~CHAPTER START~

…and they ran straight into the Shonen Tantei-dan.

Ayumi, Genta and Mitsuhiko had invited themselves in straight until Agasa's door. As they normally would, on a daily basis. At first they looked surprised, as expected when you run open a door, and someone on the other side just happens to open it at the exact same moment, resulting in an instant collision. But it took mere moments for them to regain their normal bouncy cheerfulness, completely missing the fact that there was one child more than normal for a whole five seconds. (Hakuba: …5.23001)

"Ne, Conan-kun, Ai-chan, who's that boy standing behind Agasa-hakase?" Of course Ayumi would notice first—she was probably the most perceptive of the three actual kids compromising the little group. Now, thought Conan, there's as many shrunken kids as normal kids in the Shonen Tantei-dan. Unless Hakuba somehow manages to escape their grasp. He almost chuckled at the thought, but thankfully the others had started clamoring to see the new kid, and none were paying attention to his own muffled sounds.

"Hello, my name is Tsubaraya Mitsuhiko. What's yours?"

"And I'm Genta!"

"Yoshida Ayumi! Nice to meet you!"

Agasa chuckled nervously. "Ehehe…Kids, this is Hirai Akechi, he's…er…Ai's cousin visiting from…" he paused, not quite knowing what to say. And now all three kids had their attention on the professor.

"England!" Conan quickly said, desperately hoping that they wouldn't suspect anything. So much for finding him a disguise…if we dyed his hair now, the kids'll have seen him…

There was a horrible, long 2 seconds of silence (Hakuba: …1.98304) until Ayumi happily ignored any doubts she might have. Well, why would he suspect eight-year-olds to be overly suspecting? Conan was sure he was becoming paranoid.

"Wooow!" Ayumi's sunny smile and Genta and Mitsuhiko soon followed suit. After all, two seconds wasn't really that long. The kids continued to voice their amazement until Conan managed to edge close enough to 'Akechi' to whisper.

"Try to act a bit like a kid, would ya?"

Hakuba froze as the little kids (and Genta was actually taller than him, annoyingly enough) jumped to introduce themselves. He'd try to act like a kid, sure, but how was there even time to reply?! The kids would announce something new and hardly leave a second between their comments. He gulped. This would be hard.

"Akechi-kun, do you wanna join the Shonen Tantei-dan?" Whoah-whoah-whoah. Since when was the relationship on a first-name basis? …Albeit it was a fake first name, but still.

"Yeah, you should join!"

"Join or I'll force you!"

'Akechi' chuckled at the hyperactive kids, hopelessly surrounded on all sides by now. Well, not exactly 'chuckled,' it was more of… anyhow, his height didn't help either; he was shorter than both Genta and Mitsuhiko, although only the slightest bit so as compared to the latter.

To his relief, Agasa replied for him. "Now, now, Akechi-kun will only be here for a few days, and after that, he'll be leaving—he can't join the Shonen Tantei-dan and do anything in that time," he reminded them.

The kids visibly deflated for a whole 12.407 seconds (Conan: You could just say 12, or even 10…doesn't make that much of a difference… ) …it almost made him feel sorry for them. "Aah…uhm…alright, just for the days I'm here though." He wasn't sure if he said it to make them feel better or just to escape the pressure at least for the moment.

The kids immediately brightened up again. "Well come on, Akechi-kun, we were just about to go look for a missing cat today!" Hakuba sighed. A missing cat? Well, of course a little kids' detective club probably wouldn't run into many difficult cases, but…looking for a lost pet? His eye was probably twitching.

Agasa interrupted again. "Akechi-kun can't go today, I'm sorry. Conan-kun, Ai-kun, and I were going to take him to buy some clothes right now."

"Aawwww," Ayumi, first as always, pouted. "But I suppose we can take him with us tomorrow, ne, Akechi-kun?" Hakuba found himself in a position where it was impossible to simply refuse them without (at least temporarily) breaking their hearts.

"Well, we must be off then," confirmed Agasa, as he started to herd the little kids out along the path, Conan and Ai silently following behind. Hakuba decided he'd follow suit, and started to walk. Agasa-hakase closed the door behind them. In all the excitement, nobody had noticed it was still open the entire time.

After the kids were gone, all four gave a sigh of relief. Agasa led them to his car, a beaten down yellow bug. And an inventor had this kind of car because…? Didn't most inventors (or the ones he knew) get really rich and buy the most expensive cars possible?—or something along those lines.

The old car spluttered to a start, shaking all the occupants as they shuffled into their seats: Conan sat in front, Ai and Hakuba in the back.

The mall, as always, was crowded with shoppers, couples, and groups of girls simply hanging out together. Every chair, every store, filled with people, primarily teens.

It made Hakuba uncomfortable—more people equals greater chances of needing to interact. And interaction wasn't his forte. Not nearly so. And the vast majority, though normally he'd fit right in, wasn't even his apparent age. The idea was unnerving, to say the least.

