File Eighteen: I'm Sorry, Conan

"What?!" Genta screamed. "You're saying that guy is-?!"

After checking every single place on the train with the help of the children, the detective's eyes had opened, widely, and then hurried off to the bathroom. At first, Genta had thought he had eaten something bad, until the girl had quietly broken the news to him.

"Shh!" Ayumi hurried to cover Genta's mouth. "Don't be too loud, Genta-kun!" then she continued, in a whisper. "Shinichi-oniisan asked me to keep it a secret."

"So Conan-kun was right," Mitsuhiko crossed his arms, deep in thought. "Shinichi-san is definitely hiding from someone else."

They didn't say anything else, as the detective walked out the bathroom. Mitsuhiko noted the way he placed his phone back into his pocket and realized he might had done that so he could call somebody in a quieter place ─ there was a big ruckus outside, after all.

He clapped his hands to gather everyone's attention, and it worked instantly. It was impressive how easily he could get people to listen to him while keeping his identity in secret.

"Everyone, please hold yourselves tightly," he said. "This will be rough."

The three kids didn't have the time to say anything as Shinichi ushered them to a nearby seat, and told them to embrace each other, tightly. "Don't let go, okay?"

"But why?!" Genta complained, loudly. "I thought we had time until sunset!"

"The train's hasn't broken either, right?" Mitsuhiko added.

Shinichi positioned himself in front of the children. "Of course not," he held into the railhand and smirked the same way the children had seen Conan do, plenty of times, when he discovered something. "We're going to move away from the bomb."

Right after he said that the train took a sharp turn as it changed its course. Little by little, the speed started decreasing.

The three children looked at each other, fear on their faces, before closing their eyes shut, waiting for the impact.

Which never came. They blinked owlishly when they felt the train finally coming to a stop, so they confused eyes flickered towards the window, to see that they were in the station, and gasped.

Shinichi laughed, good-heartedly, as he stepped away from them.

"It was you, Shinichi-san," Mitsuhiko accused, without any real anger, as they got off the train. "You figured were the bombs where and called the police."

"Eh?" Ayumi gasped. "Where were they? We searched all over the train and there wasn't anything!"

"Maybe it wasn't on the carriage," the freckled boy thought out loud. "It must have been under the train."

Shinchi chuckled. "Wrong," he told them. "The answer is 'between the rails'."

"Huh?" Genta was confused. "How did you know?"

"I realized when I thought over the second condition. That it would blow off without sunlight," he explained. "Guess that happens when the train passes over the light sensor for a long time."

The three kids awed, amazed by his deduction abilities, and decided that this guy was definitely Conan's older brother, without any doubt.

At the thought of her other friend, Ayumi took out her badge, earning curious looks from the rest. "I'm going to call Conan-kun and tell him we're all okay," she clarified.

"That's a good idea," Mitsuhiko nodded. "He sounded quite worried before."

"Ah," they all looked at Shinichi, who had a strangely uncomfortable expression on his face. He put his hands together, as if pleading, and asked. "Could you guys please not tell him I am with you?"

The kids just stared at him, silently, before nodding at each other.

As soon as the girl had reassured his friend and told him they were all okay, they heard a sigh of relief.

"I see. That's great!" he breathed out. "I'm sorry I wasn't of any help."

"Don't worry," Genta paused, and the three shared a mischievous grin before he continued. "Because Shinichi-niichan figured out where the bombs were right away!"

Conan took a sharp breath and Shinichi paled considerably.

"What?! Is Shinichi-niichan-?!

The voice stopped abruptly, and the badge was stolen from her hands. They all looked at the panicked older boy with matching sweet smiles.

Yet Shinichi knew appearances could be deceiving. Hell, he had freaking Conan for a brother.

"I thought we had a deal," he sighed, feeling very exhausted all of sudden.

"We didn't agree on anything, Shinichi-san," Mitsuhiko told him, and the other two nodded.

His eyebrow twitched. Is Conan's behaviour contagious or what?

