Peacefully snow was falling outside on the streets of Tokyo. Ran watched from the window of the Mouri Detective Agency. She was smiling, of course, since she could see, in the distance, Conan walking through the freshly fallen fluff. He had his small hands in his coat pocket, seemingly ready to be inside from the cold. He looked so innocent to her in instances like this, though she knew by looking in to his deep eyes that he had seen more than the average nine year old. Lost in thought, she was surprised when he opened the door and greeted her.

"Hello, Ran-neechan", he said with a childish grin.

"Hello Conan-kun!", she said returning his warm greeting. "How was Dr. Agasa?"

Conan's expression changed slightly. He didn't want Ran to know exactly what he was feeling but, after receiving such important information on the APOTOXIN, he couldn't help the slight alteration. Ran took notice of this but waited for his answer before pursing the change.

"He was doing well." Conan's answer was short for the long amount of time he had spent at Dr. Agasa's house.

"Well that's... Good." Ran smiled even though she knew there was information he was keeping hidden from her. Conan sensed that she was suspicious of him and ended the uncomfortable conversation by walking away to hang his coat up. He wasn't ready to tell her that Ai and Dr. Agasa had finally come up with what they thought was a finalized cure for his condition. He loved Ran, though, so it was only a matter of time before he would break down and tell her out of excitement and trust. He had waited almost three years now to come clean, after all, and was excited most of all to embrace her and pour his emotions out as if they were the most decadent waters.

Conan felt his stomach grumble. As much as he didn't want Ran's cooking he asked her to make him something. His appreciation of her was deep since she had not only waited for his return throughout this whole mess but she took care of him as Conan almost as if he were really her younger brother. She too cared for Conan as if he were really part of her family. His expansive knowledge and tenderness with her had saved her life numerous times and kept her waiting for Shinichi to return. Conan had always reminded her of Shinichi, even from the start.

Ran nodded, "Sure, Conan-kun. What would you like?"

He shrugged in response, "Anything!" He knew just about anything she made would be questionable so he would just let her choose something she was most confident in to avoid the burnt aftertaste that frequently accompanied her food.

"Well I'll try something new, then!"

'Great... Plan backfired', he thought.

Almost a week passed as Conan waited for the APOTOXIN 4869 antidote to be finalized. He had decided that he would wait to tell Ran until he had returned to himself. His emotions would likely get the best of him so he felt it was best that she could hold his real, full body to quell his emotions as well as hers. This thought alone was enough to keep his mind away from the consequences of returning to his former self. He knew consequences existed and was constantly reminded of that fact by Ai and Dr. Agasa both but he wasn't prepared to face them quite yet. To him this was not a time to unravel the knots that he had created as Conan but instead it was a time for him to look towards the future that was now before him.

"Conan-kun?", Ran's voice broke through his thoughts.

"Hm?", he responded.

"You should really go to bed. Winter break starts soon and I know you have tests this week. You need rest." She gave him a smile and drove him to bed as if she was his mother. After all, Kogoro wasn't exactly the best parent. He was passed out in front of the television as usual.

The next morning Ran sent Conan off to school prepared for a long day of 'difficult' tests. Ran slumped down on to the couch, not quite ready to study yet. Cram school wasn't as challenging to her as it was for Sonoko, though that didn't seem to surprise anyone since Ran had always been focused in both school and most aspects of her life. So, she had decided studying could wait a little while. The room was silent as she relaxed until the phone rang. It was Dr. Agasa.

"Hello?", Ran answered.

"Hello, Ran-kun? This is Dr. Agasa. Please tell Conan-kun to come over to my house when he's done with class today. He doesn't seem to be answering his cell phone..."

"Ah, well he's likely taking a test. It's almost the end of fall term, after all.", Ran said, laughing a bit to herself because it was rather ironic that such an intelligent man couldn't deduce that himself.

"Oh, I see!", he laughed awkwardly. "Well I would greatly appreciate if you gave him my message. It's rather urgent."

"Urgent? Is everything alright?", Ran asked, honestly concerned.

"Ah, yes! Everything is uh, fine. No need to worry! I'll talk to you later. Take care, Ran-kun!" The phone call ended abruptly. Ran knew that something was going on.

Conan entered, covered in snow, later that afternoon. He called out, informing Ran that he was home, but no one answered. He looked around, shrugged, put his coat on the rack, and proceeded to scan the room to look for an explanation for the quiet house. He spotted a note on the coffee table with Ran's writing on it.

"I'm out for the afternoon! Sonoko needed help studying for some exams and I need to pick up some things from the store. Let me know if you need anything! Oh, and Dr. Agasa called. He needs you to go to his house and said it was 'urgent'. See you later, Conan-kun! Love, Ran", it read.

"Love...", Conan read aloud.

He quickly grabbed his coat from the rack and left for Dr. Agasa's house. His excitement was building and not even heavy snow flakes could weigh him down enough to make his trek any longer than it had to be. He arrived and rang the doorbell several times before Dr. Agasa answered. He had assumed correctly that the crazy Dr. was in the basement with Ai, doing their regular research.

"Shinichi-kun! I'm glad you got the message", Dr. Agasa greeted him.

"Me too, me too. Though I'm quite tired from these difficult elementary school tests that I've been taking all day.", Conan said, sarcasm evident and Dr. Agasa chuckled in response.

"Well, do you think you're ready to test this antidote? We haven't discovered any negative side effects as of yet and the effects appear to be permanent, as we told you earlier. Our findings still hold true so it should be ready to go."

Conan nodded and swallowed thick saliva. All of his thoughts, fantasies, and fears cluttered his brain all at once now. It was real, really happening. This was the most successful antidote that Ai and Dr. Agasa had come up with and it could mean never going back to this life he had created as Conan. The good outweighed the bad, or so he thought.