Kyouko wasn’t sure how she managed to convince that stand-offish elementary school student to speak with her, but she did.
    
She just happened to come across her in the storage room and figured it could be a perfect opportunity to learn more about her. When Kyouko walked in, the young girl seemed to be struggling with setting up a stepladder.

“Do you need help?”

Her head whipped around and she narrowed her eyes. “It’s fine.”

The cold glare wasn’t enough to keep Kyouko away, however, so she stepped further into the room. Instead of resuming with her troubles, the girl kept her cautious gaze trained on the detective.

“Did you want something?”

Kyouko shrugged. “Nothing in particular. You’re Haibara-san, correct?” The girl said nothing, so she continued. “We haven’t spoken directly yet, so I was merely curious.”

After a moment of further staring, Haibara slowly returned to the ladder. She managed to set it up in front of the shelves and began climbing up. The detective looked around absently - apparently she was building her supply so she could stay in her room longer, for there was a box filled with miscellaneous objects nearby. She didn’t want to make it obvious that she was prying, but the various chemicals and apparati in the box only fueled her curiosity. It was all common, household stuff - detergents, clear cups, beverages - but to Kyouko, it looked like she was witnessing the preparation for some science experiment.

After all, if she was planning on simply hibernating, there would be more non-perishable food items in there, but there was a mix of fruits, crackers, and other various snack foods. And there was no use for some of these items in the hands of a child, so she must have been planning something.

Haibara carefully climbed down from the ladder with an armful of soaps, spray bottles, supplements, and other vaguely related things. She gave Kyouko a pointed look before dumping it all in the box (a result of Kyouko being so nosy, she was sure, seeing as it all had been placed down neatly previously).

“There’s a chemistry room on the fourth floor,” Kyouko said suddenly. A raised eyebrow was the only response she received, but it was better than nothing. “Plenty of proteins, reagents, and poisons. Perhaps that sort of thing interests you?”

Haibara seemed to study her for a moment before shrugging. She climbed back up the ladder to find more items of interest, and from the ground, Kyouko cracked a smile.

Two elementary school students were among their numbers. One was a gifted detective, and the other seemed to be a bit of a scientist. And they both acted much older than they appeared…

...Very interesting.

Kyouko began to reach for other objects she was sure Haibara would be interested in. The girl’s eyes narrowed in her direction once again, but the detective remained unaffected.

“We have a physics and biology labs on the third and fifth floors respectively, as well. I heard there was once a Super High School Level Physicist… who built an air purifying machine. I’m not sure if it still works - it shut down when the previous mastermind passed. Are you interested in those fields, or is it just chemistry?”

The brunette was giving her a peculiar look, and Kyouko was ready to continue speaking, but she finally received a response.

“...Does it matter? They’re all interconnected, aren’t they? You can’t go into one without expecting the others.”

“True, but--” The detective placed some materials into the box, and judging from the lack of an objection, she figured she had chosen well. “--they involve quite different subjects, don’t they? I haven’t met anyone who likes every single branch of science - though perhaps it isn’t impossible.”

Haibara looked up at her from beside the box. She was studying her with the air of someone who was extremely wary - a contrast from a detective’s gaze, who gathered information to make specific conclusions. Kyouko was familiar her type of study - ‘“trustworthy” or “dangerous”? That was the simple answer that had to be reached. She could only imagine Haibara leaning towards the right end of the spectrum in many given situations. 

What has she gone through?

“...I like chemistry, I suppose. Biochemistry. How chemicals and compounds work on living creatures. That’s intriguing.”

“It certainly is,” Kyouko agreed. It seemed they were done here, because Haibara was closing the box up. The detective hesitated, but a moment later--

“Haibara-san, might you happen to know anything about causes and cures for memory loss?”

The girl’s head snapped up and she blinked, and from the spark in her eyes, Kyouko knew her actual reply was something along the lines of “yes but I’m not going to tell you”. Instead of that, she firmly shook her head in the negative while squinting. She must have been wondering why anyone would ask a seven year old such a question. It must have made Kyouko seem really suspicious.

Regardless, the detective waved it away. “Never mind, then. Anyways, I presume you need to take this to your room? Let’s see…”

Biting back a smile, Kyouko took a look outside the room. Just her luck - that male officer was descending the stairs and heading towards them.

“Ah, Takagi-keiji, was it?”

He looked startled to have Kyouko addressing him so casually. “Y-Yes. Did you need something, Kirigiri-san?”

With a nod, she directed him over to the box within the room. “I need you to carry this to Haibara-san’s room. Lifting is much more suitable for a man, wouldn’t you agree?”

Takagi laughed awkwardly. “I suppose so. Alright then…”

He crouched down to hoist the medium-sized box into his arms, but he clearly wasn’t prepared for the weight he was burdened with. The girls shared a moment of stifling their giggles as the officer started awkwardly carrying the box out of the room.

“H-Hey, what’s in this thing?!”

“The bare minimum,” came the snarky reply from Haibara, who followed him back to the dorms with Kyouko. He laughed again, but more nervously, but apparently he knew better than to press them much further on the subject.

At the room labelled “Aoi Asahina”, Haibara leisurely retrieved the key and fit it into the lock as Takagi fumbled with the box.

“Just leave it beside the desk,” the young scientist said, and once the door was open, their unlucky labourer rushed in and nearly dropped the package onto the floor. He let out a sigh of relief and looked between the two (absolutely terrifying) women.

“A-Anything else…?”

“I’ll let you off for now.” Haibara smirked as she padded over to the box and opened it back up. “You’ve done a satisfactory job.”

Stuck in the moment, he gave a little bow, “Excuse me--” and took off, shutting the door behind him. Kyouko chuckled and looked back into the room.

She had seen Asahina’s room before, but now it was incredibly different. Anything that belonged to the swimmer had been rearranged to be up against the walls and out of the way. Apparently this wasn’t Haibara’s first trip to the storage room, because various common solutions were already present on the desks and organized on the floor. She recognized a few cups from the kitchen as well, which were now full of bright, blended colours that were left to settle. A note (with rather elegant handwriting) on the desk revealed that a lot of these substances were substitutes for other complicated compounds - maybe the scientist predicted they would have a similar reaction, or they were just for reference.

“...Thanks. I don’t need anymore help.” 

Haibara didn’t look at Kyouko and focused on removing the various supplies that were just brought in. The detective nodded and made her way to the door.

“If you need assistance in the future,” Kyouko offered, “you can ask me. I’m not an expert in your field, but… I learned enough so I could carry out my own job, I suppose.”

The girl was back to giving Kyouko the silent treatment, so the latter saw herself out. While there had been little exchange between them, Kyouko found all of it to be valuable. 

(Then again, in a situation like this, anything that kept Kyouko Kirigiri thinking and wondering was worth so so much.)