"Besides, it wouldn't be fair to Conan," Genta pointed out, crossing his arms in front of his chest while frowning a little. "Not after everything you've been putting him through."

"Everything I've been putting him through?" Shinichi was genuinely confused.

"Even if he tries to hide it, it's obvious that Conan-kun is very worried about you," Ayumi had a determined, and a bit angry, look on her eyes. "So you better apologize to him next time you see him!"

Looking at the group of children that were frowning at him, Shinichi decided he would never mess with Conan. Not only the kid was disturbingly scary when he wanted to, but he now had a group of very loyal and overprotective friends watching his back.

Conan leaned into the seat of the car and looked through the window, absentmindedly watching the buildings passing by them. After he had learned that one of the bombs from the Circular Railway had been placed on top of the bridge of the Sumida Canal ─ which he clearly remembered it featured on Moriya's gallery ─ he had suggested that the arsonist was targeting Moriya Teiji's designs.

There he was now, on his way to the mansion. He was lucky Kogoro couldn't remember how to get there or he wouldn't be there now.

His fingers played with the detective badge. It had been a few hours since Ayumi's call, yet he still couldn't get it out of his head. As soon as the girl had mentioned his brother being there, they had hung up, so it wasn't hard to imagine Shinichi snatching the badge from her hands to end the call. But why would he be so desperate? Why hadn't he wanted Conan to know he was on the train?

Why was he there, anyway?

He had said he had learned about the other bomb on the news and had correctly deduced that Conan was the child that got injured by trying to save the people living nearby. Maybe Shinichi had come to solve the case because his brother was involved.

A certain, familiar lamp brought him off his thoughts. A children's park, he noticed. Come to think of it, isn't that the place where the bomb's timer stopped?

They arrived at their destination not long thereafter. While sitting across the man, for a moment, Conan watched Moriya lighting up his pipe with a long match before standing up, curiously looking around the room. His eyes fell on an old framed photo of a family. A boy was smiling while holding a woman's hand, standing close to a man.

"That is a photograph from when I was ten years old," Moriya commented when he noticed the child staring. "My mother and father are in the picture with me."

"Oh?" Conan then looked at the architect. "Now that I think about it, your father was pretty famous as well, right?"

"He was a world-famous architect, particularly renowned in England. I really liked his architecture..." Shiratori explained to him, then paused, and looked at Moriya. "He passed away, if I remember correctly."

"Fifteen years ago, in a fire at his holiday villa, together with my mother. It was at that time I inherited this mansion."

"It was around about that time that your designs started coming into the limelight, wasn't it, Moriya-san?"

Conan noticed Kogoro giving a suspicious look towards Shiratori's way. The older detective's eyes narrowed and the child couldn't help but sigh tiredly. There he goes again. Coming into another stupid conclusion.

"Eh? Well, I suppose so."

The viciously sweet smell of the pipe hit Conan's nostrils, almost causing him to cough as a reaction to it. Then, his eyes opened in realization.

Quietly slipping out the room, the child gave the famous architect a last look before running through the halls. Ayumi had said there was a strangely sweet scent when the criminal got closer, yet could it be that just a coincidence? His brain said yes, most of the time it would be just a coincidence.

But he had the feeling it couldn't just be it.

Conan closed the door behind his back and walked closer to the gallery. His eyes fell on the bridge, then on Moriya's other creations which had been bombed. Something must be different in these, he frowned. But what is it...?

Upon closer inspection, he noticed something amiss. His mouth hang open as he realized.

"These buildings..." he mumbled to himself.

"They are not entirely symmetrical."

His heart skipped a bit as he spun around, startled by the voice. There stood a teenager, wearing a hat, smirking at him as he leaned over a table, which was covered with a black sheet. Once the initial shock had died down, Conan's eyebrow twitched.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. "Or, more importantly, how did you get in here?"

"Well," he let out an awkward laugh. "I kind of snuck through a window."

