A month had passed since Shinichi was discharged from the hospital, and it had also been a month that he and his wife finally shared the same bed in the same room. As surprising as it was, there wasn't anything awkward between them even from the start of their co-sleeping. Everything had gone very well despite Ai's earlier weary assumptions.

It was hard to tell that all she needed was actually a little bit of time to get used to it and slowly but surely, she was accustomed to his presence in her space. Shinichi too could gradually adjust to the differences she brought to his room. Like, he could now see her high school textbooks filling in his bookcase, smell the faint scent of her perfumes, or find her well-organized make up tools in his dresser. He even took her plain t-shirt by mistake sometimes and caught himself staring at her piles of bra when going through his closet. With such feminine touches from her part, his room was changing little by little into their bedroom.

Even so, every part of these new things between them felt unbelievably natural somehow, as if they had been doing this for life while it had only been several weeks. Everything seemed to fit perfectly nice with each other like they were meant to be that way right from the start.

As their marriage underwent a dynamic improvement, the season too was changing. With only a month left for autumn, the days were getting shorter and so did the nights were getting longer. It was becoming harder for Shinichi to literally wake up from his good night sleeps; all he wanted to do was to be covered by a comfy blanket and enjoy his slumber. Not to say, snuggling up to his wife and having her warmth all over him made it all the more difficult for the detective to start the day.

It was also a great struggle for Ai to get out from the bed every morning for these past few weeks. Not that she was lacking her beauty sleep or was she tempted by the nice soft mattress, but because he always pulled her under the blanket again whenever she tried to get up. Just like what he was doing right now.

"Just five more minutes, Ai." Shinichi murmured, tickling the back of her neck with his hot breath and giving the spot a light kiss as he tightened his hug around her waist. His nose was nuzzling deeper to the crook of her neck, giving him a lot of chances to capture her natural sweet scent to his lungs. Ever since the bone fractures on his rib were healing and his right arm was free from the splint, he had been so tactile with Ai, especially when they were both in bed like this.

The strawberry blonde had to wriggle her way out and say her protest all the time for that. She still had her school to attend after all and Chiharu to tend, unlike her husband who was temporarily taking official paperworks for some cold cases at home– he couldn't stay idle in his rest for sure.

Shinichi lowly growled in discontentment, although he released her in the end. Pushing himself to sit up, he watched her walk to their closet to get her uniform out and prepare for school. He scrunched his eyebrows just right then, as if he was trying so hard to remember something but it still didn't click in his head. It seemed he forgot something important that had something to do with Ai's school. But, what was it again?

"It's the parent-teacher conference." Mitsuhiko said matter-of-factly to the other two members of detective boys. "The second half of it is starting."

The three of them were all sitting by the bench near the baseball field in their school after having their lunch break. They were waiting for their turn to be called for the meeting. Both Ayumi and Genta looked at him, astounded before they reacted to it.

"Please don't get me more nervous with your lame joke, Mitsuhiko." The plump boy knocked his friend's head lightly with his fist and sulked. He knew he would surely get scolded by his mom later for having bad grades. Moreover, he hadn't told his parents that he was planning to skip university– he was just too bad at studying, so rather than spending much money on it, he was thinking of getting some jobs and earning it instead.

"Geez, you too, should be thinking about this seriously, Genta-kun." The freckled boy retorted back while his hand was rubbing the spot he just got knocked. Ayumi could only chuckle from aside watching her friends fooling around. She fell into silence shortly after, a glimpse of sadness was transpired in her face so suddenly.

"We are graduating soon, aren't we?" Her utterance caught the boys off guard in a second. Feeling the dejection out of the sweet girl, they also fell into the gloomy mood at once.

We're going to part once spring comes, aren't we? They felt like this was what she was hiding behind her words.

"Ah, but I guess with my current grades, I can only afford to enroll in a university not far from the town." Ayumi laughed sheepishly, trying to loosen the awkward atmosphere around them.

"Me too! There aren't much doing with only a high school degree, so the farthest I could go is to find a job in this town." Genta excitedly replied which earned him a you-knew-it-yet-you-still-did-it look from the other two.

"That makes the three of us stuck in this town for sure then." Mitsuhiko sighed in between his smile, but the mentioning of one less number of their members instantaneously returned the gloomy mood between them once again.

I'm not sure about Haibara-san though. Everyone grasped his words like this. After all, Ai was the only one among them who had the chance to continue her study abroad. Her foster parents were in England anyway so who knew she might want to live with them now? She never talked about this however, which left the three of them wondering.

