A knock on the door interrupted her. Shiho wasn't sure how much time had passed as she had been too engrossed in her work. But apparently it had been enough time for James to return with the promised food. When she entered the living room, she didn't miss the slight blush on Akemi's cheeks and that she and Akai were sitting on the same couch. Their talk seemed to have been a success. Shiho wasn't necessarily delighted about it, but as long as Akemi was happy, she could deal with it. She deserved it.

Shiho dat down opposite of Akemi. James handed her a small bag in addition to her portion of the food. She reached inside the bag and stared at the box incredulously. "Hair dye?"

"It was Akai's idea. You can't stay hidden in here forever and your hair colour is far too eye-catching."

She took a strand of her hair between her had a point, but she had grown to love her unique hair colour and would certainly miss it. Nevertheless, it was a small sacrifice if i enhanced their safety.

"Won't they expect me to do this?"

"Probably, but we figured that it couldn't hurt anyway." James grabbed his own take-out box and sat down next to her.

"I've contacted the higher-ups in the FBI and we all agree that now would be the perfect time to plan an attack on the organisation- We need to act before they can relocate and destroy every location you have ever been to," James said when they had finished eating. "Additionally, they are probably desperate to get you back and will spare no effort in their search. It could make them more prone for errors and we might be able to lay a trap."

"What about the boy?" Shiho asked.

"That's a bit more difficult. Ideally we would want to rescue him, whether he is Shinichi Kudo or not, but we doubt that it'll be easy. After your escape they have surely increased their security measures and you mentioned that he was almost always accompanied by Gin."

Shiho nodded. Most days Gin had brought the boy to the laboratory and picked him up again. She wasn't sure what they had been doing in the meantime, but she had heard other members of the organisation gossip about the boy himself and Gin's mysterious attachment to him. The rumours had been ludicrous, only made worse by their assumption that he was an actual child.

"We believe they will keep him locked up in the headquarters. We don't have much jurisdiction on our own while operating in Japan. To get him out, we would need the help of the Japanese Police and an elaborate plan to avoid any casualties. For now we are still debating with whom we want to share our information and how much we are willing to tell them."

The implication was clear. If an undercover agent from the FBI had managed to infiltrate the organisation, they had to assume that the organisation could have done the same within the police or any other institution. It would not only compromise their own security, but it could also spoil any plan they developed if they were to unknowingly share anything with someone spying for the organisation.

James exchanged a glance with Akai before reaching into another bag. He proceeded to place a multitude of folders on the table. "While we are waiting for further guidance on how to proceed, we should focus on the identity of the child. Through my contacts I have been able to obtain information on every 16-year old who has been reported missing since the 12th. As long as we have no proof that it really is Shinichi Kudo we have to investigate in every direction."

Shiho stared at the pile of folders incredulously. How many people did go missing in this city? They began going through the reports, each of them grabbing a folder and comparing the information about the missing teenagers with everything they had about the shrunken boy.

She opened the third folder and froze.

"What is it, Shiho?" Akemi asked. "Have you found something?"

Everyone's attention shifted towards her. She could feel their curious glances on her like needles pricking her skin as she was fighting to keep her breath under control. She couldn't move, couldn't even look away from the photo of the face that haunted her day and night.

Suddenly the picture disappeared. She blinked and noticed that Akai had snatched the folder from her hands. He quickly scanned the page. "He can't be the one we are looking for, he only went missing on -"

"The 20th," Shiho whispered, finishing his sentence. She didn't need to read the file since the date had burned itself into her memory.

Akai placed the folder on top of the others they had already sorted out. Without thinking about it she jerked forwards, her instinct telling her to grab it again, to read every word in it and to find out as much as possible about the boy she had … killed. The thought made her pause. Did she really want to know? It wouldn't change anything. Besides, what would she even do with these information? She raised her gaze and met Akai's green eyes. He had an unreadable expression on his face. It almost seemed like he knew what was going through her mind. Her chest tightened and she could barely room began to spin.

"I … I need a moment." She leaped to her feet and hurried to the bathroom. The similarities to the last time were not lost on her, but at least this time she could keep her food down. The cold water she splashed on her face helped to calm her down.

