File Seventy-Six: The Mysterious Red Guy

"Well?"

"Well… What?"

When Ai's eyebrow raised far above her hairline, Conan knew he wasn't going to get out of it easily. "I just heard you pronouncing Jodie-sensei's name." He winced at that. "Don't you dare to say that nothing happened."

Conan faltered, mouth opening in an attempt to figure out a believable excuse. "Jodie-sensei is..." But then, Mitsuhiko's voice rang through. "... an FBI agent, right?"

At the sight of his other three friends standing right in front of them, having stopped their walk so that they could face him, the young sleuth could barely be surprised. With a sigh, he did the same, and was about to tell them something along the lines of 'Jodie-sensei called to tell me her phone number changed', but suddenly halted.

He gave them a long stare, before turning to the scientist, who stood beside him, arms crossed in front of her chest, expecting an answer. "What did she say?" she pressed, and he bit his lip. "Conan-kun."

"I… I don't want to scare you, Ai-san, but..." with a defeated sigh, he said to the entire group. "But if you… any of you see someone suspicious around, tell me about it immediately." His eyes narrowed, gaze stuck onto the pavement. "So that I can inform Jodie-sensei about it."

Followed by his words, the boy quietly resumed his walking, silently passing by his friends, who just stared back at them, dumbstruck. "Wait!" Ai was the first one to react, instantly catching up to him. "Does that mean-?"

"Bourbon." Her breath caught in her throat at that name. "The FBI believes you're their target, Ai-san."

She didn't offer him any kind of response beside a tight frown making appearance in her features. "I think it was about time, huh?" Her lips stretched into a strained smirk. "For them to make their move against me."

"Don't worry!" They both turned around, blinking owlishly at the trio that was running their way. Ayumi's smile was always present, despite the situation at hand. "We will watch for anyone suspicious around Ai-chan! Right, guys?"

"Yeah!" Mitsuhiko nodded, emphatically. "We won't let anything happen to Haibara-san!"

"It will be okay!" Genta grinned. "We're the Detective Boys, aren't we?"

"Hey, guys." Conan raised an eyebrow. "You better not get yourselves in danger, you hear me?"

A laugh rang on his ears, prompting the boy to blink confusedly and turn to see Ai, from all people, trying to hold it in behind her hand. "Talk about the pot calling the kettle black."

In response, the boy huffed irritably, finding himself unable to shoot something back at her. Both Ayumi and Genta were staring at her, blinking owlishly.

"Pot?" The girl's head tilted slightly. "Kettle?"

Genta turned to look at the bespectacled boy instead. "Are you going to cook something, Conan?"

The two children were absolutely confused when their friend sighed, pressing a hand against his face without uttering any further word. "That's a proverbial idiom, Genta-kun," explained Mitsuhiko, with an awkward smile on his face. "Haibara-san is just calling Conan-kun a hypocrite."

"Oh." Genta seemed to accept it right away. "That makes sense."

"Eh?" Ayumi placed a hand on her chin, deep in thought. "But the pot in my kitchen is red… The kettle is grey, too."

Seriously… Just drop it already, please. Sighing, he looked away from his group of friends and fixed his eyes in the road ahead. Eh? Blinking, the boy stopped, almost making Genta bump into him in the process. Evidently, the bigger boy complained loudly, but he paid no attention to it.

All that he could hear were the crows squeaking, using the power lines as a gathering spot. Right behind there, it was…

"Say, guys..."

"Eh?"

"Beika City, second district, number 23, Mokubasou… Is the place where Sugiura lives, correct?"

"Y-Yeah."

"... Oh."

"Why do you ask, Conan-kun?"

Wordlessly, the kid pointed ahead. His friends were horrified to see that Sugiura Kaito's apartment building had been burned down, only the remains of what used to be his home remaining for the crows to gather together.

"Then what about that boy?" said Ayumi, worriedly. "What happened to Kaito-kun?!"

"Maybe he was caught in the fire and..." Mitsuhiko mumbled.

"No, that boy Kaito is safe," but then, a voice behind them joined in. "He got a few burns, but he was rescued by one of the firemen. He's asleep at the hospital."

Everyone was glad to hear those news, smiling at the inspector standing behind them. Conan recognized him as Inspector Yuminaga, who he had seen in some other cases prior to this one, and asked him if someone else had died. Luckily, nobody had died since only Kaito and his father had been inside when the fire started, even if the man was in the ICU right now.

His mother had been away on a trip, but came back immediately when she was informed. And the three other residents were, for one reason or another, out at the time of the fire and didn't come back until that morning.

"It's got to be one of those three who set the fire, doesn't it?" Genta frowned, confusing the inspector a bit.

So Ayumi clarified for him. "Yesterday Kaito-kun told us that one of those three people was doing suspicious things at night!"

"But when we came here to investigate we found out that this had happened!" Mitsuhiko added.

The inspector fell thoughtfully silent at that, until the moment that one of his men handed him something in the remains of the fire. It was a notebook, Conan observed as the inspector began to look through it. "This must be Kaito-kun's diary," he concluded. "The last page says April 28th. That's yesterday."

