AN: Listen, I don't have many excuses for some of the sillier things that I write, so I'm not even going to try. Please, do accept this revelation fic of the silliest proportions nevertheless. And as always, thanks for reading!

The Weakest Link

"Can you say that again, Kazuha-chan?"

"That I don't really understand why Heiji thought he'd actually run into Kudo-kun there?" Kazuha asked, blinking a little. She wasn't sure which part of her story it was that Ran had taken such an apparent interest in, but it had caught her by surprise. Ran had been there herself, there was nothing new about it that she could tell her about it.

Or so she thought.

"No, no, not that. Though I do admit that I always found that a bit odd." Ran admitted, after a moment of thought, before focusing back at the topic on hand. "But no, I was talking about the part before it."

"The part before?" Kazuha asked, trying to recall what exactly it was that she had said. "Ah, ya mean about him meetin' Kudo-kun there?"

"Yes, that part exactly." Ran said, nodding her head. "Did he really say that?"

"He did." Kazuha said, frowning a little. "But why do ya sound so surprised about that? Ya were there too, right? Didn't ya meet him?"

"I was, but..." Ran trailed off a little, pursing her lips together. "I never met Shinichi there. In fact, I'm pretty sure he was never there. We surely would have noticed if he were."

"Are ya sure?" Kazuha asked, her frown deepening. "That's odd... I thought fer sure that Heiji said that he had met Kudo-kun there. He even said that he became friends with him there, so I don't think he was mistaken, not this time, but..."

"Come to think of it, the two of them did seem awfully close back at the play." Ran couldn't help but recall, her thoughts jumping forward a bit in time. As they did, she realized yet another inconsistency, one that she couldn't help but wonder how she'd never taken notice of before. "...come to think of it, when did the two of them become such good friends?"

"Eh? Didn't they meet other times?" Kazuha asked, scooting her chair forward. "Like at the mansion his father was called ta by that old kendo friend of his, or on that boat where he got his idiot self shoved into the sea. I think he said somethin' about talkin' ta him over the phone too, back with that whole thing with that author."

"Did he really say that?" Ran asked, her brows knitting together in thought. "That's odd. At the mansion and on the boat alike, there was only me, my father, and..." her voice almost catching in her throat, she felt a hand stray up to her chin, now starting to seriously think this over, "...when did he say he talked to Shinichi on the phone, Kazuha-chan?"

She suspected that she had an idea as to what she meant, but she wanted to be sure first. When it came to Heiji and authors, there was only one thing that came to mind.

"Let's see..." Kazuha tried to recall, wondering what it was that had gotten Ran so serious all of a sudden. She got the feeling that there was more to it than just the fact that Heiji had seen Shinichi in places she hadn't. "Apparently he was there at the publishin' company when Heiji called an' told 'em ta call the police."

"...yer not gonna tell me that Kudo-kun wasn't actually there that time either, are ya?"

"I'm afraid so." Giving her something of an apologetic smile, Ran already felt her thoughts starting to drift back in a familiar direction. It hadn't been the first time, not by a long shot, that they had gone there, to be sure, but...

Things might be different this time.

Conan, after all, wasn't here- he was on a camping trip with the Professor and the Detective Boys. Heiji, however, by luck of ill timing, considering his visit here had been for want of Conan, was. And between the two of them, she got the feeling that she had better chances of getting some answers out of the older.

It felt almost a bit underhanded, really, but she was starting to tire of this song and dance routine that she felt herself locked into. If Shinichi really had been this close to her this whole time, didn't she deserve to know?

Not to mention, she could recall just off the top of her head, more than a few situations that she needed to be very angry with him about if such a thing were really true. Even if thinking back on them did cause her cheeks to redden slightly, something which she must have not covered up fast enough.

"What's wrong, Ran-chan?" Kazuha asked, leaning forward a bit more. Pressing her forehead against her own before she could so much as protest, an uncertain expression crossed her face. She got the feeling that there was something going on here that she didn't know about, but as to what that might be... "Yer cheeks are awfully red. Did ya get a fever or somethin'?"

"Ah, no, no, it's not like that!" Ran told her, pulling back a little. "It's just that... actually, I might need to have a few words with Hattori-kun, if I could."

