Chapter 6: Haibara, Make a Contract with Me and Become a Magical Girl!
Teitan Elementary. Lunch Break.
Under a cherry blossom tree in a quiet corner of the schoolyard, pink petals drifted down on the spring breeze.
Conan and Haibara stood facing each other, the air between them thick with a rare and palpable tension.
"Have you lost your mind? Mitsuhiko told me you went to contact Kyubey alone last night!" Conan's voice was sharp. "You saw what happened to him with your own eyes! Kyubey deliberately hid the truth about the Soul Gems. Who knows what other dangers it's hiding?!"
"I know exactly what I'm doing," Haibara retorted, her voice cold.
"You think you do?!" Conan shot back, his frustration boiling over. "You'd actually believe a liar like that? Bringing the dead back to life? How is that even possible?! Science can't explain something like that!"
"And yet you saw what happened that day!"
"Science..." Haibara let out a bitter, humorless laugh. "Believe me, I trust in science more than anyone. But science couldn't save my sister. It couldn't stop the Organization. It couldn't even protect me!"
"So you'd rather trust that monster?" Conan pressed, his voice rising. "You'd rather give up your humanity? Become a... a walking corpse?"
Haibara stared at him for a long moment, her voice turning hoarse. "I thought... you, of all people, would understand."
"I understand that you miss your sister, but this isn't the right way!"
"Then what is the right way?" she challenged, her voice cracking. "To just accept the fact that she's dead? To let the one chance I might have to save her slip away? Or should I be like you, and believe that logic and reasoning can solve every problem in the world?"
She took a step closer, her eyes boring into his. "Tell me, Great Detective. Can your precious logic bring my sister back to life?"
Conan was speechless. He couldn't answer. Because he already knew the answer was no.
In the distance, the cheerful laughter of Genta and Ayumi drifted from the classroom, a stark, painful contrast to the heavy silence between them.
Haibara turned and walked away.
"Haibara!" Conan called after her, but she didn't look back.
Dr. Agasa's House. The Living Room.
Afternoon sunlight slanted through the window, casting long shadows across the floor. Haibara sat alone on the sofa, a cup of long-cold black tea on the table before her.
She had skipped school.
Bringing my sister back...
The thought circled endlessly in her mind. She closed her eyes, remembering her last conversation with Akemi.
"Once I finish this last job, we can leave the Organization for good. We can live normal lives, freely."
"I promised I'd protect you, didn't I?"
That was the last promise Akemi ever made to her. A promise she never came back to fulfill.
Haibara slowly stood and walked to the window. A lone bird soared across the bright spring sky.
Freedom. What a ridiculously luxurious word.
"If I make the contract... what will I become?" she whispered to herself.
She looked down at her own hands. These were the hands that had perfected APTX 4869 in the Organization's labs—the poison that had taken countless lives and shrunk Shinichi Kudo. These hands had trembled as they wiped away tears on countless lonely nights. These hands... were the last thing her sister had held onto for support.
"A walking corpse?" Haibara smiled, a sad, self-mocking expression. "Am I not already a walking corpse?"
A part of her had died the moment her sister did. The part of her heart that was capable of hope had long since stopped beating. All that was left was a hollow shell, moving through life on sheer inertia.
So, if she could trade that shell for her sister...
If she could touch that warm hand again...
If she could hear that gentle voice one more time...
Then even her own soul was a price she was willing to pay.
Haibara took a deep breath. The scales in her heart had already tipped.
"Kyubey," she called out softly.
There was no response.
She raised her voice slightly. "Kyubey. I know you can hear me."
From a shadowy corner of the room, a small white figure slowly padded into the light, its red eyes glittering in the sun.
"Have you made your decision, Ai Haibara? Or should I say... Shiho Miyano?"
Haibara turned, her gaze firm and unwavering. "I have."
Teitan Elementary. The Classroom.
The afternoon sun streamed through the windows, illuminating the dust motes dancing in the air as the teacher's voice droned on.
Mitsuhiko sat at his desk, his mind a million miles away. Ever since he'd learned the truth about himself, he'd been in a daze. He wasn't human anymore. He was just a... shell, piloted by a Soul Gem. The knowledge was a waking nightmare he couldn't escape.
Suddenly, he felt a faint ripple of magical energy. It wasn't his imagination.
Mitsuhiko's head shot up, a flicker of blue light in his eyes. The feeling... it was like someone else was using magic!
And it was coming from the direction of Dr. Agasa's house. Haibara's house.
He immediately looked over at Conan and saw the detective was still brooding. He quickly made a series of subtle hand gestures. Their eyes met, and Conan instantly understood that Mitsuhiko, with his newfound senses, had detected something was wrong.
