File Ninety-Three: Holmes' Apprentice

If he was to describe how he was feeling, Shinichi assumed that 'frustrated' wouldn't suffice. No, this isn't it either! He grunted as he tore the page off the notebook altogether.

A crumpled ball of paper rolled across the floor, softly hitting the other teenager's feet who, huffing, leaned down to pick it up. "You know trash cans are a thing..." he mumbled, throwing it over his shoulder. Looking over it, he didn't fight the grin that brightened his face when he saw it had gone in.

"Wouldn't take you as the kind that would care about keeping the floor clean, Kuroba," Shinichi commented, not looking away from his notebook as he began scribbling again. "Especially when it's Hakuba's floor."

"What can I say? I'm bored."

After saying this, he plopped down in a chair beside the detective, who, far from minding it, remained completely engrossed in his own work. I thought we were going to talk about me, he sighed again, chin lowering to rest on top of the table. Instead, we have this.

On the other side of the ridiculously big room, the two girls were struggling to find something on Hakuba's laptop ─ mainly Aoko, however, Akako was merely glancing from time to time, but otherwise simply enjoyed a cup of warm tea ─ but to no avail, of course. They had been doing that since yesterday morning. And it's almost 2 PM now.

Letting his eyes wander a little more, he found the blonde detective. Creepy. He grimaced. Hakuba just sat on the sofa, unmoving and staring at the wall without saying a word ─ he had been doing that for a while now.

"If you are bored, don't you think you could, I don't know, help maybe?" Kudo sounded annoyed.

"I'm not a detective, if you haven't noticed," Kuroba whispered back. "If you don't get it, how am I supposed to, Meitantei?"

"Come on, I've seen you writing codes while eating breakfast before school."

"There's a big difference there between writing and cracking, you know!" he hissed, and continued despite the grunt that the detective gave him in response. "And, if I'm not mistaken, it is you who solves them before I can even send them."

"Right, right." He sighed, then continued in a louder voice. "This code is too hard, though." He snatched the code, which he had copied in a random piece of paper, and frowned slightly. "If we could figure out why he put 'A' twice..."

Having heard that last part, Aoko's head shot up.

"Hey, hey, are you sure it's Saturday then?" Kaito almost panicked.

"There's no other choice." Shinichi frowned, focusing back on his scribbles, but nothing had made sense so far. "I even considered the case that the letter 'A' was necessary, and all I came with was 'Taranus', the god of thunder instead..." He massaged his temples as if he was starting to develop a headache. "He ended up blending with Jupiter, so I considered that Hades actually meant Jupiter's day, or Thursday in other words, but..."

"Today is Saturday and nothing has happened." Kaito gave him a strained grin. "Guess we dodged a bullet there..."

"Couldn't it be actually..." They both looked up when Akako, without moving from her spot, addressed them. "... this tragic event is supposed to happen next Thursday?"

"It might be," Shinichi confessed in return, frowning as he looked away. "But we can't take that risk… Until we solve this code..."

He trailed down into silence when Aoko, out of the blue, set the computer aside and quickly approached the table Shinichi was working on, a strangely determined frown decorating her features. "A-Aoko?" stuttered Kaito, a little afraid, but she paid no mind.

Instead, she grasped a map they had there, in the middle of the mess of papers, and promptly slid it closer to her. Shinichi couldn't help but yelp, startled, when she whisked the pen away from his fingers, with no warning whatsoever.

"Wait!" Kaito screamed, horrified to see her drawing something on it. "What are you doing?!"

"If the answer isn't on the code itself..." she mumbled as she continued to do her work. Curious about what she might be intending, Akako walked closer and peered over her shoulder. "... it might be somewhere else!"

Shinichi watched her, frozen at her words. Somewhere else?

"What are you talking about?" Kaito complained. "You're just ruining it."

"There!" Grinning, she stood back. It went away, however, when she took a good look at her work. "This is weird… I was sure that if I connected all the places on the map, a letter would appear, but..."

"Well, it does look like a hand mirror." Akako smirked. "Or a hangman's noose."

"Would it kill you to be a little less creepy?" Kaito huffed, leaning closer to glance at the drawing on the map. "You could have said, I don't know, a balloon, or a tennis racket-"

"Tennis racket?!"

The magician had barely the time to blink before the two detectives pushed him off the way so that they could have a look themselves. Both of them contemplated it for a couple of seconds before Hakuba snorted. "This is it." Smirking, he turned to Shinichi. "This is the place, Hirai-kun."

Nodding, Shinichi stepped away, fishing his phone from his pocket.

"What?! Wimbledon?!"

The confused glances directed at him didn't take long to appear, yet the kid couldn't really care less about them at the moment. Instead, he went silent, carefully listening to the instructions through the phone, before whisking the map away from Kogoro's hands ─ thus, successfully ignoring his objections to his action. "Yeah… First it was Big Ben, then… Elephant and the Castle..." His nose scrunched, as he connected those places with a line like he was told. "Are you sure this is it?"

"Positive." His brother sounded serious, too. "Just keep doing it, and you will see what I mean."

Though he still had a lot of questions, he obeyed and connected the last places under the others' expectant gazes. "... St. Bride's Church… Oh, so this is why Big Ben appeared twice..."

"Now, if you go from Big Ben to Meissen's store… What do you see, Conan?"

Once his work was finished, the boy held the map up to his eyes, and couldn't help but gasp at the sight. "A tennis racket..." he heard Ai say close to him, sounding as shocked as he was. "That means..."

"It is Wimbledon!" Ran covered her mouth as horror made her face pale. "Minerva-san's final starts at 2 PM today!"

This couldn't be good, reflected the boy as he glanced at his wristwatch ─ Minerva's match was going to start any second now. If only we saw through this earlier… What made it even more frustrating was that they had considered Wimbledon before, but since a few other children watching the Tour de France were also there, he had brushed it off.

