Shinichi had always been taught by his parents, that bad guys/villains of this world are no matter what, unreasonable people.

The same goes for Kudo Ranran, who is still pointing a gun directly at Shinichi, in front of a horrified Agasa, as well as several police detectives feeling tense about how the situation was gonna turn out. Are they gonna end the day with a corpse out of Ranran's house while dealing with a grieving family? Or by miracle, Ranran decides not to shoot Shinichi and let bygones be bygones.

Still, some villains can be reasoned. That's why negotiation techniques are given to police officers worldwide to deal with bad guys like terrorists or robbers holding people hostage. Shinichi was no different as always when it comes to negotiating since his dad taught him to deal with bullies back then. But Ranran is a 6-year-old kid who is raised to know how the laws here work in Japan, let alone, knows how to use a gun and is willing to end his life, so things can be tricky.

Shinichi didn't like when people didn't cooperate the way he wanted them to. He didn't like it one bit and even more so that it was this girl. This is why he opted to use this card to get himself out of trouble. One that he ensures will be enough to protect his life.

"You know.....The Fox is an anonymous figure, a rumoured child Tantei prodigy behind solving many cases for the Japanese police law enforcement. Not long ago, she or he vanishes out of the media spotlight."

This made the little girl tense as she was fast in raising the gun again. She moved a bit in front of Shinichi, eyes like steel.

Shinichi was panicking internally, but he went on to keep his confronting facade, "I noted one pattern, whenever the fox made an appearance, her identity is kept upright up to a point, forensics and police detectives will have a hard time entering the scene of the crime. Normally it shouldn't have been the case."

He quietly observes Ranran, who still have a gun pointing at him, but he is certain she is deeply troubled by what he knows of her as he went on, "I been with my tousan having taken to crime scenes long enough to know.......it shouldn't be that tedious. That only left me with possibilities, A, the victims and killer The Fox solved are high profile. Fearing that the media may twist the story to a point lawsuits be drawn on them, they resort to covering up The Fox's true identity because of this. But this theory wasn't possible, cause based on the comments I read on the forums, she too solved low profile cases as well."

The more he speaks, the more Ranran had the urge to pull the trigger, but she couldn't as she knew doing so in front of Professor Agasa and the authorities while he is going on about with his deductions would confirm his theory about the identity behind The Fox.

"That only let me with the other possibility: The Fox....was someone the police know but can't afford to risk identity exposure, otherwise, they gonna lose their jobs. What more do they have to lose, than having the daughter of a man, who had some high-level connection to the metropolitan police department, do the job for him."

Ranran's eyes widened.

"The fox is reported to have appeared quite frequently, leading up to the Beikai police district takedown on corruption and the end of it. Why did that person suddenly exist out of the blue till the end of the corruption? The only reason for an explanation was simple: the person behind the takedown of the corrupt officials was under manpower, so he didn't have many officers to solve the other criminal cases since he needed them desperately. It was to him a one-shot deal to take them down, and he didn't trust anyone, so what could he do but to get his child to play The Fox."

He went on as he watched Agasa's expression, as his sweat grew and so did the cops.

"Then, he had another problem, as a father, he had to do whatever it takes to ensure his precious child wouldn't be harmed in the midst of it all. The child was, after all, still an elementary school student, after all, the chances of getting killed out of revenge from corrupted officials are rather high. Fortunately, he has the influential backing of his wife's family, so they were able to pull the strings in making sure their child solving the mystery won't be exposed one way or another. In other words, the news media ain't likely to report, let alone, reveal the identity of the child. Still, he knows he couldn't contain the details behind it. A 6-year-old solving a murder case is bound to attract media attention, in some way or another. Though...one interesting tiny detail was known about The Fox, some of the reporters who interview several witnesses swore that that noticed when the lights in her mask were deactivated, it showed that one of her eyes on the right...is green while on the left, is blue. Another one said it was just the usual pair of blue eyes. Which is considered to be uncommon here."

The police expressions on their face look like they were exposed, while Ranran remained silent.

