"Shin-chan!" Yukiko excitedly yelled as she bent down and entrapped Conan into a crushing hug.

All the boy did in response was grumble irritably, as he just let the woman treat him like a giant stuffed bear for the time being, knowing any struggling would be futile.

(Agasa was working on some invention off to the side, doing a pretty bad job of pretending not to pay attention to their visitors. Haibara (who was still fully-grown - he wasn't sure why either of the Kudo's weren't surprised about that, but he figured Yusaku was probably to blame) was casually reading a newspaper on the couch, doing a much better job of pretending to be uninterested. He couldn't blame them really; he wouldn't want to deal with the Kudo's either.)

The two had arrived just as Yusaku said they would, and, needless to say, Conan was not looking forward to it. Both of the Kudo parents were a handful, in their own special ways.

Conan glanced over Yukiko's shoulder at Yusaku. He was just standing there, doing nothing about the torture he was undergoing (neither was Agasa or Haibara but Conan felt they had a pass), which, unfortunately, came as no surprise. It seemed Yusaku was too busy periodically checking his watch and sending worried glances through the window at Shinichi's house, understandably so. Even if he was Yusaku, Conan assumed he would still be at least a bit worried for his son. However, that was too bad for Yusaku because Shinichi left about five minutes ago, apparently going out to dinner with Ran (Ran excitedly mentioned it once at the detective agency so he was fairly certain). Conan didn't really do anything to stop him, mostly because he couldn't be bothered and wanted Yusaku to suffer a bit.

But, wait.. speaking of Shinichi...

Conan suddenly froze in Yukiko's grasp as all his reminiscing reminded him of what she had called him just a moment ago.

Shin-chan.

Meaning, she still thought he was Shinichi.

Conan shifted as much as he could to look over Yukiko's shoulder and incredulously stare at Yusaku, trying to ask him 'Why on earth haven't you told her yet?' with his expression alone. He could've sworn that Yusaku would've told her before coming here, but apparently, as Yusaku would say, his deduction skills needed a bit of work.

It seemed Yusaku had noticed his confusion. He caught Conan's eye for a second, before lowering his head and shaking it, as if embarrassed.

He sighed. "Yukiko honey, you're confusing the poor boy."

Yukiko paused. "Ah!" She exclaimed, finally letting go of Conan. She leaned up and clapped her hands together. "That's right! I forgot I didn't tell you!" She said to him.

Conan paused and lifted an eyebrow. "Tell me what..?" He asked confusedly.

Yusaku cleared his throat. "I have, actually, told her you're not Shinichi." He said.

Conan blinked as he slowly turned his head towards Yusaku. "What?"

"Sorry!" Yukiko said, her hands together in a pleading gesture. "I've known for a while now, I just forgot to tell you!"

Conan just paused to stare at the woman. For some reason he didn't feel all too surprised. Granted, he still was, just not enough to be fully wide eyes and speechless. Although, he wasn't sure if he's correctly grasped the situation...

"So.. you knew?" He asked. After a second, just to be more specific, he added, "That I'm not Shinichi." Yukiko nodded with an 'mm-hm' looking a bit sheepish. Conan paused and just blinked for a second, as it started to set in. "Wait," he realized, "you said 'for a while now'?" He asked, sounding a bit more incredulous. Yukiko nodded again. "Since when!?"

"Ah ha hah..." She laughed nervously, looking bashfully to the side. "Remember when I took you along to see some of my friends? There was a case with the inheritance, and the fake old man, and.. ah- the body in the well..?" She said.

It took Conan a second to piece together exactly which case she was talking about with the vague details she was giving (the well was a nice clue - that mental image wasn't very easy to forget), but once he did, he nodded. However, Yukiko didn't elaborate any further and just continued to sheepishly smile at him.

His eyes slowly widened as he realized she was implying that was when she figured it out. That was.. quite a long time ago. "But.. y- you..." He fumbled, unable to get himself to say that she was clearly acting like he was Shinichi at that time. She... "You were calling me Shinichi!" He voiced. He paused, realizing something. "You- you called me Shinichi just now!" He said, even more incredulous.

