Suddenly, Conan heard a door creak open. He immediately looked towards the noise and...
"P-Professor..?"
"Oh, what are you doing here so late, Shinichi?" The man walked towards the boy. "H-hey..! Are you okay!?" He asked, noticing the boy's stare.
"Yeah..." Conan wiped his unshed tears. "Just thought you died because of me. That's all." He grumbled.
"H-huh!?" Agasa yelled out in surprise.
"Ah! Sorry, sorry! I've been chatting on the internet lately so that probably blocked the line!" Agasa cheerfully said and put a hand on his computer. Conan let out a shaky relieved sigh. After the roller coaster emotions and new realizations he, quite frankly, was completely exhausted. "Well, it was also quite careless of you to not know my address."
Conan glared up at him. "Of course I wouldn't know! I only need to know Shin- my address," He quickly corrected, not wanting a repeat of what happened last time with Hattori. "–considering that you're right next door."
Suddenly the front door opened. Conan startled and immediately looked towards it and saw Haibara nonchalantly walking in.
"I'm home." She said. Conan stared at her with wide eyes.
"Ah, how was school?" Agasa asked. Conan shifted his surprised gaze up to him.
"It was good." She calmly said and sat down on the couch as if she didn't just, moments ago, imply that she had killed the man she was conversing with. A glare formed on Conan's face as he realized what she had done.
"She tricked me..." He grumbled under his breath. He looked back up to Agasa. "Hey, what's up with her anyway?"
"She didn't tell you?" Agasa looked at him confused. "She's with the Black Organization. She took the same drug as you and was also shrunk." Conan stifled a flinch, still trying to accept the whole situation. "That's odd... She said she'd tell you herself and asked me to be quiet about it..."
"W-wait a second, Professor..." Conan stopped him.
"Ah yes, her name, 'Haibara Ai'. –" He went on a long tirade of what characters they took from for her name. Conan became increasingly more irritated during the explanation.
"That's not what I'm asking!" He furiously yelled, interrupting the man. "What is a member of the men in black, you know, the organization that tried to kill me, doing in your house!?"
"He took me in." Haibara suddenly said from the couch. Conan whipped around to look at her. "He found me collapsed right outside of your house. You know, I betrayed them, that organization."
"Betrayed..?" Conan repeated.
"Yeah. The drug was only in its experimental stage, yet they administered it to humans without my consent. But the biggest reason for my betrayal was my older sister."
"Your sister?"
"She was murdered.. by the organization. I asked them over and over but they never told me, so I stopped developing the drug as a way to oppose them. Eventually they locked me up and I was to wait for the higher-ups to decide my punishment. I thought they would kill me or even torture me, so I took a pill that I secretly had on me. I swallowed it thinking I was going to die, but fortunately I had shrunk instead. It freed me from the handcuffs and I was able to escape through an air vent... I had nowhere to go. The only one I could count on was you, since you had fallen into the same state as me... I thought you would understand me..." She finished and looked back down at her book with a blank face.
Conan just sadly looked down at his feet, her story stunning him into silence.
He really didn't understand her, at all. To go through all of that and have a close family member die just before.. he couldn't even imagine. (Well, he did go through family death but it felt like ages ago to him.) And, he now felt quite guilty for, basically, tricking her. She thought that she had at least someone who could understand what she's going through even a little, but, in reality, she didn't. It just felt.. wrong. But, there's no way he could just tell her he wasn't Shinichi at this point.
"Don't worry, I changed your status to 'dead' so they shouldn't suspect anything." Haibara said, misinterpreting his silence as worry. "Although, once they realize the girl who betrayed them changed it, they might get suspicious."
"Uh, anyways..." Agasa walked over to them. "You're the creator of the drug so you can make an antidote, right?"
Conan stiffened.
Shit. He never even considered that before. That would be bad. Really, really bad. If she was able to make an antidote, his secret would be discovered, and he's already decided he was not willingly going to tell them. There is absolutely no way he is going to take some sort of drug that could possibly permanently alter his body in ways he does not want, or even worse, kill him.
"All the drug's data was in the lab." Haibara said, bringing Conan out of his thoughts. "There's no way I can remember such a large volume of data!"
"Where is it, then?" Agasa asked.
"It's no use." She walked over to the bookshelf and picked up a newspaper. She opened up to an article with the headline Medical Company Burned Down, and pointed at it. "Look. Even if you went, there'd be nothing left."
Conan couldn't help but let out a small sigh of relief at that.
"They've destroyed all the other facilities I was involved with, too." She added. "But, what will you do?" She sent a sky smirk to Conan. "The organization is frantically searching for me now. I'm dangerous to keep around. Will you drive me away, Kudo Shinichi?"
"...Of course not." Conan said. "No way I could do that to you in good conscience. Besides, it'd be even worse for me if they found you out, so you'll have to stay here."
"My, how nice of you." She sarcastically said.
"But, what about your parents?" Agasa asked. "Wouldn't they be in danger?"
"There's no need to worry." She replied. "They were also members of the organization. They died in an accident before I was born."
"Do you have any other family..?"
"No." She simply said. "It was just me and my sister, who I didn't see often."
Conan again looked at her with pity. She didn't even have a family or someone to go to, especially after all that. Sounded horrible.
"Ah, wait..." Haibara suddenly said. "A few years before my sister was killed, she sent me some floppy disks with trip photos and such. After I sent them back I had lost a floppy with some of the drug's data on it..."
Horror dawned on Conan as he realized what she was implying. Just as he thought he was in the clear, there was some roundabout way to get the data. Just his luck.
"So..." He tried to put a happier expression on his face. "You're saying it's possible that the drug's data is mixed with the floppies you sent back to your sister."
