File Fifty-Seven: The Ghost of Teitan High School

"What? Ghosts are haunting your school?"

"... How old are you, Ran-neechan?"

"Rude! I'm telling the truth!" Ran insisted. "Recently our school has been bothered by ghosts... It's pretty creepy."

Conan's expression did not change. Instead, his blank stare did not leave her, even as he ate his breakfast, while she explained to them that, two years ago, a student had died in an accident and that the school was cursed by his spirit. Supposedly.

"That's stupid," he didn't miss the way the girl glared at him. "I don't get why people are so scared about stuff that does not exist in the first place."

"Can you prove it?"

"Huh?" Conan blinked.

"Can you prove that my school is not haunted, Conan-kun?"

Conan scoffed a bit. "I don't need to prove it," he raised his cup, sipping into the liquid. "Besides, I'm supposed to be grounded, remember?"

He wouldn't forget ever again, not after the loud, stern lecture he had faced the other time. I thought I was going to die, he cringed at the memory of Ran's angry voice and fiery gaze, and felt very lucky that the girl wouldn't use her karate against a little kid ─ not that she needed it to be absolutely terrifying. If it was my brother instead of me, this story would have ended much differently...

"Of course I do, but I'm giving you permission," continued the girl, with a smile so bright that was almost scary. "Besides, it's just for one day. You're going to spend your entire spring break here anyway, aren't you?"

Conan groaned at that, earning a giggle from Ran's side.

"Alright then, I guess I could go check it out," then, a teasing smirk adorned his features. "If that makes you more comfortable next week, roaming in the school as the hall monitor... alone."

"Conan-kun!"

Kogoro looked at the two kids for a few moments, blinking twice, before shrugging and continuing to eat.

Of course, upon seeing Conan running towards them after school, Sonoko wasn't pleased. "Wait, Ran," and she did let it show. "This brat's the one who is going to help us investigate?"

"Well, my dad wouldn't come... And Conan-kun was so adamant that ghosts do not exist that..."

Conan barely resisted the urge to scowl at Sonoko when she leaned closer to him, her eyebrow raising as he studied him. Did she really forget who has been 'helping' her out all this time?

"Alright I, the Deduction Queen, barely accepts him as my helper."

"I'm flattered, Sonoko-sama," he stated, with a plain voice, before passing by her and heading inside the building.

Conan's curious eyes travelled around, as he realized he had never been there before ─ he had only been in Teitan High School at the festival, and that had been in the school's gym. Ran simply smiled at him, walking to her locker as soon as the child started to take his shoes off.

"They're slightly larger than your school's, right, Conan-kun?"

He nodded, just as Ran bent down to pick them up for him before setting them in her own locker. Oniichan went to school here for a year, huh? he thought, absently putting on the slippers the girl had gotten for him. Before...

"Hey, Ran, who is this kid?" a girl's voice pulled him out of it.

"Is this the Conan-kun you always speak of?"

"Yeah!" Ran nodded. "Isn't he cute?"

... Cute?

His survival instincts kicked up fast as soon as the two girls got closer to him, causing the kid to flinch and take a step back.

They didn't seem to take the hint however, and one of them went and patted him in the head.

I might be young, but that doesn't make me a dog.

"He's just like a mini Kudo-kun! He has the same expressions as him."

He figured he hadn't done a good job trying to hide the annoyance he was currently feeling, but Conan found himself unable to care.

"Boy, don't be a stupid detective when you grown up, okay?"

"... Says who?" he couldn't help but groan.

The hand on his head stilled, and the two girls actually blinked at each other, wide-eyed and utterly perplexed.

"That kid is Kudo-kun."

"No kidding. Think he shrunk or something?"

... Just stop, please, the kid huffed, having already lived through that, and having no wishes to relive it.

Ran seemed to be thinking about the same thing, judging by the awkward laugh he gave them. "Don't joke about that," she replied. "Didn't I already tell you? He's just his relative."

"Are you sure he isn't just his clone?"

Conan didn't find the will to answer that question.

"But why did you bring him?"

"This brat with the glasses is helping us investigate," Sonoko spoke up. "He sometimes comes in handy!"

