File Twenty-Four: To Do What's Right

Unlike other children, Conan didn't particularly like going to the beach.

Despite being considered outlandishly smart for his age, the kid could not grasp the concept of 'fun' that many people seemed to have.

Quite frankly, he couldn't understand why was that most people seemed to enjoy smearing themselves with loads of sunscreen so they could play and relax in a place he could only describe as an oversized oven. Not to mention the sand, that seemed to squeeze itself in every inch of his body and clothes, and that wouldn't leave his shoes until weeks after the trip to the beach, if he was lucky.

Besides, Conan didn't truly enjoy showing his body like everyone else did, for plenty of reasons. So, he would end up with weird sun marks on his arms and a soaked wet T-shirt clinging uncomfortably to his torso.

In fact, the only reason he was currently swimming was because Genta had taken into his own hands the task to make him join them on the salty, ocean water. Even if it meant abducting him from his comfortable spot under the shade of the parasol and throwing him inside.

So, yeah, he was pretty much hoping that night would fall soon.

As it was now, however, Conan wandered through the forest of legs and people looking for his friends, that hadn't had a better idea than to play hide and seek in the water.

Sighing, loudly, Conan tried to wring out some excess of water on his shirt, but no avail. Not that it wasn't expected, since one of the many drawbacks of swimming with his clothes on was that they weighted much more when soaked wet.

"I wouldn't have taken you as the shy type," Conan turned around to give Haibara an annoyed look. "Well, considering you like giving others the credit for you brilliant deductions just because you don't like the spotlight, it shouldn't have come as a surprise."

"What did all of that come from, anyway?" the boy questioned, looking away from her and starting to walk, having spotted Ayumi by the corner of his eye just a moment ago. Haibara followed.

She didn't say anything, just motioned with her head to a random group of slightly older boys playing volleyball, their chests in plain sight. "Most boys take that off before getting into the water."

"Most girls hide when playing hide and seek," Conan pointed out, and she shrugged.

"And those who are not playing do not hide, Kudo-kun."

He barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes, as kept looking around. The little girl had distracted him, and now he didn't know where Ayumi was anymore. Had she just hidden underwater or something?

"Ayumi-chan!" by the corner of his eye he noticed an older girl spinning around when he shouted his friend's name, and momentarily wondered if she was also called Ayumi or something like that. "I have already spotted you, so come out!"

"Oh, isn't that Conan-kun?"

It wasn't until he heard his name being called that he really took a better look at the teenage girl, and was shocked to see Ran standing right in front of him, a beach ball in her hands and a very surprised look on her face.

"Ran-neechan?" Conan blinked, only then noticing that Sonoko was right beside her, and his expression went numb. Right, Ran-neechan said she was going out with Sonoko-neechan.

"Hey, why is that little brat here?" she complained when she saw him, an eyebrow raised. "Geez. The reason we didn't bring him was because there are always cases when he's around!"

The rest of his friends were gathering around him at this point, probably deciding that satisfying their curiosity was far more important that remaining hidden, especially when the seeker was doing anything else but seek.

Conan mirrored her expression and opened his mouth to shoot something back at her, but he stopped when he noticed something that caught his attention. Haibara was staring right at Ran, with a cold, blank look, which was pretty similar to the ones she had given him when they had first met.

When she frowned, Conan realized there probably was something he wasn't understanding.

As the children engaged in a very cheerful conversation with the two girls, Conan noticed Ai slipping away from the crowd and starting to walk towards the shore. She noticed the curious look the boy sent her way.

"The water is freezing cold," the girl told him. "I'll go warm myself a little under the sun."

"It's like over thirty degrees here," Conan raised an eyebrow at her.

Ai paused at that, but didn't even say anything at him. Even so, the boy watched, silently, as the girl just stood there, her back facing him.

"Maybe I'm actually a cold-blooded snake in the body of a beautiful girl," she finally said, in a soft voice. When Conan blinked, taken by surprise at her words, she turned around and gave him a flat look. "I'm just joking."

