"Shinichi! Over there!" Ran exclaimed and pointed to their left. And sure enough, there was the mansion. The door was still bright red, just when they arrived here.

Shinichi and Ran smiled and moved over to the building, dragging the woman with them. The rain had long stopped and the sun began shyly with driving the night away. The two teens were soaked, freezing, injured and exhausted, but now it was finally over. The case was solved, the woman caught and the two of them survived. Bloody, but unbowed.

Chapter 13 - The Day After

Arriving at the mansion, Shinichi and Ran were greeted by an agitated Sonoko, who furiously hugged Ran under tears, having feared that something might've happened to her best friend. In her joy, Sonoko even gave Shinichi a hug. He might be an annoying mystery nut in her eyes, but he was still a friend of hers. They handed the lover of the murdered businessman over to Inspector Morofushi and Inspector Yamato, whose appearances in the mansion surprised Shinichi and Ran.

Considering the state Ran and Shinichi were in, they both decided to take a shower - separately, of course - and put on some fresh clothes, before telling the police force what happened in the forest.

Not too much later, Shinichi and Ran waited in the dining room together with Sera, Sonoko and Yui; tired, but at least out of their soaked pyjamas. Morofushi and Kansuke were still busy organizing the arrest and transport of Sumika and the businessman's lover. During their wait, Ran got the first aid kit of the mansion and treated Shinichi's wounded leg as best as she could.

"Hmhm, this sure brings back memories. The last time I had to treat your wounds was before we even attended middle school, right?" Ran said, while wrapping a real bandage around his leg.

"Yeah, I think so. But to my credit, this time it wasn't really my fault." Shinichi responded.

"Hm, true enough." Ran finished with the bandage. "I'm not an expert, but I don't think this will even leave a scar. Lucky you, avoided having another scar in a pretty visible spot..."

"I guess..." Shinichi mumbled and turned his attention to the approaching inspectors. The next thirty minutes were spend explaining to them how the woman broke into their room, chased them through the woods and how they rescued her from the swamp. Thankfully, Inspector Yamato's stern gaze prevented Sonoko from interjecting too much to get 'juicy details'. For now, at least.

In turn, Morofushi and Yamato shared the details of the events in the last 15 years, which matched with the deductions Shinichi made after hearing what the woman that chased them - Shinobu Kagawa as Shinichi and Ran learned now - said to them after they captured her.

"Well, I guess that wraps it up then." Kansuke said. "I don't think your statements will be too relevant in the following juristic procedures, but your cooperation is still appreciated."

With that, there was no reason for them to stay in the mansion anymore. Preparing to travel back to Tokyo, Sera, Sonoko, Shinichi and Ran decided against driving along with the Nagano police members and instead decided to travel via the same train they came here. While packing their stuff, Shinichi observed something weird: while walking on the corridor, he spotted Sera lying down in the kitchen and put her arm under a cupboard. He pressed himself against the corridor wall and waited until Sera left the kitchen through he other door. Out of curiosity, Shinichi decided to check out why she did that. And sure enough, he found something interesting.

Sera's smartphone to be precise. She had placed it under the cupboard. 'Weird, why would she do that? We're about to leave this place...' Shinichi thought. Looking around his shoulders to see if anyone was near, he grabbed the phone from under the cupboard and examined it. It was definitely Sera's Ony Xperikan branded smartphone.

It was still turned on; checking the phone of someone Shinichi would call his friend seemed a bit immoral to him, but then again, Sera kept secrets from him about their past and apparently had knowledge about him being Conan, so checking out her phone could reveal some important information.

One tap activated the screen again, but to Shinichi's surprise, it showed a photo. Said photo displayed Sera with a white-blondish haired child, who was resting in a bed. Sera smiled into the camera, while the child had a less approving expression on her face. 'Her eyes...those are definitely the same eyes as Sera's...' Shinichi thought. 'This picture immediately opened, which means that she left her phone here with the picture already open, but...why? Did she want somebody to find it...?' Shinichi took a picture of the screen with his own phone. 'Anyway, let's look for some other stuff.'