Yukiko, again, just nervously laughed. "Sorry, but you looked and acted just like little Shin-chan, I couldn't help it!" She leaned in and pinched his cheeks, stretching them.

Conan groaned and swatted her hands away. He turned away and grumbled angrily to himself.

He couldn't even bring himself to be surprised. It was just.. so like her. That's just such a Yukiko thing to do that it wasn't even that shocking.

He sighed and turned back to her. "So, how'd you figure it out?"

"Ah well," she said, "something just felt off so I asked Yusaku, and then I was so mad he didn't tell me earlier I had to go blow off some steam!"

Conan's eyes slightly widened. "You..." Instead, he just tiredly sighed. "You weren't mad about Yusaku cheating back then, were you?"

(Yusaku looked over at them and cocked an eyebrow.)

"Nope!" She cheerfully said. "I made that up."

Conan put a hand up to the bridge of his nose and lightly shook his head. "'Course you did." He grumbled.

Suddenly, the sound of someone clearing their throat stopped them. "Anyways..." Yusaku said. "I was wondering if you knew where Shinichi was. None of the lights are on in the house." He said suspiciously, sending a glance over at the house.

"Oh yeah, he left just a bit ago." Conan answered.

Yusaku narrowed his eyes at him. "Where."

"Uh..." He began nervously, not wanting to anger Yusaku. "I think he's taking Ran-neechan out to dinner somewhere."

Yukiko's face lit up with excitement while Yusaku continued to give him that look. "Do you know which restaurant?" He asked.

"Um, I think it was some fancy rich place." He said, digging deep within his mind, trying to remember what Ran had told him. "I think Ran said something about Beika central..?" He shrugged. "I'm not sure."

Apparently that was enough information for them, because Yukiko somehow looked even more excited, as if Christmas had come early. She was bouncing on her heels as she turned to Yusaku asking, "Hey hey, do you think he's..!"

Meanwhile, Yusaku looked quite the opposite, his fists clenched and his eyebrows furrowed into a worried point. "Most likely..." He confirmed whatever Yukiko was thinking.

Conan, quite frankly, had no idea what was going on, so he looked at them confused and asked, "What?"

Simultaneously, Yusaku and Yukiko both said, "He's going to confess." Except with very different tones, one with excitement and the other with fear.

That didn't exactly explain anything to Conan, and, in fact, just made him even more confused.

(Like, confess what, his crimes?)

"What do you mean?" He asked.

Yukiko giggled cheerfully. "He's going to ask out Ran-chan just like you did with me 20 years ago!" She said, looking at Yusaku. "I knew he was paying attention to those stories of how you proposed!"

Conan's brain basically short circuited.

'Ask out'... 'He's going to ask out Ran-chan'...

That implied that Shinichi liked Ran. Shinichi liked Ran...

"Shinichi likes Ran..?" He absently voiced.

When he said that, it seemed everyone in the room suddenly paused. Yusaku and Yukiko were both giving him an odd look. Even Agasa and Haibara had looked up from whatever they were doing to do the same.

Apparently, Haibara was going to be the one to ask, "You didn't know?" Sounding disbelieving.

Conan slowly shook his head. "No..?"

For some reason, the idea of Shinichi liking Ran never even crossed his mind. He just never thought to consider it (which he probably should've if he was trying to pretend to be him - oops). He probably didn't even want to consider it.

Haibara just stared at him for a second, before lowering and shaking her head. "And to think you were pretending to be the guy. How have you gotten away with this for so long?"

"What?" He yelled in mock offense. "I'm not good with that kinda stuff!" He said with a slight flush to his face. It's not like he's ever seen Shinichi and Ran interact much either... "Wait." He realized. "How would you know!? You've never even met Shinichi!"