"Oh."

With an exasperated sigh, the girl walked away, and Conan watched her sit in the sand right in front of them, before shrugging and going back to the rest. It was a bit disturbing, to say the least, the way she seemed to stare at them with a pretty blank look he couldn't hope to understand.

She really loves that look, doesn't she?

He didn't notice, however, Ran turning around and glance at the little girl, with a concerned look on her face, before returning to the group.

Around twenty minutes later, Conan was standing beside Agasa back in the shore, looking at Haibara, who was laying under the parasol, covered in wet towels to cool her down. Clearly, she had sunstroke.

And they wouldn't have realized she had if it wasn't for Ran, who noticed she hadn't been feeling well from the spot she was in and carried her to the shade.

Said girl came to them with a bucket filled with water and ice she had collected from other people in the beach and passed it to Agasa. Then, with a worried expression, she leaned over Haibara.

Who didn't even react to it.

"Is Ai-chan okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, her temperature is going down, so she should be fine soon," the professor reassured her.

"I'm glad," Ran sighed, then smiled gently at the little girl. "Next time, don't hesitate to tell us if you don't feel well, alright, Ai-chan?"

Haibara didn't reply, but Ran didn't seem to mind and simply excused herself to join the others in the water.

"Professor, would you please get something to drink for Haibara-san?" Conan turned to the older man. "It's important to keep her hydrated."

The older man nodded and went to do as he was asked to. Silence ensued thereafter as Conan just stared at the girl for a few moments, an eyebrow raised.

"What?" eventually she hissed, irritated.

"So much for a cold-blooded individual, huh?" he remarked, sarcastically.

"Even a snake can overheat and die, Kudo-kun."

The boy shrugged, making his way to the bucket with ice and water and took the towel away from her eyes. "Honestly," he sighed, wetting it again.

Haibara remained silent as he placed the towel back on her head, and merely closed her eyes.

"Did you know?" Conan was the first one to break the quietness. "Even if people often believe that snakes are cruel and dangerous creatures, they will always try to escape and disappear if they feel a threat coming," the girl did not comment. "Including humans."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Don't know," he shrugged. "Just a random fact, I guess."

She gave him a long, sharp look, which he returned, before bringing her arm to her head, and covered her eyes with it. "Could... Could you just go somewhere else? I'm very tired."

Haibara wasn't surprised when the child sat on the sand, right beside her, instead. "Are you crazy?" he leaned his back against Haibara's folding chair. "The only reason I was there in the first place was because Genta practically dragged me along," with a grin, he closed his eyes. "So, there's no way I'm leaving when I have the perfect excuse to stay."

She gave him a long look from under her arm then, with a sigh, also closed her eyes.

"Suit yourself."

"I need to see Tanaka-sensei, please."

Heiji mentally grinned as he watched the receptionist actually listen to him instead of shouting him to get out.

He was pretty glad he had stolen his mother's makeup and powdered his skin a shade lighter, and that he had also actually dyed his hair blue, before going to Ekoda. Sure, he wasn't the most inconspicuous one of the bunch, but at least he wouldn't be kicked off the hospital by this worker, who was more than a bit sick of him by now.

"Please, I need to," he made his best to give the impression that he was desperate. "It's my friend... he was Tanaka-sensei's patient and I... he..."

"Is something wrong?"

Both the receptionist and Heiji turned around to see the doctor they had been talking about standing right behind him, a curious look on his face.

"This young man wanted to talk with you, Sensei," the woman was the first one to explain. "He says he was one of your patients and wants to ask you something about him."

"Oh? Who is it?"

Heiji did his best not to flinch. He hadn't thought that ahead. Yet, the intense look Tanaka was giving him was enough for him to know that he needed to think fast.

"Kuroba," he said quickly, remembering the weird Kudo look-alike he had seen a month ago. "His name is Kuroba Kaito, Sensei."