"Teacher! My stomach hurts!" Mitsuhiko suddenly exclaimed, raising his hand.
"Alright, you can go to the nurse's office," the teacher said.
"I'll go with him!" Conan added, jumping to his feet.
As soon as they were excused, they bolted from the classroom.
"What's happening?!" Conan demanded the second they were in the hallway.
"There's a surge of magic coming from Dr. Agasa's! And Haibara skipped class this afternoon! I think—"
The pieces clicked together in Conan's mind. "Haibara!"
Mitsuhiko nodded grimly and grabbed Conan's wrist. "Hold on tight!"
A flash of blue light, and the two of them vanished from the empty school corridor.
Dr. Agasa's House. The Living Room.
Haibara stood in the center of the room, facing Kyubey. The golden sunlight enveloped her small frame, dust motes dancing peacefully in the beams.
"I've made my decision," Haibara said, her voice unshakable.
Kyubey stared at her, its red eyes unblinking. "Then, in exchange for your soul, what is your wish?"
In that single moment, a lifetime of memories flooded Haibara's mind. Her sister holding her through the night. The birthday cake her sister had baked for her. Her sister's final, brave smile. For a split second, she saw an infinite number of parallel worlds—worlds where her sister lived, where they had normal lives, where she had never joined the Organization.
But in this world, she only had one chance.
"My wish..."
Just as the words were about to leave her lips, a flash of blue light erupted in the living room, and Conan and Mitsuhiko appeared out of thin air.
"HAIBARA, STOP!" Conan yelled.
But she didn't falter.
"...is to bring my sister, Akemi Miyano, back to life."
"The contract is sealed."
Kyubey's voice marked the turning point of fate.
Instantly, a blinding silver light exploded from Haibara's body. It was different from Mitsuhiko's blue, carrying with it a baptismal purity. The light washed over the entire room like a tidal wave, engulfing them all. Conan and Mitsuhiko were forced to shut their eyes against the searing brilliance.
[Non-Human Beings Chat Group]
SpongeBob SquarePants: WOOOOAH! It's so bright again! This is fun!
Tom Cat: [Cat_Shielding_Eyes_with_Paws.jpeg]
In the heart of the light, Haibara's soul was pulled from her body, crystallizing into a silver-white gem. In that moment, she felt impossibly light, as if all her pain and burdens had been stripped away. The silver energy wrapped around her, and her school uniform dissolved, reforming into a new shape. A white, lab-coat-style dress formed around her, the silver Soul Gem now hanging from her chest. On her wrists, bracelets resembling precision instruments materialized. The outfit perfectly merged her identity as a scientist with the aesthetics of magic.
The entire process lasted only a few seconds, yet it felt like an eternity.
When the light faded, Ai Haibara was transformed. She floated for a moment in mid-air, her hair drifting around her, her new magical uniform shimmering with a technological sheen. She landed softly, and when she opened her eyes, they shone with a light that had never been there before.
No longer cold. No longer filled with sorrow. But with hope.
"Haibara..." Mitsuhiko whispered, too stunned to say anything else.
Conan stood frozen, a storm of emotions on his face. He had tried to stop it, but he was too late. Now, all he could do was pray that the price for this miracle wasn't too terrible.
Just then, the very air in front of Haibara began to distort. Magic was tearing a seam in reality, bridging the gap between life and death. Particles of light began to coalesce, slowly forming a human shape. First an outline, then the details. Long, dark hair. A gentle face...
The sight plunged Conan into a memory. The pier. Akemi's body lying in a pool of her own blood.
"Miss Masami! Hang in there!" he had pleaded, gripping her hand, feeling the warmth fade from it.
"How did you know I was here, Conan-kun?" she had asked, the life draining from her eyes.
"I put a tracker on your car... I figured you'd meet the mastermind here... Damn it! If only I'd spoken up sooner!"
"Who... who are you... really...?"
"Edogawa... no. My name is Shinichi Kudo. I'm a detective."
"Shinichi Kudo...? So it's you... I've heard of you... The men I hired were killed... In the end, I couldn't escape the Organization's grasp..."
"The Organization?"
"It's a huge organization, shrouded in mystery... All I really know is that their color is black... They all wear black, like crows..."
Her final words had been a plea. "Please... could you listen... to my last request? Take the money... before they find it... I don't want them to use it anymore... Please... little detective..."
That was the last thing she ever said. Her death was officially ruled a suicide, the truth buried.
And now, the woman who had died before his very eyes was standing right there.
Breathing. Alive.
In the corner, Kyubey listened to the sweet, satisfying sound of its system notification.
[Contract with a primary character from the Detective Conan world has been established. 3000 units of Contract Energy harvested.]