Haibara just blankly looked at him, as if he were missing something that was painfully obvious (which, he probably was). "Well yes, I hadn't known.. until yesterday morning, when I saw Kudo and Mouri-san looking at each other and blushing like a couple of lovebirds. Honestly, you were there too. I thought it was obvious."

"I, w-well..." He stammered.

He thought that was weird, but he never thought it would be.. love. Honestly, he hated anything to do with romance. He figured he was still in that phase where he thought love was gross (although wasn't sure if he was ever going to grow out of it - the rest of the detective boys already had (unfortunately for him.. and also Ayumi) - but that was besides the point).

Conan started to think back upon Ran and Shinichi but now with new context, and everything started to fall into place. The continuous blushing at each other, the way Ran spoke about Shinichi, the way her mood brightened every time he was around and plummeted when he left. Oh God, it all made sense.

And every time Sonoko teased Ran about Shinichi being her 'husband', he thought it was just that, teasing, but what if fully wasn't...

They were in love.

Conan froze as his eyes slowly widened in fear.

Oh no, they were in love.

That wasn't good. He could barely handle the boy crazy Sonoko and he didn't even see her that often. If Shinichi and Ran were in a relationship, he didn't think he'd be able to take it. (Okay, maybe he was exaggerating, but just the thought of it.. ew.)

And if Shinichi was going to confess tonight (presumably), then of course Ran will accept. Now that he thought about it, she did tell Conan she liked Shinichi literally the first day they met (which he chose to forget about until just now, apparently).

He looked up at Yusaku fearfully. "Are you sure he'll be.." he paused, gathering his bearings, "doing that," he got out painfully, "tonight?"

Yusaku was giving him a similarly worried look. "Yes." He said, resigned. "If it's that restaurant, then I'm pretty certain." Yukiko let out another giggle when he said that, but immediately stopped when Yusaku continued, "Which is why we have to go and stop him."

Any trace of excitement left on Yukiko's face disappeared. She stared at Yusaku with wide and angry eyes. "What do you mean we have to stop him!?"

Yusaku leveled her with a serious glare. "What he's doing is very dangerous, we can't let this continue!"

"But he's finally going to confess to Ran-chan! Can't this wait!?"

"No, this cannot wait!" He yelled. "After this he's going to have to leave, staying is far too risky! And if he confesses to that girl, she's going to want to be with him more and more, but he won't be able to. He'll be getting both himself and the girl killed."

Yukiko shrinked back a little, seeming to understand his point better, but she still didn't back down. "We can't just control his life like this-!"

"But it's too-!"

"Hey," Yukiko suddenly turned away from Yusaku and towards Conan. Conan startled a bit, not exactly wanting to be brought into this argument. "Shin-chan!" She said to him.

"It's Conan actually-"

"You agree with me, right?" She interrupted. She had a fierce glint in her eyes that was saying 'agree with me if you know what's good for you'.

Apparently, he didn't know what was good for him, and (even if he couldn't believe he was saying it) he agreed with Yusaku too much to comfortably lie to her. "Actually, I think Yusaku's right..."

Yukiko's glare sharpened even further, but Conan kept his ground. At the end of the day, it was just too dangerous to let Shinichi do this. Yeah, he felt a bit bad basically forcing Shinichi to do something he wouldn't want to do, but there was just too much risk. (And yeah, he also just didn't want them to get together, but that was more of a selfish want than an actual concern.)

Yukiko growled and crossed her arms, turning away from the both of them, practically fuming, having apparently realized she was alone in this.

Yusaku and Conan just looked at each other awkwardly.

After a few seconds, she turned back around, having come to a decision. "Fine!" She said, still sounding quite angry. "I'll do it." She agreed.

Yusaku sighed in relief. "Thank you."

"However," she continued, "only if you let me drive."

Conan thought that was a pretty weird and even unequal condition for her, but it seemed Yusaku thought otherwise. He abruptly stiffened, looking almost.. afraid. But, that look was gone almost as quickly as it came, making Conan think he might've just been seeing things.

"A-alright." Yusaku said.