... I'd say every single time, but I'll let it slide... I guess.

"Investigate?" then, two male students came from behind. "The ghosts?"

"Really? I've come to haunt you~!"

"Stop scaring us like that!"

While the group of teenagers laughed, teased and joked with each other, Conan's wide eyes could not stop staring. He could almost imagine Shinichi there, with them.

Acting like the high school student he was supposed to be.

Yes, with that thought in mind, Sonoko and Ran bid their classmates goodbye and the three of them began their search. Oniichan was supposed to go school here. Learn here. Talk with his friends here... He was supposed to live a normal high school life.

His gaze fell on the window, frowning slightly as he stared at the sky.

I wonder what you're doing right now, Oniichan.

I wonder if you're living your life to the fullest... Despite everything.

Conan's eyes focused back to the end of the hallway, that frown not leaving his face.

To have our ordinary life back... To be free to live without fear... I almost had that chance.

That woman, disguised as Araide-sensei... That woman named Vermouth.

There were still a few things related to that enigmatic woman that Conan felt that they were not solved yet. Like how she was unwilling to kill him off when she had the perfect chance, or why she had actually let Sherry, their traitor, go just like that.

It would have been easier if she had killed him there, then gone to Haibara to finish the job.

Then, there was something else... Something that had bothered him for a while now...

Oniichan... Why would he let me go near that woman? A member of the Organization that's ranked high enough to have a codename.

... Did he know that, in some way, that Vermouth wouldn't do me any harm?

Conan let out a tired sigh, while still trailing behind the two girls. If he kept thinking and thinking, his mind would explode, he decided.

Nevertheless, I should be careful.

That woman is a devil of many faces. Her disguising techniques are as good as Kaito KID's.

She could be around me right now, planning some scheme, without me... his gaze rose to meet a familiar face that caused his face to go white. ... knowing.

For less than a second, Conan didn't find himself able to move a muscle, wide, startled eyes fixed on the man that stood in front of them. "Araide-sensei!" Sonoko greeted him, as beads of cold sweat rolled down the kid's face.

"But I had heard that after the trial, you'd be sent to the Aou Hospital to work there!" Ran pointed out, stunned.

"Yes, that was the original plan," Araide explained. "But it has changed."

Araide walked past the girls and stopped right in front of Conan, who was still frozen in place.

"I'm still worried about my patients," he stated, kneeling down in front of the boy, smiling gently at him, before turning back to the two teenagers. "And leaving you guys will also be hard."

"So you're going to be our school doctor again?"

"Yeah," he replied, unaware of the little hand that slowly raised. "I came today to tell the school that- Ow!"

Apart from Araide, who simply whimpered at the painful treatment he was receiving, everyone was shocked, stunned. Sonoko and Ran were speechless at the sight of the boy pinching the doctor's cheek for no rhyme or reason, and Conan was... dumbfounded.

There was no mask, no disguise. H-He is the real deal...

After she snapped out of it, Ran rushed to pull the child off him, lightly scolding him for acting like that before apologizing to the doctor, who brushed it off right away.

"I was told by FBI member Jodie," he still whispered, and Conan could do nothing but to flick his wide eyes to him. "That a criminal disguised as me and planned to commit a crime."

As he had been told before, Araide was sent to America to hide, but Hikaru and his grandmother hadn't been comfortable there, so they returned as soon as the criminal had been found.

Apparently, Jodie had wanted Araide to tell Conan, and Conan alone. Whatever the reason.

Sonoko's eyebrow rose, inching closer so she could hear what they were whispering about so much. And Ran... Ran simply stared at them, wordlessly, her ever-present frown still in place.

Her expression changed dramatically when she smiled, offering the young doctor to come around to investigate the hauntings.

Conan let out a dry chuckle. This was looking awfully like those times where he would discuss the existence of ghosts to Ayumi and Genta, who were clearly younger than her.

At least, this time there wouldn't be a middle-aged, deranged woman locking up her son in her basement... Would it?

"We'll start here..." Sonoko's deep, dramatic voice, actually caused Conan to sigh. "The Weeping Gym Storage Room."

