So, Conan may have come to the conclusion that Shinichi wouldn't come back to his house a bit too quickly, it seems.
Well shit...
He frustratedly groaned and put a hand on his forehead, because this just ruins everything now doesn't it? If the real Shinichi is literally living next door to the Professor, then how on earth is he going to keep this up? Is it even possible? It's not like he can pretend to be Haibara again, for obvious reasons.
Haibara angrily cleared her throat on the other end of the phone.
Oh, that's right. He's still on the line with her. Maybe he should do something about that then.
But, before he had a chance to say anything, Haibara spoke up. "Be honest with me." She said tiredly as if she was done with everything, which, she probably was. "Did you steal an antidote?"
Conan blinked.
That was.. definitely a conclusion to come to in this situation. A bit of an odd one though.
"No, of course not!" He quickly said, because he couldn't get away with saying that was true, even if he wanted to. "Besides, listen to me." He realized. "Do I sound older to you?"
Haibara sighed. "Kudo-kun, you literally have a voice changer."
That was a good point...
"Oh yeah..." He nervously laughed. "Forgot about that."
"Forgot-?" She stopped herself and just exasperatedly sighed. "Whatever, just get over here."
"Alright..." He reluctantly agreed. Well, this is goodbye to a relaxing rest of the day. "It'll take me a bit though."
"Huh!?" She angrily yelled. "You're right next door!"
"I'm at the detective agency..?" He shouted confusedly, before realizing what she was getting at. He irritably groaned. "I told you I didn't steal an antidote!"
"Oh so you just expect me to believe some person disguised themselves as you and started living in your house!?"
Okay, when she puts it that way...
"I don't know..!" He shouted tiredly. He was fairly certain he did know, but Haibara would probably believe that even less. "I'm telling you, that's not me!"
"Sure, sure..." She drawled sarcastically.
Coma sighed. "Fine. I'm coming over, okay? Just give me a second."
"Make it quick."
"I'll tr-" He was cut off by the beeping noise of a dial tone.
She hung up.
He angrily grumbled, bringing his phone back down and pocketing it. He pushed himself up and headed towards where he stashed his skateboard in the corner of the room, before he suddenly stopped when a realization hit him.
He's going to have to tell her he isn't Shinichi, isn't he...
Conan never really thought much about the possibility of Shinichi coming back, because he didn't think it would ever happen, but also because there's not much to think about. In that situation, there wasn't really anything he could do. He has no other choice but to tell them.
He lightly shook his head, took a deep breath, and continued towards his skateboard.
Well, it's best not to think about that at the moment. First things first, he should head over to Agasa's to see what's really going on and if that's actually Shinichi or not (and maybe try and think of a way to get out of this.. if there is one).
With shaky determination, he picked up the skateboard and walked out the door.
He was only about a third of the way down the stairs, when a door opened up to show Ran looking slightly worried.
Conan stopped.
That's right, he still has to make it past Ran.
"Ah, Conan-kun!" She noticed. "I heard yelling. Are you okay?" She looked at him worriedly for a second before her eyes slowly drifted down towards the skateboard under his arm. Her expression shifted to anger. "Where are you going?" She asked, sounding deceptively calm.
"Th-the Professor's!" He stuttered under her intimidating gaze. "H-he made a new game and I wanted to try it out..." He nervously trailed off. "I'll probably be staying the night." He added, because he probably would be if he's going to have the conversation he thinks he's going to have.
"Eh!?" She shouted. "But I'm almost done with dinner!"
The delicious and enticing scent of curry filled his nostrils, taunting him to just forget about the past phone call and stay here for dinner. But, no, he steeled himself. He couldn't just ignore Haibara for Ran's delicious homemade curry.. no matter how much he wanted to.
"Sorry!" He regrettably refuted her, then ran the rest of the way down the stairs. "Bye, Ran-neechan!"
"Eh, wai-!"
Was the last thing he heard from Ran before he unceremoniously sped off down the street.
Conan hopped off his skateboard and flipped it underneath his arm as he reached the front of Agasa's house. A quick glance to the mansion next door told him Haibara was, in fact, not lying, and that someone was in Shinichi's house (whether it was Shinichi or not). Only a few of the lights were on, but that was enough evidence for Conan.
He cautiously walked up to Agasa's front door and knocked.
He heard footsteps and a muffled, "Geez! What took you so long?" from Haibara. She unlocked the door and began to open it. "I was nearly about to go over myself and-" She stopped, the door about halfway open, actually catching sight of the boy. She stared at him with wide eyes for a second, then blinked a couple times. "Huh.. you weren't kidding."
