chapter one

Haibara Ai never really liked tea. She doesn’t like the bitter taste that lingers at the back of her throat even after a while, she doesn’t like how tea always made her think about things that she wants to leave behind. Tea reminds her of things that she doesn’t want to remember and it irritates her. Ai looks out of her window from her room. The ridiculous huge mansion seems to be even lonelier when Kudo-Kun, or Edogawa-kun (as she likes to call him), isn’t around in this place. Ai hates this realization; she hates thinking about her mistakes. She lifts the cup to lips and drinks.

Shinichi never asks, but both of them know. Ai is more than aware of his sharp observation skills. Even when he says nothing and shows no expressions on his charming face, Ai is able to see from his eyes. Ai admits that Shinichi has the best poker face, howbeit, his eyes betrays more than he wants to tell; there’s something about the sparkle and passion in his eyes. She is not able to read his expressions or actions, but she understands his gaze. Wordlessly, some things don’t have to be spoken to be comprehended.

(What do you think of tea?)

(Tea is a contemplative drink, if you ask me.)

Ai never needs to wonder how Shinichi knows. She does not tell with her apathetic self, but deep down she is amaze by his skills. She is impressed at how he only requires the simplest clues to be able to form the whole picture in his mind. Perhaps that’s how his brain works; he picks up the unimportant details to others eyes that they overlooked. He remembers even the useless details and connects the dots.

The morning is soothing to around Kudo’s mansion. The birds chirp happily while the morning is relatively silent. Apart from Professor Agasa who’s making breakfast in the kitchen, Ai had not been expecting anyone else. So, when Shinichi sudden drops by without warning, Ai is expectedly surprised.

She thinks about why Professor Agasa brought her here and the back of her mind tells her that the old professor, without a doubt, forgotten to tell her that Shinichi is dropping by. She should have known there’s a reason for them to suddenly appear in Shinichi’s mansion instead of staying in Professor Agasa’s.

“Does she know that you’re here?” Ai asks, feeling surprisingly glad that someone else is with her in this lonely mansion.

“She’s still sleeping when I came out,” Shinichi replies, “I left a note for her.”

“So, why are you here?” Ai finally asks the question she’d wanted to know.

“Have you heard the recent news?”

“The news about the murders of female high school students?” Ai asks nonchalantly, taking another sip of tea, “From the way I’ve read, sounds like a serial killer.”

“Yes, I’m here to speak to Professor Agasa about it,” Shinichi nods his head, confirming with Ai’s thoughts, “I think some things off with the case, but I’m not sure what yet.”

Ai frowns as she listens to Shinichi. She had heard the news broadcasted on television a few days back and at that time, something caught her eyes about the murders, although she’s unable to put her mind to it; the fact that the murders seems off to Shinichi means that something is definitely off.

“Has the police found that Detective to help?” Ai asks.

“Yeah,” Shinichi nods, his mind not exactly focusing, “The thing is, they wishes for Kudo Shinichi to help, and well, it’s kind of impossible now.”

“Use your usual methods, then,” Ai comments, “You always have tons of methods anyway. But most importantly is what information you have currently.”

Shinichi doesn’t answer her immediately. Ai glances at him from her peripheral vision and her lips curl into a tiny smirk. He’s not a great detective without reasons, and there’s reasons why Ran calls him ‘detective otaku’. The moment a case is on his mind, he never let goes until he finishes piecing the puzzle, conveniently blocking out the whole world around him at the same time.

She knows he’s analyzing the case with whatever information that he has (which is pathetically little) and she wonders what’s going on in that mind of his. Working overdrive, perhaps; Ai suddenly has an urge to smile.

She takes another sip of her tea (it’d turn cold, and the bitterness doubled) as she stares at the shrunken detective deeply lost in his own thoughts, his brows ceased in a faint effort. Without wanting to, Ai found herself trailing the curves of his facial features. Shinichi is without a doubt good-looking with his slight egoistic charm.

