File Ninety-One: Love is Zero

"So good~!" Placing a hand against his cheek, Conan beamed, and immediately went to take a bit more of the cake he had been eating. "As expected from London!"

"Seriously," sighed Shinichi, despite the amused smile on his face. "Even in England you still want cheesecake." He laughed at the watered-down glare he received to take a sip of his cup. "You could have ordered something more traditional."

"Yeah, like that cup you have there." The kid pointed at his brother with his fork, cake and all. "English people are known all around the world for enjoying a cup of coffee at five o'clock, aren't they?"

"Funny, I'd have thought that cup you got right there was also coffee."

"I've been living with Ran-neechan for more than a year." He grabbed his cup with two hands and took it away from him, almost protectively. "Touch it, and I will bite you."

"Okay, okay, I won't touch your coffee." It was followed by a surprised gasp from his younger brother who, to protect his coffee, had left his beloved cheesecake unguarded, making it easy for Shinichi to steal a bit. Conan watched, still wide-eyed, as he savored it and hummed to himself. "Guess it's not too bad."

Conan's eyebrow twitched. "Then order one for yourself."

It all went away when another plate was brought closer to him. "Don't make such a big deal of it." The kid stared, curiously, at the two-by-two check pattern that met his eyes. "Here, you can have a bite ─ it's Battenberg cake, but I suppose you already knew that."

In return, the child gave him a suspicious look before taking a small bite from the yellow section.

"Huh, it's… edible, I guess."

"What do you mean by edible-?"

"I wonder if the pink part tastes any different-"

"Hey, hey!" Shinichi took his cake out of the kid's reach. "You know they taste the same!"

"You won't know if you don't try," he said, reaching out with his fork, only for an elbow in his chest to stop him. Shinichi, with his longer arms, put the cake far from his reach, but the child didn't give up there ─ it just made his mischievous grin grow.

"Oh, I know!" Shinichi suddenly said, letting go of his cake and going for the cheesecake next. "Why don't we trade-?"

A little hand blocked his sight, pushing his head back, hard. "I won't let you."

"Yeah?" He removed his hand from his eyes. "What are you going to do about it?"

It came back right away, now in his nose ─ and it hurt. "Back off!"

"You started it, runt. Now, deal with it."

"And you are supposed to be the older one, knock it off!"

"As the older one, I've to teach you a lesson!"

"You were the one who stole it from me first!"

"Well, you made me."

"No matter the motive, robbery is still a crime, you dumbass!"

"Conan, Shinichi…"

Both brothers' heads snapped to the Professor's way, blinking yet not moving from their current position. Smiling nervously, he motioned to something behind them so they turned around, just to notice that all eyes were on them. Once he realized they had been making a scene, Conan slowly drew away, and a bright red flush took no time to paint his ears.

Shinichi just apologized in English, waving it off with a stiff smile. In no time, everyone had gone back to their own business.

"Besides, your phone has been ringing for a while now," finished Agasa, grabbing the last scone that was still on his side.

While it initially confused the boy, he finally understood it when he looked at the name on the screen ─ she had called him several times, probably to get him to watch the text she had sent him:

"I'm genuinely curious to know how you planned to solve a code without the code.

─ Haibara Ai."

A dry chuckle escaped him when he saw that the photo she had snapped of the poem was attached to the text ─ it pained the detective to say that, after discovering his brother in London, he had completely lost focus, thus completely forgetting about that code. He shook it off right away, passing the phone to his brother, whose expression drastically changed upon setting his eyes on it.

"A rolling bell..." Shinichi whispered, now completely focused. "Could this be an alarm clock?"

"That was what I've been thinking," replied Conan with a nod. "And there's a castle there, too. Wonder if there's a castle somewhere…"

Shinichi hummed in thought, eyes falling on the cakes on top of the table. "Cake," he said, suddenly. "There's the boiled egg and pickle, also…"

"The sixth line could also mean a clock. And if the swords in the last line refer to blades or murder weapons..."

Agasa felt he was officially lost when the two simply looked at each other and nodded without a further word, as if they could somehow tell that they had reached the same conclusion ─ privately, he wished they could say it out loud for the poor souls like him that had absolutely no idea of what was going on.

"Professor." He jumped slightly when Shinichi suddenly turned to him. "Buy a map, will you?"

"A-Ah, yeah!" The man stood hastily from his seat. "I'll be right back."

In a blink of an eye, the professor had rushed to the door and disappeared from sight. The Professor should know English, right? The thought crossed Shinichi's mind a fraction of a second after he was gone.

Well, I'm sure he will manage… Somehow.

"So?" Confused, he turned to his little brother, who had gone back to his cake. "You never told me how you got here."

"Well… That's a long story, actually." Shinichi forced a chuckle. "You see, Hakuba-"

Conan almost choked on his food. "Hakuba?!" He managed to let out, staring at Shinichi as if he had grown a second head. "Are you insane?!"

"... Probably?"

"Hey, hey. Don't tell me he invited you here!"

"Yeah…" The look he received then worked far better than words ─ he was an idiot. "Kuroba and the others, too. We were supposed to make a plan to capture KID, but ended up sightseeing in the city."

"And how come they aren't here?" he said then, with a suspicious look, added, "You didn't get lost, did you?"

"Of course not! I…"

"Yeah?"

Shinichi quietened down abruptly. "We… went to Sherlock Holmes Museum ─ should have known you would choose that destination first," he admitted, sounding a little resigned. "I saw you there, at the same time that Ran called… I tried to hang up as soon as possible, but…"

"You made her really mad, you know," Conan said, nonchalantly sticking his fork inside his mouth.

He shivered in return, "Anyway," and hastily attempted to change the subject. "I told everyone I was tired and that I would sleep my jet-lag off in the hotel."

"Hotel? I thought he would invite you all to his house, since he lives here and everything..."

"Well, we were going to gather there, but I guess he didn't want Kuroba roaming around his place ─ I wouldn't either." He made a face. "I'm definitely not complaining though."

No words were needed for Conan to understand what he meant ─ if he were to sleep under the same roof as Hakuba, it wouldn't end well. "Surely, you wouldn't have accepted if he hadn't said that, would you?" He didn't miss the way Shinichi winced. "… You didn't think about it until he mentioned it, didn't you?"

