He performs an experiment

[All characters are 18+]

Kaede shows them to the auditorium. It's decently big, room for 60 people to sit in staggered rows before the stage, a handful of people already there, scattered about. "Good thing you guys got here when you did, there's maybe 15 minutes till the start time, though I think several people are taking their time." As she says this, a couple more walk in and take seats near the front. "Wanna grab seats together?" "Shuichi and mikan nod, following her to the 5th row from the bottom, taking seats near the middle. The two girls took seats on either side of Shuichi, Mikan his right and Kaede his left.

The new Ultimate Detective was still confused about what happened, they seemed to believe Mikan's notebook was his because he wrote his name on it? That had never happened before, never mind it made zero sense. Even ignoring the leap in logic for that connection, Mikan's name was already in the book, so why wasn't she the owner of it?

He was brought back to the real world by Kaede trying to calm Mikan down. apparently, she thought the awkward silence was her fault. "Ah! Sorry. I was lost in thought. I've been told I do that sometimes." Shuichi replied. "O-oh, I'm sorry for making assumptions."

Kaede decided to cut off the next bout of apologizing. "It's all right Mikan. If you wanted, we could be friends..."

Mikan seed a bit surprised at this. "F-friends?" After they both nodded, her expression softened. "I see... I'm glad... U-Um... If you would want to be friends, I don't really know what you two like yet..." She started, deciding to talk about herself a bit. "Well, um...there might be lots of things I'm not good at doing, but...I'll do anything so please let me know!"

Shuichi and Kaede noted her word choices. Kaede spoke up first, looking shocked. "D-Do anything...?"

"Of course! I'll do anything!" The maid happily replied with a nod.

"...Hey, I don't think you should say something like that so freely." Shuichi said, equally concerned

"Huuuh? Why? I mean...before we even arrived here, everyone else didn't seem to mind. For fun, I tried eating strange bugs, and I let them use my body when there wasn't anything else to write on. Also, I had to be responsible for debts, and be the target for dart games, so... Hmhmhm, I'm pretty useful, you know." She seemed oddly proud of that.

Kaede looked at her with even greater concern. "That didn't sound like a joke at all... How can you be smiling when you were **** to do stuff like that...? Do you actually enjoy it?"

Mikan shook her head. "Obviously, I didn't want to do that stuff at all. But...if it makes everyone not hate me and smile at me, then it's much better... Heh...hehehehehe...."

Shuichi felt a profound sense of pity and concern for her at these words. 'Why... is she like this...?'

"U-Um... Shuichi...?" Mikan said next as a pained expression overtook Shuichi's face. "Um...um... Would you like to try it out, too? Doodling is very fun. Please draw on me wherever you like!"

As concerned as Shuichi was for her, that last sentence stuck out to him. it brought back to mind the notebook confusion. Kaede started speaking up before Shuichi interrupted. "I don't think you shoul-"

"All right"

"What!?" Kaede said a bit louder than she had intended, attracting a bit of intention from those around them. Shuichi, while startled, had already fished into his pocket and pulled out the pen he'd used earlier, noticing for the first time that it wasn't one of his own. It was a white pen, with a pink rabbit symbol on it, and there were 6 different colors the ink could make: black, blue, yellow, green, pink, and red.

"Could I try your forearm?" Shuichi asked, Kaede was still looking at him, confused and slightly miffed, but not as miffed as a new voice could be heard.

"Hey! Degenerate Male! Are you picking on her!?" A woman with dark olive gray hear was looking at him, and actually jumping out of her seat to the aisle, walking towards them. Thinking fast, Shuichi started writing 'Shuichi Saihara's' with the black ink. Mikan looked at it and realized something. "I'm Sorry! I can't believe I didn't notice you owned me!"

Kaede looked flabbergasted, until Mikan showed her what had been written. "What!? How - oh, I guess he does." She calms down briefly, before remembering the angry girl getting ready to kick Shuichi's ass.

"Degenerate male! you probably did something perverted to her to make her cry! Face the wrath of Neo-Aikido!" Mikan started apologizing, but the girl with the green ribbon styled like a fan had managed to reach past Kaede and sent Shuichi flying down to the lower rows, landing with a thud on an unoccupied chair, head first.

"It was... a misunderstanding..." The detective said weekly before tumbling over, passing out.