On a Sunday, just a day before the stakeout is about to take place, while the children of Tantei Association headed home to do their homework and stuff as the school took place on a Sunday for replacement thanks to 'someone setting the school on fire', Ran met up with Junko and Emiko as she returned the wrong-sized blouse that was lent to her while the three of them were walking home from school. Since Emiko was always free, Ran always made it an effort to had her join them, since she is always alone.

"I forgot to return this to you, after I returned home and had it wash nicely," Junko whispered while handing the paper bag containing the blouse, "Thanks for lending me, but it appears that I don't fit the clothes."

"That's not true, Fuyuko. You do look good in it." Ran protested.

"But my muscles I gain made it look manly, that's why Michio dislike it." Junko commented.

"What is there to be ashamed about our muscles we gain through martial arts, Junko? It proves that girls like us can fight. Michio can't see that, that's all." Ran argued.

And Emiko knew Ran meant it. Junko and Ran bonded closely these couple of days since they had a common hatred for that she-demon. Ran might not be a smooth talker, but she is honest to a fault. "But he wasn't completely wrong. The muscles I developed around my arm made it look...like a gorilla wearing a tu tu dress,"Junko shook her head. "It doesn't fit."

"Fuyuko, he didn't say you look like a gorilla." Ran frowned.

"Exactly, like I said when I designed Tantei Association clothes for Ranran and Shinichi. It ain't the clothes, it's the confidence on how they pull it off that count. Or else I wouldn't design this for them." Emiko reminded the secretary.

"He may not, but I known him for many years, Ran, Emiko. I know it in his eyes he still does."

Emiko waited while Junko finally headed home back to the run down apartment. When Ran returned, they are met with her troubled gaze."She is still troubled by his comments from last week?" Emiko asked.

"I mean there must be some truth to her words, or else she wouldn't be feeling this way."Ran snapped. "Why do boys have to be so insensitive!? A gorilla!? Does he think every single athlete girl are born with such hulk like arms to be considered ugly!? Are we nothing but dolls to them!?"

While Ran rambled on and on about boys, Emiko ponder a lot into Michio's comments.

The truth was Emiko knew Michio wasn't being completely insensitive. After overhearing the discussion between Ranran and the boys the other day, she learn about how the influence regarding Majima's mother's background in fashion had played a huge role into the comment he said about Junko.

From the university his mother used to attend as a student, Emiko did a private research online, it appears that their culture there, the lecturers there had a huge dislike for women with muscular arms as a based to design clothes and jewelry.

And the reason behind this was simple: majority of the teachers there are male dominated, and though they have a huge passion for fashion and had no discrimination that male students can't be in this line or work, let alone, mistreated the females there, they made their dislike towards women or girls of such arms known to everyone, including their students, by giving them poor marks if anyone add such feature in their assignments. In their minds, women with slender and gentle-like arms are anesthetically beautiful, since their bulging muscles made them look manly, resulting like what Michio could've said if he were given the chance: A gorilla in a dress to be exact.

Much to Emiko's surprise, it seems to be a 'norm' even in the fashion modelling industry worldwide for women as she dug further into it, where female models are encouraged to lose muscle mass to have everyone's attention on the clothes and pieces they wear, which is in Emiko's opinion: Unrealistic standards towards girls.

Thanks to such influence, majority of the students there gradually grew to dislike it and eventually, it was embedded into their mindset by the time they got a job in this line of work. Michio's mom was no different, and then later passed this knowledge to Michio without questioning it, because it was normalized.

Even if the opinion is in the wrong, as long the majority support it but you remain in the minority, you are in the wrong.

How awful, Emiko couldn't help but think.

One day...when she becomes a famous artist, she will do some sort of exhibition that will show those morons that muscled arms on females ain't as bad as it sounds. Why is it they don't ban the boys from having it and call them 'attractive', but when it came to girls, they call it 'ugly'?! Is it because they are girls!?

"It is because society carry such unrealistic standards towards us girls, we are still treated like dolls. Their expectation on us are pretty ridiculous, Mouri." Emiko huffed as they both walked together.

"I wonder if...that is the reason why Shinichi left me for Ranran? Since she looks like a doll."Ran pouted.

"If that were the case, Ranran would've kicked him off as her apprentice, no? Let alone, not suited to run Tantei Association." From the words of the rebellious artist that never conform to anyone's expectations, Ran starts to believe Emiko had a point.