"Now....the more I hear about this, the more I realize none of this made any sense. I mean..... how can the colour of one's eye be that difficult to identify? If they were to spot you from afar, that would've been pretty difficult, that I will admit it. But the reports I had gathered through the forum was that they saw all of this in close proximity. Then I recalled Agasa told me something interesting. The colour of an eye can change based on unexpected things, such as trauma, surgery, medication.....although the situation is rare."

He paused, before going on.

"Which reminds me," Shinichi continued as he looked menacing, "Not long ago, I remember grandmother having mentioned that you had an eye transplant 2 years ago. Back in the U.K, though I ain't sure what really happen-"

"We need to talk. Alone. Now."

With that said, she put down her gun and handed it over to her father's cops, they left them on their own to talk things out."Untie me."

Ranran was eyeing him in silence, pondering whether she should. Then again, the fact he looked into her background tells her otherwise, "Name me a reason why should I?"

"Watanabe."

Colour drained from Ranran's face and she took a step back, eyes wide.

Shinichi sputtered and gritted his teeth."I know you are looking into it."Shinichi closed his eyes again while Ranran froze a bit at his honesty."I also know about the location where the escaped convict Watanabe was there when Takuma was fishing. I did see a glimpse of the car with a gun out of the window at the corner of my eye when a loud bang sound took place, my soccer practice is not far from the riverbank after all."

For some odd reason, all he was ever receiving from the girl at the moment was nothing but daggers. Even so, he wasn't going to stop until he had his way.

"Are you still not going to untie me?"

Reluctantly she had no choice but to do so, as she didn't want the cops to hear what is going on behind closed doors. But she is gonna do it on his wrist and that is about it, nothing more."Explain yourself." Shinichi said as he rubbed his sore wrist from being tied up, "How is it a girl like you can have access to all of these cases? Even I wasn't even allowed to do it without an adult!"

"I ask my way in."

"I doubt you'll be that civil." he huffed at her, "In fact, I believe you are the type to blackmail your way into it."

"Ah, so like you to think little of me."Ranran chuckles as she observes him untying his feet from the ropes that bound him to the chair.

"If there is one thing about you, is that you never make your presence known till the time is right. The way you used a gun, know here and there, schemes about....something tells me you knew this was going to happen right ahead of you."

Ranran believe that he was still angry because she had exposed him as a fool last year, as she sat on her parents' bed. She sneered and said, "A wannabe Tantei demanding answers from a suspect who barely interacting with him for how long....a year? Man," she huffed at him in distaste, "someone like you who is targeting me out of personal feelings rather than go search for the person who drove the car and shot us....are you serious on becoming a detective?"

That stung Shinichi.

"And you think you are no different than me!? Scheming about and hurting others to a point....some of them have a physical disability for life whenever nothing goes your way? Even a freaking school bully or some low life criminal will never resort to going as far as you did!"

"Have I ever once declared on wanting to become a saint Tantei, then turn my back and become a corrupted tantei for once in front of anyone?"

As expected, Shinichi was silent.

Ranran laughed again. "Exactly Kudo, unlike someone I know, I never hid my true feelings over this the way you would. And yet you came after me because of this really....tells me a lot."

"You seriously have no confidence in me to becoming a Tantei? And are you that bothered over my words? That a girl can't do the things we do?"

"Obviously, "Ranran admitted directly.

"You are being too sensitive and insecure."

"Sensitive? Probably. Insecure? I doubt that."Ranran chuckled as she shook her head at him, "You're too arrogant for your good, you know? The thing that sets me apart from you is this, I know when one is a bad seed, and one isn't. Your way of thinking last year, was enough to tell me what kind of a person you are."

"Name your reasons for becoming 'The Fox'."

Ranran glanced at the blue sky outside from the window. She leisurely said, "For someone."

"So....you did all of this because someone ordered you to?"

"No one orders me, I am my own person," When Ranran finished, she continued, "What does this have to got to do with you?"

Shinichi shook his head at her in disbelief, "For someone like you to become a tantei.....you have no right, especially with such-"

Ranran looked far in the distance and said after a while, "Attitude? Such behaviour?"