The boy barely held back a snort, managing to keep quiet as Sonoko told them about the student that came there one rainy morning, and heard some noises coming from that room, which had been supposed to be empty. Peeking inside, she had noticed someone standing there, crying.

The student had ran away and when she returned with her friends, the weeping had stopped.

"And then!" she rushed towards something that stood in the middle of the room and pulled out the cloth that rested on top of it. "All that was left was this desk! The desk of the one who died mysteriously two years ago! The desk of the student named Hosaka Hideaki!"

Araide blinked while Ran whimpered, terrified.

And Conan could not stop wondering why he was there.

"... You know, we couldn't see the desk clearly before you pulled out the cloth. This room is not properly lit for that," Conan's plain voice stated. "How can you be so sure that, instead of magically appearing, the desk wasn't there in the first place?"

Sonoko flinched, before shrugging it off with a scoff, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "But the whimpering-"

"The chances of someone, a living being, standing there and crying are higher," he continued, unblinking, as he walked closer to the desk. "Didn't you say that this desk belonged to a student that had died?"

"Died mysteriously!"

"... How is that any different?"

Standing on the tip of his feet, Conan took a closer look, and blinked at the sight of a signature. Did that student... actually sign his desk?

"Conan-kun, get away from there!" Ran shouted, face pale. "You'll get cursed!"

He simply gave her a blank look. How is that supposed to work?

"It wasn't a mystery, and there's no curse," a female voice said, causing everyone to look behind, just to see another student there. "Hosaka-kun just died by missing a step and falling down the stairs, hitting a fatal spot on his body."

To say that Conan was glad that somebody in this entire school was finally making sense was more than an understanding. That student in question, according to Ran, was Tsukamoto Kazumi, her senpai. They both were part of the karate team, so of course they knew each other very well.

Apparently, she had half a mind not to believe the ghost stories, and pointed out that, most likely, people had mistaken the sounds of wind entering through a broken window with weeping sounds.

Kazumi then told them that Hosaka had been his classmate, and it made sense to Conan that she did not like the rumor of his ghost roaming around the school.

"Ah, Mouri-kun, I was waiting for you."

Without nothing but a nod, Mouri Kogoro closed the door behind him, letting himself inside that abandoned apartment, where its owner, Hara Yoshiaki, had been murdered a few days prior his visit.

The scent of death still lingered, and the blood hadn't been cleaned yet ─ Mouri's nose scrunched. Then, he would remember that it was a group of elementary school kids who found the body, and couldn't help but shudder.

"Have you found anything yet?" Mouri asked, walking closer to what had been the scene of crime.

Megure simply shook his head. "Nothing that hadn't been found the first time this murder had been investigated," he pulled out some photographs and sighed, taking a closer look of them. "This case has been closed, too... Are you sure that-?"

"Wait a moment."

"Huh?"

Blinking, cluelessly, Megure turned to see that Kogoro was studying the photos in his hands with a focused frown in his face, before snatching them away from him. "Mouri-kun...?"

"This was found right there, right?" he said, referring to the photo of the broken sake cup while pointing at the dry pool of blood. Megure nodded, confused. "But this is strange."

"What?"

"The cup has no blood on it!" Megure's eyes went wide at the realization that the detective was right. "That confirms that Kisaragi-san didn't kill Hara-san, simply found him dead and used it as an alibi."

Instantly, Megure's expression went serious, while Kogoro gave him back the photos and began to wander around the room, eyes scanning every corner, looking for any clues.

Is this... really Mouri-kun? the inspector, however, was surprised at the unusual sight of Mouri focused, and actually trying to think, and not jumping into stupid, nonsensical conclusions he would often come up with.

After realizing who his family was, Megure had really thought it had been Conan the one solving all those cases, all along. Had he been wrong all along?

Kogoro looked behind a random, old vacuum cleaner and let out a genuinely frustrated sigh, before going to check behind the TV.

No, that's not it. It's because a child is involved, his expression hardened. Conan-kun is involved.

"Inspector," suddenly Mouri turned to him. "Come here and help me search."

