Ai Haibara

Ai Haibara (灰原 哀), real name Shiho Miyano (宮野 志保), is the inventor of the APTX 4869 poison that shrunk Shinichi Kudo into Conan Edogawa, and a victim of the poison herself. Formerly Sherry (シェリー) of the Black Organization, she is on the run from them and lives with Professor Agasa. She is also one of few characters who knows Shinichi is Conan.

Background
Shiho Miyano and her older sister, Akemi Miyano aka Masami Hirota were born into the secret crime syndicate "The Black Organization". Of course, while Akemi lived a normal life, Ai was sent to America as a small child to go to school and was groomed to finish her parents' research. She was born to an English mother, Elena Miyano, and a Japanese father, Atsushi Miyano. Both of whom were members of the organization, and deceased. A prodigy, she was sent to the United States for education at a very young age, then later came back to Japan to finish her parents' secret project for the organization. Her codename in the Organization is "Sherry", after the alcoholic drink.

Shiho was about 18 years old when she developed the experimental test compound APTX 4869. She discovered that it could be used as a poison to kill without leaving any traces of itself in a body. While researching its effects, Shiho noticed that a rare few of her lab mice had become younger after being given the drug instead of dying.

Meanwhile, the Black Organization started using APTX 4869 to commit untraceable murders. Unaware of the drug's rare side effect when they used it on Shinichi Kudo, the Organization ordered a search for him because his body had not been found. Shiho searched Shinichi's house twice after he had been shrunk to confirm his death for the Black Organization. She began to suspect Shinichi's transformation after she searched his house for a second time and found that his clothes from primary school were missing. Shiho then confirmed him as deceased so the organization would not look into the matter further and kill him after all.

Her unhappiness over the Black Organization's usage of the APTX 4869 for killing purposes though the drug has not yet been fully developed, in addition to her open questioning pertaining to the murder of her sister, Akemi Miyano, resulted in her imprisonment and scheduled execution by the Black Organization. With no other way out, she took a pill of APTX 4869 to commit suicide.

Like Shinichi, she is one of the only two known rare cases who didn't die after taking the drug; but instead shrunk into a seven or eight year old girl. In her new smaller body, she escaped from the Black Organization and attempted to reach Shinichi's house, hoping he may be able to help her. Exhausted, she collapsed in front of Kudo's house. Professor Agasa then found and adopted her. In fact, as it turned out later, Agasa had known her parents - especially her father, Atsushi Miyano, personally, even though he didn't know at that time that they've had children.

Ai Haibara
To prevent the knowledge of her transfiguration from being discovered, she and Hiroshi Agasa created her alias Ai Haibara (known as Anita Hailey - recently Vi Graythorn - in the English dub). As Ai Haibara, she attends Teitan Elementary School with Shinichi Kudo's shrunken form, Conan Edogawa. Following her first adventure with the Detective Boys in which they investigated the disappearance of a schoolmate's brother, she revealed her true identity to Conan and the fact that she had developed the APTX 4869. At first stunned, then outraged, Conan protested her presence, but as time went by, he accepted Ai as a friend and fellow victim, though her cynicism and secretive air still rail him at times. Eventually, Ai joined the ranks of the Detective Boys, and although she does not think too highly of her mates' immature antics, she has come to value them all as close friends.

More recently, Ai has begun to suspect Okiya Subaru as being a member of the Organization, code-named "Bourbon", sent to track her down, though the sense of menace she feels in the presence of such individuals strangely keeps coming and going, making her unsure of her own judgements about him. Whether - and how closely - Subaru is really involved with the Organization is yet to be confirmed.

Introduction of Ai Haibara
As the story progresses, Conan later befriends biochemist Ai Haibara. Haibara Ai or Ai Haibara grew up within the Black Organization and is a former member of it along with her sister.

Ai is the creator of the APTX 4869 drug but took the drug in order to escape from the Black Organization. Conan has run into the Black Organization multiple times, but he fails in tracking them due to Gin's cleverness.

The first head to head battle arc
In episode 176-178, Conan encounters Gin and Vodka again. Ai is kidnapped and confined to a wine cellar, but turns into an adult after she drinks Paikara, a chinese strong alchoholic drink. Despite wearing glasses and janitor clothing, Gin and Vodka recognize her and shoot her repeatedly until Conan appears. He shoots Gin with his needle, but Gin doesn't fall asleep. He tells Ai to jump into the chimmey, and Vodka shoots at him, but he gets away. Gin purposely shoots himself in the arm due to trying to stay awake. Inside, Pisco almost kills her, but Conan rescues her after Pisco accidentally causes a fire. Gin kills Pisco for failure before he's able to tell him the truth about Shiho. Worried that the organization is after her, Ai decides to leave the city.