Then, he proceeded to read it.

"April 28th:

The weather has been bad since this morning. I have to get up early or I'll miss school, but I bet the red guy can sleep in late.

When I got back from school, I fell down in the entryway. I'm glad the white guy was just coming out.

Tonight the red guy, the white guy and the yellow guy are all going out. My dad and I are alone together. I want to play some more but the detective club is coming tomorrow, so I should go home early.

Who is it? Someone came home in the middle of the night. He's arguing with my father. It's the yellow guy. I wonder if my dad found out about the suspicious things he's doing. It's scary, so I'll cover my ears and go to bed.

I hope Edogawa-kun is feeling better and comes by tomorrow, so that I can tell him about this."

Conan's finger went to his chin automatically. Those were definitely the three residents, and whoever was the yellow guy was obviously their culprit. But, if they didn't understand who was who, it was all for nothing.

Per his request, the three residents were brought forward. Carefully, he observed the three of them: an overweight man with black hair, a black-skinned guy with a bandage stuck on his face and man with glasses and reddish hair.

Conan sighed tiredly. By looks alone, there is no correlation with those three colors. Well, I guess I'll think of something… He shrugged, opening his mouth to say something that, hopefully, would bring him closer to figure out who the yellow one was.

But a hand fell on his shoulder. Just as he was about to sigh again, and tiredly ask Ai what he had done wrong this time, the grip on his shoulder tightened. Huh? Her fingers were digging on his skin.

And then, he saw it. "Ai-san?" The absolute horror plastered on the young scientist's pale, sweating face. "What's wrong?"

Ai didn't reply, just gripped into his shoulder like dear life. Wait… He felt his blood freezing in his veins as he realized it. Could it be…?!

Distantly, he could hear the crows croaking while they took flight, but paid no mind. One of them is the arsonist. Just stared at her for another second before his gaze fell on the suspects, and was painfully aware of the fact that all three of them had their eyes glued to them. And another, is a member of the Organization.

If she just leaves now, it will be suspicious. Frowning slightly, he shifted in a vague attempt to hide Ai's face from plain view. But if she stays...

Just as he was straining his brain for a way out, her grip loosened. Blinking, he looked back at the girl to realize that she was back to normal, looking surprised and as confused as he was.

"It… went away," she whispered, mostly to herself.

"What?" he muttered back. "Can it… disappear just like that?"

Of course the kids were all around her, gazing at her with concern evident in her eyes, and just then she snapped out of it, letting go of Conan with a small smile in her face.

"Do you know who it came from?" Conan questioned, now that the grown-ups' attention was on the case rather than them. "That scent that the Organization members have."

"Eh?" Ayumi's eyes were wide, just like his other two friends. "Ai-chan can sense them?"

Ai gave her a small nod, eyes narrowing as she watched those three once more. That glare that impales its prey… That pressure eating into my guts, she thought, doing her best to ignore the worried glances that her friends exchanged right in front of her. I felt it. I definitely felt it.

But now it was like it had never been there to begin with. Haibara had never been so confused in her entire life.

Conan contemplated her for a few more minutes, before turning to his other three friends. "Say, guys..." Instantly after that, three sets of eyes were fixed on his form. "You said… you would protect Ai-san if anything happened, right?"

"Of course!" Genta looked almost offended. "Who do you think we are?"

"The Detective Boys." All three blinked at that answer, watching as his lips stretched into a smirk. "Let's solve this mystery and get Ai-san out of here, quickly."

For a second or so, none of the children said nothing, just stared back at their friend until their eyes glinted with something akin to determination, nodding firmly, and shifted their attention to the three suspects.

All the while, the scientist was staring at the bespectacled detective. Before long, a snort escaped her lips. "I think I told you this a long time ago." Conan gave her a curious glance, showing that he was listening. "I'm not a weak princess that needs to be protected."

It took Conan a second to reply. "That's true, you are not." His hands slid inside his pockets, eyes closing for a swift moment. "You aren't weak, even if you think you are. Even if you were alone, I'm pretty sure you could protect yourself." Hell, the girl had handled a gun on her own the day they met ─ he was absolutely sure he would never forget that. "But..."

The boy was now smiling softly, gazing ahead and contemplating something with such a fond look in his eyes that it caught her by surprise. Soon he realized that their three friends were a few meters ahead of them, talking with the inspector about something they couldn't hear from their position.

"But you aren't alone," finally, Conan spoke up. "So why would you go through all this on your own when you have friends willing to help you out?"

Ai was left without words ─ a sight that secretly amused the boy, but didn't comment on it. Just let out a short chuckle, taking a step forward to begin his investigation. The girl followed, quietly.

"Oh, look at you." But then, out of the blue, she giggled. "Contrary to popular belief, you've grown a lot, Conan-kun."

"I don't want to hear that from you." He let out an irritated huff. "We are the same age, if you haven't forgotten."

"Did you forget I'm actually a year older?"

"That's basically the same thing."

"A year older means a year wiser."