"What....!?"

"There is no right or wrong way when it comes to becoming a tantei. Do you know? Just like some heroes and villains, there are too good villains and evil heroes. As for me....you can say...meet me in the middle."

This girl....why did he get the feeling she isn't.....?

"Are you....are you doing this because....you resented me that I won't love you as a family member so much so....you are mocking this tantei dream of mine?"

For a moment, Ranran just gave him a blank stare, a look that reads out to Shinichi 'are you serious look'? Followed by laughter."Oh my God! Does it look like it is the case? That I would do something so petty as this? I have no time for that childish prank for that matter. After all, why would I while you are already cooped up in that lost and found department, constantly searching for missing bentos and wallets?" Ranran chuckles, wiping out her tears of laughter as she swings her legs back and forth while perching on the side of the bed.

That made Shinichi grow a sweat, what is wrong with her? Was he wrong?

Ranran hopped out of the bed, "Let's see.....I already long thought of doing this even before meeting you."

"You are bluffing!"

"That's up to you to decide," she responded, before pacing around the master bedroom as she ponders, "I truly wanted to know the real you, not the version of you told by our family. It is too biased, families tend to not see their children as evil demons so to speak. So I did the only reasonable solution, which is to dig into who you really were before meeting you. Boy, as soon as I found out what your true nature is like, I wanted nothing to do with you at all."

Shinichi was taken aback by her level of bluntness.

"Of course, I knew our family wasn't going to listen to me on forcing us to get to know one another. Since you hate me, and I am pretty mutual about it, I have taken the initiative to do us a favour by making plans to get rid of you-no, not out of this world of course, but out of my life so that you and I wouldn't have to deal with each other anymore."

"....w-what were you told about me?"Shinichi was feeling a little uneasy that he had been looked into long before they even met.

"What was I told about you?"She stopped pacing, not looking at him as she spoke, "That you were a boy who wants to be righteous, that you also....look down upon girls whom you believe are dumb witted, that the truth is...you believe a girl isn't capable on being as smart as you, but I never was able to find out what is the said reason for your 'questionable beliefs'."

"What?"That irked him."...look, I don't know what kind of misunderstanding you have towards me," Shinichi mutters darkly, "But I never even once thought of you as a dumb-witted girl, not I was that closed of into thinking girls can't be smart, I ain't a sexist."

"What a liar!" That little girl's expression is twisted, half with bitter disbelief and half with disgust.

"It's true! When I said you ain't capable because you are a girl, I was referring to the amount of energy in terms of jumping around the obstacle course when we were 5 years old, not because of biased belief." Shinichi ploughs on, not letting her get another word in."But-"

"You called me a rich little girl who dances in balls in pretty frilly dresses, have tea time 24/7 and sit pretty and gossip about boys is all I ever do."Ranran interrupts, voice cold."How is that not being biased towards a little rich girl like me? Surely you ain't as dumb as that....when you choose to say those words, right?"Ranran chuckles darkly, it makes him more uneasy about her demeanour.

"Don't you dare to speak with that foul mouth of yours like that!"

"Why not? Humans are blessed with mouths to speak in the first place. Since mother gave birth to me with one, I might as well say it." she pointed onto her red lips mockingly as a menacing clown would.

"You-"

"You kept saying I did you wrong for framing you last year. Well then....did you not ask yourself this....what made me do it towards you in the first place that landed you in that predicament?"

For a while, Shinichi was going to argue that it had to be none other than pettiness, but she beat himi to it.

"....let's be realistic, I don't expect to get any of your affection as a family, and neither do I. So rather than constantly sneering at each other for no reason and wasting precious time hating each other, I decided this was the only solution that will benefit us both: by causing an unforgivable incident enough to tell the adults we truly don't wanna get to know one another. After all, it ain't evil if the feelings are mutual. We both did benefit from it, you know?"She shrugged before going on to say, "You didn't have to air all of your fake pretences in front of me or others anymore, you don't even feel the need to be forced to pay me a visit in front of the adults. You should've been thankful."