Conan walked past her into the house. "Told you." He said casually, setting his skateboard down by the entryway.
Haibara slowly closed the door and went back inside, leaning back against the door. "Then..." She looked up at Conan, her eyes almost comically wide. "Then who the hell is in your house!?" She yelled.
"How should I know!?" He said back. He did, in fact, know (probably), but he decided not to mention that just yet.
Haibara looked down at her feet and put a hand on her chin with an utterly petrified look on her face. "C-could it be, Ver..." She shook her head. "No. I didn't sense anything..." She trailed off, deep in thought. She then walked past Conan, as if he wasn't there, and towards one of the windows that faced Shinichi's house. The blinds were tightly closed.
Conan followed after her.
She sat down on the shelf next to the window and peeked through the blinds. "Then who else could..?"
"Hey." Conan said to her. Haibara startled and whipped her head towards him. Conan just ignored that and asked, "What were you talking about?"
He was fairly curious what on earth 'Ver' was and what she would be sensing in this situation.
"A-ah..." She said, finally acknowledging him. "It's just, I'm pretty certain, whoever they are, isn't one of them."
Oh, so he wasn't from the organization. Well, Conan was pretty sure he already knew that, but he guessed it was nice to have it confirmed. Although, how was she so certain?
"Their members," she continued, "they have this.. scent, to them. And, that person," she looked in the direction of Shinichi's house for a second, "didn't."
Scent..?
Conan grabbed her arm and gave it an experimental sniff. "But you don't..?"
He looked up to see Haibara uncomfortably looking to the side, annoyance clear on her face. "Would you please stop?"
Conan got the memo, and promptly set her arm back down.
She cleared her throat and continued. "Anyways.. the only other person that could disguise that well is Kaitou KID, but..."
Kaitou KID...
Wait a second.
Conan hopped up onto the shelf next to Haibara and looked out the window.
Could this actually be.. Kaitou KID? Playing some sort of prank on him by disguising as Shinichi? And he was known to be quite the prankster. Although, he hasn't heard anything from him through Cheesecake - the dove he pseudo adopted after the whole Memories Egg heist thing. But, pranks were supposed to be surprises.
Conan moved away from the window and leaned against the wall in thought.
Actually, after a bit more consideration, it wasn't likely. It would only make sense if KID still thought he was Shinichi, but he didn't. He already knew Conan was pretending to be Shinichi, and he seemed pretty amused by it, so would he do something that could possibly ruin it? Probably not. (Although it's still a possibility, so he's going to safely tuck that thought away into a corner of his mind, just in case.)
Haibara suddenly gasped next to him. "L-look..!" She said, pointing out the window.
Conan turned around and peeked outside to see what definitely appeared to be Kudo Shinichi. He was poking his head out his front door and carefully looking around. After a few seconds, he quickly rushed out to his front gate, grabbed a hefty amount of mail from his mailbox, and rushed back inside.
Okay, yeah that's definitely Shinichi.
Conan resignedly leaned away from the window.
Oh, boy... This is the end, isn't it? This time, there really is nothing he can do. He went through all that to keep Hattori in the dark so Agasa and Haibara wouldn't find out, just to have Shinichi show up and ruin everything. Was that all just for nothing?
He sighed and slumped down against the wall.
He really does have the worst luck, doesn't he?
Although.. that begs the question, what on earth is Shinichi doing? It just doesn't make sense for him to be doing this. Yeah, he figured hiding from a criminal organization for months must be rough, and that Shinichi would want to go back to his normal life, but it's just way too risky. Shinichi could die if the organization hears about this.
"Hey." Haibara said, bringing Conan's attention back to her. "Do you have any ideas?" She asked.
Conan paled.
He's going to have to tell her. He can't avoid it now.
(And he was fairly certain he couldn't get away with this by saying he was actually Kaitou KID. Haibara would force him to tell KID to stop and, assuming this was Shinichi, that clearly wouldn't go down too well...)
It's best to just.. get this over with.
(He just hoped he wouldn't think of some sort of solution later on and regret all of this. Oh, well.)
(Maybe he could've come up with something if he thought hard and long enough, but he's already panicked a lot finding a way to convince Hattori earlier today and, along with everything else that's happened, Conan was too tired to try and do anything. So, screw it.)
