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Purpalz Miner: Hahaha I like your enthusiasm ^^ Yes Conan's glasses have a tracker for the detective badges that Ayumi Genta and Mitsuhiko have and these stickers that he applies. As for the burned clothes…you're going to have to find out haha

Mystery 0028: Ahh glad you like it! I'll most definitely continue it^^

Theditor: Glad you like the story! Thanks for reading ^^

XXX

"Heiji you'll get us into serious trouble!" Kazuha ran to catch up with a lightning fast Hattori.

"Then why dontcha stay here?" Hattori replied "Why're ya following me anyways?"

"C-Cuz if I don't keep an eye on ya then you'll do some stupid stuff!"

"I don't need ya to babysit me!" The two high-schoolers argued as they ran towards the train station.

"Besides, why're ya going to Tokyo anyways?" Kazuha asked.

"Cuz I'm goin to the detective agency!"

"Why're ya goin there?"

"Ah you're so annoying stop interrogating me!"

"Why aren't ya answering me?" Kazuha fumed "Ah I get it you're gonna visit your girlfriend Nanako right?!"

"Who the heck is Nanako?!" they finally arrived, panting and sweating as they bought a ticket and waited for the train.

"Is it about a case?"

"I guess it counts as a case."

"Didja tell your mom and dad?"

"No."

"Ya should! They'll report it to the police!"

"They'll figure. I call them later."

"Jeez you're impossible!" the screeching of the train announced its arrival as it skidded to a stop. They went on, pushing through the crowds of people.

"H-Heiji! Kazuha cried out as she was carried away by rush of the crowd.

"Now you're the impossible one!" Heiji pulled her arm. Kazuha breathed in relief and she patted down her hair. "Ah, my hair tie's gone!"

"That doesn't matter, ya ahou."

"Hey! That hair tie was expensive!"

"Well it looked pretty bad."

"Heiji you—"the people on the train watched the two highschoolers bicker, snapping at each other, while the train headed towards Tokyo.

XXX

"Otou-san, you shouldn't drink that many cans of beer!"

"Be quiet, this is my only happiness in life." He grumbled, downing another can.

"What about Okino Yoko?"

"Ah, yeah, Yoko-chan also!" he grinned "I think her drama's on right now!" Occhan turned on the TV and laughed drunkenly. 'Otou-san…you're impossible…' Ran thought. She swept the cans of beer off the table and into a plastic bag, then walking over to a trash can and dumping them in there. 'Since Otou-san is in that state, I might as well go check on something...' Ran walked out the agency quietly and headed upstairs to her father's room. She was about to turn the knob when she heard a hearty cry from below.

"Nee-chan!" Hattori called, waving his hand.

"Ah! Hattori-kun!" Ran said, surprised. There was the sound of running footsteps and a girl punched Hattori in the arm.

"Ahou don't go running off on your own!"

"And Kazuha-chan!" Ran added.

"Ah Ran-chan, long time no see!" Kazuha ran up the stairs while Hattori rubbed his arm with a pissed look on his face.

"Why'd you guys come here?" Ran asked, surprised.

"Well why dontcha ask that ahou down there?" Kazuha narrowed her eyes at Hattori. "For some random reason he just rushed here like he was gonna pee his pants."

"P-Pee my pants?" Heiji cried "Ya didn't hafta say it that way!" Kazuha stuck her tongue out at him and said "It's your fault! Ya ran here without even explaining the situation to me! Of course it'll seem like you wanted to go to the restroom!"

"Why don't you come in first?" Ran said, sweat dropping. "You can still argue inside you know." The three of them entered the agency, two of them still arguing, one with a smile on her face.

"Otou-san," Ran said "Hattori-kun and Kazuha-chan came to visit."

"Wha-?!" Occhan choked on his beer

"I'll be disturbing ya guys for a while." Hattori grinned.

"W-why did you come here out of the blue?" Occhan grumbled.

"Actually I came ta talk to nee-chan." Hattori said, turning to Ran. "So I'll be borrowing her for a bit."

"Heiji! Why couldn't ya tell me that?!"

"It's gonna get all messy and complicated if I tell that to an ahou like you. Just stay here with that detective while I talk to here." Hattori shooed her away.

"Why can't I come?" Kazuha complained.

"Cuz it got something to do with that guy." Hattori said, starting to leave the agency. "And you have no need to know somethin like that."

"Sorry, Kazuha-chan," Ran apologized "I'll be back in a minute ok?" And they left, leaving Kazuha with Occhan.

"Is there a room up there where we can talk?" Hattori asked.

"Ah, there's the living room." Ran answered. "And…by that guy..."

"Yeah." Hattori looked her in the eye "I'm talking about him." They headed upstairs to the living room, an understanding air between them.

"So…" Ran asked, while they sat down. "What do you have to tell me?"

"Ok so." Hattori started. "I talked with the firefighters after the fire that day," they both flinched "about if they found a body and they said they didn't."

"Yeah…I remember they said they did find some of Conan-kun's belongings though…"

"Well the firefighters said that they found some burned clothes, his shoes and other things" Hattori said "But they didn't find his glasses."

"Eh? Didn't they melt?" Ran asked, concern in her eyes.

"Yeah, that's what I thought too." Hattori said. "But when I remember back to where I was looking at his burned belongings in the house, I remember seeing that there was a blackened vase."