Conan blinked, annoyment now all gone and replaced with confusion. "You did what?" the boy stared at his older brother as if he had grown a second head. "You, the Great Detective of the East. You, the one that seeks the truth and helps justice do its job. You, of all people, illegally broke into Moriya Teiji's property?"

Shinichi flinched. "When you put it like that it sounds pretty bad."

Ignoring his brother's comment, Conan rushed to the window and looked down. There were guards all around the building, which proved that the security was pretty tough. "How did you pass through?"

"... I know a few tricks."

"Tricks?"

"Somebody taught me how to, okay?"

"... Who was-?" then, he sighed. "Actually, nevermind. I don't think I want to know."

"Your wish," Shinichi shrugged. "So, Conan, tell me. Do you know who the criminal is?"

Conan turned serious again and strolled back towards the photographs. He gave them a long, pensive look before sighing loudly.

"The arsonist is Moriya Teiji himself."

There was no room for doubt in his statement, and that amused Shinichi a little. "Wow. That's quite a big claim to make," he commented. "So, what is your proof?"

The boy, in turn, shook his head. "I have no proof yet, but I'm certain it's him," his eyes sharpened. "The bridge and the apartments that were targeted are strangely asymmetrical, which is weird considering his obsession with it. There's also the sweet scent Yoshida-san said she smelled, that could be from his pipe. And..."

Conan hesitated, looking at the floor while frowning.

"... And I have a strong feeling that it's him," he said in a whisper, almost if he was embarrassed to say it louder. "I know it's quite illogical, but..."

His voice died down and his eyes didn't look up to see Shinichi, not even once. The older brother stared at the younger, with thoughtful eyes, before he let of a soft chuckle. Before he could ask what was so funny, Conan felt a hand resting on the top of his head.

He looked up, taken aback.

"Having a good intuition is essential to be a detective," he ruffled the kid's dark locks, much to his annoyment. "So don't be embarrassed by it. You did a terrific job already, little Holmes."

Shinichi noticed the way Conan scratched the back of his head and looked away, clearly embarrassed. He hadn't denied being a young detective, which he had usually did, and that had taken him a bit by surprise.

"There's something I still can't understand," the kid said after a moment, his hand raising to his chin as he thought. "What's the true reason behind challenging you? I don't think it is only to cover up."

"The reason..." he turned to the table. "... it's right here."

With that, he pulled the sheet. Conan's eyes opened at the sight of what was hiding under it and stood on the tip of his feet. Shinichi noticed his lack of height and raised his brother in the air, so he could see better.

Any other moment he would have protested, loudly so, but he was far too concentrated in what stood in front of his eyes to pay attention to it. In front of him was a city mockup, and a golden plate that read:

My vision of a new town ─ City of Nishitama

The lampost he had seen on the children's park was there, and suddenly everything was beginning to make so much sense.

"It's a perfectly symmetrical new town," Conan realized. "So, all of this happened because you sent the ex-mayor to jail?"

"You made it sound like it is my fault all this happened."

"Not really," shrugging, he spoke as he was put down. "I guess it's not really your fault if the mayor made a deal with a complete sicko."

"Fair enough."

With that, Shinichi walked past the child and opened the door. Conan watched, with curiosity, as his brother peered from the doorway, looked both sides, before stepping into the hallway.

"Where are you going?" asked the child as he followed close.

"I'm looking for proof," he opened the door to Moriya's study, and sighed. "Now, if you were to hide a very incriminating disguise, where would you do it?"

Conan guessed he was referring to the disguise he used when meeting with Ayumi and the others. He thought about it for a moment, before his eyes fell on a set of armor in the corner of the room.

His brother watched, cluelessly, as the child dragged a chair close to the armor and hopped on top of it.

"I have no idea," his hand played with the decorative hair on the helmet. "But Moriya-san might know."

Shinichi noticed the smirk on his brother's face and he couldn't help but wonder.

"Say, Oniichan," the little boy looked at him. "How good are you at handicrafting?"

The teenager blinked in reply. "What are you going to do?"