"Kudo Ranran-"

"You ask how did I become a tantei and why did I become one? I can answer the 'why' part vaguely, but as for the 'how' part, if you were such a sharp tantei, you could've realized all you needed to do was to use your family connections to become a tantei. But since useless things such as 'morals' apply to you, it's no wonder you are still stuck searching for missing wallets, pets and stuff."

"....that's enough," Shinichi thought this was endless mockery, his leg still feeling bounded and heavy like his heart is, hearing all of this from Ranran.

Ranran reacted faintly to this, man, seeing his face of him was a brilliant sight in her opinion. She smiled and said, "You wanna be a tantei, how is it you can't handle this truth?"

"You!" Shinichi looked at her and felt his whole body bursting with anger."I admit....what I did was wrong at that time. And I am truly sorry for how I treated you in the past, but you can't just prejudice me just because of one wrong deed I did in my entire life! It wouldn't be fair!"

"Fair? You want to talk about fairness, even if you hadn't joined those morons, you still would've given me the cold treatment regardless."

"What did you just say!?"

"Oh yeah, didn't you once tell everyone I got this talent because my mom slept with your dad?"

Shinichi's eyes widened at her words.

"Even if you didn't have those idiots as your buddies at that time to influence your decision.....you still would've done this, discrediting my true abilities, just because even up till now, you are still unable to determine whether I am truly your Tousan's child with another woman. And that I am forever going to be the existing betrayal that will constantly hurt your mother. Fairness, huh?"

Shinichi was at loss for words when she questioned him.

Ranran smiled an evil-like smile, "So why must you put me in a difficult situation, when right from the start, you could've done those things to make your life easier on becoming a detective? Also, from what I know, that girl in kindergarten, that Ran likes you. If I were to tell her what was going on with you following onto me like that-"

"Stop meddling in my business, leave her out of it. That is between her and me, right now, it is you and I." Shinichi shifted his gaze and looked straight ahead. He didn't want to look at her anymore. He was scared over what else she may expose about him, considering this girl before him....seemingly knew everything about him that not even himself is aware of. Also Ran.....if she finds out, there'll be no end in sight from an angry Suzuki.

This little girl Ranran is....scary.

She is using words to get him to be provoked, usually, murderers do that to cops to avoid being sent to prison. She on the other hand is another level of 'evil' or a dangerous 'psychopath'' he would often read through his tousan's detective novels. Who knew he would deal with one of such nature within the family!

"Look, I don't care what you think of me. Whether I truly am the product of infidelity of your father or not, that is up to you to decide. You are angry about this affair? Fine, you have that right, but don't take it out on me, but onto your own father or my mother....with the exception that you discovered any evidence to suggest that my mother did in fact commit such a sin. After all, if this is truly the child of infidelity's fault, that would've meant your parents could've divorce a long time ago over this while he remarries my mother....just to end up becoming my father, deshou?"

Shinichi is speechless.

"Also, we both lived our own respective lives, so I would rather if you just simply ignore me like I did with you peacefully for over a year plus since that incident at the mall," Ranran shrugged her shoulders, "Unless your life is again, pathetic since having those two around is dragging more of your braincells further down the mud, don't go about pestering me just because life isn't going about your way."

"You!"Shinichi was speechless due to how angry he was. "Kudo Ranran, do you even have a heart when you say out those things?!"

"A heart? What is that? Does it help protect the lives of others? Is there even a guarantee to that?"

The more Ranran uttered her words, the harsher it grew. Ultimately, Shinichi wanted to have the final say, "Regardless of your ulterior motives, I don't see why you should-"

"Use our family connections? Why not? You turned it away, I am just using it for personal use that has nothing to do with your cause or beliefs for that matter." She scoffed.

"You-"

"Just because you willingly let two idiotic girls dictate your entire life that lead you to hide at the corner of the lost and found department in our school, you had no right to drag me down to your pedestal."

His face turned pale in response, "You....knew about that as well?"

