"Ayumi-chan, could we talk?"

Ayumi blinked and turned to face him. Haibara glanced at the watch on her wrist and nodded. "The movie starts in fifteen minutes. You have enough time."

It was with an almost pointed glare that Haibara forced Genta and Mitsuhiko to turn around, and though they still stood strong against her for all of a minute (quite a leap compared to what their durability used to be), they were eventually pushed back into the movie theater to receive refreshments for the group of five. Ayumi shuffled her feet and folded her hands behind her back, giving an air of bashfulness about her. "What is it that you needed to talk about, Conan-kun?"

Perhaps she realized in the back of her mind that there was something wrong. He wasn't smiling (not that he usually walked around with an strange, unjustified grin plastered on his face), and the way he stuck his hands into his pockets and breathed with a hint of uneasiness made her, in turn, feel queasy. Conan was attempting to ease his way into something. But the thought did not occur to her that the scene was eerie, in fact, she'd had her hopes rather high. It was a bit romantic to her, the entire set-up. The air was humid and drops of rain that grew life dripped from roofs with waterspouts where they collected. The sky was a shade of grey with just a bit of blue peeking out from behind the sullen clouds, acting as an agent of the looming sun. The streets and sidewalks were slicked over in glossy puddles of water, every now and then crossed over and splashed (but remained for the most part undisturbed). A request to speak with her alone, under the blinking lights of the theater, was the dreamiest thing she could picture seeing as Conan was there.

It was with a heavy heart that he became broodingly wordy.

He rambled on and on about this and that (types of people and times and friends and years- heaven knows where that came from), but eventually he said one thing.

"I'm sorry. Ran-neechan is… special."

"Ah…"

She was about to say something, but as her hands now fiddled with her skirt at her sides, nothing came to mind. What was there to say?

Clearly Conan had been torn up about saying anything at all. She was his friend and she knew it. He just proved it to her, not through kind words or comfort, but through the honesty of a secret. He liked Ran-neechan. He trusted her with that although he knew it would hurt her to know. That was the best a friend could ask for, so as she hurriedly skipped by him, she twisted around and left him with a few words.

"Thank you for telling me, Conan-kun!"

She didn't see that movie, which wasn't a huge loss because it wasn't something she'd been waiting for, she supposed.

"Come on! What are you waiting for, stupid?! Let's hurry so we can get the best seats!"

"Oi, oi! Ayumi-chan! You're pulling my arm a little hard, aren't you?"

"Stop being such a baby! You've been roughed up worse!"

Conan let a disgruntled breath slip through his mouth with the volume of a megaphone. Desperately struggling to rip his arm free of Ayumi's grip, he dug his heels into the ground. Unfortunately the force amounted to nothing against Ayumi's pull. The years had been kind to her strength, as apparent by the bruises he was certain he would have on his lower arm.

"Hah, hah! Conan-kun's whipped!"

Mitsuhiko pointed and laughed alongside Genta, who took the privilege of making the humiliating sounds.

"Whoo-psh~! Whoo-psh~!" Haibara smirked and made the sharp imitation of expending a whip in her hand.

"Shut up!"

Ayumi, ever-oblivious to the mockery her other friends were making of Conan, reached the counter and finally released him. He was unprepared and the sudden lack of a pull made his pushing work against him, sending him straight into the floor. "Could I have three large bags of popcorn, five sodas and two bags of gummies?"

The cashier nodded and began the process of retrieving the ordered food.

With a jump in her step, Ayumi twisted around ever-so-innocently hands folded like a child behind her back. "Do you guys want anything?"

The question swept a long, awkward air across the team.

Genta took in a shallow breath. "Please tell me you're joking." Ayumi's nose scrunched up in annoyance as she crossed her arms across her chest and nodded. "Of course!"

There was a sense of relief in the atmosphere.

Mitsuhiko was the first to laugh it off. "Thank goodness. You're the one who got Genta on a diet. I'd imagine you'd be the last to break down like that!"

"I'm the healthiest out of all of you! I'm a little insulted you all believed me!"

"Especially considering how horrible you are at acting." Conan griped, rubbing his sore arm back and forth. Yep, there would be a few brown bruises there- maybe a purple one or two. Ayumi sucked in her cheeks. "I am not!"

"Yoshida-san, I have to agree with Edogawa-kun." Haibara smiled and walked past her, reaching inside of her coat's pocket for her wallet as she made her way to the counter. "Your performing capabilities leave a bit to be desired."

Ayumi huffed in frustration.

Conan chuckled under his breath and set a hand onto her shoulder. "Don't feel bad, Ayumi-chan. Not everybody in the world can act. That's why there are people who are actors and people who, well, aren't."

"Speaking of actors," Mitsuhiko's frantic voice rang high in their ears. They turned to see him looking at his watch on one wrist and holding the tickets with his other hand. "We should probably hurry! I just checked the tickets and we're an hour off! The movie starts in two minutes!"