He had assumed the culprit had told them that someone was going to die before their eyes, but most likely, that hadn't been the case. He played us well, didn't he? His grip on the map tightened, not minding if he was crumpling the paper. He passed the riddle to other children just to confuse the investigation.

"Then, we have to explain this to the police!" Agasa exclaimed suddenly. "Now that we know when and where, definitely-"

"We can't." He was shocked to hear Conan say it. "We have to proceed with caution."

"This isn't the first time he does something like this ─ he did it twice before," Ai said, holding up two fingers to the adults. "In the first one, it seems like he sent the police a videotape he took of the destruction of the first hospital, enclosed along with a letter explaining the riddle. In the case of the second hospital, they had somehow solved the riddle and sent a bomb disposal team in." Her eyes narrowed slightly. "None of them got out. The video of the explosion he sent later contained his voice. 'You're late,' he laughed viciously too."

Kogoro watched her for a couple of minutes, before his shocked expression slowly vanished. "That means, that in order to stop his crime..." He swallowed, attempting to soothe his dry throat. "... we'd have to sneak over that place and secretly creep to that man."

Thoughtful silence met his sentence, taking on what it would mean to their own safety. Even Shinichi wasn't saying anything, probably considering all the possibilities inside his own mind. "Oniichan." He made a sound of surprise, however, when he heard his brother's calm, serious tone. "What do you think we should do?"

"Stop Hades of course."

Conan smirked at his response, full of conviction and without a bit of doubt. "I thought so," he said, confusing the detective for a second, until the child continued. "Guess we'll have to find a way in."

"A way in… Wait a minute, 'we'?"

"Someone has to do it, right?" Shinichi decided he didn't like that confident tone. "We got it covered here ─ just make sure to tune in Wimbledon on the TV and tell us if something is amiss, alright?"

"What are you talking about?" Conan was rolling his eyes at this point, Ai noticed and, tugged by curiosity, she inched closer so that she could hear as well. "I'm coming as well."

"You can't just-"

"No, you don't." Not only did Shinichi pause in shock to hear that new voice, but the little boy did as well. "You are not showing your face in a place that's packed with cameras."

Just as the bespectacled boy was about to, rather rudely, shoo her away so talk with his brother, he halted. "That's… a valid point, I guess." Conan barely heard Shinichi sigh, far too focused on the ticking her hair provided against his cheek. "But doesn't that also mean you can't be there?"

"I'll just make sure it isn't seen, something you certainly can't be trusted on," she said, firmly, moving even closer to make her point across. "We both know that when a certain factor is there, your reasoning capacity is reduced to that of an orangutan."

At this point, Conan simply passed her the phone himself and stepped away, an action she didn't seem to register, but Ran definitely did, evidenced by the giggle she didn't have the decency to hide. All he could do was scramble away from sight, hoping that none of the others noticed his face was burning ─ they did, either way.

"Hey, that's-"

"A fact." She wasn't even blinking. "Anyway, just do as Conan-kun told you." Having said that, she glanced over her shoulders, eyes lingering on each of the older people in the room, before smirking. "Don't worry. It's not like we're alone, either way."

Shinichi didn't find the right words to say immediately, giving the young girl the opportunity to just hang up on him. But he didn't move, just continued to stand there, phone against his ear as he listened to the beeps on the other side. After a solid minute of contemplating a random spot on the wall, the boy found himself, despite the circumstances, smiling.

Is that really you, Shiho-chan? Gently tucking the device back in place, he turned around to join the others in the living room. Something about the way she talked, so confident and willing to expose herself for the sake of people she didn't know…

Something had changed. Shinichi wondered how he had missed it.

"Hey, now, it's already after 2 PM, you know?!" Kogoro was panicking now. "The match is already starting!"

"But what are we going to do after getting to Wimbledon?" And Agasa was worrying. "We don't have any tickets..."

"For that, where there's a will, there's a way!"

Conan was pretty sure that he couldn't suddenly produce tickets to Wimbledon solely with his will, but if the man wanted to try, well, he wasn't stopping him, either.

"How is it, Conan-kun?" The boy turned away from the two men to Ran, who leaned closer to him. "Have you reached Apollo-kun?"

"No, not yet." He shook his head, phone still pressed against his ear. "He probably turned his phone off for the game-"

"Ah, hello?" After hearing that, the boy almost dropped it out of surprise.

"A-Apollo? Is this Apollo?"

"What happened?" Apollo sounded a little annoyed, and Conan couldn't figure out the reason. "You never called me!"

Somewhere in his mind, he remembered he might have promised to do so. "S-Sorry," he laughed awkwardly. "Where are you now?"

"I couldn't take the call in the seats, so I came to the passageway..." In response, the bespectacled boy hummed. "Anyway, since you called me, it means the culprit who gave me that riddle has been captured, right?"

"No. Not exactly-"

"Then don't call me for this!" Apollo yelled, irritated.

Now it was time for Conan's eyebrow to twitch. "Make up your mind, you wanted me to call you or not-?" He was interrupted, however, when something bumped him on his arm, painfully.

"I meant, not now!" he heard Apollo say, while eyeing the little scientist innocently looking away, as if she hadn't she just elbowed him a few seconds ago. "I'm watching my sister's game!"

"Oh, I see! Sorry about that..." he apologized, even if he hadn't stopped glaring at the girl boredly yawning beside him. "S-So, has anything strange happened at the courts? Like, anyone speaking to you or..."

"Some of my sister's fans told us 'good luck' since they recognized me, Mom and Ares… And gave us a huge stuffed animal saying 'for your sister'!"

Conan pondered over it a little, but couldn't find anything especially suspicious about it. "How is your sister doing?"

"I'm not sure how she's doing yet, her match just started after all… Why are you asking me stuff like this-?" He halted, then continued after a brief gasp. "Is it because something is going to happen here?!"

"Actually-" Kogoro, Agasa and Ran instantly spun around, finger in front of their lips, insisting that he kept silent about it. "Actually, it has nothing to do with the code..." he finished lamely, adding an embarrassed laugh for good measure. "I'm a bit of a fan of your sister… So I was wondering..."