She didn't want Akemi to know what she had done, but she did a poor job of hiding her distress. Seeing his face had caught her by surprise and she hadn't been able to control her reaction, even though in hindsight she should have expected it. She knew after which criteria Gin had picked him - to be as similar as possible to the shrunken boy. Naturally they had the same age. And hadn't he mentioned his parents when he had begged her for his life? Of course they had reported him missing. His poor parents -

She shock her head to stop her thoughts from spiralling further. Now was not the right moment for this. The others were still in the living room, probably waiting for an explanation for her strange reaction. In some way she was glad that Akai had stopped her before she could read his profile. She wasn't sure what she would do if she had a name to his face. She might get lost trying to find out as much as possible about him. What would it do to her already suffocating guilt if she saw his grieving parents, if she knew about his life, his friends, hobbies and dreams with the knowledge that she had robbed him of everything? She couldn't answer the question and it scared her.

Before returning to the living room, she took a last steadying breath. She had to keep it together, for Akemi's sake.

"I'm sorry," she said and sank on the couch again. Like she had expected, everyone was looking at her. She avoided everyone's eyes and instead looked at her hands. "While trying to create the antidote, we got stuck. We didn't have enough data on the poison itself. The organisation decided to test the apoptoxin on humans to get more information and to maybe recreate the shrinking. He .. he was the first one." Her voice had gotten quieter with every sentence and broke at the end. She had purposefully omitted the most important detail. It was her that had asked Gin to find him and she herself had given him the poison. Her vision started to get blurry.

"Oh, Shiho." Akemi reached over the table and placed a hand on her thigh, squeezing it reassuringly. Shiho had trouble bearing the pity in her voice. "Don't worry, we will get justice for him."

She turned away, pressed her eyes shut and took another deep breath. "Sure."

She was glad when they dropped the subject, at least for now, and continued to scan the remaining folders. It took the attention away from her and the activity helped to keep her mind occupied.

"That's peculiar;" James said when they had finished going trough all reports and had found no one who fit the description.

"Shinichi Kudo was not among them," Akemi voiced what they all were thinking. She had her hand placed under her chin.

Akai, who had been busy typing something on his phone for the last minutes, spoke. "Either our theory that it is him is wrong or the organisation wants to suppress the news of his disappearance. Wait a moment." His eyes scanned the display and Shiho imagined to see something akin to a satisfied smile flash across his face.

"He has been absent from school since the 12th."

Shiho narrowed her eyes. It wasn't enough to confirm that he really was Kudo, nevertheless, with everything else she doubted that this was a coincidence.

"But why has no one reported him missing?" James asked.

"His parents spend most of their time overseas, meaning he lives alone. His school noticed his disappearance, but they were unable to reach him. Before they decided to contact the police, they got a phone call from his mother." Akai leaned back. "Apparently he got caught up in a difficult case and will return once he has solved it."

"I guess that's one way to describe his situation," Shiho said cynically. "I'd say the chances that he is our mystery child are pretty high. So what do we do now?"

"I'll establish contact with the Superintendent of the Police. We have worked with him before; he is a trustworthy and powerful ally. I think we all agree that as few people as possible should know about the shrinking and the organisation itself. Still, I believe it would make the police more willing to cooperate with us if we were to share with them our suspicion regarding the child's identity," James said.

"Why?" Akemi asked, her voice a bit higher than usual. "They are the police. Shouldn't they put the same effort into rescuing anyone, regardless of who they are?"

"Ideally, yes," James answered. "But this operation - going up against the organisation - will be dangerous. Kudo has worked together with a few police officers. It's possible that they see him as one of them. It will make them more motivated to do whatever is necessary to rescue him."

"Superintendent Matsumoto, how can I help you?"

Juzo Megure had just finished his work shift by successfully apprehending the suspect in a murder case and had been looking forward to a well-deserved and relaxing evening at home when he had received a message from his superior. He was ordered to come to his office as soon as possible.

Matsumoto was sitting behind his desk. HIs head was resting on his interlaced fingers and he was scowling, the effect was only exacerbated by the scar running across his left eye. "Inspector Megure, please come in and make sure to close the door behind you."

Megure narrowed his eyes. The need for privacy usually involved bad news. He did as he was asked and stepped closer to the desk. From his new position he could see the different case files scattered across his desk. He recognised one of the files that lay on top as one he himself had worked on.

"Please, take a seat." So this meeting would take longer. His hope for a quiet evening was quickly fading away. He sat down and waited for his superior to continue.

"What can you tell me about Shinichi Kudo?"

