File Sixty-Eight: Following Through A Risky Plan

Footsteps were echoing in Conan's ears long before could recognize the sound. At first, he didn't think much of it, until the moment that he realized that they weren't coming closer, or further away either. As if he was the one who was producing them, except that he wasn't moving at all. He might have mumbled, or sighed, he didn't know exactly.

"Shh," but he might have, some part of his barely working brain realized, because a gentle voice hushed him, and hand fell on top of his head. "Go back to sleep, Conan."

He didn't protest, simply snuggled further into the comforting ─ and strangely familiar ─ warmth surrounding him and let go.

An unknown amount of time later, the sunlight suddenly hitting his eyelids caused the young child's face to scrunch up, turning his head to one side in a feeble attempt to retain his sleep ─ in vain, obviously. Groaning, the young detective tiredly opened his eyes to greet another day.

Once he did, the child felt momentarily confused as to what he was doing there, lying across some seats in Haido Central Hospital's waiting room ─ and why was there sunlight, anyway?

"Finally awake?"

The moment his eyes flickered towards Akai Shuichi his brain connected the dots and glared. "Liar," he accused, sitting up with a yawn.

Akai looked even more amused, if anything. "There was no reason for you to be at that strategy meeting," he stated. "Everything went exactly as you predicted it would."

"As we predicted."

Shrugging, the FBI looked away, not looking particularly interested in continuing that conversation. Conan took the opportunity to stretch and, sluggishly, glance around the room. At some point, the boy sighed, as if he had been looking for something he didn't find.

So it was a dream, huh? he frowned, his gaze falling on his feet, that dangled in the air because of his short stature. ... All of it.

He was suddenly brought out his thoughts when Akai suddenly turned around, seemingly having spotted something. Curious about it, he followed his gaze and realized that Jodie was walking towards them.

One look at the child, and the ex-English teacher sighed, rather loudly. "You are still here?" she raised her eyebrow at him. "I thought you had gone home already..."

Conan laughed nervously, and was about to say something about it when he noticed that none of the agents were actually looking at him, but to the adjacent window. Finding their reaction weird, he instantly stood up in the seat to look outside.

There was a fire, he noted, hoping against hope that it wouldn't have nothing to do with their case.

"Eh?" then, they heard the confused voice of the receptionist. "I'm afraid we don't have a patient by that name."

"No, it's not for a patient," there was a delivery man talking with the woman. "It's for an attendant."

Jodie got close. "That person is a friend of mine, but..."

Conan was jumping out of his seat and rushing to the place by the moment the man was taking a note from his pocket and reading from it. "The sender is..." he pronounced with a smile, unaware of the true meaning of his words. "One Kusuda Rikumichi-sama, it seems."

None of them three was able to conceal their shock, but didn't emit any kind of comment, as the worker, blissfully oblivious of the whole situation, gave Jodie the package ─ they seemed to be flowers, if the clearly visible pot was something to go by.

"Columbine," observed James, once they got the 'present' to him later on, outside the hospital. "They sent this to me?"

"Yeah," Jodie nodded. "Since they used the name of their member who killed himself last night, there's no doubt it. As a precaution, we acted as security guards and checked luggage of those entering the hospital."

"But why would they send this to me?" he studied the flowers carefully. "Columbine is a flower that grows in Colorado-"

"Obtain without failure," at the young voice breaking in, the three adults gazed at the child, whose face had adopted a severe expression. "That's what that flower means," he stated, leaving no room to doubt. "It also means 'clear victory'. Whichever the case..."

"... It's a declaration of war," completed Akai. "Isn't it?"

It was then when a car skidded to a stop right next to them, only to a worried father to come out with his very sick-looking daughter. It was followed by another car, then another and another. In no time, people were flooding the hospital ─ injuries from a fire, food poisoning and a disturbing odor, the reasons were endless. There was no doubt in Conan's mind ─ everyone's mind, for that matter ─ that the ones responsible for these accidents were none other than the Black Organization.

