Conan was terrified.

Gasps and cheers rang throughout the crowd as Shinichi stood tall in the center, soaking it all in.

But Conan stood stock still, staring at him utterly petrified. Because, this was, quite possibly, the worst turn of events that could've possibly happened. Out of all of the options, the mysterious 'Dark Knight' just had to be Shinichi, the guy that he was pretending to be. The guy that Hattori currently thought he was.

This is bad. This is really bad. Disastrously bad.

(He cursed his past self for not even trying to come up with some sort of excuse for if Shinichi suddenly showed up, during his uneventful, ten day long hospital stay, but he guessed he was too busy recovering (both physically and mentally) to rationally think about anything. Oh well.)

Conan sent a nervous glance up at Hattori, who was incredulously whipping his head over to look at Shinichi, then over to Conan, then back to Shinichi, while having the most shocked expression one could imagine on his face, his eyes as wide as plates and his mouth agape like as a fish's. Conan most likely would've found it funny if he wasn't also wearing a similar expression.

At this point, everyone was basically chanting Shinichi's name, who just stood there with an arrogant smirk before he brought a finger up to his mouth and shushed the crowd. "Quiet." He said. As if he had total control, the room quieted as the loud cheering turned into hushed whispers. "We'll continue the festival once the curtain drops on this bloodstained stage…" He said all cool-like. Conan was pretty sure he even heard a few 'kyaa's from the crowd.

(Okay, was Shinichi always this dramatic? Did he rehearse that in his head or something?)

"Sh-Shinichi..?" Conan somehow managed to hear Ran say while he was trying to tamper down his panic into a more manageable level so that he could actually pay attention to what's happening. "Is.. is it really you, Shinichi!?"

"Huh?" Shinichi raised an eyebrow at her. "Don't be ridiculous. Of course it is." He then leaned towards Ran and whispered.. something to her. Shinichi pulled away and tucked his helmet beneath his arm, then turned to the others and asked, "Does anyone have a coin I can borrow?"

Okay, that's good.. or maybe not good, per say (yeah, not in this situation), but at least better. It seemed they came to the same conclusion in terms of the murder (unless Shinichi needed the coin for something else but that wasn't likely) which meant Conan was right. (He was kind of doubting himself because, poisoned ice? Really?)

"I do!" Hattori piped up from beside him (which, embarrassedly, made Conan slightly flinch). He walked over while fishing a coin out of his wallet.

Conan minutely relaxed, because now Hattori seemed to be focused on the deduction and not the fact that there were two Shinichi's, so Conan could panic in peace.

Shinichi started his deduction so Conan promptly stopped wasting the energy to pay attention (because clearly Shinichi and Hattori had the deduction covered) and instead started to think about the more pressing situation he was currently in.

Exactly how screwed was he?

Well, with all things considered, pretty screwed.

News about Shinichi showing up is obviously going to get out; he'd be surprised if it didn't. Shinichi was fairly well known and there's already been all sorts of speculation about his sudden disappearance, so if he suddenly comes back at this school play and solves a case, the media will go crazy. And there's no way Agasa and Haibara won't hear about it.

Wait-

Conan nearly facepalmed because, no, news about this will not be getting out. Shinichi wouldn't let it. How did he forget that Shinichi was hiding from a criminal organization that'd kill him if they ever found out he was alive? That's kind of the whole reason he's even pretending to be him.

But still.. word is going to spread at least throughout the Teitan High students, and if Agasa or Haibara spend any time around Ran or Sonoko (or any of the school's other students or staff) and they mention anything about Shinichi showing up at the play - or, even worse, that Conan was also there, at the same time - then it's over.

Although, he may be able to prevent them from hearing about it by just changing the subject whenever it comes up (like he did with the blood type thing).

But, even then, if he does manage to stop it from coming up (or if no one mentions it while Agasa or Haibara are around, which is less likely to happen), they'd still hear it from Hattori. Unless he comes up with some sort of excuse or something, then Hattori is going to figure him out (if he hasn't already) and there's no way he wouldn't tell Agasa or Haibara about that.

If he somehow manages to convince Hattori that he still is Shinichi, then maybe, just maybe, he'd be able to get out of this.

But.. was that even possible? One person can't just be in the same place at the same time...

And he only has until Shinichi finishes his deduction to come up with something, because, after that, Hattori would immediately start to interrogate him.