He took one last deep breath and clenched his hands into fists. "I'm pretty sure that's Shinichi." He said, looking to the side, unable to look her in the eyes, and sounding far more calm than he actually felt.
Haibara just gave him a very unimpressed look. "I thought we already went over this."
"I- n-no, wait, that's not what I meant." He stuttered. "I mean, that's Kudo Shinichi, the actual, real one."
Haibara looked so perplexed and confused. Understandably so. "What are you talking about..?"
There's no turning back.
He sighed and shook his head. "You're not gonna believe this..."
Her eyes widened. "What? What am I not going to believe!?" She demanded.
Well, here goes nothing. "I mean, I'm not Shinichi, and he is." He pointed over at the neighboring house as emphasis.
A brief look of surprised flitted over her face, before a dramatically annoyed expression replaced it. She irritably groaned and slapped her hand against her forehead. "Are you seriously doing this right now!?"
Conan paused, nonplussed. He wasn't exactly expecting that... Well actually, that was probably a more realistic reaction, than just believing him, he figured.
"Well, I guess I am." He shrugged. "But I swear I'm not kidding this time!" Okay.. that was probably not the best way to word that. Oops.
Haibara barely restrained a furious growl. "This is really not the time!"
"But I'm being serious..!" He pathetically tried. "I'm not actually Shinichi..!"
Haibara didn't respond, and just hmph-ed, turning back towards the window.
Conan let out a dry laugh.
How ironic. The one time he was actually trying to tell her he wasn't Shinichi, she didn't believe him. It's not as if he didn't understand - he wouldn't believe himself either - it was just kind of irritating. He kind of had to tell her at this point, and he didn't want to keep Haibara in this state of panic and paranoia she's been in since he came here, for much longer. But, if she wasn't believing him, then what is he supposed to do?
If only he had.. proof...
Conan shot up and gasped, bringing a hand to his mouth.
He did have proof! His blood type! How did he forget about that?
Haibara turned to him curiously at his sudden reaction. "What is it?" She asked angrily.
He smirked at her. "I have proof."
Haibara just looked tired at this point. "Oh, proof, huh?" She rolled her eyes. "Do tell."
Conan slightly bristled at her attitude. Oh well, she'll know soon enough. "Me and Shinichi don't even have the same blood type."
Haibara lifted her eyebrows in disbelief, before furiously yelling, "You'd be dead if you didn't!"
Conan lifted his hands up in a placating gesture. "Listen, I know what you're thinking, but Ran wasn't the one who gave me blood. Kogoro did!"
"Sure." She drawled sarcastically.
He groaned. "I'm not joking!" He yelled frustratedly. "Do you want me to go get the hospital records? Do you want a blood sample!?" He held his arm out and furiously gestured to it with his other hand.
"Kudo-kun..." Haibara sighed. "You can stop this now. I already know. It's useless to continue this any further."
"But I-"
"Besides," she cut him off, "if you want to play this game, I have proof too."
"Eh?" Conan stopped. "Y-you do?" He asked, genuinely confused.
She shouldn't, couldn't, have proof, considering he wasn't actually Shinichi.
"Yeah..?" She said as if it was obvious. "You knew about the Apotoxin's side effect, and about Paikaru. There's no way you would've known about that if you weren't Shinichi."
Okay.. she actually had a point.
"Uh.. those were actually both coincidences." He said unconfidently. "Honest." He added.
"Oh, so you're trying to tell me you've been pretending to be Shinichi this whole time and that you somehow managed to guess that there's a drug that shrinks people and that it's antidote is the alcohol Paikaru!?" She said, her voice growing progressively angrier and angrier throughout the question.
Wow, when she actually lays it out like that, it sounds crazy...
"Y-yes, actually..." He said meekly. "That's exactly what I'm trying to say..."
Haibara just facepalmed and shook her head.
Conan really didn't know what to do at this point, other than to just go over to Shinichi's and show her himself, but that's going to be his last resort. He's seriously considering giving up.
Haibara turned away, and just continued to irritably stare out the window. She almost had a contemplative look on her face, as if she was trying to come up with some sort of explanation for what the hell was going on herself. He almost pitied her, because he was fairly certain she wasn't going to get anywhere.
Or.. apparently not, because just a second later, her eyes widened and she turned her head over to him with a knowing but angry look. "Kudo-kun..." She said dangerously.
"Yes?" He said, intrigued as to what conclusion she could've possibly come to.
"If this is some sort of joke you and your mother are playing, it is not funny."