The Desperate Revival arc
During the Desperate Revival episodes, Conan finds out that Ran suspects him of being Shinichi, due to Ran knowing Conan's blood type (for a blood transfusion). While Conan is in the hospital contemplating about admitting his identity, Haibara enters at night and points a gun at his head, saying that the Black Organization has found Haibara out due to an unknown agent being present at the Pisco incident. Because of this, Professor Agasa is held hostage and, in exchange for his life and a chance to return to the Organization, Haibara is required to terminate all the links she had as a child. However, she pulls the trigger and a bunch of flowers come out, showing that the story was just an act. Still, she uses this story as her point; that both Haibara and Conan cannot reveal their identities no matter the situation.

During that night, Haibara explains her plan to disassociate Conan from Shinichi in Ran's eyes. She has Conan take a prototype antidote for the shrinking drug and then disguises herself as Conan. For the rest of the arc, Conan returns as Shinichi while Haibara is present as Conan, thus creating the illusion of Shinichi and Conan existing at the same time, disproving that the two are the same person.

At the end of the Desperate Revival arc, the antidote begins to run out and Shinichi runs into the bathroom, where Haibara knocks him out using the sleeping needle. She then switches Shinichi into Conan's clothes after the antidote runs out.

A new threat: Vermouth, and the carjacking incident
Aside from Gin and Vodka being the most recurring members, a female member introduced late into the series named Vermouth also starts to play a huge role in the series. She makes her first appearance in episodes 176-178, but her talents aren't revealed until episode 230. She disguises herself as a doctor named Araide and is one of the few characters that learns who Conan really is. In one episode she is saved by Ran and Shinichi from falling through a fire escape, and keeps his secret unknown from the rest possibly because of this reason. She disguises herself as two actresses, Chris Vineyard and Sharon Vineyard. It is noted several times in the series that she is a master of disguise, who trained with Shinichi's mother in the past.

The second head to head battle, and revealed allegiances
In episode 345, many identities are finally unveiled: Vermouth is revealed to be Dr. Araide, Chris Vineyard, Sharon Vineyard, and the silver-haired serial killer in Shinichi's New York Case; Jodie Saintemillion is revealed to be an undercover FBI agent working towards capturing Vermouth, who killed her father when she was younger; Akai Shuichi is confirmed to be an FBI agent, and one with great skill too--enough to make the boss of the Black Organization believe that he is their Silver Bullet. Near the end of the episode, it becomes clear that Vermouth's purpose was to seek and eliminate Sherry, but her attempts are thwarted by several people: Shinichi/Conan, Jodie Saintemillion, Akai Shuichi, and even Ran. When she becomes cornered, she takes Conan hostage and drives away into a forest. There, she makes a call to her boss (still nameless), and to her surprise, Conan was recording the entire conversation. In order to preserve the organization's secrecy, she sprays sleeping gas in the car, putting both herself and Conan to sleep. She claims that this would be a duel--whoever wakes up first will win. Vermouth does indeed wake up first, but does not kill Conan. Instead, she just crushes his recording device. Ultimately, the only clue Conan gained from this whole ordeal is the ringtone that the boss uses; this is mentioned in episode 425 as well, although its importance has not yet been revealed.

In Episode 394, Conan figures out the boss's number, but Haibara warns him not to call it because it is "Pandora's Box", Conan then thinks he can get officer Takagi to figure out who the number belongs to. But then Haibara warns if he does, officer Takagi will be killed.

Although Vermouth often comes off as evil and malicious, her allegiance is rather ambiguous. She chooses to protect both Conan/Shinichi and Ran, most likely because they let her live back in the New York Case when she was disguised as the silver-haired serial killer. At the end of the episode, she could have very well killed Shinichi, but instead she lets him live and even drapes her coat over his sleeping body so he wouldn't get cold. She even kept her promise with Shinichi to stop her attempt on killing Sherry/Shiho. For some reason, she seems to wish for the Black Organization to be taken down as well--for she believes that Kudo Shinichi is their true Silver Bullet.

Subaru Okiya, and "Bourbon"
As Conan and Ai investigate a normal case, Ai feels that an organization member is around. The organization member which she felt is implied to be one of the innocent suspects, Okiya Subaru. Conan invites Okiya to live in the Kudou house since Okiya's apartment was burnt. Okiya appears in other cases later on, including at the Haido mall where the rest of the Black Organization gathered to chase a rumored sighting of a scarred Akai Shuichi. Despite the apparent implications, Bourbon's true identity and Okiya's true motivations remain unconfirmed.

Personality
Shiho has a sang-froid, mistrustful, sarcastic and cold attitude and often reminds others about the darker side of reality and human nature. As Ai Haibara she acts older than she is supposed to be, which the Shounen Tantei refer to her as "cool". But despite her jaded demeanor, she has shown to be kind and caring at occasion, though usually more to animals than people. She's a bit quiet, though this may be due to her caution to keep herself hidden from the Black Organization. She is sometimes cold and very analytical, but there are times where she softens her demeanor and reveals herself to be a true friend. In fact, she considers Conan and the Detective Boys as the first real friends she has ever had.