Conan rolled his eyes, doing his best to ignore the satisfied smirk that she was flashing his way, and deeply wished he had said nothing. In hindsight, he should have seen this coming.

For a beat, none said anything, prompting Conan to mentally sigh, relieved at the fact that she had decided to stop for now...

"Physically speaking, you didn't grow a lot, though."

"Give me a break."

"This is Shin-chan! Isn't he cute?" Little Shinichi blinked at the foreign woman standing right in front of him. "Shin-chan, aren't you going to say 'hello' to Sharon?"

But Shinichi didn't even react, just observed her with an intense, curious gaze.

"Shin-chan!"

"It's okay, Yukiko," smiled the blonde woman who, far from fazed at the staring she was receiving from the nine year-old, crouched in front of the child. "He's also Kudo-san's kid, after all. Observing, trying to pick up the smallest detail about my person..." There was a strange grimace in her face, which lasted for a few moments, before she looked back at the woman. "Must be hard to live with two mystery lovers."

Yukiko sighed at that. "Will most likely become three…" Instinctively, her hand went to her swollen belly. "With Yu-chan and Shin-chan around, I don't think he is going to turn out much differently..."

"So?" Shinichi silently watched the woman standing up and directing her attention away from him and to her. "When is that little one going to meet the world?"

"Around November this year." Yukiko's grin was so bright that it was almost blinding. "I bet he's going to be as adorable as Shin-chan when he was born!"

"All newborns look the same." Shinichi's nose scrunched ─ he had made his research, and had seen photos, too. "They are ugly."

"Shin-chan, don't talk like that about your little brother!"

"What's the problem with that? It's not like he can understand me."

"Shinichi!"

In response, the young boy shrugged and placed his hands back inside his pockets. His mother looked irritated still, and leaned forward to scold him so more, "Here," when a rose popped up from nowhere, right in front of her face. "A beautiful rose for a beautiful... young lady."

Shinichi didn't miss the way his mother laughed, boisterously, turning to glance at the young boy ─ of his own age, Shinichi presumed ─ that was handing her the red rose he had apparently produced from nowhere. "Kaito-kun, right?" Her smile was a bit too tight, and it honestly scared Shinichi a bit ─ and, by the looks of it, it unsettled that kid named Kaito as well. "It's good to see you have learnt some… manners."

Then, she took the rose and, with an innocent smile, admired it. The magician kid barely battled an eye, and produced another rose, offering it to Sharon.

"Wow, such a talented young fellow." At the compliment, Kaito grinned. "Where were you keeping that?"

"Inside his pants' pocket." The boy blinked, grin vanishing into something, before turning at the other child, who gave him a bland look in response. "You were hiding the rose with the palm of your hand, then flicked your hand, revealing it." When Shinichi promptly yawned, Kaito frowned. "Such a boring trick..."

"It's not a trick!" Kaito argued. "It's magic!"

"Stupid, magic doesn't exist. It's just an illusion created by playing with people's perceptions."

Shinichi was barely affected at the sight of the other boy growling slightly, glaring at him, or his mother trying to get him to stop. Sharon was just watching them, a tight but amused smile plastered on her face.

"Kaito!" A male voice sounded in his ears and, instantly after, the child in question flinched instinctively. "What did I tell you?"

Turning around, he saw a man. Tall, with an uncanny resemblance to his own father besides the thin pencil moustache framing a gentle smile. "A true magician must always be respectful with his audience."

He then kneeled down right next to him. Shinichi stared back, unblinking, at this mysterious person that looked familiar, and wondered where he could have possibly seen him.

In return, the man opened his hand, turning it from side to side to let the child see he didn't have anything. "Even to this curious young man..." That same hand reached for his ear. "... with the eyes of a detective."

He brought it back again prompting Shinichi's eyes open wide with shock at the sight of a white dove standing over his finger. The bird took flight, circling around him before ascending to the blue sky, leaving both children to stare, mouths hanging open.

Kaito had a broad smile plastered all over his face, eyes twinkling as he awed, thoroughly amazed. Shinichi on the other hand, just stood there, mesmerized with the bird becoming smaller and smaller as the distance between them became wider.

Slowly, his eyes tore away from them and met with the magician's, who merely smiled at him.

Shinichi, in turn, frowned. "Who are you, mister?"

"Why don't you tell me instead?" The child blinked, confused. "Your pockets."

Immediately after those words were pronounced, his hand went to his pocket, and was beyond stunned to realize that there was something inside.

After pulling it out, Shinichi found himself staring at a ticket.

"Kuroba Toichi's Magic Show"

The sounds of footsteps coming closer prompted Shinichi to jump, violently and blink.

"Hey." Kuroba's voice rang through his ears, prompting him to huff out of reflex and turn back to the glasses he was drying. "Spacing out again?"

A shrug was all the response the detective decided to grace him with, but it didn't bother the magician. Instead, he crossed his arms in front of his chest and casually leaned against the counter, right beside him. "So," he spoke up, not minding that the other boy was apparently much more focused in the glass on his hand than him. "You're leaving tonight."

