When you want to finally write that next chapter for a different story, but end up writing for the newer idea. Been playing around with this and one other idea. This one rougher than the first chapter, cause I had ideas for this but not nearly enough to expand the story. Well, I wrote this, so let's see how it goes.

*Oh, before I start, just want to give a heads up warning to anyone reading. There's been some 5pams and b0t reviews and PMs from people trying to offer their commissions to writers. Just be wary of those kinds, and if they offer you a social media plus ask for pay definitely PLEASE take caution. Got hit with a few already, so wanted to let others know and be aware, be careful, and stay safe!

All right, enjoy!

Title: It's A Little Off 2

Type: Two Shot

Summary: He wakes to another day, another lie, living in the falsehood of this world. But today feels different. For the first time in a long while, he's comfortable in his life, comfortable in his skin, comfortable in his own bed. But wait, why is he here? Shouldn't be in Mouri-ojisan's room?

Idea: Look For Ideas In Part 1

Sub-Ideas: Look For Sub-Ideas In Part 1

Date: October 11, 2024

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He's reminded of a song from an old television show he watched when he was in the US for a time, it very much applied to this situation right now.

"Some of these people be-long together.
Some of these people are kind of the same.
But one of these persons is not like the other.
Now it's time to play the game.
It's time to play the game."

It was a segment in a show that focused on spotting the differences between a group of people and who was the odd one out. Right now, he felt like he was in that very game and the answer was very obvious, but not for the reasons he desired it to be.

"Kudo-kun!"

He's startled at the use of his name from the elementary school teacher's call, "Haii Kobayashi-sensei!"

"Now I know you're very smart, and that you were really paying attention. So if you'd like to help the class out and answer the problem on the board for me, that's not an issue, right?"

"Haii, sensei." He stands up and looks quickly at the board. Ah it's another too easy math problem, of course. "The answer is 17."

She looks back to the board and then nods in approval, "That's correct, Kudo-kun. But do try to pay more attention in my class."

"Haii," he replies tiredly as he sits back down. He ignores the children looking to him in awe of his intelligence, the playful glances of Ayumi-chan as she looks to him with admiration for more reasons that one. He notices the light glares of Mitushiko-kun and Genta-kun his way as they're unhappy with the way she looks at him. Everything was as it was should be, but it truly wasn't.

After the whole situation where he asked about his alias to the group and they gave a lack of a response, the day just went about as normal as if he were still Edogawa Conan. Though, surprisingly, he has more elementary school friends beyond the group of three. Some of the students from the upper classes had spoken their greetings on the way in and asked him to join a soccer match after school. They apparently wanted a rematch against him because he was so good, which was strange cause he never really got into soccer this early in life. He was probably about third or fourth grade when he first started playing the sport, then joined the team in middle school. So it was really interesting to find out that he was known as a soccer star this early on.

But before he could ask, the Shounen Tantei-dan told everyone that he couldn't and that they had club activities today. The older children looked a little disappointed, but they understood well enough. They even encouraged him and said that if a case came up, they'd all solve it fast as the group usually does.

Okay, that really weirded him out, but what was he to do? For now, he was following a plan; go and get through a school day, have Ran bring him home, then do research about the situation and what was happening to him.

After classes were over, the group pulled him out to their usual corner of the classroom and waited around for a new client. Their case came from a girl in the second year who was upset cause she had lost her brother's sport card. It depicted a player from an Osakan baseball team, and it was his absolute favorite. She borrowed it secretly and wanted to show it off to her friend during break, who was also a fan of that baseball team. But after that, she had lost track of it and got distracted. She hadn't seen it since that time.

As the usual routine went, the children asked questions to get clarity plus know what was in it for them. The girl offered her payment of a nearly completed punch card from the donut house. Only two more holes and they get a special Kamen Yaiba donut with a collector's keychain. Of course the children took the deal and began the search. It surprisingly didn't take as long as they thought, cause it turned out she had used it as a bookmark in one of the textbooks she had lent to her friend, and that friend had left the book behind in the locker cubby for her to come and take home later. The girl thanked them and their first case was a success.

That was of course when Ran had appeared looking a little upset.

"Ran…-nee-chan?"

"Shinichi, I've been looking for you. Remember? Your mom said you had to go home right away?"

"Eh?" Ayumi was surprised, "You forgot, Shinichi-kun?"

He scratched his cheek, smiling awkwardly, "Yeah, I guess I did."

"That's no good Shinichi-kun," Mitsuhiko admonished, "If you had told us your parents wanted you home earlier, we'd have let you go."

Genta came up, "As leader of the Detective Boys, we say you get home now." Then he came close and whispered, "Cause we don't want that to happen again. Your mom can be really scary sometimes!"