What... for a fact, Conan knew it wasn't that they were trying to infiltrate someone ─ as Akai had explained to the other two ─ but still was unable to figure it out. What is their motive?

Tick, tock... there was a distinctive sound that met his ears, prompting his entire body to come into a halt. Tick, tock... Tick, tock...

It was becoming louder, too. "Hey," turning to the source, he found himself face to face with the columbine flowers. "There's a sound coming from that flower pot!"

"Eh?"

Indeed, there was, everyone noticed. After inspecting it, Akai found a bomb under the plant, set to explode in little over thirty minutes ─ far too little time for anyone to try and defuse it.

There was nothing Conan could do but to let Jodie take care of it. Soon, Camel appeared and suggested that he would drive since he had knowledge of the area.

Well, Conan thought, with a sigh, as he watched both agents go. At least they have a car, instead of a borrowed bike...

"Something is bothering me," all of sudden, Akai commented.

"You mean Camel-kun?" James questioned. "I mean, he doesn't have the friendliest face, but..."

It would be highly hypocritical for Akai-san to judge someone by that...

"No, I mean the bomb. They were gracious enough to include a visible timer. Then, it was made to get louder so we would notice it."

"Also, isn't it strange?" it had bothered the kid a lot. "They gave us more than thirty minutes. It was almost as if they were asking the FBI to take it elsewhere to explode."

James Black seriously didn't know what that was supposed to mean.

The fact that many gifts of consolation had been delivered to all those patients had been slightly suspicious, but the fact that there was a bomb hidden in each and every single one of them had been terrifying.

"I'm completely better now!" by far, however, the most disturbing sight was Mizunashi Rena's smiling face, sitting in a bed in a hospital room, showing in each and every single TV in that hospital. "To all the viewers, I'm truly sorry for worrying you so much."

So, Conan stood there, in the midst of the crowd of people in the waiting lobby, eyes wide open with shock. She wouldn't do this, we made a deal with her... then, his body gave a jerk at the realization that suddenly struck him ─ he had seen that video before, it was probably edited.

They made their move, huh? the shock suddenly left him, causing a barely-noticeable smirk to make an appearance on his face. It's time, then...

Instantly, the kid began to make his way outside, maneuvering through the crowd of people so he could meet with James and Akai. ... to make our move.

He was so deeply immersed in his own thoughts, he didn't even pause to apologize to the random person he bumped into and continued on running ─ not even noticing the way the person turned around, slightly, and followed him with his gaze until the child disappeared.

... It's time, huh? the person thought, closing his eyes with a heavy sigh.

As expected, all FBI agents had gathered at Mizunashi Rena's room, so they could confirm that the woman in question was still in a coma. They were confused as to what that meant, until Akai graciously pointed out that there were transmitters planted in the bombs they had been recollecting. Therefore, the Organization now knew where her room was.

There was no other choice left but to leave the hospital. "It's time to go with the last resort I spoke of before," James announced. "We'll separate into three cars and escape the hospital in the confusion."

Ah, there it goes, thought Conan, crossing his arms behind his head. The plan they talked about that other time...

... Escaping in several vehicles so they wouldn't know which one she is in... Highly common strategy, his eyes narrowed. And dangerous, as well.

"Whichever agent is the bait will draw them as far away as possible..."

Well, if we get Agent Camel to drive...

"As for who will ride in each car-"

A loud noise caused James to stop his explanation, causing him to turn and look at the source. When he noticed that all adults were staring at his soul, the young boy flinched and instantly brought his phone out of his pocket.

He blinked, confusedly, at his brother's name staring back at him from the screen.

Before he could say, or do, anything, he felt his phone leaving his fingers. "I thought you would know better, boy," his eyes flickered to the source, and was horrified to see Akai holding the device with his right hand, while he kept the other tucked inside his pocket. "It's dangerous to use a phone in a hospital."

Conan could've sighed in relief when the man simply sent the caller to voicemail without breaking eye contact ─ therefore, not even glancing at the name on the screen ─ before handing it back to him.