The way both the receptionist and doctor winced at the sound of that name threw him off a little, but managed to keep himself in character in a way that would make the Kudo brothers' mother proud of him.

"A-Ah, Kuroba-san?" Tanaka forced a smile. It only made Heiji wonder what had that guy done to traumatize the hospital staff to such a extent. "What about him?"

"It's about his right foot," Heiji remembered, after all, seeing that body part bandaged. "I don't think is completely healed, but he won't listen to me."

Tanaka frowned at him. "Do you really think so?" he seemed to be in thought. "Would you mind coming with me so we can talk it over more quietly?"

Heiji fought not to let his relief show into his face, as he followed him to another, quieter place. He let the doctor guide him to his office and closed the door behind himself.

Only then did Heiji's eyes sharpen. "What do you know?" he said, suddenly, confusing the doctor. "About Watanabe Satoshi-sensei's death."

At the mention of that name, the doctor's expression changed dramatically. Heiji watched as colour drained from his place and his muscles froze in place, mouth opening and closing soundlessly.

"Wha-What are you talking about?" the corner of his lips twitched upwards, struggling to get a convincing smile out.

"Don't play dumb," Heiji frowned. "You saw it, right?!"

To be honest, Hattori didn't actually have an idea of what it meant, exactly ─ he was kind of bluffing at this point ─ but, somehow, it worked. There was a look of utter terror on the doctor's face, as he took a step backwards.

"I-I didn't see anything, I swear!" he exclaimed, desperate.

"You better not be lying to me," the doctor gulped. "Now, what did you see?"

"... Please, don't kill me," Heiji's eyes opened at those words, not quite expecting to hear that. "It was an accident. I was on my way home after checking on a patient in critical care that night, and I saw the light on Watanabe-sensei's office on... I-I only wanted to ask him if everything was alright, I swear. He had been so distant lately that I..."

Tanaka trailed off, probably scared to keep talking any further. "Then?" but Heiji needed to know. He needed to talk. "What did you see?"

The doctor took a shaky breath. "I... just took a peek. There was this man with raven black clothes and long, silver hair... But I turned around as soon as I saw him, I swe-!"

A sound of glass shattering filled the room, and in an instant everything had gone silent. Hattori, in quiet shock, watched the man in front of him tumble down into his space, collapsing into his arms without making any resistance. It only took Heiji a glance to the hole in the doctor's temple and the blood staining his clothes to figure out why he wouldn't be talking anymore. Ever.

Because it didn't take a detective to figure out that the man had been shot in the head.

The next few hours went by in a whim. Rolling into the floor to avoid being hit, even if the snipper hadn't made another shot after that, grabbing his phone to call the police.

Hattori had been let go right away, since it was evident the shot had been from a large distance so it couldn't have been him. And he did eventually, after doing everything in his power to figure out who the killer was.

Yet, his deductive skills were not enough.

Because the murderer had disappeared, just like a black cloud of smoke in the middle of the night.

"Oh, you guys came to have dinner here too?"

Conan looked up and wasn't surprised to find out that Ran and Sonoko had made reservations at the same restaurant they were currently sitting at. At his side, Ayumi broke into a big smile.

"Wanna eat with us?" she asked the girls.

"There's more than enough room for you two," Agasa told them.

"Only for Ran-neechan, actually," Conan gave Sonoko a bored look, leaning his head on his hand. "I've heard that stupidity is contagious."

Sonoko's eyebrow twitched. "Ah, yeah?" and sat right beside him, just to spite the boy. "Well, I'm glad your overall weirdness is actually genetic," she patted him in the head, causing him to groan. "Because I'd be in so much trouble right now, wouldn't I?"

"Careful. I still can bite. And I might have rabies."

"Conan-kun, behave yourself," Ran scolded him, causing Sonoko to stuck her tongue at the boy, childishly, and him to look away, irritated. The other girl, however, ignored them as she looked around. "Where's Ai-chan?"

