A/N: Wow, it's been ages since I've updated anything here, hasn't it? I don't remember if I've mentioned it before but I'm not posting any new stuff here on FFN anymore. I primarily work at AO3. I'll still continue updating already existing works... sporadically as usual.

Anyhow, I hope you like this chapter. I've been wanting to write this ever since I wrote chapter 13. I hope you enjoy!

The sixth file: Conan Arc
Subfile three: Night Baron

Shugo scanned at the email he'd received. There'd only been a minimal chance when he'd decided to participate to the sixth Izu Mystery Tour organized. But luck had been on his side and thus head been marked down as the eleventh (technically tenth since kids didn't count according to the email) participant to be invited to solve the mystery behind Night Baron.

"Yamato, I won a ticket!" Shugo called to the other man.

"Great! Have a good weekend!" Yamato called back. "I'll be meeting with Saya-san!"

And that was that.

The decision to participate on the raffle was not made lightly though. Shugo was very aware of the murder that would happen and the fact that he'd be exposed to the murderer's aura before and after the fact. But meeting Ran and Conan/Shinichi again would be worth it. Last time he'd seen Conan was through camera lens. Last time he'd talked to Shinichi was at Ran's karate tournament. It had been months from both. And given that they lived approximately on the same area, it'd be better to meet them sooner rather than later… Even if this particular meeting was quite far away from their usual haunts.

Besides, staying at a luxury hotel would be quite nice, especially with half of the room already paid.

Shugo was done with the check-in and paying the remaining half of his fee and decided to settle down on one of the plushy chairs in the reception lobby… to stake out the participants. He was early and thus it gave him the opportunity to watch how the introductions would play out. Like how Konno Shirou was ambushing other participants one by one and asking them all the same question: "You're Night Baron-sama, correct?" And then recording the time it took to respond the query.

One by one, all the participants migrated towards the area. Finally, only five people were missing. The protagonists and the karate master and his fiancée, the murderess.

And they did, accompanied by confusion, ignorance and chaos. From Kogorou having no idea that hotel fee was only half-paid, to Ebara Tokio groping Ran and Maeda Satoru interfering…

"That's odd, I thought your group was supposed to be two professors and a little girl…" Kamijou Hideko asked Ran.

"They couldn't come, so we're here in their place!" Ran replied. "And that was my father earlier. He's not a professor, just a detective."

"A detective?!" Came the shocked exclamation from majority of the participants.

"H-Hai… Mouri Kogorou…"

"Mouri Kogorou?!" Konno gasped.

"I read about him in the newspaper." Sayama Akiko whispered to her fiancé.

"Yeah, he's famous." Maeda agreed.

"Hmph, dirty bastard! Sending a detective instead…" Ebara muttered.

"Oh well, at least we can narrow down the suspect list…" Kamijou smiled.

"But with Mouri Kogorou, it meas one must be ever more vigilant not to let it slip." Kaneshiro Genichirou remarked.

"Even taking into account the detective's presence, one participant is still missing." Konno pointed out. "Data is insufficient…"

"Yes… There was eleventh person added to this tour since a child was taking up one ticket." Kamijou agreed.

"Ah…" Time to speak up. "I suppose you mean me." Shugo got on his feet and lifted the pageboy cap he'd used to obscure his face. And with all the manners he used whenever needed to impersonate Kid, he gave a deep bow, his hand holding the cap leading his arm across his chest. "Midorikawa Shugo, participant number eleven. Nice to meetcha. Let's have an exciting weekend."

"Shugo-kun?" Ran gasped and rushed forward to greet the young man properly, heedless of the other participants of the trip being instantly on guard due his sudden appearance.

"Ran-chan, long time no see." Shugo laughed and held his arms open to embrace his long-time friend. Deliberately taking a moment to spot Conan who'd followed the girl, Shugo then turned his attention on the boy. "Ah, who's this? I didn't think Mouri-tantei was the adopting type. Kisaki-sensei maybe if she wasn't so busy…"

"This is Conan-kun. He's been living with us for a while." Ran introduced the boy.

