A/N:Thank you to the sole reviewer who reviewed this story! I really appreciated it!
Chapter 3 Denial
"I'm telling you, Ran, it really did happen! This dream of mine felt really real, and it felt like I was there! You've gotta believe me! Ran, for god's sake, why don't you believe me?" I cried at my friend. Unfortunately, she was paying me no mind and was walking ahead of me and tuning me out, not even once listening to a word I said. Who's the girl? Well, she's my childhood friend, Mouri Ran.
Lately, though, it feels like the two of us are growing apart. It feels like she's become so distant from me, and I hate the way she's treating me now. I don't know why she's treating me this way. We used to be such close friends and now all of a sudden, she's treating me like I don't matter. Whatever I talk to her about, whatever I say...suddenly, it doesn't matter anymore. Suddenly, I'm nothing but an annoyance to her.
Whenever she sees me, all she does is yell at me or whine about something, and it just...brings me down. I wish I knew why she was so mad at me all the time. Sure, I know sometimes she might be mad at me for stealing cases from her father, but it's not like her dad really does anything worthwhile, anyway. It's not like I'd admit that to her face-so, why? Why on earth does it seem like she hates me so much now? Somehow, that thought makes me sad.
I just wondered why on earth she had been acting so cold lately. Ran and I have been close friends since childhood. I feel like I don't know her anymore. I just wish I knew why she was treating me so bad... I haven't done anything wrong to deserve it, so...
I try again. "Oi, Ran!" I cry again.
Suddenly, my childhood friend whirled around and glared at me with a look of annoyance on her face. "What? Shinichi, what do you want? Honestly, you're bugging me so much today!" She yelled, not even noticing how hurt I looked at those words. I could feel all the hatred from her words coming into me. Ran, how can you be so cruel? What happened to the kind girl I used to know and love?
My cheeks heated up as I thought about those words. So, I did love her. So, why on earth was she treating me this way? Why wasn't she acting like I mattered? "Ran, I'm trying to tell you something, and you're not listening..." I trailed off.
"I heard you for the thousandth time, Shinichi! I don't want to hear about it anymore, so please just shut up about it! It's like you with Sherlock Holmes! You don't know when to stop yammering on about stuff, so just shut up!" She yelled.
I had never known her to be this critical. Had we really grown apart this much? "R-Ran, I-I..." Suddenly, I felt a feeling that was foreign to me rise up in my chest. I hadn't felt this feeling for a long time, or since I was a child. Tears rose to life in my eyes. Before I realized what I was doing, one of them fell down my cheek, but I immediately wiped it away. "Ran, why are you acting so distant? I don't like this...I just wanted to tell you what's been troubling me...it's just that these dreams, they're disturbing. It feels like I don't know myself anymore. Ran, listen to me."
I commanded sharply, before grabbing her by the shoulders and forcing her to face me. "I'm serious. These dreams...they're disturbing, they're bothering me, and I don't know how to explain them, so I just can't keep them to myself, can I! I have to tell someone! It feels like I'm losing my mind!" I exclaimed.
She stared at me with wide eyes. "Shinichi...I've never known you to be this intense about things before. It's starting to scare me, Shinichi. Seriously, I still can't forgive you for taking my dad's cases-"
"That's a minor issue now." I replied softly.
"Shinichi, are you...crying?" Ran asked, staring at me intently.
"N-No, why would I be crying?" I said nervously.
"Well, it looks like there are tears in your eyes." She replied briefly.
My face turned bright red at that moment. "Eheeheehe...maybe you just imagined it." I replied.
"Seriously, Shinichi, are you all right? You're not acting like yourself! You've just been acting so odd lately and it's scaring me! It's not that I don't care about you-I just don't like seeing you act all depressed and scared of this!"
"Exactly, Ran, which is why I want to tell you this stuff."
"Well, Shinichi, you can only say something to someone so many times before they don't want to hear it anymore."
"I know, but..."
"Shinichi, the same thing happens to me, too. I get these horrible dreams that I can't explain, but I try not to let it bother me." She reassured.
"R-Ran..." I stuttered.
"It's okay, Shinichi. Please don't cry. It makes me embarrassed when you cry. You're supposed to be happy and cheerful, not all depressed. I hate seeing you cry..." Ran said.
"Ran, to tell you the truth, I...I really...li-OWWWWWWW!"
