Today was the day. 

For the first time in her life, Furuya Reiko was about to go camping with her friends. Right now, she was sharing the front passenger seat with Conan as there was no room left in the back. Was it safe to have two people in the front passenger seat? No, probably not, but safety had never stopped them from cramming four kids into the back seat. 

Reiko wasn't really talking all that much, instead opting to listen. Ayumi, Genta, and Mitsuhiko definitely talked enough for all six of them. At the present moment, the three of them were singing while Conan was leaning over to whisper to Agasa-hakase. Reiko couldn't help the smirk that started to appear as she noticed Conan glancing in her direction as if he was making sure that she couldn't hear them. Luckily for him, though, the only thing she managed to catch was something about a robot. And if Reiko was being honest, she wasn't sure she even wanted to know what that was about.

Other than the slight rambunctiousness of three of the kids, the ride there actually went quite smoothly, and they soon arrived at the campsite. Now, Reiko had gone camping many times, mainly with her mother or with one of her cousins and their friends. However, she couldn't help but bounce on the balls of her feet in excitement as she was finally able to jump out of the professor's yellow Beetle. After all, this was the first time she was going camping with her own friends.

Reiko paused, though, when she came to a realization. 

If Conan was really Shinichi, and he was friends with the Detective Boys, would that mean that she was just once again stuck going camping with her cousin and his friends? Her face scrunched up in confusion as she thought about the situation. 

'I mean…' Reiko thought as she put her hand up to her chin in thought. 'Technically they're my friends, too… and Shinichi-nii won't be the same age as us forever… probably.'

"Are you okay, Furuya-chan?" Reiko snapped out of her thoughts as Ayumi waved a hand in front of her face. 

"Ah, I'm fine, " Reiko reassured the girl. "Just lost in thought. Sorry about that." She paused before adding one more thing. "Also, you can just call me Reiko, if you'd like."

"Reiko-chan then!" Ayumi grinned out of excitement.

"Then…!" Genta started, a look of excitement and expectation in his eyes. 

"C-Can we also call you Reiko-chan?!" Mitsuhiko asked with the same expression as Genta.

"Sure!"

Conan and Haibara just stood in the background, amused at their excitement. 

*****

It took them a little while, but they managed to finally set up part of the campsite including the tent. 

"Me and Ai-chan will start the fire while Reiko-chan starts preparing for lunch," Agasa started, looking at the kids. "So do you think you guys can go and get some sticks from nearby for here?"

"Yes!"

And so they went to go collect the firewood with a decent amount of gusto. Well… Conan didn't seem all that interested. Then again, the only things that ever seemed to excite him are mysteries, Sherlock Holmes, and Ran. Plus, having to keep watch of a group of kids wasn't exactly his idea of fun. And, of course, the trip only worsened when they happened to stumble across a certain limestone cave. 

Meanwhile, with the professor, Haibara, and Reiko, they had managed to get the fire set up as well as the table on which they laid out a pot and some of the food which Haibara and Reiko were currently cutting and peeling. The two girls had yet to really talk to each other except for a few quiet greetings, so the air around them was a bit tense. Well… a good portion of the tension came from Haibara. 

Haibara Ai, otherwise known as Miyano Shiho, still wasn't sure what to make of the young, blonde girl. From what she had heard from Kudo and Agasa, Furuya Reiko had spent a majority of her life being raised around adults and apparently had little knowledge on how to interact with those her own age. Even without that knowledge being given to her, she would have likely been able to figure it out easily enough. 

Reiko was, by far, the most adult-like child she had ever met. If she didn't know any better, she probably would have assumed that she had shrunken as well. Unfortunately, she did know better, so it just ended up making it all the more unnerving whenever she noticed Reiko staring at her and Kudo like she knew all the answers to the universe. Kudo had already mentioned that there was a chance that she would see through them with ease, but waiting to see if the girl truly knew was starting to stress her out. It was like waiting for her own execution and not knowing when it was actually going to happen. While she still had a hope that the girl didn't know, it wasn't much.

That little bit of hope disappeared completely when Reiko decided to finally speak up. 

"Do you mind if I ask how you and Shinichi-nii shrunk?" If Haibara had been drinking something, she surely would have done a spit take. Even then, she still froze at the abrupt question, not entirely sure how they had managed to go from a tense silence to this. 

