File Seventy-Eight: A Deduction Mistake

"What?!" Conan had to lower his voice when he realized he had shouted it, loudly. "What do you mean? Oniichan made a mistake?"

"Yeah," replied Heiji as the child waved his friends off, who were staring now, and turned away from them to pay closer attention to the teenager. "I received a letter from Okuda Makoto-san, whose address is in East Okuno village on the outskirts of Okuho City."

He hummed in thought, closing his eyes and straining his mind to remember such a name. "I think I heard that name before," he said, after a while. "It was a few months after I moved to Japan." He also remembered having to stay with Ran for that night and being so irritated that he didn't even want to hear about the case.

At that time, Oniichan was barely home. And it wasn't until the recent events that he understood why he had done that. I genuinely thought he was trying to avoid me then.

"So why are you telling me all this?" He raised an eyebrow at the phone. "I thought we already talked about this. I'm not Kudo Shinichi."

"I know, I know. You made it clear so many times that it's drilled in my skull now." Conan barely batted an eye at the annoyance in his voice. "I just thought that you would want to see him. Considering what date is tomorrow and all."

"Hey… How did you know-?"

"Besides, I forgot to ask you his number," he added, with a nervous laugh. "Tell him that a letter addressed to him was enclosed, so that I'll give it to him when I see him."

"Wait-"

"See ya."

With a click, the child was left alone to glare at the phone in his hand. Stalker, he thought, before locking the screen. Moments away from putting the device back in place, he paused, gave it another glance, and sighed.

His fingers typed a message, grumbling as he did so.

"Hey, are you alright, Conan-kun?" Ran's eyebrows knitted together in concern.

"I'm fine," he tried to reassure her with a raspy voice, but a cough betrayed him. "I took some cold medicine that Professor Agasa gave me."

"But your voice sounds awful..." Conan grimaced at that. "Maybe we should head back."

"It will be okay," Heiji said, from his spot on the passenger seat. "With the miracle drug this kid took earlier, a little cold like that will clear up in no time."

"What was it, this 'miracle drug'?" Kazuha's eyebrow raised, almost annoyed with her childhood friend.

Conan didn't emit a reply. Just an over-the-counter medicine.

Well, it could have been much worse, actually, hadn't Ai actually stopped the professor from giving him the prototype antidote for the Apotoxin-4869 she had been working on for a while, and that she had put in a bottle of cold medicine. Conan remembered she had yelled at the professor, with such a scary expression that made the little detective feel slightly bad for Agasa.

"Hey, hey, give him a break, Ai-san." He did his best to soothe the girl. "I didn't take it, right?" She turned to glare at him ─ it was so incredibly hard not to flinch at the sight. "... You are making me feel like I could have died if I took it by accident..."

"Oh, believe me, Conan-kun. You would wish."

Maybe he was better off not knowing, Conan firmly decided.

"Hey..." Kogoro mirrored her expression. "It better not be that stuff you brought over when we first met you back at the detective office. It was that Chinese liquor Paikaru, wasn't it?"

Conan gave Heiji a mild glare ─ though it proved to have little effect, hence the shrug he received in return ─ upon the memory of their first meeting. Even now, he couldn't get his head around the fact that a detective had thought that giving alcohol to a child was a good idea. Thankfully, I didn't take it. Seriously, considering all that happened in that case, he couldn't help but wonder if it would have been even worse if he had done so.

He coughed again, pointedly ignoring the worried glance Ran was sending his way. I feel awful, he admitted in his mind, clutching his bag closer to his chest. But I have to endure it today.

Ran looked away with a sigh, choosing not to say anything else. If it was any other day, she would have taken him back home herself, but she didn't. Maybe she knew why he was trying so hard, Conan supposed.

"But are you sure it's okay?" Kazuha said suddenly. "The person we're going to meet wrote in the letter that they had something to tell Kudo-kun. Won't they be disappointed if we come without him?"

"They claimed to have found a mistake in the deduction behind a murder case Shinichi solved two years ago," Hattori added, an excited smirk plastered all over his face. "And based on that mistake with his deduction, they re-investigated from the scratch and are planning to disclose the real truth behind the case to us." Then he placed a hand under his chin. "Well, the kid texted Kudo about it. Maybe he'll show as well."

Ran said nothing, just contemplated the high school detective for a moment. Shinichi. She frowned, her hands curling into fists as she turned to the little kid sitting beside her, hugging his bag tightly even as he coughed into his facemask again. Conan-kun is really looking forward to it...