"Huh?"

"Do you happen to have any extra tickets?"

"... What?"

As it turned out, no, Apollo didn't have any extra tickets willing to part with. So, it didn't matter if they got to the place a few minutes after the call; the group was still left to stand in front of the gates at Wimbledon, empty-handed and unable to do anything.

Had I told Apollo, he would have given me his ticket without thinking, the boy thought, glaring a little at the adults ─ who didn't even notice ─ before sighing. But we can't just give up here, right? He had promised his brother they would find a way inside, after all.

Just as he was considering just putting the guard to sleep with his watch ─ an idea that Agasa definitely didn't like ─ a new face crossed his visual view. To his surprise, Diana was also there to watch the match, so Conan wasted not another second and approached her, claiming that they had lost their tickets.

Diana actually seemed to consider his words. "Then..." After a moment of pondering, she smiled. "How about we do this?"

Conan beamed. This is it!

This is not it.

Conan sighed dejectedly, resting his chin over his knees, eyes glued to the gigantic screen several meters away from their position ─ he should have known that getting inside the Centre Court wouldn't be a piece of cake. Now, any other day, he would be beyond grateful for the woman to arrange tickets for the famous Murray Mound, but this time, it was not enough.

Inside the court, Minerva passed the ball to the other side of the field, but Conan couldn't pay any attention to it. No good. He squinted his eyes, struggling to see the people sitting in the background, but to no avail. Even if I know Hades is there, I can't still see anything.

"I wonder if Minerva-san is feeling well today..." Conan turned to Ran instantly, confused by her comment. "I mean, all her serves are catching the net… and she's losing with a score of 3-0..."

"Quite unusual, isn't it?" commented Haibara, her gaze travelling around the place, an action that the boy attributed to her making sure there weren't any cameras around ─ at a time like this, he wouldn't be surprised if a journalist popped up from nowhere to interview people at random, cameras included. "For the Grass Court Queen's serves to be this sloppy."

Conan looked at the girl for a full second, deeply in thought, when he heard the crowd gasping again, prompting him to turn back to the screen. To his surprise, Minerva had hit the net again, which was undoubtedly unusual for someone so precise with her serves.

In no time at all, she had lost the first set 0-6 ─ now something was definitely off. Not to say that she had faulted twice, which was, to say the least, odd.

"Ah, they are showing it!" suddenly Ran exclaimed, just as the boy was thinking deeply about it. "The spots where Minerva-san's serves have landed during this game!"

When Conan looked up, his eyes went wide. Could… And didn't tear his gaze again, even if Minerva was back on the screen, drying the sweat off her face with a deadly serious expression. Could it be?

"Huh?" Ai said suddenly, blinking at the screen.

"What's wrong, Ai-chan?" Ran asked, moving closer to the girl. "Is everything alright?"

"Ah, it's nothing," she replied with a small smile. "I was surprised to see that Minerva Glass isn't wearing her wristband."

Conan felt his interest in their conversation growing exponentially.

"Now that you mention it, you're right..." Ran commented, looking surprised as well. "Even though she had said in an interview that during a final she always makes sure to wear the wristband her father gave her..." she mumbled. "I wonder if she forgot to bring it?"

The boy watched them both for several seconds, then back at the tennis player. Realization slowly began to creep on him, prompting his mouth to lose strength and open slightly, but recovered right away.

"No, she didn't forget it." The frown that now decorated his face made everyone worry. "She's the target."

"Eh? Minerva Glass is?" Aoko's eyes tore away from the television to the blonde detective. "Are you sure, Hakuba-kun?"

"The placement of her serves," said he, eyes narrowing on the tennis player on the screen. "To prevent the culprit from catching up, she's using them to indicate letters in braille ─ 'H', 'E', 'L' and 'P'. Putting them together, it spells 'help,' so I don't believe it's too farfetched to think she needs help, now is it?"

"Come to think of it..." Akako cupped her chin with her finger. "Minerva-san's mother is blind, isn't she? It isn't entirely illogical that she memorized braille for her sake."

"But even so..." Kaito raised an eyebrow. "How can you be so sure it isn't just a coincidence?"

"Her wristband, the one she always wears during finals, is missing." Hakuba pointed out, as it was obvious. "The culprit probably told her through a letter, or something placed in her wristband. If he were to put it in her racket or something else she always uses, it'd be impossible… But, again, she only uses it during the final, so there'd be plenty of chances to sneak it in."

Kuroba, seeing what he meant, was unable to reply any longer, prompting Hakuba to smirk arrogantly. "Well, if you still aren't convinced, you can ask Hirai-kun instead." He motioned with his head to the boy in question, standing in a corner away from them, typing something in his phone, grumbling irritably to himself. "From what I can see, he agrees with my reasoning completely."

As the magician, fueled by curiosity, approached him, Aoko's head tilted slightly in confusion. "What is he doing?"

"Probably communicating those deductions I just told you about to a certain detective we all know about."

"Oh, so Detective Mouri it is..." she mumbled, glancing towards the pair ─ Kaito was glancing at Hirai's screen, yet the boy was too focused on his task to realize. "I wonder where he got his number..."

"He's a famous detective," Akako said. "His phone number is everywhere."

"I see..."

The blonde detective, on the other hand, made no comment, looking away from the girls to pay closer attention to the match displayed on the television. No, I don't mean him, he thought, with a small smirk. I mean the young Holmes that operates from the shadows… The true mastermind behind the Great Mouri Kogoro...

Again, Minerva had written another 'H' in the field, meaning that she was going to continue spelling the same message, over and over, until somebody finally caught on it. It was a wonder to him, however, how was the person who solved it going to tell her without telling the culprit. You have it tough, don't you? Hakuba crossed his arms in front of his chest. I wonder how you're going to overcome this...

It appears it's all in your hands, Little Detective of the East.

