Nevermore

By: Hikari-chan (Chitsuki)

Disclaimer: Anything you recognize is Gosho Aoyama's. I make no profit from this.

Musings: This is it! The end of the story! I will leave all ramblings to the end.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Epilogue

-o-o-o-o-o-

As Conan had predicted, the news that a group of 5 fifteen-year-olds had conducted an investigation and solved a serial murder case, not to mention prevent the bombing of the ski resort, made front page news across the country. Statements from the police force in Otaru noted evidence was properly preserved and documentation of the investigation was highly impressive. This only encouraged reporters and photographers in Tokyo to flit in and out of Teitan Junior High School, asking for pictures and interviews. The group had been nicknamed the "Modern Day Edogawa Rampo's Boy Detective Group" by at least one major newspaper. The fact that there were two rather pretty girls in the group added to the appeal for the media.

About a week after their return from Otaru, Conan was at Agasa's after school, flipping through one particular article that called him the "Heisei Holmes" and thus Ai "the Heisei Holmes' girlfriend". He grinned at Ai, who was sitting next to him on the couch, sorting the mail, and joked, "Look, even the newspaper thinks you're mine."

Ai scowled at him. "Keep saying that and you can cook your own dinner tonight."

"You love me too much to watch me poison myself," Conan teased her. He leaned forward and planted light kisses along her jaw, ending at a spot just below her earlobe that he knew was extra sensitive.

She placed a hand on his chest and pushed him back, just a little. Dryly, she stated, "I think I liked it better when you were less..." She gestured to the space between them. "...forward."

He raised an eyebrow at this, looking a little puzzled. He scooted closer to try and kiss her again. Ai scooted back. He stared at her, and she could almost see the gears turning in his mind. Suddenly, he grinned smugly. "Oh, I see," he concluded. "You liked it better when you could use this-" he gestured to the space between them like she had. "- to get me to do what you wanted. Now that I'm beyond comfortable, it doesn't work in your favour anymore."

She huffed and went back to the mail

"What do they call that again?" he looked up at the ceiling as though he was thinking. "Oh, right, consequences."

"Yes, consequences," she echoed, glaring at him. "And if you don't stop this arrogant, possessive-"

He reached over and grabbed her hands in his, stopping her mid-rant. "I don't mean either in a bad way," he told her earnestly. "If you want me to do something that badly, I promise you can seduce me anytime you want."

"I'm sure," Ai replied wryly, rolling her eyes.

He smiled and brought the hands he was holding to his lips, kissing her knuckles softly. "And just because I say you're mine doesn't mean I see you as anything less than me," he assured her. "I'm yours too."

She wrinkled her nose at this and snatched her hands back. "I don't want to own you," she said, standing up. "I'd rather own a dog."

Conan watched her walk away into the kitchen and shook his head. "I can't win, can I?" he muttered.

But hours later, sitting on the couch again with his stomach full and the television playing some mindless action movie, Conan looked at Ai, curled up against him with her head on his shoulder, sleeping peacefully in his arms, he thought that maybe, he had won that last argument after all.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Meanwhile, Ayumi, Genta, and Mitsuhiko had taken to the public fame with more grace than Conan had expected, if not just a tad of bewilderment. Time (and experience) seemed to have given them a little bit of wisdom. The media storm slowed down a bit after the first few weeks, but at school, it was a different story. Along with Conan and Ai, they were celebrities, heroes of the graduating class. The story of the case got more blown out of proportion every time Conan heard it being told by someone in the halls, until he was sure there was one version where Genta was fighting trolls.

When Valentine's Day came around, each of Conan, Genta, and Mitsuhiko received so much chocolate that Ayumi had to go borrow boxes for them to take it all home. And for the first time since they had known each other, Ai presented the boys with homemade chocolates too.

Conan kept that box in his schoolbag and was making sure that he had correctly picked out the one Ayumi gave him in the morning from the stash around his desk.

"Are you donating all your chocolates again, Conan-kun?" Mitsuhiko asked him as they gathered around Conan's desk.

"Yea," Conan muttered absentmindedly. It had been a tradition since their first year in junior high, when he had started receiving an abundance of chocolates on February 14th. He would only keep the ones that meant something to him. "I'd be larger than the Professor if I ate all this, and Ai would kill me if I let him eat some."

"I think I'll come with you after I sort through all this," Mitsuhiko decided. "This is too much to eat by myself."

"No way would I do that!" Genta declared, looking happily at his stash.

A nervous coughing made the 3 boys turn around. Two girls from the other class were standing there, looking a bit embarrassed and holding something like photos in their hands.

"Can I help you?" Conan asked politely.

"Um...Edogawa-kun," one of the girls spoke up. She paused a little before thrusting the glossy 8" by 10" she was holding at him, along with a gold marker. "Can you please sign this for me?"

Confused, Conan took the photo and found himself staring at...his own face. He blinked owlishly. What the heck? Almost on autopilot, he took the marker and scribbled his name – which wasn't his real signature even – onto the photo. He scribbled something that kind of, maybe, looked similar onto the picture the second girl held out to him. Then they ran off, giggling, leaving him flabbergasted.

"Where did they even get those photos?" Conan asked out loud to no one in particular.

Mitsuhiko coughed. "The computer club has been um...offering printing services."

"What? Why?" Conan demanded.

Mitsuhiko shrugged. "You wouldn't believe the amount of extra donation we've gotten just from printing your picture."

Conan grimaced. "I feel more like a J-pop idol than a detective."

"I think the girls made you out to be some kind of romantic hero," Mitsuhiko shrugged. "And um...since your little display kind of got broadcasted over the line on the badges when our classmates were standing around..."