When he smiled nervously, the child genuinely felt the urge to dump his coffee all over his head, until he realized that would mean wasting his precious beverage on a lost cause, so he just settled with a soft sigh, allowing him to continue with his story.

"On my way, I saw all those children gathering in front of the police station and I wanted to know what had happened." He raised an eyebrow at the little boy. "Obviously you were there, too."

Conan didn't seem to mind. "Then why didn't you step out and ask us about it?" Instead he pointed out, feeling that there was something he wasn't quite getting. "Even if you feared Ran-neechan's anger, you would've gotten away with it if you were Hirai Arthur."

When his brother failed to say something in return, Conan glanced away from his food and, for the first time, really looked at him. The shock that came with the sudden realization made him open his eyes wide. Meanwhile, Shinichi didn't have a clue of what could be going on in his head right now.

"You're scared," Conan said, as if it somehow explained everything.

"You stated that before, remember?"

The kid shook his head rapidly. "I don't mean her anger." He frowned. "I mean getting close to her ─ scared of letting her in."

Now Shinichi was sure he appeared astonished after hearing his words, and was about to ask if he had heard things right when he saw the boy settling his fork down, a strange look crossing his face. He wasn't looking at him either, just closed his eyes and let out a deep breath.

Instead of resuming his speech, the boy merely inhaled again. Maybe he was giving him the chance to defend himself, supposed Shinichi, though it would be completely out-of-character coming from the merciless little kid.

Conan has always been like that, reflected the older detective, letting his eyes linger on the piece of cake they had just been fighting over. Blunt to the bone, unafraid to give his opinion about anything, or to let someone go until they admitted he was right. He knew that better than anyone else ─ despite the huge age gap, it had always been the younger Kudo, the one with the upper hand whenever they argued over anything.

At first, that fact irked him more than a little, but over time he had come to terms with it. Conan, whether or not he was aware of it, had a gift. He could read people in a way that he, and most adults, couldn't. A gift… He frowned a bit. And a curse all the same.

This time, however, it was different. Conan was giving him a chance to speak. Not to say that he was wrong. Ran was his childhood friend, they had known each other all their lives ─ it was stupid to think that, after all these years, he would be afraid of 'opening up' to her...

Strangely enough, even inside his head, his defense sounded remarkably weak.

"Before coming to Japan, I believed I was much better off on my own." Yet, the little boy spoke the moment Shinichi decided to finally open his mouth. "So when Ayumi-chan and the others tried to befriend me, I didn't know what to do. In return, all I did was push them away, again and again."

Little hands reached for his cup while he let his eyes open slowly. "Because I was different, because I thought I'd end up somehow hurting them at the end of the line..." In his lips, a small smile had drawn itself as his mind went back to those days more than a year ago. "But the truth is that I had just convinced myself this was the case ─ I was just really scared."

He paused long enough to take a sip of his coffee, then cringed slightly upon the realization it had gone cold already. Resigned, he let out a disheartened sigh and lowered the cup, but didn't let go of it immediately.

This time, Shinichi felt like it wasn't his time to talk. Conan was staring intently at his own reflection on the liquid, that same faint smile still present on his lips ─ no, it was not the same one, Shinichi later realized. This one was weaker, remarkably bitter.

"Did you know, Oniichan?" The way he whispered it told him the cold coffee wasn't the reason for this sudden change of demeanor. "It was with them that I first cried after you disappeared."

Shinichi's head shot up at that, eyes widening dramatically. "It was then, too, that we formed our detective club. In fact, our first 'case' was to find you." Conan let out a strangled chuckle, shaking his head in dismay despite the obvious softening of his gaze. "After that day, it was impossible to push them away again, but I don't regret it."

Conan's eyes flickered to him, but his brother was too dumbfounded to properly flinch away.

"I don't regret letting them in, not even a little."

Even seconds, minutes ─ or hours, they wouldn't be able to tell ─ later both brothers remained as if time had frozen still, despite the many people around them that continued to mind their own business, unaware of what was transpiring in that certain table. Before long, Shinichi slowly released the air he didn't know he was holding, letting his shoulders drop slightly. Conan didn't let up so easily, though.

"Conan..." Finally, the older detective whispered, not breaking eye-contact yet.

The child stared back at him, impassively, for a whole second before he grinned. "Well, I suppose my case differs completely from yours," he chirped, going back to his cake, leaving Shinichi to blink stupidly. "Why don't you just open up and tell her about your true feelings?"

"I'm… not sure I understand what you mean."

Conan sighed exasperatedly. "Ran-neechan would be delighted if you choose to confess in London." Shinichi choked on air. "It's more romantic here, don't you think?"

And the red blush didn't last long to appear, Conan appreciated in delight. "W-What?!" Shinichi sputtered, a little louder than he had attempted. "What did you say?!"

"I said-"

"I already heard you!"

"Then, why did you ask?" A playful smirk formed, making the older brother huff and look away, in a vain attempt to hide his embarrassment ─ all the while, he wondered why it was always the same with that brat. "Well, we only have one life ─ we can't let it go to waste, can we?" He winked at him. "Live your life without regrets, Oniichan."

"Don't act like you're already dead! Live, Kudo!"

Unlike his grinning brother, Shinichi huffed in annoyance. "Stupid..." he grumbled. Stupid thief.

Conan's smile dropped. "What?"

"No, it's nothing."

"Did you just…?"

"No?"

"You did! You just called me stupid, didn't you?!"

"Of… Of course not, idiot."

"See?! You did it again!"

"W-Wait, I can explain!"

"Ai-chan, you look so pretty!"

Ai raised her head just to see the teenager walking out of the restroom, after changing into a simple lilac dress for tonight's dinner with Diana. Instead of replying, the little girl turned back around and put on her pale blue sleeveless jacket. I wonder if this isn't too much, she thought, taking on the ruffles that decorated her shoulders.

Ran didn't seem bothered by her lack of an answer. "Where did you get it?" In fact, she approached her, a smile perfectly in place.

"Ayumi-chan lent it to me," she answered, seemingly more interested in flattening her white dress ─ with more blue ruffles, obviously. "When I mentioned we were going to have dinner with Diana-san, she insisted I wore this."

"Diana-san is an important person, right?" She chuckled at the memory. "Who knows, he could even be part of the royal family!"