All the while they were discussing on this thing, Ai was standing in front of her classroom heaving her chest out before she slid the door open. It worried her homeroom teacher that the first thing she said upon entering the room was an apology for the absence of her guardians. She had been expecting that kind of reaction though. So holding her hands tight, Ai continued with the whole lie she had prepared for the day, telling the teacher that her foster parents had put all the trust for her to handle this herself.

"But still, that won't do, Haibara-san…" The teacher sighed. She knew this girl was no ordinary student and that she could be counted on, but wasn't the point about a parent-teacher conference lied within a talk with the parents?

Her homeroom teacher was going to get the meeting rescheduled for her when the door to the classroom was slid open for the second time since Ai's entrance– and abruptly at that. The two people in the class were startled to see it was Shinichi– well, a young man for the teacher. Confusions were emerged on their faces while watching him leaning on the door frame trying to catch his breath.

"Sorry, I was late." He said with a sheepish smile after he regained some of his composure. "I'm here as A– I mean Haibara-san's guardian."

He had to wince a second later though, due to his fractured bones. By the look on Ai's face, he could tell she was condemning him for being a fool. He knew well enough that his broken ribs hadn't healed completely yet he forced himself to run. Meanwhile, the teacher was dumbfounded as Shinichi took his steps closer to the desk and sat beside the shrunken teenager. She still hadn't grasped the things going on in front of her at all.

"Rest assured, I am her very close neighbour and I know her since she was a kid, so she is just like a family to me." The detective told the half-lies so brilliantly that it made his wife twitched her eyebrows in annoyance. So the Professor was also asking this out of him, huh?

Speechless by all the commotion, the teacher sighed conceding. She decided to go on with the meeting eventually, after recognizing that Shinichi was the famous detective of the East who was also well known for his accomplishments with the Tokyo MPD. She often saw his face on the newspapers so at least he wasn't an unknown stranger; that was what she thought.

The meeting began with Ai's learning progression and every nick of her conduct at school before it finally reached to the discussion of her plans that followed her graduation. There was a hint of concern in the way the teacher said during this part at first, although she ended it with a satisfying smile.

"I am glad that you finally decided to go through with the medical field, Haibara-san." She said. She continued talking about how befitted it was for Ai and that there wasn't anything concerning in her part to fail in the enrollment tests whatsoever.

Her continuing speech was blurring to the back of his head however, as Shinichi glanced over at his wife and diverted his focus on her. His mind seemed to hold only that one important information that the teacher mentioned earlier while labeling the rest as unimportant. Ai saw it from the corner of her eyes and was thinking of poking his leg with hers to warn him to stop staring before he got caught by the teacher. Instead, the detective preceded her by bringing his face closer to her ear.

"The title will surely suit you well, eh, Kudo Ai-sensei?" He whispered softly before he threw a smirk at Ai. It made her flustered in an instant that she let out some cursed words inaudibly.

How could he be so dare as to take the short second when the teacher wasn't looking to whisper a teasing remark so close to her like this?

The teacher concluded the meeting with a bless of luck for the strawberry blonde. Yet she was at loss once again when she returned her eyes on the two people in front of her– the strawberry blonde was looking to her side like she was suppressing whatever emotions she had on her face while her guardian was all smiling so innocently to his front like nothing happened. The teacher could only roll her eyes and got stumped. It was obvious she was the only one here who knew nothing of what was going on; she felt left out. She let it slip though, only because Ai was an honors student.

Right before she closed the meeting, her tongue was held back by some rackets coming from outside the classroom which soon followed by an abrupt banging sound of the sliding door. It startled her even more to find a whole lot of students crowding in the hallway as if they were trying to peek into the inside. There were also these three students of hers who seemed to be the front line of them all who stumbled to the floor– it was the detective boys. It looked like they got pushed by the crowd that they accidentally broke into the room.

"You guys would never change, would you?" Shinichi and Ai smiled wryly at their friends. These three teenagers were always so curious about everything and their snooping could never be more obvious than ever as usual.

"Sorry." The detective boys laughed sheepishly as they straightened themselves.

"We were so wondering about Haibara-san's plan after graduation and couldn't sit still." Mitsuhiko explained. Their discussion a while ago seemed to reach a dead end. And knowing it was Ai's turn to have her meeting with the teacher, they decided to eavesdrop through the door.

"But you're not going anywhere far, are you, Ai-chan?" Ayumi was half-pleading, and so did the other two who looked like they were about to cry as well. Since they were already causing such a ruckus, so might as well ask the strawberry blonde directly.

Ai sighed, although she curved her lips upward in a smile.

"Why would I when Japan gives me a lot of universities to choose?" She replied.

