Life was quiet for the rest of the week, and Aoko found herself leaving the Mouri home with a faint sense of failure in her mind. Ever since returning from Tropical Land…things just went down hill. Her self assigned mission to cheer Conan up seemed to backfire, and the remaining time until Detective Mouri's return was spent with the child closed up in his room, barely speaking to her except a quiet 'thank you' whenever she brought up some food.

She'd toyed with the idea of making him come out to eat, but decided against it. She could not, under any type of justification, allow a child to go hungry. Aoko wasn't quite sure why, but something told her that her deliveries were the only reason he kept eating. His friends had called on the office once or twice (to her surprise Ayumi, the cute girl from the park, had been one of them) but each time she could not coax him out.

The Inspector's daughter had wracked her brain to try and think of the catalyst, but couldn't come up with anything at all. The only lead she had was his earlier depression over Mouri Ran's disappearance, but there was nothing to cause this drastic of a change in so short a time. She never even got close to the truth before she found herself tossing her bag into the backseat of her father's car, half turning and glancing up at the burning windows of the Detective Agency.

"What's the problem?" Her father ended up asking as she slid into the passenger's seat, giving her a sideways glance before starting up the car. She looked at him, hoping her expression wasn't quite as dejected and helpless as she felt.

"Conan-kun."

The name seemed to say it all since Nakamori didn't ask for any more clarification. The car moved away from the curve and began to roll on down the empty street, leaving the windows behind them like lonely candles in the night. The constant thrum of the engine and the vibrations were all that either heard for the longest time, for the radio in the old vehicle was long since broken, and was only drowned out when the Inspector finally spoke during a short break at a red traffic light, "That kid…he's always caused problems. Before, he was always getting in the way of Mouri's cases. Nosing around, or just overall getting into trouble with those little friends of his."

His words drew Aoko from the streets, glancing at her father in blatant disbelief. She could not imagine the quiet, thoughtful Conan as the trouble maker her father painted him to be. She admitted that she hadn't known him before this…depression hit, but she just could not see it. However, she didn't call her dad on his somewhat unflattering description and waited, rather impatiently, for him to continue.

The light turned green and the vehicle accelerated, getting up to speed rather slowly in the city streets. Nakamori was steering with one hand, the other one absently resting on his leg, patting it lightly—probably looking for a cigarette in his pant's pocket. The Inspector's eyes were on the road, and it wasn't until they were out of traffic and into the more suburban, residential areas of Ekota before speaking again, "…most of us in the office wish he'd act that way again."

"Why?"

"Multiple reasons. First off, apparently his mood has been affecting Mouri-san, and his work is declining. Obviously it doesn't do to have our top homicide detective off his game. On the other…Most of us actually like the brat, even if he interrupts us for the silliest notions."

Aoko laughed, her father joining her a few moments afterwards, adding his deep chuckle to her own. It was odd to hear the gruff affection in the grizzled inspector's voice, odd but not unwelcome. It actually warmed her a little inside; maybe her father was finally broadening his horizon beyond his daughter and his job. It was not the first time that Aoko wished she could have met the Conan he used to be.

-

"Ka—Kaito!"

The magician snapped out of his daze, pulling his thoughts away from heist plans, little detectives, and know-it-all witches. Koizumi Akako ambushed him on the way to school that morning, seeming to drift up next to him out of nowhere to fall into step beside him. Even if he never showed it, he was always on guard when it came to that girl. True magic wasn't something he understood very well, and he was never quite sure if she'd gotten over her "kill the kaitou" stage. She often got this odd little glint in her brown eyes, and sometimes even he couldn't tell the difference between her "I know something and you don't" stare versus "you'd be a very nice addition to my collection". By collection he meant her harem, which surprisingly hadn't followed her that morning.

Pushing Akako aside he focused on what Aoko was saying, nodding his head in all the right places as she began talking quietly. A few of their fellow classmates glanced in their direction, but attention wandered once it was clear that there was no lingering insult on the female side of the equation, so the class was shaping up to be chase free—a very rare occasion.

Kaito considered intentionally provoking her into the regular battle of speed and agility; it ranked considerably higher on the entertainment scale than to hear her discussing the last night's homework. He'd started noticing over the years that Aoko liked to talk a lot, or yell, but yelling is just louder talking right?

That was the weird thing about Akako that morning; she hadn't said a word the entire way. Just smiled that odd smile that set him on edge the entire way, and led him to be grateful for when he could escape into the school. He wished she wasn't so set on maintaining her air of infallibility and foreknowledge; it might make her easier to deal with.

"Kaito!"

When he came to Aoko was hovering in front of his desk, expression somewhere in between the realm of annoyed and concern. What happened? He'd only let his thoughts stray a little, maybe a minute at most. "What?"

"You were spacing out." Aoko crossed her arms, the long-sleeved blue uniform blouse bunching up a little at her elbows, "for about five minutes."

"Aah, sorry." Kaito yawned, deciding to lay all the blame on exhaustion. It was partially true at any rate; he'd snuck out last night to do some reconnaissance of his newly decided target. Of course he would never, in a million years admit the slightest mention of his nightlife to the straight and narrow, law abiding Aoko and as such neglected to expand on the reasons for his excuse, "I was up late helping Mom."

