At first, Masumi had assumed that the cough and growing tightness in her chest was just that, a cough. Something that would pass on its own with time. Nothing to be too worried about. And yet, just three days in, she ended up hacking out a single purple petal on her way back to the current hotel from a case. A single orchid petal.
She didn't need to be a detective to know the significance of the flower, not when the Japanese word for orchid was ran. Staring at the petal a second longer, she ended up letting it drift to the ground, to be lost forever. There was no point in keeping it, no point in clinging to one sided feelings that wouldn't be returned as long as Ran still waited for Shinichi.
And yet, despite knowing that she had to let go, Masumi couldn't quite shake them. She couldn't quite ignore the way Ran made her feel, the way she was happier and able to forget the threat of whoever had attacked her mother and killed her brother, if only briefly. The feelings clung to her tightly, prompting coughing fits that more often than not brought up the blindingly obvious petals that would be hurriedly stuffed in a pocket or tossed in the trash as quickly as possible to avoid notice. Hopefully, the disease would remain unnoticed until Masumi could move on or figure out what she was going to do.
"It's the Mouri girl, isn't it." The statement came as Masumi was a bit too slow in concealing the fresh petals from her mother's sharp gaze. Staring in shock at being caught, she took the opportunity to throw the petals in the trash before responding.
"...Yeah. It's just that she likes someone else, and I don't want to mess with that." Masumi plopped down onto a chair as she spoke, still caught off guard by being found out. Her mother sat down in a nearby chair, staring intently as though Masumi was going to drop dead from the disease right then and there. Though, since she had been concealing it, it was possible that she thought it was worse than it was. "It's only been a couple weeks since it started, so-"
"I don't want to hear it." Mary glared, silencing Masumi just like that. "I need you to either go tell her how you feel, or go get treated. You can't risk your life over this."
"...Alright, I'll tell her. But I don't want to influence her decision." What was Masumi supposed to say, that she was slowly dying of a disease that could only be cured by either her love being returned or a surgery that would save her life but also remove any feelings she had for Ran?
"...You're an idiot, Masumi. You don't have to mention the disease, and a confession won't work if she only agrees to date you to cure you. Just deal with it as soon as possible." Unable to argue further, Masumi simply nodded. It was a bit late right now, so maybe she could try in the morning.