"Hajimemashite!" Shugo smiled at the shrunken form of his friend. "My name is Midorikawa Shugo. I'm Ran-chan's friend from school." Accurate enough and Conan could fill in the blanks himself.

"Hajimemashite, Shugo-niichan!" Conan chirped back but when shot a glower at the teen when he thought Shugo was back to conversing with Ran and seemingly ignoring the boy. Shugo was just amused.

"Given what Kamijou-san said, I'm guessing that Agasa-hakase was the one to originally win the tickets?"

"That's right. He and a colleague of his were meant to come but after the colleague's daughter fell ill, they gave the tickets to us." Ran explained.

"I see." Shugo nodded. "I surmised as much. My own participation is because of the child as well. The standard number of attendants is ten but with a child included to the count, the organizer added one more participant. In this case, me."

"How lucky!" She clapped her hands together.

"Of all people, you're the lucky one, Ran-chan." Shugo smiled easily. "Say… Sonoko-san said something about Shin-chan going missing…?"

"He has some difficult case he got mixed up in…" The karate champion huffed. "That detective-otaku…"

"Mixed in indeed." Shugo thought with wry amusement. "I'm sure he's fine. Shin-chan is very stubborn when it comes to his cases and if he can't immediately brag about them, he instead clams up."

"Very true!" Ran laughed while Conan glared from behind her legs. So subtle.

"And congratulations on your father's success. He is the new rising star given all the headlines he garners."

"Thank you. It's been…" Ran glanced around briefly before lowering her voice. "It's been a relief to be honest. He still acts much the same but he seems to have sobered up on the crime scenes at least… Even if his first deductions are quite hasty." She added ruefully.

What Ran didn't say that the financial help that successful cases brought, was helping to ease her stress and making feeding an extra mouth easier and managing the household less strenuous. Eri might've paid for Ran's schooling, being a successful lawyer and all but the rest… Kogorou had been (and probably still was to a degree) deeply depressed and poured money on alcohol and gambling. The success might go to his head slightly but the bragging was mostly bravado. Kogorou had some self-awareness after all and acknowledged that he was not conscious for the case solving and… the school-reunion murder had not happened yet, had it? Shugo would need to keep an eye on things and if necessary, have Yamato help the man.

"Ran-neechan, can we go see our room?" Conan whined then, tugging Ran's hand. Ah, apparently, he didn't appreciate Shugo disparaging him and praising Kogorou's success.

"Ah, sure. See you later, Shugo-kun."

"See you, Ran-chan, Conan-kun." Shugo nodded and watched them go.

In the safety of his room, Shugo opened up his laptop. There wasn't much he needed or could do though. There weren't many security cameras in the building to be hacked and only computer in residence that he was aware of belonged to Konno… And Shugo really wasn't interested in the man's personal data.

Instead, Shugo decided to do some extra research on the other participants, the public knowledge of Night Baron as well as what was circulated in among computer experts. Additionally, he also took a peek at WorkShop, the program created by Akiko's brother, stolen and hacked by Ebara, and then sold to Kamijou. It was the corner stone and catalyst of this whole situation after all.

There were no true secrets there. Akiko's brother's suicide had made it to news, WorkShop was mentioned and described on experts chats and articles before fading out. Night Baron was mostly whispered about in fervor and intrigue and skepticism. It was actually quite amusing to read and follow the breadcrumbs leading from one conversation to another. Rumors and actual provable events. Corporations and other programs hacked and their data scrambled. Some of the things other people had done with Night Baron were quite ingenious while others were simply deplorable either in purpose or the way Shugo's original creation had been cannibalized. Those people Shugo took a careful note of to be dealt with later.

Night Baron was Shugo's creation. He would not allow it to be used just for anything. Frankly it was ironic how Organization was probably the only entity that used it for the original purpose.