And, speaking of, he should probably see where they're at in the deduction, and if Hattori was still focused on it or not. (It would be unfortunate if Hattori has been staring at Conan and deconstructing him in his mind or something, this whole time, with Conan being none the wiser.)

Conan forced himself out of his mind and back to the present, to see Hattori happily holding open the culprit's hood while Shinichi flicked the coin into it.

So Hattori still was occupied by the deduction. Good.

Less good, is the fact that a lot more time than Conan realized has passed, considering they were already onto the evidence.

...Yeah, he's doomed.

Even if he did have more time, he didn't think he'd be able to come up with something. Shinichi is clearly right there, being a different person than Conan. Maybe he should just give up and tell Hattori everything after this...

No!

He shook his head to rid himself of the thought.

Not yet. He's still got the culprit's motive explanation to go through. He's not giving up until Hattori eventually comes to question him.

So, is there any explanation that could possibly work?

No. No there isn't...

He slumped back down in defe.

He might've said he wasn't going to give up, but there's truly nothing he can do, unless he's just missing some obvious solution like back at the hospital.. with.. Haibara...

Conan suddenly gasped and shot up as the solution came to him.

Haibara's plan!

That's it!

He can just pretend to be Haibara pretending to be him, and tell Hattori that Shinichi is 'Conan' who took the antidote! That'll work! All he'd have to do is make sure Hattori doesn't meet with Haibara and mention anything about this, which shouldn't be too hard. Hattori and Haibara don't often meet, and even if they do, he can probably just deflect it any time it comes up or make sure there's always someone else around.

And it should be pretty easy to pretend to be Haibara. He's spent around six months successfully pretending to be Shinichi and he barely even knew the guy. He actually knew Haibara this time around, so this should be a piece of cake! And his voice shouldn't be an issue, because, if Agasa can make a voice changing bowtie then clearly he'd be able to make a voice changing face mask.

Conan let out a breath of relief and released the tension he didn't know he was holding in his shoulders. He then channeled his inner Haibara, narrowed his eyes, and placed the most disinterested and neutral expression he could feasibly recreate (or what he hoped was a Haibara-esque expression), on his face, to get into his role.

He looked back up to see what Hattori was up to, which was apparently just talking to Shinichi about who knows what (hopefully nothing incriminating) while Shinichi was awkwardly leaning away with a bit of a bewildered expression (if Conan were to guess, because Hattori seemed to be acting quite friendly with him and, as far as Shinichi's concerned, he's only met Hattori once. Oh boy, that's another problem he'll have to deal with.. just later).

Conan clasped his hands behind his back and sauntered over to them - what he imagined Haibara would do - to actually hear what they were saying, while revelling in how genius he kind of was, because honestly that was a pretty hopeless situation he managed to get himself out of.

However, he didn't manage to get very far when he heard the clatter of something hitting the ground and felt something roll into his foot. He looked down and saw Shinichi's helmet resting on the ground. He picked it up and looked over at Shinichi curiously.

He looked absolutely horrible.

It seemed Hattori noticed as well. "Kudo?" He asked, concerned.

Conan presumed he was too busy freaking out to actually look at Shinichi or notice his condition during the whole deduction, but he looked like he hadn't slept in weeks and had maybe even gotten hit by a car - or something of the like - on the way here. The concealer (that Conan assumed Sonoko or one of the drama club's students applied, because Shinichi didn't seem like much of a makeup-savvy guy) was doing a pitiful job of hiding Shinichi's deep eye bags. He was practically swaying on his feet and it looked like he was about two seconds away from passing out.

And, in fact he was. Just seconds later Shinichi collapsed face first into the ground.

Conan dropped the helmet in shock as Hattori yelled, "Kudo!?" with worry, while bending down and lightly shaking his shoulders. "Hey, Kudo!"

As soon as Ran heard the yell, she rushed over. "Shinichi!?" She crouched down, turned Shinichi over and shook him violently. "Shinichi! Shinichi!"

Worried muttering started to fill the room as people noticed the detective's state.

Conan had no idea what was going on (he just hoped that Shinichi wasn't dying or something, and that this wouldn't somehow mess up his plan) but soon doctors and paramedics that were already on the scene started to surround Shinichi, so obviously they can handle that and hopefully Shinichi will be alright.