Conan took note of the stutter. Curious...

"Yay!" Yukiko said, suddenly sounding all cheery, as if she wasn't fuming just moments ago. "I'll go start up the car then!" She happily said, turning around to head out the door.

Yusaku started following after her, so Conan turned around to go sit on the couch or something, but he suddenly felt a hand grab onto his shoulder and stop him.

He paused and turned around to see Yusaku. He looked relatively normal, and not even mad, but Conan was still a bit scared.

"Where are you going?" Yusaku asked.

"Uh.. I dunno, the couch?" He shrugged nervously.

Yusaku's eyes narrowed a little. "You're coming with us."

Conan blinked up at him, confused. "W-why..?"

Nothing in Yusaku's expression really changed, but he somehow managed to look even more tired. "I hope you remember that you're the entire reason any of us here know about the organization."

Well, except for Haibara but he figured that wasn't exactly relevant to whatever Yusaku was trying to get at.

"Yes, I know that." He grumbled. "But what does that have to do with anything?"

Yusaku just sighed. "I'm sure Shinichi will want to know why we know about all this, so someone will have to explain that to him."

Conan paused, fear starting to become evident on his face as he imagined what that would all entail. Yeah.. he did not want to do that. Telling Shinichi he watched him almost get murdered and didn't do anything about it, and then endangered multiple people by telling them about the existence of the organization he was trying so hard to keep secret, that can't go over well.

Conan looked up at Yusaku nervously. "Can't you just.. tell him you figured it out..? Somehow?" Yusaku didn't look convinced. "I mean, you're Yusaku." He gestured at him. "I'm sure he'd believe it."

Yusaku still looked quite unimpressed. "I'd rather not lie to my son if I don't have to."

Conan slumped down in defeat, knowing there wasn't anything he could say against that.

Yusaku lightly pushed him towards the door. "Come on, let's go."

Conan reluctantly followed.

Yukiko was happily waiting for them in the car, having already started up the engine, as Yusaku and Conan got in.

From the passenger seat, Yusaku leaned over the side and looked behind him at Conan. He had this sort of determined yet also fearful glint in his eyes. "Make sure to put your seatbelt on." He said, cryptically.

"Y-yeah..." Conan confusedly nodded as he did just that.

After the belt clicked into place, Yusaku promptly turned back around and fastened his own seatbelt, then double checked it a few more times than Conan thought was necessary.

Conan's curiosity was officially piqued.

Yusaku was acting way too weird for this situation. Yes, he knew Yukiko was a bit of a madwoman on the road, but he's only ever rode on a motorcycle with her, and cars were generally safer than motorcycles, right? It's not like he was out in open air with only his grip on the rider keeping him on the vehicle. He was strapped in with a seatbelt. It couldn't be that bad.. right?

As soon as Yukiko hit the gas pedal, Conan quickly found his answer.

If Yukiko was scary on a motorcycle, she was somehow downright terrifying in a car. If he were to guess, she probably knew that motorcycles were dangerous and that she should follow at least some of the laws of the road, but in a car.. safety was thrown out the window. The increased safety of cars probably led her to believe that she could get away with far more life threatening stunts and break more laws (even with a child on board). Conan was fairly certain she never went the correct speed limit, once, and that they hit air at least a few times. She kept weaving in and out of the lanes and around the other cars (which was something you could actually do in a motorcycle, not a car) and she drifted through every turn. Hell, he didn't even think it was possible to do a wheelie in a car, but she was quick to prove him wrong. It was truly a feat that they didn't get pulled over or arrested. Somehow, she never crashed or even scuffed the car once. He was unsure whether to say she was good or bad at driving.

After what felt like simultaneously the longest and shortest car ride of his life, Conan immediately rushed out of the car and practically collapsed onto the safe and unmoving ground of the underground parking garage, panting from the.. exhilarating (to say the least) experience.

Yusaku was soon to follow, and instead just leaned exhausted against the car, looking like the life had been sucked out of him.