Yet, even if she longed to see him again... Even if there was nothing in this world, at this very moment, that would make her happy other than to see that face that she missed so much… She couldn't bring herself to smile, or feel excited at the prospect.

Because a part of her hesitated. Shinichi was in a dangerous situation ─ he was pretending he was dead. Was it alright, really?

But if he didn't show up today… Conan-kun…

"That's stupid." Conan's whispered words came out from his hoarse throat with some sort of difficulty. "I don't think Shinichi-niichan made a reasoning mistake."

Heiji raised an eyebrow at him. "Why is that?"

"Because he never does."

"Oh, what do we have here? Kudo's little fanboy?"

"... Idiot."

The urge to wipe that smug grin off Hattori's face was almost too much to resist but, since that kicking a soccer ball inside a moving car could be potentially dangerous, the kid let him off with just an annoyed huff. I'm not a fanboy. He avoided his gaze, glaring at a random spot outside the window. Just stating the facts.

… Oniichan has never, ever been wrong in a case. His chin rested on top of his bag. He is just… so annoyingly good.

Which made him incredibly curious about what this 'mistake' was about.

Great. Kudo Shinichi glared at the phone in his hands. Of course there's no reception.

Really, he should have remembered. Last time he had been there, this had happened. He had tried to call Conan to check on him, but the call hadn't gotten through, thus fueling the kid's annoyance even further ─ he then had said that he didn't mind at all, yet proved otherwise when, instead of the usual interested attitude, he had barely cared about the case and went back to his own stuff.

Now, what? He sighed, plopping down on the ground, eyes fixed on the cursing water in front of him. Conan didn't send me the letter, so I have no idea what this 'deduction mistake' is all about...

That has me worried, actually.

For a moment, he wondered if he should just head to the hut where he had met Okuda Makoto two years ago, but waved that idea off instantly. I'm Kudo Shinichi. He wasn't Hirai Arthur at this moment. Who knew who could be in that hut waiting for him?

No, he needed to know the meeting place before thinking of moving. Asking people around was no good either.

So… The teenager hugged his knees, sitting quietly still. I guess I will just wait for them…

Here, all alone… In the middle of the forest...

I can wait. It's not that much of a big deal…

…

God, they are slow.

"Dear Kudo Shinichi-sama,

I've uncovered proof that you were mistaken in your deduction. In order to avoid wounding your pride as a detective, can you come see me alone?

The place will be the mountain hut where you and I first met.

─ Okuda Makoto."

Raising his head, Conan couldn't help the satisfied smirk that came into his face when he noticed the small mountain hut in front of his eyes.

This should be it, right?

Without thinking about it twice, he put the letter ─ that was definitely not his but had stolen from Heiji's pocket anyway because he had been so incredibly curious not to read it ─ inside his backpack and walked closer to it. So… He quickly scanned his surroundings and frowned. He isn't here yet.

This is weird… The boy looked through his phone. I could have sworn I sent him- Ah. Maybe he hadn't ─ he realized that the text that he had just sent him hadn't gone through. There's no reception here, huh?

Sighing, he turned around and took a step away from the old shed, and stopped, before turning to glance at it for a few moments until he began his way back…

He didn't get too far, and returned right to his previous spot, a focused frown on his face. Just a little peek won't hurt, right? he thought, hurrying to the entrance then pressing his ear against the door. Looks like nobody is home… He couldn't hear any sounds coming from the inside. Why would he call Oniichan here, then?

Gingerly, the child opened the door just a slit and peered inside, noting that there wasn't anybody there, from what he could see. "Hello..." he called, as loud as he could with his sore throat ─ which wasn't a lot, actually. "Excuse me-"

Moving to the center of the room, the kid noticed a small radio standing over a table. Eyes narrowing, he went to inspect it, "Is that Kudo Shinichi?" when a voice, clearly modified by a machine, coming from it startled him.

"... Who is this?" His own words were so strained that they didn't sound like his own, even to himself.

With a loud sound, the door suddenly closed behind him, so he immediately rushed to it. Damn it. He tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. Who would…? The kid proceeded to bang, and tried to yell, but he only succeeded in triggering a coughing fit and hurting his throat even more. Taking a moment to recover his breath, the child moved away from the door and looked around, seeking a way out.

Was someone trying to lure Oniichan inside? The window and the door that connected to the rest of the hut were both sealed. Why would they do that?

