SilverZone - Thanx, wonder why nobody else ever came up with it... Dead Like Me is awesome, isn't it? Black Phantom 1412 - Jay, thanx. Arigato gozaimasu! ... Me: Thanx to the people who faved an reviewed (My inbox was filled, I'm so happy :D)
Hattori: Sooo, what exactly am I supposed to do here?
Me: Be cute! (date me =3)
Sada: *laughes* Give the guy a break, will you? He's already having a hard time solving cases.
Hattori: She's right! Masago, Disclaimers please!
Masago: *Roles eyes* The author of this story is too lazy to write a Disclaimer and finds it rather stupid to do so, since this is a site for fanfics and it is logical she never owns any of the characters unless they're OC's.
Me: And this time every reviewer and faver will get a bunch of my home made cyber cookies! (they're delicious!) *Puts on R&R hypno music just in case*
Ran shrieked as her eyes fall on the person that had rung the bell of the Detective Agency. Megure Keibu and Takagi-Keiji stared at her with compassion and sorrow, making the alarm bells in her head ring. What had happened? An accident, kidnapping or did someone die? 'God, no.' Her eyes turned huge and filled with tears.
"Ran-Kun. I have some bad news." Megure Keibu said softly. He looked terrible: his eyes were red, his clothes dirty and his skin was pale. Takagi gave her an uneasy glance and looked at his feet again while wringing his hands.
'No, no, no, no no no no no!' This couldn't be happening, could it? This was just a lie, a big fat lie. Was it Sonoko, mom? Or maybe… No, it couldn't be, not him. He had promised he'd come after her, he would probably appear any moment and they would all laugh at it.
"What happened?" Ran shrieked again as the voice of her father suddenly came from behind. Hell, she hadn't heard him coming. Kogoro looked over his daughters shoulder, his beer and Yoko concert temporarily forgotten.
"Not sure, when we arrived at the scene a bomb had just exploded a few minutes ago, taking one of our cops in the progress." Megure Keibu said as he picked on his gloves. "All we know that she and her college found a dead body 15 minutes prior to the explosion." His eyes switched from Kogoro to Ran and then back to Kogoro, like he didn't know what to say anymore.
Ran felt her heart drop. She knew where this was going to, but she didn't want to believe it. Her knees started to shake and her hand searched for her father's shoulder to make she wouldn't fall.
"That still doesn't really tell us what happened." Kogoro said and looked in to Megure Keibu's eyes. "Start at the beginning, if you will."
Megure Keibu bit his lip. "A few minutes after the case in Tropical Land two of our agents found a dead body, but forgot to bring their walkie talkies, so one of them stayed with the body while the other one went to get some back up. When he returned to the scene where the body had been found, there had been an explosion and the whole area had been destroyed. We were able to find two bodies, one of them probably from the agent left behind and the other the already dead body." He finally sighed and then took a deep breath to say the words he had been meaning to say. "We have reasons to believe this body was the body of Kudou Shinichi."
Ran cried as she fall to her knees, not believing the words that Megure Keibu had spoken. "No!" she screamed. "No, this is a lie! Tell me your joking! Tell me!" She fall to Megure's feet, tears rolling down her cheeks. "NOOO!"
"No!" Shinichi jumped up and bumped his head against something. With a groan he fall on his butt and rubbed his head as he looked around. Where the hell was he? This sure wasn't his bedroom.
"You should be more careful, kid." Shinichi looked up and saw Masago standing in the doorway, making him remember what had happened the previous day. He looked down at his knees and sighed.
"I know, it's just.." He muttered and then trailed off when he thought of the dream he'd had. He had been running, chasing after his own shadow, never catching up with it. Then, when he gave up running after it, he saw Ran, staring at him with big sad eyes and stretching out her hand, screaming not to leave her as he fall into a big black hole. He rubbed his eyes and yawned, trying to forget what he had dreamed of.
"Come on, breakfast's ready!" Masago said as he gave Shinichi a sympathetic look and turned around to walk away into the living room.