Well, he now got a bit of new information thanks to this. First, Genta is still the self proclaimed leader of their detective group. Also, whatever they did when he was late to curfew the last time, it apparently scarred the children with an unpleasant memory. He has to wonder, was it because of some cases they came across like Ran had mentioned earlier this morning?

So he nodded and went over to Ran, apologizing and putting on his best, "Conan tones" to get her to ease up and calm down. It had worked and he waved goodbye to everyone and together, they made their way home.

Upon arrival at the house, his mom was smiling kindly and thankful to Ran who exchanged her pleasantries and then soon left.

"Hey, okaa-san? Why did you want me home early?"

"Eh?" She smiled kindly to her son, "Shin-chan, don't you remember?"

"Remember what?"

"Today's the day that otou-san has a special visitor coming."

He blinked, genuinely curious, "Who?"

She smiled, that familiar teasingly playful attitude shined bright in her features. It gave him a sense of comfort that he was seeing something so familiar during this more than off day.

"You'll see, Shin-chan," she still teases before returning to a more calming voice. "For now, go finish your homework and we'll call you when the guest arrives. Okay?"

"Haii, kaasan."

Until then, he'd do as he was told. So up he went to his room, sped through the simplistic easy assignments and made his way straight for the computer. He started with looking up articles that were familiar to him, things about his past cases to check if they were in the newspaper. Yes, they were, but they weren't solved by him. It was scattered about and solved by either police detectives from his or other prefectures, his father on some occasions, and a few sprinklings of amateur and lesser known high school to university detectives. The name, Hakuba Saguru popped up from time to time on cases he originally solved too. At least that was someone he knew and that those cases had ended in generally the same way. But it seems, as far as Tokyo was concerned, there wasn't really anyone who stood out as the, "Great Detective," and the, "Heisei Holmes," of Japan.

Then he turns his attention to the article he remembered seeing this morning, finding more about his Osakan friend. That's when his eyes nearly popped out, cause there before him were tons of articles about Hattori Heiji with a similar title. All the articles were mainly focused on Osaka and the nearby prefectures, where he has quite the reputation in solving cases and is considered the unrivaled Detective of the West. One web article even mentioned that the East has no contender to match his wit and charm, so he should be dubbed the best teen detective in all Japan.

As he was in the middle of trying to research more about Heiji and how apparently there was a case where Kaito KID had come to Osaka, which only now he only noticed that a bunch of these articles were in the bookmarks tab, he was interrupted when his mother called.

"Shinichi? Can you please come down?"

He replied with a loud, "Haiiii," back to his mother and quickly put the computer in sleep mode.

His parents are smiling much more familiarly, playfully excitable as they look his way.

"Shinichi," his father starts, "I want you to meet someone."

"Haii?"

The two step out his way and there standing in front of the couch is him.

He smiles as he sees the boy and extends a hand out saying, "Shinichi right? I heard about'cha from your parents! They say you're my biggest fan, huh? Well, it's nice ta finally meet'cha!"

Shinichi could only stare, blinking, distracted by both his words and appearance.

"Hat-Ha-Hattori?"

He smiles confidently, "That's right boya! The one and only, Hattori Heiji! Greatest teen detective of the west and possibly in all of Japan!"

Shinichi was stunned, unable to wrap his head around what was happening.

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As mentioned above, this is much rougher but the main points are around. The song above is actually from Sesame Street of all places. I thought it was a good way to show what is different about this Shinichi's life. We get to see the school life which has little Shinichi being more of a Social Butterfly than he was back then. This is most likely due to the Shounen Tantei-dan being around in his life, so this Reality's Shinichi has similar experiences as Conan does. The biggest thing is who little Shinichi admires other than Sherlock Holmes, if it failed to be clear in the first chapter, it's Hattori Heiji who replaces Shinichi with the Heisei Holmes reputation, but in Osaka and not Tokyo.

If you've noticed, Shinichi's been observing quite a bit, but it doesn't quite line up with his usual thought process. Sometimes he settles down into that familiar feeling, while other times he's doubting everything. Yes, we can say it's cause this isn't his reality, but also this reality's Shinichi is partially to blame for this. Some things just got translated over and are melding with his own thoughts as to what is normal and not. Though, I don't know how well I was able to express it since this is rough writing.

To add a small explanation for the little curfew mention, it's was mostly made because of a certain few cases that happened. Those cases include the one where they were stuck in the mall all night long, the treasure map case, and especially the haunted mansion case where they got scolded the next day.

That's about it for this idea. If this gets another chapter, then see you there! If not, see you on another idea soon! Thanks for reading!