Four points of the same star.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Detective Conan.

A.N: I've corrected all mistakes.

FOUR POINTS OF THES SAME STAR Chapter 22: Back to reality.

America 5 pm (3 am in Japan)

Matt was in his office at the FBI headquarters.

He was looking out of the window, lost in his thoughts. He glanced at his desk: an automatic gun, two chargers and a bullet-proof vest were there. Thanks to Rei, Ryu, Shinichi and Shiho, they had got all the evidences. It was only a question of hours..

The Organisation's American headquarter was going to be dismantled.

A grim smile appeared on the boy's face.

He walked away from the window and prepared himself.

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"Why are we here?" Shinichi asked rather disgruntled.
"Don't ask me." Ryu remarked gloomily, "I wanted to stay home like you."
"Me too." Rei said darkly, "But.."
"Agase has convinced us." Shiho stated, completing her friend's sentence with a hint of sarcasm, "As usual."
They sighed loudly, ignoring the chattering around them.

Class 2-A, along with another few classes, was going on a one-day trip.

Destination? Mount Fuji.

Purpose? Scientific researches.

The students had to study the mountain's environment, flora and fauna. The students were enjoying themselves: they didn't care if they had to hike all day on a mountain they all knew well as long as they were not in class, sulking behind their desks.

Let's face it, it's the most natural of things: every student would do anything rather than sitting in class. Who didn't want to skip school?

Everyone... well, nearly everyone.

Shinichi, Shiho, Ryu and Rei were not of the same idea.

They looked at the crowd of students who were gathered in the courtyard, getting in the buses after their names were called by the teachers with a bit of annoyance, wondering what was so amusing in spending the entire day hitch-hiking on a mountain.

A month had past and many things had happened in the meanwhile.

The reason of their bad mood was that they had been forced by Agase to join the trip. They had actually thought to make up an excuse and stay at home but Professor had managed to convince them: he could be incredibly stubborn at times...

"To think that we are here while Matt and FBI are bringing the Organisation's American headquarter down.." Ryu muttered under his breath.

"What should I say then?" Rei retorted, "After all the work to decrypt than damn code..."

Shinichi and Shiho smirked slightly, remembering what had happened only a few days ago..

FLASHBACK

It was nearly six in the morning and four alarm clocks began to ring simultaneously. Three were shut down immediately but one kept ringing. Shinichi, Shiho and Ryu woke up, stretching slowly. It took them a few minutes to realise that the ringing was going on. They got out of their rooms, still in their night clothes, wondering why Rei hadn't switched off her clock.

Ryu knocked at her door.

"Rei?" he called. Nobody answered. He turned around to face Shinichi and Shiho, who nodded and he opened the door. The room was empty and it looked like Rei hadn't slept there at all.

"Now thing's are getting repetitive..." Ryu muttered under his breath.

"We'd better get dressed and see where she is." Shinichi suggested.

"I don't think we'll have to look for long." Shiho stated, staring at them, "She can be only there."

The three washed and got dressed in less than fifteen minutes. Ryu was the first to get downstairs but instead of going to the kitchen to make breakfast or to the front door to take the papers, he headed straight to the studio.

'That girl's a useless case..' he thought as he opened the door and saw who was inside.

Rei was sitting at the desk she shared with Shiho and was busy typing on her laptop, completely oblivious that Ryu was there. The boy stood there in silence and looked at her. She was fully dressed, the desk was littered with notebooks, books and some sheets of paper full of notes but, most of all, he noticed that she looked exhausted.

He heard Shinichi and Shiho coming down the stairs, so he decided to act: he coughed lightly and this brought Rei out of her thoughts. She looked up and noticed the blonde boy standing by the door with his arms crossed on his chest and with an expression that was torn between amusement and annoyance.

"Hi, Ryu." she said, taking her hands off the laptop. She then, noticed Shinichi and Shiho approaching him and greeted them, too. "Since when are you here?"

"A few minutes." he replied, "Rei, you look awful."

"Gee, thanks for the compliment." she remarked sarcastically, earning a smirk from the other couple, "I'm really flattered."

Ryu managed to hide a smile.

"Rei, when did you get up?" Shiho asked.

"Four o'clock." she replied.

"Four o'clock?" Shinichi repeated, "Rei, you went to bed at midnight!"

"Don't I know..." the girl commented, stifling a yawn.

"You are mad." he stated.

Ignoring his comment, Rei went on typing.

"Sure I'll be mad." she said nonchalantly, "But at least, this mad girl has worked out this sequence."

Ryu's eyes widened.

"No way... you've decrypted the code?" he asked. Rei had been working on the code for nearly a month, since the day Matt had sent it. She had been saying for weeks that she had only hints of a possible solution but not the definite one. And now she...

In a flash, Shinichi, Shiho and Ryu were next to Rei. The girl smiled slightly.

"How did you decrypt it?" Ryu asked. As an answer, Rei handed him a one of the many papers that were on the desk: they were full of calculations. Shinichi and Shiho peered at it too, but just like Ryu, they didn't understand most of it.

"Explain, will you?" Shinichi asked and Rei nodded, not stopping to type though.

"Well, the problem was complex." she said, "Hardly complex. I've found myself in dead ends at least ten times before coming to the right solution. You see, the scientist that made this code is brilliant. Really brilliant. He mixed algebra, calculus and computer science together."

"How?" Shiho asked, scanning a paper on the desk.

"The sequence is written only with 0 and 1." Rei explained, "Boolean numbers: the first thing I had to do was to change all the numbers in base 2 in numbers in base 10. Look at this for example: 0001. It's number 1, if written in base 10. At the beginning, I thought all the numbers must be between one and twenty-six."

"The number of the alphabet's letters?" Ryu asked and Rei nodded.

"Yes, but I was wrong. Obviously, every number had to stand for a letter. I thought code ASCII had to do something with it but it's only used for a few sentences at the beginning of the file: nothing that involves the code. It would have been too easy, wouldn't it? Anyway, as I was saying, every number stands for a letter and every word is divided by a slash. But that's the easy part: I had to find the code's key and believe me, it wasn't simple. I had to consider the number like the result that I got solving the square of a binomial, with variable 'a' equal to 1 and variable 'b' as the number to find. For example: 16 is the result of the square of a binomial where a 1 and b 3. So 16 really meant 3, the third letter of the alphabet, that means letter C. And so on..."

"It's damn complex." Shinichi commented.

"I told you so." Rei remarked, "I had a hint of this last night: that's why I wanted to see if it was right immediately."

"Great work, Rei." Ryu said to her but the slight frown on her face took him aback.

"I wouldn't be so optimistic.." she stated.

"Why?"

"Well, I've nearly finished to write down the sequence but I think that what we'll get when I'll run the program will be just a front page."

"Come again?" Shinichi asked in confusion.

"It's not like the other times." Rei said, "With the archives, we worked out the code and we immediately read the information. But it's different now. If we consider the few hints I've seen in this file, when the code will be decrypted, we'll have a page from a website."

Ryu looked at her in alarm.

"A website?" he asked, "You mean that you'll have to be linked to Internet?"

"Yes." Rei replied.

"Wait a minute... you can't do it! They will track you down in less than a minute!"

"That's why you'll have to help me."

Ryu stared at the girl.

"What?"

"Well, you're the electronic engineer, right? You have to let me be on Internet, without being traced till the program doesn't finish." she said, "As soon as I'll save the page on my laptop, I'll link off Internet and you'll drop the protection."

"What about the rest?" Shinichi asked her, "What if the page you save is just the beginning of a series?"

"We can't guess without facts." she replied, "We'll see what to do afterwards."

"It's risky." Ryu stated.

"It's the only way." Rei retorted.

They looked at each other.

"All right." he said, thinking it over, "Give me a moment."

Ryu walked to the other desk and took his laptop and a cable. He sat down next to Rei, turned his laptop on and fit the cable so that their two machines were connected.

"How much time does your program take?" he asked as he opened a window and began to type quickly.

"More or less two minutes." she said as she finished to copy the program from her notebook.

For a few minutes, the only sound in the room was the furious typing of the two young FBI agents. Shinichi and Shiho stood in the background: they knew that they couldn't help them now. It was all up to them and their talent.

Rei and Ryu finished simultaneously and looked at each other.

"The program is ready to start." she said.

"Ok. The protection is ready, too." he remarked, "It will last three minutes and will start the moment the program starts."

"Ok. Ready?" she asked and he nodded, "Go!"

They both pressed ENTER and the two laptops began to run their programs.

Two minutes had never been so long: the four youngsters' eyes were fixed on the laptops and no one dared to make a sound. If something went wrong, they would all be in trouble..

The moment she saw that the program had finished, Rei dived to her laptop to save the decrypted page. However, one look at it and her eyes clouded.

"Damn it.." she muttered.

"What's wrong?" Shinichi asked.

"I'll tell you later." she replied shortly. She turned to Ryu, "How much time is left?"

"Fifty seconds." he replied, "The program lasted two minutes and ten seconds."

"Quite enough." she said and saved the page on her laptop and linked off the net. She turned around when she finished and nodded at Ryu, who stopped the protection and put his laptop on standby.

"What's wrong, Rei?" Shinichi asked again, "What did you see before?"

"We've got a problem." she replied, "It's the last thing I wanted... The file opened a page with password."