"Hmm… Maybe I should go and see if Ebara has some floppy disks or computer with him."

It was ridiculously easy to bump into Ebara on the lobby and snatch his keycard. The man was keeping it in his back pocket. Honestly, that's the last place to stow anything.

Shugo made a beeline back to the elevator and a made his way to the 21st floor. The good thing about their respective room numbers was that, Ebara's room was directly above Shugo's own and thus the route from the elevator was identical, saving Shugo time looking for the room.

He went in, pulled on gloves and began systemically to go through the man's belongings. Suitcase, wardrobe, satchel, drawers… Shugo did find computer which he liberated from the room. It wasn't like the man would need it after this night. Moreover, Akiko wouldn't be bothered to go through Ebara's stuff, she'd only use the keycard to stage the accident. Revenge was all she needed, not information.

Shugo exited the room and used the staircase to move three floors down and stash the computer to his own room. If he made sure to establish a solid alibi for the rest of the night, the police would have no need to go through his belongings.

Mission accomplished, time to have some dinner.

As part of the tour program, all the participants convened at the outdoor restaurant at the front of the hotel. It was full of other hotel guests but there were still some free tables that the tour participants took advantage of. When Shugo arrived to the place, most of the people were already present. Ebara was way into his drinks… as was Kogorou to be honest. But at least Kogorou wasn't eyeing underage girls.

Shugo meandered through the plaza, discreetly eyeing at the pergola and sunshades for cameras… there were none. Tut tut… so lax… so old-fashioned. No wonder Akiko got through with her murder and Maeda could steal the Night Baron costume from the police. Shugo walked behind Ebara and slipped his keycard to his backpocket. Not like Akiko knew where the man had original kept it.

The young hacker picked a place to sit and was soon joined by Kamijou, politely requesting to share a table.

"Konbanwa, Midorikawa-kun." The woman smiled, taking a seat.

"Konbanwa, Kamijou-han." Shugo smirked back, deliberately slipping into Kansai-ben. His accent was nowhere near as thick as Hoshi's but the years in Osaka had affected it enough. And he hoped it would be enough to entice the woman's curiosity.

Hook…

"I was under the impression that you were from Tokyo like Mouri-tantei's entourage." The woman leant her elbows against the table. Shugo gave a cursory glance at the cleavage she was pushing on display before politely looking back into her face.

"My mother is from Kyoto and I spent my middle school years in Osaka." Shugo explained.

Line…

"Truly? Was is a culture shock to come to Tokyo then? I've heard some people find the… disparities in vocabulary occasionally challenging…."

"A bit yes. But compared to the typical hot-headed proud Osakan whom I had as my best friend back then, the temperamental calmness is nice… Though the streets could be less crowded in downtown."

And sinker…

What followed was quite amiable conversation, full of probing but subtle questions. They both circled and danced around relevant topics and threw guesses on the motivations of the other guests. It was clear that Mouri entourage was non-relevant to the underlying plot of the Mystery Tour but all the rest were free to speculate on. Was Kaneshiro truly blind? Did his assistant have some motives to be here aside from the obvious? Why had Konno named his laptop after his mother? Was it actually a code for something else? Were Akiko and Satoru mere literary enthusiasts?

"The only other person I can rule out as the organizer, is Ebara Tokio." Kamijou huffed out after their jesting speculation.

"How so?" Shugo sipped from his drink. Semi-sweet cider, not too high percentage in alcohol. Got to keep clear head because of tonight's events but nothing said Shugo couldn't enjoy himself as well. Besides… he had much better tolerance than Hoshi had.

The woman gave a sardonic smile and flipped her hair over her shoulder.

"My ex-husband." She explained. "A hacker and truly disgraceful man. He wouldn't have the tenacity or brains to come up with this concept and go through with it successfully for six times already. Not to mention he is selfish enough not to tangle such potential bait in front of others, and greedy enough not to put money into paying half of the hotel rooms of ten people…" She glanced at him. "Or more."