"Then Ayumi-chan has a good eye," Ran sat in the bed. "It really suits you, don't you think?"

Haibara turned to look at herself in the mirror, pausing for a couple of seconds, fingers tucking away some of her hair behind her ear. I haven't cut it in a while, she realized. Privately, she wondered how she hadn't noticed it before. She had probably been busy lately.

"I… suppose so," came her soft response.

Ran smiled wider, standing up from her place. Ai, in turn, didn't move, not even when she came to a stop right beside her, crouching down to her height. Her hands came to rest on her shoulders, and the same sweet smile that decorated her face reached the little girl's eyes through its reflection in the mirror.

The sight stirred some weird feeling in her heart ─ a feeling that she thought had been long forgotten by now.

"Say, Ai-chan," she then said, breaking through the silence. "Would you let me try something out?"

She blinked in confusion, prompting the older girl to grin even wider and, sensing it as a sign of approval somehow, led her to sit on the bed, right in front of her. Her surprise was enormous when she felt Ran's fingers settling themselves on her hair. "Tell me if it hurts, okay?" she asked, gently, to which Ai had no other choice but to nod.

Thus, she allowed her to do her work. "You have beautiful hair, Shiho-chan." She could almost hear her voice. "I'm almost envious… It is such a pretty color, too…"

"Your hair is pretty too, Oneechan!"

"You think so? Thanks, Shiho-chan. You're so cute!"

It was almost as if she could feel her hands weaving through her hair, so skillfully yet kindly at the same time. But this time, they did not belong to her…

Regardless of that fact, her body didn't seem to mind ─ her eyes closed gently, and a small, soft smile made its way to her face without her full consent.

Her hands… are warm.

"Did Dad give you much trouble?" She opened them, however, when that weird question was pronounced. "When you went to buy some drinks earlier, I mean."

Now she remembered. After checking in every place that they could think of, only to find absolutely nothing, Kogoro had declared, frustrated, that he would go buy some drinks, leaving Ai and Ran to wait beside a Sherlock Holmes' statue in Baker Street. The older girl had feared that her father wouldn't be able to accomplish his task because of the language barrier and had sent the little one to make him company.

Ai wondered if that had been the true reason, considering the weak smile she had given them both when they returned later, but it wasn't her place to pry.

"He has to improve his English," she said instead. "Urgently."

"I can see what you mean..." Ran laughed awkwardly for a moment. "Well, when you were gone, I met Minerva Glass there."

"The tennis player?" The girl nodded in response. "How unusual."

"She was visiting that Holmes' statue. Said she wanted to draw his powers of discernment to win her match."

That stole a snort out of the small scientist. "Doesn't that sound familiar?"

"Definitely." Ran giggled. "Ah, it's done!"

Approaching the mirror, Haibara found herself gawking at the braid that extended from one side of her head, swiftly falling in a way that reminded her of a waterfall. Ran stood at her side, with an expectant smile as the little girl angled her head to her side to discover that the braid was kept in place by a beautiful, golden barrette. Upon closer inspection, she realized it was shaped like a tulip.

"As I thought!" Ran grinned, genuinely happy by her work. "It looks so cute on you, Ai-chan!"

Ai's fingers brushed lightly against the barrette. "This..."

"I saw you in the store beside the hotel and it reminded me of you."

"I… reminded you of a tulip?"

"Flowers are pretty, and golden is such an elegant color..." It was almost amusing how simple this girl could be, sometimes. "Is there… something wrong with that?"

She studied it for a couple of seconds. "Guess not."

"Good!" The girl brightened up at her approval and rushed to the door. "We should get going, though ─ I need to check on Dad to make sure he's… presentable."

Followed by that, she opened it and walked past it. Ai was about to follow her, but paused, giving another last glance at the golden tulip decorating her hair ─ it strongly reminded her of yellow tulips.

Yellow tulips. With a small, enigmatic smile, she turned back around. Guess it really fits me, after all.

"Damn it!"

"Conan, language."

"But how?!" Shinichi suppressed a flinch when the boy snapped at him. "I mean..." His crazed gaze fell back to the map he was holding so tightly. "I was so sure this was it."

The older detective couldn't do anything else but groan, turning to give the code in his phone, which Conan had gracefully passed him, another last, annoyed glare. He, too, had been sure that the place where the killer was going to act was a castle-esque building close to two clocks shops, along with a grocery store, a cake shop and a shop that dealt with cutlery or weapons…

In a not-so-surprising turn of events, they had ended up running around London for hours just to find out that there was not any place meeting that criteria. I should have known. Obviously, the mysterious criminal wasn't planning on making it any easier for any of them.

"Hey..." the professor said. "It's already 8 PM, you know..."

"What are you talking about?" Conan glanced around in confusion. "It's still so bright out..."

"We're in London, remember?" Shinichi sighed, hands sliding inside his pockets, annoyed over that fact. "It doesn't get dark until after 9 PM."

"Oh, right," he said, off-handedly, until a thought crossed his mind suddenly. "But is it alright?" The teenager looked at him, not understanding what he was trying to express. "Being here, I mean. Isn't Hakuba going to get suspicious if you aren't at your hotel room when they return?"

"Don't worry about it." His grin, however, made the kid worry even more. "They probably won't return until night. Even if they did, my door is locked."

There was nothing he could say against that argument, since he was right. In fact, the only one that could possibly know how to pick-lock would be that insufferable thief, but that would be counterproductive for him, so he guessed to assume that, for the moment, his brother was safe. He wouldn't lower his guard around Hakuba just yet, though.

Before he could voice his opinion, his phone rang. Soon, a teasing smirk crossed his face. "Want to pick it up for me?" he said, letting his older brother see.

It was almost funny how quickly he paled at that mere name on the screen. "Don't tell her I'm here..." he pleaded ─ now that was gratifying.

"Hmm, I don't know. Should I?"

"Please-!"

"Ah, Ran-neechan?" Shinichi blanched, mouth immediately shut when his brother answered out of the blue. The fear in his eyes was clear as he frantically waved his hands around, looking as if he was ready to run away as soon as the sole insinuation of his presence was given. "What's wrong?"

