Friendship
"Aww! Who knew Mitsuhiko had it in him?" Hearing that her little brother was planning to catch fireflies all by himself, for a girl no less, his sister laughed and praised him for it.
Professor Agasa looked at the complete lack of tension in the woman and didn't quite know what to say.
Her personality really didn't seem to match Mitsuhiko's at all.
Once the kids had made up their minds to go find Mitsuhiko together, his sister sent them off with a hopeful reminder. "If you end up catching fireflies with Mitsuhiko, don't forget to take pictures and send them to me. It's been ages since I've seen fireflies in summer... I feel like I'm missing half my summer memories these days."
"You got it — leave it to us." Natsuki raised her phone and gave her a firm promise.
"Alright, let's go!" Ayumi and Genta shouted in unison.
Haibara trailed a few steps behind them, watching their happy, eager faces, and for the first time since the incident at the harbor, a smile touched her lips. "Searching for fireflies with friends... that counts as a wonderful summer memory too, doesn't it?"
Conan caught that rare, unguarded expression on her face and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it does."
"What are you two whispering about back there? Kids should act like kids — don't go around looking so burdened all the time. Relax a little. Hmm... maybe try going to the bathroom more often or something." Nahida sidled up beside Haibara and Conan as they talked and offered her well-meaning advice.
Conan flinched at the sudden intrusion of her voice, and when her words sank in, he stared at her, baffled. "Never mind the 'burdened' part — why would relaxing have anything to do with going to the bathroom more often?"
"You know what they say — you feel refreshed after a trip to the bathroom. That's all my suggestion is. And Conan, aren't you already setting a perfect example?" Nahida pressed a fingertip to her chin, struck by a recollection. "I remember that at crime scenes, whenever Conan finishes thinking something over, he always announces he needs the bathroom. Isn't that his way of unwinding after a good, long think?"
She turned a questioning gaze on Conan.
Conan: "..."
The corner of his mouth twitched. He had no comeback. There was no way he could explain that back then he hadn't actually needed the bathroom at all — that he'd been slipping away to use his bow tie voice changer to call people as Kudo Shinichi, or hunting for a chance to duck out and look for clues.
All he could do was accept Nahida's theory about his frequent bathroom visits.
"Pfft..."
At the sound of Haibara's stifled laughter beside him, Conan fixed her with a half-lidded stare.
Honestly. Was it really that funny? Had this woman forgotten that she was on Nahida's list of suggestions too?
"Pfft... ahem." Professor Agasa caught the look of sheer disbelief Conan sent his way and turned his head away, feeling distinctly uncomfortable. But in his defense, who could blame him? When Shinichi used the bathroom excuse that often, even switching up his alibis occasionally wouldn't have misled the kids.
"Ahem. Well, going that often isn't exactly healthy either. Maybe Ran should take Conan to see a doctor when she gets the chance," Natsuki said, taking pity on Conan as his face steadily turned red and stepping in to rescue him. "As it happens, I know a few doctors who are quite skilled. If Ran doesn't mind, I'd be happy to introduce her sometime."
Professor Agasa! And Natsuki-neechan! Why are you two in on this too?!
Once it looked like Conan was genuinely getting angry, they gave up on teasing him and turned to the business of figuring out which patch of forest Mitsuhiko had actually gone to.
Amid the banter and the children's chatter, asking directions the whole way, they finally tracked him down to a forest in Gunma Prefecture.
Genta charged ahead at the front of the group. "Mitsuhiko's really something, huh? He walked all this way by himself."
Ayumi nodded. "Yeah, at least we know he came here. But this forest is huge — how are we ever going to find him in it?"
"No need to worry. Mitsuhiko's wearing his..." — detective badge. Through his glasses, Conan could track the signal from Mitsuhiko's badge.
He never got to finish the sentence, because Nahida cut in.
"This way." Nahida had already moved out in front of Genta, pointing down one of the branching paths.
Conan glanced at the tracker displayed in his glasses, compared it against the direction Nahida had just indicated, and was astonished to find she hadn't pointed wrong.
How did Nahida know Mitsuhiko was over there? Coincidence?
Conan stood rooted to the spot, staring at her blankly.
Haibara passed right by him. "Great Detective, what's with the statue act? Aren't we going?"
Conan snapped out of it and hurried to catch up with her. "No, wait. Genta and Ayumi I can understand — they're little kids, they don't overthink things. But aren't you even a little suspicious that Nahida pointed the wrong way? You're just following along without question?"
"weren't you just checking Mitsuhiko's badge location with those tracking glasses of yours? If she'd pointed the wrong way, you'd have said so immediately instead of standing there gawking." Haibara turned her head and explained coolly.
Conan: "..."
Well, thank you so very much for your confidence in me...
From that point on, under Conan's incredulous watch, Nahida pointed out the correct direction every single time the group lost its way.
Conan was beginning to genuinely wonder whether she had planted some kind of surveillance device on Mitsuhiko.
Before long, the battery on Conan's tracking glasses gave out, and Mitsuhiko's position winked off the lens. Fortunately, by that point he no longer needed them.
Following Nahida's directions, the group pressed on for a while longer, and not far from a river, they spotted the small figure of a child.
No one needed to guess — it was Mitsuhiko.
"Mitsuhiko—" Genta and Ayumi shouted his name joyfully and raced toward him.
"How come you guys are here?" Mitsuhiko turned around, staring in astonishment at the crowd that had appeared out of nowhere in front of him.
Conan stepped up and explained why they had all come out here.
"Mitsuhiko, you jerk — that's so cold! Something like this, you're supposed to bring the whole gang along!" Genta threw an arm around Mitsuhiko's neck with a grin.
"Exactly! I think catching fireflies together, all of us Detective Boys, is a precious summer memory too," Ayumi said, looking at him with utter seriousness.
Haibara came to stand before him as well and shot back a question of her own. "Right. Or is it that you don't consider us friends?"
"No! Of course I do!" Mitsuhiko protested at once.
Looking at how serious everyone's faces were, Mitsuhiko broke into a moved smile. "Everyone..."
Natsuki and Professor Agasa stood a little way back, watching the children's exchange with warm, fond eyes.
"There really is something moving about a child's friendship, don't you think, Natsuki-neechan?" Nahida turned back to look at Natsuki behind her, smiling as she asked.
Natsuki's expression promptly went flat.
Nahida, when you look like a little kid yourself, saying things like that is honestly just weird...