File Nineteen: A Mysterious Woman in Black

Conan was running, as fast as his little feet let him, holding Ran's gift bag tightly against his chest.

Once he had seen Ran safe, yet sad because she hadn't been able to meet with Shinichi in person, he had taken her bag from her hands and bolted.

He didn't care Kogoro was most likely going to ground him for a month after running off in the middle of the night. He didn't care that Ran was pretty much going to agree wholeheartedly and make sure he fulfilled his grounding. He really didn't.

That bastard, that was the only thing he could think about right now. Where did he disappear to this time?

He passed by an alley, and stopped suddenly.

Listening carefully Conan could hear a labored breathing, and for a moment he didn't know what to do. Bad things happened to children in dark alleys ─ or at least, that was what adults used to say a lot.

Peeking around the wall, he froze. Even in the dim light, he could see a figure he would recognize anywhere, leaning against the wall for support and holding his chest, as if he was feeling an excruciating, unbelievable pain.

"... Oniichan?!" Shinichi's head shot towards him at the sound of his voice. Ignoring the shocked look he sent his way, Conan rushed towards him. "What's wrong?! Are you hurt?!"

"C-Calm down, Conan," he said, with something that was between a smile and a grimace. "This... This is nothi-"

He gave a small scream, clutching his chest tighter, which did nothing to calm the little child's nerves. Conan went even closer, small hands on his shoulders and Ran's gift forgotten on the cold pavement.

"What do you mean with 'nothing'?!" he cried, then shuffled through his pocket to pull his phone out. "I'm calling an ambulance."

"No!" there was such an urgency on his voice that it actually caused to Conan stop. "Please, I can't see a doctor."

Conan gave his brother a long look and, to the latter's surprise, he complied. He just put the phone back.

Just like I supposed, the kid's eyes narrowed a bit in concern. All of this has to be related with the drug that girl, Sherry, spoke of.

He said nothing, just stood in front of him as his brother recovered. Little by little, Shinichi's breathing slowed to a normal rate and his chest seemed to stop hurting. As he watched the older boy standing up, rather wobbly, he realized why he had ran off so suddenly.

Ran-neechan wouldn't have let him go without seeing a doctor first if she saw him in this state.

"So, you're leaving again?" Shinichi looked back at his brother, who sighed, loudly, with a nod. "I knew you would."

The older Kudo frowned, slightly.

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

At first sight, one could mistake Conan's posture ─ hands behind his head and half opened lids as if in annoyment ─ as indifference but he now could see better. He saw a kid, worried sick about his brother, resigned to see him go once more.

Frustrated, because he could not stop him.

"So you better apologize to him next time you see him!"

So, the teenager kneeled in front of the surprised child, so he would be on his eye level, and wrapped his little hands around his. His eyes softened and a sweet smile appeared on his face.

And Conan just stared back, blinking.

"I'm sorry," the older brother began. "I'm sorry I never realized how much my absence affected you. I heard you were so worried about me, yet I have never paused to give that any thought."

Conan opened his mouth to speak, then hesitated, and closed it shut. Even so, Shinichi simply waited, patiently, while the child seemed to think how to put his thoughts into words.

Eventually, the little boy voiced his question.

"When are you going to be back?"

For a moment, the oldest Kudo considered telling him it all was going to be over soon, but there was something in Conan's eyes ─ something he wouldn't be able to describe, even if asked ─ that didn't let him lie his way out this time around.

"To be honest to you, I don't know. I'm involved with something big and I really don't know when I will be back."

Conan's gaze dropped to the floor.

"But there is something I'm certain of," the child looked up at him at those words. "It doesn't matter if it takes me months or even years, I'm definitely coming back to you, Conan. Back home."

The little boy didn't know what to say to that, so he avoided his gaze and picked up Ran's bag. Shinichi only blinked at him when he, rather roughly, pushed it against his chest.

"Take it," Conan grumbled. "Happy birthday, I guess."

The birthday boy hesitantly took it and couldn't help but smile a little when he inspected its contents. Inside was a red shirt and what it seemed to be a book wrapped in paper.

Before he could say anything in return, Conan did. His eyes remained fixed on the ground, though.

