The Hattori household was in chaos. Heizou and Shizuka were turning the place upside down in their haste, trying to find what they'd somehow misplaced. Their usually upbeat, obnoxiously cheerful son just sat there, staring gloomily out of a window without actually seeing. His parents were searching for the spare futons and bedding for their upcoming guests (one teen and two children, namely Neechan, Kudo and that Sherry Girl.) And not finding them.

Hattori Heiji stubbornly refused to join in with the mad hunt, keeping quiet as to the location of his parent's lost items. He could just tell them they were still in his bedroom in the cupboard, but his parents were (supposedly) bright enough to figure that out on their own, and he was too worried about Kudo to make sense anyway.

That Sherry girl wouldn't tag along unless something was seriously wrong with Kudo, with Conan, and Neechan sounded... concerned about Kudo on the phone. Especially when she'd warned him that they were Highly likely to bump into the other teen detective in Osaka.

What if changing sizes repeatedly had caused permanent damage? What if Kudo wasn't just sick anymore? What if... no. Heiji didn't want to think like that. He just couldn't fathom a life without Kudo and/or Conan in it anymore. The very notion that Kudo might die, even if Conan could stay... it left a very bitter taste in his mouth. It wasn't fair that Kudo might be forced to give up being himself.

     The last time Heiji had seen Kudo as Kudo... the Hesei Holmes has been in constant pain the whole time, weak and malnourished-looking and just plain exhausted... so much so Heiji had pretty much forced Kudo to rest and begged him to promise not to use the temporary antidotes again. At least not until that Sherry girl could stabilise his reactions to them. Seeing Kudo so sick like that had been almost too much for the dark skinned detective; it acted as a stark reminder as to how dangerous his best friend's life really was.

"Heiji! Where's tha spare bedding?" The teen glared at his mother, wondering how long he'd spaced out for this time.

"My room, where it always is." He answered blandly, turning back to stare out of the window again so he could return to his thoughts. He felt his phone buzz where he'd put in on silent this morning. He checked it. A message from Neechan.

–Will be boarding the train in five minutes. Your crazy boyfriend is racing us here.– Heiji blinked. Boyfriend? Were they bringing Kudo instead of mini-Kudo? And what did she mean by racing Neechan and that Sherry girl?

–Kudo's racing a train?!– She really couldn't mean that right? No way Kudo would race a train. Neechan had to be pulling his leg. He sent the text anyway.

–Yes. Ai-chan has 7200 yen on us beating him.–

–Hah. Pull the other one, it's got bells on. Kudo's not crazy enough to race a train.–

–I'm being serious Hattori-kun. You mean Conan-kun hasn't told you yet?– Heiji paled at that implication, realising that Neechan knew. Neechan knew Conan was Kudo. How long had she known?

–Tell me what exactly?– Neechan didn't reply immediately.

–We both know he's not seven Hattori-kun. But if Conan-kun really hasn't told you, then I guess he wanted to surprise you. Right, got to go. Boarding the train. Ja ne!– Heiji resisted the urge to call Kudo for all of five minutes, before dialling a familiar number into his phone and pressing the call button.

It didn't even ring, going straight to answerphone, so he tried kudo's phone instead, only to be met with the same results. That was very concerning. But as Neechan mentioned racing a train, maybe the not-child had turned his phones off?

💎⚽️💎⚽️💎⚽️💎⚽️💎⚽️💎

Ran smiled warmly at him as he swiftly shifted into Merlin's now familiar form, Haibara staring wide eyed, still clearly weirded out by his shifting. He was getting the hang of it all now; the flying came to him instinctively, landing and taking off not so much, but far improved now he'd practiced for a bit, and he'd even managed to eat a small portion of raw meat like this, though he'd prefer to be human for mealtimes.

He fluttered over to perch on Ran's shoulder, proud that he'd managed to shift into a bird whilst wearing a backpack, without it separating from his form as he changed. (Kind of impressive, when you looked at how he'd been a normal human boy just over a week ago. Well, his state of normal anyway. Being a freaky not child like him wasn't exactly common or normal after all.)