Looking up, he focused on the little window in the wall, and figured he was small enough to pass through it without problem.

Was it this Okuda Makoto person, or did someone try to pass off as him?

He might not understand what was going on, but there was something that he was certain of.

Oniichan might be in danger. He dropped his bag to the floor and tore the mask away from his face. And the others, too. Leaning over, he turned the knob on his shoes.

I need to warn them. He pressed the button on his belt, and soon a soccer ball was bouncing on the floor. I need to get away from here...

His eyes focused on the window, stopping the ball with his foot. And now.

A powerful kick sent the ball flying, shattering the glass into pieces. Satisfied with the result, the boy proceeded to climb up to the table right beneath it and tried to reach for it. No good, he sighed, realizing that he was too short for that, before grabbing into the chair next to it.

Lifting it up to the table proved to be harder than it looked ─ by the time he had managed to do it, he was sweating up a storm due to the exertion. But did not take a moment to rest, just climbed it up immediately.

His hands reached to grab onto the windowsill, so he pulled himself up. I'm almost there! He had moved too quickly, though, he noted right away, when his surroundings blurred when dizziness struck.

Despite his sore throat, the child screamed at the feeling of falling.

A splash resounded in his ears. That, and the impression of being unable to breathe gave him a pretty good idea of what had happened to him ─ it didn't take a detective to know that he had just fallen straight into a source of water. Great, he thought sarcastically, pulling his head up just above the surface. This again… Ah!

Just like that, he was forced underwater again. Damn it, was the only thing that was going through his head, as he tried to propel himself up again ─ to make things worse, it seemed like that he had been caught in quite a strong current.

By some sort of miracle, the child broke through the surface again, just to sink once more without having the chance to get a breath of air. Conan could feel his heart pounding against his ribcage with newfound panic ─ his limbs ached, his lungs burned but he couldn't do anything else but sink.

Conan wasn't sure of when exactly he had blacked out but, one second he was struggling to stay afloat, and the other he was coughing and retching, even if it hurt his throat, desperately trying to expel the water in his lungs. Faintly, he thought he had heard a sigh of relief, and it seriously confused him. That was, until he realized that there was something circling around his chest, keeping him from drifting away. An arm... his brain supplied, blinking slowly. Wait... An arm!

His head snapped to look over his shoulder. "Hey, Conan..." and almost gasped at the sight of his older brother holding him tightly against his chest. "Fancy meeting you here."

Despite his current predicament, Conan found the strength to snort. "Save that for later," he whispered, noticing that Shinichi was holding onto a rocky surface with his free hand. He was astonished to find out that he had reached the shore. "This isn't exactly… the best place to talk."

Shinichi had to agree. "Think you can hold on your own?" he asked, now with a serious tone, and the kid nodded, reaching to wrap his arms around his older brother's neck, allowing him to hold himself in place with both hands. Now that's out of the way… Frowning, the bigger detective looked up. It would seem like they needed to climb up if they wanted to reach safety, since the ground was a little above their heads.

That was what the older detective tried to do. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes for a moment, before pulling himself up ─ his aim was a little closer now, he smiled to himself, hand reaching for a ledge.

"Watch out!" Conan had screamed before he had even realized what had happened.

He slipped ─ he had realized the fact a fraction of a second too late, and now he wasn't sure he could recover his balance so easily. But instead of the splash that he fully expected to follow, Shinichi heard a grunt. "C-Conan?!" A small hand was holding tightly against another ledge, keeping them both from falling back into the river they had been trying to escape from.

Conan grunted again, and that was enough for the other to wake up from his stupor and hold himself into something else. "That was close..." Once then, the kid sighed, exhaustedly letting his head fall heavily onto Shinichi's shoulder. "Be more careful. We're in a river, of course it's slippery."

Shinichi couldn't help but scowl at that. "Says the one that got us in this situation, in the first place."

After that, the kid had fallen silent, prompting his brother to worry he had passed out again. Come on… Heavy breathing against his neck and little hands clasping against his soaked jacket convinced him he needed to get this child out of here as soon as humanly possible. There has… But Conan had been right ─ it was too slippery to safely climb up. There has to be a way...

"... Oniichan." But then, the feeble, raspy voice made him realize that the kid was still awake. "I… I have an idea."

"Huh?" Shinichi blinked stupidly at his little brother.

"Just stay still where you are, okay?"