Conan shakily looked up at the man. "D-does she always do this..?"

"Yep." He simply answered.

Yukiko stepped out next, cheerfully spinning her keys around her finger, as if she had just taken them out for a casual Sunday drive instead of the terrifying roller coaster of a car ride that it was. She walked around the car and leaned on it next to Yusaku. "So, what's the plan?" She asked.

Yusaku straightened up, looking completely normal (it was clear he's been through this many times before - Conan almost felt bad for him). "Well, we can't just go in there haphazardly. If we get seen, it'll spell bad news. Someone will have to go stake out the situation." At the word 'someone', Yusaku slowly lowered his gaze and gave Conan a pointed look.

Conan had an idea of who that someone was going to be, and he didn't quite like it.

He looked up at Yusaku with a mix of annoyance, trepidation, and slight confusion. "Why do I have to do that..?"

Yusaku sighed. "Well, clearly neither me or Yukiko could go. That restaurant isn't very large. If we get seated as normal customers, there's a high chance we'll get seen."

"Um.." Conan shuffled his feet nervously, "but wouldn't that be the same for me..?"

Yusaku turned more towards him as one side of his lips slightly upturned, which Conan assumed was the Yusaku equivalent of a smirk. "No.. not if you sneak in."

Conan halted, and blinked incredulously up at the man.

Did.. did he hear that correct?

Yusaku was asking him to sneak in?

Conan never thought he'd see the day. Yusaku not just approving of his crimes, but legitimately asking him to commit one.

It seemed Conan had been speechlessly gaping at him for a bit too long because Yusaku was starting to give him a weird look.

Conan lightly shook his head to break himself out of that mini stupor, and asked, "You're asking me.. to sneak in..?" Just to make sure he actually did hear him right.

Apparently Yusaku noticed his disbelief, as he explained with a slight reprimanding tone, "I recall you telling me you've snuck onto a plane and into a foreign country before..?" Conan froze and just stared up awkwardly at him. That's right.. he forgot he told Yusaku that... At least he didn't seem too mad about it (or like he had any intention of telling the police, which should probably be a bit more worrying to him). "I'm sure a simple restaurant would be much easier." Yusaku finished.

He had a point but...

"Well, I-I mean.. yes but-" Conan stuttered, "that's not exactly what I meant..." Yusaku lifted an eyebrow, wanting him to continue. "Isn't that a bit.. morally dubious..? Sneaking in?"

Yusaku paused, with an expression on his face, looking like he realized that yes, i did just tell a kid to do something that was a bit illegal, before wiping any thought of that from his mind (or something) and looking back down at Conan. "Well, I'm not telling you to eat without paying, am I? As long as you don't cause any issues it should be fine."

Conan slumped his shoulders, looking away with a pout. "Fine." He grumbled.

He fully understood where Yusaku was coming from, but.. it still just felt weird. And he certainly did not want to go along with this if he didn't have to.

He looked up at Yusaku hopefully. "Are you sure you can't have Yukiko disguise you or something..?"

"I don't have my supplies!" Yukiko piped in.

"It'd take too much time too." Yusaku added. "Speaking of, we don't have much of it to spare. Why don't you head up there; me and Yukiko will wait in the car." He said opening up the car door. Conan just sighed dejectedly, realizing that he basically had no choice at this point. "Call me when you find Shinichi alone. If it looks like he's going back, try to stop him." Yusaku finished as he sat down.

"Fine, whatever..." Conan reluctantly agreed as he started heading towards the stairs, hearing the sound of a car door shutting from behind him.


Surprisingly, sneaking into a restaurant was a lot harder than sneaking onto a plane.

Firstly, an unattended kid in an airport was a fairly normal sight, but it wasn't so much in a fancy restaurant. At an airport, usually he'd just get looked over, but, at worst, an employee would come up to him asking if he were lost, to which he'd cheerfully reply that he was meeting up with his parents and then go on his merry way. However in a restaurant, the moment a waiter spotted him, they'd immediately come over and ask him things like 'What are you doing here?' or 'Where are your parents?' and 'Go wait outside in the lobby.', then usher him out. It had already happened three separate times tonight (thankfully each by different waiters), and Conan was getting quite annoyed by now.