"She's sleeping in the hotel's room," Genta told her looking up from the menu he was holding.

"She said she wasn't hungry and would pass on dinner," Mitsuhiko explained.

"... Really?" Ran mumbled.

"Oh, what's this?" Sonoko raised an eyebrow at her. "You seem awfully attached to that little girl."

"I just wanted to talk with her. We've pretty much never talked and when our eyes meet, she averts her gaze," in spite of that, the girl smiled as she sat down. "Maybe she doesn't like me?"

Even if he wanted, there wasn't anything Conan could say. He had also noticed the way the young scientist seemed to distance herself from Ran every single time she had the chance, and the weird, cold looks she would give her all the time. Yet, it didn't matter how hard he thought about it, he couldn't find the reason why.

If he didn't know better, he would've think Haibara was afraid of Ran. Only that it didn't make sense at all, so it couldn't be true.

The child looked up, brought away from his thoughts as a man in a red shirt walked inside and greeted Sonoko, Ran and the rest of his friends, before asking for the time, claiming that his watch was broken.

"It's 7:12 PM," Ran answered.

"Damn, I came too early..." he sighed, sitting on another table.

"Well, well," Sonoko sighed, opening the menu. "Looks like a fight is going to break out, so let's order quick and eat up."

"We didn't come here to fight. But we do plan to teach that bad guy a little something about the rules."

Conan blinked, cluelessly, as he stared at the man he couldn't recognize.

"Did I miss something?" he whispered to Ayumi.

"Ah, that's right, you were with Haibara-san," Ayumi realized. "That lifeguard scolded us when we got into a boat that was lying on the beach."

"He was going to met with two other lifeguards and another man they didn't seem to like at 8:00 PM," Mitsuhiko added, after hearing their conversation. "Those lifeguards supposed to be fishermen, though."

Ayumi nodded. "That man in red seemed to be blaming him for not being able to catch anything."

At 8:00 PM another fisherman arrived at the restaurant, and informed the one in red that their third friend was going to be late, because he was passing by his father's grave.

In fact, it seemed that all three fathers had died in a big storm, eight years ago.

By the time Nezu Nobutsugu, the third fisherman, arrived ─ it was around 8:40 ─ Sonoko was on their table, laughing and seemingly getting along with the other two ─ Shimojo Noboru and Yoshizawa Yuta.

The three called the other man and somebody seemed to pick up. The sound of the waves, however, was the only thing they could hear until the call was finished, suddenly.

Aramaki Giichi never came.

It wasn't until past 9:30 PM that they found him, lying in the shore, wrapped in a fisherman's net. Dead.

The only thing Conan noticed before Inspector Yokomizo chased him away the body was that the victim was completely covered in scratches, for some weird reason. The inspector supposed they were there because of his struggle against the killer.

Which didn't convince Conan. Defensive marks did not look like that, did they?

Besides, there was also that call. Conan couldn't figure out who had picked up, and why.

They also noticed the boat Conan's friends had been riding in the afternoon, drifting away from them. Once it was brought up, they found an empty bottle of alcohol, a sandal and a button inside, all covered by sea water. They all belonged to a victim.

It only helped making it more suspicious for Conan. If he was the culprit, he would just throw all evidence into the ocean.

It didn't make any sense. But he couldn't figure out the trick either.

"Ah!" suddenly, Ayumi exclaimed, before running right to the ocean. "Geez, even though you aren't supposed to throw garbage into the ocean."

The little boy took a glance at the can floating in the water, turning around because of the force of the waves, and gasped, catching up with the girl.

Instead of picking it up, however, the boy just stood there in the water, watching the can move while the girl went to pick it up, until a strong wave suddenly washed over the shore. Both children lost their balance, and Ayumi stumbled backwards, falling in the sand.

Mitsuhiko and Genta rushed over, instantly. "Are you alright?" the freckled boy asked them, helping Ayumi up.

"Yeah," she reassured them, staring at her hands. "Just a little scratch."