That's weird, thought the child, giving the phone in his hand an odd look. I could have sworn I had turned it off...

Sighing, he pressed the 'off' button and continued paying attention, unable to get out of his head the thought that something was amiss. And wrong. Very, very wrong.

"Alright, let's destroy the transmitters in the bombs we already have," James continued, as if nothing had happened.

"No," Akai spoke up, however. "Do so only after you've heard me out."

Like so, the agent suggested that he had the perfect plan to take Mizunashi Rena out of the hospital and away from the people looking for her. After he told them all about it, James went silently thoughtful, nodding to himself as he pondered about it.

"The question now is who is to drive the car with Mizunashi Rena..."

"That's true," Akai nodded. "If they discover us and find ourselves in a position in which we need to lose them... We need someone who can take action in any situation. Someone who knows the area and has good driving technique."

"That would be you, Akai-kun."

"Wouldn't it be a bit too obvious?" questioned the child, blinking innocent eyes at the older man. "If they know it's Akai-san, separating into three cars kind of loses its purpose, doesn't it?"

James gave him a long look, before realizing he was right. Before he could say anything else, however, a hand rose in the air. "I will," Agent Camel came forward, smirk on place, and immediately after Jodie stated that it had to be him ─ he had shown her that his driving skills were amazing when they went to dispose of the bomb.

"Fear of death is worse than death itself," pronounced Akai, in English, while exchanging a look with his fellow agent. "No fear."

"I've been prepared for death from the start. I have no family to mourn my passing anyway."

There was something that bothered Jodie about that sentence, but ultimately kept it quiet. Conan looked at her for a moment, hoping that it didn't take a turn for the worst, before focusing back on the agent that was leaving the room.

... Being prepared for death, his eyebrows knitted together, his gaze still glued on him until he disappeared from his sight. That's right, if this plan fails, Agent Camel...

"Don't make such a face," he didn't even need to look to know that Akai was talking to him. "This is necessary for the strategy to succeed."

Silence met his statement. The boy's expression hadn't changed at all, but there was something that let the adult know that he had accepted it, even if he couldn't bring himself to like it.

"So, are you coming along?" the adult's voice came from the doorway now. "We should get going. I parked a kilometer away, just like we agreed."

"A-Ah, yeah."

After a jerky nod, the kid proceeded to step out of the room and patiently wait for the older guy to follow. Without so much of another word, Akai closed the door behind them with his left hand before leaving, causing the child to blink.

He then shook his head and hurried up to catch up with him, quietly.

There was something amiss, he realized with a faint frown. Something that he feared he was overlooking.

But what could it be? he brought his fingers to his chin, as he thought all over again the events that had happened in the course of those two days. For instance, why was my phone on when I had clearly turned it off the other time?

It might have been a mistake, maybe he hadn't paid attention enough and somehow did it wrong. Maybe he turned it on at some point and didn't quite register it... Nevertheless, it was weird. So incredibly weird that he...

"You're a weird one, boy," it wasn't until the man spoke that he realized he had been so deeply immersed in his own thoughts ─ Akai's Chevrolet was already in sight. "You have clearly been suspicious of me yesterday, and now you trust me enough to get in a car with me, alone."

Conan shrugged, not particularly bothered by the fact that this person had caught on it. "And you're an FBI agent that's willing to listen to the ramblings of an eight year-old," he pointed out.

"A very peculiar eight year-old. If I didn't know any better, I'd have believed you're older than that."

Conan made a face. "Please, don't joke about that."

Akai looked as if he wanted to ask about the story behind that reaction but ultimately decided not to say another word ─ an action that Conan was incredibly grateful for ─ just so he could open the driver's door.

For some reason, it caught the child's eye.

"You're left-handed," it came out as a surprised statement.

"Actually, I'm ambidextrous," the man replied right away.

Conan stared for a moment more than needed. "Oh," then, with a nod he opened the other door. "You do seem to have a preference to your left hand, though."