Unknowingly to any of the others, Shinichi groaned. "No good," he said, glaring at the phone as if he was a second away from tossing it at the nearest wall. "He isn't replying… What is he doing, that brat…"

"Maybe he's too focused on the match to pick it up," Kuroba suggested, unhelpfully. "Why don't you contact somebody else instead?"

Shinichi seemed to actually consider it for a moment. "I'll text Ai-chan," he said, then paused at the odd look Kuroba gave him. "What?"

"No, it's nothing… I was just so sure you would contact your girlfriend instead."

He jumped, probably more than it should to look natural, then swiftly faced away from his direction. "I-I guess I could, but..."

"Oh, isn't this unusual?" Shinichi blinked at the smirk Kuroba directed his way. "Any other day, you would vehemently deny, and even insult me, for calling her that." It took a moment, but soon realization dawned on the detective, making his eyes open, quickly realizing his mistake. "So, is it official?"

"Of course not!"

"So she didn't reply to you, huh?" The magician dejectedly shook his head, patting the other boy on the shoulder. "I'm sorry to hear it, Kudo."

"Hey, she didn't reject me."

"Yet."

"What are you even talking about-?!"

"Minerva!"

Just as quickly as it had come, the embarrassed redness painting his face began to drain, leaving a ghostly pale color behind, prompted by the same horror that caused his voice to trail down, and his eyes to widen. He exchanged gazes with the magician next to him for a full second until they flickered to the screen.

There was a little boy with oversized glasses, waving his arms over his head and wearing a grin so bright and wide enough to split his face in two.

"I'll help you!" he yelled in English. "I'm Holmes' Apprentice!"

Shinichi could have easily died right then and there. Conan?! he cried hysterically in his mind, scrubbing his eyes to determine that, indeed, he wasn't seeing things. What's that idiot doing?!

Of course, Kuroba didn't look any better than him ─ the usually loquacious thief was rendered completely speechless for once.

"Oh." Minerva turned and smiled at the child. "Can you really help me with that tiny body of yours?"

Conan seemed to wince, then frown at her comment. "I'm not… tiny," he remarked with a pout that, this time, Shinichi knew it wasn't fake, prompting the crowd to burst out laughing. She, too, snorted and faced her opponent once more.

With that, the match started once more, but it wasn't the same. Minerva didn't look as troubled as before, but that didn't mean her focus had diminished ─ if anything, it seemed as if her confidence had made a glorious return.

Kaito didn't get to watch the rest of the match, because he saw something moving rapidly from the corner of his eye. "Kudo?!" he hissed, watching him bolt out of the room, despite the inquisitive glances he was receiving from the rest of the group. "Hey… hey! You don't even have a ticket, do you?!"

"What is he doing?" Akako eyed him, oddly.

"I-I think I'm going with him," said Kaito, with a short, nervous laugh. "Someone has to make sure he doesn't run into trouble..."

"Kuroba-kun must be delusional." Hakuba snorted, crossing his arms as the pair promptly left, disappearing from their sight in a matter of seconds. "To think that he, of all people, would be fit for that job."

"I see what you mean," Akako giggled delicately, returning to the match with little to no trouble at all. Hakuba did the same, seemingly not weirded out at all after what they had witnessed.

Aoko, however, didn't find it so easy. She continued to gaze at the doorway for another minute after they had left and frowned slightly.

Conan frankly had no idea how his brother and mother loved these kinds of things. All the gazes falling on his form, for one, had made it hard to keep the cheery kid act on, but it wasn't the worst. The cameras had turned to him instantly, focusing on his face for everyone to see, almost causing him to try and get away from the spotlight there as fast as possible…

Had it been another day, and hadn't there been a hideous criminal hiding somewhere in the Court, Conan would probably have done exactly that. Since that wasn't the case, he was forced to stay long enough to figure out two facts of vital importance.

One, Minerva wasn't Hades' target, but her mother, Juno Glass. Two, the bomb was, most likely, inside the teddy bear she had been given for her daughter, which she was now hugging tightly against her chest, completely oblivious to the danger she was in.

Now, Apollo had told him that his mother hated being filmed by the television cameras ─ Conan could undoubtedly relate to that ─ therefore she would usually sit in the general admission seats, in the shade, so he figured he could safely deduce that Hades was sitting in the sunny side, eager to capture the moment of the tragedy with his camera.

But there's a lot of people like that… Conan leaned against the wall, passing a hand against his hair as he sighed. If only I could reduce it to only one person...

Then cheering sounds filled his ears, prompting him to twirl around. "Hey, hey..." he breathed out, horrified to see people coming into the hallway, where he currently was, in droves. "Don't tell me… the match-!"

"Not yet," Apollo quickly reassured him over the phone. "It's because of the rain. They're suspending the game by thirty minutes in order to close the roof of the Centre Court."

Way to give me palpitations, huffed the boy, massaging his chest. When Apollo told him, after that, that Juno wouldn't leave since she had an umbrella with her, and that she had pledged to never leave her seat until the match was over, Conan felt his soul coming back to his body. Still got time… Even if it's just a little.

Not much, it seemed, since the spectators were soon returning to their seats. And Conan had no clue of what to do next ─ how was he supposed to find a guy whose face he didn't know, among hundreds of spectators, all on his own?!

He forced himself to pause and take a big breath. If there's a will, there's a way… he remembered what Kogoro had said before. A will, huh? I suppose there is that, but...

"Hey," Apollo called, sounding rather hesitant, for some reason. "Holmes' Apprentice?"

He is… seriously planning to call me that all the time? Conan eyed the phone with a raised eyebrow. I shouldn't have said that, should I?

"There's something, but I'm not sure if this will help..." Apollo continued, even if he hadn't gotten an answer. "Minerva once told me that, to find my mother's seat during the match, she lobs the ball up real high… Almost too high."

Lobs the ball up… Conan went silent at that. Almost too high...

"But as far as how that helps her find Mom, she never told me… Hey, are you still there?"

