An Unconventional Family

3. Changes

Shinichi sat nervously in the living room waiting for Akai and Rei. After the disastrous situation and awkward dinner yesterday, he had come straight to his room, but he could hear Rei ordering Akai to do the dishes and calling Dr. Araide to book an appointment.

They were a fake family, but they still needed a family doctor, and when they were finalizing the paperwork, Rei had gotten Kazami, his assistant, to arrange for Dr. Araide to be their family doctor. It was mostly because the doctor was familiar with Conan, and he could keep silent if they came in with a bullet wound or something else serious, and treat them without question.

5 minutes later they were in Rei's Mazda, on their way to the doctor's office.

Dr. Araide had opened a whole clinic, but luckily it wasn't crowded despite it being Saturday. They were led to the pediatric ward, and into a waiting room full of toys for god's sake. He sat there waiting with Akai while Rei filled out the information form.

Akai placed a warm hand on his shoulder.

"Are you nervous?" - he said quietly so no one else could hear except Shinichi.

"Um, I mean, no, but couldn't we just make a fake report or something? It isn't difficult considering your job"

"Rei's just worried about you, you know"

Then Akai patted his head softly, and Shinichi wasn't sure if it was genuine or just an act for the public. He looked at Rei who was approaching them with a soft smile. Now, this was definitely acting.

"Conan-kun, why don't we go over there and play? You love Legos" - Rei said and held out his hand.

Oh, right. He had to pretend to be a kid. He rolled his eyes and took Rei's hand.

It didn't take long for them to be called in, by Dr. Araide himself. There were a couple of other doctors too but when they hired the man, they had requested that only he would treat them.

"Araide-sensei!" - Conan said in his chirpy child voice as he ran to the man.

"Hi there Conan-kun. What trouble have you gotten yourself in this time?"

"Um" - Conan looked down embarrassed.

The man just smiled, patted Conan's head and took his hand to lead him into the examination room.

"Don't worry, whatever it is, we'll handle it"

"Hm... you're right, he is small for his age" - Dr. Araide said as he held the report of Conan's health numbers.

"Can you lie down on the examination table, Conan-kun? I need to check your stomach"

Conan did, and the man pulled his t-shirt up and felt around his belly. It was a bit embarrassing in front of the 2 agents, though.

"It's not very serious yet, and I found nothing major. For now, we'll just have to pay more attention to his meal plan and diet" - He said as he picked Conan up and placed him back on the floor.

Then, Dr. Araide walked over to his desk and started rummaging through the drawers.

"I'll give you some pamphlets on child's nutrition guidelines. You can plan his meals according to them. Furthermore, he needs some supplemental milk formula to help him gain weight. I'll give it to you later when we go out to the pharmacy in the hall. He is to take it once in the evening, about an hour before bed. If he's sick and can't eat, it can also be used to replace meals, but it should only be the last resort. The most important thing is to never miss any meal, under any circumstances" - at this, he looked seriously at Conan.