Not only that…but there was that chance that he could run into someone he knew. Specifically Koizumi and Kuroba—Koizumi's freaky mind-reading would probably expose him (and likely in a riddle) in the blink of an eye, and Kuroba…well, he was one of the sharper tools in the shed. And he'd not hesitate to prank him, tease him, or outright humiliate him.

But, he reminded himself, Kuroba-kun is Kaitou KID, which means he already knows, which means he (hopefully) won't play too many tricks. What part of his mind was it that kept him from making that connection when the thought first came? Could he seriously be thinking subconciously that Kaito and KID were two separate people? Geez, since when did it get to the point at which his own mind started baffling him?

He allowed himself to be led into various clothing stores, choosing a few articles of clothing each time—sometimes in little-kid size, sometimes in normal size. And, thankfully, it went fairly smoothly. If anyone ever asked Agasa-hakase why he was buying clothes obviously not the size of anyone present, he would simply say he was buying them as a gift to his nephew.

At least, it went smoothly until he noticed movment out of the corner of his eye: a shadow from behind the wall here, a glimpse of a shoe there. Subtle, yes, but someone was most definitely following them. Doing his best to keep at his current task (which, of course, was still picking clothes to wear), he watched silently, until he finally spotted three pairs of eyes peeking from behind a rack of clothes.

He turned around to check it out, and the heads quickly hid again.

"Ayumi-chan, Genta-kun, Mitsuhiko-kun, you can stop hiding now," came Conan's voice in bored monotone. Apparently he'd noticed too.

The guilty trio walked out from their hiding place; Genta and Mitsuhiko looked downright disappointed, but Ayumi was forever cheerful.

"Wow, Akechi-kun, you were able to figure us out like that!" She smiled happily. Yeah right, thought Hakuba to himself. You guys were shadowing almost as if you wanted to be seen. But he didn't say it—he knew better than to make it seem like he knew any more about detectives, after seeing their initial reaction when they'd first met.

They then did somewhat of a huddle, whispering in voices still loud enough for him to catch most of what they were saying.

"…should really have him join!"

"…make him…!"

"SSSH Genta-kun, he might hear us…!" …Already too late for that…

He turned back to looking at clothes, hoping to find something else to occupy his thoughts…and hopefully get them to lose interest in him…he could see Conan blantantly staring at the other kids, eye twitching. At least Hakuba wasn't the only one. Haibara was simply standing in the corner reading.

"…should live with Agasa-hakase and go to school with us!" Now that was a scary thought…elementary school all over again—and that was after he'd graduated from college. He'd already been through months of high school all over again, all to watch Kuroba. He wasn't sure how Haibara had managed; after all, she was an eighteen-year-old scientist that had managed to create a drug that shrank people. Elementary school should be melting her brain by now.

At this time, he'd chosen about eight outfits for his…diminished size, and two normal. The shopping trip would be over soon, thankfully, and he could retreat to silence before the day was over.

riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnggg—riiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnngg

Everyone present who had a cellphone with them reflexively checked their pockets. "Mine," muttered Conan, pulling his cellphone out of one of his pockets and finding his way out of sight, while, curiously, also pulling some…red cloth? out of another pocket.

Conan was gone before he could hear any conversation.

It shouldn't have been suspicious. Really, anybody would leave a noisy mall for somewhere quiet to have a conversation on the phone. But something bugged him—he couldn't quite tell what, but he had a hunch that something wasn't quite right. He started to take a step in the direction Conan had gone, but…

"I think we can go back to the car and wait for Conan there." Ai's voice was cold, hard, and emotionless. "We've done enough shopping now, and I still haven't done my homework." She said homework like one would say chores. Agasa nodded, and started herding everyone in said direction—conveniently opposite the way Conan had disappeared to.

He'd have to watch Conan later.

"A date?! Ran, you know I'm busy on this case and I'm not around…" Shinichi started.

"SHINICHI!" He flinched and held the phone far from his ear to avoid damaging his eardrums… "I know you're in Japan, if not even closer! No matter what time it is that I call, you're able to pick up, and you don't sound tired or sleep deprived, so you can't be that far away!" He stared at nothing in particular, paling. Since when had Ran noticed things like that? She must have talked to Sonoko forever to come up with that deduction. Thank Kami nobody can see me right now, he thought from his place in the empty bathrooms.

"Well, sorry, Ran, I just can't—"

"Shinichi…" her voice told him that she would owe him a punch strong enough to go through a concrete wall if he refused.

"Okay, OKAY! I'll come! But you haven't even said when or where!"

"This Thursday, after school ends, at Tropical Land. We never finished that date, remember? Oh, and by the way, Conan's been a little bit sick lately, so I have to babysit him for the day. I hope you don't mind." Oh, right, he did have a bit of a cough. And Thursday was the last day of school at Teitan Highschool…he'd nearly forgotten.

