Chapter Text
It took awhile for Shinichi Kudo to adjust to life without the Black Organization. It felt like he’d been investigating them for half his life, but he was still a “small child” when the leader was brought to justice. Not long after, the cure to the Aptoxtin was found. “Conan Edogawa'' moved back to his parents, and Shinichi Kudo returned from the case he’d been away on. At least, that was the story for the public.
To his closest friends and family, Shinichi had finally been able to tell the full truth to them, and reclaim his life. Ran especially had a lot of words for him, for all the time he’d spent masquerading as a kid. But in the end, she understood why he’d kept quiet, and forgiven him.
However, not everyone returned to the life they had previously. Ai Haibara took this chance to divorce herself from her previous life once and for all, and live out her life as a young girl all over again.
Shinichi chose to respect this decision, but kept in touch with her and Dr. Agasa. Like this, life continued to pass.
Years later, Shinichi was invited by his old high school as a guest speaker, as the former teen genius that had transitioned to a well respected private investigator. It would be a good chance to visit some of his old friends as well: the Detective Boys.
Being a teenager in the body of a child meant that he couldn’t help but be annoyed by the group of actual children, but he couldn’t blame them. Though he’d never admit it, he did consider them close friends, being the only people he could hang around with as a child.
They were all now teenagers, with Mitsuhiko forming a Detective club in the high school that attracted many members. But his best friends were still the core group from his childhood. Shinchi was interested in seeing how they’d developed as investigators…
“In the end, that is why the search for the truth will never be easy, but as a detective you must persevere. But don’t let yourself be derailed by doubts and preconceived notions. Once you grasp the full truth, you can call the case decisively resolved!”
The auditorium full of students broke into applause, and Shinichi felt embarrassed. I suppose to these students, I’m that impressive. Still, it feels a little much to be looked up to by so many people.
“Kudo-kun, nice to see you again!” Ayumi Yoshida ran up to Shihichi, her usual cheerful smile on her face. Shinichi was about to greet her in return, but noticed something.
“What’s wrong with your hand, Yoshida-san?” Shinichi asked, pointing to the girl’s right hand, which was wrapped in bandages.
“Oh, this? I was in Home Economics earlier, but I got careless and burned myself,” Ayumi said sheepishly. “That’s why I have my sleeves rolled up, so I wouldn’t get them dirty.”
“Good grief. You were careful enough not to get your sleeves dirty but careless enough to burn your hand?” Shinichi asked dryly.
Now Ayumi looked discouraged. “I know, I must look silly. I need more practice before I can be good at cooking stuff.”
Shinichi decided to lay off, and said, “Then keep practicing. Are you busy right now? I was thinking about giving a more personal lesson to the Detective Boys.”
“Oh, that would be a lot of fun!” Ayumi bounced back to a good mood. “I’ll get Mitsuhiko-kun, Genta-kun, and Ai-chan!”
“If you have lessons, I wouldn’t want to interrupt them,” Shinichi said. “So all three of you, meet up with me after school.”
“Sounds like a plan! It’s been so long since we’ve been together like a group!” Ayumi went back to her classes, waving to Conan the entire time.
“I wonder if it will end up being just like the old days,” Shinichi said to himself, remembering how he had to babysit the Detective Boys many, many times.
Since it would be a while until high school let out for the day, Shinichi decided to have lunch with his girlfriend. Ran Mouri was one of the best things to ever happen to him, even if he would never say that out loud. She had stuck with Shinichi during his long absence, and stuck with him after he told her how long he had to deceive her.
Now that they could be open with each other, Shinichi shared much more with Ran. As they ate lunch at a cafe, Shinichi told her about the lecture he gave, and his plans to meet with the Detective Boys later.
“I still don’t know how to feel about all the dangerous situations they were in as kids,” Ran admitted, poking at her plate with a fork. “You’d all go on a trip, and I’d find out after the fact that you got chased by criminals or something crazy like that.”
Shinichi scowled. “If I knew how to prevent it from happening, I would have. It kills me to admit it, but sometimes I have to rely on them. One time, Mitsuhiko-kun managed to solve a puzzle by himself so we could all escape a cave. He did show his potential as a detective, even at such a young age.”
“Thankfully those days are over,” Ran said, sounding relieved. “Nowadays, the worst case he takes on is finding a purse snatcher.”
“If you want to see that for yourself, you could come to the high school with me,” Shinichi offered. “They’d probably be happy to see you, Ran.”
“I’d love to, Shinichi, but I already promised Sonoko-chan that we’d go shopping,” Ran said. An impish smile crossed her face. “Although if you wanted to invite her, Sonoko-chan would be glad to share her own deductions.”
“No thank you. I want to teach my friends something useful.” Shinichi said. Ran was fully aware that Sonoko’s previous deductions had been Shinichi as Conan speaking for her. It seemed Ran couldn’t help but tease Sonoko, even if she wasn’t present.
