Gift of the Magpies
Warnings: Possibly inaccurate representations of Japanese culture, particularly Tanabata. Fluffiness. No plot.
Pairings: Slight Shinichi x Ran.
Notes: It's necessary to know Hikoboshi and Orihime's story before reading this.
Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan.
Conan smiled as he watched Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, and Genta stare in awe at the decorations and booths for the Tanabata Star Festival. The three of them and Haibara had met up with Conan and Ran at Professor Agasa's house after school to get ready for this, changing into their yukatas and packing up, before the six of them, supervised by the professor, took the bus to Mall Avenue together. The kids had chatted excitedly the entire time about how fun they thought the day would be, and although Conan himself hadn't been nearly as enthusiastic, since he'd come to this festival plenty of times already, seeing how amazed and happy the kids looked right now made him feel pretty good about today as well.
Not to mention that Ran looked positively stunning in her yukata. That was a bonus.
"I wanna make paper cranes!" Ayumi cried.
"No, we should play at the game booths," Mitsuhiko said.
"Let's eat a bunch of snacks!" Genta cried.
"Now, now, children," Professor Agasa said. "It's only about 3:45. We have plenty of time to do all of that."
Ran giggled a bit at the children's antics before bending down to place her face right in front of Conan's. "So what do you want to do, Conan-kun?"
Conan was taken aback by how close she suddenly was and a slight pink tinted his cheeks. "Ah, well, I don't really have anything in mind."
"Really?" Ran said, standing back to full height, much to Conan's relief. "I always loved the fireworks most of all." Her face softened as if in nostalgia. "When it gets dark and all the lanterns and lights are lit, and then the fireworks burst in the sky. It's really beautiful."
Conan smiled a bit at that and nodded, his mind thinking back to the times he and Ran had come to this festival together in the past. The fireworks had always been his favorite part too, although it wasn't so much that he enjoyed the light show itself, rather that he enjoyed the gleeful look that Ran would always get on her face when she saw them and the way the multi-colored lights would reflect off her hair and skin, making her practically glow.
"Conan-kun," Ayumi called, grabbing his arm and gently pulling him one direction. "Come on, let's go."
Conan nodded and followed her, catching up with the rest of the group at a game booth.
The next few hours were spent rather enjoyably, most of the time spent on playing at the game booths, with four stops at food booths to satisfy Genta. Mitsuhiko, Ayumi, and Genta each earned quite a few small prizes at water scooping games, and Ran was very successful at a game similar to fukubiki, where she somehow managed to get the winning color ball every time. Conan and Haibara hardly played and were content with simply watching the others, but at one point, the group came across a target shooting game using cork guns that left the children and Ran unable to win anything after many tries. After a good deal of urging from the kids, the two shrunken teens finally conceded and played, and having been well-trained in sharpshooting, they both hit the targets dead center on the first try and earned a large stuffed animal each. They promptly gave their prizes to Ayumi.
But things began to become a lot less fun for Conan when they found the paper crane making booth that Ayumi had wanted to go to. Not only did the booth have paper cranes, but there was also a large bamboo tree that was adorned with cards with people's wishes written on them.
Upon seeing it, Ran suddenly bent down to Conan and said, "Hey, Conan-kun. Your class hung some wish cards on bamboo already, right?"
"Yeah," Conan said, "a few days ago."
"So what did you wish for?"
"I wished for a new soccer ball," Conan said. It wasn't something that he actually wanted, but it was what he had written on the card, because writing, "I wish I could turn back into Kudo Shinichi," wouldn't have been a good idea.
"Really?" Ran said, surprised. "I really thought that you would wish for something like being a detective when you grow up. Like...Shinichi."
As the name escaped her lips, her expression immediately became melancholic, and Conan cringed internally. "She's upset over me again," he thought guiltily.
"You know, Conan-kun?" Ran said. "If I could have a wish, do you know what it would be?"
"No," Conan said, but he knew that was a lie.
"I...I would wish for Shinichi to come back." Her voice had suddenly become softer, and a bit shaky. "I would wish for him to just forget about his stupid case and come home where he belongs."
"Ran..."