"What do you mean, 'what's wrong'?" Well, Ran didn't sound any pleased with him either, but the kid presumed his brother had it much worse. "I told you we promised to have dinner with Diana-san at 8 PM in the hotel restaurant, didn't I?"

"Sorry..." He actually had forgotten about it, but he wasn't telling her that. "I was so focused on solving the code with the Professor..."

"Geez… We're about to begin eating already!"

"Then, the Professor and I will pass!" Now it was time for Agasa to panic. "We'll get fish and chips or something around here."

"Hold on, where are you?"

Conan couldn't have that. "Well… Ah! The London Eye!"

L-London Eye? thought Shinichi, exchanging a confused look with Agasa before turning around to gaze at the Big Ben right behind them. Wait… What's that kid trying to…?

"Well, we should get going!"

With that, the boy hung up quickly, probably not allowing the girl to say anything about it. "Let's return to the hotel right about the time they finish their meal..." he then said to the professor, letting his shoulders drop along with a heavy, defeated sigh.

As if he was resigned to the painful future that awaited him for pulling that out.

For the first time today, Shinichi's heart wrenched for him ─ a feeling he could only attribute with empathy for that young poor boy whose destiny wasn't all that much different from his.

Poor thing.

The London Eye met her gaze the moment Ran set foot outside the hotel, and realized it was quite far away, but not enough to need a taxi for. Geez, that Conan-kun… Thus, she set off running, sighing at the thought of that certain little boy. Immersing himself in deductions to the point where he even forgets about hunger! Just like…

Without realizing it, her steps had come to a halt, "Holmes said it too!" and that voice echoed in her head. "That the brain works best on an empty stomach!"

Her forehead creased as her hands instinctively reached for her old red phone. "Maybe I should call Shinichi and ask him about it," she whispered to herself, scrolling through the contacts, stopping when the name 'Kudo Shinichi' greeted her gaze, and hesitated. It seems like such an urgent cipher. But, for some reason, her finger wouldn't move.

I just can't bring myself to...

"Would you want me to call Shinichi-san instead?"

It made her jump and spin around, just to see a particular little girl silently awaiting an answer. She was about to ask what she was doing there when she had told her to stay with her father ─ then proceeded to wonder what her father would do in a room full of English-speakers ─ before she frowned.

"People's lives are in danger," Ai said, smirking softly. "If we can't understand the code, we were supposed to go to Holmes, didn't Conan-kun say that?"

Ran hesitated for a few moments, until the small girl stretched her hand to her, asking for the phone. She received nothing but a shake of her head, however, before she set her gaze back on the screen, resolved to face her fears, finally.

Haibara let her hand drop to her side, quietly watching the older girl press the phone against her ear.

"It seems to me like this code may not be indicating stores that sell certain things..."

Conan could only sigh in return, seeing the truth in Agasa's words. I can't make heads nor tails of it, he complained inside his mind, letting his eyes scan through the words on his phone one last time. Predictably so, it didn't make any more sense than the other dozen times he had read it.

"If we could at least..." He looked over at his brother, who stood next to them, arms crossed over his chest and not looking any less frustrated than him. "... figure out what the 'loud sound of a rolling bell' in the first line meant, we'd have a clue to latch onto, but-"

They were interrupted, once again, by a soft vibration in Shinichi's pocket. Soon, his skin became pale white like a sheet just by taking a glance at it. Without a word, he made to tap the red button.

"Stop right there." Shinichi froze, slowly turning to give a frightened look towards the young boy. "If you want a chance of surviving, you can't do that."

An idea suddenly struck Shinichi, making him smile. "All I have to do is not answer, right? Since it's 5 AM in Japan, Ran would just believe I'm sleeping, isn't that-?" Conan gave him a pointed look, causing him to sigh, defeated. "-wrong. Absolutely wrong and awful. I get it."

"Good."

And like so, the older detective finally picked it up, under his brother's supervision, who watched his every movement with a hawk's eye. "Hello?" he did his best not to let that show on his face.

"Sorry, Shinichi? It's me." Shockingly enough, her voice was soft, unlike the furious yelling he had expected. "You were asleep, right? I know it's only 5 AM in Japan."

"No, I've been awake!" By the corner of his eye, he noticed Conan opening his mouth, ready to loudly voice his opinion when a frantic Agasa convinced him somehow to keep quiet. "I've been thinking about something."

"Sorry about earlier. I shouldn't have yelled at you and hung up." It sounded like she was trying not to cry, and he really didn't like it when it happened. For several reasons, in fact… He sweatdropped, glancing briefly towards the little boy's way, who was still staring intently. "I was so excited to be in the place where you had always wanted to go, but you must've thought I was just bragging..."

"It really didn't bother me! And I really had things I was busy with at the time." Well, he wasn't lying there.

"I see… Sorry about that!" Shinichi couldn't help the small smile that formed on his lips ─ it sounded like she felt a little better now. "And Shinichi, there's a code I want you to solve."

"About that code, Conan already forwarded it to me." Conan perked up a little at the mention of his name but, otherwise, did nothing ─ thankfully. "But the beginning part, 'the loud sound of a rolling bell'..." Suddenly, a bell chime reached his ears, prompting his words to slowly fade into silence. "... is where I'm struck..."

Slowly his eyes flickered to meet the little detective's before they both silently turned back around to gaze at the Big Ben, standing in all its glory right in front of them. Agasa, on the other hand, could only watch in puzzlement as the pair of brothers gasped out of the blue, looking equally astonished at whatever had just crossed their mind.

"Big Ben, Big Ben!" Shinichi cried in joy, while Conan focused back on the poem on his phone, frantically looking for what was next. "You hear it, don't you? Big Ben's chime here-"

He came to a sudden halt when the little boy's head was raised sharply to him, looking horrified for some reason he wasn't able to comprehend.

"Big Ben here?" His body recognized Ran's dangerous tone before his mind could properly process it, wince violently in reflex. "Hold on, Shinichi! What's the meaning of this?!"

"N-No..." At the obvious stutter, Conan sighed against his palm ─ an action that certainly didn't help to soothe his nerves. Even Agasa was fidgeting nervously at that point.

"Don't tell me you're here in London?!"

"I-It was the TV! I just happened to tune into a live broadcast from London on TV..." He finished with a sigh, relieved that he had managed to pull through a mostly believable lie.

