Tokyo

"Professor, is Conan-kun at your place?" Ran Mouri's panicked voice drifted over the phone.

"He left my house hours ago." Dr. Agasa replied. "You mean to tell me that Conan is not home yet?!"

"He's not home yet. I tried calling his cell phone but I can't seem to reach him. He's never been out this late before."

"Calm down Ran. We need to slowly think things over. He left my house in the evening. He said he was going to go home."

"He's not home!" Ran was close to tears. "Maybe he was kidnapped or something."

"Have you called the police?"

"Otou-san has asked for Inspector Megure's help. I think Takagi-san and Satou-san are also on the lookout."

"So we can only hope that they can find traces of Conan-kun." Dr. Agasa sighed. "Don't worry so much, Conan-kun has a very good head on his shoulders. He can take care of himself."

"Thank you Dr. Agasa." Ran said. "I'll call again if there is anything new." She hung up.

"Hmmm…it seems as though Conan-kun is missing in action." Dr. Agasa mused to himself. "I hope he's alright all by himself."

"What's wrong Dr. Agasa?" Haibara asked, suddenly appearing behind him. He jumped up.

"Ai-chan! I thought you were in the shower."

"I was, but now I'm not." She narrowed her eyes. "Did something happen to Conan-kun?"

Dr. Agasa sighed.

Soul Society

Shinichi walked into the huge hall. The shinigami captains were all lined up at the side of the room. Behind them stood their vice-captains. All eyes were on him.

"Shinichi Kudo!"

Shinichi saw an old man sitting at the far end of the hall. He stood up from his seat. And walked towards them.

'So this must be the guy…" Shinichi guessed.

"General Captain." Rukia bowed. "I have brought the person, Shinichi Kudo."

"Well done, Rukia. You may go now and take the substitute shinigami with you." He glanced over at Ichigo.

"Sir, I think we deserve to listen to the proceedings." Ichigo ventured. "After all, we brought Shinichi back."

"You are not a captain and neither are you a vice captain. You are merely a substitute shinigami. You do not deserve to be here."

"I think I'd prefer them to stay, sir." Shinichi said. "I don't trust you yet."

All the captains turned and stared at Shinichi. Even Rukia and Ichigo turned to stare.

"What did you just say?" the General Captain spoke softly.

"I don't really trust you." Shinichi repeated. "You send your people to just whisk me off from my home and you expect me to trust you?"

"This kid has a death wish." Ichigo muttered under his breath.

"Shinichi Kudo. You are one of the few rare humans who can enter Soul Society. And we have extended our hospitality to you. Now you tell us that you don't trust us?"

"Exactly." Shinichi was still defiant. Rukia was waving at him desperately to keep quiet.

"Well then, Shinichi Kudo. We no longer have any need for your services." The General Captain turned away. "Take him away."

"Hold it, sir." Shinichi spoke up just before the guards grabbed hold of him. "Perhaps you better listen to what I have to say first."

"Hmmm…?"

"You have called me here to solve a case for you." Shinichi began. "One of your captains is hurt and you want me to find the culprit of this crime. Judging by your reactions to this crime, I think that no one can easily hurt this captain, even if it's through stealth. Therefore, I conclude that the person who did this crime is in this room."

Everyone looked around uneasily.

"Hold on, Shinichi Kudo. I have not told you the facts yet. How did you come to that conclusion?"

"Simple. Just by using my eyes. I see that there are only 11 captains but there are 12 vice captains. Ichigo told me about your Captain Division system. Therefore I deduced that one of your captains must be either hurt or dead. And Ichigo also told me about the power of the captains. I think it will not be easy for just anyone to attack and wound a captain."

"Good point." The General Captain stroked his beard. "So do you have any idea who did it? And why did you say the person is here in this room?"

"Again, simple. You yourself said that not many people can enter Soul Society. And as I came here, I saw many of the lower ranked shinigami about. They can be excluded. The most powerful of all the shinigami's are here. So the murderer can only be among the 11 other captains in this room."

"You idiot! Don't throw your word about so carelessly. I can kill you with a single slash of my blade." Kenpachi growled.

"How can you accuse us of such a heinous crime?" Hitsugaya asked. He drew his zanpakutō and aimed the blade at Shinichi.

"Captain Hitsugaya! Put down your blade at once." The General Captain said. "You have shamed us shinigamis."

Hitsugaya reluctantly lowered his blade and stepped back into position.

"Shinichi Kudo. You are hereby tasked with solving this crime and finding the true perpetrator. Good luck."

"Thank you, sir." Shinichi replied. He looked around at all the captains. "And thank you, captains."

They just glared at him with stony silence.

Tokyo

"Inspector Satou. Inspector Takagi." Ran Mouri was close to tears. "Do you have any news of Conan?"

"We don't have a single trace of him yet." Takagi began before Satou elbowed him in the ribs.

"We're still trying hard to find him, Ran." Satou said softly. "I think he…"

"It's been almost a week now!" Ran's voice cracked. "A whole week. Imagine poor Conan being kidnapped by people."

"We're not ruling out the kidnapping yet." Takagi said, earning him another elbow to the ribs.

"Don't worry Ran, Conan is capable of taking care of himself."

"Yeah." Takagi added.

"So please Ran. Don't worry. We'll inform you once we find any traces of him."

"Thank you, Inspectors." Ran sniffled. They stood up to go.

'Where are you Conan? And what are you doing now?' Ran asked herself.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Ran stood up and opened the door.

"Where is Kudo…I mean Conan?" Heiji Hattori said as he barged in. "I heard he's missing."

"That was pretty tactless of you, Heiji." Kazuha Toyama scolded. "Why should you ask where he is when you know he's missing?"

"Oh shut up, Kazuha." Heiji retorted. Then turning to Ran, "Is he really missing?"

"It's been nearly a week now." Ran felt tears well up in her eyes again. Kazuha comforted her friend.

"Don't worry. I'm sure he's fine."

"I think we better go out and search for him." Heiji suggested. "The police are going to need all the help they can get."

Dr. Agasa's house

"What do you mean he's not found yet?!" Haibara shouted. "He could be very much in danger!"

"Ai-chan, don't be so hyped up." Dr. Agasa spoke up timidly.

"We're doing our best to locate Conan-kun." Inspector Megure said, wiping his brow.

"You gotta do much better then." Haibara stomped off angrily to her underground laboratory.

"Forgive her, Inspector Megure." Dr. Agasa said apologetically. "She's just distressed."

"Don't worry professor. I understand. I guess I'll be back if I have anymore news."

"Thank you Inspector."

Haibara waited until the door shut before she sprang out.

"Professor. I want to go and look for Conan-kun. I fear that the Black Syndicate might have gotten him somehow."

"Ai-chan, you cannot go alone. It'll be very dangerous for you."

"It's for the best." Haibara replied. "I'll try to trace him with this pair of tracking spectacles."

"Alright Ai-chan. But I'm coming along with you."

"Let's go now."

They headed towards the door. Just as Dr. Agasa was about to start the engine, the passenger door opened and 3 people clambered into the car.

"You're not going without us, professor!" Ayumi said.

"We want to help save Conan too!" Mitsuhiko added.

"And then we're all going to eat unagi together!" Genta finished.

"You guys…" Haibara sighed. "Let's go then."