Suddenly, my left eye started burning all of a sudden, like a fiery red hot coal had been dropped into it. I don't know why or how, but it started burning. I didn't know what to think. It seriously felt like I was losing my mind...everything started whirling out of control. I howled in pain as I clutched my left eye and got down on my hands and knees and started clutching at my eye. What the hell was wrong with my eye?
"Shinichi, what's wrong?" Ran asked in concern.
"I don't know...all of a sudden, my left eye just started burning..." I moaned, still in pain from my still throbbing eye.
"What's happening to you?"
"I don't know. It's freaky." I gasped heavily.
Relax, Kudo Shinichi. Everything will be fine.
Who the hell are you?
I am...another you, you could say.
That's a load of bull crap!
In a past life, you were-
Shut up! I don't want to hear it! There's no such thing!
"Shinichi, are you truly okay?" Ran asked in concern, looking on at me in horror. I felt as terrified as she did, to be honest. I had no clue as to what was going on. Little did I know, however, that my answers would be coming soon, and from an unpleasant source.
Suddenly, I noticed a familiar figure coming toward us with a smug grin on her face. "Hey, Ran! What are you and your husband doing out so early?" She taunted. I sighed upon hearing that voice. I knew the owner of that voice quite well. It was Ran's arrogant friend, Sonoko Suzuki.
She's the epitome of arrogant, from her clothing to her brown hair that was finely combed in the very pinnacle of "fabulosity" as she would call it, and she knew it, too. She thought she was perfect in every way. Yes, she is a rich girl, if you're wondering how she became so snooty. It tends to run in snooty families who are overrun with way too much money for their health. You know the kind; the ones that plaster their houses with every kind of thing imaginable-from plastic horses to swimming pools and bowling alleys. They usually say only one thing: I'm better than you all, and I want to rub it in your faces!
How Ran could ever like a shallow, evil girl like this was beyond me, but it's not like I would tell her that out loud, because then there would be a huge foot in my face, and then I would be in the hospital for days. I was not about to get my ass kicked by Ran. Pissing Ran off is the number one thing in life that you never, ever, want to do. Period.
"Sonoko-chan, how are you doing today?" Ran called, but not before whispering to me that everything would be all right. I nodded absently and noticed that the burning pain in my eye only seemed to be getting worse as the minutes passed. I groaned and kept on clutching my eye as it grew worse.
"What's wrong with him? Have the mystery novels you've been reading warped your mind so much, detective nerd?" Sonoko taunted, but that was the wrong sort of thing to say to someone who's lying on the ground, hurt.
I resisted the urge to beat her up, and instead grit my teeth. "If I could hit you, I would..." I growled.
"Ohhhh, is the detective nerd mad? Did I touch a nerve-"
"OWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" I screamed, as the pain grew worse. It felt like I'd been thrust into the pits of hell. I started feeling like I was going to throw up, but I held it back.
"Shinichi, are you okay? Is your eye still...?" Ran asked.
"Geez, he doesn't look too good." Sonoko remarked, staring at me worriedly. "Maybe I said too much."
"Yes you did." Ran snapped. "Can't you see he's hurt? Your snide remarks are only making things worse, Sonoko-chan."
Sonoko hung her head, but I knew she wasn't really sorry. She would just start again later.
Then, all of a sudden the pain dissipated. I slowly got to my feet and realized that it was gone. "What the heck just happened?" I cried.
"Shinichi, are you all right?"
I nodded my head fiercely. "Yes, I am."
I sat, bored out of my mind in school, when suddenly, my cell phone rang. I sighed, and knew it was probably going to be him again. The person who stalked me whenever I was eating at a restaurant about a year ago, and had since decided that he wanted me to chase him around whenever he wore white. Yes, I know Kaitou Kid personally, and he is a royal pain.
"Hello...?" I uttered, going out in the hallway.
"Hi, meitantei-san! How have you been? Any odd dreams at all recently?"
I sighed out loud. "Yes...and today, my eye started hurting."
There was an audible silence on the other end, and then Kaito spoke. "Have you had any nightmares about a man in a mask? They're terrifying...I wonder if we were connected in a past life, Kudo."
Suddenly, a sudden shiver wracks my body. Why did I feel like I knew him from somewhere, a long time ago?
"Oi, meitantei-san, you still there?"
"...I'm fine. I feel like I'm losing it."
