"Good morning, Shiho!" Rei grinned as the young woman opened the door.
"Morning…" She yawned.
A small white dog rushed towards her, circling her feet. Shiho picked him up, giving him a kiss on the head. "Hi sweetie!"
'You're so lucky, Haro…' Rei sighed internally. "Here's some things for him." He took some food, toys and other items from his car. "He had breakfast already, so he should be good for now."
"Speaking of meals, I'm going to the grocery store later today. What kind of ingredients should I pick up for dinner?"
Rei didn't say anything back, simply giving a warm smile. He looked forward to being able to spend time with her right after work.
"...Rei?"
"Ah, I'm not sure! I haven't decided yet." He shrugged. "I'll text it to you later. Send me a pay request later after you're done shopping, I can cover the groceries. It's the least I can do, keeping Haro company."
"Ok, just be sure you give me enough time to shop." She narrowed her eyes. "I don't want to be rushed. Come on Haro! Let's go inside."
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Shiho ate her breakfast in the living room while watching the news.
Haro whined as she saw her eat some fish with rice and a hard boiled egg. She did her best to pay him no mind, but who was she kidding? She's not made of stone.
"Ok… just a little. It'll be our secret." She mumbled as she dropped a tiny piece of her egg, which Haro quickly caught.
She finished her meal and went down the basement to start her errands for the day.
Shiho pulled out her cassette tapes and laptop. She decided to archive her mother's tapes as audio files in case they were ever to get lost or damaged.
She scooted her chair back a little, giving Haro the perfect opportunity to hop in her lap. Her hand gently scratched his back as the cassettes played one by one, although she made sure to not hear the last two, since it wasn't time quite yet.
She listened to the 18th message again, enjoying the sound of her mother's voice.
…I'll never lose faith in you. Do your best. Well, it'll be your 19th birthday next time... bye-bye honey…
Shiho smiled to herself. 'That's right, I'll be able to listen to the next tape soon enough…'
Afterwards, Shiho took some time to document notes for her and Shinichi's health post-antidote. Muscle mass, reflexes, heart rate, blood pressure, a panel of everything she could measure within her means. Of course, they would still go to a doctor for a normal check-up, but it would be pretty hard to explain that they need detailed bi-weekly physicals to ensure that the drug that grew them back to normal after being shrunken to child size didn't have concerning long term effects.
After incorporating some vitamins and stretching into their routine, their recovery gained a significant spike in improvement. She enjoyed doing this sort of thing. It gave her something productive to do in her free time, and it helped give her a clearer image of what kind of work she'd like to do.
An email notification suddenly popped up on her screen. Shiho received a reply back from her mother's old clinic. She had sent a message, thanking Terumi for helping her "younger cousin" with finding the documents she needed.
Dear Miyano-san, I'm so happy it worked out! Please feel free to stop by if you need a physician! - Arai Terumi
'...Would it be too forward?' She hesitantly tapped on her keyboard, inquiring about any open positions, along with her resume attached. 'The worst she can say is no, right?' Shiho sighed as she leaned back and hit send.
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Before she knew it, it was already late afternoon. Shiho stretched out her arms and legs and went back upstairs to give Haro his lunch.
As he ate his food, Shiho made a quick sandwich for herself.
"Hm?" She noticed a sticky note posted on the refrigerator.
Shiho-kun, I know you wanted to get the groceries yourself, but I bought some rice and potatoes so you don't have to carry anything heavy.
'Oh, Hakase…'
P.S., I left the stun gun watch on the coffee table!
"..."
BEEP BEEP
Shiho got a text from Rei with a small list of items he'll be using for dinner.
'Most of this stuff we already have.' She thought as she took a bite of her sandwich. She looked over at Haro. "It looks like it will be a quick trip!"
After taking Haro out and clearing the kitchen (given his tendency to swipe food), Shiho put on her shoes to walk to the grocery store.
Haro, sensing that she was going to leave, let out a whine.
"Don't worry." She smiled as she patted his head. "I'll be back soon, so be a good dog!"