"You think so?" he chuckled lightly. "I didn't notice it myself."

The kid glared a bit, unable to understand what that man had found so funny, but the person on the receiving end seemed to be barely affected by that, simply starting up the car.

"It's quite unusual for a kid to be so observant," the man continued after a moment of driving. "To the smallest detail."

"I've always been this, I guess," his head turned to the side, still partly annoyed, looking at the side to the many cars in the street. "Is it wrong?"

"Of course not, if you're careful, that is," having spotted the car they were supposed to trail, Akai smiled to himself. "There are so many people that would be more than willing to land their hands in such a brilliant, young boy."

Frowning slightly, Conan took into his words before his eyes suddenly spotted something on the rearview mirror. Platinum blonde long hair, he observed the biker following them.

He didn't need to say anything to know that Akai had also taken notice of her, if the way he went serious all of sudden was something to go by. It's Vermouth, they chorused, in their minds, and Akai smirked...

Before he grabbed into the wheel, tightly, and sped up, narrowly passing by so many cars so easily that it would make the one and only Fujimine Yukiko envious. He was quickly approaching the FBI's vehicle, and Conan could already see the bike that had marked it. It was a man. Is that Korn? there was no other choice, he thought.

The moment both Korn and Vermouth seemed to take another road, giving up chasing that car, Conan let out the breath he didn't know he had been holding. Akai, who had remained calm throughout it all ─ as if there had been no doubt in his mind that everything would go according to plan ─ smirked wider, if possible and turned left, so he could park and wait for Camel's call.

And when he received it, Conan observed that Akai had used his left hand to pick it up ─ again.

"Thanks," the agent said to the person on the other side of the line. "Good job."

Then, he hung out. Conan and Akai exchanged a knowing look, not needing a word to convey what they both knew.

"Good job to you too, boy. Your plan ended up being a success."

"It was yours, too," Conan smiled, crossing his arms behind his head as he leaned back in the passenger seat. "It's nice to work with you, Akai-san."

"Don't get used to it," visually amused, he placed his phone back on his pocket ─ left hand again, Conan didn't let that detail escape him. "Next time, you should let us, the FBI, handle everything."

"Because it's dangerous?" Akai nodded at that, as he started the car again. "Then why did you let me in your car?"

"I've known people like you," Conan didn't quite expect something like that. "Once you're left with your own devices, there's not knowing what you're going to do next."

His surprised expression vanished into thin air, his eyelid twitching at the implications, before he huffed, turning to look outside. "Why do you care about what I do?" he grumbled, annoyed.

"Well, if I let something happen to you, there's a certain someone that wouldn't let me live it down."

Blinking, the boy turned to look at the man, annoyance now completely gone and replaced with curiosity. "Do you mean Ran-neechan?" he questioned, faintly remembering that Akai and Ran had met at least twice. Both times she had been just crying, which made him wonder if he had looked up into her or something to know she was scary beyond a doubt.

The agent didn't offer him an answer beyond a slight shrug of his shoulders, which made the child frown and look back into the road, a thoughtful look taking hold of his eyes.

"You're not hiding something from me, are you?

Akai glanced at him from the corner of his eye for a second, before returning to the road. "We all hide things from everyone," he settled with an ambiguous answer. "Even you, kid."

The child sighed, heavily.

"Look, I know you're from the FBI, meaning there's stuff that you have to hide from everyone, but..." he looked at him in the eye, the frown still there. "Could you just answer this? And don't lie to me."

To Akai, it was astonishing how genuine the concern glimmering behind the boy's glasses was, even if had really gotten to know him for a little over a day.

"Your life is not in danger, is it?"

Frankly speaking, Akai wasn't completely sure how to answer that question at first, but didn't let it show. His ever confident smirk remained in place, though.

Only that Conan didn't really know if it could be trusted.

"My life is always in danger," he was straightforward as he said that.

