There's this foreign word… It's spelled O-R-O…"

"I think it must have a meaning," Mitsuhiko piped in. "The first letter, O, means-"

"Oro means gold in Italian," interrupted the youngest Kudo with a bored tone. "I just came across that word when I was looking for something else in… the dictionary…"

Turning his head to face his friends, the realization that he should have kept his mouth shut washed over him in waves ─ their eyes were sparkling, dreamily, and he just wanted to go back to the agency. Didn't have such luck however…

Because, the next thing he knew, was that he was taking a bus with them to Touto Tower ─ all because of a drawing of it in the paper.

It ended up becoming quite a busy day.

Conan knew it the moment he spotted, by the corner of his eye, a pair of men dressed in black, following the group right after they got off the bus. After all, he had gone through earlier that day, Conan had instantly assumed the worst, and internally panicked over the thought that those people had actually seen them all so they were going to make them disappear, until he realized that there was no way it could have been them.

By the looks of it, the people his brother had gotten into trouble with were smart and efficient ─ if they wanted a group of children gone, they would have already done it. They wouldn't be chasing them around the city, so carelessly at that…

Then it had hit him. Oro, the Italian word for 'gold'. Followed by that thought came the memories of the news he had glimpsed over that morning ─ Dino Capone, leader of an Italian robbery group, had been recently arrested.

Oh, my. At that moment, he had seriously wondered what was wrong with him, always getting into so many dangerous situations.

When he had turned around, however, his friends had already left ─ he had, after all, mentioned a few minutes ago that the first symbols might mean a clothes shop. It didn't take much time, because the trio was kicked out the store for misbehaving, not even seconds after they had come in.

It wasn't until night that Conan finally understood what the code meant, but he couldn't just say it out loud. All too aware of the men stalking them, he had excused himself to the bathroom and, without thinking twice, took out his phone.

What can I do? There, in the solitude of his little bathroom stall, Conan finally allowed himself to panic. What can I say? If I just say that we're being stalked by a bunch of Italian robbers, they will just laugh in my face!

Groaning, he pressed a hand against his forehead. What can I do? he wondered again. At this rate, everyone… His eyes caught something that made him pause. That… His eyes widened as he stared at his little bowtie. That's it!

Wasting no time, he turned on the dial and dialed the police number. "Hello, police?" It was almost crazy, he thought, how his voice was now older ─ he didn't think he would ever get used to this."I was walking down the street and saw a group of kids followed by some weird people, and they really look like the Italian robbers from the news... Yeah, they told me to call the police and they are guiding them to..."

Now more confident about the future, Conan walked out and he, with his friends, continued their little treasure hunt. He wasn't surprised when, once on the location, the thieves finally came out of hiding ─ if it could be called 'hiding' ─ and pointed the guns at the seemingly defenseless children.

They didn't understand, though, why the one with the glasses wasn't cowering in fear like his friends. Or why he was smirking, as if there was nothing to fear…

At least, until they heard:

"It's the police! Don't move!"

"Eh?" Ran smiled at the children. "That's great, everyone! You figured out the code! And then those thieves..."

"I, I caught them!" Genta exclaimed.

"And I perfectly deduced the code." Mitsuhiko grinned.

A reasonable distance away, Conan let out a dry chuckle before continuing to zap through every single channel on Agasa's old TV. There's nothing here… He sighed, crossing his arms behind his head and leaning back against the couch. So boring.

After such a long, tiring day, there wasn't anything else that he wanted more than to leave this place to get some rest, but it looked like he wasn't going to get it so easily. Even though Ran had come rather quickly after being called by Agasa, it didn't seem she minded staying there until his friends' parents came to pick them up. In fact, she seemed to enjoy the stories about how they led a group of thieves to their arrest.

Obviously, his friends were taking all the credit, yet he didn't mind. Frankly, the boy was glad, even, that the two boys were taking all the spotlight to themselves. Privately, he wondered sometimes how his brother enjoyed all that attention that he found highly undesirable.

"That's not right!" Nobody expected Ayumi, however, to frown, speaking over her two friends. "The code was solved, and the thieves were captured…" When she turned, grin plastering her face, towards the other boy, Conan couldn't hold back a wince. "… all thanks to Conan-kun!"

"Eh?" Ran smiled.

"Eh?" Conan blinked twice, before his cheeks went red under the unwanted attention. "No, no… I really didn't do much…"

"Conan-kun…" Truthfully, Conan didn't know what he was expecting when Ayumi ran to him and sat at his side, but what she did next definitely was not of them. "Thank you!"

Leaning forward, the little girl kissed him lightly on the cheek and, for a moment, he sat there, unable to figure out what he was supposed to say or do.

Genta and Mitsuhiko mentally screamed.

Conan did, too.

"Good for you, Conan-kun." And Ran, unlike any of the children, beamed. "You got a cute girlfriend!"