Conan sighed again, but there wasn't any sense of relief on it.

"You are here, aren't you?"

"A-Ah, wait! I got another call coming in… L-L-Later!"

Anyone could tell that it hadn't gone all that well the moment the Ran glared at the phone with enough intensity to kill, had the target being a living being. Obviously, Ai wasn't the exception, but knew any better than to say a word. Just observed her drawing a deep breath in, eyes closing slowly.

And then she let it out all at once, feet stomping against the ground, freaking all the people around her out of their mind. Not even Ai was immune to fear ─ she had to admit that it startled her quite a bit.

"Ai-chan," she said, dangerously quiet. "Go back to the hotel. There's something I need to take care of."

Despite it all, Ai found herself smirking in return. "I'll go with you," the little girl answered serenely. "Someone needs to call an ambulance if things get out of hand."

Ran's frown deepened, if possible. "You might have to call the police instead."

"This is bad! Ran's coming!"

"Alright, see you later," Conan said, with a bored tone, crossing his arms behind his head, then added, smiling evilly, "Or not."

"H-Hey, if Ran-kun is coming here..." Agasa paled when a thought suddenly struck him. "What are we going to do?"

"We?"

"Didn't you trick her into thinking we're next to the London Eye?!"

Conan's smile dropped instantly at the notion, and it didn't get better when his brother crouched down in front of him, poking him harshly on the forehead. "Besides, what would Ran think..." He was the one smirking now. "... if she finds out this little brat over here was with me the entire time and said nothing even when he was just talking to her less than a minute ago?"

The kid's lips tugged up into a strange smile.

"Let's flee."

"I thought so."

Ran was gasping for air the moment she got to the other side of the bridge. I knew something was fishy… Picking her head up, she saw the Big Ben right in front of her. To think Shinichi's not envious of this…

I won't let him have his way!

"He isn't here anymore." She looked at Ai, who pointed at the guard beside Big Ben's gates. "I asked that guard, and he said that he saw a Japanese teenager rushing to the bridge we just crossed."

"Eh?! No way!"

The teenage girl then proceeded to turn around to face the bridge, shock gradually vanishing from her features, leaving its place for a furious frown to take hold ─ her target must have crossed from the opposite walkaway, so they must have missed each other somehow.

She would not let him off so easily. As she took a deep breath and brought her hands close to her mouth, Ai calmly covered her ears.

"SHINICHI!"

If Shinichi had doubts about it, the scream bombing through the air made all of them vanish as if they had never been there ─ Ran was going to murder him the moment she caught up with him, making sure his experience was so painful that even Gin himself would turn his head away from the scene.

"Aaah! I told you to tell her the truth!" shouted Conan, pointing at him, yet never daring to stop running. "Not only that, you had to open your mouth at the worst time possible, you dumbass!"

"Well!" Shinichi yelled back, definitely annoyed. "I don't think it matters now!"

"You can't say it doesn't after dragging me into this! At this rate, I'm going to get killed alongside you!"

"Hey, don't go blaming me! I didn't tell you to lie as well!"

"Well, I wouldn't have if you had talked to her in the first place!"

"You decided it on your own-!"

"This isn't the time for that!" shouted Agasa, causing them both to stop their arguing instantly. "We're bringing too much attention to ourselves!"

A quick glance around told Shinichi that the professor was right. Everyone was staring at them. "Three Japanese people stand too much," he stated, then quickly added. "Let's split up and flee after we get across the bridge-!"

"AH!" And then, a painfully loud thud.

Suddenly, the little boy completely disappeared from his peripheral vision, but it didn't take long to find him again. "It hurts..." He was on the floor, hissing as he checked the newly acquired scrap that graced his knee.

"Hey, are you all right?" Agasa was suddenly on his side, a worried frown falling on the slightly bloody knee, before focusing on the cause of the sudden fall. "Who left this drain cover open?"

Conan had to agree to that statement, groaning as he turned to look at it again, when he stopped short. There's something written there... Momentarily forgetting about his injury, or the imminent danger running straight to them, he inched closer, carefully inspecting the letters that were engraved on the side of the drain.

"The Valley of Fear"

Not that he had the time to ponder about it any longer, because suddenly he felt his feet leaving the ground altogether. Something had wrapped itself around his waist, and the next second he saw his precious clue drifting away from his reach.

"Hey, put me down!" It didn't take him long to realize that he was being carried under an arm backwards. "Now we're going to stand out even more!"

Shinichi scowled, yet never let go. "Forgive me for trying to save your life!"

"Funny coming from the person who put it in danger in the first place!"

But it was even funnier how much of a strong motivator fear was on people, the child couldn't help the thought. It had barely taken a second for Shinichi to cross the other half of the bridge and, before Conan could get his head around it, had shoved the child inside a phone booth, so clumsily that he almost didn't stop himself from crying out.

He didn't, though. Instead, he raised his head to see his older brother huddling against the lateral side of the booth, hoping that he wouldn't be seen from the outside. That's it. We're dead. With that lamentable hiding spot the older Kudo had found in a hurry, it was a matter of time until they finally met their demise.

Shinichi, on the other hand, gulped noisily, slowly creeping closer to the door to see what was going outside, and immediately regretted his actions. Just a block away was Ran, looking furious as ever, eyes scanning her surroundings with the intensity of a depredator hunting her prey ─ and was he seeing things or was that Shiho-chan trailing down behind her?!

Naturally, when he saw them slowly approaching their spot, he pressed his back against the wall as hard as possible, shuffling to the back of the booth. "H-Hey!" In the process, Conan found himself squeezed between the wall and his terrified older brother ─ obviously, he pushed him back as well as he could. "I'm still here, you know!"

"Yeah, I know." Shinichi didn't give up. "She is here too."

"What?!" Conan's struggle only increased. "Then hide somewhere else! I don't want to be found with you..."

"It's a bit too late for this, don't you think?!"

Like that, they went on and on, never noticing the little girl that suddenly stopped, staring intently at a certain phone booth that was shaking, almost imperceptibly. Without breaking eye contact, she tugged the hem of Ran's dress. "Found them," was all she said once she got their attention, pointing at the place in question.

Once she saw what she meant, the teenager's gaze took a dangerous turn. "Thanks, Ai-chan," she said, slowly marching their way.