Shiho is generally a loner and misses her older sister, Akemi, greatly (as witnessed in Movie 5: Countdown to Heaven where she would call her sister's old apartment just to hear her voice on the voicemail). Her greatest fear is being caught by the Black Organization, and she is especially terrified of Gin. Smart, stubborn, and with a somewhat twisted sense of humor, she tries to keep Conan from doing reckless things that may give away their identity, though often she is surprised by his actions that usually result in his gaining the information he needs while also keeping their identities secret.

While she generally accompanies her fellow Detective Boys to soccer matches played by the Tokyo Spirits, Ai herself is a fan of Big Osaka in general and of the player Ryusuke Higo in particular, especially since the latter has likewise abandoned an organization which had betrayed him and had remained an outcast for a time.

Taste for fashion
Ai seems to have some interest in fashion, as she has made repeated requests for a certain type of purse when asked to do something. In one of the cases for instance, in order to expose the identity of the person who hid the phone cables to cut off communications with the outside world, she was asked by Conan to fake an unbearable appendix pain, which she agreed to after jokingly requesting for a Fusae Brand's wallet for her cooperation. She then started rolling on the floor and screaming for help. The culprit felt like he had no choice but to reveal the cable from his pockets and reconnect the phone to ask for an ambulance.

Conan Edogawa
Ai Haibara seems to have somewhat romantic feelings for Conan/Shinichi, although she never truly admits to it. In the fourth movie, she says to Conan that she wished she could forget her memories about the Black Organization and the death of her sister and the pill, claiming that all she wants to be was a normal little girl and live together with Conan forever. But then as Conan was shocked by the words, Ai immediately said she was lying. Indeed, it is a mystery just exactly what she feels for him, whether friend or otherwise. It could be said that, because of their almost equal level of intelligence, she finds it easier to talk to him.

Ran Mouri
There are instances where Haibara will caution Conan from actions that involve Ran, though it's assumed this is due merely to the fact that she wants to keep her identity hidden. At one point, she was very cold and distant towards Ran, just like she was to most other people. Ran believed that it was because that Haibara had hated her. However, later that day, Haibara finally properly introduced herself to Ran, and they slowly became friends. Haibara finds that Ran resembles her older sister, Akemi Miyano, so she takes special interest in protecting her. These feelings began after Ran jumped through a slew of bullets from Vermouth to save Haibara. Haibara immediately thought of her own sister, and began to treat and look at Ran as a spitting image of Akemi. Haibara also begs for Ran to stay at Agasa's house, during when she had learned that Korn, Chianti, and the rest of the Black Organization were lurking about, immediately thinking of her own sister's death, and wanting to keep Ran safe.

Ayumi Yoshida
Haibara has tried to keep an emotional distance away from the rest of the Detective Boys since the beginning. However, over time, she can't resist their friendliness anymore and gradually warms up to them.

This is especially true in the case of Ayumi. At one time, Ayumi noticed that she called everyone by their first names except for Haibara and decided to try and call her Ai-chan, but without success. At the end of a case which involved a shattered friendship, Haibara told Ayumi that it was ok for her to call her Ai-chan. When Mitsuhiko and Genta tried to call her that, however, she told them that only Ayumi was allowed to call her by her first name. On the whole, Ai seems to see Ayumi as a little sister, even going so far as to physically shield her from danger.

Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya
Mitsuhiko develops heavy romantic feelings for Ai, and Ai is aware of this. Ai uses his feelings to her advantage when she needs him to do something, but she also does admire his courage during missions the Detective Boys must perform and respects his feelings enough as not to be truly exploitative.

Hiroshi Agasa
The relationship between Ai and Professor Agasa is rather unusual, if not humorous. Despite what their actual ages are, Ai often times acts more like a mother to the professor, constantly reminding him to watch what he eats. On several occassions, she has removed fattening foods from his reach, and is attempting to help get him into better shape. There's also been instances where she'll automatically step in front of Agasa in cases of danger. Out of all the people she's met, Ai seems most comfortable about acting herself with the Professor; which might be attributed to the fact that he was the one who found her after she escaped the BO, and took her in.

Trivia

 * According to Agasa, Ai's name comes from Cordelia Gray (the character 灰 in her name means "ash") and V.I. Warshawski (V.I. upside down = "Ai"). Although Agasa suggested she use the kanji 愛 (love) for "Ai", she preferred to use the kanji 哀 (sorrow).
 * Her US Funimation name, Anita Hailey, comes from:
 * Anita: Anne Katherine Green (the first American Mystery Writer)
 * Hailey: Hero (though Anita didn't care much for the choice)
 * Sherry is a fortified wine from white grapes that are grown near the town of Jerez, Spain (it has been hinted that Haibara Ai speaks, reads, or understands Spanish. ). Most sherries are initially dry, with sweetness added later. This could be a play on her personality that the BO recognized.
 * Ai seems to have an interest in designer bags. On several occasions, she has half-jokingly demanded a Prada purse as the price of her assistance in a case.

General
Using too much of your brain can make you bald like Prof. Agasa!

(Talking to Conan) "I'll run with you."