Conan sat down at his desk. There were only a few other students there as it was still quite early. He brought out his phone and just stared at it.
He considered telling Yusaku about Hattori, but he really didn't want to. He felt like Yusaku would get mad at him for telling someone he was Shinichi (well he never said he couldn't, but Conan really couldn't be sure with that guy), and so late too. Although it didn't have to do with the Black Organization or Shinichi's whereabouts, so, technically, he didn't have to tell him about it. But...
Conan groaned in frustration. He sighed and put his phone away. He just won't tell him, for now.
And, it seemed that the rest of his classmates streamed in over the course of his pondering, including his overactive friends.
"Hey! Did you hear?" Ayumi excitedly said to the others. "A new transfer student's joining our class today!"
Conan didn't really care. He just hoped they weren't obnoxious. Or that they weren't oddly drawn to him like Ayumi.
"Wow, really!?" Genta exclaimed.
"Yeah! Kobayashi was talking about it in the staff room."
"We haven't gotten any since Conan!" Mistuhiko said.
"I wonder what they're like." Ayumi said.
"I hope they're a pretty girl!" Genta laughed.
"But personality always comes first."
"Hey, what do you think they'll be like, Conan?" Ayumi came up to the boy and asked.
"Oh, uh.. I don't know." He replied. "Maybe they're some boring, antisocial nerd, you know."
"Oh, so kinda like you." Genta said.
"H-hey..!"
"But, Ayumi, didn't you see them in the staff room?" Mitsuhiko asked.
"No, but I heard their name. It's Haibara."
"Haibara..?"
"That's an odd name..." Mitsuhiko said.
"It's better than 'Conan', though." Genta jibed, sending a sideward glance to the boy.
What was it, insult Conan day?
"Hey!" He yelled. "It's not like I chose it!" (Well, at least not the Conan part, which Genta was clearly referring to.)
But, his comment fell on deaf ears when the teacher arrived.
"Ah! They're here!" Ayumi eagerly said.
The door opened and Kobayashi walked in with the new student. Genta got his wish; it was a girl, with strawberry blond hair and dressed in a blood red sleeveless turtleneck. (Which he didn't exactly think was normal seven year old girl attire, but what would he know; he was wearing a bright blue suit and a bowtie combined with a pair of shorts for Christ's sake. Although he didn't exactly choose the outfit himself, but he had gotten used to it enough to where he didn't even mind it anymore.) The class erupted with excited whispering. He could hear many of the boys say things like 'she's pretty!'. But the only thing Conan noticed about the girl (aside from her possibly strange fashion) was that she was oddly familiar. He racked his brain trying to think of where he saw her but nothing was coming to mind.
"This is Haibara Ai who'll be staying with us from now on!" Kobayashi introduced. "Hmm.. Haibara's seat will be..." She trailed off, looking around for a spare seat.
"Here! Here!" Genta volunteered. "The seat next to mine is free!"
Haibara started walking towards it, but instead she passed straight by it and sat down right next to Conan. The class all looked at her, confused, especially Conan.
"Nice to meet you." Was all she said.
(Well, it seemed he was right about the antisocial part. Although, she did seem oddly drawn to him. Damn it.)
"Y-yeah..."
Throughout class, Conan kept on giving her quick glances, mostly because he was still trying to figure out where he saw her before, but because she was also giving him glances throughout class.
Weird.
Eventually, the school day ended and Conan was heading to the shoe lockers along with the others.
"Haibara-san!" Ayumi called to the girl up ahead. "Why don't you walk home with us!"
But, she just walked past her.
"Leave that stuck up girl alone." Genta grumbled. (Conan thought he was being a bit mean, considering she was probably just a nervous new student, but he couldn't blame him for disliking her; she was.. strange.)
"But..." Ayumi said with a dejected expression.
Mitsuhiko went up to the girl and asked, "Hey, where do you live? You moved here right?"
"Don't be shy..!" Ayumi also said.
Surprisingly, the girl replied. "Beika City, 2nd district, number 22... That is where I currently reside."
Conan gave her an even more incredulous look.
What kind of seven year old speaks like that!? There's gotta be something up with her. And, wait...
Conan brought a hand to his chin in thought.
Beika City, 2nd district, number 22... Wasn't that.. by Shinichi's place? But he didn't remember any sort of apartment complex or 'Haibara' house close by. This was getting weirder and weirder by the second.