"Eh-?" He stared at her for a second. "N-no, that's not it!" He quickly said. "She isn't-" He stopped, bringing a hand up to his chin contemplatively.
That actually sounded like something Yukiko would do.
And it was actually kind of possible, when compared to his KID theory. It didn't risk revealing Conan's, or - what Yukiko is under the impression of - Shinichi's identity, and would instead strengthen it. And Yukiko was also known to be quite prone to pranks. Although, maybe it's a bit too dangerous for her to actually do.
Or, she did pretend to kidnap him, as a joke, so maybe not, then. Now that he thought about it, he didn't actually know how far Yukiko was willing to go.
So, now there's a good chance this could be Yukiko instead, but he's still leaning towards Shinichi. He didn't think Yukiko would do something that could be potentially lethal to her son. But, it's still definitely possible...
"Hmm?" Haibara said, giving him a smug look. "At a loss for words, are we? Was I correct?"
Conan sighed. "You know what? Fine!" If Haibara's going to be like this... "Why don't we go over there and see for ourselves!"
After six long months, Shinichi was finally back in his own home.
He strummed his fingers along the spines of the books on his library's shelves, walking over to the desk in the middle of the room. He pulled out the chair under it and sat down, staring up at the ceiling and taking in the nostalgic smell of old books and dust with a soft smile across his face.
He's really missed this.
The place might've been too large and lonely for a teenager, nor did it have the best of memories associated with it, but it was his home. And it was leagues better than the place he's been staying.
After that fated day at Tropical Land, he staggered all the way to more rural Tokyo, not a clue of the final destination. And then he stumbled upon one of the Suzuki Corporation's spare houses. Sonoko had shown it to him and Ran once, when they were younger.
Yes, it was far better than living on the streets, but, if the Kudo manor felt too large and lonely, then that felt even larger and lonelier. And it was cold, just so cold.
Even worse, was the fact that it was supposed to be unoccupied. No one was supposed to be there, let alone someone who was presumed dead. Even something as simple as getting groceries was now as difficult and complicated as planning a Kaitou KID-esque heist, when being seen exiting or entering the house could spell his death. The place was full of dust he couldn't risk cleaning and sparse, plain furniture he couldn't change.
It sucked.
He knows he shouldn't be doing this, coming back here and living life as normal. He knows it's dangerous, but he was just so tired. Tired of investigating the organization for what felt like all hours of the day (and finding out that apparently both the FBI and the CIA are involved - just what did he get himself into). He wanted to worry about normal teenage boy things, like his homework, and not whether the next day would be his last.
He didn't even realize how exhausted he's been until he literally passed out during the school play.
He missed his home, he missed his old life, he missed Ran, and, hell, even Sonoko.
Shinichi sighed and pushed himself up looking across his expansive library.
While he's here, maybe he can re-read The Sign of the Four again...
Suddenly, the doorbell rang.
Embarrassingly, Shinichi yelped and jumped practically a foot in the air.
Okay, a bit of an overreaction, but not without reason. He had every right to be scared in this situation. He just got back, what, ten minutes ago? No one should be here yet. Not even Ran (she'll be coming tomorrow to walk to school with him - oh how he missed that). The only reason someone would be at his door right now was if the organization was staking out his house and saw him enter (but, would they just politely ring the doorbell like that..?).
So, needless to say, Shinichi was a bit frightened.
He shakily gripped the vase on his dad's desk (not the best weapon, but better than nothing) and slowly and carefully headed towards the door. He crept closer and closer, and hesitantly looked through the peephole.
...No one was there?
Wait, no.
Shinichi shifted his gaze downwards and saw that weird kid living with the Mouri's, Conan, and.. some other girl he didn't recognize, standing next to him.
Shinichi sighed in relief and set the vase down on the side table next to the door.
He had no idea what they were doing here, but clearly neither of them could be related to the organization.
Shinichi unlocked the door and opened it.
"Ah, Shinichi-niichan!" Conan cheerfully said. "Come here." He gestured with his hand for him to come closer.
Shinichi, still heavily confused, leaned down, turning his head so his ear was to the boy.
However, instead of hearing Conan whisper something into his ear, like he was expecting, he felt a hand grab onto his cheek and pull, harshly.
"Ow!" He yelled, pulling back and placing a hand on his now aching cheek. "What was that for!?"
But, Conan didn't answer.
He just turned to the girl next to him and said, "See? I told you."