.........................

For some reason, around late evening on a Sunday, while everyone left school, Ranran decided why not her and the boys navigated around the gallery to familiarize the area before Monday.

An impromptu check Ranran calls it, and Shinichi agreed, since everyone is free right now. It was then that Shinichi became puzzled.

For some reason, he noted the eldest boy kept shooting furtive glances at Takuma. All the way even during lunch while they were all in the school's HQ earlier, Michio seemed very distracted. Even now, he had a faraway look in his eyes.

And it seems like he wasn't the only one noticing it, since Ranran noted that something is off with Michio.

The Atsuko Gallery was an impressive white building that had once been a factory. It stood on an old street that had found new life. All the buildings that surrounded it had been turned into expensive restaurants and glamorous shops. People milled around while cars cruised up and down looking for parking spaces.

The gallery windows fronting the street were curtained, but lights shone behind them.

"Now thanks to the blueprints I received from my mother, we can check round the back," Takuma suggested, pointing to a dark laneway that led behind the row of buildings.

Everyone followed him, especially Michio who is in a trance mood. They walked silently around to the back alley. The rear door to the gallery was locked. A burglar alarm was mounted over it, and a security camera looked down at them.

"So I wonder if Emiko's research about them scamming their customers are maybe speculated? I mean if they were fake, it ain't necessary to install all of this." whispered Takuma.

"Then again, it could be installed to make others think the art pieces they showed is real." Michio suggested.

"Do you know what? Say if the King of Rubies, or Rajah's Ruby is real, it's gonna take an inside job to pull this off." Ranran nodded to Shinichi's words.

After Ranran gave out orders that they split to inspect around into teams of two. Ranran and Shinichi in one, while Takuma and Michio 2nd.

Ranran and Shinichi were surveying the area in silence as Shinichi was acting a little fidgety. Tuck at the corner while they observe in silence, he wanted to ask her the very thing he has been bothered, ever since Mamiko told him Ranran might be using him as a puppet.

If you don't believe me, ask her to do something she won't normally let you do.

There is one thing Ranran won't let him do, which is to put someone else in charge over the tasks she prefers doing rather than relying on others in general. In Tantei Association, she is in charge of scheming 100 percent and never let him participate in overseeing the plans he made, even though he is the one in charge of stationing the members around the area during stakeout. Ranran oversees the operation of everyone like a hawk, like a King would to his people and ministers. In her defense, she says is because that would be putting blind faith in the hands of a person with no experience like her, resulting the increasing chances of failure.

But Mamiko claims Ranran did this in order to keep herself in power over him, and Mamiko might not be wrong, since he had been working for Ranran for over a month. A month may sound short in experience to do a stakeout, but he thinks he knows how to handle this after observing Ranran's schemes. After all, he is undeniably a fast learner, something Ranran did acknowledge once.

If she acknowledge him as that, she meant word for word, right? There is only one way to find out.

"Ranran."

She jumped a bit at the sudden tapping on her shoulder from the back, she turned to see Shinichi looking at her rather nervously. "What?"

"There is something I have to ask." He suddenly gave a serious expression.

The reason he formed such expression was simple: When he was nervous that one time asking her, she assumed he wanted to go to the toilet and told him to return after he relief himself without paying attention to him, which made things super awkward for him for several minutes. Nowadays he didn't have to be nervous around her after getting to know her personality, but even so...her dignified aura made him fear her ohterwise.

The same aura she had even when he broke into her house that night, she was so intimating...he had sleepless nights for over a week later on.

Even so, Ranran isn't completely unreasonable unlike Mouri Ran. Having cleared his throat, he finally goes,"I...want to request something, as your apprentice."

"Ok...?" Ranran arched an eyebrow, wondering if this is another toilet trip this time.

And he could tell she is guessing that, given that she looked annoyed, "It ain't a toilet break."

"Then what? If it was matters within the association, mainly Ran's tantrum, we can always talk about it back in the HQ." Ranran went back to observing.

"It ain't that!" He hissed lowly, before finally rambling in a fast pace, "Iwanttotakechargeontomorrow'sstakeout."

"Sorry, didn't quite catch that?" Ranran couldn't hear, since she was too busy having her eyes on every car passing by the gallery from the alley.

