Mikau: Hi guys! I have a new one for you today. This is my entry for Poirot Café's fifth Super Short Contest (voting now through Saturday November seventh). I hope you like it. I've always loved RanKai, but I've never had the opportunity to write any. This is kind of pre-RanKai, but…I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: If I owned it, I'd think about switching whom Ran and Aoko end up with since canon pairings are such toxic, unhealthy relationships. I just want everyone to be happy. The boys shouldn't have to lie, and the girls deserve guys that will be there for them and be honest with them.

…

Guide

At the base of the clock tower in Ekoda, a young man keeps vigil every month on the fifteenth. He holds a single rose and wears the weary, tormented expression of one plagued by past sins.

Ran first noticed him in August on her way to the art museum. Keiko, a friend from university, had grown up in the area and was eager to show Ran around.

"They really do have awesome exhibits, and the Kaitou Kid even held a heist there a couple years back!" Keiko chattered excitedly, arm-in-arm with Ran and completely oblivious to the young man across the street.

But why should she notice him? There were about two dozen people milling about the foot of the clock tower. Ran had only observed the young man because he stood back apart from the rest, and the dark scarlet of the rose had caught her eye…. There was also the fact that the man could have been Shinichi's twin brother, and at first Ran thought that it had been Shinichi, but…she was trying really hard not to think of Shinichi nowadays.

Ran was moving on. She'd wasted four years of her life waiting for Kudo Shinichi, but…he wasn't coming back. Conan-kun had told her. Shinichi hadn't even had the decency to break the news himself. So it was time to put him out of her thoughts, keep him safe and treasured in her memories where he belonged.

…

October fifteenth brought Ran to Ekoda on an errand, and she just happened to see the same young man at the clock tower a second time.

He looked just as forlorn and adrift in the crowd as before, and, once again, he held a wine-red rose.

She wanted to go talk to him, but she knew it wouldn't be right. It already felt like she was prying, looking in on something private and painful.

…

Ran looked for him every time she passed the clock tower, but she didn't see him again until November fifteenth.

This time he was sitting on the steps of the clock tower, sobbing uncontrollably into his hands. A beautiful bouquet of a dozen crimson roses lay by his side, all wrapped up in shimmering blue tissue paper and a gossamer ribbon the color of moonlight.

Another young man sat beside the first, and this one Ran recognized as Hakuba Saguru. Hakuba-kun was seemingly offering words of comfort to his distraught friend, patting the brunette reassuringly on the shoulder from time to time.

Now Ran was incredibly curious…even as her heart ached for that young man who truly seemed to be deeply suffering.

…

She came back the next month on the fifteenth, purposely rearranging her schedule to visit the clock tower. She wanted to talk to him.

When Ran had shared her peculiar experience with Conan-kun, the clever ten year-old frowned and reported, "It sounds like he's lost someone." but Conan wouldn't say any more than that and only looked melancholy, like he understood all too well what that man was going through.

Today Ran found Shinichi's doppelganger looking gloomy as always, standing at his post with the customary rose in hand, looking like a bloodstain against the white of the falling snow. It was just before one o'clock, and Ran could tell from the snow building up around his feet that he had been stationed in that exact spot for over two or three hours.

She took a deep breath and approached, tentatively calling, "Excuse me, but…aren't you cold?" as she raised her umbrella so that it sheltered him as well.

He blinked, light and recognition coming into his eyes. "A-Ao…" he stuttered, gazing at her like a ghost…or maybe an angel.

Ran blinked in confusion, and the spell broke.

His eyes dimmed, and a grey expression settled back down onto his features. "Sorry. I thought you were someone else…. You cut your hair."

And now, more than confused, Ran was alarmed. Her hand flew up to her shoulder-length locks. She had cut them back in April at the start of the school year when Conan had informed her that Shinichi-niichan wouldn't be coming back…but how did this stranger know that?!

"D-Do you know me?" She prepared herself for attack, but none came.

He smiled mirthlessly and held out the rose. "Kuroba Kaito. Pleased to meet you. I know your boyfriend."

Ran frowned. "Not well enough to know that I don't have a boyfriend."

He blinked and studied her intently for a moment. His wry smile returned as he whispered, "Shame."

Ran shifted uncomfortably, feeling like she should go, but…she'd finally gathered the nerve to talk to him, and she'd regret it if she backed out now. "Kuroba-kun, you're going to get sick if you stay out here. You should go home."

He shook his head slowly. "Can't. I'm waiting for somebody."

"Even though they stand you up every month?" Ran couldn't help but wonder.

Kaito gave a start. "Oh? You knew about that?"

Ran looked away, feeling guilty for snooping.

He laughed softly. "The truth is, she's never coming…but…that's my fault, so…" His eyes misted over and tears soon followed. "I lied to her for so long…when she found out…she was devastated, and…" He swallowed hard and then shook his head, trying to erase the indelible images haunting him.

Kaito looked back at Ran with a heartbreaking smile, violet eyes glittering with tears. "I don't know why I stand out here waiting…if I'm just punishing myself or if I'm expecting someone to come, but…" He laughed in self-reproach. "Sorry. I know I'm pathetic, but it feels like I'm stuck like this, trapped in time without her. I've only ever loved one person, so I don't know what else to do."

"I know what that's like," Ran whispered, choked up by her own tragedy. "I've spent four years in limbo, but now I've made a promise to myself to move on and keep living. I think that's what you need to do too, Kuroba-kun, so…" She bit her lip, feeling silly at her suggestion: "Maybe you've been waiting for me to come and help you do that. Maybe you just need a friend who can understand and help guide you through it. What do you think?"

A genuinely grateful smile spread across Kaito's lips as he reached out and took her warm hands in his icy ones. "I'm tired of being lost like I have been these past two years, so I think I need to take you to that café across the street and treat you to lunch so you can start guiding me."

The

End