"A-Ah, right."

Before he could take a step, however, the inspector froze in place, startled by a loud sound that suddenly filled their ears. Looking back at Mouri, he could tell that he was as alarmed as he was.

That sound, after all, belonged to a phone. A mobile phone, considering the other one was right there and hadn't ringed.

Soon, the two men rushed into action, looking for the phone, yet being rendered unable to find it. Luckily, whoever the caller was, didn't stop and kept calling and calling, giving them more chances to find the cursed phone.

At some point, Kogoro came into an abrupt halt, spinning towards the vacuum cleaner. Not wasting a second, the detective removed the bag and stuck his hand inside ─ it was surprisingly clean.

When he took it out, his eyes opened widely at the sight of a phone, blaring loudly. There was a name on the screen, definitely belonging to whoever was calling:

"Singani"

Immediately he picked up and opened his mouth to speak.

Something else, however, stopped him.

"Hara-san, are you okay?" the caller had been faster, letting out that question before Kogoro could do anything about it. "Hara-san? Are you there? Hara-san!"

But Kogoro's throat had gone dry, upon hearing that unmistakable voice.

Megure looked at the detective, confused, as he clenched the phone a bit tighter. "S-Shinichi?!" finally, the words came out, and Megure gasped.

The inspector hadn't been the only one to be stunned. The person on the other side of the phone had gone silent with shock, struggling to come up with any word. "D-Detective Mouri... What are you...?"

There was some shuffling, though, and the voice died down. Then, there was a laugh, which prompted Kogoro to gasp, completely surprised.

Because, just now, he had heard his own laugh. "That's what you thought I would say, right, Detective Mouri Kogoro?" his own voice said to him. "As you can see, I can imitate whoever I want."

"Stop playing games," Kogoro was a bit more angry now. "Who are you?"

"It said so in the caller ID, didn't it?" there was a chuckle. "I expected so much more from a detective of your caliber. Honestly, I feel pretty disappointed."

"You bastard..."

"Oh, am I bothering you? Sorry, got the wrong number anyway. Bye~!"

"Wait-!"

Without so much of an answer, the line went dead and Kogoro cursed, loudly so, and almost threw the phone against the wall. Fortunately, Inspector Megure caught it before the evidence could be destroyed.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the phone, the teenager let out a long sigh. "Here," he threw the phone to the boy's chest, who barely caught it. "You owe me one, Meitantei... Or is it twenty now? I lost count."

Shinichi, on the other hand, didn't reply, just stared back at his phone. The ghost of the panic that had coursed through his body had yet to leave. "That was close..." his shoulders dropped, before leaning back against the couch, expression going stiff the next moment. "Hara-san must have died."

"Hey, you're not blaming yourself for this, are you?" the other boy commented, plopping down on the couch beside him, reaching for his computer so he could continue whatever he had been doing until now. "That guy got involved on his own. He knew what he was getting into."

"Yeah, I guess so..." Shinichi frowned. It didn't make it better to think about it, though. "But that must mean that they realized that already."

"It was about time. Just be glad you're already dead, because they would be desperately looking for you now."

"I'm not dead, you know."

The teenager shrugged, starting to type. "Since you're not dead, you could actually help me," he stressed. "Make yourself useful and assist me, you lazy freeloader."

Shinichi didn't understand at first, until he took a glance at the computer screen and his confused look dulled. "We both know that one is not it," he pointed out, with a roll of his eyes. "I'm not interested in aiding you in bringing even more attention just for fun."

"It's incredible how hypocritical you can be sometimes."

"Eh?"

"You definitely loved attention before, didn't you?"

The high school detective didn't even bother to dignify that question with an answer.

"There's wax."

"Huh?"

"Wax. You know. That thing candles-"

"I know what wax is, brat."

"Oh. That's impressive, Sonoko-neechan."

Paying no attention to Sonoko, who was grumbling under her breath, both Ran and Araide looked at the kid, blinking as he examined the wax in his finger. He had been awfully quiet for a while now, ever since that desk had appeared in the middle of the school yard with a completely dry note that read 'my hatred has not dissolved yet'.