As the final school bell rang, Shinichi walked into the entrance hall of the high school, looking around for the Detective Boys. He spotted Mitsuhiko and Genta around the shoe lockers, and noticed that both of them seemed out of sorts.
Mitsuhiko was looking down at the ground, kicking out his feet. Genta was scratching his head, looking distressed.
“Hey, I don’t remember high school being that hard,” Shinichi said. “Especially not for a pair of detectives.”
“Easy for you to say, Kudo-kun. I swear that Algebra problems are harder than any mystery,” Genta muttered.
“Kudo-nii-kun, you wanted to teach us something? You could probably be working on a real case,” Mitsuhiko said. “I don’t want to keep you here.”
“I do not have any cases that I need to work on. Besides which, training detectives can never be a waste of time,” Shinichi said. It was clear something was bothering both teenage boys. But perhaps it would be best to probe into it once the entire group was together.
The group walked over to another set of shoe lockers, where they found Ayumi and Ai Haibara. Shinichi, who had seen the adult Shiho and the young Ai, was still getting used to seeing his friend as a teenager.
“Oh, everyone else is here! Let’s go already, Ai-chan!” Ayumi exclaimed, tugging Ai by the arm.
“Ayumi-chan, you know that we can’t go outside without shoes. It will only take a moment.” Ai opened her shoe locker, and frowned at what was inside. Instead of shoes, she took out a letter.
For a moment, Shinichi could feel his heart stop. “Haibara-san, back away from that right now!”
“Calm down. I can tell that this is a harmless letter.” Her expression impassive, she read over the letter. Unbeknownst to her, Mitsuhiko and Genta looked at the letter over her shoulders. As Ai read the letter, her eyes widened, and shortly after the two boys gasped.
“This is… this is a love letter for Haibara-san!” Mitsuhiko declared.
Of all the directions that Shinichi expected this day to take, this was not what he could ever have predicted.
Ai let out an annoyed huff. “Even detectives should know better than to stick their noses into a person’s private affairs. Please forget about what you read.”
“But what are you going to do about it? Do you plan to respond to the confession? Do you even know who they are?” Mitsuhiko asked.
A blush crossed Ai’s face. “That is not something you need to concern yourself about. Let’s do real detective training, like we planned in the first place.”
She left without another word, leaving the rest of her friends confused about her reaction.
“Maybe it would be best if we didn’t probe any further in this,” Ayumi suggested. “Ai-chan doesn’t like to share about herself.”
“Are you disappointed that you didn’t get a letter, Ayumi-chan? Because I’m sure a girl as cute as you will get one too!” Genta said in what seemed to be a reassuring tone.
“Normally, I’d agree with you, Ayumi-chan. But this is different from what’s happened in the past,” Mitsuhiko said, rubbing his chin. “Haibara-san can be rather cold at times. Whenever she would get a love letter, she would usually rip them up and throw them away without a second thought.”
Those poor people that wrote those letters. But then, Ai probably saw them nothing more than kids.
“This is the first time that I’ve ever seen a love letter affect her,” Mitsuhiko continued. “Not only that, but Ai took the letter with her. I think whoever wrote this letter is someone that she might actually like in that way!”
“It must be some kind of amazing man to be able to catch her attention,” Genta said, sounding amazed. “And they finally made their move!”
Of all the ways you decide to use deductive skills, you choose to use it like this? Conan cleared his throat. “Before you continue this train of thought, I should remind you of something. If Haibara-san finds out you’re meddling in her affairs, then you’ll have to face her fury.”
This did make Mitsuhiko and Genta rather nervous, but Genta swallowed his fear.
“We’re not gonna interfere with Haibara-san’s life! We need to find out if this guy is going to be right for her,” Genta said. “And to do that, we need to find out who he is!”
“Yes, she is one of the Detective Boys, and also our dear friend!” Mitsuhiko added. “So for the sake of her happiness, I want to take on this case!”
Despite himself, Shinichi found himself being pulled into this with a combination of curiosity and concern. His detective instinct didn’t abide by a mystery going unsolved.
At the same time, Shinichi had watched Haibara grow from a world-weary young girl to a world-weary teenager. He would have lost himself a long time ago if he didn’t have Ran in his life, even during the years when he had to hide from her. If there could be someone like that in Ai’s life…
“I did say I would teach you more about detective work, and nothing is more important than hands on experience.” Shinichi grinned. He was a grown man, yet here he was running around with teenagers. “Let’s crack the case of Haibara-san’s mysterious suitor.”
“If it’s for Ai-chan, then I’m all in!” Ayumi exclaimed, pumping her fists. “Now that I think about it, there might be some witnesses that could help us!”
We’re nosing into someone’s business on the pretense of it being the case. I suppose I shouldn’t have expected any less of the Detective Boys.