"I see… That's very insightful." Shugo nodded. "And it's quite interesting that Mouri-san's group are the only ones to come here completely blind. Even Maeda-san and Sayama-san came because they are fans of the book series."

"Quite true." Kamijou chuckled and then they turned to watch Conan walk from table to table, talking with Kaneshiro, irritating Konno and then getting Ebara's tie… until being accosted by Ran and dragged away.

"Ah, maybe we should retire as well. Not much people-watching to do if all the relevant people are gone." Shugo mused, writing a string of code onto a paper napkin and giving it to Kamijou. "Here, I think you'll find it useful."

"What is this?"

"First half of a gift… And sort of apology as well. Not that I regret being a bored fourteen-year-old on hot summer's day." Shugo replied with crooked smile and got up from the table.

"I… see." The woman eyed him speculatively behind her tinted glasses.

"Not yet, you don't." The teen replied and departed with an absent wave of his hand. Kamijou herself got up and made a beeline towards Kogorou, hips swaying.

Shugo set himself up in the hotel lobby once again, in full view of everyone but his back against a wall so no one could sneak up on him and spy on his doings. This was his only chance of doing things before the police arrived and he needed the alibi. Ebara was already with Akiko and the rest participants were in the wind.

On his knees, he had Ebara's computer into which he'd hacked his way in. There was a copy of WorkShop in there, pried and flayed open by cannibalized Night Baron. Shugo wrinkled his nose in disgust and got into working on the second half of his apology gift to Kamijou. And thus he slowly got to work on knitting the program back together, reversing the damage and with some intelligent guesswork patching up the missing pieces of code. As well as writing a restricted access that only the piece of code he gave to the woman earlier, could lift.

He kept at it all the way until a scream from the pavilion pierced the air. It was sudden. And while expected, Shugo had been so immersed with his work that it startled him and had him jump. He looked around to see people rushing outside to see what had happened. Shugo considered his options. He could go out there but there was nothing he could do about it. The murder would be solved anyways and the only thing he needed to do was make sure he wasn't even suspected. Considering he had an alibi for the last – Shugo glanced at his watch – hour or so, it should be enough. But in any case, he'd need to get this computer back to his room.

Decision made, Shugo got on his feet and headed for the elevators.

There was some problem with the elevators so Shugo could only get up to the 17th floor and had to then take the stairs to the next floor. In the stairway, he came across Akiko who was coming down from her own floor, dressed now in t-shirt and shorts instead of the fancy dress she'd worn for dinner.

"Sayama-san, I wouldn't recommend going down. There is some commotion going on in the plaza and thus quite crowded." Shugo said as they both stepped to regard each other, Shugo halfway up the current flight of stairs and Akiko standing on top of them, on the midway landing between the floors.

"Truly?" The young woman tilted her head. "How curious. I wonder what happened."

Akiko's aura… was settled. She wasn't sparking in anger anymore but simmered in satisfaction for getting vengeance. It was thick and had suffocating quality to it due lack of guilt but it was also well-contained thanks to the long game she'd played in order to ensnare Ebara.

All in all, while Shugo was very aware of it, it wasn't reaching out to bother him.

"Yes… Bit of a mystery." Shugo resumed climbing the stairs. As he neared the woman, he could sense the aura clearer. It was unpleasant and Shugo had to make sure he wasn't accidentally holding his breath. That'd raise some questions.

"That computer… is not the same from before." Akiko stated as Shugo came to a stop at the landing but remaining facing the opposite direction that her.

"No. I have several for different purposes. I get bored very easily so I took some work with me."

"Oh, I thought you were a high schooler. Ran-chan certainly spoke of you as her peer."

Shugo gave an affirmative hum as he considered his options of what to reveal to her. "I'm actually older than her by a year but we went to first grade together. I work as freelance technological consultant and repair man when I have the time."