"You mean that the only way to get the information is to put the right password?" Shiho asked.

"Yes and not to be the usual good-news bringer, but I think that we can't make many mistakes."

"What do you mean?" Ryu asked, although he had understood what was going on.

"Well, it's a just a guess..." Rei remarked, "But I think that we can put the right password only in a few tries: otherwise the system will get blocked or worse.."

"Worse?" Shinichi asked.

"Yes. Remember when you, Shiho and Agase retrieved that disk with the information on the APTX from Akemi-san's old teacher?" Rei said, "You tried to open the file but, instead, it blocked your system and all the information got erased. That was all information regarding a scientific project: what kind of protection do you think this file would have? It may have the names of the Organisation's leaders. I think that if we put the wrong password, the system will get blocked, a virus will infect our computer and we'll be tracked down. At the very least."

A stunned silence followed her words.

"So, how many tries to you think we have?" Ryu asked, after a while.

"I'm not sure.. but I think two." Rei replied, "I don't think they would risk to block their entire system if a member accidentally put a wrong password. One try is too risky, even for them."

"Two tries.." Shinichi said thoughtfully, "Any hints on the password?"

"No. Nothing." Rei said, "Don't ask me: this is not my subject. You're the expert in these things."

Shinichi smiled grimly.

"Without clues, I'm not that helpful either." he stated.

"Wait, there is a clue." Shiho remarked, making the others look up.

"Really?" Ryu asked, "What?"

"When I was caught by Pisco, I found a laptop in the room he closed me in and I used it to save on a floppy disk all the information I could find about the APTX..."

"You needed to put a password to enter those files." Shinichi said, remembering, "You asked me the spelling of famous detectives' names."

"Famous detectives?" Rei asked.

"Yes. The Organisation used the names of famous detectives as passwords to their projects. Well, to their scientific projects... I don't know if it was used for the non-scientific ones."

"They were similar." Ryu asserted, "I've just remembered. The project I was working on with Scotch had as password James Moriarty."

"James Moriarty? Sherlock Holmes' nemesis?" Shinichi asked, "What project were you working on?"

"Oh, it's the one I've already told you." he replied, "We had to expand the memory of all the Organisation's computers: in this way, they could have worked better. More protections could be added and they could have easily stolen information from other important systems without being intercepted. By the way, what was the password of the APTX's files?"

"Shelling Ford." Shiho replied, "Shinichi told me: I didn't even know he existed."

"The experimental detective..." Ryu commented.

"Very subtle from the Organisation." Rei added, "So, there's the possibility that this password can be deduced the same way."

"Yes but isn't there another problem?" Shinichi asked, "What about the protection?"

"I'll work on that." Ryu said, turning his laptop on again, "I'll just have to make the protection last longer. You three figure out the password."

He set to work immediately. Shinichi, Shiho and Rei looked at each other.

"Any ideas?" Rei asked tentatively.

"The hidden information concerns the Organisation's leaders, right?" Shinichi said thoughtfully, in the usual attitude he took when he was solving a case, "So, the password has to do something with them."

"You mean like the other password's?" Shiho remarked, "Shelling Ford, the experimental detective, with the APTX-4869, the experimental drug."

"And James Moriarty, the man that had often hoodwinked Sherlock Holmes, with the project Ryu was working on, where the Organisation's computers could hoodwink the police and government's systems. The guess could be right.."

Shinichi didn't say anything: he stood there, motionlessly, deep in his thoughts. The girls didn't say anything either: they were all thinking.

"Who did we suppose could be a leader of the Organisation?" Shinichi asked, after a while.

"Well, let's see.. financial magnates or chief police inspectors.." Rei said, "But it's just a guess."

"Generally, people that have power and money." Shiho remarked.

"We didn't consider members of the Government." he stated.

"Could be." Rei said, "But this hasn't solved our problem: we need a password."

In the meanwhile, Ryu had finished with the protection. He turned around and saw at once that they hadn't still found a decent idea.

"Not going well, right?" he asked.

"Not really." Rei said, "What about the protection?"

"It will last five minutes. I'm sorry but it's the most I can do in such a short time."

"We'll have to hope they'll be enough."

Shinichi and Shiho had been hearing their conversation.

"Rei, can you show me the page?" Shinichi asked suddenly.

"Sure." she said and opened the page on her laptop. There wasn't much to say: on a gray background, there was a small, long white rectangle. Nothing else.

"Not much to see." Ryu stated.

"And there's not much to say either." Rei said, "We have to put a password and pray it's right: I know I'm asking too much but we'll have to guess right at the first try."

"In this way we won't risk, right?" Shiho said and the other girl nodded.

"What can it be?" Ryu asked, "Let's see... Lestrade?"

"That pathetic inspector?" Rei retorted, "No."
"Well, he's a police officer and, according to our reasoning, one of the Organisation's leaders could be one."

"Well, anyone has an idea for a financial magnate?" Shiho asked.

Ryu and Rei shook their heads. Shinichi, on the other hand, hadn't said a word: he was thinking deeply. Then, he got an idea.

"Rei!" he said loudly, startling the girl who nearly jumped.

"Shinichi! For heaven's sake.." she exclaimed, "Don't do that!"

"Ehm.. sorry." she said, "I've just had an idea."

"Are you sure?" Ryu asked.

"Well, nearly." he replied, "We'll never know if we don't try.

The blonde boy nodded and turned to Rei.

Their laptops were still linked so, he could start.

"I'll let the protection start the moment you write the password." he said, "Then, if it's right, save everything as quick as possible."

"All right." she replied, "Shinichi, fire on."

"Mycroft Holmes."

Both Rei and Ryu turned around and stared at Shinichi. Shiho looked at them with confusion.

"Listen, I'm not an expert." she said, "Who's..?"

"Mycroft Holmes is Sherlock's elder brother." Ryu said, "He works in the English Government's offices."

"How can you be so sure, Shinichi?" Rei asked.

"Once I've read in a book a description Holmes gives of his brother." he replied, "My brother works in the Government's offices; actually, in some cases, he is the government: a greatly intelligent person, someone unknown to the most but very well positioned in the Crown's lines."

He stopped and looked at the others.

"What do you think?" he asked, "Sounds sensible to me."

"Someone very important but unknown to the most." Rei said, "Always in the shadows."

"Brilliant, powerful and rich." Ryu added.

"It fits perfectly with our definition of the Organisation's leaders." Shiho remarked.

"It's worth a try." Rei admitted, turning around to the screen. She looked at Shinichi sideways and smiled, "The Sherlock Holmes of the Third Millennium strikes again."

"Let's see..." he said cautiously, even though he couldn't hide a smile, "We have to see if it's right."

The girl typed down the name and turned to Ryu who nodded. They pressed the button ENTER together and the room went quiet, as everyone held their breath.

Another page appeared on Rei's laptop's screen: they could read dates and information and then, finally, they read some names and the four youngster's eyes widened, both in shock and surprise.

"Bloody hell.." Ryu muttered, rather uncharacteristically, "So, these are... the leaders."

The main reason of their reaction was that they knew who these people were: two Americans, one was a financial magnate while the other was a popular deputy, and one Japanese who was still chief General of the police.

Rei was the first to react. She gasped slightly and turned to Ryu.

"How much time is left?" she asked quickly.

"What? Oh, yes.. ehm.. three minutes."

"Damn it!"

She set to work at full speed, saving every single thing she thought was useful: she managed to finish ten seconds before the protection wore off. When Ryu turned off his laptop and Rei linked off the net, they both turned around and faced Shinichi and Shiho. Despite the shock and surprise, a small smile appeared on their faces.

They had made it.

They finally knew who were the minds of the Organisation.

They knew who had started it from the beginning.

END FLASHBACK

This had happened hardly three days ago.

Rei had sent everything to Matt the same day and Ryu had also talked to him on the phone, after having checked if the line was bugged, telling him to give them constant news. Ryu had put on the speaker phone so that all could hear. Matt had thanked them for the hard work and had said that with all the information they had by now, they would have attacked soon. Everything was ready: the men, the equipment, the vehicles. Everything had been prepared weeks ago: they had been only waiting for the final evidence. Evidence that Rei, Ryu, Shinichi and Shiho had given them. But on one point, Matt had been categorical: they had to wait till he called them. They had to wait till FBI raided the Organisation's American headquarter and collected all the information and material that was there. Only then, they would have taken part in the plan.

Waiting. God, did they hate that word..

"Ikeda! Kazama! Kudo! Miyano!"

The four snapped out of their thoughts when they heard the teacher call their names. They went inside the bus, feeling more and more annoyed.

One of the largest and most dangerous criminal groups was going to be dismantled and they had to go to a stupid trip...

They all thought the same thing, as they sat down at their seats.

'Why?'

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"Now, everybody pay attention, please!"

Mrs Atsushi, the science teacher, was desperately trying to speak but the loud blabbering was overcoming her voice. Fortunately for her, Mr Takashi was there and it didn't take him long to bring the silence.

"Everybody quiet!" he shouted. The whole group of students stopped talking, startled by his sudden outburst. Takashi smirked and turned to his colleague.

"There you are." he remarked, "Go ahead."