The most disturbing thing was that no footprints had been left, even if the desk had been set in the middle of the mud.

"Say," Conan then turned to them. "What do you think would happen if you put a big ice cube there?" he pointed at the empty space behind a fire extinguisher that had been placed right beside the stairs.

"What are you talking about?" Sonoko crouched right next to him. "Even if the ice melted the puddle..."

She trailed off, and Conan realized that she had finally understood what he meant. That the water would run because of the wax then form a puddle right at the bottom of the stairs.

"Then it would really look like the tears that dead student, Hosaka Hideaki, cried, right?"

At the surprised faces everyone was pulling, Conan couldn't help but smile a bit to himself. Little by little, everything was beginning to make sense. The truth of the mystery behind this horror story was gradually coming into the light.

But a question still remained... Why would someone do this? And who?

There were three candidates. Tsukamoto Kazumi, Seku Kunishige ─ Hosaka's childhood friend ─ and Monobe Masao ─ art club member, who had been terribly disturbed, to the point of actually screaming, upon hearing what the note said.

Before he realized it, they were in the library, and Conan supposed that he had been a bit too much in his own thoughts. Kazumi was told about the desk, and she was mad. The kid was almost sorry for whoever had pulled this out.

... If it wasn't Kazumi herself, anyway.

"Say," his innocent voice broke through, and caused her anger to recede. "The books that Hosaka read before. Do you know which ones they are?"

She gave him a hesitant nod, and she showed them. The Destruction of Tropical Rain Forests, Electronic Communications Discussion, History of the University and How Crustal Plates Affect Sounds, those were the titles he would read, preparing to become a mangaka, as Kazumi had informed them.

Groaning, Sonoko held a hand to her head. "That doesn't explain anything!" she exclaimed. "That doesn't explain how his lonely belongings have been moved to the courtyard."

For once, Conan did not argue. That was something he had yet to figure out as well.

"Speaking of the courtyard," Kazumi pondered. "If we ask the principal, we might get some clues."

The principal?

"On my way to the restroom, from the third floor, I saw the principal standing in the courtyard, as usual."

Without saying anything else, the four left the library, Conan trailing a bit behind, as he thought. Absently, he listened as the girls told the doctor that the principal had planted some trees in the courtyard and would constantly take care of them.

"We would see him from time to time carrying heavy bags of fertilizer for those trees."

"Oh?" Araide commented. "Looks like we all have our soft side, don't we?"

"Huh? But didn't you know that, since he told you before?" Sonoko blinked at the doctor.

Araide let out an awkward laugh and didn't add anything else. Conan chose not to comment on it either, considering that it had most likely been Vermouth instead of him.

Now that I think of it, why did Vermouth take Araide-sensei's identity? Considering that the traitor Sherry was about eight by the time she escaped, it would have made more sense to look for her in elementary schools.

... Damn, this is confusing.

"But Araide-sensei is right," at some point, Ran added with a smile. "Our principal is like that. Ever since the last one retired, the school has been a much better place."

"He lacks discipline, however. He's way too lenient," Sonoko shrugged. "He let Shinichi-kun back in class even when he had skipped for almost an entire year."

"Well, he did say that Shinichi helped him out with a case and that he was in debt to him..."

Conan blinked. "What kind of case?" he hadn't put much thought when he had been told that for the first time ─ his mind had been a mess with coming to terms with his brother's true identity and recovering from a gunshot wound that had almost claimed his life, after all ─ but now, he was curious.

Both Ran and Sonoko looked at each other, shrugged, then looked back at the child.

Now, that was intriguing.

Like so, they entered the principal's office. An old man, who seemed to be in his late fifties or early sixties, looked up from the papers he was filling to see who was coming. A kind smile drew itself behind his moustache and let them in.

Not wasting a second, Sonoko quickly asked if he had been standing in the courtyard when it was raining, and he replied that he hadn't been there today. He had been in a staff meeting, he had stated, taking everyone else aback.

"By the way, Araide-sensei," then, he turned to the doctor. "Thanks to the stretches you taught me, the pain in my hip has lessened immensely."