Ai barely blinked at that.

A chill running down his back made Shinichi cease all movement, then slowly turn to take another look. "Damn it." He paled instantly. "She really is coming."

"We're… done for, aren't we?"

Followed by a sigh, the little boy just slid back to the ground, ultimately exhausted after all that running. Shinichi stared at him, contemplating his resigned expression, before that voice made him jump.

"Shinichi, you can't run away anymore." She was right beside the phone booth, the teenager noticed with a shiver. "Explain to me what this is all about!"

She was right, Conan reasoned ─ unless a tunnel to the underground manifested from nowhere, he guessed it was safe to assume that there actually was no way out of the situation. Just as he was about to tell his brother that the most sensible thing was to accept their fate, he heard something falling to the ground.

"Oniichan?" He blinked cluelessly at the wig that lay there and raised his head to see his brother swiftly taking out his contacts. Hey, hey, is he…? he thought, astonished as he quickly took a small towel out of his pocket and started to wipe his face, leaving his original paler skin to show in his eyes ─ was he keeping a makeup remover wipe wherever he went, though? The kid supposed it was for emergencies, but...

Once he was done, he turned to him to pass the contacts to him, and Conan clumsily accepted them. "Hold on to these for me, okay?" Kudo Shinichi winked at him, a confident smirk painting his features.

It didn't explain things for Conan, not even a little. "What are you doing?"

"SHINICHI!"

Despite he tried to control it, the child clearly noticed him wincing, his smile suddenly strained due to fear.

"Offering myself for sacrifice, I suppose."

All questions of what his older brother could mean were left hanging in the air when he turned around and, in some unbelievable turn of events, opened the door. It surprised the kid so much that he had to cover his own mouth to keep himself from yelping, thus giving away his position.

He wasn't willing to move from there any time soon. In fact, all that he did was huddle even closer to the back, making himself as small as humanly possible.

"Explain what?" he heard Shinichi say nonchalantly, as if he hadn't been running like his life depended on it a few seconds ago. "I just happen to have come to London as well."

What the detective had expected upon opening the door was to suffer from her wrath in the form of a punch in the middle of his face, yet, far from that, all she did was purse her lips. "Then why were you running?" She didn't scream ─ it had come into a soft whisper.

"T-That's because… I forgot to tell you I was coming to London." Her quiet behavior startled him more than he would admit. "So I thought it'd be awkward..."

That was awkward, remarked the little boy in the solitude of the phone booth, eye twitching in slight irritation of the way his brother seemed to be dealing with this. Ran took a moment to reply, which sparked his curiosity about what really happened there. His surprise was big when, upon crawling closer to the glass door, the kid noticed that the girl had dropped her head.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Her fists were tightly closed, too. "You had plenty of chances, didn't you?"

"Well, that's-"

"Stupid."

"Eh?"

"Stupid of me. I got excited over nothing. I did so much research, and was worried to death about your stuff..." When her head raised, Shinichi's eyes widened slightly. Tears were collecting in her eyes, threatening to fall any minute now. "It's just like that person said. Love is zero. No matter how much you add to zero, you'll just lose miserably."

Shinichi wasn't sure how to respond. "What are you talking about?"

"Minerva Glass-san said so!"

"Minerva Glass?! You met the Grass Court Queen?!"

Conan facepalmed, hard.

"I did, at Baker Street! So what?!"

"At Baker Street?! Then, was there a kid with her?!"

The kid watching the scene lamented having told him about the child he had received the code from. Read the mood, you numbskull... Conan couldn't understand how the Great Detective of the East couldn't see that the girl in front of him was about to cry. Just this time, I beg you.

"There was… She said he was her younger brother."

"Did the kid say anything? Like if he came back because he remembered anything..." At this point, Ran started sobbing, unable to hold it back anymore. "Hey, calm down-!"

A faint knocking brought his attention away from his childhood friend to the phone booth where, through the glass, a pair of unamused blue eyes stared back at him, eyebrow raising as if to tell him he was a colossal idiot. Which he supposed he was, because he didn't get what he had done wrong.

"Calm down? Don't you get it?" Tears were rolling freely down Ran's cheeks, causing Shinichi to finally realize what he had done wrong. "You're a detective, aren't you?!"

And reaffirm that, indeed, he was an utterly insensible idiot.

"If you call yourself a detective, why don't you try to deduce what's in my heart?! IDIOT!"

Before he could even react, the girl had brushed past him and took off running. "Hey, wait!" His arm stretched towards her, watching as she quickly darted her way around the several passersby that stared at them, surprised by the scene they were making. "Ran!"

Without thinking twice, he ran after her.

It wasn't until several seconds later that a tiny head poked out the phone booth, finally gathering enough courage to inspect his surroundings. They are gone. He sighed in relief, carefully stepping outside to gaze at the bridge they had just crossed.

Throwing his bag over his shoulder, where he was now carrying his brother's belongings, he couldn't help the little smile that was painted over his face. In the end, he really ran after her. He had been so worried Shinichi would chicken out and stand there, watching her go, but he had actually surprised him. They should be okay now.

Better not mess this up, Oniichan.

"Oh, isn't this surprising?" Conan jumped out of his skin. "That Shinichi-san would be in London as well." He calmed down slowly when he recognized the voice. "Now again, you knew it already, didn't you, Mr. Liar Detective?"

The boy huffed irritably. "For your information..." He spun around. "I didn't know until-"

And froze in his spot, eyes widening behind his glasses for several seconds, causing Ai to tilt her head, weirded out by this unusual reaction, before her gaze dropped to her white and blue dress, momentarily wondering if she had accidentally dirtied it when running around the city. She hadn't, oddly enough.

But even weirder was the rosy blush gently painted Conan's cheeks.

Boys. It took her another minute to finally smile, hands latching behind her back. "Oh, what's this?" Her smile took on a teasing nature suddenly. "Your face is red, Conan-kun."

"D-Don't be stupid." His face betrayed him, though, flushing several degrees of red deeper in the blink of an eye. "I-I… No. Wouldn't… Uh… No."

She giggled under her hand, causing him to just turn away with a frustrated huff. Ai noticed that, despite his attempts to hide his embarrassment, the tips of his ears were glowing. In an unusual moment of sympathy, she chose to let him be, calmly walking past him to look at the bridge where the two teenagers had just run off to.