The girl herself looked completely and utterly shocked. Her eyes were wide open staring up at him and her mouth was slightly agape. She stood stock still but with the occasional tremor. It looked like someone had killed her friends and family right in front of her eyes, or something of similar shock value.
Shinichi was honestly starting to get worried.
But apparently Conan wasn't..? He looked more tired and.. smug even, as if he was expecting this.
The girl slowly looked downwards and shakily nodded her head, then turned around and headed back out his front gate. Conan followed after her, leaving behind a completely and utterly confused Shinichi.
Haibara sat down on Agasa's couch and leaned back, looking like her whole world's view had been destroyed and then crudely rearranged in the span of a few seconds, which, to be fair, it probably had.
She leaned forward and rested her forehead into one of her hands, her other arm laying perpendicular across her leg. She let out a very choked, "What..?"
Conan felt kind of bad honestly...
He didn't exactly want to just spring this on her, but he didn't know how else to tell her. This wasn't something you could gradually bring up.
He sat down on the couch opposite of her, deciding to just wait patiently.
"Y-you..." She shakily continued, the same wide eyed expression on her face. "You are.. you aren't.. K-Kudo..?"
Conan shook his head. "Nope." He said, probably a bit too casually for the situation.
Haibara then brought up her other arm and rested her head in both of her hands, nearly covering her whole face. "What?"
"It's okay, take your time." He said with pity. He would've gone over and patted her on the back or something, but he presumed Haibara would kill him on the spot if he did that, and he did actually value his life, okay.
Haibara slightly straightened up, making more of her face visible. It looked like she was having several different existential crises at the same time. "You- you're not Kudo..." It almost looked like she was shaking. "Th-this whole time.. you weren't..."
"Mm-hm!" He nodded happily, which was probably insensitive at the moment, but he was feeling a bit spiteful.
And he figured might as well have a bit of fun with this too.
(He felt way too calm.. for some reason, and as if he didn't have full control of what he was saying. The nerves must've gotten to his head.)
Haibara's going to be so mad at him after this...
She then leaned back up and - for some reason - brought a hand to her arm and pinched it..? She let out a pained hiss and rubbed at the area. Conan was very confused as to why, until he heard her mumble, "Damn.. wasn't a dream then..." Under her breath.
Oh. That.. made a bit more sense.. vaguely.
(Maybe she was going insane.. or something like that. He would understand.)
Haibara suddenly startled. "Wait..." She said, looking over at Conan, having apparently broken out of her stupor. "Then, who the hell are you!?" She yelled, pointing a finger at him.
"Don't be silly!" He cheekily giggled. "I'm Conan!"
(Okay, perhaps that was a bit too much fun.)
Haibara let out a shaky breath. "P-please be serious..."
"I am." He whined. "I'm actually-"
"What are you," she interrupted, "some kind of doppelganger Gin mistook for Kudo?"
"I- what?" He said incredulously. He knew she was in shock, but even that was a bit too far-fetched. "No!" He quickly refuted. "That was actually Shinichi." Haibara just looked at him. "Trust me, I watched it happen." He tacked on, just in case.
"Alright..." She trailed off, seeming to have accepted that, before she suddenly gasped and straightened up. "Wait-!" She yelled, looking over at Shinichi's house. "Then why isn't he shrunken, or dead!?"
"Oh, that." He nervously chuckled. Haibara whipped her head back over to him. "After Gin and Vodka left, Shinichi made himself throw up, so the drug didn't do anything.. I think." He added. It's not like he knew anything about medicine.
Haibara put a hand on her chin, contemplatively. If Conan had to guess, he would say she was thinking about how that would've affected Shinichi medically, or something like that, but apparently she didn't need to think about whatever it was much further, because she looked up at Conan and said, "But how did you..?" Conan was confused until she said, "The only unconfirmed death on the APTX's victim list was Kudo..."
Conan blinked.
Did she- did she seriously think..?
"Haibara-san..?" He began slowly. "I never took APTX 4869."
Her eyes slowly widened, looking as if she was coming to a realization, and shock filled her face, yet again. "Wait.. you're telling me you're actually a child!?"
Wow, she actually did.
"Yeah?" He said casually. "Is it that hard to believe?"
"Yes!" She yelled furiously. "You- you're too smart to be a child!"
"Well yeah, I like to believe I'm smarter than the average seven year old..." He shyly scratched his cheek.
"Y-you're not just..!" She stammered, looked down for a second, trying to decide on which of the several different examples of Conan's intelligence being far above average to choose from, and then looked back up, having apparently decided on, "You solve murders! Children don't solve murders!"