At the same time, she’s also thinking about the troubling case that bothered her just as much as it bothered him. She wonders about who could be behind the case and thinks about the motive for the brutal killings. There’s certainly something strange about the murders. She takes a sip of her tea as she pondered the case. The mansion falls into a comfortable, tensed silence between the two intelligent shrunken children.

It’s been the third female high school student that had been murdered. According to Shinichi, who had gone along with Mouri Kogoro as Conan, the first murder occurred a month ago where the girl had been found dead on a hotel bed. The had not been signs of struggles or blood. The report that returned gave them more answers. Apparently, there were small amount of sleeping pills found within her body, and a slight amount of HCN in her blood. It seems that the HCN had been charged into the air when she was drugged and asleep, effectively killing her in a short amount of time.

The second victim had been murdered in a similar method. Although it seems that she had been fed with cyanide instead. Shinichi, under the form of Conan, managed to catch a whiff of almond. Her lips and nails had also turned purple as Shinichi inspects her corpse (albeit, like always, he’d been thrown out of the window by Mouri Kogoro).

“Kudo-kun, do you have an idea what’s wrong with the murders?” Ai asks.

“No… I mean, there’s definitely something wrong, but I can’t say what. I’m not very sure about it either,” Shinichi shakes his head, feeling dejected at being stumped.

Ai nods her head, her mind wandering off. She has a theory, but it had sounded so ridiculous that she had shrugged it off previously. However, it’s hard to tell know. She isn’t sure of how far her theory can go so she chose to stay silent for the moment. She needs to be able to confirm her theory before she’s able to be sure of it.

Glancing at Shinichi, whose deep in thought, she wonders if he has the same theory as her. She shakes away the thought with a grim smile because he’s not the type. With his father as a famous detective and mystery writer, it’s obvious what kind of books that Shinichi reads (the books in his massive library also tells her that). She doubts that he would even have read books of children fairytale (then again, Shinichi is always unpredictable…).

In fact, Ai has no knowledge over them either. She’d never been into happily ever after and those magical, made up stuffs. Ai had always been realistic; life isn’t full of rainbow and daisies, especially not from her. However, Ayumi is definitely the type of adorable girls with dreams of the beautiful world and a prince charming (preferably Conan-kun). Ai narrows her eyes as she remembers the stories that Ai had told her. Somehow, those stories do coincidently fit with those murders.

Ai thinks that if her theory is right, the murderer has to be someone who’s very perverse and depraved. Just what motives does the person have to cause him or her to do such disgusting things? She takes a glance at Shinichi before lifting her cup to drink again, her throat had gone dry at her thoughts, only to find it empty.

“I’ll have to return now,” Shinichi finally breaks the silence with a sigh, “I’ll return when I get more information.”

Ai nods without replying. She doesn’t look at him who’s in a rush to return and doesn’t know if he saw her nod, but doesn’t really bother. She doesn’t need to turn to know that he had already left. She’s not surprised; it’s painfully obvious that Shinichi will be worried for that high school girlfriend of his. Although Shinichi doesn’t say anything about it, she knows anyway. His worries for Mouri Ran are beyond a simple friendship.

“Has Shinichi left?” Professor Agasa asks, hearing the slam of the door, “I was hoping he’d stay for breakfast.”

“You know he’s a busy detective,” Ai smiles, albeit forcefully as she hop off the coach she’d been sitting on and proceed out of the mansion, “I’m not eating.”

Professor Agasa’s spluttered questions are ignored as she closes the door behind her. She doesn’t know why she feels suffocated in that huge mansion when Shinichi isn’t around. She isn’t sure if the silence is killing her or the fact that Shinichi isn’t with her anymore (she erases the latter thought because that’s impossible).

Without anyone at home, Ai realizes that silence can be really quite intimidating. She reaches Professor Agasa’s mansion and walks towards her room. She chuckles at her own thought as she reaches for the door knob to her room. It isn’t the silence that’s intimidating, Ai realizes in a heartbeat. It’s the loneliness. And Ai found herself wishing for another cup of tea.