"... You promise, right?" his voice was unusually small and childish.

The little child looked up when he felt his own hand move, only to realize that his brother had locked Conan's pinky with his and was holding them right in front of him, wearing a big grin on his face.

But it was the confidence and determination on those blue eyes of his that ressured Conan that, yes, everything was going to be fine.

So, he smiled as well.

Mitsuhiko and Genta blinked at each other before turning their heads to continue to stare at the source of their puzzlement, sitting right in front of them. Conan didn't seem to notice yet, not taking his nose off his book, humming a song to himself as he turned a page over.

"... He is humming," the bigger one whispered to the other, a serious look on his features. "I'm not hearing things, am I?"

"No, I can hear it too," the freckled kid nodded, his eyes trained on their friend. "There's no doubt about it, something is off about Conan-kun."

They paused, listening carefully to the soft humming coming from the boy. After awhile, they sighed, sweatdropping.

"Well, that is normal," Genta commented.

"I thought we could figure something out if we knew what song this is but..." Mitsuhiko trailed off. "I guess Conan-kun wouldn't be Conan-kun if he could carry a tune in a bucket..."

"Seriously, I knew he couldn't sing for his life, but to think he could hum this bad..."

"... You're well aware that I can clearly listen to everything you're saying, right?"

Both boys flinched at the other's voice, yet remained calm when he didn't even look at them, returning to his book with a slighter annoyed posture. Just then, Ayumi came inside the classroom, and was dragged back outside by the boys.

Conan sighed tiredly, flipping another page.

"What's wrong with you, guys?" the girl asked, quite confused at their friends' behavior.

"Did you see Conan?" Genta said, exasperated. "He's acting weird!"

Ayumi thought for it for a bit. Now that she thought about it, Conan had really looked different when she saw him that morning when walking to school. He was smiling a bit to himself, and it seemed like he was less tense than he normally was. It was as if there was radiant, bright aura around the boy.

"He's just very happy," she replied after a moment. "Conan-kun met with his brother last weekend, after all."

"But didn't Shinichi-san leave right after that?" Mitsuhiko added. "He was down for a few days last time that happened."

"Do you think he finally lost it?" Genta added, a bit concerned.

Ayumi giggled. "I think he's okay," she assured them, making her way back to the door. "Maybe they said goodbye properly this time."

"That's right..." the shorter boy nodded.

Conan watched his friends walking back inside the classroom, and continued reading. The three kids stood, as usual, close to his desk and started to talk about random things.

It seems like Yoshida-san talked some sense into those idiots' heads, he remembered what his older brother had said about his way to refer to his friends and mentally corrected himself. No, Ayumi-chan did.

"Hey, did you hear, did you hear?" the girl exclaimed, excited for some reason. "There's going to be a transfer student today in this class!"

"Eh?!" Genta was surprised. "Really?"

"I wonder what this person is like!"

"I hope she's cute," Genta's eyebrows wiggled.

"No, no," Mitsuhiko waved his finger. "Whether it's a boy or a girl, personality comes first."

"Hey, Conan-kun," the boy looked up when he heard his name. "What kind of person do you think this kid is like?"

He leaned his head on his open palm. "Who knows," he shrugged. "We'll find out in a few minutes, anyway."

"Ayumi," the big boy called. "Didn't you see that kid in the teacher's lounge?"

"Yeah, I asked the name. They said it's Haibara."

"That's a unique name," Mitsuhiko commented.

"But I guess it's better than Conan."

"Well, excuse me for that," he pretended to be irritated, but the slight amused smile on his face gave it away. I'm still going to get revenge for that, Oniichan.

The three laughed, loudly, but were interrupted by the sound of the door opening. All eyes focused on the short, strawberry blonde girl that was making her way inside the classroom with the teacher smiling right behind her.

Everyone stared in awe at the new student, whispering to each other as the teacher and the girl walked in front of the classroom. Kobayashi sent everyone to their seats, and Conan couldn't help but sigh to himself.

The girl was cute, he would give them that, but he still couldn't understand why everyone was making such a deal with this one. It wasn't like there was something special about this new student besides her beauty. Not that they knew of, anyway.