Next was Sera's contact list: on there, Shinichi found the numbers of Conan, Ran, Sonoko, various Teitan High students, her current hotel phone and...Aniki. That's what she called her brother on the phone earlier. 'Damn it, why can't she call her brother by anything that gives away his real name...anyway, it's not that important, but maybe I should write down his number and do some research later...'

Shinichi wrote down the number of Sera's brother on the notepad of his phone. Next, he went through Sera's texts. He didn't even bother to read her conversations with classmates and went straight to the ones with she had with her brother. Unfortunately, nothing gave away who he was here either. She just always called him 'Aniki'. They didn't discuss any personal stuff either, just about deductions and cases. Like Shinichi thought, Sera often asked her brother about her solutions for cases, some of the cases he recognized, as he worked on them with her as Conan. Then, one particular conversation sparked his interest.

Masumi: "It seems like he's also arrived at the truth...but whether or not our deductions are the same - lately, I've been losing confidence in that regard..."

Aniki: "Who is he? I'd like an explanation!"

Masumi: "This is him! Are you surprised? -Masumi" (attached to the text was a photo of Conan)

Aniki: "If it's him, there's no problem."

Shinichi raised an eyebrow. 'Wait...her brother knows me as Conan? Good enough to know that the little boy is smart enough to solve a case? I must've met him during another case then...otherwise, it would be strange...' Shinichi looked at the photo again. It showed Conan, with a cheery expression, hands behind his head, talking to someone outside the picture and wearing a leopard print shirt. 'Oh, if I recall correctly, that was during the case at the bowling alley...so, I must've met her brother before that...who could it be...that number doesn't seem familiar, though I should check the numbers I have in Conan's phone just to be sure...I suppose I could just call the number, but that'll have to wait until I get back to Tokyo I guess...'

As if she heard his thoughts, Ran called out to him. "Shinichi? Where are you, we want to leave!"

"Yeah, yeah, coming!" He yelled back; hastily opening the photo again and putting Sera's phone into his pocket, he went to fetch his backpack and joined the girls waiting outside. "Sorry."

"Geez, I thought you were finished with packing..." Ran said.

Shinichi smiled apologetically. "Yeah, me too, haha."

Yui was the only one standing in front of the mansion with the teenagers, everyone else was already in the police cars. "I guess that's it then. I'm surprised you two high school detectives were able to deduce this case so well, even with only limited information."

"Hehe, you shouldn't underestimate us!" Sera said with a broad grin. Shinichi also mustered a smile.

"I guess..." Yui said.

"HEY! UEHARA! We haven't got all day here!" Kansuke yelled from one car.

"Coming!" Yui yelled back. "Alright, we're going now. Ran-chan..." Yui winked at Ran. "...I'll give you a gave call this evening, okay?"

Ran blushed a little bit and nodded. "Sure..."

Yui gave her another smile and looked over to Shinichi for a brief second, before she turned around and went to the car Kansuke was in. 'Not very hard to guess what they are going to talk about...'

As the police cars drove off, Sonoko put her hands behind her head and sighed. "Ah, to think this trip would end so terribly after it began so beautifully...although, Ran, I think it wasn't entirely horrible for you, was it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Ran said, looking away from her friend.

"Really now..."

"Ahh, that reminds me..." Sera said, starting to search through her pockets. "...I need to text my brother and tell him about this whole thing. I bet he's desperately waiting for my report already! Hm...now where did I put my phone..."

Shinichi observed her little fake search. 'I see, so this was her plan. No way that was accidental, she clearly left her phone under the cupboard on purpose, there is no doubt about that. Let's see what the next step of her ploy is...'

"Huh, that's strange...I can't find my phone. I must've dropped it somewhere..." Sera concluded.

"No way! Good you noticed before we left this place!" Sonoko exclaimed.

"Indeed. Hey, Kudo, could you call my phone so we can locate it?" Sera asked, an apologetic smile on her face, to make her look really sorry for bothering him with her request.

'I see, I'm supposed to make the mistake of agreeing, even though I don't have her number...clever, that might've worked hadn't I seen her hide the phone...' Shinichi thought.

"No." Shinichi said.

"No?" Sera tilted her head.

