Chapter 1

The bright autumn sun shined over the entire sidewalk when 5 children walked this way to school. The morning was pretty cold at this time of year, so waves of colds were not uncommon in this region and yet, as usual, exactly these 5 children walked this way every day to return home the same way after an eventful lesson that may seem to be too boring for some to get through. All sorts of side conversations, such as how exciting the latest episode of their favorite action series they watched the day before was, or which footballer is said to have scored a great goal in the last match, or that a certain someone should stop talking about eel on rice all the time, are ordinary here. And as so often, there are also some disputes to discuss, like on this day.

"Oh come on, just this once."

"As I said, no means no and I won't let you sneak in on me as you often do, just so you can spend your time with her unnecessarily."

"Please Haibara, I can assure you that I will only use it in emergencies."

"Haibara this, Haibara that, when will it finally end, can you tell me?"

"T-That's just... because I want to go to Osaka with her soon."

"Why then?"

"It's just about one trip, okay? Nothing to worry about."

"Pah, with you I'm not so sure about the fact that you'll probably jump on the stage just like that, solve a case again as always and then suddenly appear somewhere on TV, like "The famous master detective is back!" and so forth. Like recently, if you understand what I mean." (See Manga Volume 96)

"Better leave that behind, okay? I've got enough to worry about so don't bring that back on the table. This is something completely different, and I spent a month preparing for it. I've been asking you about it all along and you still haven't given me your answer. How often do you think I should ask you about it?"

She sighed again. It is sometimes stressful to run back and forth with this guy day in and day out, only to be begged again by him for a few stupid pills. He won't change for the time being, so sooner or later someone should shut his mouth, that's for sure. He's been like this every day since last month, asking the same thing every time. He's got nerves, this detective.

"So, could I get my antidote now?"

"Not now, Kudo. We're on our way to school, don't forget that."

"Yes, I know that too. Still, at some point you have to give me a clear answer."

The boy who was walking next to her had a fair amount of audacity to keep bothering her at this time of day, now that she had just woken up recently. She started to wonder if nobody else is bothered, because besides her there are 3 other children walking next to them.

Before the boy wanted to reply any more, the comments came from the front as if they'd have been shot. This time the young girl speaks in front of him.

"Conan, leave Ai alone! It's enough that you keep talking to her secretly about something and excluding us, but this constant nagging has to stop at some point.", said the girl.

"Yeah, exactly, you do that every single day and I can't listen to it anymore," said the slim boy next to her.

"I have to say, Ayumi is right, you always talk about something and don't tell us about it. That's just totally unfair.", answered the bigger boy at last.

"Calm down Guys, I just-"

Conan paused, looked sideways and tsk'ed his tongue in annoyance. He just couldn't beat these three. Ai meanwhile couldn't help but smile and had the urge to laugh at the sheer persuasiveness of them. Finally she gave up and instead giggled to herself, which caught Conan's attention and he stared at her angrily, which only lasted for a moment, only to evaporate slowly. He wasn't angry with her, he couldn't. After all the adventures they had on their way, he longed for nothing else than to go to school with the Detective Boys, so he could enjoy the peace to the fullest, while he was still among them. There was no longer any room for anger or hatred in this regard. Instead he smiled.

"So guys, what have you planned for today?", he threw around.

"Think about it," replied the slim boy, "I think I'll continue working on my presentation today."

"Oh yes, Mitsuhiko came too late for class yesterday, that was probably the well-deserved punishment for it.", said the fat boy next to him and laughed loudly, so that some passer-bys turned around and stared at him like he was the last madman on this planet.

Conan couldn't go on either and laughed with him.

"That's not funny, Genta! I just realized too late that I forgot to pack my food!", Mitsuhiko called out to them to make up for the laughter.

Ayumi also had to giggle a bit.

"Man, like I don't have enough problems to take care of.", Mitsuhiko said and crossed his arms.

"I'm sorry, Mitsuhiko. It's just, I couldn't forget the sight of yesterday, standing there completely wet, like a homeless person.", Genta said and laughed way harder now that the sight of the previous day came back to his eyes. He stood there soaking wet, with a broken umbrella, after he showed up almost an hour too late and during class his clothes were literally hanging off his shoulders after the rain.

Now Ai couldn't contain herself either and giggled incessantly.

"Well, now leave poor Mitsuhiko alone. He's taken on himself enough already. You know what, next time I can help you with the presentation, so only if you want to, of course.", Ayumi replied and tried to comfort him, "and the other Detective Boys will help with your project too, right?"

She cast an expectant look around.

Genta, Conan and Ai replied in chord.

"Thank you guys, I'm really glad to have you as friends.", Mitsuhiko said and wiped the tears from his eyes.

"No problem, Mitsuhiko. That's why we're here for-"

Before Conan could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by a loud fit of sneezing that apparently came from Ayumi. One sneeze, then another sneeze, and then another. Three whole sneezes. And all three of them were clearly audible.

"Are you okay, Ayumi? You look somehow very pale.", Conan asked and handed her a handkerchief.

Genta and Mitsuhiko turned around and watched Ayumi as the cold seemed to be written on her forehead.

"Everything's fine," she sniffed, "I just haven't felt in good condition lately. Yesterday I had to get some errands for my mother and it suddenly started to rain."

