Chapter 1: The Heisei Holmes Shrinks!
A few months ago…
A high-schooler was busy explaining his meticulous deduction in the manor where a murder had taken place.
"That's how the culprit did it. As to who it was…" Shinichi Kudo paused for effect, his gaze settling on the group of suspects before him.
"…the one that's most suspicious is you, her husband!" His finger pointed at the man with certainty.
"What? Stop joking around, I can't even walk. How could I have killed my wife?" The husband denied it vehemently.
"Enough of the charade. Your cover's been blown," Kudo declared, his tone unyielding. "Isn't that right, Inspector Megure?"
"Your leg healed 3 weeks ago. We have your doctor's notice." The Inspector attested to the detective's claim.
"Darn it!" The man realized that he had no other choice and tried to run away. Unfortunately for him, the teen detective kicked a globe on his back, stopping him in his tracks. His experience and skills in football really coming to help here.
"Another case resolved thanks to your brilliant deductions, Shinichi-kun!" The inspector patted him on the back. The high praise did wonders to boost the teen's already inflated ego.
"No problem. If another difficult case arrives, don't hesitate to call on the great detective Kudo Shinichi!" Triumphantly, he struck his iconic victory pose, gloating in front of his spectators. "Hahaha!"
The next day, news of him having once again resolved another mystery had spread far and wide.
"Heheheh…" He strolled towards his school, looking at his face printed on the front page of the newspaper.
"...Wahahaha!" He erupted out in laughter, absorbing the accolades from people around him who hailed him as the savior of the Japanese police force.
Too busy in his self-admiration he was almost oblivious to his classmates approaching him from behind. Though he didn't fail to duck once he realized they were up close, and planning to strike him.
"One of these days, I'm sure someone will manage to catch you off guard!" The classmate who had missed his chance screamed, disappointed.
"Never!" he yelled. "I'm too good!"
"Damn it Kudo! You had promised to play in the match yesterday!" His friend, Nakamichi's voice rang out, laced with disappointment in him for skipping the football match.
Offering an apologetic shrug, Kudo mumbled, "Sorry sorry! I had an important case to solve." His eyes avoiding the accusing gaze of his classmates. He knew he had let them down, but duty had called him to unravel the mysteries that no one else seemed to notice.
"That's what you always say!" Another one of his classmates chimed in.
"Yeah, yeah!"
"This time, you're going to pay!" The familiar chorus of admonishments filled the air.
Shinichi braced for impact, preparing to dodge their attack. But it never arrived...
And so, the group of students found themselves at the entrance of a theme park after school was over. The aroma of cotton candy wafted through the air, accompanied by distant cheers from all the rides. As they approached the ticket counter, the teenage detective grumbled in protest.
"You know…when you said I had to pay, I wasn't expecting to pay for all of your tickets to Tropical Land!"
"Suck it up, you're the reason we lost the game!" Nakamichi retaliated, used to his whining. Since their best player had skipped the match, Teitan High had lost the game.
"I know, I know. But there's just the thrill you get by tracking down the criminal's cunning plans and foiling them." He tried to explain his reasons.
"For example, here." He shook the hands of a stranger. A young woman in her early 20s. "You're a gymnast." Shocking the woman and her friend.
Her friend asked her if she knew Shinichi, but she didn't. He explained how he had figured it out from the calluses on her hand and how the marks on her thighs couldn't be from anything else but the horizontal bars.
The 2 college students were certainly impressed by his deductions, but they weren't able to make out his identity as the infamous detective, under the cover of darkness.
"Is this dude bothering you?" The man in front of Shinichi asked. Turns out, the couple ahead were also from the same college friend group.
Shinichi and Nakamichi managed to smooth things down, and the respective friend groups sat for the roller coaster. Hoping to enjoy the famous ride.
However, being the death magnet that he was, the thrill ride was abruptly marred by a chilling incident as the coaster plunged into the cave. Within the depths of the tunnel, the man seated behind Shinichi was gruesomely decapitated to the shock and horror of everyone there.
Screams of terror could be heard by the people who were waiting to be next in line. Unfortunately, they soon realized that those screams weren't from the ride.
Before the police arrived, Shinichi stopped everyone on the ride from leaving, saying that this was a murder and anyone who'd leave would be deemed the most suspicious.
There were 8 individuals on that coaster:
2 men clad in black who had arrived first for the ride, and were sitting at the last seats.
The couple had sat in front of those 2 men.
Shinichi and Nakamichi were next…The rest of the football team had been waiting for the next ride.
Finally, the gymnast and her friend who were sitting in front of Shinichi and Nakamichi.
Shinichi began narrowing down the list of suspects.
The two black-clad men raised the highest suspicion due to the seating arrangement—directly behind the college student who had died. However, their anxiety and unease upon the Inspector's arrival hinted at their innocence. If they were the culprits, they would have prepared a better plan. No, this was a crime of passion, Shinichi deduced.
The victim's girlfriend was also crossed off the list even though a bloody knife was found in her bag. His reasoning being that it would have been impossible to chop off someone's head with a knife that small. Moreover, even if such a feat were possible, the process would demand significantly more time than the mere seconds they spent within the dark cave of the coaster ride. So someone else must have planted it.