"Your little squabble between that Mouri and Suzuki was all over the damn elementary school, there was never a day that goes by without one kid telling the other that someone was sent to the dog house." Ranran pointed out.

Shinichi clenched his fists, trying to steady his breathing. This girl, Kudo Ranran, had systematically torn down every wall of pride he had built, exposing cracks in his character he didn't even know existed. Her words were sharp, deliberate, calculated to unearth the worst parts of him, and for all his efforts to maintain composure, Shinichi felt like he was barely holding on.

"You want me to point out other things? Be my guest," Ranran tilted her head, studying him like a predator sizing up its prey. "A love triangle I heard, between you, 'that boy', and Mouri. Pretty straightforward was your deduction skills could've simply proven you innocent. And yet...." she said softly, her voice laced with mock pity. "You just merely stormed off, just because you knew over the course of a year or so....she and Suzuki are no longer the friends you once knew."

"You have a lot of nerve to simply say things without verifying the truth," he finally said, his voice low and unsteady. 

"And I barely need to, because every interaction I have come across between you, Mouri, as well as Suzuki was enough to paint a picture over how messed up your life is. And I am so damn glad that I didn't end up getting close to either of you." Ranran's smile didn't falter. In fact, it widened, "Cause it would've been a waste of time."

He clenched his fists, the nails digging into his palms as he tried to steady his breathing. "You better shut your mouth. Or else I am going to-"

"What? Complain to grandfather and grandmother? Or cry to your parents? Or in this case....complain to my parents?" Ranran taunted him as if his threats meant nothing, "Go ahead. But they know better as to who is the guilty party here. Cause you already did it once towards me, don't think...I won't be able to do it again."

Right now, hearing the words coming from the 6-year-old girl is sending more chills to his spine.

"Let's talk about why I became The Fox," She paced around him before testing him, "Last year's criminal activities...how much do you really know what was going on in the metropolitan police department?"

"What, the part that a lot of corrupt police were arrested?" 

Ranran's smirk grew sharper as she paced around him, her small, deliberate footsteps echoing faintly in the room. "Oh, is that all you know?" she asked, her tone dripping with mock disbelief. "I expected better from you. Well, maybe not much better." She stopped in front of him, tilting her head as if she were trying to decide whether he was worth explaining things to.

He glared at her, his jaw tightening. "What are you getting at? Everyone knows about the arrests. It was all over the news."

"Sure," she replied casually, circling him again. "But do you know what set the whole thing off in the first place?" She leaned closer, her voice dropping to a near whisper. 

He froze, his brow furrowing. "Greed? Or some....criminal mastermind name Echis is responsible for it?"

There had been rumours from his family that a guy name 'Echis' may have been behind it, but so far, he had nothing to prove a point. 

"Echis? So you at least got that part right. And no, aside of greed alone, it's the poor qualifications of those officers that set off all of this."

He flinched at her words, his mind racing. "What are you talking about?"

"Do you know why not a single officer who was arrested on the news knew all of this was going on, and yet, they never tip anyone about their little activities, Kudo? Qualifications. They...are just merely pawns for the 'bigger fishes' to play."

He didn't respond, but his silence betrayed his curiosity.

"All of them...have a history of failures, failures so great....getting a job in law enforcement is like a second chance, a way to salvage their wrecked reputations," Ranran continued, her voice growing colder, sharper. "But here's the thing, Kudo: There is no such thing as a free lunch."

Shinichi swallowed hard, his stomach twisting with unease.

"They also have records of long periods of unemployment, which means the people who given them their jobs....they only can act as their dog and nothing more. Cause in their heads....it's worst to have a life being ostracized for being unemployed, Kudo. Which is why by the time this came about, the bigger fishes were able to swim away at ease." 

Shinichi's mind struggled to process the weight of Ranran's words. He had heard rumors, seen news reports, but nothing had prepared him for the cold, methodical way she spoke of it.

"Then, let's talk about your 'normal way on becoming a tantei'."  She circled around him, "Legally, if you were to be recognized by the Japanese law enforcement department, it'll take 10-20 years, based on the current statistics in Japan. By then, can you care to answer how many victims would we have come across by the time we settle this your way?"