That confused him even more, yet the kid paid no care, just frowned and climbed into his shoulders. "H-Hey… Ow!" Conan didn't seem to care that he had accidentally pulled on his hair in an attempt to remain upright. "W-What are you doing?! Ouch, watch it!"

Without gracing him with an apology, the small detective used the other's head as a step and jumped. Though he was first horrified by the developing events, Shinichi gaped in understanding, relieved to see that Conan had safely climbed up, and was now gasping, crouched over the ground. "It should..." he breathed out. "... be easier for you to climb up now, right?"

Then the kid gazed down at him, expectantly. Frowning a bit, Shinichi nodded, and reached over to grab into a ledge again ─ it was easier this time, as Conan had expected, since he didn't have to carry the weight of a child.

It looked as if he would make it, Conan's eyes lit up at the sight of his brother getting closer. Shinichi smiled, reaching with his other hand to keep on ─ but, of course, it wouldn't be this easy.

The child went pale immediately, watching as the rock that Shinichi was holding onto just… snapped. "Oniichan!" He didn't think ─ not that he had the time ─ and his left hand reached towards him out of instinct.

"Conan!" Shinichi's eyes widened, alarmed at the sight of his eight year-old brother grabbing into his arm, and immediately went to recover his grip somewhere ─ not such luck. "You idiot, let go!"

A furious head shaking followed, and Shinichi felt his grip tightening even more. "... I won't..." he let out a strangled whisper, then groaned in pain. "... won't… ever..." His right hand digged into the ground beneath, in a desperate attempt to keep himself in place. "... I won't ever let go!"

"Conan, I'm serious! Let me-!"

"Me too!" His eyes clenched shut. "I'm never letting go of this arm, you hear me?!"

That idiot! Shinichi cried in his mind, eyes roaming around the place, in a search for something to get them out of that situation when Conan let out a cry, prompting him to look back at him again.

In the process, his eyes caught onto something.

Gathering all strength he could manage, Shinichi lifted his other arm. Conan beamed, relieved to see that his brother had seemingly seen reason, but it was short-lived. He wasn't latching onto him with his other hand as well ─ he was doing something entirely different.

With a soft click, he had retired his wristwatch. Shinichi's gaze fell on the bewildered child, softening instantly. "Sorry..." And a genuinely sweet smile decorated his face. "I'm sorry for this, Conan."

Just as his mouth opened to say anything, he felt a prick in his forehead. That… He fought ─ he really did fight with all his might to keep his eyes open. That bastard...

But darkness was steadily closing on him, quickly and mercilessly. His brother's expression didn't shift, and he never stopped looking at him. That was until his heavy eyelids finally dropped against his own will.

"... O-Onii..."

Then, nothing.

Cold, was the first thought to filter through the haze clouding his consciousness. I'm so cold...

Yet he didn't move, just lied there, hoping that uncomfortable feeling would simply leave ─ but a shiver told him otherwise. Faintly, some part of his sluggish mind wondered why it was like that, until a cold feeling rolled up his cheek. He was wet, he slowly realized, and judging by the odd pattern of the droplets of water tracing on his skin, and the feeling of blood rushing up to his brain, he deduced that his head was hanging upside down. His arm was too, swaying slightly in the air.

Groaning, the kid turned around and curled into himself, not minding the rocks now sticking painfully against his cheek.

The sound of rushing water echoing in his ears was lulling him back into slumber. He was sleepy… Maybe this would make more sense when he woke up again…

Wait… Just as he was on the verge of sleep, a thought brought him back again. River?

"Sorry..."

With a gasp, the kid sat up straight, bewildered eyes snapping to stare at the coursing water beneath. They widened, horrified to see that he was all alone. "I'm sorry for this, Conan."

Renewed with panic, Conan jumped onto his feet. No… They were moving on his own. No, no. No way. Before he knew it, he had broken into a run through the forest, eyes frantically looking for anything in that river. Please, please…

Please, don't do this, damn it!

Before long, his lungs had started hurting from gasping so much. His arms and legs, tired from struggling so much to get back to land, were aching. But he kept on running, despite that his body was pleading for him to rest.

But he couldn't stop. He just couldn't. Not until he found him.

Suddenly, he stopped moving. Frozen as he was, he couldn't help but stare at the figure in front of him ─ half of his body resting on the shore, the other still on the water, panting with his eyes tightly shut.

Oniichan?!

The child sprung into action, falling onto his knees right next to him. "Hey… Hey..." He called, as loudly as he could. "Hey..."