"Oh, yes." she said, "As I was saying, we are here to study the forest around Mount Fuji. You will divide yourselves in small groups and each group will be given a list. We have distributed some Polaroid cameras to you. Well, you will have to take pictures of animals and birds with the given cameras: if you don't see them or you're not able to take them a picture, a photo of their tracks or habitat will be enough. Then, you will have to find some plants and take a sample of them: for sample, I mean a leaf or a flower. So, please, don't damage the plants. You'll have to do so only with the animals, birds and plants that are on your group's list. Am I clear?" Since nobody protested or asked for explanations, she went on. "When you will have done this, you will have to come back here and write down a short report of the fauna and flora you have collected."

She pointed to a group of tables and benches that were not far from where they were. A series of protests began, but Mrs Atsushi held out a hand.

"Don't worry. We have done most of this in class." she said, "And for the few thing you don't know, you have your text books."

"So, that's why she told us to bring them?" Sonoko complained to Ran. As a matter of fact, the teacher had asked the students to bring their science text book, their notebook and some stationery material along with their lunch. Most of them had wondered why and they finally understood now.

Mr Takashi spoke now.

"You will start to collect your samples and take the pictures right away." he said, "But remember, the report must be given to us before we leave. We won't accept them tomorrow with the excuse that you had to write it down better or whatever."

A few groans welcomed his words. Ryu, however, raised his hand.

"Excuse me, sir?" he called.

It was strange but Ryu's calm voice silenced the crowd in the same way Mr Takashi's shout had.

"Yes, Kazama?" the teacher said, turning to him.

"Sir, if a group gives out the report before time, what does it have to do till the leaving?"

"Well, in that case, the students of that group would be free to go around here but have to be back here when we leave. Coming to think of it, we will leave at six o'clock."

Shinichi's eyebrows raised: they had left from school at eight and they had arrived at ten. If they left at six, they would be home at eight.

'It's going to be a long day..' he thought.

"Anyway, there's nothing else to say." the teacher finished, "You can go."

The chattering started at once: the groups were being formed.

Ryu, Rei, Shinichi and Shiho walked towards the forest immediately. A lot of their fellow classmates looked at them go.

"Typical. That four have formed a group on their own."
"Yeah, how much do you bet that their report will be the first to be given out?"
"Oh, that's a certitude."

Sonoko and Ran had seen them too. They had formed a group with other two girls: Yuri and Saiyako. They were two nice girls but had one defect: they loved to gossip and had lost their heads for both Shinichi and Ryu. The moment they saw the two boys leave, they both turned to Sonoko who nodded in answer. Ran looked at the three without having a clue of what was going on.

Suddenly, Sonoko grabbed her arm and the four girls walked in the same direction that the first group had taken.

"Sonoko!" Ran exclaimed, "What are you doing?"

"Sssh! Ran, be quiet:" Sonoko said, (It's strange to hear that sentence coming from her...) "I... we are going to follow them."

"What? Why?"

"They always stick together." Yuri pitched in, "They hardly talk to anyone and they are so... mysterious. Especially, Kazama-kun."

"Even Kudo-kun has changed so much." Saiyako added, "Not that he was very talkative before but now..."

Ran decided not to say anything.

True to her word, she hadn't told anyone of her talk with Ikeda, Miyano and Kazama. Moreover, her attitude with Shinichi had been friendly after his definite confession. She was hurt, that's true, but she had decided to hide her feelings. A small spark of hope was still there, hidden inside her heart. The hope that one day, Shinichi would come back to her.. and she would be there.

She snapped out of her thoughts when Sonoko pulled her behind a tree. Yuri and Saiyako crouched behind a large bush. Ran didn't have to ask anything: she saw Shinichi and his friends standing under a large oak tree. They couldn't hear their voices, so the four girls stood their in silence, watching them.

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Shinichi, Shiho, Ryu and Rei were walking silently along a path through the forest.

They had decided to form a group together so that they would have finished as quick as possible. Suddenly, Ryu spoke up.

"We're followed.." he said nonchalantly in a very low tone.

"I've noticed." Rei whispered, "Suzuki, Kojima, Kano and Mouri."

"What should we do?" Shiho asked, "Let them follow us?"

"If they can.." Shinichi remarked.

A smirk appeared on the others faces and they walked on for a while. They stopped when they came under a large oak tree.

"This scene looks awfully familiar.." Shinichi stated.

"Even too much." Shiho added.

Ryu and Rei looked at the tree: automatically, the boy's hand reached for his waist while the girl clutched her right arm.

They didn't want to go to the trip also for another reason.

The last time they had been in a forest, they had met Scotch, they had all risked to die and Rei and Ryu had been injured. After a moment of silence, they looked at each other and a slight smile appeared on their faces.

"Let's leave these cheerful thoughts and get to work." Ryu said, "Who has the list?"

Rei took it out of her jacket pocket and showed it to them and they all peered at the piece of paper.

"Well, animals and birds: for these two, we need the cameras. Then, there are plants divided in trees and flowers." Rei read, "Well, how do we begin?"

"We could each do a category." Ryu suggested, "We would finish earlier."

"Who does what, then?" Shiho asked.

Shinichi looked at the list and then glanced at Ryu, who looked up: the two boys nodded. They had the cameras, fortunately..

"Let's do like this." Shinichi said, taking the list from Rei. He ripped the list in three parts and gave a part to Ryu, to the girls and kept one for himself.

"I take the animals, Ryu the birds while you two get plants and flowers." he said.

Ryu nodded while the girls looked at him with an eyebrow raised but nodded, too.

"We should decide where to meet." Ryu remarked, "Well, what about here."

"Meeting under an oak tree?" Rei said, "Again?"

"Well, let's hope that we'll be luckier than last time." he stated with a grin, "And that we'll all be there in time."

They looked at each other and smiled, despite themselves.

"Ok, we'll start right away." Shinichi said, "And we'll meet here in about... two hours? What do you think?"

"All right." the others said.

They split up a few seconds later: Ryu took a path on the left while Shinichi went on the right. They turned around to the girls, before disappearing in the forest.

"See you later." they said with a smile.

The two girls just waved back. When they were alone, they looked at each other.

"Saying that those two are overprotective is an understatement." Shiho remarked, "Not that I don't appreciate it, but.."

"It can be annoying at times." Rei finished, "But I guess we'll have to get used to it."

"Yes."

"So, let's find these trees and flowers. Straight on?"

"Right."

The two girls walked on.

-

Sonoko, Ran, Yuri and Saiyako got out of their hiding place when they saw the two girls disappeared from sight.

"Why did they split up?" Yuri asked, "How will they find all the things on the list alone?"

"Whatever." Sonoko replied, "What will we do? Who are we going to follow?"

Ran decided to speak up.

"Listen, we have to set to work, too." she said firmly.

Sonoko looked at her with a surprised look. It didn't take much for Ran to understand why: her friend had been so busy thinking about how to find out more news on Kazama, Ikeda and Miyano that she had forgotten that they were there for a school project.

"But..." Sonoko started to say but Ran stopped her.

"Sonoko, I don't want to get a low grade in Science." she said, "And neither do you, I presume. So let's get to work."

Seeing that Ran had a point, Sonoko nodded but she hadn't still given up. Then, she had an idea.

"Ok, we'll do like this, then." she said, "Ran and I will take pictures of birds, while Yuri and Saiyako will think of the plants. We'll do the animals all together. We'll meet back at the tables."

The idea seemed good to the others because they split in two groups and went in opposite directions. They had walked only for a few minutes when Sonoko stopped. Ran looked at her.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Yuri and Saiyako are gone?" Sonoko asked. Ran turned around: there was nobody behind them.

"Yes.." she said, "They have gone to find the plants' samples and we should be working, too. Where can we find a... a common quail?"

Sonoko wasn't even listening: she looked around herself. At the end, Ran turned to her.

"Sonoko, what are you doing?" she asked with slight irritation.

"Wondering where Kazama-kun has gone." she replied.

"What?"

"Well, he went to the left. We went straight and then turned to the left." Sonoko rambled on, "Where is he?"

Ran held her head with her hand. She had to expect it from her...

"Sonoko, only because he went to the left, it doesn't mean we'll see him! He could be anywhere! Now, please, let's..."

She froze, not finishing her sentence; she had heard a noise, coming from above her. Sonoko grabbed her arm in alarm. They looked up rather slowly; the sun was blinding them, so they put a hand over their eyes to shield them from the sun rays.

Suddenly, a shadow appeared and it leaped down from a low branch of a tree. The two girls slapped their hands on their mouths as a muffled shout came out and their eyes went wide. They calmed down only when they recognised who was in front of them.

Ryu stuffed the camera in his jacket pocket and put a snapshot and something else in another pocket. He turned around only when he heard a sound behind him and noticed Ran and Sonoko.

"Hello." he said, taking a leaf of his jacket. Seeing the look on their faces, he arched an eyebrow, "Did I startle you?"

The girls merely nodded.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to do it." he said, smiling apologetically. The girls blushed.

"Kazama-san, what were you doing on that tree?" Ran asked, after a while.

"Oh, nothing." he replied nonchalantly, "There's a blue jay's nest on this tree: I found a feather and I also managed to take a snap of the bird." Noticing the girls' awed stare, he

shrugged slightly, "Well, that's what they asked us to do, right?"

Sonoko spoke up.

"Kazama-kun, can you help us?" she asked, "We have to find birds, too."