"Well, I couldn't possibly leave him with Tousan, so we're stuck taking him with us on our date." Was it just him or was there a hint of sly mischief in her voi—WAIT, he AND Conan had to be there? Oh, geez.

"Uhm…Shinichi, are you still there?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah, I can live with that." Only…two days?! Would Haibara even give him the antidote for such a small thing? "Oh, is the shrimp bringing his little entourage with him too?"

"Huh? The Shonen-Tantei? Hm…maybe they'd want to come. I think we can bring them." Oh, geez, what had he just gone and gotten himself into?

"Well…okay, then. See you there," he said, hanging up his cellphone and turning off the voice changer. Shinichi ran a hand through his hair. Now how was he supposed to pull this one off? And not only that, but Ran's voice said she knew or at least thought she knew. Problem!

But, standing outside of the mall, he couldn't do anything about it right now. Maybe they could pull the same trick he had at the school play? …That would be asking quite a bit of Haibara.

Agasa-hakase's yellow beetle pulled up in front of him—whoops, he'd forgotten they were leaving. The kids must have gotten impatient. He ran over and hopped into the front passenger seat—when his other phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket…

Akechi was about to ask who had called when another ringing came. Conan, once again, pulled out his phone—strangely, out of the opposite pocket from before. Didn't people usually make it a habit to keep things in the same place each time? Apparently Conan didn't.

"Moshimoshi?"

"Really, Ran-neechan? All of us?"

"Shinichi-niichan will be there?!" Conan sat up abruptly at this.

"Hai! I'll ask them, everyone's here right now!" Conan covered the mic on the phone and turned toward the back of the car, which was, at the moment, crowded with five little kids trying to squish in together. "Hey, you guys wanna come to Tropical Land on Thursday? Ran-neechan's offering to chaperone, and Shinichi-niichan will be there too!"

There was a chorus of affirmation.

"Shinichi-niichan? Ran-neechan's detective boyfriend?" Was it just him, or could he see Conan blushing the slightest bit.

"Shinichi-niichan's not Ran-neechan's boyfriend!" Conan cut in quickly, almost panicking. "…or, at least that's what Ran-neechan always tells me whenever I say something about it." Conan had a look on his face that was just shouting that it was a poor excuse trying to cover up something else. Huh?

"Whee! Let's all go!"

"Yeah!"

"Yes! I can go!"

"I should ask my mom first…"

Conan went back to his cellphone. "Ran-neechan, were you able to hear any of that? Well, they want to go."

"Okay, so you'll pick us all up after school?"

"Okay, see you at home!" Both sides had apparently, by this time, hung up, and Conan relaxed back into his chair.

Nobody could see the look of impending doom written all over his face. These next few days are going to be a nightmare…

~CHAPTER END~

AN://

Haha, I had to arrange something.

SHRUNKEN HAKUBA MEETS THE SHONEN-TANTEI-DAN. WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG? Well, add one to be doomed to get dragged along on all the cases from pointless …things to murder cases.
-waits- CHAP 700 HURRY UP! ...by the time it's translated and online, I'll be back from volleyball camp...not sure whether to cry because it'll take that long or be happy cause I have something to look forward to. DX Oh, and did anyone else gawk at the sheer amount of expression Ai showed in 699? SHE ACTUALLY WAS SURPRISED AND SHOWED IT!

Mel72000—Thank you! And I hope it does. I'm still not quite sure exactly what the ending will be though. X3 And yes, you did mention you were French, but it's alright. :3

Marie Ravenclaw—Muahahaha…will Hakuba ever find out? What will the Shonen-tanteidan torture him with? Will I ever give Watson some bird food? Find out…on the next chapter of POST SUSPICION!! Wow, that sounds cheesy. Hakuba is the awsomesauce.

xxBakaAkki—XD I'm not much good with writing like this. Cliffs are not my forte. And pardon the lack of detail…normally, I end up…blabbering on and on about random things that have zero importance whatsoever and it gets pretty wordy. And, to add to that, I have a problem with over-correcting myself. Plus, this isn't exactly a setting built from my own head, so I don't know it quite as well…the list goes on and on. But I tried to make it more detailed with this chapter! I think…I might have forgotten about it about halfway through, but…I tried! DX

Pretztailfan95—Yes, he is much fun indeed. He gets annoyed at the littlest things (or not so little things, considering what the things are) but is far too polite to actually…react. XD And Kaiba is indeed cruel. They are similar…except that Hakuba isn't as…driven? –shrug- Hey, if that's the case, who's Yugi?

A Midsummer Night's Dream—Glad you like it?

Disclaimer: I have no right to be putting Hakuba in these situations. Kaitou KID has more right than me, and he doesn't even exist.