"Then, let's go check out where she lived!" Agasa excitedly said.
"It's no use." She said. "All her stuff was disposed of when she died. But, the one who recorded the photos' data on the floppies was a college professor that was a part of her group, so maybe he still has them."
"Do you know who that is?" Agasa asked.
"Hirota Masami..." Haibara sent a glance to Conan.
Memories came back to Conan in a shock.
That was the name of that girl who was killed by the organization, wasn't it? It couldn't be...
"That's great!" Agasa cheerfully said. "Let's hurry!"
After calling up the college and getting his address, they figured out he still did have the floppies (much to the dismay of Conan) and they soon arrived at his house.
But, Conan couldn't help but grin down at the corpse laying before him. (It was also kinda ironic that the second Hirota Masami he heard of also happened to die.) This weird sort of curse that had been placed upon him when he moved to Japan and created dead bodies in his wake, had actually come in use, for once. A murder was just what he needed to halt the process of getting the drug's data. (And it was a locked room murder, too! His favorite!) And, based on what Haibara had said, it seemed the floppies had been stolen too. This was just great (which he actually didn't mean sarcastically for once)!
Although, he felt a bit guilty for being so happy over it. He would think that Haibara would want to get back the data so she could make an antidote and get back her original body; he couldn't even imagine what such a drastic change would do to someone mentally and physically. Despite her, honestly, bored expression, Conan guessed she must be feeling pretty discouraged.
(Well, he also felt bad for being happy that someone literally died, but not as much.)
But, as much as he was excited over the murder, it seemed it was going to be one of those difficult ones. It looked like just an accident, but there were too many things out of place,like the oddy in place phone receiver and the weird sound of the messages, for him to treat it as such. (At least, the Inspector on scene, Yokomizo, seemed to think the same.) And he was nearly positive the culprit was the guy who sent 10 messages because, really, no one does that unless it's for a murder trick. (But, that was just based on intuition so it's really nothing to go on; he could just be an over-excessive guy after all.) It was already confirmed it wasn't the Black Organization either, considering the message Vodka left wasn't deleted. However, no matter how much he thought about it, he just couldn't think of a way to get the key under the notebook like that from outside the room.
"It's impossible." Haibara came up to the boy and said. "To lock the door and bring the key to the middle of the room, even more so when it's underneath something. I know there are several unexplained things, but if he was drunk, it's entirely possible for this to be an accident."
Conan glared down at the floor.
He knew that. But he just couldn't accept this as an accident. Call him crazy, but he could feel that it wasn't, like some sort of murder sense. But she was right, wasn't she...
"Besides," She continued. "–it's dangerous and meaningless to stay here any longer. Give it up, Kudo-kun." She bent over and picked up a knight chess piece. "This case is already..." She placed it down in front of him, on the phone. "...checkmate."
Conan dejectedly looked down at the knight.
Wait... Checkmate..?
He picked it up and stared at it. After a few seconds, he let out a laugh.
He knew it. He knew he wasn't crazy.
Haibara turned around and gave him a confused look. "What are you laughing about?"
"I've got it." He smirked, still scrutinizing the piece. "That's it, checkmate."
"Huh?" Haibara lifted an eyebrow, wondering if he's gone insane.
Conan walked up behind Agasa, brought out his bowtie and said, "I've figured it out." Interrupting some sort of conversation the suspects were having. Everyone in the room looked over at the poor old man. Agasa sent a nervous look to Conan behind him. "...The culprit who murdered Hirota Masami, and how they created this locked room." He continued.
He then explained how it wasn't an accident (which took longer than he had expected, with the suspects, and Haibara, trying to argue and say that it's impossible, and with Agasa constantly second guessing him). But, after that, he was able to begin replicating the trick.
Conan grabbed a cassette tape, pulled out the tape, brought it outside and looped the key through it. He then brought the end of the tape back inside, looped it around three chess pawns, placed the notebook atop it, and then turned the prices upside-down, after a quick rebuttal from Haibara. Finally, all he had left to do was make a call, and they soon all watched in awe as the notebook fell atop the key. (Honestly, it was quite a complicated triick. He was almost impressed that the culprit managed to come up with it in such a short amount of time.)
Conan headed back inside with a smirk. Then, he explained (as Agasa of course) how the culprit was Shirakura Asuka, the guy who sent 10 messages like Conan had suspected, and that the evidence was the fingerprints he had left on the tape.
"Wow! What's great deduction!" Yokomizo said to Agasa.
Agasa laughed, slightly nervously. "Uh.. anyways, could I get back the floppies I came here for..?" He asked.
Conan stifled a slight chuckle. Of course that wouldn't work.
"Oh, sorry but we'll have to keep that at the station because it's evidence." Yokomizo said.
See?
Agasa whispered to Conan behind him. "What should we do?"
Conan wiped any trace of a smile off his face and spoke in a more disappointed voice. "It can't be helped. We'll have to leave for now." He whispered back.
Conan turned around to Haibara and was about to call to her, but he saw what seemed to be a tear trickling down her face.
"Why..?" She said with a shaky voice. "Why didn't you save my sister..?"
"Huh?" Conan looked at her with concern. "Y-your sister..?"
"Why haven't you realized!?" She yelled. "Hirota Masami was a fake name my sister took from Professor Hirota!"
"W-wait..." Conan's eyes widened as the realization struck him. "The robber.. Hirota Masami was..."
"If- if you..." Her breath hitched as tears began spilling down her face. "If you have such great deductive abilities.. y-you should've been able to see through my sister easily!"
Conan just sadly looked at the girl, unsure of what to do.
"But you... But you..." She collapsed to her knees and gripped his shirt as sobs began to escape her mouth. "Why! Why!"