This left him stump, as he struggles to come up with an answer.

"Exactly, by the time I do it your way, more deaths will remained unsolved, or in this case....swept under the rug." Ranran shook her head and looked at him with disdain. "Family connections was the only to stop them. Next question, are you even aware of the occupational hazard that comes with becoming a Tantei?"

Shinichi remained silent.

"Have you ever once thought that you may be forced to live with a mental handicap in the future from certain traumatic incidents once you take up this Tantei profession, Kudo? Or the fact that you may end becoming so physically handicapped...that the quality of life you are currently taking for granted today may no longer be possible once you become one?"

"Of course I have considered the possibility." He refuted.

"Really?" She shot him a sceptical look.

"Yes, I did."

"So you are okay with losing your ability to walk, run and play soccer and baseball with your buddies, right?"

"No. But it wouldn't have mattered if I did, since I don't have anyone to do so anymore after what happened at soccer club-"

"Ok, then what about traumatic events?"

"Huh? What sort events?" He gave her a dumbfounded look.

"Traumatic events," She gaze at him with a straight serious face, "I am talking about watching someone getting killed through beyond unreasonable normal means, or being kidnapped and tortured. Did it not occur you that if you learn what sort of unimaginable evil that people are capable of, your views on the world will be so distorted...you will never look at the people you care for the same way ever again? And worst, your loved ones will leave you because of this?"

Shinichi wanted to argue back that any job or dream one takes has occupational hazards, but Ranran beat him to it.

"You asked me why someone as vicious as me choose to become a tantei, the answer is simple. But before I answer, let me ask you something: what's the difference between your version of being a goody-two-shoes detective and being me?"

The question surprised Shinichi, as he was taken back."Ain't the difference obvious!?"

"That's true, I'll admit it. One would after all good deeds to protect humanity, right? They don't commit murder, nor do shady backhanded tactics as I do unless the criminal is hard to deal with and deserve karma, neh? But if you think about it, they're no different than me either."

"Excuse me!?"

"We are all told by adults that we should always leave it to the police. Cause if we do it ourselves, we are no different than a villain. Now I think back, I am probably no different than them either."She turned her head to him and approached, "But so far.....how is that working out for them? Huh? If that works....why is it the man by the name of 'Echis' was able to infiltrate and cause so much devastation within the core of the metropolitan police department?"Sensing he grew quiet, she continued, "I tell you why, the real reason? It's because they were too much of a coward to taint themselves for the greater good."

"Cowards!?" Shinichi repeated her choice of words, appalled by how vicious she was with her way of words.

"Do you know, Shinichi? Prejudice comes in all forms. Even amongst us detectives. When they hire those low qualifications detectives, it wasn't to give them a chance. The reality is, they were hired as convenient puppets because of their goody-two-shoes beliefs."

"No, I don't think-"

"There are many reasons why they don't dare to answer back, one of them is the fear of losing their jobs. They were after all already looked down on within the force over poor qualifications in the first place. To top it off, their inexperience may land them in hot boiling water onto the superior who hired them." Her eyes were narrowing onto him, blank was all he could see visible in her eyes," with all of these said factors, they had no choice but to obey them. Even if they were to do shady things, they convince themselves it's for the greater good because their superior says so. Making matters worst was.....those greedy superiors ended up bringing their families into the mix. In some cases.....the ones who didn't obey......had no choice but to do it as their families' lives are on the line."

"Even so, this isn't an excuse to"

"Turn as equally as corrupt as them to hurt them? Of course, I agreed with you. At the same time....do you think everyone is like you? Use their strength as courage and fix it with a snap of a finger-like that?"

She snaps her finger in front of him.