Shinichi threw her an annoyed glare, but at the same time, he was aware that they are currently working at the moment. "Regarding this case."

"Yeah, what about it?" Again, she prompt him to continue, "Stop beating around the bush."

"I..." Finally, he decided, it was do or die, since Ranran hate it when one isn't upfront. "Tomorrow's stakeout for the night, would you let me be in charge?"

Upon hearing the question, the normally calm and collected detective girl suddenly became shock at his words, "You want me to...what?" Ranran looks at him in shock.

"You heard me, tomorrow's night stakeout...I want to be in charge." He look at her earnestly as she stares at him.

"Is that it? You want to take lead in tomorrow's stakeout?" Ranran blinked, now having his attention as he spluttered his words.

"I'm being serious here, Ranran. It's been a month I worked with you, and it's about time I do something a little different."

And he wasn't simply saying this because he felt left out, but he was always used as bait to lure criminals by his mentor. Being bait ain't all fun, and he wants to do all the scheming behind the scenes as Ranran does. Observing her expression, at first, she seems to be thinking about something for a long while. After that, she decided as she shrugs, "Alright, since you asked...I don't see why not."

This time Shinichi jolts in surprise, "Say what now?!"

"What? What were you expecting me to say when you ask? A no? Unless you were asking only to chicken out?"

That's odd...Mamiko said she is certain she is just merely using me as a stepping stone to shine herself as the ultimate superior detective on the papers.

Shinichi ain't the type to be easily swayed by the words of anyone, at least, at some point before the night he broke into Ranran's house. Then again, Mamiko mentioned that since Ranran is 'The Fox', why had she not wear a mask anymore after opening Tantei Association to avoid media scrutiny? Let alone, not let criminals be aware of her real identity?

Since Mamiko is a wannabe journalist in the future, Shinichi never really questioned as to how she found out Ranran was The Fox in the news media. But she had a point: Ranran had intentionally concealed her identity as 'The Fox' for almost a year before Shinichi discovered this, so why is she no longer wearing it anymore and is publicly confronting the culprits of every single case without hiding her face?

The more he thought about it, the more he couldn't figure it out. The only explanation was Mamiko's accusation that she was using Shinichi to do her bidding, regaining her glory days as The Fox since Shinichi was the reason why Ranran had to tone down her activities as The Fox. But the truth was Ranran truly didn't need Shinichi to do so, since he had witnessed first hand of her capabilities and talent. If he were to be honest, she doesn't even need the help of 6 other children including himself to so a case as major as The Snake at that time.

Shinichi sighed and looked down, he truly doesn't know Ranran, his mentor for over a month."No, of course not..."

"Then I will put you in charge if you insist, I will notify everyone of the sudden change in leadership for the stakeout tomorrow. Though I do have some reserve concerns since you lack experience." Ranran folded her arms with a worrying gleam in her eye. "You sure you can handle it? Or were you just simply asking out of curiosity?"

"Of course not! I asked because I want to do it!" Shinichi protested. "I have it in me to handle the pressure."

Everything fell silent for a moment, and Shinichi wondered if she was very against this. Finally, she answered, "Alright, I will put you in charge. But if anything happens, let me know."

He later broke into a grin at her words with excitement in his eyes, "I won't let you down."

As he left her alone to inspect the other corners of the alleyway, Ranran sighed while massaging her nose bridge, telling no one in particular before laying eyes on a certain bike locked to this electric pole near the bus-stop, "He still has a long way."

Meanwhile, certain that the two are alone now, Michio who was surveying behind the gallery nudged Takuma."Neh Takuma, your girlfriend Reina knows a couple of girls outside our school, right? Does she know of anyone in our neighbourhood that attended a private elite school?"

Now the reason Michio ask was that he knew Takuma's girlfriend is also a social butterfly. As head of the student council, she has to do this even outside school as it is part of her duty. Takuma stared blankly at him. "A private elite school?" He then ponders about it, "I think she knows of some children who studied in that area."

"Then...does she know of anyone? Someone named Adeline?"

Now Michio intentionally worded in a way that the person ain't a boy or girl, mostly not to stir Junko or Takuma, since he knew she will interfere and give his date a hard time. Especially Kudo Ranran, that girl...whenever it comes to someone hiding from her, she do far worst than Junko when it comes to her interrogation methods.