Hearing so, Ayumi couldn't hold herself from not hugging her best friend. Her cheerfulness was contagious to the boys that they also showed such bright smiles on their lit up faces. They were glad that the four of them didn't have to be parted by the distance.

Shinichi knew it however, that Ai actually had no other choice but to stay. She definitely wouldn't risk herself to be back to Shiho Miyano's alma maters despite they were the best universities there were in the medical and science stream. First and foremost, she wouldn't want to leave everything she had behind, would she? Her friends and her new little family, that were.

.

.

.

The orange color was painting the sky and the chilly wind was blowing gently as the detective boys strode down the street going back home. Shinichi and Ai were following them from behind, just like the way they did during the old times.

It was such a calm late afternoon that came after the storm– literally the storm– of students who were crowding around the detective. Turned out his abrupt appearance on the school ground had caught their attentions. Not to say, he was quiet the young man himself who went to the parent-teacher conference, so everyone was wondering whose guardian he might be.

Ayumi, Genta, and Mitsuhiko was actually as much surprised as to see him sitting in the classroom. But knowing the Professor wasn't in town, they concluded he was just filling in for the old guy's absence. Again, being known as close neighbours did really help Shinichi and Ai to cover up their real marriage.

All in all, everything ended well for the day without that much trouble.

"To be honest, I was hoping you would go for forensic science." Shinichi threw a remark on his wife's career choice.

"And be your assistant in the police? I'll pass on that." She sneered.

"Heh, is working together with me really that bad?" He pouted half-jokingly, yet a comfortable silence was all he could get as her reply. The look in her eyes were somehow so soft as if she was reminiscing something so far behind.

"It is my late parents." She broke the air all of a sudden; her voice perked his ears up as he listened to her words. "I was reminded of them when deciding on this career choice– they were once general practitioners after all. So I kind of want to continue what they had been working so hard for."

And to be honest, his accident on that rainy day also played a part in her decision as well. She was just too embarrassed to say it out loud to him. It would make his head big for sure.

"Besides, if I could create such a killing drug with these hands, so with these same hands I could surely do the otherwise, couldn't I?"

That last sentence sounded more like a question rather than a statement to him. He could sense a sign of uncertainty in between her determination. Her slightly trembling hands that she brought into her view as she said it proved his intuition all the more.

He smiled nevertheless, before he clasped one of her palms with his, interlacing his fingers with hers. He bent himself a bit to her eye level as he brought the back of her held hand to meet with his lips– he gave it a kiss.

"You're right. You definitely could."

His words of assurance were ringing in her mind now, but she couldn't hold the tingling sensation of his kiss from creeping its way up to her arms, neck and ears, making her cheeks as red as ripe tomatoes. It annoyed her so much that he always found his way to make her feel all mixed up like this, and the fact that it actually helped her relief her muddled thoughts riled her inner ego even more.

A sudden call of their names from Ayumi sent her brain a jolt. She pulled her hand right away from his and threw her head to the other side trying to hide her blushes from everyone to notice. Little did she realize that she reflexively kept that one hand so close to her chest, cupping it with her other one as if she was trapping the lingering warmth of his lips in between her palms. Meanwhile, Shinichi brought his now free hand to the nape of his neck as he answered Ayumi back sheepishly with an apology for walking too slow.

"That reminds me, Shinichi-nii. Will you be going to our cultural festival next week?" The sweet girl asked curiously.

"Cultural festival?" He was kind of taken a back; it had been so long since the last time he went to such an event.

The girl nodded.

"You should come and see it." She said with excitement. "Our class will do a ma–"

"Aren't you suppose to fetch Chii from her day care, Tantei-san?" Ai cut her best friend's speech abruptly with her dark sweet smile. The talk about the upcoming school festival had somehow pulled her senses back to earth.

It left Ayumi flabbergasted although the detective didn't buy her attempt to interfere at all. He knew she tried to hide something from him again, like in those other day on her birthday and on the day when Eri visited him at the hospital. Even so, he acted along with her. So, responding to her like he was just getting reminded about his agenda for the day, he bid his goodbye to the detective boys and rushed himself toward the day care.

He saw her sigh in relief when he was walking away from the group. Only with that small gesture of hers, it was successful to turn his mind restless. Just what thing would their class do that it embarrassed her that much? Well, perhaps he would check it out himself next week.

But for now, he was just glad that Ai had found the one thing she truly wished to do for herself.

Author's Note: Maybe just like some of you out there, but imagining Ai as a doctor was something that I had in mind for a long time. She was truly looking her best when wearing the white coat (haha).

Hope you like this chapter too! As always, please give me your comment and review. Happy reading!

Disclaimer: All characters of Detective Conan are belong to Aoyama Gosho. I don't own any single of them.