Shinichi stared after him, then sighed and stood up carefully, avoiding the wooden cabinets he had bumped in to and followed Masago into the living room. The guy was already sitting at the table, pricking a fork into some scrambled eggs. 'So he eats with a fork huh?' This intrigued Shinichi, but he decided to put it aside. "Ano…" Masago looked up.
"What is it, son?"
"Err, well" Shinichi scratched his chin. "I wanted to ask you what I'm supposed to do now that I'm dead. I can't actually sit here hanging around at your place the whole time while eating your food and doing nothing, can I?"
Masago smiled. "Exactly, that is why from now on you'll go to Teitan High." He took a bite of his egg and grinned when he saw Shinichi's shocked face. "I already enrolled you into their first year. You are starting today, so hurry up!"
"Nani?" Shinichi let his mouth drop open. Was this guy serious?
"There is no going back now." Masago stood up, shoving his now empty plate away, and walked over to Shinichi, patting him on the shoulder. "Have some breakfast and go wash yourself afterwards. I already bought you some clothes and school stuff, but you'll have to get the rest by yourself after school." He smiled again. "Now close your mouth. You're going to catch some flies!"
Shinichi swallowed. "Err, okay." He stared at his feet as he walked over to the table and sighed. Somewhere he still didn't believe what had happened yesterday. It was just too weird. Grim Reapers, dying and resurrecting, it just couldn't happen. But while he thought that he knew it could, 'cause it had already happened. As he sat down at the table he noticed today's paper and picked it up.
"Detective of the East dead?" He read it out loud, not really believing the papers could have picked up on this so soon. 'might as well read it.' He sighed again and began to read the article.
"Yesterday evening two bodies were found at the scene of an explosion, leaving no trace of who they were. However, it is stated that one of the bodies might have been Kudou Shinichi's. The police rapport states his body was already discovered and was confirmed dead by the police agent who most likely died in the explosion and is thus thought to have been the second body found at the scene."
"You shouldn't read that, half of it is complete bullshit." Shinichi gasped when Masago suddenly pulled the paper out of his hands. "You should focus on eating your breakfast and getting ready for today." He said as he ripped the front page of the paper in two and threw it away.
"Right, right, I'm sorry okay?" Shinichi replied angrily as he started to eat his egg. Masago was already getting on his nerves.
'Why am I even doing this?' Shinichi thought to himself as he walked down the familiar road to school. He stopped for a second to look at his reflection in the window of a small store. When he had first seen himself he thought his mom had smeared make up all over his face: His skin had a dark tan, which was quite unusual for Japanese people. His hair still had the same color, though it wasn't frizzy like it used to be and his eyes still were the same piercing cerulean blue. Somehow he reminded himself a bit of Takagi-Keiji. 'This is so bizarre.' Shinichi sighed and continued his walk. He soon reached the gates and hurried his way over to the principal's office.
His feet automatically found the way while his mind was somewhere else, somewhere where Grim Reapers were just fairytales and where he would be next to Ran, chatting with his classmates and other stuff he couldn't do anymore. And too soon Shinichi found himself in front of the door to the principal's office. He knocked twice and waited for an answer.
The door swung open, revealing a tired looking principal. "Edogawa Conan?" Shinichi nodded and bit his lip. "C'min, c'min, me boy." The man said in a blur and slowly walked over to his desktop, dropping down on his chair with a sigh. "You certainly picked a time to get yourself signed up for this school, boy, thinking about the current events." The principal folded his hands and stared at Shinichi.
"You mean with what happened to Kudou Shinichi right?" Shinichi said softly. Then he stared at his feet. "I know, I lost my family recently and was supposed to stay with him till I got things straight again." Well, part of it was true, he had lost his family, but it would be safer to stick with this story.
"Sorry for your losses then." The principal replied. "Your teacher will come and pick you up in a few minutes, I have your books and schedule here." He pointed at a mountain of books with a paper on top. "You'll be brought to class 1B, it was his class, but it's the only one that has a few places left, I'm afraid."
There was a soft knock on the door and the familiar face of Takahashi sensei appeared. "Sir, I'm not interrupting, are I?" She asked and let her eyes fall on Shinichi.
"No, we were just finished." The headmaster said and gave a nod to Shinichi. "Now, take your books and follow Takahashi-San to her class. I expect you to do as she says."