He glanced at Haibara again and noticed she turned around and looked at him too. She then smirked at him!? He had thought she might just be socially awkward and antisocial but typically antisocial people don't tend to smirk at people they've just met. There is definitely something up with her.
She then just turned back and continued walking as if she didn't just do something extremely mind-boggling.
Conan just stared after her as he headed after his friends.
When they got to the lockers, unsurprisingly, the other Detective Boys tried to pull her into their group.
She actually looked as if she was considering the offer then asked, "Is Edogawa part of the group too?"
God, what does she want with him!?
"Yeah..." Genta slapped a hand atop Conan's head. "But he's more like my assistant."
Conan glared at him. (Guess he forgot about the copious amount of cases that they were only able to solve with his help. Whatever.)
"We get requests in Genta's show locker." Ayumi pointed over at the locker, which had a flashy sign on it.
"But we don't tell the teachers, though." Genta added.
Conan gave him a look. Did he really think they didn't know..? With that on his locker? Conan just silently shook his head.
"Everyday we get tons of letters!" Genta opened up his locker to, of course, no letters. He awkwardly laughed. "Usually we get a lot but I guess there's none today..."
There's never any.
Conan sighed. "Let's leave already and go play soccer or something."
"Good idea!"
"Let's go!" Ayumi cheerfully pushed Haibara along.
They were about to walk out the door when Genta excitedly shouted, "Wait, we got one! A letter!"
The others excitedly rushed back to him and Conan gave him a surprised look.
Really? That was surprising.
"Your brother disappeared!?" The Detective Boys repeated in surprise.
"Yeah..." The boy, Toshiya, said.
Who would go to some group of first graders for something as serious as that?
"You called the police, right?" Conan asked, just in case.
"Yeah. He's been missing for about a week. The police have been searching but they haven't found him..."
Okay, that makes more sense.
"Did he get kidnapped?" Mitsuhiko hypothetically asked.
"Maybe he just ran away." Genta said.
"Of course not!" Toshiya shouted. "He wouldn't! He said he was going to his friend's house but he never came back!"
Well, seemed interesting (at least it sounded more fun than playing soccer in the park).
"Well let's try checking out his house first." Conan said.
When they arrived, they quickly began searching through his brother's room. The only useful thing they discovered was that he left his wallet, meaning he didn't run away.
"Then, what happened to him..?" Toshiya asked.
"Maybe he got into an accident or something..."
Suddenly, they heard giggling from beneath the bed. Ayumi emerged with a couple of paintings.
"What are these?" She laughed. "Who drew this?"
"Picasso." Haibara curtly said. Conan glanced at her.
"It's true!" Mitsuhiko looked over Genta's shoulder. "That's a replica of Picasso's 'Crying Woman'!"
Conan sifted through the paintings. "Hmm. Van Gogh, Monet, Gauguin... They're all copies."
"Ah, my brother drew all those. He's good at drawing imitations."
"Maybe he was kidnapped to draw these!" Genta suggested.
"No. The design is good, but the coloring and brushwork is still too amateurish. It wouldn't work as a counterfeit. Besides," Conan lifted a portrait of a man from the pile. "–this painting's bothering me..."
"He looks familiar." Ayumi said.
"That's Natsume Souseki." Toshiya answered. "My brother's a big fan of him! He liked this painting so much he put it in the art exhibit. But, no one really liked it because it was just a copy, well except for this strange woman."
"Strange woman?" Conan repeated.
"Yeah. She had this huge hat and wore all black."
Conan's eyes widened at the boy's words.
All black? It couldn't be.
"When!?" Conan grabbed Toshiya by the shoulders and shouted. "When did you meet her!?"
"Uh. A-around ten days ago." The boy stuttered.
"Was there anyone else dressed in all black!?"
"Y-yeah. A couple other guys, I think."
Conan gritted his teeth.
It can't be. It can't be!
"Conan-kun..?" Ayumi worrily looked at the boy.
"Hey!" He yelled at Toshiya again. "Show me places he might've gone to!"
"Huh?" Toshiya squeaked out.
Conan grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the room. "Hurry!"
"Ah, wait, Conan!" His friends called after him.
Haibara just sent him an unnoticed knowing look and walked after them.
They searched and they searched, but they found nothing. Conan rested his hands on his knees and gritted his teeth.
He shouldn't be so mad, really. The police would've done this already.
But nothing!? At all!?
"Hey, can we go to the convenient store?" Ayumi asked. "I'm thirsty."
"Ah, sure."