Ryu sensed danger, but, nevertheless, he nodded.

"What do you have to find?" he asked.

Sonoko ripped the list out of Ran's hands.

"Ehm.. common quail, crow and..." she read quickly.

"Hey, calm down." Ryu said, holding his hands up, "You can't find those birds in this area."

"Why not?" she asked.

"The birds you're looking for make nests in well-shadowed trees." he explained, "Not in sun bathed areas like this one."

"Are you sure?" Ran asked.

"It was written on the book." he said.

After this statement, the two girls couldn't retort.

"Well, see you later." Ryu said and walked away, secretly glad that he didn't have to spend other time with Suzuki.

'I don't think my nerves would last..' he thought, smirking to himself. He checked out his part of list and walked on.

Ran and Sonoko looked at the boy go away. Sonoko had a defeated look but Ran knew that it wouldn't have lasted long: she would try again very soon.

"Come on, we've got to do this project." she said and dragged her friend away.

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Shiho and Rei were walking rather silently along a path that was shadowed by the trees' large branches. They had been working quickly and methodically and had nearly collected all the samples they needed.

"We've nearly finished." Rei remarked as they looked at the ground, searching for a particular plant, "What's the time?"

"It's a quarter past eleven." Shiho replied, looking at her watch. A smile appeared on her friend's face as she saw it.

"You're still wearing the watch you used to wear as Ai?" Rei asked.

"Yes. It's a good one and has many special characteristics." Shiho said, "There aren't many watches like this around."

"Of course. It's a -made in Agase- product. Unique and only."

A smile flickered on Shiho's face, hearing this sentence.

"By the way, there's a thing I wanted to ask you?" Rei said, after a while.

"Sure." Shiho replied, "Tell me."

"What did you do the other day? When that girl came.. remember?"

"Why?"

"You disappeared for a while." Shiho looked at her in silence. "I was just curious. You don't have to tell me if you don't want."

"No, don't worry." Shiho said, smiling, "I was just thinking how to tell you. Well..."

FLASHBACK

Shiho and Rei were going to the school's library.

They always went there when Shinichi and Ryu had football practice: they spent every Tuesday and Thursday in the library waiting till they finished only because the boys didn't want them to go home alone. Talk about being overprotective...

Anyway, the girls were walking along the corridor to the library when they noticed a sign. Rei read it and groaned slightly.

"Great.." she said, "The library's closed."

"Where will we go now?" Shiho asked, as they walked to the main entrance.

"I don't know. We could stay.. let's see, either in our classroom.."

"There are the other students there."

"...or by the soccer field."

"Last time we did that, half of the players looked at us rather than playing."

"Ehm.. right. Then where?"

The girls looked at each other and walked on, hoping to find a place to stay rather than walking outside in such a cold weather. They were going to go to the soccer field when the heard someone calling.

"Ikeda-san!"

Rei turned around and saw a girl of their class approaching them.

"Yes?" she asked, as the girl came closer, "Do you need something?"

"Well, Ikeda-san, I was wondering if you could help me.." the girl stuttered.

"Help you? How?"

"You are very good in Maths, right?"

"Yes."

"I have a few problems with the last things that have been explained. Do you mind..?"

Rei smiled.

"No, don't worry." she said, "I'll explain you what you don't know."

"Thanks." the girls replied, gratefully "Come with me, I'm in a classroom at the ground floor with other friends."

"Yes, just wait a minute, please." Rei said and turned to Shiho,"Do you mind, Shiho? I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Sure, don't worry." the blonde replied, "I'll wait nearby."

"Ok." Rei said with a smile, "See you later."

And she left with the other girl.

'Let's go to the soccer field, then..' Shiho thought, walking alone. She looked around: many students were taking part in their clubs' activities or were busy with their sport's teams. For a moment, Shiho wondered if she would have joined a club if she had had a normal childhood and school life. She wondered if she would have still been an introvert, silent person if she had had a normal life.

'Coming to think of it, I can't even immagine myself with a different character..' she thought sarcastically.

She arrived to the soccer field and looked at the players. She saw Ryu who was busy doing some penalty kicks but she didn't see Shinichi. She looked around and finally saw him at the water fountains a few meters away from her. He hadn't noticed her and she approached him silently.

"Tired already?" she asked.

Shinichi turned around abruptly: he had been drinking and water dribbled down his chin.

"Shiho!" he exclaimed, drying himself, "What you're doing here? And where's Rei?"

"A question at the time..." she remarked. Shinichi smirked.

"All right." he said, "I'm here, not because I'm tired, but because I was thirsty after having shot twenty penalty kicks." He grinned proudly, "All perfect scores."

"I didn't doubt it." Shiho said sarcastically, "Anyway, I'm here because the library's closed and Rei's explaining Maths to some girls of our class."

"Where are you going to stay till we finish?"

"I don't know: we were looking around."

"Well, you could stay here... no, better not. Kojima-san nearly killed me and Ryu because you two had distracted half the team last time."

"Why did he get mad with you? You didn't do anything."

Shinichi stared at her.

"We know you. You know us." he stated, "That's enough for him."

"I see."

They stayed in silence for a while. Shiho glanced at Shinichi: he was wearing white shorts, a vertically striped shirt and the typical soccer shoes.

"What's up?" he asked, looking at her. He had felt her stare.

"Just wondering."

"About?"

"Nonsense."

Shinichi stared at her.

"You, Shiho Miyano, never think of nonsense." he remarked, "It's impossible."

"Why not?"

"It's just not... in your style."

Shiho looked at him.

"Can I ask you a thing?"

"Sure." he replied.

"Can you see me with a different character?"

"Huh?"

"I'm asking if you can immagine me with a character different from my own."

"You mean different from your usual self?"

"Yes. God, you can bring to exasperation, you know?"

Ignoring her comment, Shinichi looked at her thoughtfully.

"You want the truth?" he asked, after a while.

"Yes."

"Well, no."

"Come again?"

"No, I can't even immagine you with a different character."

"Oh, I see." she said.

They stayed in silence for a while.

"Why not?"

"I don't know. It's just that you are.. you."

"Oh thank you, I didn't know that."

"No, don't misunderstand! It's just that... you've changed, Shiho."

"Changed?"

"Yes."

"Sorry but I don't understand."

"We've met more or less ten- eleven months ago, right?"

"Right."

"Ever since we've met, you have always been silent, cool and introvert. And this has gone on till... let's see, a few weeks after the bus jack accident."

"I know that."

"Let me finish.. after that, you opened up a bit. Not too much but you opened up. You began to change even more after Rei and Ryu showed up five months ago. Am I right?"

"Yes."

"I'm just saying that in these last months, you've opened up. You're always the same but your character is slowly changing. That's why I can't see you with a totally different character. Do you understand what I mean?"

"It's a rather cryptic reasoning but.. yes. I think I've understood."

Shinichi looked at her curiously.

"Why did you want to know, anyway?" he asked.

"Nothing." she replied vaguely, ""It just came to my mind."

"Just came to your mind... like that?"

"Yes."

Shinichi stared at her: Shiho felt his detective eyes bore through her as though she was a piece of glass. She managed to hide a blush and met his gaze coolly. Shinichi shook his head and raised his hands.

"One thing hasn't still changed." he remarked with a hint of annoyance, "I still need a crystal ball to figure out what you're thinking."

"What about your great deductive abilities?" she asked with a spark of amusement in her eyes.

"That's the point: I'm only a detective. To know what goes through to your mind, one has to be a mind reader."

Shiho couldn't help but smile slightly. Shinichi grinned: he loved her smile.

Suddenly, they heard Kojima shout.

"Kudo, how long is your break lasting?" He noticed Shiho next to him. "Stop flirting and get back to practice!"

Shinichi and Shiho looked at each other and blushed.

"See you later." she said turning around to leave.

"Yes." he mumbled and walked to the field. Shiho could clearly hear him mutter as she walked away.

"Flirting? ... That idiot..."

She smiled to herself and walked away.

END FLASHBACK

Rei was stifling a laugh as Shiho finished.

"Kojima-san shouted that?" she asked.

"Yes." Shiho said, "It was quite an embarrassing situation."

"I'd say... and it would have also been dangerous."

"Dangerous?" Shiho looked at Rei with confusion, "What do you mean?"

"Was someone around?" she asked, instead of replying.

"No.. at least, I don't think so."

"Immagine what would have happened if one of yours or Shinichi's.. ehm.. admirers had heard Kojima-san." Rei remarked, "You would have died on the spot."

"Probably."

The two girls looked at each and laughed.

"By the way, Shiho." Rei said, after a while, "Shinichi's right: you have changed. When we first met, it was rare to see you smile or laugh."

"Yes."

"You're probably more relaxed now and... happy."

Shiho looked at Rei, who just nodded. She was right.

"So, let's back to work." she said, after a while, "It would be annoying to hear Shinichi and Ryu's complaints."

"Too true." Rei remarked with a smirk.

The two girls walked on. After twenty minutes, they only had to find a chestnut tree to finish their work.

Suddenly, a shout shattered the silence.

"What was that?" Rei said, looking around.

"It came from there." Shiho remarked, pointing to their right.

They looked at each other and rushed to see what was happening. When they arrived to the point of commotion, the girls saw a small crowd gathered around a large chestnut tree. The two girls approached the crowd and looked up at the tree: a surprised expression appeared on their faces.

