Conan sat on the couch, under a blanket and watching the television, waiting for Haibara to change out of her wet skirt. He needed her to come back out so she could put his pants back on and cover his diaper. While the screen was playing children's cartoons, Conan's thoughts were a million miles away. He was concerned about poor Haibara, who ran away crying after Mitsuhiko saw her wearing a wet skirt. He was also worried about Mitsuhiko but he didn't think he had anything to worry about. Mitsuhiko was a good kid, he could keep their secret.

Haibara's bedroom door opened and she stepped out. She was wearing a sundress and her eyes were still red from crying. Before Conan could say anything she started in on him, "Alright, let's get your diaper covered so we can begin the tests."

She sounded angry. Conan figured she was trying to cover up how embarrassed she was, so he decided to just go along with whatever she said. Besides, he badly wanted something to cover him.

Haibara made her way to the couch as Conan laid back and rested his head on the arm. He removed his blanket and saw his diaper, wondering if it looked wetter now. Haibara commented, "Already wet? Did you even notice you had to go?"

Conan blushed as Haibara examined his wet diaper. "No," he said. "I just figured because of all the excitement-"

Haibara nodded. "Maybe," she said. "Or you've reached the peak of the medicine's most...embarrassing symptom: full urinary incontinence. If so, the tests we do today may tell us whether or not the ageing drug will work."

"Really?" Conan said, excited that he'll finally get some results but extremely nervous about the symptom "full urinary incontinence." He'd been heading that way all week but the thought of having 0 control over his bladder filled him with dread.

Haibara continued. "Anyway, this one should last you for another hour or two," she said, referring to the diaper. "If you're at where I think you are, you wont be having any more accidents. Everything will just sort of trickle out."

"Is that what happened to you?" Conan asked.

"No, I've regained my continence, that was just an accident!" Haibara shot at him, clearly still thinking about the incident earlier. Then she realized what Conan was asking, "Oh, you meant when I was taking the medicine…" She cleared her throat, regaining her composure. "Yes, I suffered the same symptom before realizing the medicine wont work," she admitted.

The thought that all this may be for not and that he wont regain his age in the end filled Conan with dread. But he was determined to stay hopeful.

Haibara finally slid Conan's snow pants over his wet diaper and helped the boy up. "Alright, test one," she said, making her way to the kitchen and getting a glass of water. "Drink this." Conan did as he was told and quickly downed the entire glass.

"Now," Haibara continued, "I need you to tell me the moment you feel the need to pee. You don't have to worry about making it to the bathroom on time, that's what the diaper is for. I just need to measure you continence."

Conan hated how frank the discussion about his diaper and his bladder was but he knew Haibara was only trying to help. "Okay…" he agreed, scared of what the results would be. The two made their way to the lab and began the tests.

O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The examination didn't take long, an hour at most. Conan and Haibara sat at the lab computer as Haibara poured over the results. "Hmm...mhmm," Haibara sounded as she looked over the numbers. Conan waited with baited breath.

"Okay," Haibara said. "I need to know one more thing before I have all the results. Stand up and come over here" she told Conan. Conan did, although with some difficulty. His painkillers were wearing off and it was becoming difficult for him to walk.

Once he got over there Haibara spared no time, she grabbed Conan's waistband and pulled it down to check if he was wet. "Haibara!" Conan yelled, angry she hadn't even asked.

"Sorry, I was lost in the science," Haibara said, glancing quickly at Conan before going back to examining his diaper.

Conan looked down as well and saw immediately that he was much wetter than before. "But I didn't even feel anything…" he muttered. He hadn't felt a signal from his bladder, he hadn't felt the warmth pooling up in his groin, he hadn't felt the swollen diaper pushing his legs apart. The way his pee trickled out of his bladder freely was unnoticeable to Conan. The slow progression of dry to wet happened so gradually, Conan couldn't even feel the change. He felt himself about to cry but he realized that if he was experiencing this symptom then now he could find out if the drug was working.

Haibara pulled up his pants and motioned for Conan to sit back down. "So there's still some blood work that needs to be examined, and I'd like to have The Professor double check my numbers," she started, tempering the upcoming blow she was about to give to Conan. "But, so far as I can tell, the medicine isn't working as intended."

