Shinichi took time to remind himself that he had fallen quite severely out of touch with the Detective Boys and other casual acquaintances. The Professor had decided to take the kids on a trip out to a cabin near the edge of a mountain. The teen had been pressured to go by the kids, and he didn't have an excuse. He had managed to convince the Boss to allow him to take a break.

Now that he thought back to it, she agreed rather quickly. Maybe he should be slightly warier.

Despite it being a break, she expected him to keep contact, bring a concealed weapon, and continue his daily exercises.

The day drew near, and Shinichi was pretty much forced to lock Hattori in the house to prevent him from coming. Recently, that boy had somehow become more clingy than usual, and he seemed to view himself as the bodyguard instead of the more talented assassin. That's not to say he wasn't strong, he just tended to be reckless and loud; the opposite of what Shinichi would need.

As a precaution, the assassin brought a larger change of clothes and a toy gun. The gun was only to assure that he wouldn't be absolutely caught if the real one was seen. He had been forced to take a phone, which would connect back to headquarters through whatever voodoo WIFI they used. These accommodations only reinforced his sinking feeling that he was only on another mission.

The group took the yellow car deep into the woods towards the previously booked cabin. Many times did Shinichi commend the vehicle for surviving. Genta sat in the front, and the rest squeezed in the back. Mitsuhiko seemed fine with being next to Haibara, but Ayumi wasn't too happy to be away from Conan.

The ride was surprisingly quiet, with a couple of awkward riddles from the driver to relieve it. The assassin wasn't entirely sure why, but he had an idea that it was because of him. While he was trying to avoid it, he had become distant towards them and many others. Ordinarily, around this time he would have run into numerous cases with them in tow and gone on multiple vacations or small adventures. Shinichi was honestly starting to feel a real disconnect from his previous life. When was the last time he had even encountered a case?

"…nan, Conan!" The kids were screaming at him. The destination stood ahead.

He and Haibara trailed behind as the kids bounded forward.

"Didn't think you would show up to anything this summer. What's up with you?" She asked with her usual deadpan expression.

"I've …found a new hobby, and I've been trying to scientifically calculate if my presence causes murders." He tried to joke the real answer away and stopped himself before he accidentally joked himself to the actual reason. It had turned from the bane of his existence to his job.

Apparently, his answer had been satisfactory for the time being, because she didn't push it. It could have also been the rowdy kids dragging them to collect firewood.

Haibara seemed highly aware of him throughout the entire process, and the assassin hated it. He had ultimately decided to keep the important details away from her, but the explanation he came up with should be satisfactory to get rid of her worries.

The kids finally turned in, and the older three sat in a single room. Now was the best time.

"I suppose I should give you both an explanation for my distance." Shinichi started. Their attention was immediately on him, "I assume you've noticed Hattori's increased presence around me, yes?"

They nodded in speculation as the boy gathered his thoughts.

"Well, we had found a significant lead on the Black Organization and their dealings. Of course, I didn't want to involve you two until I had complete confirmation. Us two have been staking out possible hideouts and confronting suspicious people. "He saw Haibara start to open her mouth and stopped her, "We have been taking proper precaution. Even so, we haven't found much in the way of evidence yet." He almost laughed. It was complete BS! Had it worked?

"That's very irresponsible, Shinichi," the older man spoke clearly.

Score! They bought it. The girl even seemed less suspicious than before. It helped that he had always been stupid enough to do something such as that.

"Kudo, you do realize that they could easily kill you, right?" The other stated. The assassin almost laughed. 'I would kill them before they even had the chance,' he thought, but he immediately backpedaled. No, stop that.

"I know," he appeared as grim as he could be, "But, if I have even a small chance, I should take it, right?" He pasted on a pitiful glare and tried to sell them on the sad kid act.

Thankfully, it was too late to go into too much depth. They all yawned and returned to their respective rooms.

Just as he was about to sleep, the voodoo magic phone rang. Shinichi cursed quietly and looked at the screen. For some reason, the Boss had set his ringtone as the message tone and vice versa. It was most likely to give him anxiety.

'Having fun? Well, your worst fears have been realized! I'm sorry, I had truly meant to let you have this vacation, but someone showed up nearby. They're from the black organization, and quite strong. One of the other agents has already engaged. Do you accept?'