Omake

Omake: Christmas Time for MSK!

*Omake chapter (it means, 'not part of the actual plot' or 'extra'), I'm so happy! I will continue writing the rest of the story after Christmas break! I'll be back writing before New Years, until then, have happy holidays! (if you review any chapter, you will seriously make my day!) Don't take any of this writing too seriously, it's just for fun!*

Third Person

There were three teenagers sitting next to a cozy fireplace, and four small children playing around on the computer. One of them was celebrating her real first Christmas, her name was Shiho Miyano. But she was known as Ai Haibara.

She smiled happily as she competed with her friends on the online game, the first real smile she'd had in a while. She hadn't realized that making friends could be so absolutely fantastic. "You're doing great Ai-chan!" said the other girl, Ayumi Yoshida. "Is this really your first time playing?"

"Yup!" Her face was lit up as she replied, and one of the teenagers looked relieved in her direction. Ran Mouri had been worried about how Ai would interact with the children after a disastrous first day of school. But, everything had turned about better than she could have thought. The shrunken twenty year scientist finally had her first true friends.

"Where's your dad, Ran-chan?" asked the other girl, Kazuha Tooyama. "Is he busy?"

"Yeah." She nodded sheepishly. "A case came up, and he's trying his best to solve it. He doesn't think he'll be able to make it."

"And we had everything prepared too," sighed Heiji Hattori. "Jeez, that guy sure has perfect timing, doesn't he? To miss a Christmas party, I even bought the old man a present." He pointed to the Christmas tree with at least a dozen presents under it. "You'll have to take it to him afterwards."

"You guys are getting pretty comfortable with this house, aren't you?" asked Ran.

"Mm-hm," said Kazuha. "Tell Kudo that we said thank you," she also whispered, making sure the children didn't hear. They hadn't learned the secret, nor did anyone want them to. An unsuspecting child could probably be very dangerous.

"When do we get to open the presents, Heiji-niichan? Kazuha-neechan?" asked Mitsuhiko, one of Ai's new friends.

"You can open them now if you want," offered Kazuha. "Even though it's only Christmas Eve." She looked at the clock, which showed it was only an hour to Christmas.

"Nope!" Heiji stopped the kids from charging at the presents. "These are all fake. Your real presents are hidden somewhere else. You'll have to solve this puzzle to get them!"

"Why, it's almost Christmas," whined Genta. "Can't we just have the presents?"

"It's my fond belief that a puzzle makes everything a little bit more fun. I'm a detective after all. If you guys do solve the puzzle, I'll tell one of the mysteries I solved, so how about it?"

"Just a story?" asked Mitsuhiko. "Can't we get anything else?"

"I'll think about it," said Heiji. "In the meantime, here's the puzzle!"

'In the dark I am hidden, hidden from plain sight,

In order to find me, it'll take all of your might!'

"Heiji, you're really bad at rhymes," whispered Kazuha, as Mitsuhiko read aloud the puzzle.

"Shaddup," he replied, face red.

'There's a place in this house, where things are stored,

And sometimes people will go in if they are bored.

There lies your first clue.'

"Where things are stored?" asked Ayumi.

"Well that's an obvious start," commented Ai as she glared at Heiji, making him recoil. "The answer is-" Heiji clamped his hands over her mouth.

"Let the kids do it! No help from you!" he said irritated.

"Let go of Ai-chan, she can help if she wants to," Kazuha said. "After all, she's a normal kid." She put emphasis on normal and kid. Heiji sighed, and let her go.

"The answer is the kitchen. You store things like food in the kitchen, and a lot of people will eat when they're bored. Kind of like Genta-kun here." They all laughed at Ai's joke.

"Hey," Genta defended himself. "It's normal, okay?"

They all headed to the kitchen as Heiji watched with a broad smile on his face. "I wonder how long it'll take them to figure it out."

"I hope you didn't make it too hard for them, Heiji," said Kazuha.

"It'll take that tea-colored hair girl split seconds. It would be a whole lot more fun if she just let the kids do it."

"Ai-chan needs some fun too. She missed out on most of her childhood. She should have a chance to re-do it," Ran said.

"Ah, it's here!" Mitsuhiko cheered. "I found the next clue!"

'To the young detectives who found this clue,

The next part might be a little hard and new.

'Inside a book, on a shelf, there lies your next hint,

I hope you like mysteries, because in the book there's a tint,

Of exciting surprises, and thrilling suspense,

And for the page numbers, I now shall dispense.

'Solve : x+90=280'

"I don't think he left enough clues here," Ayumi commented. "How will we know what book it is?"

"I think he made it a bit more noticeable than the others somehow. Otherwise, it'd be really unfair." Genta rubbed his forehead. "Where do you think the book would be?"

"In the library! There's a big library here in Heiji-niichan's house!" exclaimed Mitsuhiko. The kids didn't know that the house's true owner was murdered either. It would be saved for another time.

They ran to the library to find one book lying on the ground. It read 'The Valley of Fear' by Arthur Conan Doyle.

"This is a Sherlock Holmes book," commented Ai as she picked it up. "If x+90=280, then x=190." She flipped to the page, and read it.

"So, what's it about?" asked Ayumi.

"It's the part where the criminals find out that the man they were trying to find was already among them. Heiji-niichan really stretched with this clue." A coy smile was on her face.

"So, what is it, Ai-chan?" asked Genta.

"It basically means that he was lying when he said the presents were fake, we were tricked!" she laughed. "Just like those criminals."

Heiji was faced with a small ambush where he was forced to apologize to everybody. But it was a great first Christmas for Ai Haibara, who finally found a reason to enjoy life.