The question had come out of seemingly nowhere, but Reiko had been thinking the entire time they had been preparing lunch. Originally, she had been planning on just observing the pair of shrunken teenagers, but that had proven boring and did not yield the best of results. The two were obviously on guard around her, so it was doubtful that she'd overhear anything useful so long as they suspected that she knew something. 

And so she decided to speak exactly what was on her mind.

Trying to get over her shock, Haibara cleared her throat and did her best to send the child a questioning gaze. "What do you mean, Furuya-san?"

Reiko just stared, knowing that the other girl was trying to play the innocent card. At this point, both of them had stopped preparing the food and were just staring at each other; Reiko blankly and Haibara warily. Luckily, Agasa was off grabbing something from the car, so there was nobody to witness this strange conversation and stare off.

"You don't have to answer," Reiko finally spoke up quietly, turning away from Haibara and putting her attention back on the food. "I was just asking out of curiosity."

And with that, Reiko dropped the conversation. It was true. She was extremely curious, but if Haibara didn't feel like speaking about it, then she would respect that. Besides, she'd probably end up figuring it out one way or another anyways. For now, though, she didn't want to make a potential friend any more uncomfortable than her first question already had. 

While Reiko had gone back to her work, Haibara continued staring at the younger girl. She was having a hard time believing that she'd drop the topic just like that. She could tell that the girl truly was curious despite her neutral tone whilst speaking. And yet, she dropped it just because Haibara tried to avoid the conversation. She doubted that many others, at least out of the people she knew (damn detectives), would ever have the courtesy to do such a thing.

Haibara would never admit it out loud, but Reiko had somehow managed to earn her respect. 

At least a little bit. 

"...APTX 4869," Haibara started abruptly causing the other girl to pause and glance over to her direction in slight surprise. While Haibara was still a bit wary of Kudo's mysterious cousin, she had to admit that she had no doubts that this girl would keep any secret entrusted with her to the grave. It was honestly strange how easily she decided to trust her after only a few sentences being shared between the two. "It's an experimental drug that I helped invent and manufacture."

Haibara left it at that. She didn't mention the organization, though. It was one thing to let her know what it was that shrunk them. It was another to let her know about a dangerous organization that could possibly kill her if they knew that she knew about them. 

"I see " Reiko's brows furrowed in thought. There was something that sounded very familiar about the name of that drug, but it was taking her some time to remember why. When she finally did remember, however, her eyes widened a bit in surprise as a frown slowly started to form on her face. "Forgive me if I'm wrong, but isn't that a drug that a certain murder of crows currently believe to be a lethal poison still in the experimental phase?"

"How-?!" Haibara's face had donned an expression of panic. There should be no reason for this child to know anything about the organization, so why? Why and how did she know about them?

The tension that had mostly left her returned with a raging force. 

"We keep an eye on anything that may be deemed a potential threat," Haibara wondered silently who the other part of 'we' was. "The crows were near the top of that list."

"How did you find out about them in the first place?" The organization was known, or wasn't known, for disposing of anybody who knows about them or might get in the way. It was strange that they hadn't found out about her or whoever else the girl had been referring to. 

Reiko paused in thought, trying to think of a way to answer honestly but not reveal anything. "Well…" She started. "I suppose the easiest way to explain is that we have both friends and foes in the organization."

"What do you-" Haibara cut herself off as Agasa walked back to where they were with a bit of concern on his face. 

"It's getting late," he noted. "Where could the others be?"

"Maybe they went on an adventure in the forest again? It wouldn't be the first time," Haibara shrugged, her mind still on her conversation with Reiko. "Why don't you come and help us with the food?"

While she wanted to continue questioning Reiko, she couldn't deny that it would probably be better to wait until Kudo was there as well so there wouldn’t be multiple explanations of the same thing. That would just prove to be a waste of time. 

"Ah, alright."

****

Soon enough, the sun had started to go down, and the children still had yet to return to the campsite. 

"Are you sure you haven't heard from them?" Haibara asked. Normally, she wouldn't be too concerned since Kudo was with them, but they would normally have checked in by now if everything was okay.

"Uh, yes…" Agasa was getting worried as he checked the time. 

"Shall we go look for them then?" Reiko suggested. 

"That'd probably be for the best."

And so they went into the forest to start their search. As they walked, Agasa shouted, trying to see if the kids would hear him while Haibara and Reiko searched for clues in their surroundings. They had been searching for a while until they finally found something. 

