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Chapter 3

Conan was too deep in thought to hear Ran Mouri's voice until her wealthy best friend, Sonoko Suzuki shouted, "HEY, BRAT!!!" close to his ear.

"Ahhh!" he cried. He rubbed his ears and stared coldly at Sonoko. She chuckled and Ran remarked, "Sonoko! You didn't have to do that!"

"Tch. It's not my fault the kid's deaf," Sonoko said. She added, staring at Conan, "What were you thinking about, anyway?"

Conan rummaged in his book bag and took out the flyer. "This."

"So you picked one up too," said Ran as she took out the same flyer from her uniform pocket.

"I heard these were all over the city," said Sonoko. "So about everyone knows about that mystery thief's challenge to Kaitou Kid."

Conan frowned. "I don't think that it's a challenge."

"Who asked you?" said Sonoko flatly.

The three of them were walking to Ran's apartment, which was a three story building with the first floor being a coffee shop, the second floor being her father's detective agency and the last floor, their living quarters. After Shin'ichi became Conan, Ran took him in to live with her and her dad, Kogoro Mouri. In truth, Conan needed Kogoro's skills as a detective to bring him on step closer to the criminal organization. But…

"I can't believe your dad was invited to the party, just because of the warning letters and that he's famous," stated Sonoko.

"Actually, Yamada-san wanted him to bring the entire family, including the person who always corners Kid." Ran looked at Conan.

Conan smirked. His rival, Kaitou Kid, the magician thief, who always gets away but usually ends up not getting the loot, thanks to Conan, was going to be there, in disguise, no doubt. Conan was glad to be going to the party, another chance at Kid. Conan hasn't figure out all of what Kid wrote: he always sends cryptic letters to the police and the victim proclaiming what he was going to steal and where and how he was going to steal it.

Conan frowned at the flyer, though. The uneasy, strange feeling was worse now, all because of what the flyer was saying. He and the teacher lied to the kids about the flyer's message. So Ayumi, Genta, and Matsuhiko thought no more about it. Conan knew that eventually the kids would figure it out and will get mad at him. But, he thinks, they'll understand. This other thief may be a dangerous person, or it may be just a prank. It's not a prank. My uneasiness proves it. The way the person sounded, he knew what he was doing. The fact that it rained paper all through the city was evidence. Conan realized that he did this for a couple of reasons. First was to make sure that Kid and anyone that he called out gets it. Second was to create a frenzy. He was an attention grabber, like Kid. What Conan could tell from the letter, this person can speak many languages and chose English for the hell of it. This hinted that he had lived in Japan and was aware of the people's interest in trying to understand the message in a language about everyone is learning.

"I was invited to the party," said Sonoko. Conan snapped out of his deep thought and raising an eyebrow, said, "Then this party will end quickly now, will it?"

BAM!!

Conan ended up with a big bump on his head. Sonoko stared at him and frostily said, "Shut up, pest!"

"Sonoko!" Ran cried as she put her cold can of soda on his head. Sonoko stuck out her tongue.

"You know, if your dad was invited then your husband got invited, too."

"Husband?" Ran's eyes went wide as she blushed. "Shut up?! Shin'ichi's not my husband!"

"So you say." Sonoko chuckled.

Conan stared hard at Sonoko but then noticed Ran looking away, a longing look on her face.

I wish I can be there as Shin'ichi, Ran. He was perfectly aware that ran harbored feelings for him. He realized too, that he had feelings for her. But Conan knew he couldn't tell Ran that he was really Shin'ichi in child form. Telling her would put her in danger from being caught by the organization. Even though living with Ran and her dad puts them in danger anyway. To make sure that Ran didn't worry too much, he occasionally called her as Shin'ichi using the Voice-changing Bow-tie. To change the subject, Conan noticed a girl running up to them.

"Ran-neechan, someone's coming up behind us."

Sonoko and Ran stopped and turned to see a girl dressed in the same uniform as them, rushed up and stopped, breathing hard. She bowed and fixed her glasses.

"Kiyone!" cried Sonoko. The girl smiled.

"Kiyone, what are you doing here?" asked Ran. Conan took a while to remember who she was. Kimono Michaud was a junior and was a very quiet girl. She was friends with Sonoko and Sonoko introduced Kimono to Ran and Shin'ichi. Conan wondered what was wrong.

Frowning, she asked, "I wanted to know how Shin'ichi is?" She suddenly blushed at the shocked expressions on all three faces. She added quickly, "I'm sorry. My teacher wanted our class to do an essay on great detectives, because of all the hubbub about the thieves." She looked at the ground. "I decided to do it on Shin'ichi. But he's not around. So I thought I can ask you about him."

Conan was surprised, as well as Ran and Sonoko. Kiyone looked their faces. She fidgeted. "You don't have to tell me. I can do it on your dad instead."

"That's not it," said Sonoko, chuckling. She wrapped her arms around Kiyone. "Everyone in your class wanted to do it on Shin'ichi! You're not the only one."

Ran chuckled and nodded. "You make the 20th one today." Impressive! Who knew they want to do it about me. Conan chuckled to himself.

Kiyone frowned. "That wouldn't be right. I don't want to burden you with the same questions the others asked." She folded her arms as her eyes wandered. They then fell on Conan. Huh? Why is she staring at me for? Smiling suddenly, she added, "I know! Why don't I do my report on your little friend here?"

Ran choked on her soda. Sonoko's mouth hung open. Conan waved his hands.

"Why me, miss?" Conan cried, putting on his childlike face. For some reason, she's staring at me like she's reading me somewhat.

"Ran told me about you…ah, Conan-kun." Kiyone's smile grew bigger. "And it makes sense that I can do a report on an elementary school child who is a match for Kaitou Kid."

Conan bit his lip. He knew for a fact that Ran didn't say a lot about him…and also that the newspapers had played him off as a mini-Kogoro. He shuddered a bit at that. He realized that Kiyone had an air of respect for him, that she was treating him as if he was smarter than he appeared to be.

Sonoko was muttering during the entire time while Ran recovered, an amused smile on her face. Why aren't those two helping me? If anything, Kiyone's already large smile grew wider. Only talking to Conan, she asked, "What do you think the letter means?"

Sonoko humphed. "As much as I would like to hear this fascinating dribble, we're going. Come, Ran!" She grabbed Ran by her arm, dragging her. "We'll leave these two lovebirds alone."

"Sonoko!" Ran cried. She didn't notice the justified smirk from Sonoko aimed at Conan. Ran looked at Kiyone instead. "You know where we live, right?" Kiyone nodded. "Good. Bye! And take care of Conan." Both girls vanished behind the street corner.

Conan's mouth and eye twitched. Damn that Sonoko! He stared at Kiyone, who was looking at the corner, hand in her chin, thinking. She sighed and said, "Lovebirds?" She chuckled, and then turned, bending a little to look at Conan. "Now that they're gone, why don't you now answer my question, Conan-kun?"

Conan didn't want to answer her question. He had a feeling that she was testing him. He saw that there was nobody around to distract them. There must be some other way! Unexpectedly, a man appeared out of nowhere, grabbing Kiyone by the arm, putting a knife near her throat.

"Ki--" Conan wasn't able to finish her name as he was forcefully grabbed by his collar, a gun pointed at his head.