A girl was dangling from a rather high branch of the tree: her backpack had got hooked to the branch, so that she couldn't move, unless someone untangled her. How she got there was beyond Rei and Shiho's comprehension but they saw that she was utterly terrified.

"YUMI, STAY STILL!" a boy hollered to the girl, "We'll try to get you down!"

"Oh, sure.." Rei muttered sarcastically, "If you find a ladder in this forest.."

"How did she get there?" Shiho wondered.

"I don't know but we have to get her down quickly. See, there's a fallen branch down there: she must having have been standing on it and when it broke, she fell and instinctively hang to the one under it."

"Actually, her bag did."

"Yes, but that's going to break too."

They approached a girl standing under the tree.

"Listen, why did she go up there?" Rei asked.

"What?" the girl turned around, clearly surprised to see Rei talking to her.

"Why did she go up there?" Rei repeated.

"We needed a chestnut leaf. So, someone had to climb the tree: Yumi was the lightest so she went up but the branch broke suddenly."

"Couldn't you take a leaf from the ground?" Rei asked with astonishment. The girl didn't answer and Rei raised an eyebrow. "I'll take it as a no. Anyway, we've got to help your friend quickly. She has chosen the tree's weakest branches: one has fallen already and the other is willing to do the same."

A fearful look appeared on the girl's face.

'If only Ryu was here...' Rei thought.

"Rei?"

The girl nearly jumped. She turned around and saw Ryu standing next to her.

"What the...?" she asked staring at him, "Are you a mind reader or what?"

"What?" he remarked in confusion.

"No, it's just that.." she started to say. She stopped when she saw him touch his glasses: she understood right away how he had arrived. "No, nothing."

"What's going on?"

Rei quickly told him what was happening and he agreed with her when she said that they had to be fast.

"We can't do much, though." she remarked.

"Wait till Shinichi comes." Ryu said, surprising her.

"How do you know ...? "

"Three.. two.. one..."

Shinichi appeared by Shiho's side. He quickly stuffed what seemed to be like Conan's glasses back into his jacket pocket.

"You brought them with you?" Shiho asked.

"Yes." he said simply, "Always along with the bow-tie."

"Why am I not surprised.." Rei remarked, "Anyway, what do you have on your mind Ryu?"

"Ok." he said and quickly told them what they had to do.

All the students were worrying about the girl. Suddenly, they noticed Shinichi, Ryu, Rei and Shiho getting under the tree. It was strange but everything got silent.

Ryu approached a boy next to him.

"Listen what's her name?" he asked.

"Yumi." the boy replied, "Yumi Makai."

"Thanks." Ryu replied. He put his backpack on the ground, where Shinichi and Rei had already put there ones and looked up.

"Makai!" he called, "Keep still! We'll get you down."

"Hey, wait." the boy said, "We have to wait for the teachers. What if..?"

"What if she gets hurt?" Ryu remarked cutting through his sentence, "Well, if we don't do something quickly, she will get hurt. That branch won't hold for long."

The boy didn't say anything.

"So, can we help her?" Shinichi asked.

"Ok." he said. He turned around to the crowd, "Move back! We'll only block them if we stay here. MOVE BACK! "

The whole crowd stepped back, giving Ryu, Shinichi, Rei and Shiho wide space. They all looked at them with some trepidation. The four looked at each other and nodded.

Ryu looked up and, giving his back to the trunk, positioned himself under a branch close to where Makai was. He looked at Rei.

"I think here." he said.

The girl nodded and took off her jacket: she was wearing a simple black turtleneck over her jeans. Quite a few boys blushed looking at her figure. Shinichi, on the other hand, smirked noticing the small frown that had flickered on Ryu's face for a few moments.

"What are you going to do?" a boy asked Shinichi.

"The branch won't hold long." he explained, "Ryu will help Rei get to the closer one and then, you'll see."

"What do you mean -help her get to the closer one? There aren't...?

He stopped abruptly when he saw Ikeda run. She was running and when she was only a few feet away from Kazama, she leaped forward. He was ready: her right foot was in his hands. Their eyes met as if it was a silent signal they told each other that they were ready. A second later, he heaved Rei up and she practically flew up to a branch. She reached out with her hands and grabbed it: now, she was hanging from the branch. Not looking down, Rei began to swing back and forth and then, with one last determined effort, she did a 180 degree back flip, landing with her feet steadily on the branch.

A few girls had shrieked but most of the students' mouths were hanging open.

Ryu and Shiho smiled while Shinichi let out an enthusiastic whoop. Rei smiled despite herself but then she immediately looked at Makai, who was only a few inches below her. The girl was pale and looked terrified.

"Makai-san, we'll get you down." she said.

"How?" the girl asked, fearfully, "Will you pull me up?"

"No, you see the tree's branches on this side are particularly weak. If I pull you up, we'll both risk to fall."

"So, what will you do?"

"If you look down, you'll see my friends Ryu and Shinichi. So, once I'll unhook your bag, you will fall down and they'll catch you."

"What?"

"Don't worry! You just have to relax: while you fall, don't be stiff. Have you understood?"

"Yes."

Rei looked down.

"Ready, down there?" she shouted.

"Yes." was the reply of the two boys.

"Ok." she said, reaching for the bag. "GO!"

A small shout came out Makai's mouth as she felt herself falling down. She remembered what Ikeda had told and stayed supple. She felt herself falling and she closed her eyes, waiting for impact with ground; instead, her fall was stopped suddenly and harmlessly. She opened her eyes and found herself looking at the faces of Kazama and Kudo.

"Hello." Ryu said with a smile.

"Welcome back down." Shinichi remarked with a small smile as they let her down.

Makai blushed, not only for the embarrassing situation she had gone through but mostly because the two most popular boys of the school had just helped her. Once, she was on her feet, her friends approached her.

"Yumi! Are you all right?"

"We were so worried!"

The chatter died away when Shiho approached them.

"Makai, show me your arm." she said.

"What?" Yumi asked in confusion.

"Your right arm."

Only then, Yumi noticed that she had a cut along her arm: she probably got it when she fell the first time. She looked at Miyano wanting to ask how she noticed it but her cool, serious face made her change her mind. She stretched out her arm, just as she had told her.

Shiho drew out of her jacket pocket a small bottle spray.

"This is a bottle of hydrogenate oxide." she said, foreseeing Makai's question, "It may hurt a bit."

She sprayed on the small wound and Yumi winced. Shiho then took out a roll of bandage and wrapped it around her arm.

"Ehm.. Miyano-san?" Yumi asked tentatively, "Why did you bring these with you?"

Shiho looked at her.

"Just in case." she replied vaguely, leaving the girl even more confused. Shiho turned around just in time to see Rei jump down from the tree and Ryu catch her. She smirked seeing the murderous stares on the face of many girls and boys as they saw Ryu and Rei.

"They're risking.." Shinichi commented, behind her. Shiho turned around and saw that he was smirking too.

"Have you finished with your list?" she asked as she put the bottle and roll back into her bag.

"Yes. Just a few minutes ago." he replied, picking his backpack, "What about you?"

"Yes." Rei said, joining the conversation. She put on her jacket and took her backpack. "I've just taken the last thing we needed: a chestnut's leaf. Oh, by the way..."

She walked towards Makai and handed her one of the leaves she had.

"I think this is yours." she said, "But next time, find the samples in a easier way."

"Yes. Thanks." the girl replied.

Rei walked back to her friends. It seemed that Ryu had finished too: so, they only had to write the report. As soon as they were ready, the four walked away.

Shinichi, Shiho, Rei and Ryu hadn't noticed the effect they had had on the students that were there. Saying that they were astonished was an understatement but there was more..

Everyone had always considered the four as a group of brilliant, polite and rather secretive students. They seemed to be on a higher level than them and many had felt jealous. But now, seeing how they helped the girl in danger, they only felt one thing.

Admiration.

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Ran and Sonoko came out of the forest and headed to the benches where they had to meet Yuri and Saiyako. They had found only two of the four birds they had on their list and they hoped that the other two girls had had more luck with the plant samples. Anyway, they were walking to the benches and noticed that no one was around.

'Everyone must still be in the forest..' Ran thought.

The two girls walked on and saw the teachers sitting at a bench, talking to each other. Then, they noticed with surprise that Shinichi, Kazama, Ikeda and Miyano were sitting at a bench too. They didn't notice them: they were busy writing, flipping through the text book's pages and glueing the photos.

"It's impossible!" Sonoko remarked, "They can't have found everything so soon."

"Must be." Ran said, "Otherwise, they wouldn't be here."

They turned around when they heard the sound of approaching footsteps. Yuri and Saiyako ran towards them.

"Have you fou...?" Ran started to ask but was abruptly stopped.

"Did you see what they had done before?" Yuri exclaimed.

"Who?" Sonoko asked.

"Kudo, Kazama, Ikeda and Miyano." Saiyako said, "They saved a girl of class 2-B who was blocked on a tree."

"Really?" she said; Ran's interest increased, too, "Tell me everything."

The two girls described how the four had helped the girl and Ran and Sonoko's mouth dropped open.

"Think how lucky that girl was." Yuri said with a sigh, "Falling in the arms of Kudo and Kazama."