Haro's eyes widened as he let out a cry, making Shiho feel bad for him.
"I don't want to leave you here, but there's no dogs allowed there." She pet his head. "I'll take you to the park after, okay?"
Shiho locked the door and swiftly headed to the store. 'Haro can be quite stubborn.' She chuckled to herself. 'He must get it from his papa.'
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Shiho was in the checkout line, holding some beef and carrots in a plastic shopping basket.
"Mom, let me pay!" Said the woman in front of her at the register, who handed some money to the cashier. "I just got my paycheck, so it's my treat."
"But you already took the time to run errands with me." An older woman sighed. "On your day off too…"
'Ah, that woman…It's the same lady I saw here last time.'
"Then, can you make that pizza you made last time again?" The younger woman smiled.
"Ok, ok." Her mom chuckled.
Shiho gave a bittersweet smile as she watched the two women walk away.
"Did you find everything you were looking for?" The cashier called out to Shiho.
"Yes, thank you!"
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While Shiho headed back home, Rei was sorting through some documents at work.
"Furuya!" His boss, Hyoue Kuroda called out. "I'm assigning you a new case, meet me in the conference room in 10 minutes for a debriefing."
"Yes, sir!"
Rei put away the old case folders, quickly taking a peek at the one for his Black Organization NOC mission.
'Shiho's file...It says her birthday is soon. I wonder if anyone else knows?'
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"Alright, Haro!" Shiho smiled as he tugged on his leash. "As promised, we'll walk around the park for a bit."
Haro rolled around in the grass, surrounded by flower shrubs.
'So cute!' Shiho took out her phone and snapped a bunch of pictures. "Look this way, Haro!" She flashed a peace sign, taking a selfie together.
She was enjoying the fresh air with Haro, when a soccer ball suddenly rolled over to her feet.
"Can you pass that back to us?" A familiar boy's voice called out. "Hey, you're that lady from before!"
"Genta-kun, Ayumi-chan, Mitsuhiko-kun!" Shiho smiled. "Playing soccer after school?"
"Shiho-neesan!" Mitsuhiko exclaimed.
"Is this your dog?" Ayumi giggled as Haro sniffed her hand. "He's so friendly!"
"I'm just watching him for a friend." She said as she handed the ball back to Genta. "How was school today?"
"As a matter of fact…" Genta smirked. "We solved a case today!"
"You did?"
"It wasn't a real case, though." Mitsuhiko sighed. "Our teacher lost her purse and we helped find it."
"It was in the music room!" Ayumi cheered. "It was like another one we solved with Conan-kun and Ai…chan…"
"We can't solve real cases any more without their help." Mitsuhiko mumbled.
"That's not true." Shiho put a hand on his shoulder. "You just need to be patient, there's no need to grow up too fast. Besides, I'm sure Kobayashi-sensei was very happy you three were there to help!"
"Mm, she was really happy!" Ayumi tilted his head. "But, how did you know our teacher's name?"
The three children gave her puzzled looks.
"T-that's because…" Shiho stuttered. "The Detective Boys are so famous, I've read about you in the paper. I think they mentioned your teacher's name there…"
"That makes sense!" Genta grinned. "I guess we are becoming more well-known."
"Of course!" Shiho chuckled nervously. 'I'm glad they're still at that age that's easy to fool…'
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A couple hours passed, and Rei was finally able to get off work.
Rei smiled at Shiho as she opened the door. "Honey, I'm home!"
Shiho gave a small smirk. "Welcome home, dear."
Rei chuckled, a little flustered. "You were supposed to say something like, 'you don't live here!'" He said as he shut the door behind him. "How was Haro? Did he behave?"
"Mm, we had a good time together." Shiho showed the photos she took at the park.
"Adorable!" He smiled. "Haro looks cute too."
Shiho rolled her eyes, shoving the phone back in her pocket. "The groceries are in the fridge. You should start dinner before it gets too late."
He quickly took off his jacket and undid his tie. "I suppose you're right."
