Naïve Child?

"A little further…" Ayumi said, holding her camera.

Conan stood upon the edge of the railing of the bridge holding on to the lamppost for support, took a step back on the wide stone rail of the bridge. He shivered as the chilly winter wind hit him on his side.

"A little more…" Ayumi called again, making a pushing motion with her hand.

Conan did as told, holding the smile to the camera.

"Conan-kun watch out!" Ayumi screamed as Conan fell back off the side of the bridge. She ran to him but it was too late. Their hands closed in inches away from each other before they were pulled away once more.

SPLASH

She leaned from the bridge to see where he had gone but she could not see him. He was gone. A small jacket floated ta the surface of the water but no body was left under its confinement.

"Co…" Ayumi held a hand to her open mouth. Millions of thoughts ran through her, shocking her nerves and paralyzing her muscles.

"What are you all surprised about?" a voice came from behind.

Ayumi's head spun around rapidly. "Conan-kun!" she gasped, "How where..what…"

(Flash Back)

Conan fell backwards, he gave a small tap upon the stone ledge and turned down to the bridge's support. Grabbing to the bottom edge of the rail, he swung himself under where two smiling faces greeted him. He landed gently, the other two supported him as he came.

"This has got to freak her out!" Mitsuhiko laughed.

"I don't know how you guys talk me into these things," Conan sighed.

"You said you'd do one favor for ditching us all those times!" Genta pointed his finger to his face.

"Yeah yeah, I know, I know, but why Ayumi-chan?"

"We originally wanted to do this to Ai-san…" Mitsuhiko began

"But when we went to her and asked her what she would do if you were to die, she said, 'That idiot, you guys can kill him tomorrow and I won't care. With his career, his bound to have a short lifeline anyways," Genta finished off.

'That woman…' Conan thought.

"She found out about our prank," Mitsuhiko sighed, "But since we didn't want to see this prank go to waist so…"

"Now hurry up Conan and get up from the other side while she's still caught up in looking for you in the waters!" Genta ordered.

'Me and my sorry life,' Conan wheezed a breath in his mind and did as he was told.

(End Flash Back)

"Is that you Conan-kun?" Ayumi choked.

"Of course it's me! Did I scare you?" the tiny boy laughed.

"No you died…I…killed you," Ayumi stuttered wide eyed.

"It wasn't your fault, I came back to tell you that," Conan forced out a smile, 'man this is cruel…'

"You're a ghost!"

"Do I look like one?"

Ayumi walked up closer, examining him from head to toe. "You look pale enough," she replied.

Conan snapped his head up at the unexpected reply.

Ayumi reached up and touched him on the cheek, "You're cold,"

"R…right…I came back to make sure you know it wasn't your fault and to say good bye," he continued.

"Wait, so if I don't accept your death as being my fault then you'll never leave right?" Ayumi questioned.

"Well…um…uh…"

"Yes! That's awesome! I'll never stop believing in the fact that I killed you Conan-kun! And you'll stay forever!" Ayumi jumped and clapped her hands together.

'Hey hey... how does it go there all of a sudden…helloooo? I just died here, maybe a bit more shock would be nice?'

"Wow, that's weird, I can still touch you. Does that mean that I'm the only one that can see you and stuff like that? That's awesome, you can sleep over at my house every day and we'll be together 24/7 and you can help me with my exams and…"

"What! This isn't turning out as I hoped it would," Conan butted in, "I'm not really a ghost, it was all a prank! Genta and Mitsuhiko made me do it, I was safe under the bridge! I never fell!"

"How do you explain your jacket in the river than?" Ayumi puffed.

"Jacket?"

"That one floating on top of the water."

Conan looked down. There was a jacket and it was exactly the same as his. His eyes shrunk… "That's not mine, I'm wearing mine!"

"I get it, you're still in the denial stage aren't you, you think you're not dead but you really are. That's cute, and works out for me perfectly fine. If it makes you happy for me to say you're not dead than you're not dead okay? You're just an undead," Ayumi laughed.

"I'm not a ghost!" Conan shouted.

Oooooooooooooo

"You think Ayumi-chan is shocked?" Genta asked.

"I just hope there's still a piece of Conan-kun that's still left after she tore him apart for us to recognize," Mitsuhiko laughed.

Sounds of giggling entered the two's ears as they made their way back from the end of the bridge after making their way under the bridge to the other end.

"Hey, isn't that Ayumi-chan giggling?" Genta looked up.

"I think it is, let's go see what's up," Mitsuhiko replied.