Saiyako and Sonoko had dreamy expressions too while Ran shook her head in exasperation.

"However, have you found all the thing s on the list?" she asked.

"Well, yes and no." Yuri said, snapping out her thoughts, "A few things are missing."

"We'd better find them. It's already one o'clock."

"What about having lunch?" Saiyako suggested, "We could find things more easily if we have fresh energy."

Ran was about to say that they would have only wasted time but she stopped when she saw Shinichi, Kazama, Ikeda and Miyano getting up, gathering their things and putting them away in the backpacks. The four surprised girls stood there while they walked to the teacher and handed out their report. Ran could see that the teachers were stunned too: they had been incredibly fast. Shinichi said something to the teachers and after having talked with them, the four left.

They had hardly disappeared from sight that Sonoko had dashed to the teachers. Ran, Yuri and Saiyako followed her suite.

"Mrs Atsushi." she said, stopping in front of the table, "Mr. Takashi."

The two teachers looked up. Mrs Atsushi closed what she was reading.

"Oh, Suzuki." the woman said, "And there are also Mouri, Kojima and Kano."

"Have you finished your work?" The man asked staring at them.

"No, sir." Yuri said, "We thought that we could have lunch and then go on with the project."

"Hmm, yes." Takashi stated. Then turning to his colleague, "I suppose all the students will do the same."

"Yes." Atsushi said, "Well, I was sure of that. The only thing I didn't expect was that a group would hand out the report so soon. Even though, knowing who they are, it was predictable."

"Kudo and the new ones have already handed it out?" Sonoko asked, as though she didn't know. Ran hid a smile.

"Yes." Takashi replied, "Kudo, Kazama, Ikeda and Miyano. They have written an excellent report: detailed and concise, with good photos and samples. I suppose they'll get a good mark, right?"

"I have only read it quickly but yes." the woman said, "I'm sure that the grade will be high."

"Where do you think they have gone?" Saiyako asked her friends, "They are free now."

Suddenly, the two teachers got up as they saw other students coming out of the forest.

"It seems that we were right." Takashi said, "It's break time."

Ran, Sonoko, Yuri and Saiyako chose a table nearby and sat down, taking out their lunch boxes.

"Where do you think they have gone?" Sonoko wondered.

"Who knows?" Yuri remarked, "Maybe, if we look aro...?"

"No." Ran said firmly, "We have to finish our project."

Seeing the glint in her eyes, the other girls nodded. Ran could be intimidating at times: they all knew her karate skills..

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It was a quarter to two, Ryu, Rei, Shiho and Shinichi were walking on a path that coasted the forest. The weather was cool but not cold, making the walk quite enjoyable.

"Well, what will we do till six o'clock?" Ryu asked, "I'm open to any suggestion."

"There's an open spot not far from here." Shinichi said, "There's a good view from there."

"You're right." Rei said, "I went there a couple of times when I was small."

"Me too. You can see Mount Fuji very well from there."

Ryu looked up.

"Really? I'll finally get to see it then."

Shiho looked at him.

"You have never seen Mount Fuji before?" she asked.

"No." he replied, "In photograph and in television sometimes but never with my eyes."

"You're joking." Shinichi said, not believing him.

"I'm not lying. Really."

"You must be the only Japanese that has never seen it's symbol mountain." Rei stated.

"Hey, it's not my fault if I've lived in Kyushu the whole time before moving to USA!"

"Kyushu?" Shinichi asked, "Your Dad's from there?"

"Yes." Ryu replied, "He was from Kyushu."

"You know there's something I've always wanted to ask you." Rei said, turning to him, "Your mother's French, right?"

"Yes."

"How did she meet your father? There's quite a way between France and Japan."

"Oh, they met in France: dans la Ville Lumière." he replied, showing a perfect French accent, "My mother was from Paris and she was studying Music there. My father had won a scholarship to study abroad and he chose Paris. They met... at a party, I think. Anyway, it was love at first sight: after having finished their studies, they married and moved back to Kyushu. The rest is history." A smile appeared on Ryu's face as he thought of his parents: the memories didn't hurt him like before anymore. "By the way, let's stop talking about me. What about you?" He looked at the others.

"There's not much to say." Shinichi said with a shrug, "My parents are both from Tokyo. They met here and got married."

"I don't have much to say either." Shiho said, "One-chan told me that my father was from Yokohama while my mother was from London or down there."

"Well, my father was from Okinawa and my mother was from Hokkaido." Rei remarked, "They met at work but, to tell the truth, I never figured out why they moved to Tokyo."

"We're pretty mixed up." Ryu commented, "A bit from the North, the Center and the South of Japan. Not to mention Europe."

They had been walking the whole time and now, they arrived at a small natural terrace that was neatly fenced with small logs. However, the thing that immediately caught their attention was the view.

It was outstanding.

Mount Fuji's top was covered by snow and a light fog hid it. Looking down, they could see Tokyo.

"It's quite a sight." Ryu stated.

The others just nodded. They stayed in silence, admiring the landscape.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"We could cut through the forest, what do you think?"

"Yes. It's better than doing the whole way round."

Ryu and Rei were walking together through a path of the forest.

They had gone to get something to drink at a vending machine they had seen a few miles away from the where they had been relaxing, watching the landscape. Shinichi and Shiho had decided to wait there.

Ryu took out a compass from his pocket and looked around.

"We should go straight." he said and the girl nodded.

They walked in silence for a while.

"Ryu?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure." he said with a smile, "No need to ask."

"Have you ever thought of what you will do.. after?"

"After?"

"Yes, after the Organisation falls."

"If it falls.."

"It will fall. Don't be so pessimistic."

"I don't know... with that type of people, you never know."

"But we've got all the evidence to bring them down."

"Yes, I hope it will be enough."

They fell silent.

"Anyway, yes." Ryu said, after a bit.

"Huh?"

"Yes, I've thought of what I could do after."

"Really?" Rei asked curiously, "What would you do then?"

"Hey, you asked me only if I thought of it, not if I had a concrete idea."

"So, you don't know."

"I haven't got a clue. What about you?"

"I don't know." Rei said with a sigh, "It's strange: the only thing I had in my mind was to find my parents' murderers and put them in jail. I even studied computer science for that! But I realised that I never really thought of my future till..."

"Till a few days ago." Ryu finished, "When you sent the Organisation's leaders' names to Matt."

"How do you know?"

"I realised the same thing that day too. I practically spent the last five years doing the amount of work a normal person would have done in ten years only to bring the Organisation down. And now that it might happen, I'm.."

"..scared."

Ryu stopped and looked at Rei who smiled slightly.

"Yes." he said slowly, "Scared to have done things too fast."

"Only to get revenge, after all. Because that's what we want: revenge for our pasts."

An odd silence fell between them as they walked on again: they were both thinking. Suddenly, they heard a noise behind them, followed by a few whispers. Rei and Ryu looked at each with a smirk.

"It seems that we're followed." she said.

"We had to know it." Ryu remarked, "It's half past three: someone else must have handed out that report by now."

"So, we'll just ignore them?"

"Exactly."

"By the way.. Ryu?"

"Huh?"

"Was that a frown on your face a few hours ago?"

"When?"

"You know when.."

"Ehm.. could be.." he said vaguely. Rei smirked.

"Don't tell me that you're jealous?" she teased.

Ryu didn't say anything but just ran his fingers through his hair; it was a clear sign that he was embarrassed. Rei didn't give up: she stepped in front causing him to stop abruptly. Their faces were a mere inches apart. She smiled as she saw a thin blush on his face.

"Well?" she asked.

"All right. I'm not jealous... maybe annoyed." he said, "Why? You never feel like that?"

"Rarely. It's quite to amusing to see girls swarming around you. For the look on your face, I mean."

"Ha, ha. Very funny."

"It's only that you're too soft with girls."

"Is that a mistake?"

"No but some could take advantage on you."

Ryu looked at her.

"That sounds wrong in so many ways.." he muttered but Rei heard him.

"RYU!" she exclaimed, smacking him on the head.

"Ouch! I was joking! Nothing else." he replied, nursing his head, "That hurt, you know."

"Poor thing.." was her ironic reply. They walked for another bit in silence.

"So, you think I should be more... resolute?" Ryu said after a while.

"What?" Rei asked in confusion.

"You just said that I was too soft with girls, right?"

"Yes."

"So if I did something to show that I don't have any interest on them, they'd leave me alone, right?"

"Right." she said, not having a clue of where he was coming to, "What do you have in your mind? You worry me when you start like this.."

She didn't get a reply so she just looked at him and shrugged slightly. They stayed in silence for another few minutes.

"Rei?" Ryu asked softly.

"Yes?" she said, looking up.

He seemed to hesitate for a minute but then he leaned down and kissed her on the lips. Rei's eyes widened. She clearly heard a gasp from somewhere behind them and she understood what Ryu had been thinking.

She slowly wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. When they parted, she stopped him so that their faces were close.

"You're mad." she whispered, even though she was smiling.

"They'll leave me alone from now on." he replied, looking in her eyes and a smile spread on his face too.

"Sure... till they murder me."

"I'll be there to stop them."

If possible, Rei's smile became brighter, making Ryu's heart skip a beat. She stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him softly on the lips. They heard another gasp behind them and also the rustling of leaves. The end of their mouths twitched as they parted.