His own personal mother-hen only responded with a "Get some sleep, idiot!" before the teacher decided it was past time to start class. A glance at the clock quickly confirmed that it was actually three minutes early, a tidbit that brought a sense of satisfaction to the fun-loving magician—she probably just wanted to head off yet another potential argument.

It would be so easy to provoke Aoko, the first that came to mind would be actually stating the mother-hen comment, but he decided to let the teacher have her order. For now anyway.

-

Takagi sat in front of his computer at home, scanning through the information he'd dug up before being ordered to stop his investigation. He didn't understand it, not at all. According to what he'd found out, there shouldn't need to be an investigation! Ran and her mother had bought two tickets to America, boarded the plane, and left the country about a day after Detective Mouri had come into work drunk wailing about how he couldn't live without Ran.

Yet, something felt off.

Kisaki Eri had returned a day later, but there was no word from Ran since.

It didn't make sense. It didn't fit with the exuberant girl at all. There was no way, no way she'd go so long without checking in, whether it be by mail, phone, or just having her mother pass the message. He'd discretely probed Mouri (the man either ended up in a pitiful or a foul mood when the girl was mentioned) and outright asked Conan—there hadn't been any sort of argument or altercation in the proceeding weeks, or even in earlier months.

The man sighed and massaged his temples, muttering a pitiful, "Why me?" to the air. What was he missing? Why did Megure stop his investigation now? Now he had no authority to dig deeper into the flight records, to broaden his search. He'd finally found something! He'd be able to give at least some sort of answer to Conan and maybe slow the down-ward spiral he'd witnessed ever since the boy had brought the case to him.

"I'm an officer, not a detective." Takagi mumbled, he was good at fresh scenes, but cold ones were extremely difficult. He did not have the contacts that Shiratori or Satou had, nor could he enlist them to help. They both respected Megure too much to just jump into something he'd forbidden (Takagi respected him too, but he'd already been working on the case for over a month now.)

If he could, he would go to Kudou with the information, but the teenaged detective continued to keep his work and location secret, and hadn't popped back in about a year. With no way to contact him, that route was out. Mouri was out of the question as well, the detective's skill and fire had been rapidly degenerating, and he'd already lost much of the reputation he'd gained over the years. Takagi considered the possibility that working on his daughter's case would give him back some of the fire, but decided against it—he was too close to the case.

As his mind cycled through the detectives he'd known, two names came to the forefront of his thoughts. He needed someone with enough interest to care about taking the case, and the skills to follow through with it. Hattori Heiji, the Osaka Detective had both, but he was quite a ways away. Takagi wasn't sure the teenager would be able to get away from school for long enough without disclosing the details to his father and he knew the Police Inspector would not allow a banned case. There was one other local detective, but he held no personal attachment to the case. But…if he presented it right, perhaps the challenge would appeal to the British detective, Hakuba Sugaru.

Tired of letting the problem spin throughout his head, Takagi decided to let the matter sit. He had an appointment with Kisaki Eri the next morning, and he'd figure out what to do after questioning her about the trip she and Ran took.

-

Intermission:

"Heading to the MR again?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, see ya later Ran!"

"Bye!" The girl yelled back in her accented English, waving cheerily to the girls who were headed down another hallway. The dorm hall was a little too lavish for her humble tastes, but she was glad she'd received the opportunity to study here, even if it was for only a year. The people were nice, the teachers wonderful, and the surroundings peaceful since the campus was nestled back in the mountains.

The only thing she didn't have was her family.

Ran hummed as she made her way down the hall, bag thumping against her shoulder, dark blue pleated skirt swishing. The uniforms had taken some getting used to, but they weren't bad. Everyone wore them, girls in skirts and boys in slacks of course. Even the gi of the karate club were colored a deep blue—it was a nice color, reminding her of Shinichi's eyes…

She turned down another hallway, walking half-way down before opening a door and ducking inside. The older woman behind the counter looked up, smiling at her upon recognizing her, "Hello Ran! Here for your mail?"

"Un!" Ran nodded, moving up to the counter and accepting the small stack of mail the woman pulled out. It was a pity cell-phones didn't get service up here, and normal phones were regulated to emergency use only, sometimes she wished she could hear her dad's voice, or Conan's, or…Shinichi.

Her fingers traced the edge of the letters, flipping through and finding one written in a familiar sharp and precise hand. It was sad; Shinichi was more regular with his letters than he ever was with his phone calls. A smile spread across her face as she thanked the mail-lady—Miss Veronica she'd been told to call her—Shinichi never told her what he was doing (his current letter was marked from Hokaido) but it was nice to hear from him on a weekly basis unlike his formerly random monthly calls..

With the letters in hand, she headed back to her room; she had karate class in an hour. That was just enough time to read a few.

A/N: I added the interlude Ran is so clueless. Those letters were written by Vermouth! Heck, Veronica probably is Vermouth (I'm not sure…)

Hmm…Will Takagi go to Hakuba? I'm not sure yet. The plot is starting to evolve again -.-;; Hope you liked the chapter and interlude (the chappie wasn't quite long enough on it's own.) Thanks to all who have read this, and who have reviewed it. I know this isn't my most updated fic, and the time varies a lot, but I will do my best to finish it for you all.

…One day…

Now, review and feed meh ego :D It's kind of hungry right now.