They all walked in and began looking around, but Conan couldn't help but notice the odd man buying cigarettes at the counter. A small smirk formed on his face; maybe there was a lead.
When he left, Conan hopped up on the counter and asked, "Can you show me that 1000 yen bill that man used?"
The cashier just looked at him, confused. "Huh? No..?"
"Just let me see it!" He angrily yelled and reached into the cash register. He didn't have the time to be polite.
"H-hey!" The poor cashier yelled.
Conan brought the bill up to the light and, like he suspected, there was no watermark; it was fake.
The cashier snatched the bill back from the boy. "You can't just do that, kid! That's stealing!"
Conan jumped off the counter. "Call the police. That's a counterfeit."
"Huh?"
He ran out the door.
"Hey, wait!"
Conan left his friends to rush after him. He smirked as he followed the man.
Finally, a lead.
Conan followed him all the way to Daitoma, and somehow managed to convince his friends to go home; this was too dangerous for them. But, unfortunately, this was where his search seemed to end, considering he lost the man on his way.
He asked a real estate office if there were any warehouses being rented out, but there was no luck there too.
The tired agent sighed. "Listen.. I have work to do. Take your friends and go home."
"Friends..?" Conan asked. He wasn't with anyone, unless...
"You're with them, right?" The man looked and pointed behind Conan.
Conan followed his gaze and sighed. There were his friends, glaring at him through the window, faces pressed against the glass. Well, except Haibara who was just calmly standing next to them.
Of course they followed him.
They angrily walked in.
"We're not gonna fall for this trick again." Genta crossed his arms.
"Going off on your own is your signature move." Mitsuhiko pointed at him.
"So, how'd you guys find me?" Conan grumbled.
"Haibara told us to follow you." Ayumi answered.
Conan sent a glare to her.
That girl again.
For some reason, Toshiya went up to the agent and asked, "Excuse me, are there any novelists in the area?"
Conan gave him a confused look and asked why he would be asking about novelists of all things. Apparently, he decided not to mention that his brother actually called home once, saying he was with people like Souseki. Conan had to tamper down the urge to yell at the boy.
They followed the new lead but, unfortunately, the only novelist in the area was clearly uninvolved. But, fortunately, the agent mentioned a newspaper company that was quite conveniently run by a lady who always wore wide brimmed hats.
They told a couple of police officers, but were immediately laughed at. Conan had to refuse the urge to scream.
Why was everyone being uncooperative today!?
Fine. Whatever. He can just steal Shinichi's identity for a bit.
"Stay here!" He yelled at his friend's and ran off.
He found a phone booth and told Megure the details, with Shinichi's voice of course.
Conan sighed. Finally this ordeal was over and he could rest easy.
He made his way back to the police box, and it seemed the universe hated him or something today. Even his own friends weren't listening to him, considering they decided to go right into the newspaper company, which potentially had dangerous criminals inside.
This time, Conan didn't refuse the urge to shout, doing so at the two incompetent officers who let a group of children waltz right into a potentially dangerous situation.
After finishing up yelling at the officers (and throwing in a couple of words he really shouldn't be saying or even know) he ran up the stairs to the company as fast as his little legs could take him, desperately hoping they were all okay.
When he got to the top, he sighed in relief, hearing his friends calmly talk from the other side of the door. He let himself catch his breath for a second and reached up to the doorknob. But, a cold metallic feeling, pressed into the back of his head, stopping him in his tracks.
"That's enough playing detective, kid." The man said.
Conan slowly looked behind him and, almost immediately, noticed that it was a real gun this time. He stiffened a little under the more dangerous threat.
Usually, if it was just a normal criminal, he could easily knock them out with his watch, but this was potentially a Black Organization member. He had to be more careful.
He heard Ayumi yell from the other room. Conan gritted his teeth.
Shit, the criminals got to them too.
Conan slowly and silently readied his watch. It was a gamble but one he had to take. He whipped around and pressed the button on his watch, the needle hitting the man right in the face. He limply fell to the ground.
Conan let out a breath.
Conan then cracked open the door to the room to survey the situation. That lady with the wide brimmed hat was pointing her gun straight at Ayumi and there were two other guys guarding the others. Conan sent a glance to the man's gun behind him.
He could kick it at the woman's hand and knock her gun away, but he only had like 50 percent confidence that it'd actually hit. He could also use the gun for its intended purpose and actually shoot it at her, which he had more confidence in doing, but that just didn't seem like such a good idea.
The lady menacingly yelled that she was going to kill Ayumi.