"And yet you came on this mystery tour? Wasn't high school supposed to be busy time?" She enquired. Shugo smirked.

"I got my interest piqued by the theme… Not to mention it gave me the excuse to look into the havoc my creation causes in the world."

"Your… creation?" Akiko turned slowly to face him; Shugo just looked at her from the corner of his eye.

"I was very bored middle-schooler four years ago." He shrugged. "And no matter how people alter what they downloaded from the web, there is still a string of code in the core of it, that allows me to track the copies down. So I've been… sabotaging some more disgraceful opportunists."

Akiko was standing rigidly as she put the pieces together, her hand raising towards Shugo's shoulder… closer and closer, as if to push him down the stairs. Shugo grabbed her wrist with his freehand and tugged her forward and then twirling her around while turning himself as well. Akiko let out a startled yelp at the sudden, surprising movement and the fact that she was now hanging towards the bottom of the stairs in very unbalanced way, with only Shugo's grip on her left wrist keeping her from tumbling down. She tried to get her feet back underneath her more securely but Shugo tugged her hand to unbalance her just so that she rather kept her feet where they already were.

"Don't try that again, please, Sayama-san." Shugo frowned at her. "I'd rather not do something we both will regret."

"You… You're the creator of Night Baron…" She hissed.

"Yes. I named my creation after Yuusaku-ojisan's books. And originally it was a security system that fought back when hacked. Thus I put it in free use on the internet." Shugo smiled blandly. "I was such an idealistic kid back then."

He tugged the woman closer and thus finally allowed her to regain her footing. Shugo let go of her arm, still having the symbolical and literal higher ground.

"Moreover… You do realize, that with this stunt right now, you've outed yourself to me, Night Baron-san?"

With those parting words, Shugo left the woman and headed up the remaining flight of stairs.

The crowd was dense when Shugo finally came back down but he managed to make his way through to the front. Everyone else were there as well.

"Is it true, Mouri-san?!" Maeda was demanding from the private detective. "Did Ebara-san fall to his death?!"

"Ah… Maeda-san and Akiko-san…" Kogorou blinked.

"Without a doubt. It was Ebara Tokio who fell… and he had a mask on." Kamijou proclaimed.

"A mask?"

"I see… So the Night Baron, the Founder of the Tour, was really Ebara-san…" Konno chuckled in satisfaction, like the man in question was not dead and only revealed to be the mysterious tour organizer.

"Hahaha… I knew it… I could tell he was suspicious." Akiko smirked. Shugo raised an eye brow at the woman's back. That was… so not subtle.

"Hey, now is not the time for that…" Maeda gaped at his fiancé.

"So, for the immortal Night Baron to die… This is quite a wretched tale…" Kaneshiro mused.

"Now, now… Bit respect for the dead please…" Shugo sighed. "This is quite tragic scene… and you all are making this look like Mystery of Oriental Express."

"But why did Ebara-san fall?" Maeda asked Kogorou.

"Just an accident…"

"Accident?" Kamijou frowned.

"Yes… He was going to surprise everyone, but fell off his balcony." Kogorou explained.

"Hohoho… so the Night Baron has died… This means the game is over." Kaneshiro… why are you acting like such a cryptic and suspicious geezer?

Oh well… at least Conan's next remarks had both Kogorou and Yokomizo Sango conclude that the case was a murder rather than accident. And thus, all the participants of the tour, the suspicious lot that they were, were led to questioning to affirm their alibis. Including Shugo.

"So where were you around 10 o'clock?" Kogorou asked the teen.

"In the hotel lobby, doing some left-over work." Shugo replied.

"Can anyone confirm this?" Yokomizo continued the questioning.

"The reception staff should've seen me come in about an hour before the incident. I didn't move from my seat then until after the scream."

"I see."