... Hip pain? Conan blinked, confusedly.

But it went unnoticed by everyone else, as Sonoko began to whisper to Ran and Araide to laugh, awkwardly, because it had not been him who had taught him all that.

After a while, Ran sighed. "Guess we should return to the library," she pointed out, turning around to leave, just like Sonoko and Araide. "Thank you for your time, Principal... Conan-kun, what are you doing?"

Conan did not answer, just stared blankly at the principal, who just flinched away at the child that wouldn't stop looking at him. Before anyone could say anything, the kid had suddenly climbed up the principal's desk.

Everyone stared, startled, at the sight of the boy, who held the principal's glasses on his hands. Ran panicked. "Conan-kun, give that back!"

But Conan paid no mind, tilting the glasses slightly, from side to side. "They look weird," he pointed out, with a focused, yet childish, look. "How old are you, Mister?"

"Conan-kun!"

The principal simply laughed. "It's okay. I guess they are a bit old fashioned," he commented, gently taking the glasses away from him. "I will need to take them back, however. I can't see anything without them."

Conan's eyes narrowed slightly. "You didn't answer my question."

"Come on now," with a groan, Ran moved closer and plucked the child up from the desk. "It isn't like you. To behave like such a spoiled child."

"But I want to know!"

The girl seemed as if she wanted to say something else, but the principal laughed again. "I'm sixty, little boy," he finally answered. "Are you satisfied now?"

"Yeah," the grin turned into a smirk, all of sudden. "Very."

Nobody really understood what had gotten into the kid, but probably assumed that it was a mere case of childish obsession with things that were not important since they let go just like that.

Soon, they were off to the library, but decided to take a detour when Conan casually suggested to go visit Seko, who was resting in the health suite.

He claimed to have been in bed all that time.

"By the way, where's the school nurse?" asked Ran, confused.

"Ah, he left early to go to driving school. He wanted me to go home and rest since my house is nearby."

"So you live around here?" Conan blinked.

"Ah, yeah."

It hadn't been a relevant piece of information, at least until they found something else, when they were passing by the school exit.

There was water, water marks all in a single spot in the floor. And that hadn't been there last time they had passed by, they all clearly remembered.

Ah, could it be?!

Without wasting a moment, Conan took off running to the middle of the courtyard, not minding at all that he was wearing slippers outside. Upon seeing what he had been looking for, he stopped in his tracks.

Marks, carved into the mud, met his eyes.

"What's that?" he was startled when he suddenly heard Ran's voice, and spun around to see her crouching down next to him. "There are some marks."

"Y-Yeah," he nodded.

Not much was said thereafter, as Ran picked him up from the ground and carried him back, scolding him lightly for running out without his shoes on.

"Say, Ran-neechan. Can you gather everyone by the door of the art room?"

"Why is your umbrella wet?"

Seko's eyes widened, spinning around to see the little boy standing next to his umbrella, clearly pointing at the puddle of water forming beneath it. Soon, he realized his surprise was showing, and shrugged.

"My umbrella was too dirty so I washed it with faucet water."

"Ah, is that so?" blinking, innocently, the kid went and took it. Before anyone could stop him, he had already opened it, splashing water all over the place. "It must have been really dirty, huh?"

Sonoko stared, a bit confused, as the child seemed to play with the umbrella, a curious look plastered on his eyes as his fingers poked one of the tips. Gradually, and upon remembering the strange marks Ran had told her she had found on the courtyard, her eyes began to widen.

"Ah!" suddenly, she screamed, earning everyone's attention. Then, she pointed at Seko. "Seko-senpai, you're the culprit!"

"E-Eh?!"

The girl in question recovered quickly, hands going to her hips and a smirk blossoming on her face, moving closer to him so she could give out what she had deduced.

Mirroring her expression, Conan quietly walked away from his visible spot, silently slipping out the room without anyone noticing. I gave Sonoko-neechan enough hints. She should be able to solve this, once out, he gave the girl a brief look, before running off. As much as I want to be there to see if she got it right... There's something else.

Another case I need to solve.