That left the two people in front of Shinichi. He figured out how the murder had been done, and realized how the gymnast did it. And was able to explain everything in front of the crowd that had gathered.
Realizing she had lost, the gymnast confessed to the crime.
And so another case was solved by the brilliant detective. The hoards of people began praising him, but his detective instincts told him to focus on the two men in black instead.
"Hmm, so they didn't have anything to do with this case, but seriously, what was with his cold eyes? People usually feel something after seeing someone die in front of them, but this guy was completely unaffected." He thought to himself.
The two men in black were acting quite nervous in front of the police. It suggested they might be involved in another crime that they didn't want the cops to discover. One of them also had no reaction to seeing someone get beheaded. It was quite eerie.
"Damn it, that was intense, wasn't it Kudo?" Nakamichi tried to settle, unaccostomed to seeing someone die up close like that.
"Yes…" But Shinichi was barely paying attention.
"Hey, Kudo! Where are you running off to?" His friend called out to him.
"I just remembered another case I needed to get to. You can tell the others to go home without me!" He informed his classmates to get them away from him, as he pursued the two suspicious looking men.
"Hey, Kudo! Wait...Damn it!" But the detective was already gone.
Shinichi managed to follow one of them to the end of a back alley.
"Sorry to keep you waiting…Mr. President." He heard the man in black say as he hid behind some bushes.
"As promised, I came alone!" The so-called President said to the man Shinichi had followed. In his hands was a briefcase.
"I know, I checked our surroundings atop the roller coaster."
"Hurry up, give it to me!" The President took the evidence that the man in black had brought, and glanced through the recording.
"There's got to be more than a million yen in there." Shinichi wondered, looking at the open briefcase the President had handed the man.
...
"Guns? Smuggling? Dammit! If only I could get closer to hear clearly." He could only make out some of the words, but wasn't sure if he should contact the Inspector to get there right away.
Too engrossed in observing the exchange, he failed to notice a shadow looming towards him.
"Hiding like a rat, huh?"
However, before Shinichi could react, the man lurking behind him swung a pipe—striking him forcefully on the head. Agonizing pain seared through his skull, and a moment later, he felt the warmth of his blood trickling down his face, leaving a chilling sensation in its wake.
"Gin, what's going on?" the man previously engaged in the illegal transaction called out to his superior.
"You should learn to pay more attention to your surroundings, Vodka. This detective was trying to play hero."
The man called Gin turned to Shinichi again.
"Damn it! Can't…move…" Shinichi's thoughts raced as he struggled to devise an escape plan in the midst of this dire situation.
"You've seen too much. Personally, I'd prefer to shoot you, but the cops are already here thanks to that little mishap on the ride."
Shinichi released a sigh of relief. Perhaps he could figure out a way to escape, given enough time.
"But…this gives us an opportunity to test Sherry's little pill. Apparently this poison is supposed to be untraceable in the human body." Gin continued instead.
"Pill...Sherry…?" he wondered before the man called Gin made sure he swallowed the pill.
His body was on fire, his head was already in pain from being hit, but the sensation after being poisoned was even worse. Was he going to die just like that? Without being able to tell anyone about what he had witnessed?
Unfortunately for him, the pain became too much to handle. He fainted.
"So long, foolish detective." His ominous voice taunted, its chilling echo lingering as an eerie parting message for the dead.
The 2 men in black wasted no time to escape so that they wouldn't be found near the corpse. The president of the company had absconded a long time ago, not wishing to stay for the gruesome aftermath.
A few moments later…
"Hey, get over here! There's a body over here!" A couple of policemen had found his body.
He woke up hearing their voices. "I'm still alive? Their poison must have failed!" He tried to speak, but couldn't bring his voice out to speak his thoughts.
"Wait, he's still breathing. Call an ambulance! We need to stop the bleeding." One of the cops told his partner.
Shinichi slowly opened his eyes. He saw a policeman trying to speak to him. The other one was calling for reinforcements.
"Are you alright, little boy?"
"Hmm? Was there a kid nearby as well?" Shinichi wondered but didn't notice anyone else.
"Looks like you're not hurt too bad. Did you fall down while playing?"
"Playing? What's he talking about? Why would I be playing around?! Anyway, where were those men?" He glanced around to see if they were still there but he didn't see them. He told the officers to look for the criminals.
"Huh, you say you saw 3 strange men doing a transaction involving over 10 million yen?"
The cop laughed at him.
"Looks like you've seen way too many mystery shows, kid."
"Why does he keep calling me a kid? Was he not there—at the ride—when I solved the case? Does he not know who I am?!"
"My name is Kudo Shinichi. A detective! You need to find those 3 men quickly!" Shinichi yelled, hoping the cop at least knew him by his name. He was a famous detective for crying out loud.
"Is this a joke? Look kid, we don't have the time to play around with you."
Shinichi finally realized after looking around himself the reason as to why they weren't listening to him. His arms and legs were significantly shorter. It almost felt like he had shrunk.