"Don't talk about it so loudly."

"Where are you staying?"

Shinichi shrugged, and silently continued doing his job. Kuroba, in turn, quietly observed the detective for a few moments, before a frown made an appearance in his face. "Kudo," he began. He didn't have a reaction. "Why did you decide to hide in Ekoda?"

He stilled for a full second. "I told you. You were blindly chasing after the Organization and I needed cover." Followed by that, he calmly set a cup back in place. "Besides, it is reasonably close to Beika, allowing me to go back and forth easier. Of course, I didn't tell you that."

Kuroba just stared at him, without uttering a word.

"Well, now that Snake is dead, you have no reason to keep fighting." He dried his hands with a dishcloth. "Your fight is over, Kuroba." He turned to him, and gave him a surprisingly sincere smile. "Go enjoy your life, you deserve it."

"Hey..." The magician was speechless. "Hey, Ku-!"

"Hirai-kun." They easily recognized Hakuba's voice. Sure enough he was there, standing at the doorway with a blank expression on his face. "Is that going to take much longer?"

The teenager in question needed a moment more than usual to reply to that question, far too startled by his sudden appearance. "Ah, no. I was just getting finished."

"Good," he said, tone cold and stoic as usual. "Aoko-san wants to start preparing the next Kaito KID's heist." That stole a groan from Kaito. "What's that, Kuroba-kun? Feeling nervous?"

Without even replying, the magician stomped out of the room, followed close by Shinichi. Hakuba, unlike them however, stood back, crossing his arms in front of his chest, a hand unconsciously finding its way to the back of his neck, where a rather strange bruise was forming.

What are you planning, Hirai Arthur? His eyes, still stuck in the teenager in question, narrowed slightly. Or should I say… Great Detective of the East, Kudo Shinichi?

Kudo Shinichi shivered even though it wasn't cold at all.

"Say, do you do public construction work?" Alarmed, Makabe Ginya's head spun at the young voice, and it didn't take him long to spot the kid with glasses standing right beside him, hands latched behind his back, tilted slightly forward as he curiously observed his nails. "There's a lot of mud under your fingernails..."

"N-No," he stuttered a bit. "That's mud from the time I played a survival game a while ago. It's because I was running around the mountains, but since they got covered in that bright color from paint gun shells, I ruined my clothes."

That's played with airsoft guns, and the paint used in paintball is soluble in water. He nodded, eyes wide and innocent. Get your facts straight at least.

"Then your favorite color is the color that camouflage clothing is usually made from, navy..."

"Y-Yeah." Makabe forced a grin. "It's navy green."

"Eh~?" Conan awed, a childish smile blossoming on his face. That's olive drab, you dumbass.

Well, at least he knew he was blatantly lying, even if he didn't know the motive for sure ─ it could have been because he was the culprit, but it could be another motive altogether. Sighing, Conan placed a finger under his chin.

Red, white, yellow… His eyes fell on the three suspects. Besides that liar over there, there were another two.

Hosoi Ryuhei, carpenter. Had been out with his boss and superiors, but had gotten drunk and ended up passing out on a bench at the park. His favorite color was the blue of the ocean.

Okiya Subaru, graduate student. He had almost lost his head trying to prepare his thesis so, in an attempt to relax, he had gotten into his car and drove down a tree-lined street by the Teimuzu River. Apparently, just by looking at the greenery, he would feel at ease ─ for that same reason, he would water the plants of that apartment every day, too.

Anyone, even Conan, would have thought that green was his favorite color. But the answer was so incredibly different that it made the kid shudder.

"If you force me to pick one… it'd be black." Conan's eyes focused on that certain graduate student. "It covers up the things inside of me that I don't want to be known about." His gaze narrowed, slightly. "Well, for the same reason, black is the color I hate, too."

It wasn't like he was the only one that didn't feel comfortable around Okiya Subaru. Ever since he had said that, Ai had paled considerably, and the other three had taken into their protector roles immediately, frowning and discreetly standing in front of the frozen scientist.

He really, really didn't like that guy. There was something that simply did not fit.

"Don't look back," all of a sudden, Conan heard Ai whispering. "You need to keep looking at me. Can you do it?"

Turning his head, he saw the girl in question in front of a flustered Mitsuhiko, hands on either side of his face and forcing him to look at her. When he nodded, hesitating, she removed her hands and placed them on top of his shoulders. Like that, the girl started to gently push him, so that he would walk backwards.

And closer to the group of three suspects ─ Conan figured what her intention was by the narrowing of her eyes as the distance between them got gradually shorter.

But then Mitsuhiko tripped, causing Ai to fall into her knees, apologizing profusely, momentarily forgetting about keeping herself out of sight. Seriously. Conan's eyebrow rose at the sight of the boy laughing nervously under Ai's concerned gaze. What are those two doing?

He was quick to reassure her that he had only scraped a little skin off his elbow. Immediately, Hosoi crouched next to him and offered him a bandaid. "My boss told me that since I keep getting injured I should always carry some," the man said to the boy when he asked if it was okay to borrow one from him.