"You should be careful," Mitsuhiko said. "There are a lot of shells around here."

"Huh?" Genta looked around. "Where's Conan?"

"Here," came the annoyed voice.

They looked over the source and were quick to spot their friend.

It looked like Conan hadn't so lucky. Currently he sat in the sand, water rushing all around him, and dripping from his hair and slightly crooked glasses. His annoyment was even more visible when another wave hit his back, soaking him even more.

And the three kids, being the wonderful group of friends they were, laughed at him. His eyebrow twitched more violently at that.

Before standing up and kicking the water, splashing all of them.

"Conan-kun, stop that!" Ran instantly went over to their spot, not failing to notice that the other three children were about to do the same, probably with all the intention to start a water war in the middle of a murder investigation. "Go change, now."

The boy shrugged, giving his friends another glare, before heading back to the hotel.

Haibara let out a big yawn as she watched the credits of the movie she had been enjoying rolling. Pulling herself in a sitting position on the bed, she gave the door a thoughtful glance. Everyone is so late, she thought, her fingers going inside the bag of crisp, taking a potato chip and eating it.

Just as she was munching it, the door silently opened up. Haibara tried not to laugh as soon as she saw the child detective standing there, soaked to the bone, while a pool of sea water was formed beneath his feet.

The glare he gave her was enough for her to realize she hadn't tried enough. Not that it bothered her much.

"Don't ask," was all he said as he went to his bag to pick some new clothes.

"Wouldn't dream of it," she shrugged. "Murder case?"

"Yeah. Drowned. Wrapped in a fisherman's net."

"Then, why does it look like you were the one that got drowned, instead?"

A grunt was the only reply he decided to grace her with.

He passed by her in the way to the bathroom, stealing a chip from her bag before she could stop him.

"Thief," she accused him.

"Liar," he shot back. "You should've eaten real food instead of these if you were hungry."

Haibara's eyes went back to the TV prompting Conan to sigh, knowing that he wouldn't have any other answers from the girl when she was like that, and opened the bathroom door, partly-closing it after he was inside.

"What are you so afraid of, anyway, Haibara-san?" he asked her, as he took off his wet shirt.

"That's what I should be asking you, Kudo-kun."

"What do you mean...?"

He heard the door open, causing the young boy to spin around, shocked to actually see Haibara casually leaning on the doorway. "Haibara-san, what the-?!"

"A gunshot scar," she mumbled, unusually surprised, with her eyes wide open.

At that moment Conan realized that, even if he had turned around, his back was still facing the mirror, meaning that the girl could easily see the old scar that painted his left shoulder. With a frown, the boy silently put on his dry shirt, turning around.

From the reflection he could see Haibara's piercing gaze. "It looks old," she pointed out.

"Yeah," simply, he said. "It's more than three years old, I think."

Conan walked towards her, and gently pushed the girl outside before closing the door behind her. For a moment, the girl didn't say anything, standing silently in deep thought, before sighing.

She leaned against the door, resting her back against the cool wooden surface.

"You think?" she asked him.

There was a long pause yet, eventually, he made an affirmative sound. "I don't remember being shoot," he admitted, in a soft voice. "In fact, I can't recall anything that happened in that entire week."

"Were you hurt in the head?"

"No, I wasn't."

Her eyes narrowed. "Repressed memories, huh?"

"Most likely."

Their conversation was left right there, as Conan opened the door and, after giving her an unreadable look, walked out the room. He didn't question her, however, when Haibara decided to come along to the crime scene.

Once Conan was back, it didn't take the case long to be solved. He guided a very hesitant Agasa and made him play the role of the detective, and with his friends they did a demonstration of the crime using only a dead starfish, a sea shell, a basin, sand and some water.

Inspector Yokomizo stared as the sea shell floated in the water for a few moments, until he realized it. "Could it be that boat?!"