"Who? Adeline? Sounds weird. It ain't even a Japanese name. No, of course not."Takuma shook his head at him, "Reina didn't mention anything about her, otherwise, she would've brought it up. This name is rather unusual."

"Right...."Michio nodded in silence, before adding,"Takuma, where do you normally take someone for dinner?"

Takuma sounded very curious. "Why? And for what occasion?"

"Well..."Michio struggled, but then he continued with a story he made up in his head while laughing awkwardly, "My astrology club...I think there is a discussion on wanting to do an exchange student program, mainly having to take in a child from a rather elite school. We...want to make that child feel comfortable with our surroundings, but since the kid belongs to such an environment, we ain't sure what to do. And we don't want to blow our budget."

Now, this wasn't completely true, but there is some half-truth about taking in someone from another school before it was thrown out the window.

"Ah, I see." Takuma chuckled before thinking about it, "If it were me...I owed it to Ranran for this one, but she is the one who came up with good fancy places for dinner. Given her privileged upbringing, I would suggest...Osteria."

"Osteria?" He blinked in confusion.

"Osteria," Takuma nodded to Michio, "During weekdays, especially during dinner time at Beikai Mall, we get discounts because we are school-going children. We owed Ranran a lot for that, the three of us had a blast."Takuma gushed. "Especially their Italian cuisines they serve, mainly their Carbonara, it was awesome."

They were about to return to the street when they saw Ranran and Shinichi distancing themselves further. Before any of the two boys could ask, they too saw a shadow move in the alley.

That's when the four back into a doorway. "Someone's coming," Shinichi warned, with his sharp blue eyes warning everyone to lower their volume.

The shadow grew longer and wider. At last, they saw it was cast by a tall man walking down the alley toward them. As the man passed under a light behind one of the buildings, Michio elbowed Takuma, "It's him! That is the guy!"

There was no mistaking it, the blond hair and pale blue eyes of the man in Emiko's sketch. In the dim light, his hawk-like features appeared even harsher.

If the man had noticed them, he gave no sign. The man's footsteps faded down the alley and he vanished round a corner. Ranran and Shinichi shared a quick glance and slipped out of their hiding place. But by the time they had reached the street, the stranger was lost in the crowd.

"Any of you manage to get the photo?" Ranran turned to the boys.

All of them did as they fish out their smartphones highly to her, widening the smile of the red-lip girl.

...............

THE NEXT morning on a Monday, Ranran decided to do another impromptu inspection of the gallery again.

Since Ranran was a heavy sleeper, she sent the three girls to pay a visit to the targeted gallery. Of course, she knew they will make a fuss, so she mentioned the inspecting she and the boys did yesterday late evening, so they had no reason to excuse themselves from this.

And though they are an hour left before school could begin, once again, the unexpected incident in their school once more delayed everyone.

"How does Ranran keep setting the school up on fire, damn it!" Ran rambled in annoyance while walking alongside Emiko and Junko.

"Right? I mean the school compound is huge! A little girl likes her...I still wonder how is it possible!?" Junko nodded to Ran while Emiko silently guarded them against the back.

Between the distance to their school and the gallery, it was a 10-minute walk. Thanks to the fire situation, although all of the children were safe, much less the adults, the firemen were having a hard time trying to put it out while the rest of the kids remain outside the school waiting for it to end.

Though of course, everyone managed to leave in an organized manner, it was evident that children get bored easily, so it was no surprise the teachers couldn't pay attention to some of them wandering off their class group and heading to the convenience shop not far from the school, while some headed home. This was an opportunity the three girls knew they had to do it.

So they mutually slip away during the panic and headed to the said gallery.

The front door was open and they entered a long, empty room were held. The walls were white and iron columns supported the roof. Racks of spotlights were suspended from the ceiling. A team of cleaners was at work, polishing the wooden floor and clearing away display panels. One of the men in overalls looked up at the girls.

"Eh? What are you girls doing here? Shouldn't you all be in school right now? Also, you can't enter the gallery since it is closed, you know?" he called. "We're getting ready for the upcoming exhibition."

"Our school is on fire right now, and since our school assignment deadline is coming up, we thought of coming here in advance before they notice we are missing," Junko and Ran both shot the rebellious artist a startled glance, but Emiko pressed on, "We the members of the art class have decided that for our topic, one of the artefacts in this gallery caught our interest, which is why we decided to drop by here now."