The two sat in silence for a moment, Conan processing what he just heard. Haibara watched Conan solemnly as he stared into the distance. Then, suddenly, it was like a rain cloud opened up right onto Conan's face. A stream of tears ran from his eyes. He opened his mouth and gave a pitiful wail. Haibara knew the effects of the drug were mood swings but she still wasn't prepared for this. She got off her chair and timidly approached him, not sure if she should treat him as the friend he was or the 1st grader he is. She decided to do both.

Conan had no clear thoughts. He knew he was wet, he was tired, he was in pain, and he wasn't going to get better anytime soon. He didn't realize he was crying and he didn't realize Haibara was watching him or that she was looking at him with an extremely worried expression. His mind seemed to clear, however, when he was taken in by her warm embrace.

Conan sat in his chair, quietly weeping for a good minute while Haibara hugged him tight. When Haibara had gone through the same thing she had no one to comfort her, she merely cried herself to sleep alone in the lab. But this was her fault, her failure that brought her friend so much suffering. The least she could do was hold him tight.

Finally, Conan spoke, "Thanks, Haibara," he said, wiping his eyes with the back of his hands.

She hugged him a little tighter before pulling away entirely. From experience she knew his mood swing had mostly subsided, so she pushed past it. "Well there's one piece of good news, you can stop taking the pills at night," she said, knowing how much a single day off the pill improved the symptoms. "You should keep taking the medicine I gave to Ran, though. It should help with the pain. Anyways, let's get cleaned up. Ran should be back any minute."

Conan nodded, then asked, "Wait, where's The Professor? If Ran sees he left us here alone she wont be happy."

"Damn old man," Haibara said, helping Conan off the chair and heading for the lab door. "I'll try calling him again."

When they exited the lab they found it wouldn't be necessary. They saw Professor Agasa was crouching over the carpet with a towel and a bucket. "Oh, hello," he said. "I figured you were both in the lab but I noticed this wet spot in the carpet. I think the house might have a leak," he explained, looking up at the ceiling for signs of water damage.

Conan giggled as Haibara blushed and pressed her sundress down. "It's fine," she said. "I...uh...covered the leak properly…"

"Oh?" The Professor asked. Then it dawned on him what he was cleaning up. "Oohh, I see."

Haibara rushed over and grabbed the towel from him, dropping to her hands and knees to clean her puddle herself. Conan got a brief glimpse of her underwear: pink and white pull-ups. He averted his gaze. He considered asking The Professor for a diaper change but he couldn't muster up the courage. He looked at the clock. 'Ran should be out by now,' he thought. 'I can wait until she brings me home.'

O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Ran and Conan walked back home from The Professor's house (more accurately, Ran walked while carrying Conan.) The Professor had updated Ran on Conan's condition when she picked him up and was glad that the worst of it had come. She felt bad that Conan was as bad off as he was but she was glad he could only improve from here.

Conan was still in a state of deep melancholy, however. He'd been humiliated countless times sense this ordeal had started and in the end he'd have nothing to show for it. The uncomfortably wet diaper he was wearing just added insult to injury.

As Conan lamented on his need for a change he felt something strange on the back of his leg, a cold sensation right under his buttcheecks. "Uh-oh…" he said to himself.

Ran was carrying Conan so that his mouth was right next to her ear, so of course she heard his distress. "What's wrong?" she asked.

The cold wet feeling spread, unable to escape from the waterproof snow pants and instead spreading itself around the insulated padding and under his thighs."I think I had an accident," he said quietly, in case anyone could overhear.

"That's alright, I'll change you when we get home."

Conan didn't respond, it's not like he wanted her to stop and change him in a public restroom. Instead he sat in her arm, sulking and soaking his pants little by little.

O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The two entered their house and came up the stairs to find Mouri sitting at his desk, reading a newspaper.

"Hi, dad," Ran said. Conan didn't make eye contact with him

"Hi, Ran," he said. He then awkwardly added, "Hi, Conan. So how did things go today at The Professor's?".

Conan didn't respond, so Ran spoke for him, "The Professor said he should start getting better soon. I'm gonna have to stay home a couple more days to take care of him."

Mouri nodded. He wanted to scold Ran for taking time off school and Conan for not toughing through it, but he'd gotten enough of a verbal lashing from Ran the night before. He dropped the subject and went back to reading the paper.