Conan silently cursed. He didn't have time to decide. He picked up the gun, turned on the safety, removed the bullets inside, and kicked it (to the best of his ability) at the woman's hand. It whizzed past her and only brushed against her arm, but it was enough to have her drop her gun in surprise.
"W-who's there!?" She yelled.
Conan calmly came out from behind the door and leaned against the wall in what he hoped was a cool-like manner. "Edogawa Conan, a detective."
"Conan!" His friends yelled out in relief.
"I-impossible... But Inuyama dealt with you..."
"Oh, is that his name?" Conan said as he dragged the unconscious man into the room. "Sorry but I think he was the one being dealt with."
"Huh..?"
Conan saw a couple of paint cans on the side and placed them in front of him. He kicked one at one of the other criminals and hit him straight in the face. He fell down, unconscious.
Good, he didn't miss.
"What!?" The woman yelled.
Before she could do anything, he knocked out the other criminal with the second paint can.
"Shit!" She yelled and dived for the gun she previously dropped. But, before she could, another pair of hands picked up the weapon instead.
The woman looked up and was met with the cold stare of a little girl. Haibara aimed the gun and curtly shot it, right next to the lady's face, causing her to fall to her knees in shock.
Silence fell upon the room. Conan just stared at her as if she were some sort of alien creature.
This was it.
This was the last straw.
Conan had never even heard of a seven year old who knew how to shoot a gun, in reality or fiction (aside from himself of course).
There is absolutely no way this girl is normal.
"H-Haibara-san..?" Conan managed to get out.
Haibara nonchalantly placed the gun back on the ground.
"Th.. that was so cool, Haibara!" Ayumi said, breaking the awkward silence.
"Yeah!"
"That was amazing!"
Soon, the two police officers arrived after hearing the gunshot. They looked upon the scene in disbelief.
"Th-they were really..."
"Now way..."
Conan glared at them. "We told you." He said, having overcome his shock.
They just stared, speechless.
Conan turned back to his friends. "Well, I called Megure up a bit ago, so we should wait for the competent police officers to arrive." He gave a pointed look to the new arrivals.
And they soon did. All the criminals were arrested and Toshiya's brother was freed.
As the woman was being led out, Conan walked up to her. "You're gonna have to confess everything about that big organization you're a part of, won't you?"
She looked back, confused. "Organization?"
Conan glared at her. "Don't play dumb. You have a codename too, like Gin or Vodka."
"Gin? Vodka?" She repeated. "Sorry, kid, but I stopped drinking a while ago."
"Huh?"
"What are you talking about, Conan-kun?" Megure turned to him. "She's the infamous 'Silver Fox'. We've been after her for ages."
Conan looked down dejectedly.
Of course. Of course they weren't actually from the Black Organization. To go through all this not to get a single lead. It was just his luck.
Conan sighed.
Megure turned back to the lady. "But you'll be in for a while this time. Gun possession and firing..."
"Oh, but I'm not the one who fired." She jerked her head towards Haibara. "It was that brown haired girl."
"What?" Megure rushed to the girl. "What were you thinking!?" He yelled right in her face.
"But..." She sniffled. "But..." She burst into tears.
Megure began frantically trying to calm the girl. Conan narrowed his eyes at her.
Nope.
He was not buying it.
There's no way the girl who shot a gun with proper stance, grip, and aim, was crying her eyes out because she got yelled at.
But, as he looked at her longer.. her crying looked incredibly real.
Maybe he was just being mean. Maybe she was just a socially awkward girl who got scared and being yelled at just pushed her over the edge. And maybe she just coincidentally knew how to shoot a gun, for some reason...
Yeah, no. That didn't sound right.
She must be incredibly good at fake crying. Yeah.
Conan narrowed his eyes and stared at the girl with renewed suspicion.
Conan had offered to walk her home and was currently walking alongside the girl.
He noticed they were pretty close to Shinichi's house and therefore probably Haibara's too.
Conan turned to the crying girl and said, "You can get back yourself, right?"
She gave a small nod and Conan turned around to go back to the agency. He felt like dealing with the enigma that was Haibara tomorrow, exhausted from the long day.
Suddenly, the crying just eerily stopped. "Apotoxin 4869." She said.
"Huh?" He asked, confused.
Conan turned back to her and, like he thought, she had completely stopped crying, as if she wasn't just a bit ago. He was right; she was faking.
"Do you know what that is?" She asked. "That's the name of the drug you were forced to swallow."