He had both 'his' and 'Shin'ichi's' mobile phones, two of his temporary antidotes in a little pill box, both his wallets -one with 'Conan's' money in it, one with ' Shin'ichi's'- a change of clothes and a few gadgets in there, along with a set of Shin'ichi sized clothes, so quite a weight for a young boy really. Even one a scarily durable as himself.

Ran nodded to him once, before grabbing both hers and Conan's night packs and walking calmly to the station just a little but further down the road, even as he took flight from her shoulder. They'd established the rules earlier, even though Ran was adamant he'd lose. Which would be true, even for a peregrine falcon, except that the Shinkansen track wound around the countryside, instead of a straight line.

Merlin (kami-sama, all these names for him were getting confusing!) wouldn't be taking such a serpentine route though. No. He was going as the crow... or falcon in this case, flew. A direct line all the way to Osaka, and he could start as soon as Haibara and Ran were on the train. He followed the two girls until they entered the station, waited five minutes, and then launched himself into the air with firm wingbeats.

Each beat of his wings took him higher and higher, gaining as much altitude as his body could handle, knowing that he could shed height for speed later when he needed it. Then he shot forwards, wings beating furiously for several moments before he slowed them into a steady but distance eating rhythm.

Far below and behind him, he spotted the train move off, so the avian detective shed his height for speed, wings beating with fury to maximise his speed, going arrow straight in the direction of Osaka. He'd memorised the route to Osaka, but even with the head start, he wasn't sure if he could beat Ran and Haibara. He had no idea how fast he could fly exactly, but he knew he wasn't as fast as a bullet train. Well a normal falcon wasn't as fast as a bullet train anyway. He wasn't so sure about himself. After all, he was far from normal.

Dipping one wing to adjust his trajectory slightly, Merlin pushed himself, stretching his mottled wings the same way he stretched his legs as his Shin'ichi self did in football practice. He exulted in his turn of speed, the freedom of flight like nothing he'd ever experienced before. Up here, where there weren't any obstacles save for other birds that swiftly got out of his way... he could think undisturbed.

He was now glad he'd taken the bet, even if he wasn't the sort to usually bet on such childish things and even if he was going to lose.

💎⚽️💎⚽️💎⚽️💎⚽️💎⚽️💎

Back at the station, Ai and Ran-Oneesan had just boarded the train, one with more reluctance than the other. Admittedly this was an act on her part. She was really looking forward to going to Osaka, even if only to go shopping in that expensive designer brand store that was having a sale that weekend. But it was kind of fun to act like a spoilt, bratty, difficult child sometimes.

Ai settled down the moment the train began to move, much to the relief of their fellow passengers and the amusement of Ran-Oneesan. Ran-Oneesan knew Ai was being difficult on purpose; keeping up appearances so to speak; but the mini biochemist knew it had to be at least bit irritating on the older girl's part.

Ai pulled out a little sketch pad and a box of brightly coloured kiddie crayons, doodling little Kawaii cat pictures in a pretty spiral shape. A quick glance at the Karate champion had Ai realising that Ran-Oneesan knew she wasn't really doodling but writing in a series of complex symbols made to look like a child's doodle. The younger girl wondered what Ran-Oneesan would think if she could understand the doodles.

After all, musings on potential antidote combinations and their possible side affects on the most curious lab rat she'd ever had the pleasure of befriending weren't exactly normal child-like thoughts. Ran-Oneesan didn't disturb her though, and Ai silently thanked Kudo-kun for warning the older girl not to disturb her when she was doodling because it was as dangerous as interrupting Kudo-kun whilst he was juggling footballs.

Ai glanced up at Ran-Oneesan curiously as a familiar ringtone sounded noisily, the older girl scrambling to answer and nearly dropping the device in her haste. The mini biochemist's interest fizzled out once she realised it was only Suzuki Sonoko on the other end of the line. (The young heiress's fashion sense was decent, her heart was in the right place, but good gods could she be any more annoying about her Kaitou Kid obsession?).

Ai ignored the subsequent girl talk and focused on more interesting things such as Kudo-kun's latest blood-work and the latest antidote formulas. Written in childish doodles of course, just to maintain cover. (It helped that she loved birds almost as much as she loved cats, and if a few bird faces snuck into her cat doodles, what did it matter?) It was fun to doodle, and maybe Kudo-kun would let her do a few sketches of his bird form later if she asked nicely.