Yet Conan understood what he really meant. He had, after all, been working with them under the codename of Rye until he had been kicked out. Despite it, he hadn't gone undercover. He had been living as his own person, with little-to-no consequence.

If he was still alive, he couldn't see the reason why it would be any different now.

So, he forced himself to nod. Even if his gut was still screaming at him otherwise.

"So she was from the CIA, huh?" commented Haibara, as an afterthought. "That announcer, Mizunashi Rena."

"Yeah," Conan nodded, a smile etched in his face. "With her now back in the Black Organization again, at least it's in sight... Their destruction."

The girl in question gave him a long, blank look while they crossed the street, before sighing, her eyes fixing in the rest of their group of friends, plus Agasa, walking several feet ahead.

"I hope you are well aware you shouldn't underestimate them. Especially Gin."

"Yeah, it's not like you told me that a thousand times already," he rolled his eyes, before holding the soccer ball, which he had been carrying under his arm, between his two hands and started juggling with it. "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

"Do you, really?"

He decided not to answer that.

"So? Did they say if that Eisuke guy went into the Witness Protection Program?"

"No, I heard he didn't like the idea. It seems the FBI is still trying to persuade him, though."

She fixed her gaze on the sidewalk he was walking in. "No surprise," she muttered. "I refused as well."

"Well, you have become a different person, it's no wonder people don't like it," he paused, holding the ball in his hands for a moment. "... It's not, like, the saner idea, but..."

"What are you implying there?"

"A-Anyway, he's with Jodie-sensei and Akai-san now, so he should be alright."

Haibara smiled a bit. "This Akai person..." she commented. "I want to meet him at least once."

She didn't miss the way he flinched. "Why?" he did his best to keep his voice even.

"No matter how clever you are, you're still in elementary school. A smart and capable FBI member listening to the ramblings of a child... Doesn't that interest you?"

"No, not really."

After a brief moment of confusion, her eyebrow rose. "Why is that?" she questioned, her tone very plain and dull. "Is there a reason I shouldn't meet him?"

You mean other than the fact that he basically became your sister's lover so he could get into the Organization, therefore causing her death?

"Hey."

"H-He isn't as interesting as it sounds, really. All he does is stand there with an arrogant smirk, barely talking..." then, he continued in a whisper. "... Heard he's a bit crazy, too."

Her expression barely changed as she studied him for a moment, before looking up ahead and walking faster, passing by him in an instant. "If you think I'm so stupid to believe something like that," she glanced at him from over her shoulder. "I might also be stupid enough to burn that copy of The Sign of Four you lent me last week, to ashes, by complete accident."

"... You wouldn't dare..."

"Wouldn't I?"

"I knew you were evil but that's way over the line, Ai-san-!"

"EH?!"

Both children stopped on their tracks, completely forgetting about the banter they were having to blink, dumbfounded, at the three kids that were now staring at them, eyes so wide with shock that made Conan shift, uncomfortably.

Haibara seemed to be hardly affected by their intense gazes, though.

"Conan..." Genta breathed out.

"... didn't you just..." Ayumi was quite surprised by the looks of it.

"... call Haibara-san by her first name?!" and Mitsuhiko was, undoubtedly, the most stunned out of the group, pointing at them both with a scandalized look on his face.

Conan took a step back. "W-Well..." he stammered. "I kind of did, didn't I?"

"But why?!"

He glanced briefly at the girl in question, as if pleading for help, to which she didn't react, just continued gazing at him with an indecipherable look. Thanks for nothing, he groaned, before turning to look back at his friends.

"... She gave me permission...?" it sounded weak, even in his ears.

"That's weird..." pondered Genta, more confused than agitated about the fact. "I thought only Ayumi was allowed to call her that."

"When did you get so close with Haibara-san, Conan-kun?!" Mitsuhiko didn't seem like he would get over it anytime soon, though.

Ayumi just watched, quietly still, as the boy's cheeks acquired a lovely rosy colour. "Don't say things like that!" his voice rose a bit higher than usual. "I didn't-!"