"About Kudo-kun?" Kazuha asked, pulling back away. While she might not quite know what was going on, that, at the very least, she had figured out. "There is somethin' might fishy goin' on there, what with Heiji seein' him in places that he hasn't been in. Ya wanna clue me in on it?"

"Well..." Ran began, almost hesitating for a moment. There was still a slight chance that she was mistaken, and if so, she didn't want to get Kazuha involved with it.

"If it's pumpin' information from Heiji, then I'm somethin' of a pro, ya know." Kazuha told her, placing a hand against her chest, apparently not only confident in her abilities to do so, but quite proud as well. "Though so long as yer involved, Ran-chan, we might not even need me."

"What do you mean that?" Ran asked, a bit surprised.

"Ah, that's easy." Kazuha told her, almost grinning from ear to ear. "Heiji's terrified of ya."

"Eh!?"

Though she had laughed them off at first, it would appear that there was very much some truth to Kazuha's words.

She hadn't seen Heiji this fearful since well... never, actually. He couldn't even so much as manage to look her in the eye, and it was clear that he was sweating. Though he was unmistakably the taller of the pair, for some reason, he seemed to be the smaller now. All she had done was follow Kazuha's advice, and pin the Osakan detective in a corner- she had never imagined it would earn her this much of a reaction.

Kazuha, on the other hand, had known full well.

"So? Ya gonna talk or what, Heiji?" Kazuha asked, not doing much to mask the apparent glee in her voice. "We're waitin'."

"Even if ya tell me that, I don't know what it is that ya want me ta spill in the first place!" Heiji protested. He wasn't playing dumb either- the pair hadn't wasted any time in cornering him as soon as he got back to the detective agency with what his mom had asked him to buy while he was in Tokyo. It was a good thing that it wasn't anything breakable, considering the speed with which he had dropped it on the floor.

He had always long since suspected that Mouri Ran was likely going to be the cause of his death one of these days, but he hadn't thought it was going to happen so soon!

"Hah? What else is there fer ya ta even spill, idiot?" Kazuha asked, folding her arms in front of her chest. "I know most of yer dumb secrets anyways, Heiji, so I'm talkin' about the one I don't know yet.'

"They ain't dumb!" Still finding enough in him to protest that fact, Heiji's eyes narrowed- before he once again caught sight of Ran in his peripheral, doing his best not to flinch too much when she moved. Honestly, he couldn't figure out how it was that Kudo ever did anything that might make her upset... did he have no sense of self-preservation? No fear of god?

Ah, crap though... out of the two secrets that Kazuha didn't know about, neither of them boded well. On one hand, he didn't think that she would involve Neechan in this way if it was about that secret, but on the other hand...

...he was going to have to apologize to Kudo later, wasn't he?

"You see, Hattori-kun," although her tone was perfectly pleasant, Heiji found himself unable to focus on anything but the arm that was still planted firmly on the wall, blocking his only means of escape, "...I was actually speaking with Kazuha-chan a bit earlier, about that time at the Holmes fan gathering."

Ah.

So it really was that one.

In hindsight, maybe he should have been so open about telling Kazuha things about that case- and others as well, ones that she hadn't been there for herself. But he'd never been much of one for being able to contain his excitement, and had, admittedly, blabbed without thinking too much about it.

That... that had clearly been his mistake, and he was going to pay for it now.

"She said something rather strange." Ran continued, and Heiji swore up and down that the aura that was faintly leaking out of her was far more fearsome than anything that shady Organization of Kudo's could ever give off.

"Y-yeah?" Heiji asked. Just averting his eyes from her wasn't good enough anymore- at this point, he was turning his whole head away from her. "W-what about, Neechan?"

"She told me you said that Shinichi was there."

...so he really was going to have to apologize to Kudo after all, wasn't he.

Well, at least the guy had the length of a camping trip to brace himself. Because he'd protect his secret to the death when the ones asking about it were those men in black of his, but when it came to Neechan, well...

What was scary was scary.

There were two messages waiting for him on his phone once he got back into service range, both mails.

One was from Ran, telling him that she would be looking forward to when he came home. The message itself was pleasant enough, and yet somehow, there was something about it that filled him with a sense of fear, one that he didn't quite understand.

It wasn't until he read the second message that he understood, a cold sweat starting to trickle down the back of his neck. It was from Heiji, and was only the length of one word.

Sorry.