"Well clearly some of them do." He stated. Haibara held her head in her hands and let out what sounded like a mix between a groan and a whimper. "It's not that hard really." He continued much to Haibara's dismay. "It's just like solving a puzzle.. except a bit more complicated."
"No.. no it isn't." She lifted herself up. "It really isn't, Kudo-ku-" She abruptly stopped herself as soon as she realized what she just said. She then practically banged her head against the table, pulling at her hair, and screamed.
Conan patiently waited for her to get that all out.
After a few seconds she pushed herself up, having seemingly regained at least a bit of her composure. "What.. what even is your name?"
"I told you it's Conan." He said, matter-of-factly. "Didn't I tell you back at the hospital? You just didn't believe me." He added, just for fun.
Her eyes, again, widened in shock. She stared off at some random point in the distance as she presumably ran through their conversation at the hospital in her mind, but now with fun new context.
After that was over, she let out a small hysterical laugh. "Y-you weren't kidding..." And cue another hysterical laugh.
Conan could practically see the last dregs of her sanity slipping away.
She took a deep breath to calm down. After a few seconds she said, "So.. let me get this straight - you're saying you were creating a new identity, and just.. decided to use your real name?"
Conan blinked, then looked to the side bashfully and crossed his arms. "I was on the spot ok! Besides, it was only half of it..."
"Half of it..?" She asked.
He turned back to her. "Yeah, only Conan's my name, not Edogawa."
"Oh? What's the rest?"
Conan paused and narrowed his eyes, having some slight flashbacks of his previous conversations with Yusaku. "...And why should I tell you that?" He asked suspiciously.
"I- eh?" She stammered. After a few seconds, she sighed. "Fine. I guess you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
Well, okay maybe he was being a bit rude.
Conan looked down and thought for a second.
Back at the Haido City Hotel, he heard Pisco say Haibara's real name, and, despite never necessarily trying to, he still remembered it: Shiho. He never really thought about it much, but he figured Haibara would want to tell him her real name when she was ready, and clearly she was not ready yet. Even though he didn't mean to overhear it, it felt like a breach of privacy. It just felt.. right, almost, to tell her his real name in return.
"Takayama..." He said after a moment. "It's Takayama."
"Huh-?" She looked up, surprised. "O-oh." She lowered her gaze, not looking anywhere specific, like she was thinking about something. "Takayama..." She repeated pensively, almost as if...
As if she recognized it!
Just like Akemi!
Conan widened his eyes, and his grip on the couch's armrest unconsciously tightened. "What." He said harshly. "Do you recognize it or something?"
"Hm?" She looked over at him, confused. "No..?"
"You better not be lying." He said angrily.
"W-what-? No!" She looked mostly perplexed, but also a bit flustered.
Conan stared into her eyes. It didn't look like she was lying... He relaxed a little.
"Why would I..?" Haibara continued. "It's just, the same as that one pop star, Takayama Minami, I thought. That's all..." Conan continued to narrow his eyes at her. "Why..?" She hesitantly asked.
Conan sighed. "It's just.. your sister." Haibara startled a bit. "She recognized it too. And, she shouldn't have a reason to. So, I just thought.. maybe it was a Black Organization thing. I just wanted to know." After a second of consideration, he added, "Sorry for getting mad..."
"It's fine." She shook her head. "If I happen to remember anything I'll make sure to tell you."
Conan looked down shyly. "Thanks..."
Conan thought that, maybe, based on where they just left off, the conversation was over, but apparently not, because Haibara suddenly gasped and said, "Your parents!"
"Eh!" He said, surprised. "You remembered something!?"
Already?
"Oh- no." She said. Conan slumped down in disappointment. "You've been living away as some completely different person for months now. Aren't they worried?"
Oh.
That made more sense.
"No, they're dead." He said bluntly.
Haibara paused for a second, looking a bit stunned. "Oh..." She said, her voice heavily laced with pity. "Sorry."
"Don't be." He quickly said. "It happened years ago. I'm fine."
If you exclude the traumatic flashback he had only weeks ago. But, it's not like she needs to know that just yet.. or ever.
"Okay but," she continued, "you had to be staying with someone..." A look of worry flashed over her face. "Unless.. you weren't..."
"No I was." He quickly confirmed.
"Oh. Then..?" She prompted him to continue.
Conan looked downwards thoughtfully, and considered his options.