💎⚽️💎⚽️💎⚽️💎⚽️💎

In the air, en-route to Osaka, Merlin was almost at his halfway marker; a village with an old and rather dilapidated church spire. He was fairly pleased at the pace he'd been keeping, his wings aching dully as he slowed to glance at the clock tower he could spot as he approached the village. The boy-turned-bird skipped a beat in his rhythmic flight as he registered the time showing on the village clock.

No, that couldn't be right. The clock must be wrong. It had to be wrong. He couldn't be that far ahead of the train. It wasn't possible. Was it? After all, Merlin was passing halfway, and the train was only just arriving at the stop before the halfway point if that clock was correct. He had to get a move on. He was probably well behind by this point. He was tiring now, but he wasn't too tired yet. The mild ache in his wings from the exercise would soon be too much for full powered flight, so he decided to gain as much altitude as he could before he got too tired for a full speed dive.

As Merlin left the village behind, a thought suddenly occurred to him. Was it possible for him to Mind Link with Hakuba-nii like this? Could a human mind even link with his bird self? Or was it too different to work? And what about the distance? Was it tooo far away? Or was distance something that didn't matter with a Mind Link?

He could always try and see. It would be an interesting experiment to do at least. Even if he couldn't do that at such a distance or whatever, it'd be nice to know, in case it was important later down the line at some case or other.

     *Hakuba-nii? Can you hear me?* The briefest pause that seemed to stretch forever... then....

     *Yes?* It was faint. Distant like a weak phone connection over distance, but it was there. *Did you... Edogowa-kun, why does your Mind-Link feel... different?* The voice rang clearly this time, still distant, but much, much clearer. Merlin was glad he could talk to Hakuba-nii, even from such a distance. It was nice to know he had a form of communication that couldn't be confiscated from him.

     *Just practicing two things at once. I was curious as to whether I could Mind-Link like this. I'm almost to Osaka, see?* Merlin chirped in his mind, sending a clear picture of what he could see if he looked down. He should have expect the next comment.

     *Are you in a helicopter, Edogowa-kun?*

     *Nope! Can you ask Kai-nii to explain? I've got a train to race. I'll try linking with you later when I get to Osaka, ok? I'm curious how far is too far for a useful Mind-Link.*

*A train to... are you serious Edogowa-Kun?* Merlin repeated the mental image, this time with looking to the side, showing nearly the entirety of one wing. *I think I'll go and ask Kaito for an explanation. He's giving me The Look again anyway. I can't exactly talk and Mind-Link at the same time. Stay safe, Ja Ne.* Merlin mentally scoffed, feeling a sort of mental shutter as Hakuba-nii turned his attention back outwards without actually blocking him out entirely.

He glanced below, almost (but not quite) surprised to see the outer fringes of Osaka already. He peered down as he flew over the first little group of houses, his sharp eyes searching for the Hattori Estate and not finding it. Had it been in the middle of a more built up area? He wasn't entirely sure, having spent only one night there almost a year ago now. (Ran-neechan preferred Reasonably Priced Hotels anyway.) He had to find the Hattori Estate before the girls showed up. If he did, he could win that bet with Haibara, if not... well, it wasn't like he'd been expecting to outpace a train or Haibara on a mission anyway.

Despite being at an altitude far above the other birds, a familiar pattern of buildings caught his sharp little eyes. He was beating his wings furiously in a steep power-dive before he even realised what he was doing. He folded his wings as he hit about halfway to the ground (Which was actually still quite a way up.) not really thinking as much as acting on the bird like instincts he seemed to have acquired with the new shape.

He wasn't thinking. If he had, he would have hesitated and probably wound up crashing into the ground at a very high speed. Luckily, he wasn't focused and he'd allowed instinct to take over, so his body flared the mottled wings at just the right moment to break his forward-downward momentum, stopping in a hover not quite two feet above the Hattori's lawn.

💎⚽️💎⚽️💎⚽️💎⚽️💎⚽️💎

Heiji was back to staring out of the window, waiting for his best friend, Neechan and that terrifying Sherry girl to arrive. He was worried about Kudo of course, (who wouldn't be when they knew what he did?) but he was also being eaten alive by his own curiosity. What on earth had Neechan meant by Racing The Train? Had the crazy old Hakase created a new gadget for his fellow detective or something?