His head turned hastily, eyes darting through the entire place, in a desperate search of someone. Just as he was about to stand to get some help, he heard a soft groan.

"Are you okay?" Conan asked, just as Shinichi's eyes fluttered open. "Wait here… I'm going to..."

He trailed off into silence when his gaze focused on him and stared for an awfully long time. As if he was feeling... lost.

And there was something, something that felt... foreign. Like it belonged to an entirely different person ─ though Conan discarded that absurd thought right away when he heard people coming closer.

"Shinichi-niichan?"

Shinichi blinked. "Do you know me, little boy?"

Conan froze.

"No way!" Kazuha exclaimed in surprise. "Conan-kun hasn't returned to the inn yet?"

Ran shook her head. "When I asked the people in the village, they said..." Her eyebrows were brought together by worry. "... that they saw a boy wearing glasses go into the forest by himself."

"That little brat… Always causing trouble." Kogoro scowled, pressing two fingers against the bridge of his nose. "He must have seen the detective kid and went off to meet him, or something."

Heiji just frowned at that, hands slipping inside his pockets. If Conan saw Kudo, why wouldn't he say something? He reasoned, walking out of the police box in thoughtful silence. Ran-chan knows everything, doesn't she? He wouldn't keep it secret...

All of a sudden, the detective halted. "Hey!" Kogoro yelled angrily, after almost colliding with him, yet he ignored him. Just looked for something inside his jacket, before his eyes widened slightly.

"Heiji?" Kazuha's head tilted slightly with confusion.

"It's not here..."

"What is not there?"

"The letter!" he shouted at her, almost frantically, then sighed exasperatedly when she didn't understand. "The letter that was sent to Kudo is not here!"

"What?!" She gasped, just like the other two, before moving closer. "Are you sure you didn't lose it?"

"Of course not, idiot! I was keeping it here."

As the other two teenagers argued with each other, both father and daughter exchanged a look, and then walked right past them. Heiji and Kazuha blinked, then turned around to see that they were rushing towards the forest, loudly calling Conan's name. Soon, they did the same.

"Conan-kun!" Ran rushed inside, shouting the little boy's name, hoping he would come out from somewhere. "Conan-kun!"

The lack of an answer that she received caused the girl's heart to clench. Did something happen to him? She worried, eyes scanning everything around her. Maybe he passed out. He had that terrible cold…

A part of her hoped that was the case, that he hadn't gotten into trouble again. So, biting her lip, she walked closer to the river and decided to look alongside it, calling his name again, but hearing nothing but her father's, Hattori's and Kazuha's voices doing exactly the same.

"Hey, did you hear?" she heard someone saying to the other citizen. "There was a guy in the river. Looks like he fell off or something."

"Ah, yeah!" Ran bolted closer, keeping an ear out on their conversation. "My mom is bringing him a blanket right now."

It looked like the other three had listened to, because they were approaching the two young men as well. "Hey!" Hattori called them, instantly. "It wasn't an elementary school student, was it?"

"No… it was a young man. Probably a high school student."

"Ah, but there was a kid with him! He was soaked to the bone, too..."

There was no doubt about it, they all realized with a nod before asking them to bring him to where they were. They didn't have to walk long until they spotted a woman and two other men, surrounding what they seemed to be a kid and a high schooler, both with blankets draped over their bodies.

"Conan-kun!" There was no mistaking it either. "Shinichi, too!"

Only the boy raised his head to look at the girl that was quickly approaching them, then falling into her knees to check into the child. "Geez, you're all soaked now!" Ran sighed, annoyance taking over her tone. "What did you two get into this time?"

"... Ran-neechan."

Conan was gazing at her, lips pressing against each other and looking so incredibly troubled about something that confused Ran, greatly. She waited for him to say anything, but he didn't ─ even if it seemed like he really, really wanted to say something, but couldn't get the words out.

"... 'Shinichi'?" Then Shinichi's voice, hoarse just like his little brother, gathered her attention away from the child to the teenager who was staring back at her, completely devoid of any emotion. "Is that my name?"

Ran's eyes widened.

"W-What kind of nonsense are you saying?" Hattori walked forward and crouched right next to them. "You're the high school detective of the East, Kudo Shinichi." He waved his hand around. "No one is going to laugh at a stupid joke like that-"

"... Detective?"

Hattori froze in place again, staring at the teen for a few moments, before his gaze lowered to the little kid sitting beside him. He wasn't paying attention to the conversation, or the shocking revelation, just gazed up ahead, an enigmatic expression plastering his entire face.

