A/N: Hey guys, I'm back!
So, I've (finally) decided to update this story. I've had the urge to write, especially after an idea came to me regarding this chapter.
I'm sorry, by the way, if there are any errors within the story. My keyboard is going out, as the "a" key barely works, and the shift key on the right side is already dead (which means I have to hit the shift key on the left side, which is really uncomfortable). So yeah, if you see any errors like those in the story, feel free to tell me.
Forgive any medical inaccuracies that are bound to occur in this story. I'm getting mixed results from all over the internet, so a lot of stuff may not add up.
I know you don't want to hear me ramble anymore, so onto the good stuff! Enjoy!
1/24/18 EDIT: Cleaned up the chapter a bit, like I did with chapter one! Again, apologies to anyone who thought that this was an update for chapter three.
"I'm sorry, I've been meaning to ask," Conan innocently started, taking in the sea of aghast expressions. "But do I know you?"
Ran's breath hitched in her throat. Small, breathless gasps came from behind her.
She couldn't move. In front of her lay the battered and confused boy, his eyes glazed over in an unseeing incertitude as he took in the sterile hospital room. To him, this was new. To him, he had never been here before, and had never been Edogawa Conan. She almost laughed at herself, miserable shaking her head. Of course.
Of course.
Ai, she assumed, offered to get the doctor, seeing as she couldn't really move from her spot. Even the children ceased to pester Conan with their questions, too distraught to utter a word.
Kogoro had come back into the room a moment later, clearly put on edge at the scene before him. While he may have been dense, he sure wasn't stupid. Even the most idiotic of people could sense the almost palpable feeling of tension and worry drifting through the air. His eyes landed on Conan. The poor boy looked lost.
A feeling of dread settled within Kogoro's stomach. 'There's something wrong with him.'
Only the arrival of the doctor broke the room's occupants out of their daze. He came in with a sense of urgency, the catching of his breath to prove so. Little Ai was right behind him, a gleam of worry in her eyes, as well.
No quickly did he arrive did the doctor- whose name tag read 'Dr. Yamazaki'- pull up a chair next to the bed.
Dr. Yamazaki held a clipboard, clicking a pen in his hand. "Conan-kun?"
At the sound of his (supposed) name, the boy cautiously turned around, looking for the source of the voice. He met the gaze of the man, eyes naively big. "Yes?"
"My name is Dr. Yamazaki, Conan-kun," He started, resting a hand on his chest. "I'm going to ask you a few questions. Is that okay?"
The boy nodded.
"Okay then. Now, Conan-kun, do you know who you are?"
"...No."
"Do you know how old you are?"
Conan glanced at himself, unknowingly rubbing his hands. "I...think I'm seven. Er, at least, I look seven."
Dr. Yamazaki scribbled something down on his clipboard. "Alright. Do you know why you are here?"
Conan shook his head. "Sorry, I don't remember that either."
"Seeing as you do not remember anything relating to yourself, I'm going to give you a little quiz. Is that alright with you?"
Conan said a little, "I don't mind," as Dr. Yamazaki pulled out a second sheet of paper, scribbling down a few notes before looking back up to the patient.
"Conan-kun, what is the capital of Japan?"
"Tokyo, but it changed from Kyoto to Tokyo in 1868."
The doctor's eyebrows raised, giving a slight nod of approval. "Impressive. Well, what is 3+6?"
"9."
"How about 12x9?"
"108."
He rested his hands in his lap. "Finally, I need you to repeat this set of words: Explain, notice, bounce, jealous."
Conan had done so, albeit a bit slowly.
Dr. Yamazaki returned to his clipboard for a few more moments before smiling kindly at the boy. "Thank you, Conan-kun," he said, rising up from his seat. He turned his attention towards Ran and Kogoro. "If you don't mind, may I speak to you both outside in the hallway?"
Once the door to the room had been closed behind them, Dr. Yamazaki turned to the father and daughter. He cleared his throat.
"Okay, the simple way of putting this is that Conan-kun has a case of retrograde amnesia, which is most likely caused by the mild concussion he got. The results of the MRI and CT scans performed on him the other day came back, and luckily, there were no signs of internal bleeding or hemorrhaging, but we could detect a bit of trauma near his temporal lobe. Assuming that he fell all the way from the bridge to the bottom of the canal, it is quite a miracle that he didn't sustain a more serious head injury."
Ran closed he eyes for a moment, trying to take it all in. She felt herself suddenly reliving the time she had gotten amnesia. She had felt misplaced, like she existed frozen in time while the rest of the world went on with there day. And when she saw others who were said to have some significance in her life, her mind would go on a tangent. Was this someone new, or was she already supposed to know them? How much about her did they know, and vice versa? Did she trust them? It reminded Ran vaguely of being thrown into another person's body, and an impostor- someone quite like her in appearance, but not in heart- was taking her place and living her life.
