Did you guys think this fic was dead? Hehehe, so did I. But I didn't lie when I said that I want to finish it, really.

So here's this little nothing of a chapter.

Please enjoy!

Days, weeks later, Shinichi would wonder if his reaction was affected by how drained and empty he felt all day.

Right in that moment, though, he froze at the sight. It couldn't have been real, this had to be a ploy, someone pretending to be her, have they discovered-

"It's me, Kudou-kun," Miyano Shiho said. She wore a crooked smile, a little condescending, a little snarky – Shinichi recognized it right away. "Cat got your tongue?"

"What… what happened?" Sluggishly, he got off the bed and walked closer to her. The difference between their heights was downright staggering - he never had to raise his head so much just to look her in the eye. Haibara seemed to think the same, as her smile grew a little disoriented before she settled against the door frame.

"I may or may not have had a little accident while experimenting." She shrugged and looked at her nails. Half hidden under the arms of her oversized hoodie, Shinichi could see faint burn marks on her hand. "I tried a new approach, but the formula reacted differently than I thought it would. It produced some gas and I… breathed it in, unfortunately." She shrugged again, but now Shinichi could see the forced nature of it.

"So you changed back."

A smirk. "As you can clearly see."

Finally, Shinichi felt laughter bubbling up inside him, and he let it. Haibara, blown up by her own experiment…! And she, though she pretended to be annoyed with him for a few moments, joined in soon enough, giggling to herself quietly.

"Okay, that's enough, now," she suddenly said as she flicked his forehead. Shinichi stumbled back, but he couldn't help the smile he still had plastered on his face. "I'll have you know, I'm really annoyed with you."

"Annoyed?"

Haibara heaved a big sigh, resting her forehead against her palm for a moment. "You didn't pick up your phone. I called you as soon as I saw you coming here, but no matter how much I called, you wouldn't answer. I had to come here myself to fetch you. Do you know how dangerous it is for me to walk outside looking like this?"

"But… the professor…?"

"He's out. He went on a convention, don't you remember?" And yes, now that Shinichi tried to think back on it, the professor did mention something like that a while ago. …he really was out of it, wasn't he?

"Yeah, I remember now. So you just walked over here while-"

"Pretty much. With an emergency disguise, of course." She fished out a crumpled cap and a pair of sunglasses from the front pocket of her hoodie. Which actually looked… "Also, I borrowed some of your clothes, I hope you don't mind." …really familiar. He groaned. The smile she was wearing told Shinichi that she didn't actually care whether he minded or not. "I have to say, it was really lucky that you had some clothes over there too in case of emergency."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever…"

"What's wrong? Don't you think it looks good on me?" He couldn't help the sigh that broke out of him – Haibara was enjoying this way too much. Thankfully, she sobered soon enough, when she saw that she couldn't coax more than a sigh or a groan out of him. "In any case, this means that there's been development. I'll need to run a few tests on you."

Shinichi nodded before he turned back to grab his bag. "Sure, I'll just-"

There was a touch on his shoulder. "Not now. We're not doing anything until the professor returns. I get that you're eager, but you'll have to stay tiny a little bit longer." Now that hand moved from his shoulder to the top of his head, and even without looking, he could tell that Haibara was wearing a smug smile. Definitely enjoying it all too much.

His shoulders dropped, ever so slightly. He knew that after all this time, a few days more wouldn't be much, but… "Is it permanent?"

"…it should be. Not for me, the amount I got wasn't enough for that, but it should be. For you." She ruffled his hair. "Just a little more, Kudou-kun."

He let out a breath, before he grabbed at her hand and pulled it away from his head. "Stop that already."

A chuckle. "My bad."

They stayed quiet for a little longer, both thinking of the work ahead of them. Making someone just vanish needed a lot of preparations, and even though Haibara was trying her best, they could only hope it wouldn't be in vain this time.

"I think you should go home for now," Haibara said eventually. "The professor will be back in four days. He'll arrive early afternoon, but he'll be napping afterwards, so we'll start the tests the day after. We'll keep in touch in the meantime, though, so. Pay attention to your phone."

"Alright."

They walked to the front door in silence. It wasn't too awkward, they both had too much on their minds for that. But when Shinichi went to open the door, he noticed that Haibara wasn't even wearing her shoes.

"I'll wait here until evening," she said, sensing his confusion. "I would prefer to stay low as much as possible."

"Right. Any excuse for not going to school tomorrow that you want me to tell the others?"

"I'll call Yoshida-san myself," she said. Shinichi couldn't help but smile – the fondness for the other girl in her voice was clear as day. "My voice shouldn't be all that different, but there's a spare voice changer in one of the drawers in case I'd need it." She paused for a moment. "But… I have the flu, if anyone asks, so no visits."

"Do the Detective Boys know that the professor's convention?"

"They do. Tell them he changed his mind about going when I got sick, otherwise they'll be too worried."

"Got it." Shinichi's hand lingered on the door handle. "…thanks, Haibara."

She huffed out a breath. "Don't thank me yet, Kudou-kun."