He had managed to catch sight of Shinichi and Ran a couple times (Yusaku was not kidding, the place was small) but unfortunately not enough to actually hear what they were talking about or figure out what the situation was.

And secondly, there were practically no places to hide in a restaurant. Airports had all sorts of walls, terminals, and other items that functioned as suitable hiding places, but restaurants had basically nothing. There were the tables and the carts that the waiters used to bring out the food, but neither of the cloths laid on top of them went down long enough to sufficiently hide him. And most of the tables were occupied anyway. He couldn't even use one of his favorite ways to sneak in, where he tags behind some random large family and pretends to be one of their children straggling behind. That worked at crowded places like an airport, but again, not a restaurant; he'd immediately be noticed and told off. He didn't even think he saw any children his age there.

His only option was to try and dart between the few unoccupied tables left when no one was looking, but he's already failed at that thrice and it was seeming more and more impossible as time went on. There was also the waiters' counter at the front of the restaurant were they took in customers, but that was only a last resort (because, you know, there's going to be waiters there), unfortunately one he just now had to take because a waiter was leading a couple to the very table he had been hiding under and he did not want to be stuck there. Fortunately the one employee at the counter wasn't attentive enough to notice the little kid hiding next to him.. but it was only a matter of time.

Conan stared (well, more accurately, squinted) longingly out across the tables at Shinichi and Ran's at the far side of the restaurant by the window. They seemed so close yet so far away. It is truly impossible..?

Conan sighed, contemplating just giving up and calling Yusaku, when he suddenly noticed a peculiar item above Shinichi on the ceiling...

An air vent.

He stared at it for a moment longer, before lightly shaking his head and deciding that - no - crawling through the vents was a horrible idea. He didn't even know if the vents would be big enough for him to fit in, or if he'd be able to find a vent that would lead to the one above the two. But.. what else was there to do..?

Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder, causing him to flinch and turn around to the angry face of one of the previous waitresses, with her hands on her hips.

"Didn't I tell you to wait outside? Stop bothering the customers!" She scolded.

"Y-yes! Sorry." He quickly said, then dashed out from behind the counter and out of the restaurant, not wanting to get scolded any more or cause the poor workers any more trouble.

Well, at least he came out of this with a new idea, albeit a very stupid one.

He dejectedly walked out into the lobby, eyeing the bathroom next to it. Well, that was as good a place to start as any. Decidedly, he headed into the restroom, and smiled as he saw an air vent conveniently placed above the far stall. The opening even looked big enough for him to fit into!

Conan slowly looked around the bathroom and through the gaps underneath the stalls, to check if anyone was there, and thankfully there wasn't. He gave one last quick glance to the entrance door, before rushing into the last stall, and then climbing onto the toilet then onto the separator between the stalls. He took off and unclasped his suspenders (one of his, admittedly, less used gadgets, but still impressive nonetheless), and stood up on the thin separator to the best of his ability, bracing a hand against the ceiling (it was a bit precarious, but he could manage). He gripped the suspenders in his free hand and reached his arm out as far as could. Fortunately it was enough to reach the vent, and, after a bit of finagling, he passed one end through the thankfully large grating and then out.

Keeping a firm hold on that end, he jumped down back onto the toilet's tank and clasped the suspenders back together. Then, after waiting a few more seconds to make sure no one would suddenly walk in while he was doing this nefarious activity, he pushed the button. The suspenders fiercely tightened, almost pulling Conan with it. The grate buckled under the pressure and, soon enough, it flew off the ceiling and clattered onto the ground with a loud bang.

Conan flinched, hoping that somehow no one would hear the loud sound. But, he waited and waited yet the bathroom door never opened. He let out a quiet sigh of relief, hopped off the toilet, removed his suspenders from the grate, put them back on, and propped the grate up against the wall. He smiled up at the open vent, revelling in his hard work.