"Eh!? Fire?!" The handyman was taken aback before asking, "Is everyone alright?"

"Oh, don't worry about it. Everyone is fine," Junko reassures him, while secretly, she mentally wonders if they knew Ranran was behind the fire, what would they think of her?

No, there is no way they are going to believe a 1st-grade child is capable of arson.

"Although others were terrified, but we are alright." Even Ran herself shook her head in disapproval at no one, for she knew no one is ever going to suspect Ranran is behind this.

Even if someone did, she can lie out of this flawlessly.

What a psychopath, that girl. Ran thinks of this bitterly.

"Eh? So hardworking you girls are." The man is impressed, but not before frowning a little, "But you all could've just waited after the fire situation is settled, alright?"

"I mean we had a deadline to catch up. That's why we decided to come here to find out more about the Rajah's Ruby." Emiko emphasized.

"If that is the case, perhaps I can be of help?" A voice offered to the girls out of the blue, as another man stepped out behind one of the columns.

First impression-wise, Emiko noted he was a neat man with neat, white hair cropped close to his skull. His neat shirt and trousers were both white, too, making his striped bow tie appear even more colourful. "I'm Enomoto Mitsuo, the gallery owner" he introduced himself straightening his little tie. "So, you've heard about our new exhibition?"

"Yes, Mr Enomoto," said Emiko, shaking his hand."Initially, we considered using the Internet as a citation, but then we argued that some of us would gain more info about it if we go straight to the source."

"That's true," The gallery own nodded understandingly, "Sometimes the Internet doesn't necessarily hold all the answers to the subject."

"Ok, so the first question," She held the notebook before posing a question, "The teacher wanted us to look into as to why the Rajah's Ruby is worth so much. Is it because of the story that came with it, or is there more to it?"

"There is a little bit of both," Mr Enomoto offered her a neat little smile."When the Rajah obtained this ruby for his first son, a lot of royals who knew him were amazed by the beauty. Mostly because it was as red as blood."

"But all rubies are red. Are they not?" Junko probed.

"They are, but usually when one obtains an uncut ruby from the mine, it rarely could produce such colour, normally it comes out pinkish red, not pure red. Which is what makes this special in terms of value and colour. The one he managed to get was so red, historical records claimed that even if blood were spilled on it, you might not even notice it. Which is why later in the Rajah's records, they proclaim it as the most beautiful ruby in the world."

"That is an odd way of describing a ruby by comparing it with blood," Ran thinks.

"But then as time went by, that later became a reality. For within months later, bloodshed took place as soon as the gem was first discovered. Suddenly the Rajah and his family lost power as people stormed into the palace, and were exiled, and many people died of disease and stuff...it ended the monarchy. Before all of this, the Rajah had his advisor throw the ruby back into the mine, with hopes of one day heading back there to obtain it so that one day, he and his family would return and claim back their birthright as royals while rebuilding the fallen kingdom."

"And did they ever succeed?" Ran became curious.

"Sadly no, all of them died and were executed by the government. Including his firstborn son who was an infant at that time," The gallery owner continued, "But obviously word travelled fast because for the following years took place, many men made their attempt to obtain it from the mine."

"And I guessed they must have succeeded, otherwise, this exhibition wouldn't have taken place here, no?" Emiko guessed.

"Well...it wasn't without casualties."

"What!? Casualties!? What does that mean?" Ran turned to the two girls for answers.

"Deaths, Mouri. People died." Junko explained to the youngest girl, much to her horror.

"What!?" Ran gawked before turning to the gallery owner, demanding answers, "Why? How!?"

"Well, we didn't have much to go on, but anyone who came across it died as soon as they found it. Oh yeah, we have one confirmed record that this merchant once found it with his men, but then another group of men killed all of them including the merchant's family. And ever since, the ruby has brought nothing but death and disaster. Powerful rulers in India even fought each other to possess this, which is how this ruby got its name Rajah's Ruby, because of the generated interest it attracted from so many Rajahs."

"Jesus christ...this ruby is cursed!" Ran panicked at that thought, for she fear the supernatural.

Emiko who was hearing all of this formed a frown, "I don't mean to be rude to those Rajahs, but they are not qualified to be one, since all of them are morons to go after something that has the potential means to end their lives, let alone, their status as Kings."

