EDIT: Ugh, short chapter again. My modern chapters are always between 1,500 and 3,000 words, so this really irks me. The next chapter will be the finale, and it's a lot longer than this.

Conan finally gets bolder in this chapter, but still no confessions! Many thanks to those who are honest in their reviews!

Chapter Eight

Conan decided to start immediately with trying to get on Haibara's good side. He decided to start slow so she wouldn't suspect anything. When it was time to leave that day, Conan made up an excuse to join her at Agasa's by saying his tranquilizers weren't knocking out Kogoro for as long as usual, which wasn't really much of a lie since he was becoming resistant to the darts.

On the way there, Conan saw that Haibara was preoccupied, which wasn't really that surprising. After what Ayumi had said earlier, though, he decided that the first step to trying to establish a relationship with her would be to tell her the truth about him and Ran.

"Uh, Haibara?"

"Yes, Kudo-kun?"

"I , uh, never really told you why I wanted that last temporary antidote, did I?"

"You probably just used it to confess to your girlfriend," Haibara responded. "Although considering how she acted after that, maybe you went about it the wrong way."

"Actually, I didn't confess. I let her go. It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, but I did it. I called her and said it would be my last day in Japan for a long while, and took her out to eat. When she confessed to me, I said I loved her as I would a sister, and I took her home. I figured the real antidote wasn't going to be ready anytime soon, so it wasn't worth making her wait anymore. It's actually been quite liberating."

"Well, that explains why you've been so nice to Ayumi-chan since then. She reminds you of her, doesn't she? That's why you've been all lovey-dovey around her."

"I…I don't like Ayumi-chan like that! She's just a friend." Conan protested.

"So you're saying you really don't like Ayumi-chan and everything you've been doing is for purely friendship reasons? Sorry, but I'm not buying it. Here's another problem with that," she continued. "What if she thinks it's more? You'll break her heart. Besides, she told me at lunch that she noticed you acting weird. You'd better back off now, before it turns into something you can't control."

"What do mean by weird, anyway?"

"I know you, Kudo-kun, and I know how you act. You've never acted overly nice to little girls for no reason at all, no matter how cute they are. So, what gives?"

"Do you really think I've been acting weird? I was just getting into the role. Besides, Ayumi-chan's too childish anyways; I could never love her like that."

"If you say so," Haibara replied, not sounding convinced. Then she changed the subject completely. "Kudo-kun, since you let Ran-san go, does that mean you don't want the antidote anymore?"

"It depends on how close you are to completion, I guess. If you're really close, then I say go ahead and finish. If you're not, it probably won't be worth it."

"I'm actually pretty close now. It's been hard going, but I should be done before long."

"Do you have a time estimate?"

"Maybe in a month or two. Like I said, I'm really close."

"If you do make it, will you take it, too?"

"Probably not. This is my chance to live an honest life, one without lies and pain. And I have friends now. So I'll be staying here. Of course, I'll still be monitoring you for side effects after you take it."

"Of course you will," Conan muttered.

They're both back on speaking terms, so next chapter should be interesting. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait a while again, and I apologize severely for it. Until then, read and review!