"A small art project," Conan replied, then extended his hand to him. "Pass me the scissors."

Shinichi noticed the scissors laying on the desk, right next to him, and hesitated for a moment. He glanced back to Conan, who wasn't even looking at him, and sighed. "Here," he passed them to him. "What-?"

He heard a snip and the next second Conan was climbing down the chair with the decorative hair on his fist.

"That should count as serious property damage," Shinichi facepalmed.

The kid gave him an 'are you kidding me?' look while putting the chair back on its place, behind the desk. "So is burglary," Shinichi couldn't really argue against that. "Now, sit there and be very still."

The teenager complied, after watching with uttermost confusion as the child climbed the desk, using the same chair he was supposed to sit on. Then, he grabbed the tape.

Shinichi figured he should've expected it when he started to stuck the hair together, using his head as a base.

"I remember the facial composite Yoshida-san and the others showed me," noticing the detective's puzzled face, he explained. "And I think I can more or less replicate it."

"Isn't this forging evidence?"

"We're just going to trick him into telling us where he hid his true disguise. Now, stop asking questions and stop talking. You move a lot when you do that."

"Yes, yes. I don't really want to be a murder victim."

"What did I just tell you?"

The older boy said nothing, just stared ahead as he let his younger brother do his work.

There was a look of utter concentration as he put more tape on the strands of fake hair, and suddenly he was remembered of the times he played with his old paints, when this child was a toddler. A thirteen year-old Shinichi would watch his brother splatter paint all over the cushions, walls, and curtains as he tried to draw on his paper, but still act as if he was a refined artist creating a wonderful piece of art.

Shinichi frowned. It hadn't been actually that long ago, yet it really seemed like it had. Now he wondered when was the last time he had seen the little boy do something like that.

Speaking of which, did he ever have to do any art project or something?

Shinichi recalled, after all, having to do a lot of those when he was in first grade, and Conan was already in his second year at elementary school. It kind of made him feel a little bad. Even before leaving Beika, he didn't remember seeing him doing anything of that stuff.

He hadn't spent much time home, he realized.

And he hadn't realized it until now, but there was much about the young boy he knew nothing about.

"Even if he tries to hide it, it's obvious that Conan-kun is very worried about you."

What Ayumi had told him had really taken him by surprise. Now, he knew Conan cared about him ─ even if they hadn't been so close lately, they were still brothers ─ but he hadn't put much thought on how all of this truly affected him. Even his friends ─ a group of seven year-olds ─ had taken notice before Shinichi himself ─ a detective, for crying out loud ─ did.

Suddenly the high school detective felt Conan's hands stopping. He was only staring at him, an eyebrow raised.

"Could you stop staring into my soul like that?" he spoke. "It's rather creepy."

"A-Ah, sorry," he hadn't really noticed he was staring.

Conan sighed, then removed his glasses and gave them to him. "There should be a black water-based marker somewhere in the drawer."

Shinichi nodded, understanding what was he trying to do. "You know, Conan, there's something I have been wondering about."

"Huh?"

"As you already know, I met your friends recently," he commented. "They seem to be really fond of you."

Conan nodded, not clearly understanding where he was trying to get to. "Your point is?"

"Why are you still on family-name basis?" the boy paused at that. "For example, just now, you referred to Ayumi-chan as Yoshida-san, yet she still calls you Conan-kun. Isn't that weird?"

The child returned to his work right away. "You are rather hypocritical sometimes," he commented, confusing Shinichi a little. "Ran-neechan told me you used to be so adamant in calling her 'Mouri-san' and having her call you 'Kudo-kun'."

"... I-It's different," he tried to argue as he looked over the desk to find a marker.

"How so?"

"You see, I..." the teen trailed off when he noticed something standing in the corner of the desk and held it on his hands. "... This lighter is kind of weird..."

"A lighter? But Moriya-san used a long match to light his pipe a few moments ago..."

Both brothers looked at each other, blinking twice, when realization dawned on them with a gasp. Shinichi fumbled with the object until he eventually managed to open the cover and take the damned batteries off.

