Here's the next chapter. We're getting closer to the main portion, so this is the end of the setup chapters. A/N at the end

Also, for anyone who doesn't know - Haibara Ai's real name is Miyano Shiho. I will be calling her Miyano when I refer to her.

Shinichi scowled as he tugged on the end of his hair. He'd always been meticulous about his appearance – keeping his hair in order, washing his face twice a day and moisturizing, keeping his eyebrows shaped, and making sure his nails were all the same length and never got too long. Most people might assume it was his natural look and he didn't bother with more than a quick brush through his hair in the morning, but the blue-eyed teen knew the importance of presentation thanks to his mother and preferred to look his best when he was continuously hounded by reporters trying to get a picture or interview with him or his parents.

So having to grow his hair out and let it do what it wanted rather than gelling it down to stay nice and neat was beginning to get onto his last nerve. The fringe was hanging just above his eyes and the back was starting to brush his neck in a way that made it itch. His mother had helped him dye it a dark brown last night – she'd wanted to do a lighter brown at first, but the darker would more easily hide his black hair when his roots grew out – and Shinichi thought he looked ridiculous. His mother thought he looked cute.

The female Kudo had also put him on a diet high in tomatoes. Apparently she'd found a website that said eating a lot of tomatoes would naturally tan his skin. He didn't think it was working and was starting to get sick of them. If his skin really was getting a little darker, he was willing to bet it was from that lotion she'd bought for him to use instead that was specifically made for that purpose.

When he put in the hazel colored contacts to finish the look, Shinichi almost didn't recognize himself. The changes were small, but enough so those who'd known Kudo Shinichi – both as a teenager and when he'd actually been this age – wouldn't recognize him without knowing it was him.

Another change was the clothing he wore. When he'd been this age originally, he'd almost always worn either a miniature suit or shorts and a plain t-shirt so he could practice soccer. Now, his mother had finally taken command of his closet. While she couldn't get him any of the high-end fashion she wanted to – it would stand out and the family they were going to portray wouldn't be able to afford so many of them, let alone for a child who would outgrow them soon – she had compensated by putting together a wardrobe that was affordable and still fashionable with a few articles of formal clothing should he need them.

The last piece of the puzzle on Shinichi's new identity had been lessons with his mother on how to speak so he sounded like a child – an intelligent child, but still a child – and not like the teenager he was. She had wanted him to learn to change his voice well enough to use that as well, but thankfully his father brought up that nobody would remember what his voice sounded like when he was younger, and even then there were people out there who sounded the same or similar enough that it wouldn't be a huge deal if he sounded like Shinichi.

They'd been practicing every day for the past two months while his father finishing putting everything together regarding their new identities and making sure nothing – not even the smallest detail – was overlooked. In that time, Shinichi hadn't been outside once. He'd utilized the hidden passages his parents still hadn't explained to get around the house without being seen and to hide from visitors.

It was during the first month of this that he'd had to listen to Ran's breakdown as she blamed herself for his 'death' and apologized to his parents for letting their son run off that night. It had crushed him, knowing she was doing this to herself. He wanted nothing more than to let her know it wasn't her fault. It had killed him to sit there and listen, unable to do anything as she cried. He would never be able to forgive himself for that, even if by some miracle she did. Her sobs were more painful than the drug he'd been given – more painful than anything he'd ever been through before.

Part of him wished he really had died that day.

"Class," Shinichi tried not to grimace at the tone – it wasn't the teachers fault, it was unfortunately the way most people spoke to children – as the woman began the introductions. "I want you all to meet some new friends! This is Sasaki Yuta-kun and Sasaki Ai-chan. They're going to be your classmates starting today, so I want you all to get along, alright?" A chorus of agreements ran through the children.

When Miyano Shiho had first appeared, the shrunken detective had been wary. This woman – although her appearance was now that of a child's – had been the one to make the drug that had put him in this situation. She was part of the organization. She had created a poison that was being used to kill who knew how many others.