His eyes snapped open.

"Hello-?"

Click ─ without a word, the boy had single-handedly decided that the call was over. There was no time for anything else, so he just ran, without stopping ever once, until he was back in the place where he had first shouted at Minerva. Sure enough, she had returned, but had yet to see him.

Her eyes clenched shut, frowning as she rested her head against her racket. Conan drew in a deep breath and leaned forward once more.

"Come on, Minerva!" Minerva instantly faced him, surprised to see the child still there. "Don't give up, even if your opponent has the championship point!" She didn't seem to understand, but that was not enough to discourage the boy. "You've got to hang in there, hang in there and win at all costs!"

The blonde tennis player stared at him until, slowly, realization started to seep in.

"If you're the Grass Court Queen..." His childish smile had taken a dramatically cockier turn. "... you can at least do that much, right?"

The smirk she gave him in return was more than enough for him to know that his message had successfully gotten through. "Of course."

"Amazing!" Ran awed. "A Service Ace right back!"

Ai couldn't help but agree to that statement ─ whatever Conan had just told her had made her playing style change so radically that she didn't seem like the same person from before anymore. So, this is your true form, isn't it? She smirked, watching the blonde tennis player grab the ball again, preparing herself for her next strike. Grass Court Queen, Minerva Glass-san.

"But..." Apollo's gaze lowered to the ground, frowning at a random spot in the grass field they all sat on. "If she falls behind by two points, my sister, who lost the first set, will lose… And then..." He drew his knees closer to his chest. "That Hades will detonate the bomb my Mom is holding, right?"

The boy had said it so softly that none of the adults had heard, but the girl sitting beside him certainly did. At first, she considered letting it pass ─ she didn't know him, and it wasn't her business, so there was no logical reason to engage in a conversation. But then, against any better judgement, she glanced at him from the corner of her eye. He had closed his eyes, and was resting his chin against his knees.

Ai sighed. "That isn't going to happen." Apollo's head jerked up and faced her, but she kept her indifferent gaze on the screen. "You trust your sister, don't you?"

"Of course!" he exclaimed. It sounded as if he felt outraged that she suggested otherwise. "Minerva would never lose! But..."

"And Holmes' Apprentice is also there." She eyed him from the corner of her eyes and offered him a small smirk. "With those two working as a team, there's no way Hades has a chance, is there?"

Apollo stared at her, eyes wide, before his smile followed. "You're right!"

Seeing that he appeared brighter than before, Ai allowed herself to turn back to the match, supposing that, now that this was over with, their conversation had also come to an end. "Say, I don't think we've introduced ourselves..." But the boy didn't seem to have the same opinion. "What's your name?"

"Haibara Ai." She didn't even look at him.

"Oh, I see… Nice to meet you!" Apollo smiled. "You're friends with Holmes' Apprentice?"

"You can say that," she conceded. "We go to school together."

"Schoolmates, huh?" He hummed to himself for a moment. "I wonder what school in Japan is like. I was homeschooled the entire time I was there, so..."

Ai didn't give any initiative to continue the conversation, so Apollo slowly looked away and decided not to open again, just glancing at the strange little girl from time to time. Eventually, he gave up completely and focused solely on his sister ─ they had been passing the ball back and forth for a long while now, so many times that he had lost count now.

You can do it… He frowned, lips pressing together. Don't give up, Minerva!

"I suppose..." He was startled, however, when he heard the girl talk on her own. "... it isn't all that bad." She was smiling a little now, for some reason. "Though I wouldn't say that it's easy."

"Is school in Japan that hard?" Apollo was genuinely confused at that.

"No. Sitting next to that mystery-freak, I mean."

"Ah, really?"

Despite the tension that filled the air, a soft, boyish laugher crossed Ran's ears, prompting her to blink, definitely not expecting to hear something like that in a time like this. When she found the source, however, the girl found herself smiling a little.

The sight of Apollo laughing and Ai smiling, not minding the company at all, was something that the teenage girl would never, ever forget.

As expected of a tennis player of her caliber, Minerva had done a splendid job ─ though, if she had skipped the part where she almost lost and killed him by a heart-attack at the age of eight it would have been fine, too. Fortunately for everyone, even if only a few knew it, the challenge she had called next had been a success, allowing the game to continue for a little longer. But it would be okay, Conan had thought since, thanks to that extremely long rally, he had found Hades.

He should have known, however, that it wouldn't be so easy.

"Come on! Just let me in! Please~!"

No matter how much he whined, showing him the ticket he had gotten from Apollo before, the guard wouldn't move an inch. "It's like I've been telling you..." Unlike the time he had gathered Minerva's attention before, it didn't look like he would be let off so easily just because he was an innocent kid. "That ticket is for a seat on the opposite side. You can't get there from here."

"And like I have been telling you..." Conan was slowly losing his patience. "There's someone I have to meet before the match is over!"

"But, little boy, without a ticket I can let you in."

"I have a ticket right here, don't I?!"

"I mean a ticket from this side..."

"What's the difference?" His sweet child persona was as good as gone now, eyebrow twitching at the man that was between him and the deadly criminal. "I still paid for it!"

Actually, I didn't, but who cares?

"Come on! After I meet with that person, I'll come right back out!"

"Even if you say so..."

Sighing dejectedly, Conan shook his head ─ dealing with a person like that was just a waste of time. I don't know if Minerva-san can drag this match for much longer. Under the confused gaze of the guard, the child placed a hand on top of his watch. You leave me no other option.

"Little boy?" The guard seemed to have good instincts, judging by how quickly he stepped back when the boy raised his watch in front of his eyes, then twitched when the lid flipped open. "What are you doing?"

Conan's eyes narrowed. "Getting my entry ticket."

Though the man didn't seem to understand completely, he chuckled, presumably amused by what seemed to be a kid believing he could intimidate a grown man with what he assumed to be a toy. The boy didn't explain things even further. Just frowned and prepared himself to push the button.