Once out, the two sighed in synchrony.

So lucky...

"I see," Megure sighed. "You can't think of anything at all."

"I'm sorry not to have been of any use," Moriya replied, pretending to actually feel bad about being useless to the investigation.

"Well, if you think of anything, please contact me," standing up, the inspector looked around for something that was missing. "Where has Conan-kun gotten to?"

"Here!" a childish voice sounded all over the room.

On the doorway stood Conan, hands behind his back as he smiled back, cutely. That could've fooled anyone, but Kogoro knew from experience that he was up to no good. He was about to inquire where he had been all this time, until he noticed something far more important.

"Hey, brat, where are your glasses?!"

"They fell and I stepped on them," he replied, almost innocently. "But I have a more pairs back home, so don't worry!"

Kogoro gumbled something about 'annoyingly rich parents', 'spoiled brat' and 'expensive glasses', but he ignored all it. He just walked up to Megure and offered him his phone, which he had been holding behind his back. "Shinichi-niichan is on the phone," he explained. "I told him everything, and he says he knows who the arsonist is."

Moriya felt a chill running down his back. Just now he could've sworn that, for a slight moment, the little boy's eyes fell on him, a knowing smirk drawing on his features, before he returned to his young, innocent self.

"Kudo-kun did?!" the inspector hurriedly picked up the phone and pressed it against his ear. "Kudo-kun, is it true what Conan-kun said? ... I see... Everyone needs to assemble in the gallery."

After giving the phone back to its owner, Megure asked Moriya to guide them there, and he asked to stop by his study first. Conan had to hold his laugh as he watched him, from his spot on the doorway, cross the room and pick his golden lighter up.

It happened again, when the criminal found his city mockup, standing there in plain view.

His phone rang again, and he knew it was time. "Oh, Shinichi-niichan!" he chirped once he picked up. "We're in the gallery already."

"Your childish voice is giving me the creeps," Shinichi sighed.

"Okay!" he pretended not to hear that, then pressed something on his phone. "I used the hands-free button so everyone can hear. Just like you asked."

Everyone looked at him, expectantly.

"The fact is I've figured out the true nature of the arsonist and the bomber on this incident," the high school detective spoke.

"Wait a moment!" Kogoro stopped his deduction. "I have also figured it out. The culprit is-!"

"-definitely not Detective Shiratori," interrupted Conan, with a plain voice.

"... He's not...?" the man trailed off. "Hey, how did you know I was going to...?"

"You kept looking at him whenever he spoke about Moriya-san's father," he turned back to the phone. "But he isn't the culprit, right, Shinichi-niichan?"

"Not at all."

Mouri defleated at his words, and Shinichi took his cue to give out his deduction, taking everyone else in the room off guard. Conan just held the phone, silently listening to his brother, watching Moriya's face darkening as his crimes were explained.

"Isn't that so?" Shinichi finished.

"That's an interesting deduction, Kudo-kun," Moriya laughed. "Unfortunately, however, you have no evidence."

"Oh, there is. Right behind the model case."

Shiratori instantly went around it and found it. A brown wig and beard, along with black sunglasses. At the sight of it, Moriya paled.

"Impossible! They were in the safe in the study...!"

"Ah, so there is where they actually are!" Conan flipped his phone close as he went towards the fake disguise and picked up his glasses, wiping them with his napkin. "Thank you for giving us that information, Moriya-san!"

The criminal sweated, profusely, when he realized the mistake he had committed. Shiratori went to apprehend him, but he stepped back and pulled out his lighter.

"Nobody move!" he screamed. "I'll explode the bombs I have planted around the mansion."

"Oh, good luck with that," Conan picked something from his pocket and showed the batteries to him. "Because you seem to be missing these."

Moriya was finally handcuffed and to be arrested, but the man still found reason to laugh. Conan's froze in place when he told them that there was still one more building that he wanted to erase, and one look towards his gallery told him where it was.