Ran carried Conan to the table and placed him on a chair. As his butt hit the hard wood he felt a cold splat and urine leaking out of his diaper and more into his pants. He shifted uncomfortably and said, "Ran, about that thing I told you on the way home…" He didn't want to say it out loud in front of her dad.

"Your medicine has worn out enough, keeping you from hurting is my number one priority. We'll get you into some new clothes after you eat and take your pill," she said. They both looked sideways at Mouri, who seemed not to pay them any mind.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Conan didn't much care for sitting in his own urine but he at least thought he'd gotten used to it. As he sat at the table waiting for Ran the cold wetness kept spreading little by little, and every time he felt the leak spread he knew he was involuntarily peeing himself. He stared at the ground, trying to prevent Ran and Mouri from seeing he was involuntarily crying as well.

Nothing got past Ran's vigilant guardianship of him, but she assumed he was crying because of the pain he was experiencing. She hastened to get Conan a meal and some medicine. Conan ate quickly and took his pill, happy he'd get some physical relief soon.

"Can you walk alright?" Ran asked after he was finished.

"I think so," Conan said, pushing himself off the chair. He grabbed the edge of the table to try and keep his balance as his legs threatened to buckle underneath him. By the time he almost found his center of gravity, Ran grabbed him by the armpits and picked him up.

"Here, let me help," Ran said, holding the child so their faces were level. He smiled at her, thankful for the help, and she smiled back. Then they heard a slight noise, the sound of liquid dripping on tile, and they both looked down.

The change in gravity had caused all the pee pooled up in Conan's snow pants to flow down and drip out of the bottom of his pant leg. The two looked at each other again. Conan shivered, partly from the cold urine running down the back of his leg and partly from the annoyed look Ran was giving him.

Ran swooped her arm up under the boy's butt to stop the flow. She noticed how cold the back of his pants were and realized his diaper must have been very wet for a very long time. She grabbed some paper towels and threw them on the floor, quickly cleaning up Conan's small drops of pee before Mouri saw, then rushed up stairs before too much more dripped out.

Once they got out of earshot of Mouri, she started in on him. "Why didn't you tell me you were leaking?" she asked, slightly annoyed but more concerned.

"It's embarrassing…" Conan said, taking the tone of a child being scolded because he was a child being scolded.

"More embarrassing than leaking all into your pants?"

"I'm sorry…"

They entered Conan's room and Ran brought him back out to be face to face with him. Conan didn't make eye contact but Ran said, "Just tell me next time, okay? I want to help you." Conan looked her in the eyes and nodded.

Ran placed Conan on the ground and carefully removed his drenching wet snow pants, trying not to let any more leak out. She then removed Conan's diaper and went about the change as usual; only this time she went faster. The Professor had told her about Conan having no control over his bladder muscles so she didn't want to risk him being unprotected for too long.

Being so concentrated on the change, she didn't say anything until the diaper was successfully secured onto Conan (Conan, as usual, tried to pretend he wasn't there.) But after the boy was padded she began putting his pajamas on him and telling him about how her school day went.

Conan paid little attention, this was going to be his life for the next week and the only thing he had to look forward to was re-potty training. Before he knew it, he was all dressed for bed and Ran was helping him up and heading to her room to finish some homework. Conan waddled to the door and closed it behind her.

Finally alone, he began processing what had happened since he started taking the drug. He'd wet his bed several times, he'd wet his pants in public and in front of friends, people had seen him in wet diapers and pull-ups, he pooped himself in front of the girl he loved, almost everyone had seen him cry, and he was in almost constant agony. "Damnit!" he said, his anger barely being suppressed by his need to keep quiet. He grabbed the supposed "re-ageing" drug Haibara had made for him and tossed it against the wall with all his might. It rolled under his dresser as Conan flopped down at his desk chair, arms folded and brooding to himself.

He was angry he wouldn't go back to being a normal high school student but he took comfort in knowing he would soon return to his life as a normal elementary school student. Aside from that, he took comfort in considering how quickly Haibara had recovered. If he could get to the point of changing his own pull-up, like she was, he could at least have some independence to do things on his own. Conan went to bed early that night without taking the pill. He was eager to wake up the next day and begin his recovery.