Besides, in that harsh world he lived in, looks weren't everything. Intelligence and adaptability was far more important to survive.

Or so he thought.

She quietly glanced around the room until her eyes stopped moving, focused on a certain spot in the entire classroom. Despite himself, the boy flinched when he noticed where she was looking at.

Icy blue eyes, devoid of any kind emotion, were staring right into his soul.

A strong feeling of familiarity caused his body to stiffen and his eyebrows to frown, confusedly, as he held her gaze.

"Okay, she's Haibara Ai-san, who will be learning with us starting today," he didn't even realize Kobayashi finishing writing her name on the blackboard until she spoke. "Everyone, be friendly, alright?"

Even if Haibara herself didn't look particularly friendly, Conan thought to himself.

"Now then, Haibara-san's seat will be..."

"Sensei, here!" Genta pulled the chair next to his desk. "The seat next to mine is free!"

But Haibara had yet to break her stare away from Conan, even as she started to walk. The boy watched as she passed by Genta, surprising everyone, before settling into the spot next to Conan.

... Eh?

He only stared as she silently began to take out her books, finally looking away from him and blankly staring at the spot in front of her.

"Nice to meet you," her voice was stoic and cold, just like snow.

"Uh... Yeah," and then, he put his book back and began to pull his stuff out.

He didn't give it any more thought. Maybe Haibara was just another ordinary socially awkward kid, he decided as he focused back to the teacher.

Yet, he couldn't help but feel incredibly uncomfortable as he sat in class, next to this unusually quiet girl. A few times, he even caught her staring at him.

Every single time he would ask what was wrong, yet she wouldn't answer. Haibara would only frown a little before returning to her work.

He was beyond glad when the class was over and Haibara, wordlessly, stood from her seat and left, but mentally sighed when he spotted Ayumi running after her.

"Haibara-san!" Ayumi called, coming to a stop right next to her. "Let's go home together."

Haibara merely glanced at the girl, before continuing walking.

"Just leave a struck up woman like her alone," Genta seemed to still be mad after being rejected by her.

But Ayumi refused and went up to the new kid to continue her attempts to make a new friend, causing the bigger boy to scoff.

"Now that I think of it," Mitsuhiko pondered for a moment. "Doesn't Haibara-san remind you of Conan-kun a little?"

"Huh?" Conan didn't understand.

"You don't have play dumb," Genta frowned at him. "Like you don't remember pushing us away the first months after we met."

Finally the boy with glasses was able to understand what that meant, so he looked away from them, slightly offended. "Rude," he glared at them. At least I tried to be polite and didn't downright ignore them... much.

Mitsuhiko smiled apologetically before walking faster, catching up with the girls in an instant.

"Where do you live?" he asked her, with a friendly smile on his face. "You just moved here, right?"

"Don't be shy," Ayumi did the same. "We'll take you home."

Haibara paused.

"Beika Block, Second street," she said, quietly and tonelessly, and for some reason seemed to glance at Conan by the corner of her eye. "That's where I currently reside."

Not only Conan was startled by the revelation, but the other three kids were as well. Genta even gasped, loudly and said:

"Wait, Conan, isn't that close to-?"

Both Mitsuhiko and Ayumi shook their heads, furiously, from their spot behind Haibara, causing the bigger boy to panic. Conan sighed, tiredly, watching his friend wave his hands around and struggling to come up with some believable excuse.

"Yeah, I heard that's where that high school detective lived," he said, trying to cover up for him. "They say he mysteriously disappeared and nobody has seen him since last year, though."

Seemingly, it worked, because Haibara said nothing and kept on walking. The rest started to talk about other mundane things, quickly forgetting about that topic.

But Conan could have sworn he saw that mysterious girl smirk at him for a slight moment. Puzzled about her antics, he stopped right there, blinking.

It was like she knew something Conan did not.

"Hey, what's up with you?" Genta gave him a friendly nudge. "You like that stuck up woman?"

Conan winced at that, and furiously shook his head. "N-No, definitely not!"

Sighing loudly, he resumed his walk back to the lockers, his face tinted a bit red. Damn, was I staring for too long? No wonder I gave him the wrong impression, he thought. Still, there's something about that girl that doesn't feel right.