Then Conan brought his blanket closer to his body.

Wait… Hattori blinked, unable to believe this. Is… Is that true?

"Hey, now that I look closer, isn't this guy that Kudo Shinichi?" one of the men from before commented to the other.

"If that is so, we shouldn't have bothered rescuing him."

Heiji glared at him, and opened his mouth to say something ─ probably not a nice 'something' ─ back at them, but was interrupted when Kudo asked if he could lend him some clothes since his were all wet, to which he instantly agreed.

"Well, then we should head back to the inn." Kogoro declared, crossing his arms. "If the brat doesn't change into some dry clothes, he's caught pneumonia or something." Followed by that, he glanced towards Shinichi's direction. "And since he can't remember anything, we'll have to take this bothersome detective kid with us."

Shinichi didn't react, not even when the two men snickered and looked at each other. "You might as well give up trying to return his memory," one of them said, as they all walked away. "I bet he met up with that thing in the forest."

They left, leaving Hattori to loudly demand an explanation from them, and the other three more confused than ever before. Only then did Conan look away from that random spot in the river, giving his brother a side look before frowning slightly.

"Conan-kun." Ran's kind voice brought him away from his own thoughts, causing him to look towards her. She was offering him her hand. "You heard Dad, didn't you? Let's change before that cold gets worse."

If Ran noticed how weak his nod just now was, she didn't let it show. Just smiled at the distraught kid, helping him up and gently guiding him back to the inn.

That's stupid. Yet Conan's mind wouldn't shut up, still. There's not a 'thing' in the forest.

Nothing, none of that happened because of a stupid, supernatural phenomenon…

His gaze fell on his left palm. Gritting his teeth, the little boy clenched his hand into a tight fist.

"What? There was a mountain hut?" Hattori gasped after the kid had finished his story. "And you got in there, all alone?!"

"Yeah..." muttered the kid, allowing Ran to zip his jacket ─ though he had insisted he could do it himself. "Someone wanted to trap Oniichan there."

In fact, the only reason he had gotten away was because he was a small child. There was no way Shinichi could have escaped there.

"Maybe someone tried to kill Kudo..." Heiji wondered out loud. "If he kept him inside for long... That would ensure him a long, agonizing death."

Conan frowned at that, but otherwise kept it quiet, silently struggling not to think what it could have happened. "Say… If that person comes back and realizes that Shinichi isn't there..." Ran said, causing him to focus on her, and her hands clenching slightly against his jacket. "Could they come back and try to...?"

"That's a possibility," Heiji replied instantly. "Which means we have to watch Kudo closely." After saying that, he crouched down next to Conan and raised an eyebrow at him. "And, you, don't even think about wandering about on your own." Conan's blank, annoyed stare was all he replied as an answer. "I want you far from that hut, you hear me?"

"But shouldn't go in there to investigate?" the kid protested. "There has to be something-"

"That person must know that as well." Conan paused when he heard that. "Whoever did this to Kudo probably doesn't know he lost his memory." Heiji raised his finger. "Think about this. If you were the criminal and were almost sure that the guy you tried to kill told people about this… What would you do?"

"I would eliminate all evidence right away…" Ran spoke up, certain about it.

"But considering who Oniichan is..." Conan closed his eyes in thought. "I would wait for him to come back to investigate… And set him a trap."

That was more than enough reason not to get close, for the time being, until they could tell for sure what had happened. This is frustrating, thought Conan, biting his lip. Not only Oniichan doesn't remember anything, but there's a possibility that… That he…

Something cold on his face prompted Conan's eyes to snap open to see Ran, eyebrows brought together in concern, humming while pressing the back of her hand against his cheek. "Maybe we should stay in the inn..."

"No." She was a bit taken aback by the firmness in the child's voice. "I can't do that, Ran-neechan."

It took her a moment to react. "Conan-kun-" But she recovered right away, and looked back at him, sternly.

"Don't worry," Heiji interrupted her, his mouth stretching into a carefree grin while he landed his hand on top of Conan's head. The boy glowered at him, but he ignored it easily. "I'll keep an eye on his kid."

"Actually, that just makes me even more worried..."

The detective of the West flinched at her words, yet she paid no mind, just turned to gaze back at the child who, in turn, didn't try to avoid her, just stared intently. Please, she could almost hear him say to her. Please, Ran-neechan...