He didn't get the chance to, because a hand came from nowhere and slapped it closed. "Ah, Conan!" The voice registered first in his mind before his brother's fake face appeared right next to him, crouching down so that he could be at his height. "What do you think you're doing?"

The guard was still standing there, but it didn't look like he could understand Japanese, so both brothers let it slide. "What do you mean?"

Shinichi huffed, exasperated. "For starters, what you did on TV!" Conan didn't even blink. "And just now, were you going to tranquilize that officer?!"

"There is no other way in, is it?"

"But-"

"Your brother is right." They both turned sharply to see the magician standing beside Shinichi, and instantly Conan's expression dulled ─ Kuroba replied with a sheepish grin of his own. "Yo, Tantei-kun."

The older detective, on the other hand, passed a hand through his hair. "Can't believe I'm agreeing with Kuroba..."

"Yeah! Imagine finally facing the culprit and running out of ammo."

"What? No! This kid isn't facing anyone!"

"Well, we will see about that."

"Eh?"

The magician had now gathered the child's attention, evidenced by the wide eyes attentively watching his every movement ─ a sight that he would have found adorable hadn't he been the same little demon that could easily decapitate Kaito with a soccer ball, but that stole an amused chuckle out of him, regardless. The boy was wary enough, however, to back up slightly when he crouched in front of him and placed his hand behind his ear.

"Ta-dah~!"

When he brought it back up, none of the Kudo brothers could stop themselves at the sight of the ticket he had between his fingers. "Oh, my. It was in your ear all this time!" Despite the clear mocking, the little boy was too bewildered to properly react, so the magician merely winked and casually approached the clueless guard.

"Here," he said, offering the object to the guard with a big grin etched from side to side in his face. "This one belongs to this section, doesn't it?"

The guard studied the ticket for a moment. "Y-Yeah, it looks like it-"

Before the man could pronounce another word, he found the ticket being whisked away from his fingers. "There you go, Conan-kun," he said, offering it to the child. "Don't let the bad guy get away, you hear me?"

"E-Eh?" Conan blinked, cluelessly.

"Kuroba-!"

Shinichi tried to take the ticket, but the magician was faster and stepped between the two brothers before he could do anything. "Now, skedaddle…" He motioned at the older Kudo behind him. "Before this one doesn't let you go."

Finally, the little detective seemed to understand what was going on, evidenced by the determined frown that pushed away the clueless expression he had been making, and the nod he gave him afterwards. "Got it," he said, accepting the ticket and bolting out before his brother could say, or do, anything.

Just as he was half-way through the stairs, he paused and turned back around. "KID!" he called, confusing both the magician and the older detective. "After this is over, there's something I need to talk with you about!"

Certainly, he didn't know what the kid could possibly want from him, but before he could ask, a challenging smirk appeared right before his eyes.

"Don't dare to run away, alright?"

Instinctively, Kaito's expression matched his. "Who do you take me for?"

Reassured that the thief wasn't going anywhere, the boy undertook his way inside again, focused on his mission once more. Kaito watched him go, pleased that everything had worked out just fine, and shrugged. "Not that's settled with…" He brushed past his housemate. "I need to visit the restroom, so if you excuse me-"

Evidently, it wouldn't be so easy. "Not a chance." A hand was firmly placed atop his shoulder, stopping him from taking another step. "You're not going anywhere."

"Yeah, I know. I just told your brother that, remember?" Kaito replied nonchalantly. "I'll be right back. Don't need him more pissed off with me than usual next time he sees me, you know-"

Shinichi's glare intensified. "You just gave my little brother a ticket to meet a remorseless murderer, Kuroba."

"Phrasing it like this makes it sound a little bad…"

"Because it is!" The detective seemed so close to losing it that it wasn't even funny anymore ─ for Kaito's physical health, that was. "Why didn't you give it to me instead?"

"You're not an inconspicuous little kid, now are you?" he replied right away. "Your chances of creeping up on him with no one noticing are close to none existent."

In return, Kudo hesitated, unsure of how to proceed after that. "But still! You could have told me you had a ticket all this time." Now, it was time for the other teen to remain silent, turning around to gaze somewhere else. "Kuroba..." Shinichi's tone was an octave deeper and it didn't fail to make Kaito wince. "Where did you get that ticket?"

"That's a bit of a long story-"

"WHAT?! MY TICKET IS GONE!"

Slowly, two heads turned, until their eyes met with the form of a man on the phone frantically digging through his pockets.

"I had it in my pocket just a moment ago!" He cried, on the verge of hysteria, at whoever was the poor soul on the other side. "Ah! I told you not to call me! Hadn't I left my seat, I wouldn't have-!" There was a gasp, and the man was now holding the phone with both hands. "Ah, no, no, no! I didn't mean that, honey! It's just that Wimbledon is so important-! NO! Not more important than you, I swear! Sorry, I-! Please! I can change-!"

It all went silent suddenly as the man turned to gaze at the phone, before slowly, but surely, sobs began to fill the air. Eyes still glued to the scene, Kaito took a step back, only for the detective's gaze to flicker to his form. Kudo's eyebrow rose, prompting the other boy to wince, then slap a strained grin on his face.

"... The end justifies the means-?"

"Hey, sir, are you alright-?"

"I SWEAR, WHEN I FIND THE BASTARD THAT STOLE MY TICKET-!"

"Sir! Please, calm down!"

Kudo's eyebrow rose even further.

"I… I said I needed to go to the toilet, so I should get going… like, right now."

From the moment his eyes found the white-haired man, they narrowed, determined not to look away, not even for a second. Now, all I have to do is creep up on him… While he took a careful step forward, the kid flipped the lid of his watch open. Slowly…

The man was oblivious to his presence, grinning to himself as he held a camera with one hand and something, which he couldn't see but supposed it was a detonator in the other. Just a bit closer, then… Conan aimed at the back of his neck. Without him noticing, I-

"Oh~!" So focused he was on his task that he wasn't able to hold back a wince. "Holmes' Apprentice!"