And that's what Conan was going through right now.
A hand rested on her shoulder, and Ran snapped out of her thoughts to meet the eyes of her father. He gave her a knowing look, nodding slightly as he turned his attention back to the doctor.
"In addition to that, we noticed that there were a few other abnormal things going on within his head."
Kogoro raised an eyebrow. "Such as?"
"He appears to have quite a bit of old scarring, specifically on the back of his head. Though, after looking through his medical files, Conan-kun seems to be one of our more frequent visitors, so we ruled out the scarring as things from those instances. However..."
The pause the doctor made gave Ran and Kogoro an uneasy feeling.
"While performing the MRI scan," Dr. Yamazaki started. "We noticed that there was less grey matter in his brain than a child his age. And I don't mean 'less' as in just a slight bit. I mean it's a significant. To be frank, he has the brain of a young adult."
Ran's eyebrows jumped so high that they nearly disappeared behind her bangs. Her science teacher had discussed the topic just a few days ago. 'The neural tissue of the brain and spinal cord that helps control muscles, perception, speech, and emotions,' her brain recalled, the next words of her teacher ringing in her mind. 'It decreases as we age.'
It suddenly made sense why Conan acted the way he did.
"So, wait," Kogoro interjected. "Are you saying that the kid mentally aged quicker than kids his age?"
Dr. Yamazaki nodded. "Something like that. As you age, the amount of grey matter in your brain decreases. It comes with the process of maturity, which is why people always caution underage drinking and the usage of drugs, as those substances can mess with the process."
Ran took a quick step forward, hands protectively to her heart. "How did it happen?"
"We're not even sure. In fact, it shouldn't have ever have happened," Dr. Yamazaki said, his eyes flickering towards Conan's room. "In any case, his entire body is one big medical mystery. There are a few other things regarding Conan-kun I would like to inquire about."
"We'll answer whatever we can, Doctor."
The doctor flipped to another set of notes on his clipboard, his brow furrowing. "Well, in order to find any other internal injuries Conan-kun may have sustained during his fall, as well as to check on his leg, we stumbled upon an alarming amount of, um, healed fractures within his body."
Ran stiffened.
"To be specific, there are fractures all along the metaphyseal areas- such as the arms or legs- not to mention the countless other ones found in the other parts of the body. These aren't injuries that are easy to get, however. It's an injury only apparent in a child who has been, quite simply, roughhoused with, or at least treated something akin to, um, a rag doll, if you catch my drift." He paused, eyes trying to convey a secret meaning that he was far too uncomfortable with saying. Ran knew what he meant. "He has the body of a child whose bones have been taken apart and put back together again. Not including the ones he got the day of the accident, all of them are old. You are his guardians correct?"
"Yes, w-w-we are," Ran's voice was wavering, her words coming out cracked and broken. "But I can assure you, Doctor, that it wasn't us who did...d-did..."
Her voice caught in her throat, and Ran was bombarded with a new sea of emotions. A fresh new trail of tears beginning to stream down her face. Kogoro pulled his daughter into a small, yet warm embrace.
A hard-to-place expression- perhaps anger?- crossed Dr. Yamazaki's face. "Then it's as we suspected. Do you have any way of contacting his parents?"
Kogoro looked up. "We don't, but we can ask a friend of the family for contact information. In the meantime, what should we do about...it?"
"I would recommend psychological therapy, but seeing as he can't remember anything, I would hold out on bringing it up to Conan-kun. For now, just focus on providing the right conditions for him to get his memory back."
The detective nodded, still holding his daughter close as she cried her heart out.
Dr. Yamazaki dismissed himself, so Kogoro led his daughter over to a row of chairs further down the hall. It took all of ten minutes until Ran could compose herself enough to talk to her father.
Aggressively rubbing at her eyes, Ran frowned. "I-I'm going to make them regret ever hurting Conan-kun, Otou-san." She rapidly stood from her seat, her knuckles turning white at her sides. "I-I-I'm going to s-show them what types of monsters they've been for hurting him."
Kogoro stood at his daughter's side, patting her back as they retreated back to Conan's room. "I know, Ran."
A/N: And that's a wrap!
Boy, I had fun researching this chapter. Due to the sheer lack of information on some of the stuff up here (not to mention the rare usage of simple terminology), I apologize if any of the details up here are inaccurate, or just don't make any sense.
Ok, so this is starting to end up nothing like the original story, and I'm actually quite happy to say that I find that a good thing. I gotta get that horrid story out of my mind.
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and I can't wait to see you in the next one! See you later!