"Okay." She finally sighed and watched as his entire expression brightened. "But you have to tell me if you feel any worse, alright?"

Conan nodded, looking most grateful for her change of heart.

Two years ago, Kudo Shinichi had been called to investigate the murder of the mayor and his wife. Daiki, their son, had insisted on keeping the room exactly as it had been at the time of the crime, allowing them to look at it. The criminal had stabbed the wife in the stairs and got her blood on their shoes. Their footprints proved they had gone around for a moment, before heading to the veranda. Heiji deduced, easily, that the mayor had been forced to fall from there to his death.

The bloody footprints showed the culprit had escaped from the back door, presumably after stealing some jewelry and antiques that were missing.

"So?" Heiji then spoke up. "Who did Kudo say was the culprit?"

The police officer hesitated, glancing over Shinichi's direction.

"Double suicide!" It wasn't the man who answered the question but a girl, pointing at Shinichi with a tight frown on her face. "This person, Kudo Shinichi, deduced that it was a forced double suicide instigated by Mayor Hinohara!"

Then she introduced herself as Hikawa Moegi, a classmate of Okuda Makoto, adoptive son of Mayor Hinohara, whose whereabouts were unknown until this day. Hikawa firmly believed he had been killed by that 'thing in the forest' ─ At this point, Conan was really annoyed over the fact that nobody would tell them what 'that thing' was.

Before he could ask, however, they heard someone descending the stairs. "The motive behind Mayor Hinohara's forced double suicide was the desperation he felt after his doctor diagnosed him with cancer." It was a woman Conan didn't remember seeing before. "That's what Kudo-kun said a year ago, but the real situation poses a problem… It was cancer, but the tumor was benign."

For a moment, they all had fallen silent with the shock at such revelation, but then Heiji snapped out of it, turning to Kudo and shaking him, demanding an explanation.

"I..." He held a hand against his face. "I don't know... I can't remember... anything."

Conan stared at the older detective, watching as he passed a hand through his hair, struggling to remember anything. His expression didn't change, just stared.

Even when the rest told them about that creature in the forest, that they called the 'Shiragami', Conan did not look away.

Then, taking a deep breath, he quietly slipped away from the room.

Oniichan wouldn't have overlooked something like that. He frowned, opening a door to a room slightly and peaked inside. There must be a reason for him to... He stopped in his tracks, after realizing that what was inside. ... lie like that.

Mouth opened in shock, the child moved to the center of the room to stare, dumbfounded, at the face of his brother, smiling widely, plastered on the entire wall. There were files on all the cases he had solved, Conan realized upon inspection.

In other words, his brother was everywhere.

"Conan-kun?" He didn't even turn around when Kazuha entered the room. "What-?" She froze, probably after finally seeing what was shocking him this much. "Ran-chan! Look at this!"

Everyone had the same reaction as the kid prior to them. Apparently, according to Moegi, Makoto had been a big fan of Shinichi. He had looked up at him so much that he had been excited when he heard he would be working on that case. But when he gave out that conclusion, he had been obviously devastated.

He had lost his mother to an illness when he was little, his sister had drowned in the forest, and his father had disappeared after looking for her. So Mayor Hinohara had adopted him. "They were a typical type-O family. Mayor Hinohara, his wife and young master Daiki were all very generous. He always said he was very fortunate to be made to feel so at-home," she had explained. "That's why he couldn't believe the mayor would ever lay a hand on his wife."

After that, he confronted the amnesiac detective himself, claiming that Makoto had tried to contact him multiple times, but he hadn't even been home. She shouted at him, angry beyond belief that, now that he was there, he had lost his memory.

"... Leave me alone." Her words came into a surprised halt when the detective, who had been silent all day, had spoken up. "Could you leave me alone in this room for a bit? I have the feeling that I might remember something."

Conan's eyes widened slightly. Remember? His eyes finally looked away from the gigantic photo in the room and fell on the detective, mouth opening without meaning to. Hope blossomed on his chest at the thought.

But then, his shoulders dropped, mouth closing again and gaze dulling back again.

"If that's so..." Heiji's hands landed on Conan's head, but he didn't react. "... We'll leave you alone for a while."

With that, the western detective gently guided him outside. Conan did not fight, just looked over his shoulder to give the photograph a last look before the door closed.

"Take your time and recall what you can."

And wished that he could see that smile soon.

"Hey, Conan, do you want to play?"

