One - Balance (Genta and Ayumi)
Genta and Ayumi have always been a pair of opposites. To him, Ayumi is cute while to her Genta is strong. She is sweet and soft, he is rough and coarse. He is tall, she is short. They are friends and no one else is. Everything is in balance, and to Genta, that is the most important thing.
His dad would say that she completes him and his life and Genta really likes that. That's why she's Genta's friend, no more, no less.
It's the same in school. Everyone has a place. Everyone has a purpose. Everyone is known for something. Ami knows how to spin tops and can read English sometimes. Katsuharu makes the best card towers and can remember the new Kamen Yaiba episodes word-for-word the following day and reenact them perfectly. Mitsuhiko is best at science and technology and can even help sensei with the projector board, he's studied it so much.
Even though it's not a full class, everyone can do something. That's what makes them work and why sensei loves them best.
So when the rumor floats around that there's gonna be a transfer student, Genta is not happy.
Ayumi-chan is of course, and he likes when she's happy but this time it puts a crease in his brow anyway. Genta and change are not friends, his life is happy and good and the routine is what keeps him grounded. So he grumbles to himself and does not complain too much, lest he worry Ayumi-chan who knows and understands, but he seethes as he tries to figure out just what will need to be recategorized. What's going where now, what will sensei do now? He needs to make a new spot.
It's way too much work for one person. He huffs and settles back.
This transfer student thing better not suck. Or else. He doesn't know what he's gonna do, but he's gonna do something.
Ayumi, like Genta, likes things to be where they belong. But in the same way, it's not out of organization or of categorization, but because people were people and things needed to belong. They just should. That was only right. They could belong anywhere, but it was where they chose to belong that mattered most.
So she of course is excited. Where is this stranger boy going to belong? She knows it's a boy, because she saw a boy and a taller onee-san come into the school. He had been so tiny really, smaller than even her. He had been really focused on his shoes but would respond to any question he was asked.
Poor guy, he must have been really scared. Though, of course he was. Japan and America were so far apart even on maps! He probably still wasn't great at Japanese.
Well, Ayumi will definitely help! He is probably a nice kid.
Overhead, the bell rings and around her children rush to their chairs, including her. Behind her Mitsuhiko is stuffing a book back into his bag. He keeps trying to read hard stuff again, this time looked like Lord of the Rings. She wonders if his mom knows.
She assumes no. He's gotten real good at hiding stuff from her.
The room suddenly goes quiet. Kobayashi-sensei's footsteps tap cheerfully across the floor. She's always like that, always a low kind of happy. That's what Ayumi likes about her. She's always supportive even when she's angry. Even at her most frustrated face she supports them.
Ayumi's mom says that's what a good teacher does.
Her voice is quiet and they can't entirely tell what she's saying. "English," hisses Mitsuhiko-kun from behind her and the class whispering starts again. "My dad uses that in phone calls!"
Ooh he really is from America!
(Yes she knows other countries are native English speakers and yes she knows that she won't be able to tell, but in all the anime Ayumi has ever watched, which isn't a lot, the transfer students are from America! Or France. But it's usually America!)
Kobayashi-sensei comes in first, leading in again, one of the tiniest kids Ayumi has ever seen and she has seen babies. He isn't holding her hand, rather he's looking down at his shoes as he trails after her. His hands, Ayumi notices, are curled into fists. But it's not like Genta-kun's fists when he's swiping at you because he doesn't know his own strength, but it's like her mom gets sometimes, like he's looking for something to hold onto.
The little boy turns to look at them and for a moment Ayumi is lost in the sheer blue behind those glasses. They're made bigger by the glass lens, she knows but for now she's stuck on how bright blue they are, and how sad. How… scared. Gosh it really must be scary, a new country and another language. It must be big. And lonely. Well that was fine, she could help with that.
He's dressed in a small suit, it a little heavy on his shoulders. The tie is neat on his neck, bright and garish red. She can see his knees and they look scratched up. Heavily scratched up.
"Hello," he says and tries to smile. It's small, but Ayumi feels he's trying. "I'm… Edogawa Conan. My family is from America and I…" He stops, looks down for a moment, mouths the words. And they wait because children can be notoriously patient when they want to be. "I'm staying with friends of another family. I… It's very nice to meet you."
His voice, in a louder classroom, would have been drowned out. But they hear every word. And the children absorb them, trying to understand them.
Mitsuhiko understands immediately, because his papa teaches him English and much more formal Japanese than most children even try to learn. Everyone else takes a nanosecond longer. Maybe more.
And that's why it's only by the time that Conan has reached his seat and pulled out a notebook that the giggling starts.
It's harmless, really, laughter. It's supposed to express joy. And his name is funny, and he knows it, and they all know it. But when they catch up and all start giggling and can't stop, Ayumi's the only one who sees not the flush of upset and hurt that often happens, but a sort of knowing, and a disappointment.
There's a word her mom uses to describe her dad when he's at work and he gets more work. And it's like being disappointment, but it's sharper, bigger.
Like Conan-kun had known this would happen all along and still wishes it wasn't happening anyway.
He doesn't even look upset either. His face is just thoughtful, and only seems to change as the noise grows louder. He only shrinks into himself then, like the noise is more important than them laughing is.
And watching him that way, Ayumi stops laughing. For some reason, what should be harmlessly silly and fun and make him theirs, make him part of the group, make him friend, suddenly isn't funny anymore.
And she doesn't know why.
A/N: You know, I went into this planning to make this a more lighthearted part of the story, aka Conan makes friends and things are awkward but he makes friends. And then I made the mistake of reading the canonical chapter where he transfers in. And they really do all laugh at him and his silly name and yes it's his own fault there, but it still must be so awkward. He's already gotta be six again, now he's gonna remembered for his weird name and big glasses. Conan had the experience of being Shinichi to help before, but he really doesn't now, so he's not in a good place.
Also bless Ayumi. She's such a good kid. She's really trying so hard. The Detective Kids are so good I love them. Now Genta... I had to give him a lot. Because he's generally made out to be the slow one, the slowest of the kids, the most like a typical shonen protagonist in a smart kid anime. He's not dumb though! He's a good kid who takes a minute to adjust and that stuff's generally pretty hard for him. But of everyone, he's also the most honest and open-hearted and that's really needed in the Detective Kids when you have super logical Mitsuhiko, sunshine and idealism rainbows Ayumi and the terrors that are Conan and Ai in general. He rounds out by being honest about stuff, good or bad but also by being generally tough. And he has no hesitation when it comes to saving or protecting his friends so I guarantee in like: ten years, he'll be the one who would shake Conan and Ai out of their angst funks, maybe five.
Anyway, keep on keeping on guys! This fic is a lot of fun and I'm loving this series. I'm slowly planning it out more and more and I look forward to your reactions! Thanks again!