Well, if he's going with the logic he used for telling her his name, then - she told him her tragic backstory the first day they met, so, why not tell her his.
Conan sighed. "Yusaku never asked me all this..." He grumbled under his breath.
Honestly, Yusaku just took the explanation that his parents were dead and left it at that. Weird... But it's not like he was complaining. Less for Yusaku to blackmail him with!
"Hm?" Haibara asked.
"Oh, nothing!" Conan quickly dismissed. Haibara continued to stare at him expectantly. Conan awkwardly cleared his throat. "So, uh..." He hesitantly began. "When my parents died, I was kinda.. uh.." he paused for a second, looking upwards thoughtfully, trying to think of good wording. Nothing was really coming to mind, so he just settled on, "shoved.. into different foster homes. They were usually pretty nice, but, um.. the latest ones..." He just stared down at his knees. He didn't exactly want to look her in the eyes while spilling his whole life story. "They were - well, I'm not exactly sure how the system works - but.. I think they were just doing it for the money. So, they didn't exactly care..."
He took a deep breath. "So!" He looked up and said a bit more cheerily, breaking the slight somber mood that had fallen over the room. "I figured I'd have a better chance wandering the streets and forcing myself into some other family. And then I left for Japan, and - well - did exactly that!" If you exclude the whole pretending to be a different person, thing.
"Ah..." Was apparently all Haibara had to say (which was understandable). She looked downwards kind of awkwardly (considering she probably didn't have much experience in dealing with.. this) with a somewhat sympathetic look on her face (as one would). She stayed like that for a second before blinking a couple times and looking back towards him. "Wait - what do you mean, 'left for Japan'?"
Conan's eyes widened.
Oops. He didn't mean to mention that...
He looked to the side nervously and scratched his cheek. "Yeah I uh.. used to live in America before all this..."
"Huh?" She said, confused. "Why would you-?" She stopped when she realized something even more important. "Wait, how'd you get over here without..." Parents, she neglected to say.
Oh, boy. He wasn't exactly expecting to tell her about the.. crimes he's committed before, but.. what else can he do. Well, she's probably killed people before (not willingly) so illegal entry maybe wasn't as bad..?
Conan coughed awkwardly a couple times into his hand. "I might've.." he paused, "..snuck in." He followed with a very small and pathetic nervous laugh.
She just stared at him with comically wide eyes, as if he were insane (which, perhaps he was). "You..." She sighed and massaged the bridge of her nose. "You illegally entered the country..?"
He nervously placed a hand behind his neck. "Well when you put it that way..."
"How?" She asked incredulously.
"I just kinda.. walked onto the plane." He said with a shrug. Haibara gave him a look that heavily conveyed that that was not a suitable enough explanation. "Okay, yeah. There was a bit more to it than that." He admitted. "But, basically.. whenever I came across security I had to pass, I just tagged behind some random family and ducked through when no one was looking." He continued. Haibara was still staring at him as if he belonged in a mental asylum. "I guess they were too busy to look at anything below their eye level!" He unnecessarily added.
"Why?" She shakily said, gesturing wordlessly to Conan. "Just, why..?"
Conan didn't know whether she was talking about why he snuck into Japan or why he was pretending to be Shinichi in the first place (probably the former), but why not answer both! "Just felt like it." He said casually, which did kind of apply to both. "Besides, even if they do put out a missing persons report back in America, it's not like they'll find me in a foreign country!" Unless the police somehow track him all the way to the airport and then to Beika, but he was wearing a mask and a hood at that time and he didn't have that much confidence in the American police (he did successfully steal multiple confidential documents from them at the age of five) so he figured he'll probably be fine. "And pretending to be Shinichi is fun too!" He added.
Haibara just facepalmed and disappointedly shook her head, having apparently given up with.. whatever Conan was. "I'm going to need so much coffee..." She grumbled.
Yeah that was understandable. (Well, he didn't exactly like coffee all that much (every time he had to drink it when Agasa so kindly made some for him - or, for who he thought was the coffee addicted Shinichi (only presumably, because of the numerous expensive coffee brands he saw in Shinichi's house) - Conan always had to dump sugar in it (secretly of course) to make it at least slightly palatable and he tried not to drink much of it because that much caffeine can't be good for a small child like him) nor was he addicted to caffeine, but, nonetheless, he still understood.)
Haibara pushed herself off the couch and headed towards the kitchen to go and do, presumably, exactly that.