Without saying a word, they walked on.

"That was so mean," Rei said after a while.

"I know, but I'm a mean person," he insisted.

"No you're not," she said back.

"Right, sorry, you're the mean one,' he said.

"Oh, shut up," she smacked his head again.

"Ouch! Hey, stop it!" he said, "This is becoming a habit.."

Rei smirked at his remark.

-

Shinichi and Shiho stood under the shade of a large tree, leaning on the trunk.

Ryu and Rei had left ten minutes ago to go and get something to drink and they had decided to wait there. They just stood in silence. Shiho casually looked up and a small smile appeared on her face.

"What's so funny?"

She turned to her side and saw that Shinichi was staring at her.

"Come again?" she said.

"Why were you smiling?"

"I just remembered something."

"Care to tell me?"

"This is a Japanese red pine." she said, glancing at the tree.

"So?" he asked. The puzzled look on her face made her smirk.

"Memory's short, detective.." she said sarcastically. Shinichi frowned. "Remember when we went for mushrooms with the Detective Boys and Agase?"

"Oh, yes. A hunter had been murdered.."

"Actually, Shinichi, there's always a murder when you are around." The boy rolled his eyes. "Anyway, yes. I was referring to that."

"What about it?"

"I just remembered something Mitsuhiko asked me."

"What?"

"Summarizing, he asked if there was something between me and you.. well, Ai and Conan."

"How did you reply?"

Shiho looked at him sideways, in the same way she did when she was Ai and smiled slightly. Shinichi's heartbeats rose.

"I said that we were only friends and that there wasn't any romance between us." she replied calmly, "I couldn't let a seven year olds hopes down, could I?"

As an answer, Shinichi laughed. Shiho looked at him with astonishment.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Mitsuhiko talked with me that day too." he said, "He had a great crush on you, you know?"

"What did he tell you?"

"He admired your way of speaking, your intelligence and your way of being. You were more mature than him and I think he kind of idolised you."

"A bit like Ayumi did with you."

"I think so."

Shiho suddenly had the flash of Conan putting his hands on Mitsuhiko's shoulders and telling him something seriously: she remembered it because she had turned around and had seen them. She looked at Shinichi and a smirk appeared on her face.

"What did you tell him?" she asked nonchalantly.

"What?" he asked.

"What did you tell Mitsuhiko? I know you did: I saw you."

"Ehm.. I told him that for he should have forgotten those thoughts and.. you."

"Why?"

"Why? He's a kid!"

"So?" she asked and stifled a laugh seeing his face, "He's so sweet."

"You're joking, right?" he asked.

"Why? Are you jealous?"

Shinichi blushed, mumbling incoherently under his breath. Shiho smirked again.

"You know, you haven't changed either." she said, "You still blush for nothing."

Shinichi looked resented but a few minutes later, a cool smirk appeared on his face.

"You think so?" he said slyly. Shiho turned to him with confusion and nearly jumped when she found his face a few inches from her own.

"So?" he whispered.

Shiho, however, managed to keep her usual calm expression, although her heart was beating at full speed. She faced him with a haughty smile.

"So... nothing." she said softly.

"You'll never cease to amaze me.." he muttered, "Will I ever catch you off guard?"

"You already have."

"What?"

"Don't you remember?"

Shinichi looked at her. Then he remembered.

"You mean.. my confession under the tree, on that rainy night?" he asked, "Well, I nearly forgot that you got startled. I was nervous myself."

"Didn't I know.."

They looked at each other and smiled. Just then, Ryu and Rei showed up: the boy tossed a can of lemonade to both.

"It took you quite a bit." Shiho stated.

Ryu and Rei looked at each other.

"We just wanted to walk." Rei said, standing next to Shiho.

"Exactly." Ryu added, standing by Shinichi's side.

"All right." Shinichi said. However, he noticed something and a smirk appeared on his face.

"Ehm, Ryu?" he said quietly, so that the the other boy could be the only one to hear him.

"What?" he replied in the same tone.

"So, how are things between you and Rei?"

"Fine." Ryu replied and he glanced at his friend, "Why?"

"Well, I already knew that answer." Shinichi said, his eyes sparkling with mirth, "I have a different question then: when did Rei start wearing lipstick?"

"What?"

"No, don't worry I haven't been checking your girlfriend out." the detective said with a shrug, "It's just, well... you've got a light shade of pink on your lips and I hope to God you didn't put it there purposely."

Ryu choked on the sip of coke he had been drinking and furiously wiped his mouth. Shinichi laughed loudly and the girls looked at the two as though they had gone mad.

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The second they arrived at the spot where the buses were at six o'clock, whispers followed them. Sonoko shot Rei a look that made her glad looks couldn't kill and many boys shot death glares to Ryu. Noticing this, Shinichi and Shiho looked at Ryu and Rei with a puzzled expression.

"What's going on?" the blonde asked the other girl.

"Yeah, they seem ready to kill you." Shinichi said, turning to the other boy.

"Well..." Rei started and then stopped. She leaned towards Shiho and whispered in her ear telling what had happened. The blonde looked both amused and surprised. On the other hand, Ryu turned to Shinichi.

"They saw us.." he whispered and touched his lips. Shinichi stifled a laugh.

"All right." Mr Takashi said, "We're all here: everyone get inside the bus!"

The students made a line and got inside the buses. Ryu and Rei got to sit next to each other while Shinichi and Shiho sat behind them. This seemed to increase the whispers.

-

As the bus was getting back to Tokyo, it was nearly dark.

Shinichi was looking out of the window when he felt something touch his shoulder lightly. He turned to his left and saw Shiho fast asleep. A tender smile appeared on his face: being careful not to wake her up, he took his jacket, that he had taken off as soon as he got in the bus, and draped it over her.

Shinichi had the sudden flash of a little seven year old with reddish-blonde hair that fell asleep on his shoulder in a cinema months ago. He gazed down at her, pushing away a strand of hair that covered her face and thought that she was really beautiful. He slowly turned back to the window without realising that many people had been watching him. The whispers burst out again.

Ran had seen him too and her heart lurched.

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Shinichi, Shiho, Ryu and Rei got back home with Agase, who picked them up at Teitan High. They told the scientist that the day had been good but none admitted that he was right to force them to go to the trip: they had enjoyed it after all.

Anyway, they had hardly time to change their selves and get dinner ready, that the phone began to ring madly. The four were all in the kitchen.

"Who ...? " Ryu started to say but then he stopped abruptly and looked at the others, "Matt!"

In less than a flash, they were all by the phone table. Ryu lifted the receiver slowly and waited for the other one in line to speak.

"Don't worry down there. It's just me."

"Hi, Ford." Ryu said, smiling, "It's great to hear you."

"Good to hear you too, Ellery. How are the others doing?"

"Ask them yourself.."

Ryu turned on the speaker phone.

"Ok, go ahead." he said.

"Hello, everyone." Matt said, "How are you doing?"

"Hi, Ford." Shinichi and the girls said, "We're fine."

"What about you?" Rei asked.

"Well, I'm fine: just dead sleepy and loaded with work for the next weeks."

"Why?" Ryu asked, "Don't tell me that...?"

"Yeah, we raided the Organisation's headquarter: it took us the whole night."

"Really?" Shinichi asked with some trepidation, "What did you find?"

"Who knows? We have finished to collect all the material this morning at five o'clock. I've started to read a few things with some other agents: I didn't even go go to sleep."

"Do you need any help?" Rei asked, "We could do something, too."

"Well, you've already done a lot, Christie. All of you, have done very much. Let us deal with this work for now."

"Us?" Shiho asked

"Oh, right: I didn't tell you this. Well, at the beginning, the only ones that knew about MYSTERY, besides us, were my Dad and his squad. But after having read the material you guys have sent and heard a few of the double-crossers, we realised that we needed more men."

"So, there are other people involved?" Ryu remarked.

"Yes but, don't worry. Dad and I have chosen only people that we know are trustworthy."

"Who are they?" Rei asked with curiosity, "Do we know them?"

"I think so. Let's see... there are a few friends of my father: they're all inspectors with experience and he knows them since he has joined FBI. Dad told them about the plan and they agreed right away: you know, some of the murdered agents were in their squads.. Speaking of the squads, there are four of them involved in the plan by now."

"Wait.. that means... Matt, there are eighty agents working for MYSTERY?" Ryu asked in awe.

"Yes. They are our task men: you should have seen them last night. They raided the place with an accuracy I've rarely seen."

"There aren't any victims, I hope." Rei asked.

"No, thanks God, no. There are some injured though: we were eighty or more but there were lots more of them and they didn't want to surrender so easily. There was a frontal encounter: there are many injured and a few of them have died."

"Who?" Shiho asked, "Anyone important?"

"If you mean any high member, no. At least, not that I know. By the way, Ellery, you were right: there were mainly scientists there. I don't know what the other people were doing there but I think we caught them by surprise. They didn't expect an attack."

"Ford, what did you find exactly?" Ryu asked.

"Plenty of stuff. I told you: it will take us weeks to work out everything. We took computers, archives, notes and we also have to hear all the kidnapped scientists and the criminals."

"Work out? Ford, you don't know even how to start a program!" Rei said, "How are you going to that work?"

"Ha, Ha. Very funny, Christie." an annoyed Matt replied, making the four grin, "I've got a couple of helpers with me. You know them."