"I can't do that, because I don't have your number." Shinichi said, giving her a nuanced smile, that Sonoko and Ran would see as polite, but she knew that this meant he had seen through her plan.

Sera didn't show any reaction and rubbed the back of her head with one hand. "Oh, yeah right, I forgot. Then maybe Ran-chan, could you-..."

"I don't think that will be necessary." Shinichi interrupted her, making the three girls look at him. He now reached into his own pocket. "You see...I found this earlier in the mansion..." Shinichi took out her phone and handed it over to Sera. "That's yours, isn't it? I think I saw you texting with it on the train ride here."

"Ah...yes, that's mine...thank you..." Sera stuttered and checked her phone. Shinichi paid close attention to her reaction upon activating the phone and seeing that it was in the same state as it was when she left it under the cupboard. Sera frowned and looked a bit frustrated.

This is a perfect opportunity for Shinichi to divert the attention. "Now that we've cleared that up, we should head for the train, shouldn't we? You can text your brother from the train or while we're walking if you have to."

"I suppose we should..." Sera said. She pouted a little bit, surely because things hadn't gone her way. It looked almost cute.

"Well, let's get going!" Sonoko announced and they all went off towards the train station.

On their way through the forest, Sonoko and Ran were leading the way, talking about whether or not the storm would cause delays in the train schedules. Sera and Shinichi were trailing behind them, but they didn't talk; Shinichi was still in thoughts and Sera was busy with her phone, probably telling her brother about the case like she wanted. That part wasn't made up.

'Let's see...it seems like Sera really wanted me to find the phone...whether or not with me calling or Ran calling...hm, someone calls her phone, I find it, it decline the call, which would leave the phone active for a bit...since that photo was already opened, it would show that again...so my deduction was right, Sera wanted someone to see this picture...she wanted me to see it. But why?' Shinichi took out and looked at the photo on his phone, carefully putting distance between him and Sera so she wouldn't see what's on his display. 'What about this photo...? That child looks similar to Sera...are they related? She doesn't look like anyone I have encountered before and unlike with Sera, I also don't have the feeling that I have this child before...' Shinichi closed the photo and wrote a text. He wasn't able to figure out anything about that photo right now, so he decided he would take a closer look once he had more privacy. Instead, he organized his departure.

"Hey, Professor, could you come pick me up with the beetle at the Nagano Mountains Train station? -SK"

He didn't have to wait long for answer.

"Sure. Is it very urgent? Do you have size related problems?"

Shinichi had to suppress a small chuckle. Reading Agasa paraphrase the Conan situation in such a way had something funny about, but then he reminded himself that it was a serious topic: for all Agasa knew, he could in a very dangerous situation. And paraphrasing was also good, you never knew who could read that message on the other side.

"No, everything is fine, you don't need to rush up here. Just make your way here like normal and drive me back to Tokyo."

The professor texted back a small confirmation, so Shinichi put away his phone. Sera was still busy with her's and Sonoko and Ran were still talking about something. If Shinichi had to guess, Sonoko was already putting the shakes on Ran in regards to what happened between her and her boyfriend by own admission, like Sonoko had phrased it earlier. He hoped could hold out until he parted ways with the girls, because he was sure that he would already get to hear too much of Sonoko's gossip about him as Conan in the following days, so he would like to avoid a personal interrogation/teasing session.

'I'll have to look for an opportunity to say goodbye to Ran without the other two...but...I don't really want to say goodbye again...but I guess there is no other choice...it's too dangerous to spend more time with her in Tokyo...it's too bad, who knows when we'll have another chance...another...wait a minute...' Suddenly, Shinichi felt bothered by that word 'another'. It was the same feeling he usually had, when he overlooked something on a case.

'Another, another...why does that word bother me all of...a...sudden...Ahh!' He thought, when he remembered Ran's words earlier.

"Lucky you, avoided having another scar in a pretty visible spot..."