He climbed back up onto the separator, and had his hand against the edge of the vent opening, about to enter, before he suddenly thought of something that should be very important:

Was he claustrophobic?

He's never really had any experiences that would suggest he was, but he's also never been in that much of a tight space to truly decide...

Well, guess he'll find out.

Without any more thought, he climbed in.

Thankfully, it seemed large enough for him to crawl through. Although, it was very dark, almost pitch black. Well, that's nothing his handy-dandy flashlight wrist watch couldn't solve! He clicked it on, ever grateful that Agasa still hadn't taken away his gadgets. He dreaded the day, which is why he's never brought up the topic of his gadgets to Agasa ever since.

He crawled further, occasionally coming across some split paths, then taking whichever one should theoretically lead him closest to Shinichi and Ran. As he continued, he drew a mini map of the vents in his notebook, making note of which paths he took so that he didn't, you know, get lost in there; that would be pretty bad.

Crawling through the vents wasn't the most comfortable or fun thing to do, but Conan didn't think he was panicking, so he probably wasn't claustrophobic. Yay..! That's at least one thing in his favor.

Eventually, there was a light up ahead. He crawled over to the opening. It was just the restaurant kitchen, but that meant he was getting closer, right! He marked that on his nap and continued. Soon enough, he came across a second light, and this time, by the luck of the gods, it was actually Shinichi and Ran's table. He silently rejoiced, thanking whichever divine entity he pleased to let him have this infinitesimal amount of good luck in this horrid week he was having.

He forced himself to pay attention and heightened his hearing (because it wasn't that easy to hear in the vents), so that he could actually listen to their conversation, what he originally set out to do.

"I actually thought Conan-kun was you, Shinichi." Ran giggled.

Conan internally laughed. What a place in the conversation to jump into.

"Huh!? The kid!?" Shinichi said incredulously, before breaking down into almost hysterical laughter. Ran looked away with a pout and a slight blush. Shinichi put a hand to his mouth to tamper down his laughter. "You're kidding." He said, still giggling.

"Geez! Don't laugh like that." Ran said with an embarrassed blush. "He's a lot like you, you know! He's way too smart for a seven year old. He even looks like you when you were young!"

Man.. this whole conversation was so ironic.

"But last time I checked I wasn't seven." Shinichi pointed out, letting out a chuckle.

"I don't know!" Ran said, exasperated. "I thought maybe you got into some mess and had to go into hiding, and then asked the Professor to make you a drug that'd shrink you or something." She lightly laughed. "Stupid right?"

Shinichi laughed again, although there was a bit of a nervous twinge to it (considering Ran was actually right about the 'in hiding' part). "Yeah..."

"So..?" Ran leaned forward, resting her chin down into a hand. "What was it you wanted to tell me?" She asked expectantly.

Conan had a bad feeling.

His worries were confirmed when Shinichi blushed and looked away nervously. "I-I.. uh..." He stuttered.

Oh no, he was going to confess. He was going to confess, right now.

"I.. I wanted to say..." Shinichi continued.

"Hmm?" Ran leaned even closer to him, her smile growing slightly wider in anticipation.

Conan promptly started to silently panic, because the whole reason he was even here in the first place was to stop this from happening, yet there was practically nothing he could do. His only option was to drop down onto their table from above, but he didn't want to do that for obvious reasons.

"Th-the reason I invited you here to dinner..." Shinichi said as Conan's panic continued to rise. "I wanted to tell you that I..."

Sweat started to form on Conan's brow as his nerves reached even higher levels. Was there really nothing he could do? Should he drop something on them? Should he call Yusaku? Oh man, he's going to be so mad. He didn't want this to happen! Can't Shinichi just chicken out or an earthquake strike or something?

"Th-that I..." Shinichi continued, sounding way too confident to back down at this point (much to Conan's dismay). "I lo-"

And then someone screamed.