To his horror, people were turning around and smiling at him, the boy who was supposed to get by unnoticed. "You helped Minerva get back into the game!" the lady continued. "But that display was a faux pas…"

"Don't do it again!" the man beside her scolded him lightly.

"I-I understand..." Conan's only hope was that Hades wasn't paying attention to his surroundings. "I won't do it... again."

But his luck wouldn't have it another way, because when he spun back around, he met eyes with the culprit's horrified ones. Fearing that he had gotten caught, Hades stood up, sweating bullets, gripping his phone tightly, and Conan knew ─ he was going to press that button.

Before Hades, or even Conan, could do something about it, something knocked him slightly backwards, preventing him from activating the bomb. Astounded by the hit that came from nowhere, the man glanced downwards and was horrified to see the Grass Court Queen glaring at him so intensely that he could feel it, even from so far away.

The tennis ball bounced once in front of the bemused little boy. That's the Queen for you… Wasting not another second, he activated his shoes and ran towards it. Setting up a nice shot… And kicked it as hard as he could. … in front of the goal!

Now, Conan wasn't a sadist ─ or, at least, he thought he wasn't ─ but the sight of Sabara Hades collapsing on the ground after the second hit stole a broad grin out of him. Guess that settles it. Still smiling, he turned to Minerva and waved his hands, laughing as he did so.

In return, she nodded. Even if he was so far away, the boy could swear he saw her beaming as well.

The smile lingered until he saw something from his peripheral vision. Two police officers were making his way straight to him, so, understandably, he grew flustered. "A-Ah..." He struggled to come up with an excuse for his behavior. "The ball just happened to fly over here-"

They passed by him without uttering a word, leaving him blinking. What… Rather than taking him away, they both crouched in front of the criminal and lifted him. Hey, hey...

Providing no explanation, they dragged him away as quickly as they had come, leaving the little boy to just stand there, gaping like a fish out of water.

"EH?!"

"So you already had the police standing by, Dad..."

"Yeah. I asked a good friend in the Yard to do so… Since I solved the riddle and realized this was going to be the target."

Rather than replying right away, Shinichi simply sighed and leaned against a nearby wall. Really, he should have known that his parents were, to some degree, involved in this the moment the police suddenly brushed past him and the guard and entered, only to return with the culprit hanging limply from their arms ─ a fact that he could only attribute with his little brother's doing. Then, his phone had rang, but he hadn't answered until several seconds later, too busy to stare at his father's name to correctly function as a human being.

"What I still can't understand is how you knew about this..." Shinichi finally said, eyeing his surroundings warily. They are not watching me from somewhere, are they?

"No, Shinichi, we aren't there." Before he could even be surprised about it, his father continued. "Somebody else sent the code to my mail, asking me to solve it."

"Somebody?" The detective blinked. "Was it someone you knew?"

"No, not at all." Shinichi could swear he could hear his father smirking. "This person introduced himself as a detective, something I find entirely possible, considering that he got my personal number even though I had hidden it from my editors for so long."

A detective? As the people started to walk in blocks out of the entrance and his eyes immediately began to search for a certain miniature detective, Shinichi pondered over those words. Their meaning slowly dawned in his mind, and the implications made his eyes widen in horror. "Wait, Dad. Did he say anything about me being here?"

"No, not at all." Even though he wanted to be relieved by it, he couldn't.

"The reason we called was because we saw Co-chan on the TV," he heard his mother say in the background. "We figured that if he was in London, you would find your way there too, Shin-chan."

He let out a dry laugh in response. Am I that easy to read? Though he couldn't deny the comfort, those words brought to his weak heart. Maybe I'm just overreacting, he thought, hand resting over his chest as he sighed. He isn't the only detective in England ─ it could have been anyone.

"Well, it's not surprising that he called me. I was the one who solved the code from the second hospital bombings, after all." Shinichi was not, by all means, shocked to hear it. "The reason we didn't fly there to investigate was that the culprit would have been on the lookout for me."

"Then, if you weren't there..." His eyes met with his little brother, and waved his hand to catch his attention. Finally noticing him, the boy jogged his way. "... how in the world did you solve it?"

"I had a good friend visiting the UK from some other business, so I had him collect the clues for me."

Shinichi huffed. "How many 'good friends' do you have around, anyway?"

His father just laughed in response, prompting his son to grunt irritably. "Now, don't be so mad… It's over already, isn't it?" Shinichi didn't reply. "Why don't you just take Conan somewhere and have some fun while you're there?"

"Dad, my flight back to Japan is in, like, two hours. And I don't think Conan's case is any different."

Yusaku seemed to be ready to reply, "Don't worry about it, Shin-chan," but his wife took over the conversation. "We'll arrange it from here. You still have Yu-chan's credit card, right?"

"... Yeah."

"Then go." Yukiko sounded as if she was smiling. "Go get some fun with Co-chan, okay?"

"Hey, wait-"

Before he could articulate another word, the woman had hung up on her, leaving him to wonder what in the world she could be thinking about. Slowly, he glanced away from the screen and to the little boy who stood there, blinking cluelessly back at him, and paused.

"So… Is there anywhere you'd like to go?"

"Huh?"

I wonder what Tantei-kun wants to talk about.

Involuntarily, the magician shivered, but he knew it wasn't because of the cold water that he had just splashed on his face. I doubt that kid just wants to chat. He had enough experience under his belt to back it up ─ Tantei-kun's tolerance against his mere presence was too thin for him to want to just, randomly, talk. Something must have happened.

Assuming he doesn't just want to stamp a ball against his face, of course.

Sighing, he stepped outside and immediately looked up. Is the match over? he wondered, watching the large crowd of people passing by him and towards the exit, smiling at their companions after such a good game. Suppose you did it. Kaito didn't fight the amused smirk that crossed his face while he turned around to leave. As usual, you didn't disappoint, Tantei-kun.