A flash of mottle brown in the corner of his eye had Heiji turning his head to stare as a rather-impressive-But-tiny bird of prey spread its wings barely in time to prevent what might have been a deadly impact with the ground. It hovered about two foot off the ground, above a spot where a flock of pigeons and smaller birds had been only moments before.

The bird —it looked more like a falcon than a hawk to him, but he wasn't sure— continued to hover for a good few minutes, almost as if deciding whether to land or not. It didn't seem to be focusing on any one point of the grass, so it couldn't have been hunting a mouse or other small rodent.

Now, Heiji wasn't much of a bird watcher himself; that was more his old man's secret hobby; but he could appreciate how uncommon it was to see such unusual birds in Osaka and took the time to admire it. Chances were high that it would just fly away without landing, but the dark skinned sleuth wasn't one to pass up such an opportunity, so he slowly pulled his phone from his pocket, aware that if it saw any sudden movements, it really would just dart away.

So when the little mottled brown bird landed daintily on the grass to preen, he was thrilled, his phone-camera clicking away to capture as many shots as he could to show his old man. It would be an easier topic to talk about than whether he should be a detective or not. ( Heiji was a detective. End of.) Heiji had never seen a bird quite like this one, and he was hoping his old man might know what it was.

( even if all he'd use the knowledge for was getting at Haku-bastard -man he loved the English language for giving him that one- because he'd seen a rare wild falcon of some sort.)

💎⚽️💎⚽️💎⚽️💎⚽️💎⚽️💎

Co...Merlin caught sight of Hattori staring at him from the window as he hovered just above the grass, giving his tired, aching wing muscles a good long cool down before he landed. His beak was slightly open in a silent chuckle at the awed expression his friend was wearing, and he wished he had a camera on him and the ability to use it... oh. Cuso. Talking of cameras... Hattori had one pointed right at him.

His sharp eyes also picked out the assortment of overly curious pigeons and sparrows hiding in the hedgerow nearby. Were they perhaps wondering why he'd called out to them to take cover despite being a predator on a direct route to them? He knew what it'd have looked like to Hattori though. A failed hunt by an unusually small predator. He began to preen.

/Hey, Merlin-Falcon!\ a chirpy, too female coo called out, the speaker nestling in the relative safety of the hedge still. Merlin turned his whole body slightly to look at the sandy brown and white dove with his piercing blue eyes. A lot of the birds began to chatter as they saw his eye colour.

/Yes?\ Merlin responded, making sure he sounded genuinely curious and not just hungry. (Even if he was.)

/Why d'ya warn us 'bout ya? Ya could've gotten a meal out of us easy.\ The dove, definitely female his brain supplied, asked, looking less afraid and more interested as Merlin shuffled his feet and plucked a loose feather from himself awkwardly for a moment as he considered how to answer.

/My human feeds me plenty. I don't need to hunt, nor do I enjoy it. The crazy flying yes, but the hunting a spilling of blood just... isn't in my nature. Which contradicts my species I know.\ The falcon hybrid replied cautiously, turning his head away to smooth the ruffled feathers of one wing.

/Ya a tame then? Where's ya band? Huh?\ Another voice chimed in, heavily accented words barely understandable. Huh. Wasn't that a strange discovery? It seemed birds... doves at least anyway... had accents too.

/Leave 'im alone Kik. He's clearly a young un, and look at dat 'uman. He's being polite!\ A third, older pigeon reprimanded, landing close to Merlin with seemingly no care. This seemed to prove to the other birds that he wasn't a threat, because suddenly he was surrounded by pigeons, doves and even sparrows.

Out of the corner of his eye, Merlin noticed Hattori move, and cursed. That better not be a video recording! (It was kind of... cute, in a puppy like way, to see Hattori's face so... so... fascinated.

/Wow! Ya's really tiny fer a Falcon-Merlin. Ya sure ya ain't a overgrown sparra?\ a rather rotund, foreign sounding pigeon cooed, only to be soundly pecked by at least two, far more streamlined white fantail doves for her poor manners.