By the time Genta and Conan caught up with them, Haibara was getting out her outdoor shoes from her locker.

"Detective Boys?" they heard her ask. "You guys?"

"Yes, in order to solve everyone's case, we're working day and night," Mitsuhiko proudly claimed, earning a look from Conan.

"You should join us too, Haibara-san," Ayumi offered.

Please, don't do it, Conan cringed.

Call him cruel, or whatever, but there was something truly unsettling about that girl and he really didn't want her in her circle of friends.

"Is Edogawa-kun in it too?"

Conan was seriously tempted to tell her that no, he certainly wasn't on the group, when Genta's big hand fell on his head and ruffled his hair.

"Yeah, this guy is like my apprentice, though."

Wow. First a villager and now an apprentice? he glared at his friend. It has been clearly me the one solving every single case...

Even through the cases usually consisted in finding missing cats which would turn out to be gruesome murders because that was just his luck.

"All request are sent to Genta-kun's shoe-locker," Ayumi explained, pointing at the paper they had tapped on it that read:

"Difficult cases are greatly welcome!

Class 2-B

Detective Boys."

"All the requests are to be left in there," Mitsuhiko added.

"Although we're keeping it a secret from the teachers," Genta smiled.

"Eh?" Conan blinked. "Were we?"

The three looked at him, scandalized. "You didn't tell anyone, did you?!" they all screamed.

"There's no need to, they already know," said the boy, with a plain voice, then pointed at the paper on Genta's locker. "Did you truly expect them not to notice that?"

"Well..." they looked at each other, doubtfully.

Conan resisted the urge to facepalm.

"It doesn't matter if they know," Genta decided, quickly, going to open his locker. "Everyday, everyday, it's awesome. The letters from those who are in trouble," he peeked inside, and noticed it empty, his lonely shoes standing on the middle of the compartment. "Nothing here... That's weird! There's usually more in it, but today just happens to be..."

The three kids laughed, nervously.

There isn't any in there usually, either, Conan thought, making his way to his own locker, and taking out his shoes.

"I'm going home," he declared. "I'm grounded, and I definitely don't want Ran-neechan extending it by another month."

"You are grounded?" Genta blinked, confusedly. "What did you do?"

This caused the boy to give him another are-you-serious look, thus shutting him up. Genta then laughed nervously, and went to fetch his own shoes, when he noticed a note inside and gasped. "Hey! It's a request!"

That really took them by surprise. "Really?" Ayumi brightened, and Genta opened it to read.

"Dear Detective Boys;

I'll wait for you in Class 2-A after school.

Please and thank you.

─ Nakada Toshiya."

"Then, let's get going!" Mitsuhiko declared. "To Class 2-A!"

Conan complained loudly when Genta pushed him forward, vocally reminding him he had to return home right away. "It's okay, it won't take that long!" the big boy assured him.

"You can hear what he has to say and then go right back home," the freckled one said. "Maybe you can give us a hint and then we can take care of it by ourselves."

Realizing he didn't have much say in that matter, the boy decided to come along. Soon, Ayumi and Haibara caught up with them and they all went inside the classroom.

Toshiya was standing in the middle of the room when they arrived, shifting uncomfortably where he stood. Mitsuhiko asked what the problem was, and Conan barely paid attention to it, wishing for it to end quickly.

Until he stated what his case was.

"My older brother disappeared suddenly," he explained. "He's ten years older than me. He disappeared in the afternoon one week ago."

His words had struck home.

What are the odds? Conan felt three sets of gazes falling on him, but he paid no mind, just staring at the child with sharp eyes.

The three kids then looked at each other, a serious expression on each on their faces, before returning to the quest in hand.

"Did you see him talking with somebody that looked extremely dangerous and suspicious?" Mitsuhiko asked.

"Did they wear completely black clothes?" Genta continued.

"Do you think he could be hiding from somebody else?" Ayumi inquired.

"E... Eh..." the boy didn't quite know how he was supposed to answer. "N-No."

Conan sighed, loudly.