Enomoto then laughed at her brutal statement. "They ain't that stupid, they just want to temporarily own it to sell it off to make some money. Sure, although they knew this ruby has the potential to end them, it doesn't mean they won't come up with all sorts of ways to obtain it in safe hands," he replied. "Anyway, your assignment question for that is millions n yen. See for yourself..."

Heled them across to where a poster showed a color photograph of the Rajah's Ruby, Junko and Ran stared in amazement at the blood-red stone. It seemed to glow with a life of its own.

"Rubies are from the corundum family of minerals,"The gallery explained. "So are sapphires, but they're blue,pink, yellow, many other colors. But this ruby here," he sighed. "The ruby is highly prized for its vivid, intense red it is able to produce."Emiko scribbled notes as he continued. "Corundum itself is colorless,'' he told them. "The colors we see in the gems are caused by small amounts of impurities, usually metallic oxides. In a ruby the brilliant red coloring would be caused by chromic oxide.In a sapphire, ferric oxide causes a yellow color."

"How long do they last?" Junko wondered aloud, gazing at the Rajah's Ruby.

"Forever" he shrugged with another neat, tight smile. "You see, there's a scale that the measures hardness and strength of minerals. It's called Mohs'scale, named after a German mineralogist Friedrich Mohs. Diamonds are the hardest,they top the scale at 10. Corundum has a hardness of 9, topaz is 8, while turquoise measures only 5 to 6."

The man watch nervously for he was not used to being interviews before. Then Emiko had a sudden thought. "You know...if I were a King, I could've just make one for myself and passed it off as the real deal, so I won't get cursed by the real thing."

The gallery owner's smile remained, but something changed in his eyes as she observed his eyes over her comment. "I mean they would be way behind time to do so, since you would need a laboratory and expensive special equipment to make one, let alone, need dyes to improvise the exact colour. But regardless of all of the, they will eventually wear off in time. So getting the real one is less of a hassle than making your own. " He glanced at the empty podium for a moment.

"How certain are you that the Rajah's Ruby you'll be putting on show is the real one? I mean don't get me wrong, but what if those people in charge of it make a fake and ship it to the gallery here?" Probed Emiko with fake concern.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that."Enomoto's laugh was a tight sound."I ensured that the ruby is genuine and had proper paperwork that certified it as the real deal. And it's guarded all the time." He edged away, "Well, you must excuse me, I have to prepare for the exhibition."

He headed off toward a flight of stairs. The girls watched him go. As soon as he was out of earshot, Ran turned to Emiko. "For you to have such suggestion...you are suspecting Mr Enomoto, am I wrong?" she whispered

"I mean given that the admission ticket price for this gallery is soaring and they were deleted negative reviews about the gallery, I would be a fool to not suspect the possibility of him putting a fake ruby here to scam people." Emiko commented, as she gave a good look onto her surroundings inside the gallery, paintings and sculptures alike. "The only way to change public opinion is to put the real deal."

"And by real deal....are you suggesting switching?!" Ran gasp and so did Junko.

"Yes."

Ran hesitated. "Supposedly if he does so, he'd never get away with it, would he? Unless one could tell the fake apart?"

Before Emiko could answer, Junko gasped in shock. She gripped Emiko and Ran by the arm."Don't look now, but that's him!'' she blurted out.

"Who?" Ran and Emiko stopped themselves from turning.

"The old man we were telling you about," Junko hissed, pulling her friends behind a column. "The man who was bleeding!"

She pointed to a workman polishing the floor at the far end of the room. They caught a glimpse of a bandage on the man's cheek.

Emiko stared at him. "Judging his appearance...he look like a Caucasian, meaning he could be a foreigner. But if he was the man you and Michio saw, what's he doing here?"

"Maybe Shinichi was right about the illegal smuggling theory," whispered Mouri Ran."As well as the attempted ruby stealing plot Ranran suggested! Following the 'Rajah' comment that man made! Because he was part of this Rajah scam, but chickened out initially, only to slap his senses and continue on! That's why he's working in the gallery, so he can help the other man steal the ruby!"

"Well, maybe they're both working with the gallery owner. "suggested Emiko.

Junko shivered, "Whatever it is, let's get out of here before the old man sees me! If he recognizes me, we might be in real trouble!"