But he wasn't an idiot. He could see how terrified she was of them. Every time they were mentioned she would be overcome with fear to the point she couldn't move. The mere thought of them finding her was enough to send her to her shaking knees. Yet even so she agreed to help them. She told them everything she knew about the organization and the drug. Gave all the information she had to his father who sent it to some of his connections to analyze and hopefully find a solution. Without giving them too many details, he'd set Miyano up to be in contact with those connections so she could contribute as a way to thank them for hiding her.

His mother had been overjoyed to have another female in the house. She had whisked the girl away to dye and restyle her hair as well as darkening the skin slightly to better fit the image of their cover family before starting in on speech training. In all honesty, Shinichi felt a little bad for her. His mother could be a little overbearing at times. Especially when you weren't used to her.

After Miyano had been deemed ready to reenter society – and his father had finished her papers as well – the two shrunken teenagers had moved into a three-bedroom apartment in Ekoda. Close enough for his parents to come should they be needed, but far enough that they shouldn't run into anybody they knew in Beika. His parents had made the decision to stay at the manor for a few more months until Kudo Shinichi's death was mostly forgotten by the public and their leaving again wouldn't seem odd. After that they would put on their disguises and join the two in Ekoda.

The two teenagers-turned-children smiled at the class and headed to the empty seats – Miyano on the left side of the room and Shinichi in the center. He pulled out the workbook he'd been given and mentally sighed. While he could play the intelligent child, he had to be careful about letting on how smart he really was. He didn't want to draw attention to himself by solving high school level problems as a grade school student.

"I have one more special announcement before we start class today." He glanced over at Miyano who shook her head before returning his attention to the teacher. "Every year the first-grade classes of Ekoda elementary school pair up with the second years at Ekoda high school for a term long project over a famous landmark. You and your partner will pick a landmark in Japan and research it together. Each of you will write a paper about it and together you'll build a model of it and then present about it to everyone else. Now because you're going to have all of this term to research it, your paper should be three pages long. You can have your partner help you, but they won't write it for you."

Shinichi bit back a scowl. He doubted they'd do much of the work in class, which meant he'd be spending precious time outside of class doing this project when he could be searching for the organization. Why would they pair up a first-grade class with a high school class in the first place? Wouldn't a higher grade – like fifth or sixth – be more beneficial? And why a second-year high school class? Why not a first-year class?

"We'll be going over to the high school tomorrow after lunch to meet with your new partners. We were going to go today, but with Yuta-kun and Ai-chan transferring in we changed it to tomorrow so they could have a chance to get to know everybody and so Konno-sensei and I could rearrange the pairings to make sure everyone has a partner." 'Sorry to ruin your plans.' "After you meet your partners we'll get together once a month so you can show us your progress and ask any questions if you need help. Other than that you'll need to meet up outside of class and use that time to work together."

Sometimes, the detective hated being right. He just hoped his partner wasn't a complete idiot, or he'd waste more time than necessary on this project.

My notes about this chapter

1) Shinichi's hair (to me at least) seems to fluctuate between black and a really dark brown, but I see it as black. I'm sorry if it bothers anyone, but I'm sticking with black as his natural hair color.

2) You can't tell me that people as rich and eccentric as Kudo Yukio and Kudo Yuusaku wouldn't build in secret passageways in their house.

3) There is no fucking way Shinichi just wakes up looking like that. The boy puts at least some time into his appearance.

4) Professor Agasa doesn't know all the details of what happened but does know the basics (Shinichi is alive but involved in a dangerous case)

5) I had no idea how to add Miyano to the story, so I just had her randomly show up (she won't be a major part of the story and neither will the rest of the class, so don't be surprised when you don't see her much later on).

6) I made Shinichi ask all the questions about the project I had myself when I thought of it. In the end I decided I didn't really care about how realistic it is.

That's basically it. Not much happens in this chapter. Can anyone guess who Shinichi is getting for a partner? What about Miyano?

Don't forget to let me know what you thought!

OH! And I searched 'Shaggy male hairstyles' on Google if you're curious as to what I made Shinichi's hair look like.