"What are you talking about?" He asked, even more confused. "I've never been forced to take any sort of drug..."
"Oh? But I shouldn't be wrong." She smirked at him. "Out of everyone on the list, only your death was unconfirmed, Kudo Shinichi."
Conan's eyes widened in shock.
He was wrong.
This.
This is the last straw.
He just stared at her, speechless.
"Surprised?" She continued. "I know every possible side effect of the drug. I was ordered to make it by the organization, after all."
Organization? Drug?
She couldn't actually be...
"H-Haibara..? What..?" He managed to get out.
"It's not Haibara. It's Sherry."
She's kidding. She has to be kidding.
But then, why does she know about the Black Organization and that Shinichi was forced to take some drug!?
"You can't be in that organization, you're seven!" He looked up and yelled.
Haibara sighed. "I'm disappointed in you, Kudo-kun. Aren't you a famous detective? I thought you'd figure it out by now, that I'm the same as you; I also took the drug."
Conan just incredulously stared at her. He was dying to know what in the ever-loving fuck she was talking about.
"The drug induces apotosis, the programmed death of cells," She continued. "–and increases telomerase activity, making the cells rapidly replicate. As an unintended side effect, apart from the nerve tissue, bones, muscles, and body hair, it caused all of the cells to revert to a child-like state."
Conan only understood like half of what she said, but he got the gist of it.
And, she couldn't be for real. She had to be pulling a prank or something. A very fucked up and evil prank. He refused to believe it. There's no way a drug that shrinks people's bodies exists. He just made that up.
Right?
Right?
"You're joking, right?" He incredulously asked her. "You have to be kidding."
"I assure you, Kudo-kun. I am not joking." She smiled at him. "Did you know? The organization searched your house three times before. Being the drug's creator, I was obviously there. The first time, there was no trace of any living person. But, the second time, little things were out of place. So, some of the higher-ups were sent for a third search. But, fortunately for you, they remembered seeing that girl at the detective agency go into your house a couple times, so they concluded it was just her. But, during that third visit, I noticed a chilling change in the wardrobe. The kid's clothes that were there a few months ago had completely vanished."
(Okay, in hindsight, maybe it wasn't such a good idea to take all the kids clothes.)
"It would be odd for that girl to take them, so naturally, I was able to make some conclusions." She finished.
After Haibara's story Conan made a realization. His eyes widened as he finally remembered where he saw her before.
The front door of Shinichi's house opened and two very familiar figures came out. Conan immediately recognized them as Gin and Vodka. There was also a third person. She wore a long lab coat with a blood red turtleneck underneath and had short strawberry-blond hair.
Conan put a hand to his head.
He was going to lose it. He's seriously going to lose it.
"Now way..." He said with a shaky voice. "You're not kidding. Holy shit. You're actually not kidding."
"You don't have enough time to be surprised, Kudo-kun." She smirked again. "Didn't I tell you, the place I'm living at is Beika City, 2nd district, number 22? Right next to your real house, isn't it?"
Conan's eyes widened in shock for probably the millionth time that day as he realized where that was. He quickly brought out the earring phone and dialed up the Professor. His hands shook as he listened to it ring, waiting for it to connect.
Please be okay. Please be okay.
"It's pointless." Haibara said. Conan whipped his head around to stare at her. "No matter how many times you call, he'll always be busy, he's no longer in this world anymore..."
Conan gripped the phone as he glared at the girl. His stomach filled with dread.
"You..." Conan growled. "What.. what did you do to the Professor!?" He shouted.
"Oh? If the Professor disappeared, would that be troubling to you? That earring phone, your kick amplifying shoes, and your stun gun watch, they were all made by the Professor, right? Because of him, you're still able to be a detective in that body. Meaning, Kudo Shinichi's current lifeline is Professor Agasa."
Conan gritted his teeth. "Is that why you killed him..?"
"Who knows... Why don't you go to the Professor's house and see?"
He began hesitantly walking towards his house.
"I won't stop you. It's not a trap either." She added.
With more reassurance, Conan bolted to Agasa's. He slammed open the door.
"Professor!" He yelled.
But, there was no sign of the man. The house was filled with an eerie silence. The computer was left on, unattended. Tears began to form in his eyes.
No.
This can't be happening.
The Professor... He was so nice. He didn't deserve this. And all because of his stupid idea. If he hadn't told him about this.. he wouldn't be...
Conan collapsed to the floor.
"Professor!"