No wonder, Conan thought, observing that the man had those same bandaids on most of his fingers, besides the one on his face. Crossing his arms behind his head, he boredly watched him return to the rest of the adults.

Before his eyes widened dramatically.

"When I got back from school, I fell down in the entryway." Hands fell limply at his sides, as he recalled that sentence written in Sugiura's diary. "I'm glad the white guy was just coming out."

Then that guy… His gaze sharpened. There's no doubt about it. That one must be the white guy.

… How does he relate with that color, though?

"That's not true!" Ayumi looked angry, and so did the other two. He momentarily wondered what had happened while he was engrossed in his own mind,

"He told us!" Genta joined in. "There was a guy who was doing suspicious things at night!"

"I really don't think it sounded like he made it up." Mitsuhiko frowned.

Ah, so that was what happened. The inspector and assistant were looking at the little notebook with hesitant gazes, completely ignoring what his friends were shouting at them, so he hurried to join them.

"Say." He put on his best innocent smile as their stares fell on him. "Whenever you police have a child who's done something bad… Don't you start by asking the adults around him if they know what kind of child he is?"

"Well..."

"Then..." Momentarily, his smile turned into a very arrogant smirk. "Doesn't the converse work as well?"

"The Adventure of the Copper Beeches, isn't it?"

At the new voice behind him, Conan couldn't help but flinch violently and spun around, just to see Okiya Subaru smiling at him ─ there was something so unnatural about that smile that it unsettled the child.

"It was one of the lines that Holmes said to Watson." The child either managed to hide his discomfort, or Okiya didn't pay any mind to it. "'My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid?' Was it?"

Conan just stared back at him, for the longest time, unwilling to move from his place. He did though ─ like a frightened cat, he involuntarily stepped back when he crouched right next to him.

"Do you like Sherlock Holmes, boy?"

"Uh, no. Not at all."

He did his best not to cringe when the four gazes were set on him, staring so intensely that they could easily dig holes into the back of his head.

"Ah, is that so?" Okiya let go of it easy enough. "I guess your parents must have been too insistent trying to get you into it, but you ended up rejecting it instead."

The kid stiffened up at that. "What do you know about my parents?"

"Well, I don't know them, but I suppose they were big mystery fans if they called their child-"

"How do you know my name?" He crossed his arms in front of his chest, unconsciously adopting a very defensive posture.

"That girl over there." Ai flinched away and subtly hid behind Genta when the attention was directed at her. "I heard her call you 'Conan-kun' a while ago."

"Ah..." His shoulders relaxed, but the awkward smile was still there. "Is that so…?"

From her spot, Ai watched as Conan tried to deal with that mysterious man. His childish grin was a bit more strained, and he seemed to be sweating, too. He's giving him a hard time. It didn't really take a genius to see that. Sighing, he turned to the rest of her friends, who were still trying to shield her away from sight with their bodies.

She gave them a long look, and frowned slightly. "Ai-chan?" She ignored Ayumi's concerned voice when she walked past her, and away from the hiding spot they had managed to fabricate. "What are you doing?"

Instead of replying, she stretched her hand to Inspector Yuminaga, who blinked confusedly. "Could I please take a look?"

"A-Ah, yeah."

As soon as her fingers grasped the diary, Ayumi, Genta and Mitsuhiko were gathering right next to her. There has to be something. Silently, she opened it, flipping the pages at the other kids curiously peered from over her shoulder. Anything can be of help.

"Inspector, we found something else." That instantly gathered the attention from the three kids, plus Conan. "They were in the area near Kaito-kun's room. A pile of mini-cars."

"It's not strange for there to be some miniature cars in a child's room."

"But they were quite a number… Easily more than one-hundred of them."

Mini-cars? Conan turned around, eyes trained in the inspector, missing completely the way that Subaru smirked, slightly. Is he a fan? To have so many of them…

"Huh?" Blinking, Ayumi pointed at something in the diary Ai was holding. "Look. The characters for Edogawa had been erased and rewritten several times," she observed. "The paper has even gotten a bit dark."

"Could it be..." Eyes narrowing slightly, Ai focused it. "... Kuroshiro?"

Kuroshiro? Conan thought over that word again. Black and white?

"Kuroshiro-kun?" Their surprise was big when Yuminaga's assistant spoke up. "Earlier when I called the hospital Kaito-kun's mother said something. 'The really smart boy who solved a case for Nakada-kun might come over to our house tomorrow'. Kaito-kun seemed really happy when he told her that over the phone… He said he was called Kuroshiro-kun."

For the bespectacled boy gaping at the officer, everything had finally clicked into place. Alright then, Sugiura. It took him a moment to compose himself, taking a deep breath and shoving his hands inside his pockets as usual. Shall I be Kuroshiro-kun...

Everyone just stared at the little kid who slowly began to walk. … and make plain what's black and white… And he stopped. … right here?

"Mind telling us why you decide to set everything on fire..." His sharp gaze rose to meet the culprit's terrified ones. "... Yellow Arsonist-san?"