"You know, sometimes I feel like I'm Orihime and Shinichi's Hikoboshi," Ran continued, oblivious to Conan's guilt and unease. "I mean, we're not married like them or anything, and I can still call him and talk to him, but...it's like how Hikoboshi and Orihime can only meet once a year. At least it's more often than that, but still, I hardly even see Shinichi anymore..."
Conan didn't say anything, and there was silence between them for quite some time. Then Ran finally pulled herself together, brushing away a stray tear. "Sorry, Conan-kun," she said, smiling at him. "We're supposed to be having fun, and here I go bringing up Shinichi again."
Conan shook his head. "It's not your fault, Ran-neechan. Shinichi-niichan's just being stupid."
Ran laughed a little. "Yeah, you're right. I can just forget about that detective geek for today." She reached down and slipped her hand into Conan's smaller one. "Come on, let's help the others make their cranes."
Conan smiled at her and nodded, and they walked over to the others, but as soon as Ran took her eyes off him, the smile left his face and he looked down solemnly at the ground. "I'm sorry, Ran."
They went through just a few more games and activities before it began to grow dark, and at a little before eight, the group began to head towards the center square, arriving there just as the fireworks started. Like Ran had said, it really was beautiful, but she didn't enjoy it because she was still thinking about Shinichi, and as a result, Conan couldn't enjoy it because he missed her smiling face.
The group watched the lights burst in the sky until the show ended at about nine. Since they all had to go to school the next day and the festival was pretty much over anyways, the group left Mall Avenue and took the bus back to Professor Agasa's house.
"Alright, everyone," the professor said as they entered the door. "Change your clothes back and make sure you grab your backpacks before you leave. Ayumi-kun, Mitsuhiko-kun, Genta-kun, I'll drive you three in my car and drop you off at your homes. Conan-kun and Ran-kun will walk home themselves."
"Yes," they all chorused in unison. They all took turns using the bathroom to change, and soon Ayumi, Genta, Mitsuhiko, and the professor had left in the car.
"Well, we should be going too," Ran said to Conan.
"Wait," Haibara said. "I need to give Edogawa-kun something before he leaves. Is that alright?"
"Sure," Conan said, and Ran nodded behind him.
"It's downstairs," Haibara said. "Come with me, Edogawa-kun."
"Okay." Conan walked with Haibara downstairs to the basement lab. "So, what did you need to give me?"
Haibara opened a drawer in the desk, taking out a small plastic box and handing it to him. "Here."
"What's this?" Conan flipped the box open, revealing a small gen capsule inside. "Hold on, this is—"
"A new prototype of the antidote," Haibara finished for him. "It's different from the previous ones in that it should work without you actually having a cold. I just got this one done recently, and I suppose now is as good a time as ever to test it out."
Conan almost couldn't believe it. "How long?"
"I've calculated it to be about twelve hours," Haibara said. "I'd suggest you use it on the weekend, so that Hikoboshi can go ahead and spend a whole day with his Orihime."
So she had heard what Ran had said at the paper crane booth. It was kinda weird to connect their situation to the Tanabata legend, but he supposed Ran had been onto something with it. Suddenly a funny idea came to Conan's mind. "Hey, in that case, wouldn't you be the flock of magpies?" he said, smirking at her.
"Just go, Kudo-kun," Haibara said, dismissing him with a wave of her hand. "You shouldn't keep that girl from the detective agency waiting."
"Oh, right." Conan closed the box and pocketed it. "Thanks, Haibara." At that, Conan walked back up the stairs and into the living room, and when Conan set his eyes on Ran, he couldn't help the wide smile that spread across his face.
She was going to be getting a big surprise this weekend.
More Notes:
-Fukubiki is a lottery-type thing in Japan where there's a box filled with colored balls that you spin, and a random ball comes out. The color of the ball determines what you win. Ran played this once in File 709, and because of her amazingly good luck when it comes to games of chance, she won first prize.
-Sunrise and sunset times for Tokyo say that in July, the sun sets at around 7:00 P.M., making 8:00 a good time for the fireworks to start. So don't think that it's too early for them to be watching fireworks.
-Let's just suppose this fic takes place before the London arc and Conan still has to have a weakened immune system for the antidote to work.