Not expecting his name to be called, Conan jumped. The initial shock subsided quickly enough, so he turned to Heiji, offering the plainest stare he could muster. "Please." He gave the rubber ring the detective was handing him a questioning look. "As if you knew how to play quoits."

"Come on." The teen pressed the ring against Conan's cheek, which earned him an annoyed grunt. "All you have to do is place the rings on the spikes, right?"

Rolling his eyes, the kid harshly took the ring from Heiji's hand and threw it over to the stakes. Not batting an eye over the fact that he had scored some points, he sat down next to where the teen was crouching down.

As Heiji took another and prepared himself to throw it, Conan's eyes fell on the rings, realizing that they were only nine of them, which wasn't even an even number. Shrugging over that fact, he didn't even think of telling Hattori that he had one turn more than him.

It was taking too long for Shinichi to get out of that room, Conan realized as he absently threw another one. Maybe he can't remember anything… Without realizing, he let out a heavy sigh.

"What… What are you talking about?" Conan said, in a feeble whisper. "You're joking..."

Yet Shinichi never laughed. Just stared back at the kid, dully, as if he actually didn't know who he was. His bright blue eyes, that would sparkle as if a child's at the mere mention of mysteries, that would gaze at him affectionately every time they encountered each other…

Everything that made him Kudo Shinichi, detective of the East, his dear brother was just… gone.

Before he knew it, his hands had latched onto Shinichi's soaked shirt. "Don't give me that!" he cried, despite it hurting his throat. "After everything… After everything we went through..." There were steps approaching them now. "... You can't just say..."

Shinichi looked away from him, which made him all the more furious.

"You can't just say you don't know who I am, you… you big idiot!"

"Hey, kid!" Strangers' hands were pulling him away from the confused teen.

Eventually he released him, but he couldn't stop looking at him, eyes wide and expecting that teen to turn around and smile, to call him by his name…

It didn't happen.

"-nan." Conan blinked back into the real world, and looked at Heiji, who was waving a hand in front of his face. "Are you okay, kid?" He nodded, weakly. "It's your turn."

The child just stared at him, dazed for a moment more than necessary, until he slowly realized what he meant with that. Sighing again, he threw the ring. None of them looked particularly surprised to see that he missed, badly.

"Worried about Kudo?" questioned Heiji.

Conan didn't offer an answer, just watched as the older boy made a perfect throw and went to do the same, only to fail miserably, again.

"What else?"

He certainly didn't expect that. "Huh?"

"What else is bothering you?"

Instead of taking his turn, Heiji sat back on the floor, patiently waiting for the young boy to stop stupidly staring at him and open his mouth. Eventually, his confusion dimmed and focused his attention on the ring in his hand, as if it was suddenly the most interesting thing in the entire world.

"I..." His fingers flexed and relaxed against the object, unconsciously. "I let go of him."

Heiji blinked. "What?"

With an exasperated huff, the child released the object he was holding into, and closed his eyes, vividly reviving the moment that he last saw his brother, at that river ─ which was stupid, Conan humorlessly laughed to himself, because he had met him just a couple of moments ago. "He saved me..." He mumbled, so softly that Heiji had a hard time hearing him. "I tried to do the same… But that bastard, he took my watch… And..."

His eyes opened slowly and fixed on his fist that was curled tightly on top of his lap.

"If… I hadn't let go… If I kept holding into his hand… He wouldn't have-"

Out of the blue, Hattori flicked him at his forehead. That stole a sharp cry of pain from the child who curled into himself, nursing that red spot.

"You deserved that," said Heiji, casually leaning his head against his hand, watching the grimacing child without a bit of remorse. "For the brightest brat of your age that I know, you can be incredibly stupid sometimes."

Conan raised his head, still rubbing his forehead, and glowered at the detective. Shrugging, Hattori grabbed his rubber ring and threw it to the stakes.

"Make sure to remember this, kid," Heiji stated, glancing back at the kid, who hadn't stopped glaring daggers at him. "Next time you think about blaming yourself for things you have no control over, I'll personally steal your books and roast marshmallows with them. Is that clear?"

Conan's glare softened.

"Your turn."

Sighing, the kid reached and took another ring. His forehead still hurt a bit, and his brother certainly hadn't magically remembered him... But...

Heiji was glad to see a timid smile drawing itself in Conan's little face.

Somehow, he felt like he could breathe a little easier now.

He threw the ring and was elated to see that he had gotten a perfect score.

A/N:

Hey, just wanted to let you guys know that there won't be an update next week. Sorry about that!