"That's right," Agasa nodded. "The culprit first got Aramaki-san drunk and entangled him in the net, before digging a hole and putting him inside. Then, he just had to place a boat on top of the victim. This way, even if the victim did come to, he would be trapped and would ultimately drown," he then frowned in the criminal's direction. "Shimojo Noboru-san, everything went exactly according to your plan."

The culprit tried to argue, but eventually ended up messing it up by mentioning the victim's time of death when he didn't have a way to knowing that. Like so, Noboru fell into his knees, realizing that the truth had come into light.

"Don't tell me... it was for our fathers?" Nobutsugu asked him, shocked.

"Yeah. You should thank me," he replied, with a rather sinister smile. "Eight years ago, Aramaki killed our fathers while at the sea. It took all my courage to kill him."

At those words, Ran frowned deeply, for some reason.

"They went out to bring back Aramaki, who went fishing without paying attention to the storm. But that bastard... He lost control of his own boat due to the waves and ended up hitting our fathers'! Then, after they had fallen into the ocean, he just left all there to die! A sailor who was on the boat with Aramaki confirmed it for me."

"Then, why...?" Nobutsugu felt cold sweat rolling down his forehead. "Why didn't you take him to the police as a witness?"

"He suddenly disappeared," he told them. "When I asked Aramaki about him, he just calmly said 'Do you want to know how to commit the perfect crime? Two people go sailing, and one pushes the other into the ocean. The body's gone and there aren't any witnesses around.'"

The two fishermen gasped at that, knowing well the implications of that sentence.

"Even so," Nobutsugu said. "You still shouldn't have killed him."

Noboru laughed creepily, exactly like someone that had just lost his mind, while his two friends looked back at him, completely disappointed.

"The hell are you saying? I took down our enemy for your sake as well! Even after I took it upon myself to be the sacrifice and summoned all my courage to carry out divine punishment on the bastard... How... How could you say that?!"

While she listened through his speech, Ran bit her lip, "You can't do that," and spoke before she could stop herself. "Courage is a word that gives you the strength to do what's right. You can't use it as a reason to take a person's life."

As if a magic spell had been casted, everything went suddenly silent and nobody dared to make a sound, except for the waves that gently washed over the shore.

With a sad smile the culprit let himself be taken into custody. Calmly, the police left with the murderer.

And Haibara quietly watched the older girl, a thoughtful expression adorning her delicate face.

But it wasn't until the next day, as the sun was setting down, that she decided to act. The little girl stared at Ran and Sonoko, who were quietly chatting in the shore surrounded by the seagulls that were resting in the sand after a long day hunting for food, a wide distance away.

Courage...

Haibara took a deep breath, before starting to move forward.

...gives you the strength...

They didn't notice the girl coming their way until the seagulls suddenly flew away, chased away from something they didn't know. That was, at least, until Sonoko saw the little child standing behind Ran, with a rather serious expression on her face.

... to do what's right.

Blinking twice at her friend's look of surprise, Ran turned around and silently watched Haibara, patiently waiting for her to put her feelings into words.

"I am Haibara Ai," finally she said and, stretching her hand at her, smiled kindly. It was only then that Ran noticed she hadn't seen the girl doing that before. "Nice to meet you."

So, she smiled back at her.

"The pleasure is mine," Ran replied easily, reaching towards the little hand and giving her a handshake. "Nice to meet you too."

From his spot close to his friends, who were playing with the seagulls, Conan looked over his shoulder. Blinking twice, he realized what was going on, and a faint smile drew itself on his features.

A/N:

ajjr12: Probably they will. I haven't thought much about it, though.

Dy: I don't mind at all your reviews, as long as you don't mind this fic being a bit too long lol! For the record, though, Saguru didn't appear last chapter. I didn't even realize it could be read as if he was there, so sorry XD

SapphireRuby24: There will some CoAi and some mentions of other canon pairings in the background (like ShinRan, for example). The main focus on this story, however, is probably going to be the relationship of Conan and Shinichi.