Conan suddenly felt a hand plop down on his shoulder and turn him away from Shinichi. He looked over and flinched, seeing Hattori's face staring him down only inches away.

"The hell's going on!?" Hattori whisper-yelled into his ear. That, Conan would also like to know. "And why's there two of ya!?" He continued.

And that, Conan could answer (well, if lying counts as answering). He grabbed Hattori's hand and dragged him away from all the commotion surrounding Shinichi. "Over here."

Hattori stumbled after him and, when they got a suitable distance away from everyone, he crouched back down next to Conan. "Explain." He demanded.

Conan took a deep breath. From now on it's all up to his acting abilities and improvisation skills whether he gets out of this or not. "I'm not exactly sure but.. it may be a side effect of the antidote." He spoke with a softer and more girlish inflection.

Good, that sounded like something Haibara would say.

"A-antidote..?" Hattori asked confusedly.

"Yes." He gave a quick nod. "I was able to create a temporary antidote for him to use so he could erase that girl's suspicions."

Hattori stared at him for a moment before his eyes widened and he gasped in realization. "You're that little nee-chan!" He pointed at him.

"Yes, I am." He said curtly. "I had Shi-" He quickly stopped himself because he suddenly realized Haibara did not call him Shinichi. "Kudo-kun's mother.." he corrected, "disguise me as Edogawa-kun." (The correct name this time. He can't be screwing up any more.) "And the Professor made me this voice changing face mask." He pulled on it as emphasis.

"Ah..." It looked like a hundred puzzle pieces just fell into place inside Hattori's head. "That makes sense. A lot more sense, actually." He embarrassedly laughed with a slight blush on his face. "I was nearly starting to think they weren't actually the same person, and that he was just pretending or something..!" He let out another nervous laugh, placing a hand behind his neck. "Stupid right?"

Conan slightly tensed up beside him - because, yikes, he did actually figure him out - while also stifling a laugh because, oh my God, was that hilarious. Oh the irony. (But still, that was too close for his taste.)

(Little did Hattori know, it wasn't actually stupid.)

(He had to wonder how hilarious Hattori's expression would be if he told him he was actually right.)

Conan calmed down, then just stared at Hattori with an unimpressed look, trying to convey the message of 'Are you serious?' with just his eyes, because that's what he imagined Haibara would do.

Hattori looked away, embarrassed. "Don't give me that look... It's 'cause ya looked all surprised and scared when Kudo revealed himself."

That's.. that's a good point. But also, after just a few moments of considering, a point that had an easy solution.

"Of course I was." He said irritably. "I told him to keep it between him and that girl, so I wasn't expecting him to reveal himself to everyone." Thankfully, a look of understanding befell Hattori. "But, that's why I'll need you to tell everyone not to speak about this. I'm sure you understand what'll happen if word of this gets out."

"Yeah..." Hattori nodded.

"I hope you know that applies to you as well." He said, just in case. "You can't speak of this to anyone. You should even be careful around me and the Professor, even Kudo-kun, got it?" And that should take care of the possibility of Hattori telling them or Shinichi about this.. maybe.

"I know, I know." Hattori sighed. "Ya don't have to tell me twice..."

Conan just sent him a blank look, because.. he only told him once..?

But apparently Hattori either didn't notice or care, but, after a few seconds, a look fell on his face as if he suddenly remembered something. "But, that was pretty impressive of ya back then." He said.

Conan lifted an eyebrow and looked at him with honest confusion, because he truly had no idea what Hattori was talking about. "Huh..?"

"Y'know! Ya solved the case!"

Oh yeah. He did.

Conan's eyes widened because that was a very un-Haibara-like thing to do. She never solves cases and always just watches from the sidelines.

Conan quickly schooled his expression to the bored look Haibara always seems to have, while frantically trying to think of an excuse.. before he remembered what exactly the murder trick was.

He scoffed. "Poisoned ice is the oldest trick in the book." He said calmly. "You don't need to be a detective to figure that out."

"A-ah..." Hattori said with a blank look. "I guess."

Conan sighed. "Anyways, shouldn't you hurry? The audience isn't going to wait here forever."

"Ah, you're right!" He started to get up, but suddenly stopped. "...But how?"

"I don't know." Conan shrugged. "Figure something out." He quipped, because, as Haibara, he could do that now.

This was actually pretty fun. He can see why Haibara acts like this now.