Smiling to himself, the principal walked inside to his office, after another season of watching those trees he had planted on the courtyard. They were strong and healthy, and the man couldn't wait to see what they would become in a few more years.

Well, a sad smile crossed his face. If I live that long, anyway.

Sometimes, like this one, he would wonder. Alone in his office, he would wonder what his life would become if he hadn't messed up so badly. Maybe he would have found love. Maybe a wife? He had never had a love story anyways.

Shaking his head, the principal sighed, realizing that his mind was going to a dangerous territory. He had to cheer up, he hadn't been the kind that would mop around, anyway.

His hand moved to the papers on his side, but stopped suddenly. W-What's that? he covered his ears at the high pitched, weird and equally annoying sound that was filling his ears. Where is that coming from?!

He followed the source and the sound suddenly stopped. Not that he had the time to actually be relieved because he was staring, completely confused, at the young little boy sitting under his desk. He held a bowtie in his hands.

"Hi," the child grinned.

"... What are you doing?"

"It was annoying, wasn't it?" he spoke, crawling from under the desk, completely disregarding his previous question. "That sound."

The principal blinked twice. "Was it you?"

He nodded, eagerly, but then paused, eyes widening. "But that's weird," he pointed out, looking at his bowtie. "I was pretty sure that the frequency was about 13KHz..."

"And what's wrong with that?" he didn't even question how this child knew that. It hadn't really crossed his mind.

"Did you know?" the bright smile was back. "The hearing range of a human goes from 20Hz to 20KHz... But as time goes by, this range shrinks more and more as you get old."

Then, a smirk suddenly crossed his face, making the principal's body tense, by pure instinct.

"How would a sixty year-old be able to hear such high frequencies?"

The man's eyes widened, horror briefly crossing his features, watching as the boy's little hands slid inside his pockets, and began to walk around. "It would make sense, however, if you happened to be much younger than that," his piercing gaze fell on him. "How old are you, really?"

"Didn't I tell you, boy? I'm-"

"Thirty-three," the man went silent with shock. "Or thirty-four, that actually depends on when your birthday is, I guess..."

The principal couldn't find the words to say, frozen on his spot as the kid casually pointed out the facts for him. A little boy that couldn't be older than eight.

"You must be wondering... 'How does this kid know that much?', and that's actually a legit question," Conan continued. "The truth is... I know who you are.

"Cheerful, a bit too soft, single, has an excellent sight..." he remembered all those random facts that Heiji had found out for him, many months back. "... and has a nasty scar along his leg from when he was a child."

"From the moment when you said you suffered from hip pains, even though you carry heavy bags of fertilizer around. And when you claimed you couldn't see a thing without your glasses, even though you have no prescription... If you want to pretend you're an old person, next time you would like to stick to your character."

"W-Who are you?"

"Edogawa Conan, detective," with a shrug, the child started to walk towards the door. "By the way, you might want to hide that scar in your leg better. I took a peek at it when I was hiding under your desk."

The principal could not make a sound, but stood up suddenly, frozen by fear and pale, very pale, staring with wide eyes as the child, upon reaching the door, turned around.

"Ah, don't worry. I'm not going to do anything with this information," the child then let out a slight smile. "I just wanted to find you, Watanabe-sensei."

Watanabe Satoshi's shoulders slumped a bit, and the smile in that boy's face widened. With a swift bow, Conan finally left the room, feeling lighter, somehow.

Letting out a relieved sigh, the child turned around to leave. Something ─ or rather, someone ─ stopped him before he could even take a step.

"So this is where you were, Conan-kun!" Ran was there, crouching next to him. "We have been looking everywhere for you."

"A-Ah, sorry," he tried to sound as convincing as possible. "Did Sonoko-neechan find out who was responsible for the hauntings?"

"Yeah, she did," Ran let out a smile. "You should have seen it, Conan-kun, she was amazing! I would tell you everything about it..." suddenly, a slight frown crossed her face. "... but then again, it would be a waste of time, no?"

"Huh?"

"After all, you solved it on your own. You just pointed out the clues outloud for Sonoko to deduce it," Conan's eyes widened. "Come on! Don't look so surprised, Conan-kun. You have been doing this for more than a year now."