Makabe Ginya turned completely white in the blink of an eye. "Eh?"

"Sugiura said so." Conan said, as if it was completely obvious. "He wrote in his diary that the yellow guy suddenly came back home in the middle of the night and quarreled with his father. But you didn't mention that. Say, why?"

"Ah, no..."

"But Conan-kun..." Mitsuhiko blinked, feeling completely lost ─ not that the rest of his friends were any better. "How do you know he was the yellow guy?"

"That's why I said, Sugiura told us." Four confused stares from his friends was all he got in return. "Read what's written in the diary and you will see what I mean."

They exchanged an uncertain look before fixing their eyes in the diary. "The weather has been bad since this morning," Genta read, eyebrows creasing even more with every word. "I have to get up early or I'll miss school, but I bet the red guy can sleep in late."

"The red guy does something every morning, but since it was raining that day, it wasn't necessary to do that something." Conan concluded. "So, any ideas?"

Ayumi hummed for a bit, thinking hard about it. "Watering the flowers!" Her eyes lighted up in realization and a bright smile shone through. "Then the red guy must be Okiya-san!"

"But, kid..." Inspector Yuminaga leaned closer. "Why is this young fellow called 'red guy'?"

"Don't you see? Sugiura loves cars." The proof was the many, many mini-cars found inside his room. "And if you think about a red car..."

The three kids gasped. "A fire engine!"

"Then the white one must be an ambulance..." Ai commented, closing her eyes in thought. "In Japan, under the Road Trucking Vehicle Law the body of the vehicle is required to be white."

"An ambulance..." Mitsuhiko mumbled quietly, before his eyes fell on the bandaid in his scraped elbow. "The white guy is the one who gets injured a lot and therefore always carries bandaids… And that must be Hosoi-san, right?"

"Right." Conan nodded, smiling a bit. "Then, that leaves the yellow one..." The remaining suspect winced when his gaze fell on him. "Yellow, just like construction vehicles… The yellow guy is the one who has dirt under his fingernails from digging. And that means you, Makabe-san."

"W-What are you saying?" He tried to defend himself. "This is from running around in the mountains playing a survival game..."

Conan gave him a plain stare from under half-lidded eyes. "You know that you don't use paint in survival games, right? That's actually paintball."

"Oh?" The inspector walked closer to him.

"Th-Those are mostly the same thing, aren't they?"

"Sure. Except that paint guns use water-soluble ink. It would be a pain to wash them otherwise."

"Oh-oh!" Yuminaga took another step.

"Ah, well..."

"Say, your favorite color was olive drab, right?"

"... Eh?"

"Ah, right, it was navy green. You said it was the one used in camouflage clothing so I got confused… Wait, what game were you playing again?"

After all that, it didn't take long to get a confession from Makabe ─ even though Conan had to point out, with an angelic face, that the truth would be known if the police looked for that 'something' that the yellow guy had buried. As if turned out, he had hid money he had earned as a day trader to avoid taxes. Kaito's father had found out, and gotten pushed down the stairs when Makabe had gotten angry. Under the belief that he had killed him, Makabe had set everything on fire thinking that 'everything would just be reset' like that.

Just before he was taken away, his assistant informed him that Kaito had regained consciousness, and that his father's operation had been successful. That was a relief ─ Conan sighed while his friends beamed at the news.

"But there's still one mystery remaining?" Conan turned to give Mitsuhiko a puzzled look. "Why is Conan-kun's nickname 'Kuroshiro-kun'?"

Indeed, he hadn't really thought about it. A car that's white and black...?

"I bet that's the car we police use, a patrol car," Yuminaga smiled, and Conan blinked twice, before his eyes flickered to the patrol car the inspector had come in. "Since that's the most suitable nickname for the boy who puts the police to shame."

"Ah, really?" He scratched the back of his head, taking a step back under the sudden attention he was receiving. Putting the police to shame is a bit...

"See you again, boy."

With that, the inspector turned around and got inside the car ─ which, Conan now noticed, was definitely black and white. Once he was gone, Mitsuhiko proposed they should go visit Kaito, to which everyone agreed instantly. Genta loudly said that they should have the professor drive them in his car, because it was far away.

"Professor?" Subaru said, all of a sudden, and kneeled down next to them. "You guys know a professor?"

Conan stood perfectly still, ignoring the fact that he could see Ai hiding behind him, like a scared kitten ─ honestly, he didn't blame her for that. The kids, noticing her actions, tried to smile at them as naturally as they could.

"Yeah," Ayumi nodded, hesitantly. "We do."

"But he's always coming up with stupid games," Genta added.

"Oh? I'd like to meet that professor."

A strange silence followed that sentence. Despite Okiya's smile remaining perfectly in place, it was painfully obvious that the graduate student had noticed their discomfort. So Conan took a deep breath, and let out a hopefully convincing, apologetic smile.

"I don't think it would be a good idea. You see, the Professor has a cat." Hands in his pockets, the child shrugged. "She's quite wild, and doesn't tolerate strangers at all. When I first met her, she scratched my face." He pretended to grimace at the memory. "It hurt."

