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"Why does it bother you so much?" Kaito asked, unable to contain the grin that crept onto his face. And it only got wider when Shinichi's response was to glare daggers at him.
"You know exactly why it bothers me; Kona is ending up just like Conan!!"
It had already been nearly 4 years since their twin siblings were born, and they were already showing some promising signs of future talents and high IQ. A common trait among their family, but it was still fun to see.
However, Kona had been acting strangely.
He rubbed his eyes often, and tended to tilt his head a lot. At first, everyone thought it was just a cute tick, but Yusaku suddenly seemed to recognize the behavior and took Kona to the doctor. It was there they learned that the boy had poor eyesight, maybe even as bad as Yusaku's.
To compound this, they took Ai to the doctor but her eyesight was perfect. So it was just Kona who needed glasses.
And that annoyed Shinichi to no end.
"It's like fate is laughing at us." He sighed, twirling the stirrer in his cup of tea.
"Us is too many people," Kaito retorted, taking a bite from his chocolate croissant. "Fate is laughing at you and you alone."
"I can't be the only one who finds this eerie, right??"
The two stared at each other for a long time, before Kaito shrugged and took another bite.
"I think you're just crazy."
"Ehn?!"
—
"Has anyone noticed that all of the boys look the same but Ai-chan doesn't look like them at all?"
The Detective Boys sat in the Kudo living room, babysitting the twins for the weekend. Yukiko and Yusaku had a meeting in Takahama, Kaito had a show in Ekoda, and Shinichi was held up at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Station with multiple cases.
"Whataya mean?" Genta asked, flipping through the tv channels.
Mitsuhiko sat beside him at the kotatsu, gesturing over to Kona, who was sitting at the dining room table reading a book. He was wearing a large pair of glasses, and from a quick glance, it felt like they were all 6 again.
"Kona...Conan? Man, that's kinda confusing... But, he looks exactly like Shinichi-kun. So that means that if the original Conan was real, it really would have been a coincidence that they look the same.
"Meanwhile, for Ai-chan..."
Ai sat extremely close to Ayumi, hugging her arm. She had her eyes closed, but she wasn't sleeping. Just content.
"She's so cute-" Ayumi whispered, clenching her free fist. She was close to the original Ai, and was still good friends with Shiho, so she was extremely happy to learn that Ai-chan seems to really like her too.
I've made it, I charmed all three Ai-chans!
"What about her?"
"Geez Genta, it's like you're not even listening to me- Ai doesn't look anything like Conan or the big twins! Isn't that weird? Do you think it's because she's a girl?"
"She just looks like Yukiko-san!" Ayumi chimed in, wagging her finger. "And the boys all look like Yusaku-san! Besides, it's not like they're identical to the first two!
"Conan-kun's hair is parted differently, and doesn’t have the hair tuft! Ai-chan's hair is curlier and longer!"
Mitsuhiko nodded in understanding, but Genta just yawned.
"Man, there isn't anything good on TV. Let's go get some movies from Agasa's place!"
"Ehh? But who's gonna walk to Agasa's? Shinichi-kun said we're not allowed to go anywhere alone without an adult or in the buddy system!"
"Then let's just all go?"
"But the twins are too little to walk back and forth like that! It's gonna be dark soon!"
As the three older children argued, Shiho entered the Kudo residence with a spare key. She had two large bags in her hands, and when she cleared her throat, the children immediately went quiet.
"Oh good, you all still remember your manners."
"Shiho-chan! ... What's with the bags?"
She lifted the bag in her left hand. "I figured Genta would get bored and wouldn't know where to find Yukiko's movie collection, so I brought over movies from Agasa's home."
She then lifted the bag in her right hand. "And it's getting close to dinner time, so I brought some burgers and pizza."
Genta clapped his hands together, fighting back tears. "Dear gods above, thank you for sending us Shiho-chan to rescue us from boredom and hunger."
She scoffed, setting the food and DVDs onto the kotatsu. Genta immediately dove in and Mitsuhiko got up to get drinks for everyone, so Shiho stood up straight.
Alright, time to head ba—
There was a small tug on Shiho's jacket. She turned and looked down, locking eyes with little Kona.
"Kona-kun?"
He looked a little nervous, shyly glancing away but still holding onto her jacket with his tiny fist.
"Shiho-nee, can you tell me more about your science?"
"..."
The Detective Boys glanced over at Shiho, expecting her to refuse. And yet...
"Alright..."
How can I say no to that familiar little face…
—
Shiho sat in the dining room with Kona.
The other kids were eating and watching tv, and Kona had a couple slices of pizza in front of him but he hadn't touched it. She was showing him some of her notes to the boy, explaining some of the ways she created the formulas.
“Did you test them all?” Kona asked, looking up with sparkling eyes.
She shook her head. “These are all concepts, I haven’t actually concocted them yet.”
Kona leaned his chin on the table, “Can I help you work on them?”
Shiho almost immediately said no, but she realized that her reasoning wasn’t sound. Sure, Kona is a bit too young, but she had been exposed to worse as a child. And she ended up relatively fine, as far as she was concerned. So surely it shouldn’t be too big of an issue to ease Kona into these sorts of things too.
“...
“Sure, when I decide to start working on them, you can help me.”
“Like a lab partner!” Kona proclaimed excitedly, and Shiho simply nodded.
“Indeed, like a lab partner.”