A/N:Hello, all! Today I have time to update a story rather early! I figured I'd go with this one. The server's a little haywire today, isn't it?

Chapter 11 A New Student?

The day of the music test arrived all too soon for Shinichi. He awoke early in the morning and realized that he hadn't even studied at all last night, because as soon as he had gotten home, he had fallen asleep because he was so worn out from the KID heist.

Now, he hurriedly ate his breakfast and headed out for school. Frowning, he stopped as his phone rang and he answered. "Hello?"

"Hey, there, meitantei-san! How are you?"

His eyes widened. "K-Kaito? How did you get my number?"

"Bakoko gave it to me. Say, cousin, how've you been?"

Shinichi shrugged. "Same old, same old. How about you?"

"Nothing much."

Shinichi smirked upon hearing his words. "Yeah. I have to get going to school, so I'll see you later!"

He froze upon hearing footsteps behind him. He turned to see three familiar kids following him. Not them again...can't they get the hint and leave me alone?

He turned to greet the three nuisances and smiled awkwardly. "Hello, you three. Is there anything I can do for you guys?"

"We want to go to your school and see you in action!" The fat one exclaimed.

"Sensei said we could go visit you!" The freckled one added. "Plus, what's cooler than seeing an ace detective in action?"

"True." Shinichi agreed. He patted their heads while inwardly urging them to just go away and leave him alone, unfortunately, they wouldn't go away that easily, he knew. "However, I doubt your teacher really gave you permission to sneak away. Did she really, or are you just making that up?"

All three of them froze upon hearing that comment, which gave Shinichi his answer. 'Bingo,' He thought triumphantly. It looked like his deductive skills were right once again, though when weren't they? He had always prided himself on his abilities-and he was right again.

"Um, I think she said we would yesterday, right, Genta-kun?" The freckled one said before flashing a nervous stare at his partner, who nodded.

"Yeah, she told us we could!" He said, but Shinichi could tell he was lying as soon as the words flew out of his mouth.

Just then, Kobayashi-sensei came down the street, and her eyes lit up upon seeing Shinichi and the three rascals. "There you three are! How dare you run off without telling me! We all got so worried-oh, Shinichi-kun, are you late for school?"

"Yeah, I woke up around twenty minutes ago. I know it's after nine o'clock, but I stayed up late last night working on a case and I suppose I just kept on sleeping and ignored my alarm like that." He said meekly. The last thing he wanted to see was an angry Kobayashi. She had punished him plenty of times in class for sleeping when he wasn't supposed to, or reading instead of paying attention, and he doubted that she would condone that even now.

"Just make sure you head to school. Even if you ARE a famous detective, you still need your education." She chided gently. She turned her sharp gaze onto her naughty pupils. "Now, you three will come with me!"

"But we wanna stay with Kudo-sannnnnn!" The trio whined.

"No more whining! We have important work to do, you hear? You head to class now, Shinichi-san!" She said before waving and leaving with her three miscreants behind her.

"Great plan that was!" Ayumi whined. "We didn't even get to see what his school looked like!"

"Got any better ideas?" Genta said when they were back in the classroom.

"You three, stop talking and pay attention!" Kobayashi scolded. She didn't know what her three naughtiest pupils were up to, but she didn't like the way they were whispering conspiratorily to each other. It set her on edge. "If you're planning to sneak off again, the answer is no, you will stay in class and pay attention! You have a test tomorrow!"

"Haiiiiiiii..." They all droned in boredom.

Shinichi did as well on the music test as he expected to, which wasn't that stellar. He completely failed it because of the fact that they had to sing in a group, and his voice was completely off-key. He had tried to tell the music teacher hundreds, if not thousands of times before, that his voice was not that great, and that it shouldn't matter whether or not he could sing, he had perfect pitch.

She hadn't listened, though, and had taken points off for his horrible singing voice. Everyone hated his singing voice, and he knew that. To make matters worse, Sonoko had started making fun of him in class until an angry Ran had reprimanded her, but Shinichi knew she would start up later at lunch.

He trudged to the lunch table and sat down, flicking a piece of his school lunch off the tray in boredom. He had been in a grouchy mood all day, and Ran had been bearing the brunt of his anger. However, that didn't matter that the fangirls hadn't learned their lesson-they were still bugging him to no end. A few were crowding around him now.

"Hey, Kudou-san, it doesn't matter if you suck at singing, you're still number one in our hearts!" One girl, a senior, chirped.

Shinichi scowled. "Go away."

"Shinichi isn't really in the mood to be bothered right now." Ran said, sticking up for her childhood friend in her own way, which caused him to smile a little.

"You're just jealous that he has fans and you don't. Share your boyfriend a little bit!"

Ran blushed. "You mind your own business!" She shouted back, and the fangirls backed off reluctantly before returning to their respective seats. She knew they would try again later, much to Shinichi's annoyance. "Are you all right, Shinichi?"

He grunted in response, which annoyed her.

"Answer me, Shinichi." She urged.

"No, I'm not." He answered. "Do you honestly think I would be after being humiliated like that in music by Sonoko?"

"Sonoko-chan didn't mean anything by it." Ran reassured, but Shinichi chuckled.

"The day when Sonoko apologizes is the day I die and Kaito stops being afraid of fish."

Shinichi felt someone tap him on the shoulder then. "What?" He snapped.

"Yo, meitantei-san, how are you?" A new voice said.

Shinichi turned around to see Kaito, holding a lunch tray. "How did you-"

"Okaasan was worried about you and decided that I should transfer here to keep an eye on you and make sure you're all right. How've you been?" Kaito said cheerily.

Shinichi smiled. "Fine, except for the test this morning. I failed."

"That's not surprising. Your voice isn't the best, but at least you tried!" Kaito reassured. The two of them fell into a long and interesting conversation, until Sonoko interrupted.

"Well, if it isn't the person who failed music again because his voice sounds like a crow!" She said as she sat down.

"Leave me alone!" Shinichi growled. "She's been harping at me all day about this." He added to Kaito.

Kaito shot a frosty stare at her. "Leave him alone. While Shinichi does sing like a crow, the last thing he needs is someone picking on him about it, got it?"

Sonoko's jaw dropped. "But he needs to be scolded once in a while."

Kaito nodded to Shinichi. "Let's sit somewhere else."

The two of them got up and moved to another table, much to Sonoko's shock.

"Who is that?"

"That's Shinichi's cousin." Ran explained. "They've been friends since they were little."

"Oh." Sonoko said quietly. Clearly, she hadn't been expecting this. "He's too overprotective."