After such a splendid game, I guess I have no other choice but to accept and meet… He paused in his tracks. … the champion...

All those thoughts faded away slowly, not to return ever again, leaving just a dull, white noise in its place. Not only had his mind frozen solid and rendered completely unusable, but his muscles had as well, impeding him to do anything but stare, wide eyed, at something, rather someone, just a few feet away from him.

Though shadowed by a top hat, Kaito could see that smirk, the same one he would recognize everywhere, framed by an all too familiar pencil mustache.

But the person simply brushed past him, continuing his way without as much of a word to the teenager who struggled to get something out of his dry throat. Less than a second later, he was out of his field of vision, never to be seen again.

"Wait!"

Kaito couldn't have that, however. Willing his body to finally move, the magician twirled around and latched onto this person's shoulder tightly so as not to let go ever again. "Who are you?" he asked, firmer this time. The man simply tipped his hat forward, but otherwise, didn't move.

He didn't get the answer he wanted, and that made him, above all, impatient. "Hey!" Frustrated, he harshly turned him around. "I said-!"

But what he saw next made him pause. "Is something wrong, young man?" asked the person, looking strangely back at the boy through tired eyes. Japanese?

The face before him wasn't the one he had expected. Only the moustache was the same, the rest was the face of a white-haired old man that fairly exceeded the age that person was supposed to have.

Kaito let go right away. "I-I'm really sorry!" he mumbled after a second of hesitation. "I just mistook you with someone else I know."

"No harm done. Now, if you excuse me..."

Quietly apologizing once more, the teenager bowed slightly, allowing the old man to turn back around and continue his way. He didn't move right away, though, just watched his back getting smaller and smaller while he, slowly but surely, was swallowed by the surrounding crowd until not a trace of his presence was left.

A small part of Kaito screamed, however, that he shouldn't have let him go.

What am I even thinking? Groaning, he pressed the back of his hand against his forehead. I must be tired. Not that it was surprising, considering that, from the moment he hopped on the plane to this godforsaken country, he had been, obviously, on the edge. I'm never returning to this place.

Guess I hate London now-

Addling to his displeasure, a sharp pain struck him in his shin, stealing a cry out of his lips. Looking down to see what had caused it didn't make him feel any better, but it explained things a little.

"What was that for?" huffed the teen, irritably, as he crouched down next to the glowering child, though he supposed he knew the answer.

"Payback, obviously." Conan's glare was even darker than usual. "For that joke you pulled on us at St. Bride's Church."

Okay, so it wasn't just a direct cause of his ordinary displeasure with his presence, it seemed. "What… are you talking about?"

"This."

It took a moment for Kaito's eyes to focus on whatever the boy had just shoved on his face. "Of all things, you had to pull out a bunch of crows," but, once they did, he was bewildered to see that the child had a black feather in his hand. "And what's all that nonsense about being my 'older brother' anyway-?"

"Tantei-kun," Kaito interrupted. "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."

"Yeah, right." Conan scoffed. "Name another magician that has the same stupid smile-"

He was stopped suddenly when, out of the blue, two hands had latched onto his shoulders, strong enough to hurt. "What did he look like?" Kaito sounded strangely desperate. "This person you met."

"I-I couldn't see most of his face, but…" Conan mumbled, a tad freaked out by his unusual behavior. "He used a pencil mustache and…"

"How did he act? Did he say anything weird?"

"Everything he said was weird." Conan made a face. "He said he was a friend, my 'older brother' in fact… Called me by my name, too… and disappeared..."

The boy trailed down into silence, watching cluelessly at the rival, who slowly released him and whose gaze dropped to the ground. "KID?" he called, hesitantly, but the magician didn't give out any other sign of acknowledgement besides the frown that caressed his face.

Conan observed him for a full second, not sure about what he should do next.

"Here." Kaito's head jerked up to see that same black feather being offered to him, then slowly turned to blink at the serious little kid.

"Tantei-kun?"

"I don't know what all this is about but..." He smirked a little. "Looks like it isn't my mystery to solve."

At the sight of the phantom thief opening his mouth to say something, but unable to, Conan couldn't help but snort, letting go of the feather and leaving Kaito to wake up from his stupor so that he could catch it. "Hey, hey..." the thief said with a slight glare. "You actually let go of it."

Conan merely grinned, hands sliding back into his pockets. "Well, then, if you ever find out anything, tell me about it," he said, turning around to leave. "I'm curious to know who that person actually is."

"Say, Tantei-kun," Kaito called, before the child could even leave, motioning to the feather he was now holding. "Doesn't another certain magician cross your mind when you see this?"

"Ah, you mean Kaito Corbeau?" he asked back, and the thief nodded. "Well, I actually considered the possibility, but..."

"But?"

"Corbeau hasn't made an appearance since the Midnight Crow's Heist, why would he be here?" he answered right away. "Besides, he didn't know who I was, did he?"

"You're the famous KID Killer, knowing your name is not a big deal."

"Yeah, but knowing I'm related to Kudo Shinichi is." Conan frowned. "He wouldn't have mentioned the words 'older brother' otherwise, would he?"

Kaito didn't reply, probably because there was absolutely nothing he could say in return at the moment. Seeing this, Conan gave him a last glance and nodded, spinning back around so that he could jog back to the place he had come from.

Instead of moving, the thief merely watched him disappear around a corner and sighed deeply. "What's even going on?" he wondered, out loud, letting his eyes linger on the black feather resting on top of his hand once more.

But even for a magician's standards, this is impossible… Right?

A/N:

CherryGirl 21-6: Yeah, it's going to happen right after I can wrap this arc up. What I can say is that I have a lot planned for Raven Chaser… I'm kind of worried that I can pull this out correctly but… xD

F.C. Meyer: Sorry, but the Sun Halo won't appear here. And about Akako, I think I implied somewhere in this story that Shinichi knows she's a witch. Though it might be interesting to see how his reaction was when he found out about it...