Ran threw herself onto her bed with a heavy sigh. With finals coming up and karate practice to attend, she was getting more and more tired as the days passed. She turned on her side; although Sonoko was always there to talk and cheer her up, she missed having Shinichi around, just seeing him was enough to make her day go, well, not extraordinarily amazing but it did push in the right direction.
She picked up her phone and went to his contact page. Gazing at the number longingly, she sighed again, 'Ah... I want to talk to him...' She thought morosely, 'But he's probably busy. Maybe I'll call tomorrow.' She closed the phone and lay it beside her. There were so many things she wanted to talk about; not just the reason of his absence but to hear about his day and tell him about hers and just to be with him again.
She rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. 'When was the last time I saw Shinichi in person?' She said out loud. She stretched out a hand towards her ceiling fan and let it fall back onto the bed. 'I wonder if he's changed...' She questioned softly.
She picked up her phone again and opened the SNS page of his number. 'Maybe I'll just text him...' She thought.
She began to type, "Shinichi, today in class, you wouldn't believe how hard the mathematics test was. I bet even you would have found it difficult." She stared at the message and deleted it with a shake of her head.
She began again, "Shinichi, the gym teacher's getting married, you know, the one you always call a gorilla." She groaned, burying her face into her pillow. This was harder than she thought. She propped herself onto her elbows and backspaced again.
She stared at the screen, "Why is it so hard to text him now?" She whispered to no one in particular.
She started texting again, "Shinichi. School's so boring without you. I want to tell you all about what's happening but I think I'll wait until I see you again to say it. It's not the same without you..." She rambled on from then, spilling her heart out. She decided she wouldn't send the text, but would erase it the moment she was done. She needed to get everything off her chest, even though the person she wanted to tell it to the most would never hear or read it.
She finished the long message with "We've been through a lot together and have been friends for a long time. No matter what's happened to you, I'll always be there by your side and waiting for you."
She re-read the message over again, revising it here and there. Though it would never be read, she wanted to pretend like it would reach him. She felt herself turn red, how embarrassing would it be if it sent!
She went to close the message when a notification popped up, "Would you like to delete the message or save it into your drafts?" Ran hesitated. Saving it would increase the chances of it being sent accidentally and this was something that should not, by no means, be seen by the light of day. But she did spend a lot of time looking at it... And reading it over made her feel a bit better.
She saved it; she could always delete it tomorrow.
She made to place her phone on the desk when she fumbled and dropped it to the ground. Remaining in bed, she managed to stretch out and grab the phone by the very tip. Replacing it once again by her bedside, she switched off her bedside lamp and fell into a fitful sleep, which was punctuated with dreams of the past of Shinichi and her.
Unbeknownst to her, the plunge to the ground had sent the long drafted message to the boy in question, resulting in a soft ding from a child's phone one room away from her.
Conan blinked against the bright light of the phone and gave a quick glance at Kogoro to make sure he hadn't woken up. The last thing he needed right now was to get a smack in the head from a drowsy half-assed detective.
'A message... from Ran?' He thought, opening the message in curiosity. He always tried to open her messages as soon as possible, not wanting her to worry about him.
It started off, "Shinichi, I hope you're doing well. I haven't spoken to you lately, I hope you haven't gotten into much trouble!" And it continued, talking about her day, asking about his and had a general air of faint anxiety and curiosity. It ended with something along the lines of "I'm waiting for you and always have been".
Despite himself, Conan blushed and he had to look away from the screen to focus himself, "Save, save save." He mumbled at the phone, pressing at the buttons over and over again. Beside him, Kogoro muttered in his sleep, something about mahjong, and turned over, with his back to Conan.
Conan read the saved message once more, feeling more and more guilty as he went on. Ran was suffering right under his nose and he couldn't lift a finger to relieve any of it. He was also surprised that she would send such a heart-felt message; he speculated that she was probably feeling lonely. It's true that he hadn't called her in a while. 'I'll call her tomorrow.' He figured, 'But she always ends the call so quickly...' He added, grumbling.
But in regards to the lengthy message, he had to reply to her, right? Such a long text deserved some kind of proper response.
He began to type, "Ran... I'm sorry I've kept you waiting. I know I've been away for a long time, but I promise you, as soon as I'm done, I'll be home. I am the same person I was. I've not changed a bit... By the way, thanks for always standing by me..." and on he typed, until he finished.
Conan stared solemnly at the completed message. This was, but a small compensation for leaving her alone without a clue as to where he was or what had happened. She was too good for him, he knew, and he always feared that one day, she would finally give up on him, leaving him behind.
But based on the message, he wasn't totally out of her thoughts just yet, or so he hoped. He pressed send with small, shaky hands. Would this be enough of a response? Would it make her happier, or even more downcast? He heard a muffled notification sound coming from Ran's room as the message was received and waited up for another 5 minutes, in case she replied. but the phone screen remained dark. 'I guess she fell asleep', he figured.
He turned the phone off. Better not keep it on, the thought of her replying would keep him up all night.
He covered himself with the blanket and thought back to all those days when it was normal and there was no Organization came between them and all he had to worry about was soccer and school and ways on how to casually start a conversation with Ran. He closed his eyes and slowly drifted off, dreaming of happier days with Ran.