Shinichi nodded as he lifted his new books from the desktop and walked over to Takahashi sensei. She gave him a kind smile. "Just follow me, we'll go to your locker first so you can put away the books that you don't need for today and then I'll introduce you to the class." She said with a gentle voice and then opened the door for him.
"Err, thanx." Shinichi replied as he walked back into the hallway and waited for Takahashi sensei to follow him.
"You sound exactly like him." Takahashi said and looked at Shinichi while she closed the door behind her.
Shinichi blinked. "What?"
Takahashi sensei shook her head and started to walk down the hallway. Shinichi stared at her in surprise and followed, curious where she had been talking about. After a few minutes Takahashi sensei stopped in front of a locker and turned around.
"It's this one." She said, pointing at the locker next to her and handed a key to Shinichi.
"Thank you, Sensei." Shinichi replied as he gratefully took on the key and opened the locker, sorting out the books he got and putting several in his bag before placing the others in his new locker and locking it off.
"Tell me, did you know Kudou-Kun?" Shinichi looked up at Takahashi sensei and blinked in surprise.
"Err, yeah, I did. Met him on a case once and kept contact with him ever since. He was kind of teaching me how to become a detective like he was." He fall silent and stared at the locker next to his that had a name plate which said: Kudou Shinichi. "I was supposed to stay with him, but he never turned up. I ended up sleeping with some old friend of my dad who I happened to run in to." He smiled sadly and shook his head. "And there I finally thought I could finally get my life straight." He stared at Takahashi sensei and felt bad for telling her all those lies, but he knew there was no other way. He couldn't tell her he was Shinichi, now could he?
"Sorry, for asking then." Takahashi sensei replied. "I didn't want to make you feel bad, it's just you remind me a lot of him." She shrugged. "I hope it won't make the other students feel bad."
Shinichi nodded. "I'll try to watch out with what I do, I know what it's like to lose someone and constantly be reminded of him or her." It wasn't a whole lie. He kept thinking about Ran, who he had lost the moment he died, and who he would see every day so he would be reminded of his stupid mistake. Maybe that was why Masago had enrolled him to this school: so he wouldn't forget what had happened.
"No, you shouldn't." Takahashi sensei said. "Sometimes it's a good thing to be reminded of someone, maybe this will help some of the students to move on." She sighed and beckoned Shinichi to follow her. "Come on, the classroom isn't far away."
"Are you sure honey?" Kisaki Eri asked her daughter.
Ran nodded. "Maybe school will get my mind of him for a while." She said with a shaky voice and rubbed a tear out of her eye. "I just can't stand sitting here at home."
"Oh dear." Eri hugged Ran tightly. "You know you don't have to stay strong for us." She gave an angry glance to her husband who was sitting on the couch while reading the front article of the paper, that said: "Detective of the East dead?" in big bold letters. 'You insensitive bastard.'
"I have to mom." Ran replied while a tear rolled down her cheek. "I can't break down, I know he wouldn't want me to." He would have wanted her to stay strong, not to cry over him. "Go on without me, Ran." The image of Shinichi running away reappeared in her head. "Don't worry, I'll capture up with you!" The words echoed through her mind. "Don't worry!" She should have stopped him that moment, then he would have been alive, then they could have walked to school together, then she could be able to tell him how much she loved him, ask him to never leave her.
"Are you sure, dearling?" Eri said as she released Ran from her hug, her eyes filled with concern.
"Trust her woman." Kogoro muttered as he put down his paper. "She is nearly an adult now, she knows what she is talking about."
Eri whirled around and gave him a glare that could have killed him. "What do you know about it. You don't seem to care about it!" she screamed, putting her hands on her hips.
"Of course I care, but we can't help her ease to this pain. If she thinks going to school will help her with this we should trust her and let her go!" Kogoro said furiously. Eri opened her mouth to tell him he was wrong, but was cut off by Ran.
"He's right mom." She said as she stared at her feet. Actually she didn't want to go anywhere. She wanted to lock herself in her room and cry her eyes out, but she had to stay strong. For herself and for him. Suddenly the bell rang and everybody looked up.