Beika City Building?! Then Ran-neechan...!

He heard hurried footsteps on the hallway, and it didn't take much to realize it might be his brother running out the mansion. Conan paid no mind to that, just stared mouth wide open, at the arsonist before taking his phone out to call Ran.

"Conan-kun?" her voice filled his ears. "Did something-?"

"Ran-neechan! Go outside, right now!"

There was a loud bang on the other side, and suddenly Conan couldn't hear anything anymore. "Ran-neechan, are you okay?! Ran-neechan!" her father took the phone away from his grasp, desperately calling her name over and over, before throwing it back to him when there was no reply.

Kogoro angrily grabbed his shirt and shook him around, before he was held back by Megure and Shiratori. Then, Conan noticed a piece of paper sticking out his coat.

The next moment, he was jumping on him and taking it away from him. In his hands was a blueprint for the bombs.

"I'm sending this to Shinichi-niichan," Conan explained as he snapped a photo of it. "Knowing him, he must be already there."

"Wait, we're sending in the bomb disposal team!" Megure tried to reason.

Conan sent it anyway. If there was something he could be sure about his brother, is that he would do anything for his dearest childhood friend. Even if it meant risking his life.

"Hey, boy," Moriya spoke. "Tell Kudo this: 'I made three minutes especially for you. Enjoy them wisely'."

The little boy had absolutely no idea what that meant, but still gave him a last glare, before he left with Kogoro and Megure.

"Ran! Where are you, Ran?! RAN!"

It was heart wrenching to see Kogoro this distressed, but understandable, considering his daughter was in there. That building that currently was burning, flames dancing in front of their eyes.

A crowd had formed behind the firefighter's trucks, watching at the flames burning everything in sight. Panic was settling in, and Conan struggled to remain calm all in all.

His brother was inside. He was going to be okay. Ran was going to be okay.

Shinichi was surely going to figure out a way out, right?

He has to.

Conan flipped open his phone, not paying attention to the car pulling beside him, or the fact that Shiratori and Moriya stepped out it. He looked to the last message he had sent his brother, where he told him about the three minutes for a moment and wondered what it meant.

He began to type.

"How are things on your end? Are you okay?"

A ping told him his brother had replied.

"Ran is deactivating the bomb and I'm helping her. We have seventeen minutes until it explodes.

But with the blueprints you sent me it should be more than enough. We're almost done"

Conan glanced at his watch. It will explode at three past midnight. That's oddly specific.

A loud explosion brought him out his thoughts and caused his heart to skip a beat. He sighed in relief at the realization that neither Ran nor Shinichi were in that zone.

Kogoro still panicked. Megure tried to get him to calm down.

"Don't worry," Moriya's voice was so calm that was terrifying. "You still have fifteen minutes until your daughter is blown up."

"You jerk! Tell me how to stop the bomb!"

"It's a special bomb. Even if someone could disarm it, the last wire will decide their fate," his lips curved into a evil smile. "It's the last one."

The last wire?! Is there another one after the others in the blueprints?!

Moriya was confident, sure that his plan would work even if Conan had stolen the blueprints from him. What was there to say for certain that Ran would fall right on his plan?

The clock hit midnight, signalizing the start of Shinichi's birthday. Three minutes left...

What did he mean with those three extra minutes...? Could it be that he was telling him to enjoy his three minutes of his birthday?

Then his eyes opened. How had he known about Shinichi's birthday?

There were two minutes left. Kogoro was in despair, Megure shouting orders to the bomb disposal team, and Conan was just staring at Moriya's sneer of victory. There should be something...

"Well, I plan to get him something on Saturday," Ran words rang on his head, from when she had been talking to Moriya a week before. "Just like me, he likes the colour red, and for the month of May, red is the lucky colour for both of us."

... Oh, no.

Shinichi groaned on his spot close to the door. "Damn it!" he cursed. "Which? Which is it?!"

"Shinichi," her soft voice came from the other side, and he paused his panicked fit. "Happy birthday, Shinichi."

