~0~

Sonoko: Yeah, I know right?!

Sonoko texted on her phone. It's been mere hours since she'd been in her room, and whenever her mom calls out to her, she just says she's texting in her room. The usual stuff. She's actually texting her very best friend, Ran.

Sonoko: Hey, got any news from Shinichi yet?

Ran: ...What's this thing now?

Sonoko: Oh, nothing. Just trying to see your reaction :P

Ran: Shut up.

Sonoko: Hey, what're you doing now?

Ran: Oh, nothing. How about you?

Sonoko: Texting you.

Ran: SHYADAP!

Sonoko giggled to herself. She texted a goodbye note to Ran before locking her phone. She face planted her head on the pillow, tired of the long day she was having. Then suddenly, her mother called her.

"Sonoko! Letter for you!"

"Come on!"

"Get down Sonoko! It's for you and I don't want to spoil you! Maybe it's important, after all!"

Well, yeah, maybe it is important, she thought before getting up from her bed and went down. She saw her mother hold up the letter to give it to her. "Where'd you get this letter?" she asked, taking the letter. "I saw this at the doorway. It's exactly for you, you know," her mother replied before walking away into the kitchen.

Sonoko examined the letter. Strange enough, the envelope isn't white... it's all black with white trims on the sides. Then she decided to open the letter, but what was written was strange enough she raised an eyebrow.

"COME OUTSIDE"

Sonoko looked at the two words written on the paper. Wait, what? She thought. Come outside? What's with the outside, anyway?

She hesitated at first, but eventually, with her mind popping with questions on the outside, she checked. Sonoko saw nothing but the darkness enveloping the city. Sonoko sighed in frustration, knowing that she was dumbfounded. Seriously, this mind of mine is so dumb... Sonoko thought. She then huffed angrily before taking a step back to the house. Just when she took her first step inside, the wind then blew over her hair, causing her to close the door behind her. But she did notice something before she closed the doors.

Wait, what? She thought as she followed after what she felt blew into her hair. After closing said doors, she looked inside her house, only to find that there was something on the floor. She easily recognized the tiny thing: a piece of crumpled paper.

A piece of paper? Sonoko thought it off, thus running towards it. I've never seen this thing before, maybe the wind blew it toward here... she thought again. She then picked it up, then noticing some words written on it.

"GOOD JOB FOR NOT OBEYING ORDERS. WE'LL HUNT YOU SOON.

~ BLACK ORGANIZATION"

Sonoko's eyes widened at the text. She then noticed a picture of a group all wearing the color black, holding guns as their armor. She only looked at it for 10 seconds out of horror before turning it back into garbage and throwing it outside.

No freaking way... she thought fearfully. Then she let go of her terrified thoughts and shook her head. Well, maybe it was a joke right? People could sometimes be threatening... these were the words that formed on her head as she retreated to her room.

But still, threatening people can be joking... or worse, they are not.

~0~

"...It was creepy. People can be threatening sometimes."

Sonoko breath out the last word of her story. She had already finished explaining the whole strange thing that she had to Ran and Heiji, whose eyes are wide in the horror they were told.

Ran's blue eyes looked at her worriedly. "A-Are you sure that they are not hunting for you right now, Sonoko? And you know about the message, right?" she asked. Sonoko shrugged. "IDK what's going on in the world today. Why're people acting strange? I don't really wanna know." she replied. Ran let out a worried sigh at her bestie's answer.

Heiji's fearful face turned serious as he faced Sonoko. "You said there was a group picture of people wearing black with armor, or as I could guess, guns and snipers on their hands. You don't know who these people are, right?" he asked Sonoko. Sonoko nodded at his question. "But I do know that the lady we encountered was familiar... It's like she was also in that picture too, but I'm not too sure." she explained. Heiji's eyes widened again. No way... it's not them that sent the letter, right? his mind played with him once again.

Sonoko looked at both of them, then heaved a frustrated sigh. "You know, we couldn't be here forever. Let's get out of here already." she said. Ran nodded, so she was the first to run off the exit, leaving Sonoko and Heiji alone.

Heiji was still in a deep thought when Sonoko poked him on the shoulder. "You can think about this case later. There's something important in this case for you." she said. Heiji turned to the girl's direction. "That picture you saw... It seems so strange to me. You still have the letter with you, or did you throw it away?"

Sonoko laughed. "Mr. Dark Tantei, didn't I mention in the story that I threw it away out of horror?" she questioned back at him sarcastically. "You're not a good listener."

"Well you're a dumbass for throwing it away."

"SHUT UP! I WAS HORRIFIED, YOU KNOW?!"

"No need to shout at me like that."

"Ayumi, what's wrong?"

Genta asked Ayumi in a worried tone. Ayumi had a worried expression displayed on her face after the goofball event she had with Conan. Sometimes she would always look at Ai that looked like something, but what?

Ai, after seeing the look on Ayumi's face, had a lot of thoughts bombarding her mind. What did she do? What's wrong with Ayumi? Is she okay?

After a few steps, Ayumi stopped. The four others looked at Ayumi, who was looking at the ground, the worried expression still with her.

After a moment of silence, the girl finally spoke. "You guys go on ahead. I'll go home shortly, I promise," she told them. The four of them looked at each other before continuing their way until the young girl spoke up again. "...Ai, can you stay?" she asked.

I knew the problem has something to do with me, Ai thought. She then turned around. Conan, Genta and Mitsuhiko already had shocked faces with them. "You three go home. We'll trail behind you after we talk this out," she told them. The three boys hesitated, but then decided to leave them alone.

Ai sighed as she looked at the three boys. Then she looked at Ayumi, who wasn't looking at her, instead, facing the ground like she was nervous. "Ayumi, what's wrong?" Ai asked. "Your expression makes me worry. What is it?"

Ayumi didn't respond. She just kept looking at the ground. Finally she looked at her bestfriend and replied. "Ai... Someone is trying to kill me..." she said. Tears trickled down Ayumi's face as she said so.

The auburn-head's eyes were wide in the reply Ayumi gave her. She then noticed that Ayumi was hugging her tightly, as if she never wanted to let go. Ai looked at Ayumi. who's face was brimmed with tears. Her clothes have already gone wet because of the tears Ayumi emitted.

Ayumi sobbed. She kept sobbing, hugging Ai tightly like a mousetrap. "Ai... I'm scared..." she said, her voice shaky at the moment. Ai only hugged her friend back, patting her back, saying 'It's okays' to the girl.

When they broke apart from the hug, Ai touched her shoulder. "Who's trying to kill you?" she asked sternly. "I'll contact the police."

Ayumi felt silent, but then replied. "He was a man wearing all black. He's got long, blonde hair and his blue eyes were... horrifying..." she said. Eyes widened in shock again when Ai heard the appearance. No... He didn't do something, did he? she thought worriedly.

"He didn't do anything, did he?" Ai asked worriedly. Ayumi shook her head a no, making Ai sigh with relief. "Let's go home. It's getting dark already," she said. Ayumi wiped her tears away and smiled at Ai, who smiled back at her.

R&R!

- Jail Rose