Conan let out a small sigh and looked down at the floor solemnly.
The anger was probably going to come soon, huh..?
It seemed Haibara was still in the disbelief or shock phase, but, once the consequences of his actions truly set in, she's going to be pissed. Hell, probably even more than just pissed, she's going to despise him. And for good reason. He's basically lied to her for months now, and put multiple people in danger by telling them about the organization or by just simply being around them.
He'll just have to accept whatever sort of punishment she decides to give him. This was entirely his fault.
Just a few seconds later, Haibara emerged from the kitchen, carrying the entire coffee pot in her hand, having apparently decided one cup wouldn't suffice. She plopped back down on the couch and poured the coffee into her mouth like a waterfall, and, after a good few gulps, slammed it down on the table. Conan gave a quick glance to the pot and noticed most of its contents were gone - yikes.
Haibara apparently didn't have any more to say so, Conan decided to just get this over with.
He gulped and said with a meek voice, "So, do you hate me now?"
She just stared at him for a second, giving a very confused look. "What? Why would I hate you?"
"I mean..." Conan looked down and nervously fiddled with his fingers. "I kinda lied to you for months and put multiple people in danger..." He mumbled. He quickly glanced black at Haibara. She looked tired despite the fact that she literally just downed an entire day's worth of coffee. "I wouldn't be surprised if you wanted to cut ties with me.. or something." He added. (Well, that probably wouldn't be too easy considering they went to the same school, were in the same class, and sat next to each other, but he figured, if anyone, Haibara could figure something out.)
"Well, yeah I'm a little mad." She said. Conan nervously looked back up at her. "I do hope you know how dangerous what you're doing is." She added.
"Well, in my defense, I didn't know how dangerous the Black Organization was at the time..." He said quietly, but apparently not quietly enough, because Haibara gave him a glare. "Sorry."
"But it's not as if I hate you." She continued. "I mean, I now know that you are just a child. And despite that you seem to be pretty smart. You've been pretty helpful sometimes. Besides, it would've been a bit troublesome if the Professor hadn't already known that shrinking was possible before meeting me."
Conan chuckled. "Yeah, I guess." He sighed in relief.
Well, that went down a lot better than he was expecting didn't it. Seems he had been overreacting. Well, maybe he should've expected something more like this because Haibara wasn't heartless.
"Just one thing though." Haibara suddenly said.
His head shot up as soon as she spoke. "Eh?" He said worriedly.
And then, his worries were confirmed when Haibara said, "We're telling the Professor."
He gasped in fear and yelled, "No!" Without thinking.
Haibara flinched back a little, stunned. "W-what?"
Conan gathered himself and looked down nervously after his mini outburst. "M-my gadgets..." He said sheepishly.
"Huh?" Haibara asked.
"If he found out he'd take away all my gadgets!" He explained.
Haibara grinned devilishly. Conan had a bad feeling. "You know..." She began. "I think that's all the more reason to tell him."
"Haibara-san! Please..!" He whined and brought his hands together in a prayer like formation.
He gave her the most wide and shiny puppy-dog-eyes he could muster, as a last resort. He already knew that wouldn't work on her because of her previous reactions when the other Detective Boys tried to do the same, but he still slumped in defeat when she huffed and looked to the side.
"C'mon!" He continued. "You know I never use my gadgets irresponsibly! They've even saved your life before!"
"Ah-" She said with a very chastising tone, and put her hand out as if to say 'stop', like she was a mother scolding a kid. "I'm not arguing with a child." She said bluntly, then crossed her arms over her chest.
"Hey!" He yelled angrily. "You can't just do that now that you know I-"
"Ah- ah- ah-" She interrupted, shaking her head and waving a finger as if to say no.
Conan just growled and stewed in his anger, knowing she was kind of allowed to do this.
And that was when he suddenly heard the sound of the door opening and looked over with dawning horror to see Agasa walking in with a couple of grocery bags in his hands.
"Sorry that took so long, Ai-kun." He said as he locked up the door. He turned around and paused, noticing the boy. "Ah, Shinichi. I didn't know you were here."
Conan slowly turned his head back to Haibara, eyes wide with fear. She had an incredibly smug and evil smirk on her face. "H-Haibara-san... Please, just think about this."
But apparently she didn't, because she then turned to Agasa with a deceptively kind smile. "Professor!" She said cheerfully. "What great timing!"
Shinichi had to say he was even more confused when the Professor came over and pulled on his face, then just silently left with a similarly shocked expression.