It took the boy by surprise, as he hadn't remembered it until now, and it made sense. The reason Ran wanted to see him today and that Conan had refused to tell him.

The boy paused, taking in everything that was happening and spoke.

"Cut it. The colour your like, just cut it."

"What if I'm wrong?"

"It doesn't matter," Shinichi smirked. "If time runs out, we're doomed."

Ran was speechless, gripping her scissors tightly on her shaking hands. There were less than two minutes left and the pressure was killing her.

"Don't worry, I'll stay right here until you cut it," he said, tenderly and comforting. "If we die, we die together."

At this moment, the detective truly wished he could say he didn't have any regrets, but he couldn't really. With sad eyes, he gazed towards his phone, the photo of the blueprint his little brother had sent him on the screen.

He hated to do this to him. To leave him alone in this big world all over again, and this time for real. But he would be okay. He had his parents and a group of wonderful friends to watch his back.

Conan was a brilliant kid that was sure to grow into a fine young man one day. He smiled softly.

Too bad I'm not going to be around to see you grow up.

I'm sorry, Conan.

Another nearby explosion had him move away from his spot to avoid being crushed by rubble. He stood back, looking at the door, when he heard his phone ringing.

It was Conan.

"You have to stop Ran-neechan right now!" he screamed, confusing the older boy for a moment. "It's a trap! Don't let her cut the red wire!"

Shinichi felt his lungs freezing up.

00:02:32

Conan stared at his watch as he heard Shinichi on the other side of the phone, desperately shouting Ran's name and to not cut the red one.

00:02:40

Damn, she can't hear him!

00:02:43

His teeth clenched as he watched time go by, and wished it would just stop.

00:02:45

And his grip on the phone tightened, listening as Shinichi still tried to be heard by Ran, but no avail.

Would be this the last time he would hear him...?

00:02:50

Before... Before he...

00:02:52

Conan felt his grip on the phone suddenly slaking, dropping unceremoniously on the floor. Yet nobody cared, too focused on the fiery scene in front of them.

00:02:53

And suddenly, it was hard to breath. All sound was completely gone.

He had thought his brother would get away from there, because he was Kudo Shinichi... But there was something he had failed to realize...

00:02:54

Kudo Shinichi was only human, the desperation on his voice from just a few seconds ago was proof of that.

00:02:55

And so was Mouri Ran, the girl trying to deactivate the bomb to save everyone in that building. Just one little, tiny mistake and...

00:02:56

Like so, the child stared with a lifeless expression and waited for the inevitable.

00:02:57

He wouldn't cook with the girl he cherished so much, that had grown to become a sister figure that he held very dearly. He wouldn't walk to school alongside her and hear her complain loudly about her lazy father and elusive not-boyfriend.

00:02:58

He wouldn't hear his brother's voice over the phone anymore, teasing and scolding him all the same. He wouldn't roll his eyes everytime he denied liking Ran, or hold back a sigh every time he promised he would be back soon.

00:02:59

Ran-neechan...

Oniichan...

00:03:00

00:03:01

There was silence.

00:03:02

00:03:03

And sounds filled the place again, upon the realization that nothing had happened.

Conan fell on his knees, and slowly curled into himself, his forehead pressing against the ground.

It's over, he let out a relieved, yet watery laugh. It's finally over.

Because of the commotion, nobody noticed the crystal tears rolling down his cheeks that had just escaped from his tightly shut eyes.

A/N:

ajjr12: Soon, I promise :)

XxThe-Crest-Of-AnubisxX: They met in chapter 11, I believe, at the diplomat murder case.

Lieutenant Myst: The day will come before you know it, don't worry :)

Dy: That's an interesting theory lol! I wonder what would happen if was actually true XD Fun fact, by the way, 'summer breeze', as you call it, was actually supposed to appear in chapter 18, but there were things I needed to write first so it had to be put in a later chapter. Had I realized it actually happened in volume 18 I would probably introduced her in that chapter lol.