And that was that. All the other suspects had much shakier alibis but Shugo's checked out. It probably would've been suspicious if the rest of the participants hadn't drawn the police attention away from him. Like Maeda Satoru going and accosting the officer guarding the body and the clothes and then going to scare Ran, Akiko and Conan. Incident which led to more careful questioning of the suspects and careful examinations of their belongings.

But Shugo was already safely out of all of that.

"Ano, Shugo-niichan?" Shugo looked up to see Conan in front of him. Shugo was back in the lobby, this time with his own computer and actually doing the cleaning up he'd been planning. He was currently in progress of spying on Konno's doings. The former bank employee was still using the hotel's phoneline for internet connection… and the line was not as secure as the man would like to believe, thus making it easy for Shugo to spy on the man.

"What is it, Conan-kun?" He smiled at the shrunken version of his friend. They hadn't interacted much during the day, with Shugo staying out of sight and Conan running around the hotel, investigating.

"What are you doing?"

"Working and spending time until the investigation is wrapped up. As much as I'd like to go to sleep, I doubt it's advisable whilst the possibility of the need to give an additional statement exists."

"Huh…" The boy blinked, probably not expecting such straight answer from him, given his current form. Shugo just gave a steady gaze at him, leisurely leaning back in the chair. But then the kid was back being eager and child-like. The way he was when he intended to fool adults to underestimate him. Well, two could play this game. Shugo wasn't yet sure after all what Shinichi actually thought about him or estimated his intelligence… And this was early Conan, still riding high from his teen detective fame. Moonlight Sonata case may have happened but Conan was still only at the start of his long way to humility.

"What do you work in? Aren't you in second grade in high school like Ran-neechan?" Conan asked then. Shugo gave a slow blink to cover his surprise. Did he never… Huh… Shinichi never heard that Shugo was actually third grader now.

The young man chuckled. "I do some freelance IT-assisting. Computer repair, file recovery, logistics…" He shrugged. "Pretty small circles in Ekoda and my former clients' acquaintances but it nets me some money." Then he smirked. "And I'm actually on the third grade of high school. Finished junior high a year earlier to catch up with my age mates."

"Really?!" The boy gaped. "I never heard-… Ran-neechan never mentioned." He corrected mid-sentence. Shugo forced himself not to laugh at the slip-up and catching the detective off guard.

"I didn't feel like mentioning it to Ran-chan either… I probably should… if only to hear about Sonoko-chan's and Shin-chan's reactions." Shugo grinned before turning back towards his work. "You probably should get back to Ran-chan. She must be worried if the way she's been running around the hotel indicates anything."

"Ah… yeah!" And the shrunken teen dashed off, leaving Shugo to work in peace.

An hour later everyone was called to the deduction show at the outdoor restaurant. Shugo watched the wrapped-up mattresses fly and Conan with Kogorou's voice explain the course of events and actions of both Akiko and Maeda. And when Maeda tried to defend his fiancé and thus take the blame…

"Heh… Don't make me laugh…" Akiko sneered. "Thanks to you going overboard, my perfect crime all went to waste!"

"A-Akiko…" Maeda stared at the sudden change in the woman, shocked.

"That's right, it was me! I killed Ebara Tokio! To avenge my brother, whom he killed three years ago!" She declared.

"Killed?" Yokomizo the older asked.

"Hmph! The same as killing him! He hacked the program that my brother's software company worked so hard to create, WorkShop!"

"WorkShop!" Kamijou gasped, recognizing the name.

"You know about it?" Yokomizo questioned the woman.

"Yes. Ebara palmed it on me three years ago… But once it was found to be hacked, it went off the market within a year…"

"Hmph!" Akiko scoffed disdainfully at the older woman. "My brother jumped off the roof of the company building long before that! Since then, I've been cradling my revenge, scheming a plan, and so I thought up this 'mystery tour'!" She launched into the explanation.