"A vase?" Ran inquired "but isn't a vase glass? Conan-kun's glasses are plastic."

"Yeah, but the vase is actually plastic." Hattori said.

"Eh? Plastic?"

"Yeah, it was made plastic because it was crucial for the murder of Erika-san."

"Ah!" Ran exclaimed "So that means that if the vase, which was just blackened, didn't melt, then Conan-kun's glasses shouldn't have melted either!"

"Exactly." Hattori smiled "That is strange point number one."

"Number one?" Ran asked "Are there other strange points?"

"Yeah, there's two more." Hattori said "So Ku—I mean Conan-kun has a skateboard that he used and left at Erika-san's house." Hattori said. "At the scene there was a skateboard, but it wasn't in the house for some reason—it was hidden in the bushes near Erika-san's house."

"The bushes? Why would it be in the bushes?"

"I don't know. And for some reason there was a fishing line in the wheel, and some tape left on there." Hattori said "I thought that maybe some kids got ahold of it and played around with it but the more I think about it the more unlikely it seems."

"So you think it might be part of why the house burned down?" Ran asked

"Maybe. Probably. It's strange to have tape and string put on a skateboard." Hattori said. "And the third strange thing—the deceased husband of Erika-san's clothes were strewn on the floor."

"If he died, then his clothes wouldn't be taken out right?" Ran asked.

"Exactly. And it wasn't there when Erika-san was still alive, which means it wasn't that Erika-san was thinking about her husband so she took it out. That means that another person took it out for another purpose." Hattori said.

"But what if the person who took it out was the culprit?" Ran said "Then it would be that the culprit was looking for something right?"

"No" Hattori said. "The culprit in Erika-san's case was Haruka-san, who was murdered before the fire. That means that she didn't kill Erika-san to get to her husband's belongings. And the clothes were kind of weird also…"

"Eh? Weird?"

"Yeah, there were signs that something of liquid matter was dripped onto it, darker blotches at someplace." Hattori said. "And since the room that they were stored in had a little fire protection, it was only a little damaged. And though they all were a little stained with smoke, the firefighters made out that it was blood."

"B-blood?" Ran asked, concerned.

"Yeah, but they assumed that they were the blood of Erika-san, who was stabbed to death, so they didn't look into it. But I could tell," Hattori said "That they weren't that dry yet, and they still had that red color. If they were the blood of Erika-san, it would've dried and turned a blackish color."

"S-so then the blood is another person's?" Ran fiddled with her fingers "But…whose?"

"That..." Hattori said "I suspect might be Conan-kun's"

"C-Conan-kun's?" Ran stammered. "But why would his blood be there?"

"I'm not sure." Hattori thought hard "Because his clothes were somewhere near the source of the fire it was burnt so I couldn't make out if there was blood on that or not. But this is what I think: he went in the house, was injured by something or someone, for some reason went into Erika-san's husband's room, got blood onto the clothes, did something there and left. The fire might've been lit in that time frame. The skateboard I'm still not sure of but I'm sure it plays into this somehow"

"…" Ran was silent, a thousand thoughts swirling around in her head. "Then…do you think…"

"Yeah." Hattori said. "He might be injured, but he might be alive." Hope shot through Ran, and a hopeful smile lit up her face.

"You really think so?"

"Since there was no body, we can't be sure he'd died. And some object were missing, which might mean he took them with him. And there wasn't any report on there being a dead child around the area who died from blood loss, so there's a high chance he got out and wandered around. But I'm not sure why he didn't come back…" 'And.' Hattori thought to himself 'that the reason he got the husbands clothes out is probably….'

"Ah yeah, Hattori-kun." Ran said "I think I should tell you this…"

"What?"

"I…last week sometime I saw Shinichi."

"WHAT?! YA SAW KUDO?!" Hattori exclaimed.

"Y-yeah…" Ran jerked back in surprise.

"When? Where?"

"I was sometime in the afternoon after school around here…"

"Around here?" Hattori racked his brain for ideas. "You sure it was him?"

"Yeah…It looked like him but something felt like it was missing." Ran said. "But I'm sure that guy knows something about Shinichi, since when he passed me he told me something like 'wait a little while more' or something…"

'Kudo!' Hattori thought. 'So you're really alive…!'

"Don't worry, nee-chan!" Hattori said confidently "Kud—Conan-kun is alive. I'm sure of it." 'Even if the person who passes nee-chan isn't actually Kudo himself, the message must be from Kudo. That means that Kudo must still be alive!'

"E-Eh?" Ran was taken aback "How do you know for sure?"

"When we hunt down Kudo, you'll know why." Hattori grinned, awfully determined. Deciding to believe in the detective of the west, Ran smiled and relaxed a little. They then headed downstairs, mood improved, and opened the door to the agency, finding Kazuha and Occhan arguing about Yoko-chan.

For now, things seemed to be a little better…

XXX

This was a really long chapter! I didn't plan for it to be this long, but I guess it's not a bad thing^^ so now Hattori and Ran are getting together to solve the mystery of Conan/ Shinichi haha. I know it might be confusing OO I myself was confused at one point. I'll clear anything up if anyone's confused so feel free to state that in a review^^ Hope you liked it!