Oooooooooo

"Mitsuhiko!" Conan ran up to his friend and grabbed him by his jacket, "Perfect timing, tell her I'm not a ghost! Tell her how this was all a prank!"

"What?" Mitsuhiko didn't know what to say from the tiny detective's sudden approach.

"Mitsuhiko-kun! You can see him too?" Ayumi jumped cheerfully, "I just killed him a few minutes ago and now his back as a ghost!"

"You just killed him?" Genta raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I told him to move back a bit more when I was taking a picture for him and he fell off the bridge. See there's his jacket. Anyways, he came back now but his in denial of the fact that he died. I've seen it in tones of movies." Ayumi explained.

"It's like that…tell her that it was all planned from the start!" Conan shook the boy in his grasp.

Mitsuhiko looked over to Genta and Vise-versa. An evil smile came upon their two faces, "What prank, we don't know what you're talking about," the two replied simultaneously.

"What! Why you little, tell her that I'm not dead!" Conan shook him harder.

Mitsuhiko pulled Conan's hand away from his jacket and turned his back to him quietly. "I see, Ayumi-chan killed you huh. At least you're back now so I guess that's a good sign. At least Ayumi-chan wouldn't have any criminal charges for murder. But you should learn to accept your death Conan-kun," he sighed.

"Mitsuhiko….!" Conan glared at him.

(Two days later)

"Alright, his not a ghost! It was planned from the start! Me, Genta-kun, Conan-kun, we were all in it together!" Mitsuhiko screamed.

"So you're giving in to his stories too now?" Ayumi replied reluctantly.

"I'm not giving in, that's the truth!"

"Yoshida-san, you can't be so naïve. What's more harder to believe, Conan-kun dieing than miraculously coming back as a ghost or an innocent prank of a few immature boys?" Ai lectured.

"Not you too Ai-chan,"

"Ayumi, I'm not a ghost!" Conan exclaimed.

"You're face is cold,"

"It's winter!"

"Mitsuhiko-kun and Genta-kun came from the other end of the bridge,"

"They traveled underneath"

"Your jacket was in the river,"

"Someone else dropped theirs in?"

"Of course they would drop their warm winter jacket on such a cold day like that from the middle of the bridge into the river. They must have then walked home shivering in their T-shirts they could see their coat float down to the water because it looks cool?"

"Better than me being a ghost right?" Conan sighed at the strong willed girl.

"Look, we'll prove it to you his not a ghost," Ai said calmly, "He can't go through walls," (Pushes Conan's to the side, making him slam against the side of the building,) "he can't fly or glide or whatever ghosts do," (Kicks Conan's feet, tripping the boy to the ground) "and we can all see him covered with snow on the ground with that idiotic angry expression on his face."

"Maybe that's what real ghosts are like," Ayumi simply twisted her head, refusing to believe.

Conan got to his feet and shot a glare at Ai, then turned his attention back to the girl beside her. He pulled out one finger and took a pin from his back pack. "How's this?" Ayumi turned her head back. "Ghosts can't bleed right?" Conan confirmed.

"I guess they can't, they are the undead," Ayumi nodded.

Conan poked the pin into his winger. The tiny jab made him wince at the corner of his eyes as a small speckle of blood trailed from his finger.

Ayumi looked at him wide eyed and surprised, "Well I'll be," she whispered. Conan nodded with an expression on his face that screamed, 'I TOLD YOU!'

Ayumi took the boy's hand and examined it closely, "My gosh, you really are bleeding," she said with disbelief, "I guess ghosts do bleed" she finished off"

The 3 boys tripped and fell hard to the ground on their faces. "We give up!" they growled. Ai stood with her back turned to the girl with the questioning expression on her face with a sweat drop on her head.

"What?" Ayumi remarked.

End…

Epilogue

Ai waved a last good bye at the three across the road. "That girl is as thick minded as you are when she makes up her mind," she chuckled.

Conan remained quiet, his eyes focused upon the ground.

"What's up with you? You don't look so good," Ai asked.

"My blood," Conan whispered.

Ai looked down to the ground. Nothing was there except for three white dents on the floor where the boys had just fell. "What is it?" she asked again.

"My blood isn't leaving a mark on the snow…" Conan replied, still in a whisper.

Ai's head snapped back to the ground. Another droplet of blood fell from his finger. The two watched and waited for it to make a red mark on the ground. The drop landed then faded away. Not even an indent marked where it had fell, not even a sound echoed from it's fall. The two's eyes met as in a distant river, a small red bowtie made it's way to the surface.

THE END

Hope you all enjoyed it.