Her smile faltered, but she managed to put it back in place with minimal effort.

"Love is zero, huh?" she whispered, low enough only for the wind to hear.

Yet Conan did, making him raise his head in surprise. There had been something about her tone that was amiss ─ something that he hadn't heard in a while and had hoped it had been long gone for now.

The sadness coating her tone was there, though, as a proof that it hadn't disappeared after all. For a slight moment, he wondered what could have caused it this time, until he turned back around.

Ai didn't move, just gazed thoughtfully at the place where Shinichi had just gone, chasing after Ran. Her dress fluttered on the chilly night breeze that showed that the sun had settled long ago. So did her hair, beautifully braided and held into place by a tulip-shaped, golden barrette.

The realization hit him all of a sudden ─ a yellow tulip.

Slowly, his eyebrows were brought together when it came to him that there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. None of them could, either way.

Taking a deep breath, the boy shook his head and took a step forward.

Ai barely held back a startled yelp when he seized her hand and started to drag her the opposite way. "W-Wait a minute!" she yelled as they ran, still unable to recover herself. "Wh-What is all this about?"

Conan remained completely unfazed about it all. In fact, all he did was turn to her and offer her a bright grin. "There's a cake shop nearby that's really good!" he said, prompting her to blink. "If we don't hurry, it will close soon!"

"Cake?" She raised an eyebrow. "We didn't even have dinner."

"Who cares? The Professor is paying for it, anyway. I'll call him and tell him to meet us there."

She looked as if she was about to protest, but then her mouth closed. For a few seconds, the two children ran across the busy streets of London, barely paying attention to the citizens that, amused, just stepped away from their way.

The boy's grin didn't vanish the entire way. Before long, the girl copied his actions.

"Well, what do we have here, naughty little boy?"

Sighing, the little boy closed his book soundly, and felt a faint headache coming. It was almost impressive, Conan had pondered over it several times before, how his body would react to that presence. First came the migraine, then came the almost unrestrainable urge of pressing the button on his soccer belt.

"I'd have thought that pint-sized detectives should be in bed right now."

Then came the shark grin that made those murderous thoughts surface. Such a curious instinct, indeed ─ for less than a second, his gaze had wandered across the hotel lobby to check that they weren't alone, that the lady dozing behind the reception desk would be a potential witness if he were to do anything.

"So should pesky showy clowns."

"For us adults, the night is young, Tantei-kun." Conan rolled his eyes in reply, failing to point out that the guy was clearly seventeen or eighteen, thus not an adult either. "And for phantom thieves like myself, night is home, and the moon is our ever faithful companion." Sticking his hands in his pockets, the thief let his gaze wander to the window, admiring the silver glow that fell upon the busy city outside. "No matter where you are in this vast world, if it's night, it is there."

"You know moon phases are a thing, don't you?" The child pointed out, plainly. "You can't see anything during the new moon."

"Even if you can't see it doesn't mean it's not there." He waved a finger at him, chuckling at the groan he gave him in return. "And even if it was to be tragically destroyed one day..." Dramatically, probably a tad too much, he placed his hand on his chest. "It will always be here."

Without warning, he threw the plastic bag he was carrying, aiming at his face. To his displeasure, the teenager caught it easily. "Tell Oniichan to warn me next time he's going to send a guy like you to pick his disguise up."

"I would love to."

Kaito grinned, and Conan pressed a hand against his forehead, irritation already taking the best out of him. When he raised his head, he honestly hoped that he would find himself alone again, free to go back to his room and forget about this strange meeting he had no intention to relive. To his dismay, however, his eyes instantly caught the fact that the thief hadn't left. In fact, he had sat on the couch in front of him, crossing his legs as if he would not leave any time soon.

"What do you want?" Conan's gaze narrowed suspiciously. "Do you want me to call Scotland Yard and tell them to take you where you belong?"

It didn't intimidate Kaito ─ it amused him instead. "I was just wondering if you'd like me to share with you…" he whispered, leaning forward and partly covering his mouth with his hand. "... the latest gossip."

"You want… to gossip."

"Thought you would be interested ─ it's about Meitantei and all."

"Meitantei?" Blinking at the grinning thief, Conan's head titled in confusion until it finally dawned on him. "Wait, you mean Oniichan?!"

"The one and only."

"Kaito… Hey, Kaito, are you listening?"

Kaito mumbled some sort of response to her, leaning against the bridge with an exhausted sigh. What a day had it been, he lamented to himself. Being on the same flight as that certain miniature detective hadn't been an excellent way to start their trip, but he had thought that it couldn't get worse.

He had been proved wrong when he spotted the same little runt inside the museum Kudo had insisted on visiting. Luckily, he had been so overjoyed, distracted by every single thing around him, that he hadn't noticed them. But Kaito had taken no chances and hid in the bathroom, claiming to be sick on the stomach.

When he had gathered enough courage to walk out to check what was going on, he discovered that Tantei-kun and company had already left, and that Kudo had gone back to the hotel because he was 'tired' ─ no surprises there.

"Like I said," Aoko replied, noticing that he had clearly not heard a thing. "You can see the London Eye from here!"

"Yeah, I can see it too," replied Kaito, boredly.

"It is quite impressive," commented Akako, smirking in a way that didn't settle well with Kaito. "Why don't we take a closer look at it?"

"Yeah!" Aoko grinned at the other girl.

"Can't we do that tomorrow?" Kaito rolled his eyes. "I'm starving here."

When Hakuba smirked at his side, the magician figured he had probably said something wrong. "Well, it is quite late," the detective stated, glancing at his pocket watch. "We can eat something quick around here and go back to the hotel."

"I agree." Aoko nodded. It really surprised Kaito how easily she was complying. "I want to check on Hirai-kun, too. He looked so pale earlier..."

At that moment, the magician realized that, probably, he shouldn't have said that. "Ah, no..."

"That has become a rather common occurrence, hasn't it?" added Akako as an afterthought. "I wonder if Hirai-kun has some underlying health problems..."

After that sentence, all three of them suddenly turned to him, expecting him to say something about it. "I-I wonder about, too..." he replied, lamely he would say. "He has always been kind of weird, so..."