'She said another scar...but that means...' Shinichi inwardly moved his hand over the scar he had on the stomach from the cave incident. 'Don't tell me...she saw it when she got her revenge for the towel drop...but then...that means...she knows?!' Shinichi eyes widened and he paled. He looked over to Ran who was still chatting with Sonoko. 'Yeah, she's not dumb, if she saw the scar on me, she definitely deduced the truth...damn it! I have to sort this out somehow before we part ways again...I can't just leave this standing in the room...'

For the rest of the way to the train station, Shinichi searched for a way somehow to talk to Ran about this, but he couldn't come up with a plan. Before he knew, their wait was over and the train arrived at the station. Shinichi stood there, almost frozen, not sure what to do. Sera and Sonoko entered the train, Ran following them until she noticed that Shinichi wasn't moving.

"Shinichi? Are you coming?" Ran asked.

"Huh?" He looked up from the ground and stared at Ran. "Ah...no, I won't come with you...I gotta..."

"You've gotta go back to your case, right?"

"Yeah..."

"I see..."

"Ran...!" Shinichi dashed forward and grabbed her folded hands with both of his hands and held them up.

"Shi-Shinichi...?"

'Damn it, say something...Ran told you yesterday that she liked your words in London and those weren't pre-planned either...just speak your mind, idiot!' Shinichi mind yelled.

"Ran...about what you said when you treated my leg, I want-..."

"Shinichi, we've promised each other something, right?" Ran asked, suddenly changing the topic.

"Erm...yes. Yes, we did." Shinichi answered a bit confused.

"You promised me that you would return someday and I promised you that I would wait for you..."

"Yes...even if I die..." Shinichi added, his chest hurting a bit thinking back to that evening at the restaurant.

"Can you me promise me something else?"

"Something else...sure..."

"Promise me...when that case that keeps you away is over...promise that you will tell me everything about it. That you tell me the truth about..." Ran freed one of her hands from his grasp and put it right above the scar. "...everything." She looked back up to his eyes and offered him a warm smile.

Shinichi wasn't sure what to do at first, but then he couldn't help to smile back. "I promise...but only if you promise me something too."

"And what would that be?"

"When I tell you...everything, the whole truth...that you'll hear me out, that you'll listen to everything I have to say..."

"...I will."

"It's a promise?"

"It's a promise." Ran giggled a little bit. "I somehow feel like a pinky swear would be appropriate right now...but that's just childish..."

Now Shinichi giggled as well. "Yeah, that's not really for us high school students anymore...but I know what would be..."

"Oh, really...is that so...?" Ran asked and leaned forward into his direction.

"Maybe...let's find out..." Shinichi leaned forward as well and they sealed their second promises with their second kiss.

"Yeah...that's more for us..."

"I agree..."

They both turned around when they heard knocking and some muffled cheers. It was Sonoko from inside the train, who had watched everything from her window seat. Realizing this, Shinichi and Ran blushed even more.

"I've gotta go before the train leaves without me..." Ran said.

"Yeah..."

"I'll call you soon, alright?"

"Yeah, that sounds good..."

"Alright...see you, Shinichi..." Ran said and turned around to enter the train.

"Yeah...see you, Ran."

With that, Ran entered the train, joining her two classmates. Only one moment later, the train doors closed and the station announcer proclaimed the departure of the train. Shinichi waved his classmates goodbye, as the station left the station, leaving Shinichi alone in the station. He looked to his phone. Agasa would arrive in about ten minutes, so he propped himself down on a bench and looked at the sky.

So much happened since the three girls stumbled upon him yesterday. Confessions, exposed upper bodies, kisses, hurt and promises. But, after all this, Shinichi felt that he had also gained something else in this time. Hope.

Hope, that all this charade and danger would one day finally end. And the hope that, when it finally does end, everything can be okay. And that their future will be bright.

- The END -

A/N: Well, that's a wrap everbody! I can't believe that it's already been two months since I started this story. Time really flies. I don't much to say at this point (especially compared to my notes after the previous chapters), so I just wanted to thank everybody who wrote a review, everybody who put this story on their follow and/or favorite list and everybody who just silently read it. I really appreciate all of that and it really helps me to keep going. So, consider writing a final review after this chapter, to tell me what you think about and the story in general, now that it is over.

Well then, until next time, when I'll start another story. See you there!
~14.07.2015