"Really? Who are they?"

"Christine Evans and Lucas Daimon."

"Chris and Lucas are working with you?"

"Yes, they're in the team as well: I couldn't let them out. They're my guardian angels when it comes to computers."

"Oh, sure, I didn't doubt it."

As Matt scoffed at Rei's comment, Shinichi turned to Ryu.

"Who are these two?" he asked.

"They're two agents too." the boy replied, "They're an year elder than us, like Matt, and they're good friends. Chris and Lucas followed computer science with Rei."

"So, they're trustworthy?" Shiho said.

"Yes." Ryu replied. Just then, he realised something.

"Ford?"

"What?"

"Chris, Lucas and all the other people involved in the plan know everything of MYSTERY, right?"

"Yeah."

"Do they also know that I'm not a traitor and that Re.. Christie's alive?"

"Yes."

"And no one retorted?" Rei asked.

"Dad and I explained them everything of the plan from the beginning: we told them how you two were involved and all the work you've done after Akemi Miyano showed up. They were all very.. touched, you know? They were also surprised to see how much we three did without being noticed: Ellery as an infiltrator, Christie as a decrypter and me, keeping everyone out. Then, I told them how things went wrong after Ellery had been discovered and then cornered. To put it simple, all the people that work at MYSTERY, know that you two are alive and still by our side..."

"Good." Rei and Ryu said together.

"Yeah, you should have seen Chris: she nearly bit my head off for having kept this secret. Not that I don't understand her.. She and half of FBI were at your 'funeral'."

"I can immagine." Rei remarked, "I'll have to apologize when we'll meet again."

"By the way, do they know that we're involved too?" Shinichi asked, "Me and Sh.. Ai, I mean."

"Yes, I told them that Ellery and Christie are working with other people: you, Ai and Kid."

"Good." Shiho said.

"Now.. I already know what your next question will be so I'll answer in advance. We've got a lot of work for the moment and even though your help would be deadly precious, I can't ask you anything. I'm sorry but we won't have contacts for a while."

"Why?" Rei asked, "You can't keep us out now!"

"I don't want to keep you out. It's just for your own good. Now that the American headquarter is down, all the members will be in alert. They'll expect another attack and the Japanese headquarter will be reinforced."

"If not moved.." Ryu commented.

"Exactly. We have to be quick and careful at the same time. We'll try to get some information from the two leaders we've caught."

"You caught them?" Shinichi asked, "Already?"

"We had to: once the headquarter was down, they would have fled away. We have to keep this secret as long as we can."

"You considered every possibility." Shiho said.

"Yes."

"Wait, Ford." Ryu remarked, "You've kept the papers out, I hope."

"Of course. Who do you think I am? An idiot or what? We've done the whole operation in secret. We have to thank God that four chief Inspectors are involved otherwise it would have been impossible."

"But it won't be secret for long." Shinichi said, "Considering who the leaders are."

"Well, we'll hope it will be kept quiet for as much as possible. There isn't much to say. Sorry guys, but I've got to go back to work.."

"Are you sure we can't do anything?" Ryu asked.

"Listen, I know that you hate to hear it but you have to be careful. Just wait till I call you."

"But.." Rei started

"But nothing." Matt cut her, "Listen, you are the ones that risk most: Ellery and Ai, they know you two are alive; Christie and Conan, they could have suspects of you two. You have to be careful. I'm sure you don't want to ruin more than a year and a half's work being impatient, right?"

"Yes." Ryu said, looking at the others who nodded. Matt was right.

"Great. I promise I'll show up if I need you. Till then keep your eyes open: Japan will be full of Organisation members from now on."

"All right, Ford." Ryu said.

"Good work." Rei added.

"I hope it wasn't sarcastic, Christie."

"No. Really."

"Ok. Hope to hear you or see you soon guys. Keep away from trouble."

"Problems usually chase us." Shinichi stated.

"Whatever. Bye!"

"Bye!"

As Ryu put the receiver away, Matt's words slowly sank in.

Now that the American Headquarter was down, all the members would have come to the Japanese one.

And this meant great danger for them..

-

Matt put the phone away and sighed, sinking in his chair.

He knew how Ryu, Rei, Shinichi and Shiho must feel. He had felt the same when Rei and Ryu did all the risky work and he was safe and snug at home. But this time..

They risked a lot: more than anyone else. They knew enough of the Organisation to be silenced more than once. They couldn't make mistakes: Ryu and Rei had narrowly escaped them last time. He didn't want to force their luck this time.

Especially, now that he had that funny feeling..

He didn't tell it to anyone but he had the feeling that something was going to happen. Something bad.

He smirked thinking what Ryu or Rei would have said if they heard him say this: they would just scoff and..

"Matt?"

The boy looked up and saw a girl with long brown hair and hazel eyes standing by his door.

"Chris." he said, getting up, "What's up?"

"I've been knocking for a while.." she said, closing the door behind her, "I though you were asleep."

"I'd love to do it but, as you see, I can't." he pointed to the pile of papers on his desk, "By the way, why are you here?"

"Lucas and I are going to start to work out the files, following Rei's programs. I just wanted to tell you."

"Oh, all right."

The girl was going to leave but she stopped at the door and turned around.

"Did you hear them?" she asked, keeping her voice low.

Matt looked up.

"Yes, right now." he said softly, "I told them to be careful."

"They're fine, right?"

"Yes, as long as they keep out of trouble."

Chris smiled.

"Ok, see you later." she said and left. Matt just waved at her.

He walked to the window.

Maybe, he was wrong: it was probably nothing. Why should he be worried?

He shook his head and went to his desk.

'Matt, you're getting paranoid.' he thought as he sat down, 'You got influenced by a random feeling..'

He set to work, forgetting his worries and concentrating on the papers.

If only Matt had known, how right his feeling had been...

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A few weeks had past since Matt's call.

Shinichi, Shiho, Ryu and Rei had been going to school, keeping their cover, and just as they had promised, they stayed out of problems but that didn't mean they didn't know what was going on. The papers had found out of the arrests of the deputy and the magnate only a few days ago. FBI had managed to keep it silent till it was possible..

Ryu and Rei went on buying the American papers while Shinichi and Shiho brought the local ones. They managed to get more news surfing on Internet as well. Anyway, they waited in some trepidation. They were getting close to the goal and this made nervous. They spent many nights discussing on what was going on and hoping to get involved soon.

At school, however, they kept their usual cool face. As they had foreseen, their actions during the trip had warmed the rumour mill: the whispers continued to follow them, for more than just one day.

A few girls with Sonoko at the lead, had taunted Ryu for days till he told them the truth, not standing them anymore. They didn't do the same for Shinichi because they were surprised: they all thought that he was Ran Mouri's boyfriend and since she didn't do anything in first place, they came to the conclusion that Kudo and Miyano liked each other. At the end, they left Ryu and Rei alone too.

Anyway, Sonoko still sent death glares to Rei, Shiho and Shinichi...

For the rest, everything was normal. That day, for example, Shinichi and Ryu had football practice as usual.

Unfortunately, this reverie had to finish. They had to come back to reality.

-

It was nearly five o'clock.

Kojima was ruthless with them all: an match important match was approaching and he wanted the team to be in perfect conditions. Coming to the point, Shinichi and Ryu were exhausted when they finished. They took a quick shower and met the girls outside. They both had an amused look as they saw them.

"Tiring practice?" Shiho asked, as they headed to their motorbikes.

"Kojima-san is a tyrant." Shinichi grumbled, as he stuffed his bag inside the motorbike's trunk and put his helmet on.

"Why are you so annoyed?" Rei asked, stifling a laugh, "I though you two liked soccer."

The two boys' reply was muffled by the helmets they had on their heads.

Shortly after, they were speeding back home. It usually took them ten minutes but, since a road was blocked for works, they had to take a way round. They didn't speak to each other and the only sound was the motorbikes' rumbling and the usual traffic.

Suddenly, Shinichi felt Shiho's hands tighten around his waist.

-Shiho?- he asked in concern, -What's wrong?-

But he didn't get a reply. He glanced at the wing mirror and tried to get a glimpse of her face through the helmet. She was pale. The last time he had seen her like that, it was..

'No..' he thought, 'It can't be...'

-Shinichi.- Ryu said in an oddly calm voice. -Follow me.-

-Don't ask.- Rei added. Her voice was odd too.

-Ok.- Shinichi said. It didn't take him much to understand what was going on.

The two motorbikes turned smoothly at a curve and then they took an alley that was opposite the road they were before. They stopped their bikes just a few metres before coming into the main road again. The four got down and without taking off their helmets, they peered at the street.

A black Porche was parked in front of a bar.

Inside was a man with dark glasses that they knew well.

-Vodka..- Shiho whispered, voicing the others' thoughts.

They glanced at each.

The reverie was over.

The four students were only a distant memory now.

Now they were only the detective, the chemist, the computer scientist and the engineer. They had come back to reality.

Their reality.

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Chapter 22 is finished! Hope you liked it, even though it ends with a cliffhanger... Don't kill me. Anyway, there isn't much to say: the next chapters will be action packed. We're nearly at the end.

As usual, if there are mistakes or incomprehensible parts send me a mail and I'll deal with it.

Please REVIEW!

BYE!