"I see…" Aoko pondered over it for several seconds before finally shrugging off. "Well then, let's eat something! I'm dying to try some fish and chips!"

No matter how much he tried, the magician was unable to control his instincts ─ if those creatures were mentioned, there was no way he could pull out his poker face. "Kuroba-kun?" Even Hakuba looked confused by his violent wince. "Is there something wrong?"

"It's okay!" Aoko laughed it off. "Kaito is just afraid of fish."

"I'm not-"

"Oh, you have ichthyophobia, Kuroba-kun?" asked Hakuba, smiling as if he had just thought of a good plan ─ a plan that Kaito, definitely, wasn't going to like.

"Of course not!"

"Ah, look there!" the girl shouted, pointing at the river. "Isn't that a gigantic, ugly-eyed, jumping-?"

"Nope, I'm not playing this game!" Kaito jumped backwards, looking way paler than before. "That's it! I'm leaving-!"

"Watch out, Kai-!"

He never got to hear the rest because, the next second, he was landing painfully on his rear, a product of an external force knocking into him full strength. Just as he was about to open his mouth, more than ready to chew whoever had collided into him, he heard the offender running right past him, completely oblivious of what they had caused.

"Ran!" Hurried steps got close, then began to fade into the distance ─ Kaito's eyes widened. "Wait, Ran!"

This couldn't be ─ just in case, he turned his head slowly to see, indeed, that he was there, chasing after that girl from the agency.

"Wait a second!" Aoko shouted, surprised, looking at the way where the two were running. "Isn't that the Kudo Shinichi?!"

"And that girl is Mouri-san, too," Akako added with a nod. "Such a coincidence, isn't it?"

But probably, the most unsettling reaction was Hakuba who silently smirked, then turned back to face the river, looking most pleased about something that Kaito couldn't help but frown at ─ whether or not he liked it, he would have to keep an eye on that detective.

If that idiot didn't watch out for himself ─ he decided, still on the floor, craning his head to watch the reckless detective ─ someone had to make sure he didn't stir trouble for everyone else. Mainly Kaito himself.

Kudo wasn't running anymore, instead had gripped the girl's wrist, tightly enough to make her stop. Now, he couldn't tell what they were saying, exactly, but he guessed he could safely draw his own conclusions.

The girl's bamboozled, blushing face as she just stood there, under the Big Ben, shocked, even after he had released her was more than enough for the magician to smirk, finally standing up and telling the rest that they should get going.

… And get Hakuba away from there, but he wasn't telling anyone that.

"So?" Tantei-kun didn't look impressed, arms crossed in front of his chest as if expecting him to tell him more. "I know he ran after her ─ I was there."

That was a story Kaito was more than eager to learn about, but even he knew better than asking directly. "No good, Tantei-kun. You're completely missing the point." Instead, he pretended to sigh, dramatically. "If I wasn't able to read my audience's reactions, I wouldn't be able to call myself a magician-"

"They were not your audience ─ they didn't even see you."

"-which means that there's nobody better than me for this." Kaito ignored the boy completely. "I might not have heard a thing they said right there, but there's no mistaking it. That girl's expression told me everything that was happening there."

"Are you going to say something worth hearing or-?"

"A confession, Tantei-kun, a confession," the magician huffed, almost annoyed. "Meitantei confessed to that girl ─ it was clear in her eyes."

The boy's breath froze in his lungs, eyes widening dramatically as those words finally dawned on his mind. Oniichan… confessed to Ran-neechan? The thought sounded strange, even in his ears. They confessed?!

Before long, however, he shook his head. "Yeah, right, as if." He laughed loudly, making the magician be the one groaning, for once. "Listen, I've known them both for my entire life. There's no way my brother would have the courage to speak to her first."

Despite his words, the grin on this boy's face was still big ─ such a curious sight, Kaito reflected with a smirk of his own. "Well, I've done my labor," he said, jumping back to his feet and throwing the bag over his shoulder. "Better give this to Meitantei before Hakuba decides to barge in the room he has locked himself in, or something."

Truthfully, Conan could see him doing that, so he didn't give him any reply, more than a slight nod. The magician simply waved at the child and began to approach the door. But then a small chuckle made him stop and spin around.

"What now?" he asked, almost irritated, at the boy who was now standing up, arms tucked behind his head.

"Oh, nothing. Just thinking about something."

For a moment, the thief worried it would include him incarcerated, gravely injured, or both, but Tantei-kun's expression lacked that mischievous malice, or pure annoyance, that it had whenever that was the case. There was a genuine, relieved, he would say, smile decorating his young face.

"Here I thought my friends were weird… Turns out Oniichan isn't all that different from me."

Kaito did not know what to think about it. It didn't help that the child suddenly nodded at him, prompting him to believe there was something more behind that honest gaze. Thank you, it was as if he could hear it. Thank you for having his back.

So he nodded as well, the same smile present on his face.

"Don't you think you're getting any preferential treatment for this." And then, the challenging smirk, the same that pumped him up like no one before, met his eyes. "Your next heist will be your last ─ be prepared for it."

"Wouldn't dream of it." He turned around, not letting him see how pleased he was to hear those words. "I will be patiently waiting for our next showdown, my little and greatest rival."

Followed by that sentence, the magician raised his hand to bid him goodbye. That was the last thing Conan saw before, with a faint 'poof', the room was covered in white smoke.

When it disappeared, the thief was nowhere to be seen, no matter where the small detective looked. Only when the chilly breeze of the night brushed past his cheeks did he notice the slightly open window giving way to the bright full moon that illuminated the dark sky.

"Doors exist for a reason." Conan sighed, despite the fact that he hadn't stopped smirking yet.

Of course, the thief couldn't be typical in that regard either.

A/N:

CherryGirl 21-6: Well, it was supposed to be Ayumi but then I remembered she lived in an apartment so, since I wasn't sure if cats would be allowed there, I decided to just switch that role to Mitsuhiko. That, and it worked better for something else in the next chapters... About that case, I'm not sure, I'd have to read it again because I don't remember everything… And, no, you are definitely not annoying me. As long as you don't mind if I end up not using everything, I actually enjoy listening to new ideas :)

F.C. Meyer: I don't think I can answer to any of that xD

Rene: I was just writing that part when I read this review, so thanks a lot ;)