A/N: In the aftermath of last chapter, Ran is overprotective and Conan is feeling smothered. (Format reminder: Conan's texts are on the left, Kid's are center-ish)

Conan was starting to give serious consideration to literally climbing the walls. Since the case at Rikugien a week ago, Ran had refused to let him go absolutely anywhere unsupervised. She walked with him the entire way to and from school, and had gone with them any time the kids had dragged him to the park to play. He hadn't been alone out of her sight at any time except his room at the agency, and even then she checked on him every ten minutes or so. Admittedly, it had been stupid of him to just walk away without telling anyone, but her reaction was making him feel trapped, like he was being suffocated by her worry.

He'd tried escaping to Agasa's house, but that had failed miserably—he hadn't been able to get away from the kids. What he really needed was somewhere to be alone for a while so he didn't have to worry about acting like 'Conan', but there was no way Ran would leave him alone for the foreseeable future. Really, given how stressed he was, it probably wasn't a good idea for him to be alone—oh. Conan blinked as a plan abruptly slotted into place. That might work.

As soon as the bell rang for lunch, Conan told the Shounen Tantei that he had a headache (true) and was going to find a shady spot (also true) to take a nap (to plan his escape, but they didn't need to know that). Once outside, after making sure they were actually going to leave him alone, he made his way to a shady corner of the schoolyard and forced his way under a clump of bushes into the clear spot around the base of a particularly leafy tree.

Satisfied no one would interrupt him, Conan pulled out his phone and sent a short text.

Help.

Where are you? Are you hurt?

I'm fine, I just need a favor.

(╯•﹏•╰) Tantei-kun, you nearly gave me a heart attack

Sorry.

I just need to get away from Ran-neechan for a while.

You need my help for that?

She's pretty much refused to let me go anywhere without an adult for the last week.

Brat, you went off alone without telling her anything

And were gone for so long that when I brought you back

I got mobbed by police officers! (ᗒᗣᗕ)՞

Yeah, sorry about that.

That short-haired woman was terrifying.

You mean Sato-keiji?

She's nice.

Sure, AFTER you told her I was helping you.

Before that I seriously thought she would attack me.

Ah…yeah Takagi-keiji told me afterwards that they'd thought you were kidnapping me.

Eeeehhh?

They'd never seen me let anyone carry me around like that, so…

They thought I was unconscious.

Wait…seriously?

Yeah.

(ーー;) You…

I don't know why I'm surprised

Your life is ridiculous, chibi.

Believe me, I know.

So…you said you needed something?

Right.

I was hoping you could use the disguise from that time

since Ran-neechan would probably trust you

at least to go to the park without her following me

Hmm…maybe.

It would probably work better if I told her I wanted to make sure you're ok,

have you ask her to go to the park while she's busy with something

and then you could suggest me 'watching' you.

I can do that.

I'll drop by about an hour after your school gets out?

Thanks.

No worries, tantei-kun.

Bye, Kid-san.

Oi, oi, what's with the rush?

I need to get back to class

Before the Shounen Tantei decide to form a search party.

Tantei-kun, you ditched class to text me?

Lunch, actually.

I can't exactly let them know their 'leader' is in contact with a criminal.

Oh, good, that means I still have more time to corrupt you. (＾ω＾)

If you want Ran-neechan to ever let me go to another heist,

don't say anything like that again.

But you'd make such a good minion!

No.

(T⌓T)

Don't you have an assistant already?

You'd be a much cuter assistant, chibi-kun!

I'm not cute.

⌒°(ᴖ◡ᴖ)°⌒

Being short does not make me cute, stupid thief.

Admit it, you'd be an awesome assistant.

I'd rather assist a soccer ball on its way to your stupid monocle.

(;*△*;) Tantei-kun! You wound me!

Good

Really, Tantei-kun, I thought we were friends.

Yes, and?

*gasp* You admitted it! Ｏ(≧▽≦)Ｏ

…you're ridiculous.

Not waiting for the thief's response, Conan switched off his phone and hurried back to the school building. If he was late for class the Shounen Tantei would definitely pester him to find out why, and 'he was tired' would not be a good enough answer. He wasn't about to let this plan go to waste because they refused to leave him alone.

A/N: The muses have apparently decided to compete for attention...by giving me ten ideas at once. Enjoy the flood of updates while it lasts, y'all.

It's Kid's turn to vent a bit next chapter…any guesses what about?