Mission Improbable.

[dynamic-brat.livejournal.com]

This particular Shinichi prides himself on stealth. Discreet appearances and exits, undetectable surveillance, shadowing -- there is little about stalking he doesn't know (note: this isn't necessarily a good thing). There's just one thing.

He's not Shinichi any more.

The lack of height is in many ways a plus. Who is going to suspect a seven-year-old of following them? That's if he can avoid truant officers of course. The rest of it, however--

It needs work. And that is precisely what Conan is doing.

It's night. You might be in the library when you hear a strange noise. Have the feeling you're being watched in the kitchen. See something shift just on the edge of your vision as you make your way down the corridors to bed.

Whatever you're doing, you're not alone.

Comments

[dynamic-brat.livejournal.com]

"Yeah. It's weird. I don't think I've seen any animals here or anything ... well that didn't turn out to be someone I knew." Conan carefully scoops up the beetle. "Do you think it looks like anyone?"

[azureskiesmagic.livejournal.com]

Looks like-- Aoko raised an eyebrow at Conan, and although she peered closely at the beetle to indulge him, she didn't say actually look for any similarities to friends she knew. "Why would the beetle look familiar?"

[dynamic-brat.livejournal.com]

"Because everyone who comes here is one of a small group of inter-connected people, right? So it stands to reason ..." Conan frowns at the beetle. "... Kaito?"

[azureskiesmagic.livejournal.com]

"Kaito?!" There was no masking the shock in her voice. "That can't be Kaito! Can it?

[dynamic-brat.livejournal.com]

"It would make sense. It's a black beetle -- Kuroba-kun, see?" Conan beamed, gently cupping his hands around the bug. "Let's find him a house."

[azureskiesmagic.livejournal.com]

There was more blinking on Aoko's part. The beetle didn't look like Kaito at all-- and she couldn't help but wonder if Conan was just making this up as he went.

"I don't think the beetle is really Kaito," she said, "But you can still name him Kuroba-kun."

[dynamic-brat.livejournal.com]

"Do you know he's not Kaito?" Conan asked. "Either way, we'd better make sure he's protected. Let's go to the kitchen."

[azureskiesmagic.livejournal.com]

"He doesn't have Kaito's spiky hair," Aoko pointed out. Nevertheless, she waved her free hand (that wasn't holding her milk) and ushered Conan toward the kitchen.

[dynamic-brat.livejournal.com]

Conan squinted at the bug. "I don't think he has any hair," he said thoughtfully. "... Megure-keibu?"

The beetle did not seem interested, and Conan carefully followed Aoko to the kitchen.

[azureskiesmagic.livejournal.com]

Aoko giggled a bit (though she didn't know Inspector Megure well from experience, she had seen him at a heist or two before).

"Maybe it's just a beetle."

[dynamic-brat.livejournal.com]

"Maybe. How do you communicate with a bug?" Conan paused at the kitchen door hoping that Aoko would open it for him.

[azureskiesmagic.livejournal.com]

"I'm not sure," Aoko admitted, and she pushed the kitchen door open for Conan to wander through. "I don't think you can."

[dynamic-brat.livejournal.com]

"Speaking of bugs," Conan said, making his way into the kitchen to carefully deposit the beetle on the kitchen table. "What'd you do with mine?"

[azureskiesmagic.livejournal.com]

Aoko lifted an eyebrow at Conan as she followed him into the kitchen, taking a seat at the table so she could watch the beetle carefully. There was no point in denying her discovery of the bug, since he clearly knew she had found it. "That was you>?" she asked, feigning a bit of surprise as she did so (though in reality, she had thought it was him all along, due to both the placing of the bug and the timing.

"I threw it away," she said, "You shouldn't go around bugging people, you know."

[dynamic-brat.livejournal.com]

"I don't see why not," Conan said, opening the fridge thoughtfully. "Do you know what beetles eat?"

[azureskiesmagic.livejournal.com]

"It's an invasion of privacy, for one," she pointed out in an almost deadpan (though she couldn't really talk-- she had bugged places for heists before). "And don't they eat things like leaves and plants?"

[dynamic-brat.livejournal.com]

"Like lettuce? There's lettuce in the fridge." Without waiting for an answer Conan pulled off a leaf of lettuce and brought it back to the bug. "Being a beetle would suck," he said thoughtfully.

[azureskiesmagic.livejournal.com]

"Lettuce might work," Aoko said thoughtfully as she watched the boy put a leaf on the table for the beetle. She sipped at her milk and frowned. "It would," she admitted, "But maybe we're just too used to being human."

[dynamic-brat.livejournal.com]

"People do tend to get very set in their comfort zones," Conan agreed. "And generally speaking, they're not very flexible. I wouldn't mind being a beetle for a short time but I still don't think it would be fun in the long term."

[azureskiesmagic.livejournal.com]

"I don't think it would be, either," she leaned in to peer at the beetle again.

[dynamic-brat.livejournal.com]

"... do you think beetles like coffee?"

[azureskiesmagic.livejournal.com]

"... no, I don't think beetles like coffee."

Children said the strangest things...

[dynamic-brat.livejournal.com]

"Then we should be able to work out if he's anyone we know very easily. Can you reach the coffee beans?"

[azureskiesmagic.livejournal.com]

Aoko rested her chin in her hands and gave Conan a disbelieving look. "Do you really think that would work?"

[dynamic-brat.livejournal.com]

"Real beetles don't like coffee. Almost everyone I know who might be a beetle does. So if we give it a coffee bean and it goes over to it, we'll know that the probability that it is a transformed person is increased," Conan said immediately, jumping up to try and reach the coffee beans.