"Certainly, I don't remember..." Conan's loud protest came into a sudden stop when Haibara's plain, bored voice broke through. "... ever giving you permission, Conan-kun."

His eyes darted to her, mouth open yet no word coming out. She simply shrugged, an amused smile crossing her features, before walking by the boys without so much of another word, only followed by Ayumi who, after taking a moment to give Conan a last thoughtful look, she continued on walking.

The brown haired girl gazed at her friend for a second, before a sweet smile crossed her face. "Aren't you glad, Ai-chan?"

"About what?"

"You and Conan-kun are getting along again," Ayumi continued, grin unwavering. "I have been so worried about you two!"

The scientist studied the young girl for a moment, bewildered upon realizing how genuine her smile just now looked. "It doesn't bother you?" she breathed out, shocked.

"I must admit I'm a bit jealous..." she gazed at the ground, smile wavering for a second, before coming back at full-force. "But you two are part of my dearest friends, I couldn't stand seeing you acting so distant from each other!"

It took a moment for Ai to compose herself, but the shock never truly receded. She just masked it with an amused smirk, eyes focusing back on the road ahead. "You're amazing, Ayumi-chan," she admitted, in a soft voice. "Truly."

That seemed to confuse Ayumi, if the way she blinked owlishly was something to go by.

"Don't worry, though. I have no interest in Conan-kun," she added, with a non-chantlant tone despite the fact that the tip of her lips were twitching upwards. "I'd even gift wrap and hand him over to you, if it ever came to that."

"Ai-chan, don't be so mean!"

Meanwhile the bespectacled boy just continued staring at the two girls laughing amongst each other a few feet ahead. Not minding the weird looks his two friends were giving him, he felt his eyebrow twitching. She didn't say 'Kudo-kun,' he reminisced. She called me 'Conan-kun', didn't she?

Agasa could only laugh, nervously, telling the group they needed to get moving, even if they wouldn't stop staring at the young sleuth, who had huffed irritably, arms crossed in front of his chest as he downright glared at the scientist in front of him.

... What am I supposed to make out of it?!

Like that the group entered New Beika Hotel, hoping to get a nice day at the buffet, have fun and certainly not bump into any dead bodies or something ─ maybe it was Conan who was thinking about death, he guessed he had grown a bit paranoid.

"Amazing! There's so much food!"

"Yeah, there's an endless number of things to choose from!"

"We can all eat as much as we want?!"

"Of course you can," replied Conan, calmly, as he crossed his arms behind his head. "Just make sure not to overdo yourselves."

The three kids cheered, rushing to get some of the food, a sigh escaped the boy as he watched his friends go. "Well, aren't you excited?" asked Ai, walking right beside him.

"It's just food," Conan's boredly looked around. "I would have prefered it if we got to play soccer or-"

He came into a halt, causing Haibara to blink, confused. That feeling got more prominent when the boy started to walk, without saying anything else, but drained when she noticed where he was looking at, and now it was her turn to sigh. "Hey," so she grabbed into his ear before he could get to the desserts' section. "You can't eat dessert first. It's the other way around."

"There's not a law that forbids it... Besides..."

Her eyebrow rose, expectantly.

"It's... cheesecake."

This time, she didn't bother to keep her gaze on him, just pressed a hand against her face while she sighed, as if wondering why she was even trying.

Sounds of a siren caused the two to look away from each other and towards the window, not entirely surprised to see several patrol cars parking right in front of the hotel. Haibara simply gave Conan a pointed look, who groaned, exhausted all of sudden.

Not uttering any further word, the young boy took off running, hoping to catch up with Takagi and, hopefully, drawing out any kind of information from the poor, unsuspecting detective. It went without saying that he succeeded with little-to-no effort, giving out a few clues for him to gather suspects in exchange.

Figuring Inspector Megure wouldn't like that, Conan gave him a sheepish grin the moment their eyes connected. It seemed as if he was right, because the man sighed heavily before turning to look at the two men that Takagi had considered suspicious 'because Conan-kun said they were.'