She sniffed again before blowing her nose on the handkerchief. Her nose has turned into a gaudy mixture of red and pink and a tiny piece of snot was already hanging down. Conan found the sight somehow funny, but also disgusting, although he had to hold back so as not to offend her accidentally. Instead he ran to her and took a fresh handkerchief out of his pocket.

"Here let me do this," he said, blowing her nose with it, which surprised Ayumi, commenting on it with grunting noises and a muffled "Huh?" and "Hey, what's that for?"

Genta and Mitsuhiko were even more surprised than Ayumi, until they got angry too.

"Hey Conan, stop the nonsense!", the two shouted at the same time.

Finally Conan was finished and took the handkerchief, while he left behind a confused and at the same time embarrassingly surprised Ayumi, who immediately afterwards completely blushed to the color of her face turning more into one of a tomato.

"Never do that to her again, do you understand me, Conan?", both threatened him.

"What are you so upset about? Can't you both see that she has a cold?", Conan replied defensively.

"Still, doing such a thing...", Mitsuhiko said and crossed his arms again, while he looked angrily to the side.

"Pah, does what he wants with her. What are you thinking of?", Genta grumbled and stomped away.

"Oh, come on Genta, Conan only helped me.", Ayumi defended, but Genta and Mitsuhiko had already gone ahead.

She looked up, turned, and gave Conan a pouty look. Even without his detective acumen, he could see that she was embarrassed and that her face was wrapped in red until suddenly her expression changed from an angry expression to sheer shock and surprise. Then she gave away a short scream, stopped and stared at the road crossing in front of them.

"Ayumi?" Conan asked worriedly.

"No, it can't be. That can't be.", she muttered and startled, while she bent down, opened her school bag and looked for something. Then she paused and stared at the contents inside.

"Guys, I think I've forgotten something important!", she exclaimed after she closed her bag and put it back on.

"What?", Ai asked and looked back in surprise.

"My homework! I thought I packed it here.", Ayumi answered.

"Your homework?", repeated Conan.

"Yes, I think I have to run back home quickly and get her from there quickly!", she replied and made herself ready to run. "Run ahead, I will come after.", she added.

"I think you can still do it if you hurry up. It's not far until you get there!", Conan shouted to her, while she made her way back and waved to him. He and Ai waved her back, then turned around and continued on their way to the school.

"Does it just seem like that to me, or has she been forgetting her things more and more frequently recently?", Ai asked with a thoughtful expression on her face as she looked after Ayumi, who had covered a considerable distance at this time and had already turned into the next side street and thus could no longer be seen.

"If you say so, yes, I think there is something to it. But I don't know what has been driving her lately. As if her thoughts were somewhere else completely.", Conan answered. "But I can only hope for her, that she makes it to class in time.", he added with a smile at her.

Ai looked at him with a slightly annoyed expression, then waved her gaze up to the sky. He's always like that. Like this and not otherwise. Nothing will change. And that's why he's so damn annoying sometimes. But why is he always in her...?

Ai looked at Conan for a moment, opened her mouth wanting to say something to him, but then she discarded it at the last moment and just shook her head instead to get to other thoughts. He has already given and taken from her enough and vice versa. Still, it felt like something was missing. She just didn't know what it was.

After everything they had experienced together and learned about the Black Organization, no matter what dire situation they've found themselves in, be it the incident with Pisco, in which she almost died and would've ended miserably as a corpse, their first encounter with Vermouth, who could have ended fatally for her or for anyone else, or in the case where the entire bus and its occupants were taken hostage, he always laughed at her in the end. Just why…?

Ai shook her head again and looked at the road they will soon have to cross next. She needed a different focus point to focus on something else. Now is not the time for unnecessary thoughts. She already has better things to do than that.

And with that she finished her train of thought.

- Chapter 1 END -

Editors Note: Thank you for reading this first Chapter of my future Project of my all-time favorite Anime Series „Case Closed" or „Detective Conan" (call it how you want idc). I will try my best to add as much realism into the story, so it actually feels like you're watching another fine Episode of Detective Conan. This is my very first ever made FanFiction and I'm honestly pretty nervous on releasing this one, so I'd be glad if you could let me know, how you liked this Story so far (I know, it's not much but this is the only good way I could end this Chapter with), but the Story get much better than that believe me. What will happen to Ayumi when she arrives at home? How will Conan and Ai have to deal with the consequences? This and more will be told in the next upcoming Chapter. I won't release this first chapter yet, since it's just a… let's say, you could see it as a Pilot Episode of a series that will come out soon.

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN THE ORIGINAL SERIES, I'M JUST WRITING THE STORY IN MY OWN WAY!

Regarding the CoXAi Ship, I am fully supporting that one and I'm a HUGE fan of it, BUT I have to let Conan do his own decisions, since canonically he is bound to choose his childhood friend Ran Mori, so this will be one HELL of a challenge to find a way fix it, so the viewers won't hate on him for not choosing her at the End. I have planned to make one True Ending, in which he chooses Ran, which fits to him much more as a character (if you consider the actual plot of the Original Series) to be honest and makes him to someone he truly is, not some made up shitty version of him, and one Ai Haibara ending in which he rejects Ran and of course ends up with choosing Ai instead. It's that simple.

Last but not least, I will add a few cases as well, so you guys can watch me suffer, while I'm thinking about new cases to let Conan and or the Detective Boys (you can count on Kogoro Mori as well, because YES) solve and let the culprit get his „well-deserved punishment" as Genta already said. XD

And with that, see you in the next Chapter! Thanks again for reading. :D