Shiho stared for a moment as he rolled up his sleeves.
"...What is it?"
"You can be a real pain, you know that?" She blushed, retreating to the couch to read a magazine.
"Already? I just got here!" He chuckled. "A new personal record."
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The two ate beef stew together, talking about their day while Haro enjoyed some plain beef Rei set aside for him.
"Ah that hit the spot!" He exclaimed as Shiho cleared the table. "If you're not too tired, how about an evening jog?"
"In your suit? That would be too uncomfortable."
"I always keep a change of workout clothes in my car! Plus, it'll help me fall asleep later."
"I don't mind getting a workout in, but why don't we do something different?"
Rei raised an eyebrow. "What did you have in mind?"
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The two were in the backyard, passing a soccer ball while Haro chased after it back and forth.
"I've never really played soccer before, do you want to invite Kudo-kun over?" Rei asked as he kicked the ball over.
"I'm sure his mom is enjoying their family time, I don't want to disturb them. Besides, it's nice to be better at it than someone else for once. She grinned as she kicked the ball back."
"Is that so?" He chuckled.
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Meanwhile, at the Kudo residence…
"Oh my goodness, Shiho-chan is outside with Furuya-san right now! Atta girl!" Yukiko squealed as she passed by the window.
"Mom, don't be so dramatic." Shinichi sighed.
"Oh hush, you didn't even understand until I explained it all to you." She giggled. "Yusaku, remember when he thought we didn't know about his crush on Ran-chan?"
"Yeah, it was pretty funny to see him try to look cool around her." He laughed.
"L-leave me alone…"
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Shiho and Haro eventually went back inside the house, but Rei hesitated.
"I need to make a quick call. I'll be right back." He said as stepped away.
'It must be sensitive information.' Shiho thought to herself. 'Well, he is a police officer after all…'
Rei went around the corner, far enough to be sure to be out to Shiho's earshot.
"Agasa-hakase, how's the conference going?"
"Furuya-san! It's going well, were you able to find a good option on that thing we were talking about?"
"I found one or two that might suit Shiho well. I'm going to check out the shop during my lunch break tomorrow."
"Thank you for helping me out with this, I had no idea her birthday was so soon! I don't know much about buying this kind of thing, I hope she likes it."
"I'm no expert either, but she did mention liking this brand, so I'm sure she will be very happy!"
"Furuya-san…"
"Hm?"
"I wasn't sure what to think at first, I feel very protective of Shiho-kun…But I'm glad she has someone looking out for her the way you do."
Rei paused for a moment, unsure of how to respond. "I'm not sure I deserve to hear that praise, Hakase." He smiled sadly. "I feel like we have so many years to catch up on. I wonder all the time, if it weren't for the Organization, how we could have been childhood friends." He looked over at the house next door. "I wonder if we could have been as close as Mouri-san and Kudo-kun."
Rei's eyes widened for a moment.
"Ah, I didn't mean like-"
Agasa chuckled. "Don't worry Furuya-san, I won't tell her about your feelings for her."
"My feelings…" Rei sighed. "I guess it's no use denying, huh?"
"You may be an adult, but you have many years before catching up to me!" Agasa laughed. "Have a good night, Furuya-san."
"You too, thank you, Hakase."
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Rei went back inside, where Shiho was cuddling with Haro on the couch.
He gazed down at Shiho. ' I wonder if you know it too, how I really feel…'
"Going home now?" Shiho asked, hiding her disappointment well.
"Mm, I guess it's time to go."
She shut the door and glanced out the window as Rei drove away.
The house suddenly fell silent, but Shiho could still feel a gentle warmth in the room. 'I had quite a bit of fun today.' She smiled as she retired to her room.
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Meanwhile, Terumi was at home reading her emails.
'Hmm… it's a pretty small clinic so I'm not hiring, but I think I know someone that would be interested!' She smiled, forwarding Shiho's resume to her colleague at Haido Hospital.
"Good luck, Miyano-san!"