Hattori glared at him before glancing around for a few seconds, presumably looking for an idea. His eye caught the stage.. for some reason. He pushed himself up and hurried towards it.

Conan figured he should probably try and figure out what had happened during their little talk, so he began heading back towards others.

Shinichi was currently being picked up by one of the doctors (still passed out of course) and carried off somewhere (the school's nurse's office, if he were to guess). Various students, including Ran, Kazuha, and Sonoko, were following him out. The chatter in the room had grown much louder during their talk.

Conan glanced back to where Hattori had run off to.

Well, he probably had that covered.

And, then, he followed after Shinichi and the others.


After about 15 minutes of waiting in the nurse's office for Shinichi to wake up, Hattori had finally arrived from the auditorium after whatever he did to make sure no one talked about this. Many of the various students - other than Ran, Sonoko, Kazuha, and the other people that were more close to Shinichi - had left.

"Geez..." Hattori grumbled as he sidled up next to Conan with his hands leisurely in his pockets. "Took me ages to find this place. Ya could've told me where it was."

Conan lifted an eyebrow. "How should I know how to get to the nurse's office?" He was still pretending to be Haibara, after all.

"Ah." He realized. "Forgot about that." He said sheepishly.

"What d'ya mean ya forgot?" Kazuha incredulously asked. "It's not like he's ever been here in the first place."

Hattori nervously laughed. "A-ah.. that's right..!"

Conan glared up at him.

Hattori was going to be the end of him one day.

"Anyways," Hattori said, getting onto a topic that was more important and hopefully less incriminating. "How's he?" He gestured his head towards Shinichi.

"The nurse said it was just exhaustion." Ran answered, sat next to Shinichi's bed on a spare chair, as she worriedly held his hand. "He should wake up soon."

And by 'soon', that apparently meant now, because a small groan rang out through the silence of the room, drawing everyone's attention to Shinichi. He blinked his eyes open and slowly lifted his head up to see. "H-huh..?" He said tiredly.

Ran was the first to react. "Shinichi!" She yelled, leaning over and grabbing his shoulders.

"You're awake!" Hattori said cheerfully as he made his way closer to the bed.

"That's good!" Sonoko said.

"Don't scare me like that!" Ran said exasperatedly.

Shinichi pushed himself up and sat up. He looked around, clearly confused. "W-what..? He asked.

Conan would guess he was confused about why he passed out in the first place - or where he was, or something like that - but, conveniently for Conan, it also looked like he could be confused over why he didn't shrink back down, if he actually was Conan (God, what a weird thought). He was a little worried Shinichi would act in a way that would be suspicious to Hattori, but, good thing that wasn't happening.

"The nurse said you passed out from exhaustion." Ran answered. She narrowed her eyes at him. "Have you been remembering to sleep, Shinichi?" She asked with an accusatory tone.

Shinichi stared at her for a second, slightly surprised, and then looked up as if he was contemplating her reply. A few seconds later, he seemed to accept that as a reasonable explanation for why he passed out, as he looked back down bashfully and said, "O-oh." And then nervously laughed.

"Geez!" Ran said playfully. "You're going to get yourself killed one day!"

Conan internally laughed at how accurate of a statement that was.

It seemed Shinichi didn't have any other reply than to just nervously laugh again.

And that was when Hattori decided to shove his unneeded opinion into the conversation. "Good thing it wasn't that, huh?" He gave a pointed look to Shinichi and winked at him.

Poor Shinichi just looked so confused.

Conan tensed up and had to refuse the urge to dramatically facepalm, because, honestly, Hattori really was going to be the end of him one day.

Conan stomped his foot onto Hattori's and dug his heel into it. Hattori flinched and let out a pained hiss and ignored the odd looks he got from that to fiercely glare at Conan. Conan just matched him with his best impression of one of Haibara's signature icy glares. Apparently he did a good job because Hattori backed away, looking sufficiently intimidated. (Conan gave himself a mental pat on the back because he never thought he'd ever be even half as intimidating as Haibara.) Thankfully, it seemed Hattori got the message that he should not be talking about anything like that in front of all these people.

"What're ya on about?" Kazuha rightfully asked.

"It's nothin'..!" Hattori said sheepishly as he brushed her off and waved a hand at her.