And for some reason Haibara's eyes narrowed, slightly, yet nobody noticed.

"Anyway," Conan spoke up, as he watched Toshiya's distressed face. "Let's go to his home. We'll talk after that."

Nobody questioned him, even if he had seemed to forget about the fact that he was actually grounded. Mostly because they knew why he was that determined to find out the truth.

Because Conan would see himself every single time he looked at this boy's look of worry and fear.

"Check this out!"

"It's the super new style of air shoes!"

Conan wondered if bringing his friends along had actually been a good idea. He should've learned his lesson last time they had gone to investigate in his own house, back when he had been looking for Shinichi. They had basically turned his home upside down, mostly snooping around and checking out his place, rather than actual detective work.

"How is that relevant, exactly?" asked Conan, feeling suddenly tired.

"We now know that Toshiya-kun's brother knows a lot of brand names," Mitsuhiko proudly nodded to himself.

"Does he?" Conan turned to the boy, and he hesitated.

"Uh... I don't know," he pondered. "But those shoes were a gift from my uncle in America. I have a pair as well."

The two paused, then returned the shoes back to its place.

"I see..."

"We now know he doesn't!"

Even if he did, the Conan still failed to understand how was that important. Shrugging to himself, he went back to work.

Now, he wasn't completely sure what to look for, however. Unlike Shinichi, Toshiya's brother was not a detective, and Toshiya himself didn't look particularly adept to riddles either. Their cases were completely different.

At least there wouldn't be any mysterious, and equally dangerous, men in black roaming around the house this time around. God, that had been scary.

His mind went back to his encounter with the girl, Sherry.

It has been a long while and still nothing happened even if she saw me. Did she really keep quiet about my presence?

Tokiya noticed Haibara's lips twitching as he stared at the back of Conan's head. A very sinister smile sent a chill down his neck.

"His wallet is still here," Conan pointed out, as he picked it up from the drawer.

"And why is that relevant?" Genta argued.

The boy in question raised an eyebrow at him. "Because it means he didn't run away?"

"Oh..."

"Oh."

Suddenly, they heard Ayumi laughing, loudly. She came crawling from under the bed, with what it seemed to be a painting.

"What's this? There are lots of weird drawings under the bed!"

Genta took a look of it, and started laughing as well. Haibara, however, didn't.

"Picasso," was all she said.

"Ah, that's true!" Mitsuhiko exclaimed. "It's the reproduction of The Crying Woman."

Conan walked closer before pulling out another few of them from under the bed. "Gogh, Monet, Gauguin," he observed. "They're copies."

"My brother painted them," Toshiya explained. "In high school, he was one of the best in reproducing famous paintings."

"Do you think someone would kidnap him for this quality?" Genta asked.

"It's not impossible," said Mitsuhiko. "If he paints copies and then replaces them for the true ones..."

"Not a chance. Even if his paintings are pretty good, the choice of colours and the impression are not perfect," his eyes moved to another portrait. "That one, however..."

It was a portrait of Natsume Soseki, Conan noticed. That one was particularly well made, to the point that he could've easily mistaken it for a photograph.

"My brother really likes this author. He adores this painting so much that he even presented this in a gallery," Toshiya told them. "But it looks like a photo so much that critics were hard... The only person that congratulated him was a strange woman. "

Conan frowned at that. "A strange woman?"

"Yes... She wore a large hat..." the boy trailed off, and then gasped. "Wait... Now that I think about it... She was wearing black clothes."

The three kids instantly turned around to look at him, shock written all over their faces, before glancing at a very pale Conan. There was a look of utter terror on his face.

"She was dressed in black from head to toe."

And Haibara, as always, quietly watched the kids with all-too-seeing eyes.

A/N:

XxThe-Crest-Of-AnubisxX: Ah, sorry, my bad! It was actually at the end chapter 4, the Roller Coaster Murder Case.

ajjr1: Soon, probably in a few chapters.

Dy: Sorry, since I won't probably live enough to write 158 chapters more... Here you have her XD! And about your suspicions, there isn't much I can say besides that Shinichi didn't jump into the train, he was there already when he called Conan. I think it wasn't clear enough when I wrote it, so sorry lol.