"I used once-famous computer virus, 'Night Baron' as a bait to ensnare Ebara! And as I thought, be took it hook, line and sinked, without knowing I didn't have any such program. Yes… And also… once I got that bothersome Satoru out of the way, I lured him up to my room with the virus again… Heheheh… He jumped right to it, thinking he could catch a scent of the virus… So I put sleeping pills in his beer, and after he fell asleep, I completed the plan by sealing off his room and pushing him off! Just like my brother!"

"The only thing I didn't count on was Mouri Kogorou…" She continued her monologue. "The fact that you happened to fall into this tour! You didn't blink an eye when I dropped Conan-kun into the pool to make you leave… So, Satoru… Do you see what I'm like now? This is the type of woman I am… So just forget about me."

Akiko continued laughing whilst being handcuffed and escorted away. Maeda was incredibly sappy in declaring waiting for her… especially considering that murderers received capital punishment in Japan.

Next day was time to check-out from the hotel. Shugo managed to catch a couple of hours of sleep before starting to pack his belongings (old and new). The remaining participants met in the lobby once again- Appropriate to end the adventure where it started.

"So you put sleeping pills into his glass in the pub." Conan stated at Kamijou.

"Yes.. I wanted to peek at the detective's notebook, find out who the Baron was, and get that virus…" The woman replied. "But there was nothing written in the notebook, so all the data much have been stored in his head."

"I think Mouri-tantei was just unmotivated to discover the Baron until the murder happened." Shugo remarked.

"Quite possible." Kamijou nodded with a chuckle. "I only wanted the virus so that I could create an antivirus to stop the program… So, it would appear that I misused him." The woman glanced at their compatriots.

"Hey, don't lump me together with this mother-complex-boy over here." Kaneshiro jerked a thumb at Konno. "I just wanted to punish him… the created of the virus that destroyed my precious program!"

"So much that you pretended to be blind?" Conan asked the old man.

"Oh, you noticed… I thought it'd be a good trick to lull my enemies into complacency…"

"What kind of program was it?" Ran asked Kaneshiro.

"Well, let's see…"

"It was 'Great Plan for High School Girl Paradise', sir." The assistant lady replied.

"Aaah, yes, that's right!" Kaneshiro laughed.

"Right…" Shugo sighed. "First of all, rude. Second, that program was disgusting with the playable character being borderline pedo…" There was no borderline about it even if the game itself didn't go imagery and dialogue wise even to Mature rating… "You should be thankful for the improvements I made. And third… Night Baron is first and foremost a security program that was put online for free use. It fights back and damages attacker's files, feature which many people have since cannibalized and weaponized."

He hadn't even noticed approaching the old man with accusing finger poking at the air until he'd finished the rant. Unperturbed by the silence coming from the other people present, Shugo straightened up with a huff.

"Y-You're the creator of Night Baron?" Konno gasped.

"You destroyed my program?!" Kaneshiro gaped.

"What can I say, I was very bored fourteen-year-old with full collection of Night Baron books in my shelf." Shugo waved a dismissive hand. "It was fun. And I improved that game. Spent nine hours rewriting the plot and redrawing characters and their animations. Even coded in that shipping point gimmick."

"F-Fun?!" Konno continued breathless shrieking.

"Speaking of which…" Shugo drew a floppy disc from his pocked and offered it to Kamijou. "The second half of my apology gift. WorkShop fixed. Currently inert and observation only but if you insert the code I gave you during dinner, it will be fully accessible."

"Oh, thank you." Kamijou accepted the disc and pocketed it.

"You created Night Baron, most infamous computer of this decade, when you were only fourteen and you call that fun?!" Konno came up to Shugo's face when Kamijou turned to address Ran behind him.

"Oh, I suppose I should re-introduce myself then… I'm known as Green-5 or Midori-go if you prefer the Japanese form. Nice to meetcha. Do check your computer when you have the time. I was a bit bored during the course of investigation last night."

A/N: Replies to anon-reviews:

-Tsuki: Thank you very much!