His heart raced, and he started to panic. This couldn't be possible. Did that poison do this to him?! He wondered about what to do next, but his head was still hurting. Worried, he decided to run home towards safety.
"Wait, kid! Are you lost? Where are your parents?" The cop called out to him almost planning on chasing after the shrunken detective.
Frustrated at the fact that he didn't have time to deal with this, he gave an excuse to run away.
"I'm sorry, maybe it was just a dream!" He said, doing his best to sound convincing.
He knew that most people would never believe him. Heck, he was having trouble believing it himself!
"Wait… Wait, I said! You need to go to a hospital!" The policeman yelled at him.
Ignoring the officer, he quickly ran back. He didn't know how long he had lost consciousness and if those men knew who he was, perhaps they might show up near his house.
Arriving in front of his manor, he scanned his surroundings.
"Doesn't seem like they're here." He sighed in relief. But his relief soon turned to horror as he heard the sound of an explosion. It had come from the direction of his neighbor's place. He saw smoke coming from his neighbors house. Worried for his neighbor's well-being, he headed towards the gate.
"Hakase! Are you alright?! Talk to me, Agasa-Hakase!" he shouted.
"Huh, Who's calling my name?" The inventor said, hearing an unfamiliar voice speaking to him.
"It's me! Kudo Shinichi!"
"Oh, are you a relative of Shinichi?" The old man asked, glancing at the little boy.
"No, I am Shinichi!"
"Stop messing around, boy. I know Shinichi. He is a 17 year old high schooler. You look like you are 7."
"I'm telling you the truth. I was given a drug that shrank me. I know you are Agasa Hiroshi. Age 52. You like to invent things but most of the stuff you make is garbage! I also know you have a hair sticking out of the mole around your back!"
"That's something only Shinichi knows…has he been going around telling everyone all of my secrets!"
"Really!" He wondered what to do to make his neighbor believe him. He realized all he needed to do was to show his deduction skills. It's not like a 7 year old was this brilliant!
"If you won't believe that, then…you just hurried home from the restaurant 'Colombo'."
"What? How do you know that?" The old man was shocked at the fact that the kid knew where he had just hurried home from. Even Shinichi didn't know this fact!
"I know you were in a hurry because of the signs of you being wet on the front and barely any on the back. That's proof you were running in the rain. Probably because you must have remembered one of your experiments you left out in the open. The one that just exploded."
"As for how I know you went to Colombo? There's mud splashed on your pants. The only area around here which has that particular mud is the construction zone in front of that restaurant. Not to mention you've got their special meat sauce stuck on your mustache."
"You…You!" Agasa Hiroshi was shocked.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. It's elementary, my dear professor!" Shinichi said, gloating his trademark grin and victory pose.
"You really are Shinichi, with that deduction style, no doubt about it! What happened to you?!" Agasa yelled.
"Like I told you…"
He shared the whole story about following the 2 strange men and being forced to swallow a strange drug while his neighbor listened to his tale.
Confiding in someone also helped him to adjust to his situation. "But it's weird, according to them the pill was supposed to kill me without leaving a trace. However, it just turned my body into that of a child's."
"Isn't there anything you can do, Hakase? You're a scientist as well!"
"Don't be crazy! Without knowing what chemicals were used in that substance it's impossible. And even if I had the information regarding its composition, coming up with a cure might be too hard, even for me!"
The inventor racked his brains thinking through things. "Maybe we should just wait to see if the process reverses? If the experiment was still in the trial stage, its effects might just disappear in a while."
"Really?!" Shinichi felt relieved at that idea.
"I'm just saying it's a possibility. I have no idea if it's true!"
"Ugh, you brought my hopes up."
"But what are you going to do now Shinichi? Maybe we should call Yusaku-san and let him take care of things. I'm sure with his skills, the culprits would be found in no time."
"No. No need to contact my parents, Hakase." Shinichi declined the offer.
He didn't want to rely on his parents even after this. He needed to prove that he was a detective and further declared," It's not often I am challenged like that. If anything, I am going to take them down by myself!"
He had finally accepted his predicament. Even though he was now in this form, he had knowledge of their code names and their attire. In fact, this was the perfect disguise. Unless they used the untested poison on someone else and saw them de-age directly, they would never see it coming...
"But for the time being, it would be better not to stay home. Do you mind if I spend the night at your house, Hakase?"
"Oh, no, Not at all! I'll prepare the room for you." The professor replied. Luckily, he had just cleaned a room in his house to keep his new invention before it exploded.
"Gin, Vodka, Sherry. That's all I know for now. But as long as I'm alive, I promise I'll find out who you guys are!" He whispered before the fatigue caught up to him from the events of the day. That night, he slept for a long time. Only waking up in the afternoon, no thanks to the voice of his neighbor.
A/N:
Well, here's chapter 1. I barely changed anything besides Ran's non-existence in this!
But the next chapter will certainly be different compared to the original. To be fair, I wasn't sure if I should even write this part since it's mostly copied from the original, but it also felt weird to start Chapter 1 after he had shrunk. Hope it was a satisfactory rewrite!