"Well," Conan panted as he took his seat "at least we had the foresight to show up early."

"What we thought was early!" Ayumi sighed and checked her cellphone for the time before putting it on airplane mode. "Only a minute late. The commercials just started." Satisfied with the device, she discreetly slipped it away into her shirt so that he couldn't see. She'd brought her purse, but she always filled it to the brim with first-aid, seeing as the dead dropped like flies around Conan. It was better to be prepared for a worst case-scenario.

"That's always the way it works, isn't it?" Conan quipped, following suit as he turned off his phone entirely.

"It's a shame we couldn't all get seats together."

Conan shrugged and glanced at the Shounen Tantei Dan that sat spread all across the theatre. Genta sat next to Haibara, who would have been Mitsuhiko had the bookworm not been such a gentleman. Mitsuhiko took temporary residence almost at the end of the aisle across from Haibara and Genta. Ayumi tilted her head and took a sip of her soda. "He really worries me sometimes. He was easy when we were younger, but over the years he's just gotten worse." She'd somehow noticed his eyes on Mitsuhiko, which was strange since she wasn't the most observant of the bunch.

That's probably Haibara's deal. He would have said it out loud had he not thought Ayumi would slap him upside the head for it (she'd become awfully violent in her later years). He lets her walk all over him. Not that I'm surprised. Sometimes that girl makes me think I have no word.

"If he doesn't shape up, he'll end up with somebody that'll do nothing but use him!"

Ayumi sounded like she was heating up, then, and her words held a slight slice to the end, harsh like a dagger. "Mitsuhiko-kun is smarter than that. He'll see that in a girl before it gets too serious."

"That doesn't mean he'll have the strength to leave!"

"You need to give him more credit," he drawled, taking a sip of his own soda "Mitsuhiko-kun is a lot stronger than you think."

"He could be." Ayumi wallowed, staring intently down at her lap. She had no clue what she was looking at. All that sat there was their popcorn and her soda. She glanced up to say something else, but found her neighbor glaring at the screen with a look of the upmost concentration. The commercials had just started not even a minute ago! There was no way the movie had already started! The moment she glanced at the screen, she saw it, too.

Ran's face was plastered all over the screen in a shot of a table full of photos.

The photos ranged anywhere from Ran standing behind some rising actor (Daichi Takashi, right?) with her arms wrapped around his neck (the two smiled like they hardly noticed the sun going down behind them- Ran had an engagement ring on her finger as big as her thumb's nail) to Ran, looking sick and pale, with a baby in her arms. The screen faded to black and so began the rest of the promo.

"How have you been doing since Ran-neechan got this role?"

Conan shrugged weakly. "I've been alright. It's been hard, having her so far away, but she's right. I'm old enough to take care of myself."

"Do you still talk to her?"

"Every night," he murmured. "She always sounds really tired, but she still tries to talk to me."

She could see him shift as though the topic was making him uncomfortable, so she dropped it. How could he still be so awkward about Ran with her? Nine years and he thought she wasn't over it yet?

She turned away. Well, she was! She was well over it! She had built a bridge not only over the river, but straight into the forest on the other side. She'd already taken up making a bridge all across the village she was so over it!

She really was over it…

The movie had been okay, really. The ending was disappointing, what with the couple going their separate ways and the other dying (he saw her one last time… she appeared like an angel and carried him to heaven with her).

Okay, it hadn't been disappointing. It was tear-jerker. The movie had made her cry so hard she'd bothered everyone who sat around her. Conan had even nudged her and called her a child, even though he had done it in a much more playful manner than she'd taken it as. Before the credits began rolling, she'd excused herself to go get air.

She wiped her face spastically, hiccuping and choking on her own tears and snot. Gross… It was times like these that she thanked whatever god that may be that she carried a handkerchief with her. Although, she admitted as she glanced down at the raggedy cloth, there were times where it would have been nice to carry more than one. Disgusting. I've covered the entire thing and I'm still not done crying.

"Bahrou," a hand held out a newer-looking handkerchief "what was all that about? Couldn't you cry silently like everybody else?"

"Shut up!" Ayumi took the offered handkerchief and began wiping her face with it. "You are so mean sometimes, Conan-kun!"

He took the comment in stride. "Well I wouldn't have to be if you weren't so easy to cry!"

"Well it's been nine years and I'm still crying! What does that tell you about your methods?"

"I should be even meaner."

She paused with her head in the cloth.

"You're such a jerk."

He snorted and patted her on the back. The two sat there and leaned against the wall, bodies pressed against promotional pictures of movies nobody would see or movies everybody was super excited to buy a ticket to.

It took her a few more minutes, but Ayumi finally began to hold her tears. She'd already dirtied her handkerchief beyond repair. His didn't need the same treatment. She pulled it away from her face, folded it and went to put it in her purse. She had a perfect slot where it would fit.

