Disclaimer: There is only one truth. And the truth is that I don't own Detective Conan.

Oh wow, a very very sincere apology to alexzhou04, Ai-chan, charon101 and MR-chan for not writing a ConAi in a long time. Here I am to make it up. And also to take a break from Cnidaria, Chordata, Mollusca, blah blah blah(Biology exam coming up, lolz).

--

Edogawa Conan watched as his prized soccer ball slip from his hands and bounce through an ajar door into a room. Haibara Ai's room, to be exact. A room that he had never, ever, entered before and definitely did not plan to in near future.

But now it seemed he had no choice. That was his most esteemed, most cherished football in the whole wide world, signed by his soccer idol Ronaldhino. He could not and would not leave it behind, even if that meant he had to run the risk of facing the horrifying wrath of a certain shrunken scientist.

Fortunately for him, the aforementioned young lady was not around to witness his surreptitious actions. He tiptoed up to the room, pushed the door further and glanced around before entering the forbidden zone. As soon as he was in, he slammed the door immediately. He sighed. How did he, the renowned high school detective, Kudo Shinichi, end up like this? Somehow Haibara possessed the power to reduce him into no more than a paltry thief.

Oh well, better than being glared at and cold-shouldered by the aforesaid woman with an unnaturally nerve-jangling stare.

Keen cerulean eyes skirted across the room for the beloved soccer ball, only to be distracted by the decoration of the room. Or rather, the lack of it. For some reason, he had always depicted Haibara's room to be dark and shady, maybe with black wallpaper swathing the walls with blood-red roses on it. A vase with a solitary rose should be placed on the table at the very middle of the room, and opaque draperies clung to the windows, filtering most light from entering the room.

However, the room before him was as cheery as could be. A draft of breeze danced the beige crepe curtains, sunlight flooded into the room, the walls were a soft cream, a photo frame stood beside a modest bed where two girls grinned back. Conan was stunned. The photo was of Haibara and her deceased sister, Miyano Akemi. What struck him the most was the way Haibara was laughing. For as long as he knew her, he had never seen her laugh like that.

Conan smiled gently and shook his head. Perhaps this was the true Haibara underneath her wintry façade. A girl who was as mellow as the furry yellow mat below his feet, a girl who was happy-going and caring before she had to erect a wall of fortitude around herself to keep from harm from the Black Organisation, to keep from being hurt like she did when her sister died.

Jolting himself out of his reverie, he reminded himself that whatever Haibara was like deep down, she would NOT tolerate him intruding her privacy like that. Clandestine steps skulked across the floor to where the soccer ball laid waiting. He picked it up, arched his back and bolted towards the door. Haste never pays, as shown when he knocked the calendar on Haibara's desk down. He exhaled in relief. Today must had really been his day. A calendar by itself was relatively weightless, and with the buffering of the mat, virtually no noise was created. He heaved a sigh of relief that it was not something brittle like glass. How on earth was he going to explain to Haibara then?

Deftly, he reinstated the calendar and was about to depart when a glaring scarlet circle on the calendar caught his eyes. Curious as ever, he examined it. The date circled was actually today! And written beside it, in obtrusive red alphabets, were the words 'my birthday'.

Conan gasped. It had never occurred to him that he never knew Haibara's birthday. He smacked his forehead. The trip into this room had shown him what little he knew about Haibara, or more precisely Miyano Shiho. Had he been so inconsiderate, so indifferent towards her when she had been through so much?

He was going to make up for it.

--

Haibara was typing on her computer when her ears grasped some shuffling and jarring sound waves from outside the room. She raised an eyebrow askance. Hiroshi Agasa's pad only produced such a bedlam when the Detective Boys were about. Last time she checked, though, only Conan was rampant in this residence.

She ignored it, nevertheless. She did not feel particularly sociable today. Not when it was her birthday, a first birthday without her sister by her side. Even in the past when she was studying overseas, her sister took pains to send her some kind of gift or message to show her that she cared, that she remembered her birthday. But she would never get something from her anymore.

Never again.

She shut out all the clamour, hunched over the keyboard and resumed typing. Working hard was the only way she could flee from her sorrows. And she intended to right now.

When she finally exited from the basement, it was already one in the morning. Some birthday she had, locked up in the laboratory the whole day long.

Turning the doorknob, she swung open the door, and almost fell back down the stairs in surprise. A bunch of kids and a rotund professor was sprawled on the floor outside, and a birthday cake rested forgotten beside them. For a moment she stood dumbfounded, but she swiftly recollected herself. Kneeling over the birthday cake, she beamed – a beam that had never appeared on her face after her sister died.

They did this for me…

She glanced towards the professor, Yoshida Ayumi slumped over his portly girth in sweet dreams. Kojima Genta and Mitsuhiko were slouching against the wall, Genta's head on top of Mitsuhiko's as if they were some loving couple. She chuckled.

Then turquoises fell on the boy at one corner, a hand propped up on a knee and a head asleep in a palm. She smiled softly. Even in his sleep he still appeared so dignified, so… cool. She felt her heartbeat speeding up, her cheeks flushing.

She would bet anything that this was all his idea.

Dipping a finger into the cake, she sampled it. It was not as good as the ones her sister baked, but it still tasted wonderful. A satisfied grin playing on her lips, she settled herself and commenced her belated birthday dinner.

"Happy birthday, Haibara," a voice caught her off guard. She glimpsed towards the source of voice. Sure enough, it was Conan, his piercing azures still bleary with sleep.

And as if on cue, the others began waking up as well. One by one they stretched their appendages, until they all perceived her presence.

"Happy birthday, Haibara!" shouted Genta and Mistuhiko. "Happy birthday, Ai-chan!" chanted Agasa and Ayumi.

She looked blankly at them for a few seconds, her mouth slightly parted, not really knowing how to react. Gradually, though, she gave them an appreciative smile.

"Thank you," she murmured.

And she really meant it.

OMAKE

"But how did you know it was my birthday?" Haibara inquired amidst devouring of the cake.

"Conan told us," Ayumi proffered. She riveted his attention towards Conan.

"How did you know?"

Conan rubbed the back of his jet-black hair sheepishly, a flabbergasted expression on his visage. "I, um, err… I'm a detective, naturally, I figured it out!"

Haibara narrowed her aquamarine eyes and stared at him silently. The clock ticked.

"You went into my room," she stated in finality.

Conan flinched. "I didn't mean to, I just went to get my soccer ball! I swear!"

"You went, into, my room," she reiterated. Conan shot up from the floor, ready to scurry away any moment.

"You're so dead."

He ran.