His friends stood for him, claiming that the inspector had no right to chase him out considering what he had done. Laughing at that for a moment, he focused back on the other people in the room.

Suspects were those men ─ foreigners, fluent in Japanese ─ and his secretary, who had found the body, a foreigner as well and incapable of writing Japanese very well. The victim had been found on his desk, multiple bullet wounds in his torso.

"Inspector!" Detective Chiba burst inside. "We found another one! He's a pretty suspicious sweating foreigner that was hurrying down the stairs!"

Quite frankly, the young detective didn't expect to see Agent Camel anytime soon. Certainly, he would have never imagined that they would see each other not even a day after they said goodbye, in a murder investigation.

Not to say that Camel was a suspect. And was wearing a sweat suit ─ whatever the reason.

By the look he gave him, Conan was pretty sure that the same thoughts were running through the man's head. As he passed by the group, the child stared at him with wide eyes and Camel held his finger close to his mouth, pleading him to keep it down.

Ah, right... The fact that he's an FBI agent here in Japan is being kept secret from the police...

... For how long, though? At this rate...

He figured the answer was something along the lines of 'not long', given that he basically told the police that he had been training, since keeping his body in shape was vitally important for his work.

"And?" the question obviously came. "What kind of job do you have?"

Camel froze. Conan sighed.

"There's one obvious reason he won't answer..." when Mitsuhiko spoke from beside him, arms crossed in front of his chest and a focused frown on his face, Conan figured he wouldn't like that. "It's because his job... is clearly..." he then pointed at the agent. "A professional hitman!"

... How did he jump into that conclusion?

"Those ugly scratches on your face must've been left by one of your victims!" Ayumi exclaimed, completely convinced by her friend's deduction, causing Camel to unconsciously bring a hand to the band-aids he had all over his face.

"Your face is that of a professional killer!" Genta yelled.

More like that of a gorilla.

"Well," Haibara closed her eyes. "It's obvious he isn't a tourist, right?"

... Not you too...

"That's true," even Agasa decided to offer his opinion to everyone else. "It isn't normal to be training while traveling..."

Camel looked as if he was between the sword and the wall. "This guy is actually-" so Conan decided it fitting to try to lend a helping hand to him.

"What is it?" it kind of backfired, since Haibara settled her sharp, suspicious gaze on him. "Do you know him?"

She elbowed him, and soon everyone else was into him.

"Do you really, Conan-kun?! Could he be an internationally wanted criminal?!"

"He's a real bad guy, right?!"

"Yeah, if he was good, he wouldn't be hiding!"

"... Seriously, guys..." Conan backed away from their intense staring. "What kind of movie script have you written in your mind?"

"Then," Haibara's eyes narrowed. "What is the true story?"

The boy did his absolute best to not flinch and to let out a fairly coherent reply to that question but, sadly, he didn't succeed.

"Just as the kids said, unless you have something to hide..." Megure pressed further. "You can tell us what your job is."

Camel certainly didn't succeed either. Noticing this, the bespectacled boy had no other choice but to quietly slip away from the group and pull out his phone. Why do I always have to solve everyone's problems? he mentally huffed, looking through his recent contacts for Jodie's phone number.

His eyes fell on the name that was on top and he paused. Come to think of it, he called the other day all of sudden at the hospital, he pondered. Guess I forgot to call him back.

... What did he want, anyway? It hadn't been long since he last called...

"Answer my question! What kind of job do you have?!"

Deciding he would deal with that later, he snapped out of it and contacted Jodie, who thanked him and promised she would be there as soon as humanly possible.

So, ending the call, the young boy sighed for the eleventh ─ or was it twelveth? ─ time this hour.

What a pain.

A/N:

Gamelover41592: Mostly in order to protect him. If they ever found out that Akai was actually alive, and that Conan knew all along, it could be dangerous.

CherryGirl 21-6: Well, I guess you can try to guess... But most of the time not even I know I'm going to do it XD