"That must be Sonoko, I called her and asked her to pick me up, see you after school mom." Ran continued and walked over to the door to greet a messy Sonoko.
"Be careful dear." Eri said as her daughter disappeared out of the door.
Ran sighed as she closed the door behind her and looked at Sonoko. "Thanks for getting me out of there, I thought I was going crazy." She said as the two of them walked down the stairs that led to Ran's home.
"Are you kidding? I thought you were going crazier. Going to school after what happened, you are lucky I can keep my cool." Sonoko answered as she brushed her brown hair out of her face, trying to act as normal as possible, but clearly affected by the current events.
"Geez, Sonoko." Ran said and rolled with her eyes. She was glad her friend didn't tell her how sorry she was for Shinichi's death. She already felt guilty for not stopping him from running in to his murderers, and Sonoko knew she shouldn't go on and on about it.
"You are lucky my private driver had enough time to drop me off here. He has to pick up my sister's fiancée." Sonoko said and planted one of her hands on her hip as she stared in to Ran's eyes, who was currently staring at her feet. "He proposed yesterday, isn't it romantic?" She sighed dramatically and straightened her back. "Maybe once I will find my prince, if he doesn't spot you first." She continued after a few minutes and gave Ran an envious glare.
"You make me sound like a boy magnet." Ran replied. "It's not like I ask for it." She rolled her eyes again as they passed the schools gates. 'The only one I wanted was him.'
"Well, it's not like you are looking for someone. You already have your husba…" Sonoko's eyes grew big when she realized her mistake. "Sorry, I forgot."
Ran shook her head and smiled sadly. "Don't be, I still can't believe it myself." She bit her lip as they entered the school building. Sonoko walked over to her shoe locker and pulled out her slippers. There was a moment of silence while they both put their shoes away.
"It's hard to believe, isn't it." Ran looked up in surprise when Sonoko said this and stared at her, blinking a few times. Sonoko was looking at Shinichi's shoe locker that was now decorated with his photo and some stickers shaped like hearts and flowers. "I never imagined that our deduction freak would get himself killed."
Sadness filled Ran's eyes. "Yeah, that stupid mystery otaku." Her vision got blurry as her eyes filled with tears, but she wiped them away before they could run down her cheeks. "Come on, let's go to the class."
Sonoko nodded and both walked to their classroom in silence, not sure what to talk about.
"You got to be kidding me. They can't really do that, can they?"
"According to Takahashi Sensei they already excepted him before the news came in."
"What's wrong, Tashiro-San, Hidaka-San?" Sonoko asked when she spotted the two girls who were standing outside room 1B. The girls looked up when they heard Sonoko's voice and both of them started to complain immediately.
"We're getting a new student." Hidaka answered furiously. "Can you believe it? After what happened yesterday?" She toyed around with her glasses and shook her head out of disbelieve.
"They are completely out of their mind." Tashiro agreed while putting her shoulder long brownish hair out of her eyes.
Ran smiled. "I guess the new student can't help it." She said softly. "Let's not give him a hard time okay?"
So, that's it for now, hope you like it. (the cyber cookies offer still stands :D) Now our usual chara itroduction stuff:
Takahashi Senpai - One of the teachers of class 1B. Teaches Japanese. (OC ness)
Tashiro & Hidaka - Two girls from teitan introduced in episode 361 (or vol. 44 ). Are said to be very talkative. It's not clear who is who, so I just did something.
I liked typing Ran in this chapter. She is very easy to write (don't ask why). Next chapter: Conan (Shinichi) and Ran meet, and Shinichi get's his first job as a Grim Reaper. What will happen?
...
Hattori: Sooo, when will you introduce me?
Me: At the funeral, along with Shin-Chan's parent's.
Kaito: What about me? Do I appear in your fanfic?
Me: Yeah, when YOU ARE CHASED BY A GIANT FISH! *makes a fish appear out of nowhere*
Kaito: GET THAT THING AWAY FROM ME! *Runs away*
Me: Kaito, wait! *Follows with the fish in her hand*
Hattori: *roles with his eyes* Morons. Ah, don't forget to R&R plz.
(Here is the botton, now hit it and review!)
\/