Conan just sighed as he resigned himself that he's not going to be able let Hattori and Shinichi be alone together, ever.. or, at least for however long Hattori or Shinichi would be staying (which shouldn't be too hard considering Ran didn't look like she wanted to leave Shinichi's side anytime soon).

Thankfully, it didn't seem they'd be staying much longer. Kazuha had practically forced Hattori to leave, mainly because their flight back home was leaving soon and, if they missed it, they'd be stuck in Beika until they could get some tickets. (Conan had to restrain a shudder at the thought of Hattori having to stay over while Shinichi was still around. Oh the mess that would cause... Conan also silently thanked Kazuha and internally promised to be extra nice to her whenever she visits again.)

After they had left, Conan could finally allow himself to relax.. at least a little. Shinichi was still there, obviously, but there was no one else who thought he was Shinichi around. He also assumed Shinichi would be leaving soon, to.. wherever he's been staying for the past 6 months, unless.. he didn't, and instead decided to stay and go back to his own house and start living life as normal again, therefore ruining everything Conan's done up to this point, but that was unlikely. It would be way too dangerous for Shinichi and Conan doubted he'd take that risk.

Although, Conan was still paranoid, so he stayed with Shinichi for a while, just to make sure, until, eventually the only ones left in the room were him, Ran, and Shinichi.

And that was when Conan decided that he should leave (and meet back up with Kogoro or the police or whatever). He could've stayed to see whether Shinichi would actually be leaving or not, but he was already fairly certain that wasn't going to happen. And he also didn't want to intrude on their privacy. It's been months since Shinichi and Ran have seen each other so he figured they'd have things to talk about.

After a few minutes of waiting with Kogoro and watching the police wrap things up, Shinichi had apparently been deemed well enough to home by himself, because he saw him walk out and hail a taxi. Conan let out a small sigh of relief knowing Shinichi would in fact be leaving (well, unless he was going back to his own house, but, again, not likely. He could only imagine the carnage and confusion that would cause with Agasa and Haibara, but thank God that won't be happening.. probably.)

Just a bit later, Ran also appeared, with a soft and giddy smile on her face. Well, it was nice to know things seemed to go well with Shinichi.

The three of them soon headed back to the detective agency, with Kogoro incessantly begging during the ride for Ran to make dinner immediately when they get home. Surprisingly, Ran barely even seemed bothered, and, in fact, she happily agreed. Maybe things with Shinichi went even better than he thought.

As soon as they reached the detective agency, Ran went to the kitchen and started making dinner while cheerfully humming (still weird...), Kogoro grabbed a few beers from the fridge and pulled up some drama Okino Yoko was in, or something (not weird), and Conan.. Conan immediately headed up to Kogoro's room and practically collapsed onto his futon, out of both relief and exhaustion. Well, not physical exhaustion, but mental. He figured being in a constant state of worry with a side serving of anxiety while also pretending to be a completely different person and having to make sure he doesn't screw that up (wait, isn't he doing that all the time..?) for half the day would do that to someone.

Well, at least that's all over. He can finally relax and have a moment of rest after this long and stressful day. And perhaps even find some time to be impressed with himself because, honestly, he still can't believe he managed to keep his identity safe with Hattori when the real Shinichi had literally been right there in front of them.

Although, yeah, there were still a few things he'd have to worry about with this plan he's gone with, like making sure word of Shinichi's appearance doesn't get out to Haibara or Agasa, or that Hattori doesn't try and tell them himself, but, other than that, he should be good.

So, at least for tonight, he can just relax. Everything will be fine.

Or, that's what he thought until he suddenly felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, indicating a call. He sat up and pulled it out, and, when he saw the caller ID, his hopes plummeted.

Haibara Ai.

Okay, okay. Calm down. It's not like he knows what she's calling about. It could easily be about something completely normal, like how the play went. There's no reason to freak out just yet.

He let out a breath and pressed accept. "Yes?" He asked into the phone.

"Would you care to explain why I just saw you go into your house?" She said curtly.

Okay... Not what he was expecting.

His house? She must be talking about Shinichi's then. But, he was definitely at the Mouri's, not the Kudo Manor.

"What are you talking about?" He asked confusedly.

"Okay, let me rephrase." She sounded very exasperated, and as if her anger was bubbling on the surface, ready to boil over at a moment's notice. "Why did I see your fully grown and un-shrunken self, walking into your home? As in Kudo Shinichi."

And, once again, his hopes plummeted.