"Then why don't I come along to visit your friend?" He didn't seem he would give in easily. "I'm concerned about Kaito-kun, too."

"The Professor has a terrible cold, he can't take us there." He turned to Genta, who flinched instantly. "That's what I wanted to tell you before, Genta. Maybe we should just visit tomorrow."

"A-Ah..." he stuttered, then flinched when Conan's gaze became dramatically more severe. "Y-You are right, Conan."

"Maybe we should let Kaito-kun rest," Mitsuhiko added, in an attempt to aid his friend. "He went through a lot, after all."

"I'll text him just in case." Ayumi smiled, knowing she didn't have Kaito's number. "Let's take the bus tomorrow and visit him, okay?"

"Yes!" Mitsuhiko and Genta nodded, emphatically.

With that, the Detective Boys waved at that strange graduate student and walked off, cheerful smiles vanishing into thin air as soon as they turned around, exchanging frightened gazes with each other.

Ai's hand, which had found its way on top of Conan's shoulder without either of them noticing, gripped his shirt tighter, eyes closing against the unmistakable feeling of eyes piercing through her soul.

All the while, Okiya Subaru stared intently at the group. His lips, previously curved into a kind smile, formed a straight line, and his hand reached for something inside his pocket. A phone.

Silently, he dialed a number.

"Ah, welcome back home, Conan-kun," greeted Ran the moment the boy stepped into the agency. "How is Kaito-kun?"

Right after leaving Okiya, he had texted her and told her what had happened. "He has just a few burns, but he will be okay. He's probably going to be released next week." Conan watched her go around her father's office, cleaning after the mess he had left behind. "His father woke up when we were there, too."

"That's a relief." She sighed. "Must be scary, huh? Getting caught in a fire…"

He couldn't agree more ─ he didn't think he would ever be able to forget the excruciating warmth from the flames trapping him inside the building, and the feeling of smoke slowly making its way inside his lungs as his world faded to black. At least, he had managed to save Asou Seiji from death.

Come to think of it, he pondered, plopping down on the couch. Even then, he saved me, right?

His arms shielding him from harm and carrying away from danger, all the while whispering comforting words as he slipped back into unconsciousness were things that were engraved into his mind forever. He had recognized his brother's voice at that moment, but hadn't been certain and, before long, he had convinced himself that Hirai Arthur and Kudo Shinichi weren't the same person.

Yet, they were.

"Say, Ran-neechan." Ran faced the kid at that, listening attentively. "Did Oniichan tell you… where he's staying?"

Her movements stilled for a beat, but then she smiled. "I didn't ask him."

She didn't? His eyebrows creased in confusion. "Don't you want to know?"

"Of course I do." He didn't get to see her face, because she looked away, crouching down to pick another bottle. "But…"

"But…?"

"... If I knew, I might just want to see him again even more." At her answer, the child's eyes widened, but remained silent. "And that wouldn't be good for any of us."

Ran was entirely focused on her job cleaning up the office, not daring to glance at the child. Maybe, because she knew he would see. Ran-neechan… Yet, despite being unable to see her expression right now, Conan could imagine how she was feeling.

Her hands were trembling slightly as she picked up a cigarette. Her back was facing him completely, shielding her face from plain sight. His head dropped, unable to find the right words to say.

Fingers touched his cheek, prompting him to jump, head snapping up. Soon, his startled gaze found Ran's warm, yet watery, one. "Conan-kun," she said, softly but with such kindness that it was unmistakable hers. "Just tell me one thing."

He nodded against her hand without thinking.

"Is Shinichi alright?"

Once again, he nodded, with conviction as well. To that, the girl sighed and let go of him.

"Then, it's okay." A sweet, genuine smile caressed her face, reassuring Conan's heart just a little. "I believe you."

It amazed him to say the least. That, that girl over there knew he had hid stuff from her, and had lied more times than he was willing to admit… Yet, she firmly believed in him. She had always done so.

"Ah! This is expensive!" All of a sudden, the teenager exclaimed, looking back in shock at the bottle in her hand. "Seriously, he finally betted on the winning horse and he goes and wastes his money like that..."

That would explain why the man wasn't there. Though, considering all the times he has lost, I wonder if he would have gotten more money saving it instead...

With an irritated sigh, the girl put the bottle apart. Only then, did Conan get to read what it said in the label.

"Baker's Mark

Kentucky Straight

BOURBON WHISKEY"

"Conan-kun?" Ran's attention was instantly on him. He could only imagine how he looked like right now. "You're so pale."

"A-Ah, it's nothing!" It slid from his mouth naturally, flashing her a grin while hopping off the couch. "I'm just-"

He looked at her, and stopped completely. "I believe you," she had just said, gazing at him like she was doing right now. There was something, he didn't know what, that made him falter, watching as she sat on the couch, without saying a word.

His entire body was facing the door, ready to leave then and there, but he couldn't move. He couldn't stop staring, uncertain about how to proceed.