Megure blinked in surprise, unsure if he had heard him correctly. From everything Matsumoto could have wanted to discuss with him, Megure would have never expected this. It took him a few seconds before he answered. "The boy is quite clever, sir. He is a bit impulsive and tends to brag, but his arrogance is not completely unwarranted. Oftentimes he is more observant than our trained police officers."

A few months ago he might have been too embarrassed to admit this. Especially in the beginning it had been incredibly frustrating to encounter him at crime scenes. No high schooler had any business prancing around a murder victim, correcting the police officers at the scene, ordering them to collect evidence and confronting the culprit. More often than not he had ordered Shinichi to leave, but he had always found ways to sneak back in. Over time he had let him stay because so far his deductions have never been wrong. Megure also had a soft spot for the boy he had seen grow up. It had taken the other officers a bit longer to accept his presence as Shinichi didn't hold back when criticising incorrect conclusions.

Megure wondered why his superior was questioning him about the boy now. Had someone complained about his tendency to consult the boy on particularly difficult cases? Sure, it was not completely by the book to involve civilians, but he wasn't the only one who did it. He shifted nervously in his seat.

"When have you last see him?"

"Has he done something?" Megure asked in return. He curious and couldn't think of a single reason why Matsumoto could be interested in his whereabouts.

"Just answer the question."

"A week and a half ago, sir. On the 12th. He solved the murder at the amusement park," Megure said without further hesitation. It had been one of the more memorable cases he had ever come across and he doubted he would forget about it anytime soon. Not for the first time did he wonder where murderers these days got their inspiration from.

"Did you notice anything suspicious?"

'Apart from someone getting beheaded on a rollercoaster?', he wanted to ask, but bit his tongue. He was already tense enough and disgruntling the Superintendent surely wouldn't improve the situation. But the question why the Superintendent was suddenly so interested in that particular case occupied his mind. Sure, Shinichi had solved the case, but Megure hadn't called him. The boy had happened to be on the rollercoaster at the time of the crime. He had been a witness so Megure couldn't have dismissed him. And if one were to disregard the unique method the murderer had used, the case was one of the easier he had dealt with. They had plenty of evidence, a motive and even a confession. There was no need to spent any more time on this case.

Except - something had been nagging him for the past few days. Initially he had dismissed this feeling as him being paranoid. It was not unusual to get affected by certain cases, even for an experienced inspector like himself. And Matsumotu's sudden interest in the case could mean that his instinct had been correct. "Two of the witnesses who happened to be on the rollercoaster had seemed very impatient and suspicious, but their background checks came back clean. And despite their behaviour they had nothing to do with the murder. I had planned to question Kudo about them, but he is currently away working on another case."

"What case?" Matsumoto asked while leaning back on his chair and crossing his arms in front of him.

"Kudo didn't share any details with me, sir. We only communicated through email." He would have preferred a phone call as he still didn't feel comfortable using a computer, but Shinichi had claimed that he didn't have reception at his current location. Even for Megure, who would freely admit that he wasn't the most tech-savvy person, his explanation had seemed odd. If the reception was as bad as he claimed, how was he still able to send emails?

Megure's questions didn't end there. Like Matsumoto he had wondered about the case Shinichi had been so tight-lipped about. Shinichi never needed much time to solve a case and by now over a week had passed and he hadn't returned yet. Megured had asked a few of his colleagues if they knew about an ongoing unsolved case, but no one had heard anything. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. If he hadn't been so busy with other cases, he might have investigated it more. He probably should have.

His thoughts got interrupted when Matusumoto reached for the case file Megure had noticed earlier. He had been so immersed that he hadn't noticed that Matsumoto had remained silent after his last answer. He watched the Superintendent as he scanned the pages and waited for him to continue. "Let's focus back to the murder on the rollercoaster - can you describe the suspicious witnesses?"

This was the easiest question so far as Megure could remember them vividly. They had stood out like sore thumbs in the amusement park with their black trenchcoats, hats and abrasive attitude. Especially the one with the long blond hair had been quite memorable. As he recounted every detail he remembered he could see how Matsumoto's expression turned even more grave.

"The description fits," he muttered after a passing glance at his monitor.

Megure was beginning to get impatient. He still had no idea why Matsumoto was asking him about a closed case and the teenage detective. "Sir, may I ask what this meeting is about?"

"Megure, I need you to gather your most trusted officers. Only the ones you can vouch for, the one you would entrust your life to. We might be faced with the biggest case of our career."