Kudo Shinichi walked wearily into his room, dropping his schoolbag and collapsing on his bed without even bothering to flick on a light. The curtains pulled, he was left to mull over his thoughts in the darkness.

How could she do that, he wondered. Of all the ways it might have ended, he never thought it would be like this.

He had noticed Ran wasn't at school that day, but no one seemed to know exactly where she was. Having some spare time, Shinichi decided to drop by a flower shop a few blocks down and picked up a small bouquet of tiny white flowers with a pink tag attached, "Get Well Soon". A cold or the flu seemed logical enough.

When he stopped by her house, he found it odd that her father's car was gone. He didn't think that police would call him out to a crime scene without notifying him. Walking back to his own house, he was surprised to find a small note scribbled hurriedly on a piece of paper addressed to him.

Ran had left, invited by some well known karate organization in the U.S. And she had left. Without a word of goodbye. The note ended in a plea for apology and best wishes. It now lay outside his door, just where he had dropped it, soaked by the light spring shower.

She was really gone.

Rolling onto one side, Shinichi limply let the bouquet tumble to the floor. Trying to get his thoughts off of her, he wondered where Conan was, his younger self who still existed despite he had regained his old body due to the effects of Dr. Agasa's semi-successful time machine. But still his thoughts drifted back to her, to her smile, pulling him deeper into his misery.

"What's got you so down?" came a voice from the window, causing Shinichi to jump to his feet, stepping on the flowers.

"Who's there?" he demanded, praying that whoever it was would just let him be. But no such luck.

A boy, probably around his age, jumped gracefully through the window, a white cape fluttering out behind him. The boy was clad in a tuxedo of white, a monocle and top hat disguising his true identity. Recognizing the famed thief, Shinichi was even more startled.

"Pardon my intrusion," he said, taking a few steps forward, a hint of mocking in his voice, "But it is rather wet out there." Shinichi shot Kid a sharp glance, ready to jump on him the moment he tried to escape.

"What do you want with me, Kid? Trying to get me out of the way?" It wouldn't have followed his normal patterns, but today Shinichi's whole world seemed to have turned upside down.

"I'm insulted," he replied, looking genuinely surprised. "Surely a good detective such as yourself wasn't really thinking that. Use your head." Shinichi sighed to himself out of relief, but didn't let his guard down. So far, Kid hadn't made any sudden or suspicious moves, but magicians were the masters of subtlety, after all.

"Then what do you want?" he asked again his train of thought momentarily leaving the note. There was a moments hesitation before the thief responded.

"I came to ask for your help."