"Not everyone has the strength, Kudo Shinichi," she said, as she spoke in a cold tone. "There is always the chance where no one ever listens to their concerns, their sufferings of being oppressed from looking into the truth further because of damn work politics. No, if anything, it's the constant stigma, prejudice, failure of a justice system, as well as the dumb unrealistic ideals of being a good and a bad detective ingrained in society, that itself will continue to fester more deaths that lay ahead. As long as people like you exist–" she glanced at the little boy through her peripheral vision–"it's an opportunity to breed more evil for people like you."

She stopped pacing, her bangs covered her eyes as she spoke, "In this world, if I were to do the goody-two-shoes way, justice will never come. I learn that....too soon...."

The silence was so deafening, he didn't know how to reply to this. 

"I used to lived in a crime infested neighbourhood before my family moved us twice. If one were to leave it be on its own and go your way, it will come to a point in time that more crime would ultimately spread it's way to Beikai District. Ultimately...the children are often forced to do it, whether one likes it or not. Then, gradually....this entire place, including the neighbourhood we lived in....will ultimately become a cess pool of crime and corruption. And this is from my experience from the second neighbourhood my family moved to before coming here." 

Ranran's voice dropped, carrying a weight of experience that she had no choice but to bear. She paused for a moment, letting the words settle between them. Shinichi stood frozen, unable to find any words to counter her argument. Here was this little girl, same age as him, speaking with the wisdom of someone much older, someone who had seen the worst of humanity and understood its dark undercurrents more deeply than he ever could. He had been so focused on the fact that Ranran could've been taking up this tantei dream to mock him, he failed to see the grim picture that is occurring in their backyard.

"Then, there is you going about preaching about justice!" She whipped her head at him angrily, "If you are so insistent on doing it your way, I dare you to go straight to our family, use the connections and see the entire crap for yourself if you don't believe me!"She lashed out at him, for the first time, he sees her angry bitter expression.

Shinichi comes to a stop, the silence is thick between them, and his gaze sticks to the girl's empty blue eye gaze as he connects the pieces of the puzzle to form a greater picture. Now things are adding up. Hearing this....why does it sound hurtful to him?

"What," Ranran scoffs. "Nothing else to say for yourself? What happened to the very vocal boy I heard earlier??"

His tongue is glued to the roof of his mouth.

"The feelings are mutual, "Ranran murmurs darkly. "So....while I gonna be nice for once as your mom treated me well, leave quietly and me alone, or I won't hesitate to shoot you as I did earlier. This time....it will be your head."

Shinichi felt chills coming from her voice, as he hurriedly remove the ropes and jumped out of the chair he was tied to. Ranran made sure to follow him as he fled down the stairs while other police officers/detectives watch the little girl observe Shinichi push open the main door, revealing Agasa who was waiting for him.

"About you shooting me...." he echoes, slowly looking back to meet the girl's gaze."You were bluffing, right?"

"If you are so curious about it....come drop by unannounced and find the answer."

On second thought, he doesn't wanna know.

He put both his hands into his pants pocket and walked out of the house coolly where Agasa was waiting for him. Before leaving, he left one sentence."A person who only chooses to become a tantei for vicious reasons is not worth as a worthy opponent."

Kudo Ranran didn't sound happy about that, she felt that he had insulted her and her effort at the same time, after hearing him. Who was he to say what was her real reason for using connections to solve cases?"Only weaklings who can't accept the weight of my words would say that."Ranran huffs as she turns back and was about to shut the door.

Her voice was not loud, but she didn't realize Shinichi has surprisingly good ears. He turned his head and stared at her."What did you say?"

"Hmph?"She whipped her head at him, "Nothing."

She wasn't even bothered to hide her expression on this!"I heard that!"

"If you heard that, why do you ask in the first place?"She grins cheekily.

"Damn it."Shinichi walked out of the compound with his darkened face while cursing, leaving with Agasa in tow.

.....................................................................................

"So, that is the reason why you ended up breaking into her home in the first place!?"

They both stood outside in the darkness looking at Ranran's house as they head to Shinichi's home, "I should've realized she has experience with a gun after living in the dangerous part of the U.K for some time." said Shinichi with a frown.

"You didn't learn your lesson, didn't you?" said an angry Agasa.

"Relax!" said Shinichi.