"Looks like there's four piles of wood," Haibara noted. 

"And one limestone cave…" Reiko let out a deep sigh along with the other two as they stood outside the entrance to the cave the four Detective Boys had previously entered. They had no doubt that they had gone in there to explore. "On the brightside, we know where they are."

"On the downside," Haibara continued with a slightly annoyed expression. "We have to go into the cave to actually find them."

"Well," Agasa chuckled a bit nervously at Haibara's expression. "We should probably start looking."

"Mhm," Reiko nodded, already making her way into the cave, not bothering to wait for the other two as she took note of all her surroundings as she wanted to make sure she didn't get lost on their way back.

The two followed her in, taking in everything around them as well. 

"Aren't these Shinichi-nii's glasses?" Reiko spoke up as they got a little further into the cave and was now crouching in front of a pair of glasses that were indeed Shinichi's. Of course, she had forgotten that Agasa had not, in fact, been around when her and Haibara had been conversing earlier. 

So, it was safe to say that Agasa panicked. 

The older man sputtered as he tried to come up with excuses, greatly amusing the two girls as they tried to hide their smirks. 

"She already knows," Haibara finally ended up saving him from his misery after a few more poor excuses before heading over to Reiko and the pair of glasses that were sitting on the floor of the cave.

"E-eh?!"

"These are definitely Kudo's" Haibara confirmed, lifting up the glasses and wondering why he would have left them there. Agasa was still looking between the two with a confused and shocked expression. He could have sworn that Reiko didn't know earlier that day. 

"At least that confirms that they were here," Reiko stated before something caught her eye. "Hmm, what's this?"

It was a small, circular, button-like thing that definitely didn't belong, but it was also something that you wouldn't notice it unless you were looking for it. Or, at least, looking around closely. 

"That's one of Shinichi's transmitters!" Agasa exclaimed, finally getting over his shock. Reiko tilted her head slightly at his words. She had yet to be told about this particular invention. 

"It looks like they're all over the place," noted Reiko as she caught sight of a few others not that far from the first one.

"Don't touch them," Haibara warned, already having turned on and put on the glasses. "It looks like they're building some kind of picture." As she changed the scale of the area, she finally managed to see the intended message with her eyes widening as she did so. 

"110," Haibara jumped at the sound of Reiko right behind her, and, apparently, she had seen what was on the glasses. "It would appear they've gotten themselves caught up in trouble once more."

As she spoke, the young girl had already pulled out her phone and was dialing the number, holding the device up to her ear. 

"Ah, hello, Megure-keibu."

***

As it turns out, the four kids had encountered a group of robbers who were trying to hide some dead guy that had been shot in the head. Unfortunately, the robbers had shot at them, managing to hit Conan. The said boy was now on his way to the hospital after the police, who Reiko had called, came and arrested the guilty party at the other entrance to the cave which the people from a nearby village had told them about. 

And so now, they were all at Beika Hospital where they were rushing to get Conan into operation.

"Eh? Operation?!" Of course, as always, Mouri Kogoro appeared to be out of the loop as he arrived with his daughter who was already at Conan's side. "I thought he only got a few scratches!"

"Eh… no…" Agasa started awkwardly. "That was…"

"He got shot by a gun," Haibara explained. "The wound was near the kidney, so he bled a lot. It might end up damaging the kidney."

"He's in a very dangerous position right now…" Reiko frowned in concern for her cousin. 

"Reiko! And… that kid…" Kogoro paused while looking down at Haibara, a bit confused on who she was. 

"Ah…" Agasa started explaining. "She's the kid who lives with me. Her name's Haibara. Haibara Ai."

Not giving Kogoro any chance to say anymore, they were interrupted by Ran yelling worriedly for Conan to wake up as he moved along on a gurney. It was also the very same moment that a nurse came in to inform the doctor in panic that the type of blood Conan has was running out. 

"Let me give him some of my blood!" Ran requested firmly. "My blood type and his are the same!"

Everybody's eyes snapped to her; some in confusion and some in suspicion.

"Why…?" Kogoro was the one to express everybody's confusion at Ran's words. "Ran what…?"

"Please test my blood to see if he can use it," Ran continued, ignoring her father's questioning stare.

"Yes! Please come this way!"

The rest of them could only watch as Ran was led away.

******

2788 words excluding A/N's

Finished - 11:15 pm on April 19, 2021

Bye~