Chapter 4: Letting go

The time passed quickly that Ran Mouri did not notice that she was spacing out during the entire class. Shinichi felt something was definitely wrong; she was the only case he could not solve even if he read her mind. He was always missing the most important part: her emotion. Ran was good at pretending that she was always fine and strong; however, deep inside she would cry until her tears would drown her loneliness.

"Okay, Ran, what's wrong?" Shinichi finally said after the class had left. Shinichi and Ran were the only ones left in the classroom. Ran remained at her seat, unmoved. Shinichi placed both of his hands on her desk and took a closer look at her serious face. Bit by bit, their faces were millimeters from each other. Shinichi had no choice but to do it; her immobility was unusual. He swallowed his saliva as he could smell her heavy breathing. He slowly closed his eyes and pressed his warm lips against hers. Then, he felt her arms slowly reaching for his nape, which made him, grew close to her. He pushed the desk away from them and grew closer to her. Ran slowly stood up and embraced him tightly. Shinichi placed his arms around her slender waist. It felt warm and good. He had never felt this for a very long time. He had missed Ran. However, there was something in her kiss that made him worried. He opened his eyes to see that there were tears in her eyes. "Ran?"

"I…" Ran could not say it; it did not feel right. "I have something to s – say."

"Yes, go on." Shinichi let loose of his touch around her waist. He fixed her hair that was covering her eyes. He gazed at Ran's lonely eyes and waited.

"I – It's not working out." Ran finally said. "Us."

"What do you mean?"

"I – It's o - ver."

"Explain please? What made you think so?"

"You don't spend much time with me as much as your cases. I know how much they mean to you and to everyone else, including me. But I want some time alone with you and not with the cases." Ran sighed. "This is goodbye." Ran kissed Shinichi by the cheek and left the room as soon as possible. Shinichi stood by her desk, astonished to what just happened in front of him.

*ran dropped a letter as she kissed him

"R – Ran! Wait!" Shinichi followed her behind. It took a second before he realized what happened. He could not move; his knees seemed so weak to move at the moment. His world was spinning around him. The image of Ran leaving kept repeating in his mind until he had not realized that it was already 6 in the evening. He still had not moved from his position.

"There you are! We've been looking all over for you! Where's Mouri?" Mamoru asked.

"Never mind that. Are we going tomorrow? Sayuri wanted to ask." Minoru said irritably. "Oi, Kudo. What happened to you?"

"Ah… Tomorrow?"

"Yes, you told us that we could come. We're going to our parents' headquarters, right?"

"Oh, yes. Are your disguises finally ready? We shall hold a meeting after Sayuri's working hours. Is that alright? I have other things I needed to take care of." Shinichi said absent mindedly. He picked up his bag and left the two behind.

"What's with him?"

"It has something to do with Mouri, I believe." Mamoru whispered.

"Wow! Is this really the place? It's near a forest." Sayuri turned around to face the rest of the team. She held her hat when the wind blew. She was wearing a sleeveless, red halter and light blue khaki pants. Her curves made her look like a woman for awhile. Shinichi and the gang were at a forest, a few blocks away from the train station. Mamoru and Minoru peered at the map Shinichi was holding at the moment. "Yes, it seems so." Shinichi folded the map as Minoru grunted.

"It's unlikely for a place like this to hold a headquarters." Ran muttered.

"Exactly," Shinichi beamed but he felt silent all of the sudden. Ran smiled a bit. She had her hair tied into a pony. She had a turtle neck pink top and black skirt. She only came for him since she had volunteered yesterday during their meeting. Shinichi and Ran had been exchanging embarrassing glances every now and then. But they tried to keep it just between them. "Let's go then."

"We're really going in there?" Minoru asked in astonishment. The forest looked amiable on the outside but looked eerie on the inside.

"Well, if you're undecided, then you could wait by the train station. I will go alone."

"No!" the two young women exclaimed. Ran and Sayuri giggled.

"I would like to see where my parents were working!"

"And I don't want to let you go alone in there, Shinichi!" Ran exclaimed. She held her lips in astonishment. She had revealed what she really felt. It was not supposed to expose. Shinichi remained speechless. He just waited for the two young men to react.

"Oh, alright! We're going as well!" Minoru said. Mamoru pushed him aside and apologized to Shinichi for his rudeness. Shinichi just shook his head in disbelief. He did not know what he would do if something else happens to the rest of them. The high stairs seemed to be leading them to a temple, but Shinichi doubt that the headquarters would be that obvious. Hours later, Shinichi and the gang felt like they were going deep into the forest; everything was getting darker and darker. Shinichi felt Ran walking close to him. Sayuri and Mamoru were behind them; it was only Minoru who chose to linger. Then, Shinichi saw something glistening at the corner of his left eye. He stopped to see where the brightness was coming from. The rest was about to follow him when Sayuri gasped. Everyone turned around to find Mamoru lying on the ground and unconscious.

"Minoru!"

"He probably collapsed from the heat? But there's not much heat in here anymore." Mamoru followed Sayuri behind. Ran glanced back at Shinichi to find him heading to where he had seen the brightness. Ran stood in the middle of the stairs so that she could remember where Shinichi exactly went to. Slowly, Shinichi disappeared like the shadows. Then, Ran glanced back at the three only to find one of them missing. "Where's Sayuri?" Ran yelled at Mamoru.

Mamoru pointed at his right and Sayuri had a fretful look on her face. Her whole body was trembling in fear. Ran could not figure out what was happening; she had to leave where she was supposed to stand. She left her shoes as her mark and went towards Sayuri. "What happened, Sayu – ri?" It was only then that they realized that a dead body was lying near the staircase.

"SHIN – " Ran's voice was cut off. Something just hit her at her nape.

"Mouri!" Sayuri caught Ran just in time. Somewhere around the forest must know their arrival. "Mamoru be careful! Lower your head down! Mouri! Mouri! Mamoru, leave my brother and call Kudo from where Mouri's shoes are."

"KUDO! KUDO!"

Shinichi turned around in annoyance. He was so close in getting to the so-called headquarters. He looked once again at the surface before he turned his back. He scampered to where the voice was coming from.

OUFF! Shinichi bumped into Mamoru. He scratched his head and gazed at him in bewilderment. "What's going on with you guys? Is something the matter?"

"Minoru… Mouri…" was all Mamoru could say as he panted. He pointed at the direction at where they were. He and Shinichi moved swiftly amongst the forest grounds. When they reached the staircase, only Sayuri and Minoru were in the picture. Ran was nowhere to be found. Sayuri was also unconscious on the ground; it seemed she had struggled to give Ran to whoever had taken her.

"S – Sayuri!" Mamoru scampered to his beloved.

"W – Where's Ran? Ran? RAN?" Shinichi bellowed. Nothing moved amongst the bushes and trees. There was no sign of Ran's presence, only the cold body lying near the staircase was the only clue that was left to them.