Conan blinked, slowly. "... How long have you known?"

"From the very beginning," she stated, with a neutral expression, before she smiled. "I know you ever since you were born, Conan-kun. Of course I know what you are capable of."

Giggling a bit at his dumbfounded expression, she stood up.

"Dad was so happy that he was beginning to actually solve, and get cases, and I figured you would be embarrassed if I pointed it out," she took his hand, and began to take him away. "It worked better for everyone that way."

"... I-I see," the kid managed. "Should have figured out you knew everything, Ran-neechan."

"Not everything."

Pointedly ignoring that, Conan wriggled away from her grasp and rushed to where Sonoko and Araide were waiting for him, at the end of the hall.

"I have finally figured it out," Haibara looked up from the book she had been trying to read when he heard the boy speaking, out the blue. "What you kept hinting before."

Far from understanding what he was talking about, the girl's eyebrow raised, silently watching as Conan set his bag on the desk beside hers. Realizing that he was smiling, brightly and happily, for some reason, Ai couldn't help but stare.

"... Did you consume anything strange before coming here or...?" the scientist said, unblinking.

"No, but I realized it. I finally, finally, realized it. The truth I had been looking for months, if not an entire year," smile unwavering, the boy sat right next to the girl. "All along you had been trying to make me see it, right? That my brother was not a bad person."

Her eyes widened, slightly, finally understanding what he was talking about. So, with a smile, he continued.

"When I confronted him about this, he said that he would find witnesses and 'make them disappear'. He never said to 'kill', specifically," he stated. "He was actually protecting them. Aiding them into settling into a different life, somewhere else."

She stared at him, for a moment, taking into his bright grin, that looked as if nothing would erase it, and couldn't help but smile a bit as well ─ that smile had to be contagious, she realized. "Bingo," she shrugged, looking back to her book. "Took you long enough, Kudo-kun."

"Would have been faster if you just told me."

"But you wouldn't have this chance to grow as an individual, would you?"

"Hey, you..."

They fell into silence, as the girl flipped the pages of her book. She noticed, by the corner of her eye, that Conan was fidgeting a bit, as if struggling to say something. Haibara had absolutely no idea of what could be passing by his mind, but didn't speak of it.

It wasn't until she noticed him inching towards her that she looked up. "Could you let me read, alone?" she stressed upon noticing he was trying to read from above her shoulder.

"... You are reading mysteries?"

"When you're surrounded by so many detective freaks, it actually makes you curious about this genre."

"You should really read Arthur Conan Doyle."

"No."

"Come on, give a try," the boy actually reached for his bag and looked for something. "Here, I will lend it to you."

For a couple of seconds, Haibara merely looked at the book he held on his hands, before she reached for it. Silently, her eyes scanned the cover. It was A Study in Scarlet.

"Do you actually carry this wherever you go?"

"... It's not a crime, is it?"

Shrugging a bit, the girl accepted the book without giving it another thought. Soon, Kobayashi entered the classroom and their attention drifted back to the teacher.

By the corner of her eye, she noticed Conan glancing at her from time to time, and wondered what was wrong with him today. She even caught him staring once, and he instantly looked away, face warming up, embarrassed.

Haibara was clueless.

Clueless, that was, until she opened the book many, many hours later when she arrived back home. Her eyes went wide when she saw something unusual and her fingers gingerly grasped it.

In her hands was a small, yet pretty flower, which resembled a blue, tiny little bell.

A bluebell.

The lips curved, ever so softly, amused beyond belief. You never cease to surprise me, do you, Kudo-kun?

Because no words were needed to understand what he meant. She understood it perfectly:

Thank you, Haibara-san.

A/N:

Guest: Well, I don't exactly have a fixed schedule, since I usually publish one chapter when I have finished writing another one. That usually happens every four to five days, but sometimes it takes a bit longer.

Nowan: That's a tough question, actually! Honestly speaking, I really, really like many characters, such as Heiji, Shinichi/Conan and Ran... But if I had to choose a favourite, it has to be either Kaito or Ai.