Merlin shuffled his feet nervously, discreetly moving to be a bit further away from the rude bird. He felt just a little bit out of his depth with all this. He could barely socialise as Shin'ichi, he was only marginally better at it as Conan, and he had no clue whatsoever with birds.

They were nice company and quite friendly, that much was obvious, but they weren't His friends or Kaito's hyper intelligent spy doves. He felt awkward and wooden, and a bit left out despite the feathered creatures doing their best to get him talking. He had never been a social butterfly like Sonoko or Ayumi-chan.

He engaged in the quick fire chatter for a few minutes, before turning to stare directly at Hattori with a cheeky, terrifying glint in his eyes. The dark skinned teen seemed to freeze as he realised this, and Merlin decided to hop along the grass towards him, keeping his wings firmly folded. His sharp little eyes picked out the open window, and considered breaking in just for the sheer heck of it, before reconsidering. That was a very Kid thing to think. Therefore he shouldn't.

It was tempting though. Had Ran arrived yet?

💎⚽️💎⚽️💎⚽️💎⚽️💎⚽️💎

Heiji watched in reluctant fascination as the Hawk-like bird was swarmed by a fairly large flock of various birds, all of which would usually be scared of the predator. He was suddenly glad he'd been recording the bird; this was completely unbelievable! He'd never heard of anything like this before. Maybe the falcon was actually injured? It couldn't be a tame bird because there weren't any rings on it's legs.

Then the bird turned, hopping a few feet over the grass towards the window, it's too-blue eyes seemingly staring right at him. It tilted it's head to one side as if considering him, though Heiji knew it was probably just seeing a reflection of itself.

A few more hops had it right at the edge of the grass, only a gravel path and a window separating it from Heiji. He glanced down at his phone to check if he was getting it all on camera, relieved when he found it was all being recorded. The bird really did seem to be watching him, and it felt like he was the one being observed, not the other way around. It was a bit creepy.

💎⚽️💎⚽️💎⚽️💎⚽️💎⚽️💎

Ran glanced down at Ai-chan as she entered the front gates of the Hattori Estate. The not-child seemed quite content for once, probably because Ran never made her feel like she had to act her apparent age. A flock of birds on the side lawn caught her attention as the approached the front door, a single brown bird the centre of attention.

She shook her head in amused resignation. Of course Shin'ichi could race a bullet train and win. Why ever not? It wasn't on her top three of Bizarre Stunts Only Shin'ichi Could Pull Off, but it was on the list. And he hadn't half pulled of some real insane things over the years.

Ai-chan only noticed the little Falcon when their presence spooked the feathered creatures. All of them scattered, save for one little mottled brown one with too-blue eyes and an unspeakable adorable cowlick of feathers on it's head. It blinked at them owlishly, until Ran held her arm out. An open invitation.

/How on earth did you take so long?!\ Merlin clicked, somehow managing to convey his surprise despite their code not having a tone-of-voice as such, once he'd glided over to settle carefully on her arm. He slowly inched up until he was on her shoulder, gripping as gently as he could as she continued to walk up to the front door of the Hattori household.

Ai-chan rolled her eyes at the dark skinned teen that answered the door, because he was gawking at the bird on Ran's shoulder with a sort of bug-eyed, open mouthed look that was just a bit ridiculous. "Hey Hattori-kun." She greeted casually, as if a random bird of prey on ones shoulder was an normal, everyday occurrence.

     "Aaa. Come in I guess? Where's Conan-kun? Ya said somethin' abou' a race?" Ran Raised one eyebrow at the bird on her shoulder, earning a stifled giggle from the not-child and a funny look from Hattori-kun. The bird in question had the decency to look guilty. Somehow.

     "He won." She stated simply, the bird on her shoulder clicking his beak in a familiar pattern. "And he wanted to show you how he won, because just explaining it probably won't be enough. This is going to be more crazy than Conan himself, so can we do this over drinks in the guest room we'll be staying in?" Hattori-kun nodded as Ran and Ai-chan breezed past, probably trying to comprehend the meaning of her words.

     She did wonder what conclusion he'd come to on his own. After all, what could be crazier than a Teenage Detective turned child? You never knew with Hattori-kun. He might even get it right...