"I'll just hold onto this and give it back to you."

"What, why?" He snatched the rag back.

Surprised, Ayumi backed away a few centimeters to get a better look at his face. "It- just look at it! It's got my snot and tears and spit all over it!"

Conan grunted. "So what? Why should I care? You're my friend. I'm not going to let your germs stop me from taking what's mine."

"Well then give it back!"

"What?"

"I was going easy on it because it was yours! If you don't care about my germs, then give it back I'm not done!"

"What? Bahrou! A handkerchief is made for things like that! You act like I can't clean it!" He said it so harshly, but it was gently that he opened it up again. "Hold still, will you? Maybe I can do this better since I can actually see your face."

Ayumi held her breath and he reached out with the fabric and began wiping her tears away.

"I can really do this myself."

"Shut up…"

She did as told and held still, pressing her face against his fingers to help the process (at least that was what she told herself).

"Hey, Ayumi-chan…"

She responded with what sounded shamefully like a purr.

"This is the place where it happened, isn't it?"

Ayumi made another questioning noise and pulled away from his hand to get a better look at him. Conan glared and ordered her to stay still.

"This is the place where you and I became friends for the first time."

Oh… He was talking about that.

"M… Mhm."

She tried to pull away again. "Ayumi-chan, stay still, will you?"

"I think I'm okay now, Conan-kun!"

"Well I know you're not!"

She continued to struggle to pull away, but although she had grown strong in her years, Conan was still a man and didn't know his own power when he grew irritable.

"I am! I'm just fine! I've stopped crying so I'm okay! See?"

"Just because you've stopped crying doesn't mean I can't see stuff on your face!"

"I can get it off myself can't I?"

"I'm just helping you so stay still!"

Ayumi pouted and crossed her arms. Conan glared right back at her.

"Besides, I was trying to have a conversation with you."

"About what?"

"About what happened here but if you're still sore about it…"

"I am not! I don't care! It was nine years ago! I'm over it!"

"Shut up, will you?! I was just going to say that I'm happy I said something!" Ayumi's wounded eyes met Conan's soft ones. Out of everything that'd ever come out of Conan's mouth, she wasn't expecting to hear that. Maybe she was waiting to hear something like "I still mean it" or "I'm sorry for hurting you like that" (not that he hadn't apologized before- he had apologized after that day a great many times).

He finally lifted the handkerchief away from her face and placed it in his back pocket.

"If I hadn't had the courage to tell you that day that I liked Ran-neechan, I don't think I would've let myself get as close to you as I am today." His face was beginning to heat up, and he was trying with great issue to hide it. "I just wanted to let you know that you're one of the greatest friends I've ever made, and above all else I cherish our friendship." Conan was failing to control his voice, but it was shaking and quivering like he was making a confession of love- which was ridiculous. What he had done was almost the exact opposite.

Ayumi smacked herself out of her reverie and smiled vehemently up at him (he stood a good two inches taller than her). "You know, I'm really glad you did, too, Conan-kun! I don't think I could ask for a better friend." She thought for a second then shivered and whispered. "Don't let Ai-chan hear me say that. She'd never tell you but she is the jealous type!"

Conan laughed and nodded and was about to say something else when his watch beeped. Usually he would shrug the beeping off and finish his conversation first, but when he looked down he found it was almost 22:30. "Ah! I've gotta get home! Ran-neechan should be calling any minute!" Ayumi sighed and nodded her head in understanding. Of course he needed to go home. She was hoping that they could all go out and grab ice-cream afterward…

Then again, she could hardly imagine anybody else in their group there. All she could make out in her little vision was the two of them sitting on a bench somewhere, chomping down on ice-cream cones. She could see herself getting strawberry all over her face. He'd laugh at her and she'd get upset and stuff her cone into his face- right where his nose was. He'd get mad and do something like drop his on her hair or stuff it down her back so she couldn't get to it. He'd sit there and do nothing but laugh at her until it either fell through the back of her shirt and onto the ground or got fished it out (and thrown at him).

Ayumi was so lost in her thoughts that she hardly heard him.

"Let the guys know I had to go. Thanks, Ayumi-chan."

Before she knew what was happening, his lips pressed against her cheek for only a second and he ran past her. She wasn't even turning around before he was waving goodbye and off on his way back home. Behind her, she could hear the sounds of the theater doors opening as a crowd filed out, and she could feel her friends come to stand behind her.

"Where is Conan-kun going?"

"Maybe he has homework to get to?"

"And you think he's going to do it at night? Please, he's already got his homework done. He always does."

"Are you confusing him for you, Tsuburaya-kun?"

"No!"

"Yes…"

Maybe, just maybe… Ayumi reached up to touch her cheek where he lightly kissed her- if she could even call it that. Maybe I'm not as over him as I thought.