"You knew Ranran been living alone since her parents had their overseas job to deal with, and you imagine a little girl having to fend for herself in case there is some intruder...if I were her, I will throw you in prison for doing this sort of thing!" Scolded Agasa.

Shinichi went red and sighed, "I have trauma towards guns thanks to her," complained the little boy.

"You deserve it! You should have done your research before doing something so stupid all that girl needs to do is actually shoot you, then claim self-defence. And anyway....why instead of coming up to her doorstep to ask, you decided to break into her place like that?" said the middle-aged man with a frown.

For a while, the little boy chose not to justify what he did was justifiable. After all, he did break into her house without fact-checking that he was in the guilty party.

"Kudo!"

"Agasa, I prefer to talk about it and that is where it ends," said Shinichi as he just walked away, his eyes looking downcast as if he did something he shouldn't have.

For a moment, Agasa gave the little boy a long pause, before he said, "You screw things up with her, didn't you?"

"Yes..."Shinichi finally admitted to Agasa as he nodded in silence, "I truly....really....am disappointed when I found out she existed. I didn't think she even....beaten my expectations."

"Oh!?" said Agasa awkwardly.

Shinichi then frowned, "I just wonder why is she so......" he is at the moment, lost for words on what is even the right word to describe her. Vicious? Evil? He doesn't know what to think anymore after hearing her bitter laments.

"Why did you even break into her place in the first place!? It was so unlike you."Agasa asked.

"I...I just want to have her achieve the tantei dream fairly," said Shinichi, averting his gaze.

"Well, between a calculative Detective girl and a Taekwondo expert, you sure know how to pick them," said Agasa smiling.

Shinichi was now red."I don't like them like that."

"Tell that to your parents, because tonight the both of them wants to have a word about your behaviour."

"What!? Why the hell did you tell them!?" said Shinichi in a furious tone.

"It was a loud 'bang' when you went missing, I had no choice but to let your parents know about your welfare after all," Agasa responded as Shinichi widened his eyes in horror,"....within an hour after she fired the gun, the news has made it online already. It is a matter of time before your parents learn from the cops from you. Of course, they demanded more details about it, so I can't just go around and lie to them."

Damn that Kudo Ranran! Shinichi gritted his teeth, "I am not a pervert!" said Shinichi as he protested.

"Tell that to your parents. They ain't buying a word I said. Also, you should be thankful that you made it out alive, and that she was kind enough not to bring your identity to the press! I doubt you are even able to show your face if she did."

"I want to go home now"Right now, Shinichi is feeling tired, far too tired with all of this going on.

As he finally made it home, he realizes heading to an empty mansion is better than facing two of his angry parents.

And it wasn't long before Shinichi got a lecture from his parents about his inappropriate behaviour towards the female species in the living room in the Kudo residence. Even his paternal grandparents were not happy when they learn of this from Ranran through a phone call and made the effort to skip one of the parties they were in to scold the unfortunate boy.

Damn that girl, Shinichi thinks to himself as he was being scolded. He didn't think she would drag their grandparents into this."You don't even deserve that compassion of hers! She called us to check if you were alright after breaking into her house of all places!"Their grandfather told him off.

"I am sure it was just a freak accident." said his father who tried to defend his son's action.

He got three glaring eyes, his wife plus his parents, struck at him."I find it hard to believe." Kudo Yuusaku's mother disagreed.

"I also find it hard to believe, that you were not going to do anything to her since she is all alone in her house."Yukiko too was in disbelief.

Great, just great.

All of them were giving him the death glare, he was so in trouble. Even the stray Neko outside their house could feel the tension emitting from the large Kudo manor and soon jump away after a huge booming voice said otherwise, "It ain't as bad as it sounds-"

" SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH, KUDO SHINICHI!" screamed his mother.

Right now, he was more scared of his mother than he was scared of Ranran's cunning schemes. He sighed in defeat. But it just made his mother even angrier than ever.

And it made him look like an uncaring jerk.

Right now, Shinichi knows he has no choice but to face the music and accept his losses.