Before he knew it, he had sat right at her side, hands clenching on his lap. His eyes had teared apart from the girl, and were fixed on his fists, as if they were the most interesting thing in the world right now.

All the while, she waited.

He thought of just rushing out the room, but instantly waved that idea away. Closing his eyes, he let out a long, heavy sight.

"Bourbon." The lack of reply made him hesitate, for some reason, but remained firmly in place. "Jodie-sensei called this morning, and said that they activated a new member. The FBI believes their target is Sherry."

It took a moment for Ran to swallow that information, apparently. "Okay."

Okay? He frowned, confused at that. Just… 'okay'?

Something fell on top of his hand. Something distinctively warm. "Thank you." It gripped it tightly ─ it was her hand, holding his affectionately. "For trusting me, Conan-kun."

When he looked up, he noticed she was smiling. That was an expression he couldn't help but mirror.

Shinichi plopped down on the bed he had occupied for little over a year, giving his phone a last glare before letting it fall on the mattress. Really, just my luck, he complained in his mind, arm resting over his eyes. What are the odds of someone setting the apartment on fire right after moving there?

Closing his eyes, he relished in the darkness. What a mess, he thought, knowing that he had to set to Beika to fix this. Well, he was to leave Ekoda tonight, so maybe he could stop by there… and think of something.

Where would he go after that? Even now, he had no idea.

A knock on his door made him sigh, more exhausted than ever, and sit up on the bed just in time for it to open. "What do you want?" He tried to cast his glare on Kuroba, but he didn't as much as twitch ─ it didn't come out as intense as he had wanted.

The magician just stood there, on the doorway, frowning at him in silence. "Hey," Shinichi's eyebrow rose, annoyance sipping on his tone. "You're creeping me out."

His gaze fell on the bag that was in the corner of the room. "So you're actually leaving, huh?" It was the same he had when he moved there, he mused.

"Doesn't look like it?"

"It's not like you, bailing out like that," Kaito teased, arms crossed behind his head. "That little fiend you have as a brother pulled me in a detective club founded to capture me. You're leaving me to deal with it alone?"

"You will survive."

"Wow, thanks."

"You're welcome."

Not batting an eye, he gathered his phone and typed a quick message to Akai, telling him to meet with him in about half an hour. Wordlessly, Kaito watched him standing up and move towards his bag on the floor, with an odd look in his eyes.

"Wait, Kudo." Shinichi ignored him, leaning over to pick the bag up. "Kudo!" Seeing no response, the magician frowned and, in a swift movement, took it, leaving the detective to grasp the air. "Meitantei."

"What now?" He sighed, exasperatedly. "I'm in a hurry."

"Then leave," Kaito said, throwing the bag over his shoulder. "But I'm keeping this with me."

The other boy gave him an incredulous look, and stared at him as if he had grown a second head. "What's..." His eyebrow rose. "What's all this about?"

"Meitantei, do you know it?" Shinichi blinked, in confusion. "Kaito KID's policy at heists."

"Nobody gets hurt. Nobody dies," he replied without even thinking. "What does that have to do with anything?"

A severe expression caught Shinichi by surprise. "You will die." The sternness in his eyes looked almost forgein in the always-carefree magician's face. "Didn't you say you didn't know where you are going to stay?" In fact, he didn't know it yet ─ just that Beika was out of discussion, for various reasons. "If you keep making rash decisions, you will wound up dead in less than a week."

The glare he had set on Kuroba a while ago had dimmed, with something akin to understanding. He didn't say anything about it, though, merely looking away. But he was listening, so Kaito decided to press further.

"And then, who is going to tell that girl at the agency?" His voice rose a little. "Who is going to tell Tantei-kun? How do you think he would react?"

Shinichi's eyes widened a bit. Conan...

"If you don't want to take care of yourself, fine. But..." He paused for a moment, thinking over his words, before continuing into a softer voice. "There are people waiting for you in Beika. And Tantei-kun… No." He let out a chuckle. "Conan-kun wants his brother back. Are you going to take that away from him?"

Once the shock that the realization carried with it faded, the high school detective's eyelids slid closed. "You promise, right?" his voice, young and timid, echoed in his mind, and his sweet, adorable smile from when he made that pinky promise clouded his every thought.

When the detective walked past him and headed to the entrance, Kuroba panicked. He was about to bolt out of that room, hoping that he could somehow beat some sense into his thick skull, but realized something.

Shinichi's bag was still on Kuroba's shoulder.

So, he conformed with just let out an exhausted, but relieved sigh.

A/N:

CherryGirl 21-6: Considering everything that has happened in the manga, yeah, that's a big possibility. Or at least, I think they will be at the final arc… Whenever that comes XD

Well, about how many chapters this story will have… Actually I have given up trying to figure it out myself XD Considering that I thought the Midnight Crow heist would take about two chapters and ended up becoming almost five, and that this story is yet to cover Bourbon's arc, a part of Rum's and a few other things, I can't really give an estimate, sorry.

I decided that it was better to make this as long as it has to be, instead of rushing things up. I'm almost completely sure it won't reach the 200 chapters, but then again, who knows?