Conan groaned and flopped back into his chair. Between the winks and suggestive nudges from the soccer team, and some of the girls looking at him before blushing bright red and running away, he had a pretty good idea exactly what they thought they heard over the line. He wasn't going to say their assumptions were entirely in the left field, per se, except that like the case details, it had gotten blown out of proportion. He really should have remembered to turn that line off.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Junior high school graduation day was on a mildly windy, but sunny Saturday in March. High school entrance exams had gone relatively well for Ayumi, Genta, and Mitsuhiko, who had all studied hard under Conan and Ai's tutelage despite the constant media distraction. Conan and Ai both scored perfect A's across all subjects and chose to attend Teitan High School with their friends, to which Conan had privately told to Ai and Agasa that it was really, really strange.

"It's like 'Back to the Future'," he had remarked dryly to them and his parents at dinner the night before graduation. "Just please, if I decide to follow a weird man in black after I turn 17, knock some sense into me."

Now, after getting his diploma (again), he was standing around with his friends and their parents, going through the ritual of picture-taking and smiling until his face hurt.

"One more, one more!" Yukiko insisted in the little corner they had claimed for picture-taking. "With Ai-chan~"

"This isn't an engagement photo shoot, you crazy woman!" Conan grumbled.

"Of course not!" Yukiko replied, wrinkling her nose. "I would be thoroughly appalled if this is the place you pick for an engagement photo shoot!"

Ai looked at the school uniforms she and Conan were wearing and added, "I would be thoroughly appalled if these are the clothes we chose to wear for an engagement photo shoot."

Conan gaped at the two women and shook his head. "You're both crazy," he concluded, throwing up his arms.

Yukiko pouted, "But Shin-chan~ I just want a nice family photo. Right, Yuusaku?"

Yuusaku smiled and walked over to put his arm around his wife. "Of course," he said. "Indulge your mother just once, Shinichi."

Ai reached over to take the camera from Yukiko so she can take the picture for them, but Yukiko held it out of her reach and handed the camera to Agasa instead. "I said fa-mi-ly-pho-to," she repeated, poking Ai gently in the nose. "That means you have to be in it, Ai-chan."

"But I'm not..." Ai's voice trailed off.

Yukiko smiled conspiratorially. "He did say engagement," she sang.

Ai looked at Conan, who blushed at his mom's comment. She smiled back at Yukiko, grateful for the gesture, but her comment to Conan was delivered with its usual mockery. "I haven't said yes."

"I haven't asked," Conan bantered back.

Once the picture was taken, they were interrupted by Ayumi, Genta, and Mitsuhiko, who had also finished taking their family photos. The group was joined by their various classmates, who all took turns wanting pictures with them. Even some of the teachers came to ask for pictures.

"I had no idea they were so popular," Yukiko remarked as the photography finished.

Agasa coughed. "I think they've become somewhat of a school legend."

"We even got internships with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department!" Ayumi, who had overheard Agasa's last comment, informed them.

"You did?" Conan asked, surprise evident on his face.

"Yup, I'm going to be interning with the Fourth Division starting on Monday," Ayumi told him happily.

"I got an internship with the Cybercrimes Division," Mitsuhiko added.

"And I got asked by the Third Division," Genta grinned.

Conan looked at Ai.

"I got offered a job." Her voice was amused. "Part-time. Medical Examiner's office."

"You knew though, Conan-kun, didn't you?" Ayumi asked, sounding confused. "Didn't you get offered an internship?"

"Uh...no...I didn't."

-o-o-o-o-o-

"Thanks for the autopsy report, Aoki-sensei," Detective Satou Miwako said to the head medical examiner. "I know the ME office has been bogged down with work lately."

Aoki Rin smiled at the detective. "We're getting extra help starting Monday, so hopefully, we'll get through all the backlog."

"That's right!" Satou replied. "You'll be getting Ai-chan on a part-time basis. She's quiet, but efficient. I think you'll like her."

"I've seen her work on that case in the snow resort," Aoki informed Satou. "Brilliant for her age. If she sticks around, she'll probably advance through our ranks very quickly."

"I haven't heard what she wants to do regarding a career," Satou said thoughtfully, "but I'm sure her boyfriend wants to be in law enforcement."

"Edogawa Conan-kun, right?" Aoki asked, proving that the police gossip mill was healthy and far-reaching. "You guys are getting him Monday too, no?"

"Ah...no," Satou admitted.

"You're not? How come?"

Inspector Megure Juzo chose that moment to walk up to Satou's desk and drop off a stack of paperwork.

"Because that kid has been around and dragging in dead bodies since he was seven years old," the Inspector deadpanned. "Why would I fill out internship paperwork when I can guarantee you he'll be here regardless of official documentation?"

-o-o-o-o-o-

End Epilogue.
End Story.

Word Count: 1,978
Final Cumulative Word Count: 44,534

Closing Notes: I'm still in semi-shock that it's done. I haven't completed anything with chapters in 10 years! Some tidbits for the readers who might be interested:

1. During the planning of this story, I had 3 timelines drawn out that I tried to adhere to - one with the hours countdown mapped out (when were the murders were supposed to happen), one with all the main events in order, and one with what needed to happen in each chapter. This drove me nuts, by the way.

2. I envisioned this playing out like a DC movie: gadgets, Conan's catchphrase, a bomb to tie it all together.

3. The last scene with Satou and Megure was written immediately after the prologue. So I always knew it would be the last scene.

And finally, thank you all again for sticking with me. And to the people who reviewed, you really did make the posting happen. Without you, this would be a story sitting on my hard drive. :) So thanks a bunch, have a great Christmas/holiday, and until next time! Cheers~