The boy blushed harder, if possible. "G-Girlfriend?!" he choked out. "N-No, that's not it!"

"He's blushing, how cute!"

He attempted to argue after that, yet it proved to be impossible with Ayumi clinging on his arm, Ran giggling at his evident embarrassment ─ which, to his dismay, she considered ´adorable´ ─ and the other two boys glaring holes into his head. Eventually, he had no choice but to give up and sigh in defeat. His face was still glowing, though.

Agasa, unable to hold himself, laughed loudly at the scene. Conan turned to look at him, scowling, only fueling his amusement. It went away, however, when the doorbell ringed, signaling the arrival of one of the other kid's parents. Even as he turned around, Conan never stopped staring at the professor ─ if anything, his eyes narrowed and the intensity of his gaze increased.

"Bye-bye, Conan-kun!" Before long, Ayumi had released him to go home, just like her other two friends had a few minutes before her. "See you at school!"

"See you tomorrow, Yoshida-san."

Seeing his usually apathetic friend wave at her, actually smiling, made her grin wider before turning to her father who, while amused by the sight, took her hand and began to take her away. Ran watched them go for a few seconds, and gazed upon the young boy. While evidently tired after everything he went through, didn't look as annoyed as he would be after any interactions with other children in the past.

She felt the corner of her lips curving ever so softly. I'm glad for you, Conan-kun, she thought, closing the door behind her. "Well, Conan-kun, should we get going?"

"Actually, there's something I wanted to ask you…" He shifted on his feet. "Could I please stay with Professor Agasa for the night? There are a few things I want him to show me!"

Agasa gave him a weird look, which the girl didn't notice. "Seriously," she huffed, shaking her head in disappointment. "You should have told me before I came here!"

"Sorry…"

"Well, I guess it's okay." It confused the child, however, with the smile that crossed her features. "Since I got to see your girlfriend today."

"What? No!"

Chuckling again, she waved them both goodbye and, before long, the child and professor were left alone, in an uncomfortable silence that lasted for a few seconds, "What's wrong, Conan?" before the adult decided to speak. "I don't think there's something here that I haven't shown you yet-"

"I went to my house this morning." With no warning, the boy broke the news, still facing the door and away from him. "I hoped there was a clue to Shinichi-niichan's whereabouts."

Agasa flinched at the words, "Find Shinichi?" and tried to hide it with a strangled laugh. "So that's what has been bothering you? Like I said, there's nothing to worry-"

"A group of people, all dressed in black, broke in." Conan finally turned around and Agasa realized, with a pale face, that he had never seen the boy so serious before. "Luckily, I was able to hide until they were gone."

If the kid expected an answer, Agasa wasn't so sure he would be able to give him one, so he just gazed back at him, allowing the boy to examine him through those sharp eyes of his.

"You're not surprised." His gaze narrowed. "Terrified, yes, but not surprised at all."

The professor opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out of it. Sighing, he allowed the child to continue.

"You told Ran-neechan and I not to call the police." Conan's voice rose. "Not because my brother was to return soon, but because you knew these people were dangerous… In other words…" He pointed at him, and his frown became more prominent, if possible. "You know who they are, Professor!"

All that anger, however, vanished instantly, leaving a place for confusion to paint his expression. "That's where you're wrong, Conan," Agasa confessed, shaking his head. "I have no idea who those men in black are."

"You don't? Then, why-?"

"Shinichi begged me to." The professor dropped his head. "I should've asked why… But I was too scared to."

Even after that revelation, Conan didn't seem to react, just continued to stare at him. The calculative cold that had taken hold of the boy's gaze had dimmed, however, letting the professor see something else ─ a lost, desperate child that didn't know what he was supposed to do.

"Please, Professor Agasa." He didn't think he could remember another time where Conan begged. "Help me. We have to find him!"

The professor opened his mouth, ready to tell the child that this wasn't a game. That if he kept involving himself with something that, clearly, was dangerous, it wouldn't end well for him ─ he was too young to deal with something of this magnitude… Until he remembered.

This child is Shinichi's brother. And Agasa had never met somebody more reckless and stubborn than that certain high school detective ─ in fact, he guessed that this same personality had something to do with his sudden disappearance.

Conan, right there, was so similar to his brother that, hadn't he known better, he would have thought he was Shinichi's infantilized form. There weren't carbon copies, evidently, but the same persistent mentality was something both brothers shared. A part of him worried about what would happen if he didn't agree.

The other part answered it was obvious. Conan would still go after them regardless, even if it meant doing it all on his own.

"I understand." Agasa reluctantly nodded. "We'll see what we can do."

Conan nodded back, a thankful smile drawing itself on his features.

A/N:

Published: 03-13-2020

Last edited: 06-22-2021

Based on The Coded Map of the City Case.